Discover Your Secret Name

Would you like to learn your Hobbit or Elf name?

This is mine "Of Nargothrond"

HUNGER: DO YOU KNOW THE FACTS?

It is estimated that one billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition. That's roughly 100 times as many as those who actually die from these causes each year.

About 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. This is down from 35,000 ten years ago, and 41,000 twenty years ago. Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five.

Famine and wars cause about 10% of hunger deaths, although these tend to be the ones you hear about most often. The majority of hunger deaths are caused by chronic malnutrition. Families facing extreme poverty are simply unable to get enough food to eat.


Visit http://www.thehungersite.com to give food to the hungry with just a click -- every day and at no cost to you.

HOW IT WORKS

When you click the "Give Free Food" button (once a day per person) at http://www.thehungersite.com , this simple action gives over a cup of fortified food to a hungry person.

It costs you nothing. Funding is paid by site sponsors and food is distributed by two leading nonprofit hunger relief organizations: Mercy Corps and America's Second Harvest.

The number of people who click each day determines the amount of food that goes to the hungry, so please forward this message along.

WHY CLICK?

There is enough food in the world for every man, woman and child. Yet an estimated one billion of the world's people live in poverty and face chronic hunger. 24,000 die daily. 75% of them are children under age five.

A "click to give" costs nothing but a few seconds of your time, and gives help and hope to a person in desperate need.

Please remember to click every day to give help and hope to those with nowhere to turn. Every click counts in the life of a hungry person.

Click here to give free food: http://www.thehungersite.com

Thank you..

İnternetin Çocuk Üzerindeki Olumsuz Tesirleri

Artık bilgisayar ve internet çağında yaşadığımız inkâr edilmesi güç bir gerçek… Her geçen gün “sanal” bir dünyanın içine yuvarlanmaktayız. Bilgilerimiz, eğlence ve zevklerimiz, alışveriş, seyahat ve dostluklarımız bilgisayar ekranına kilitlenmiş durumda!.. Artık oturduğumuz yerden yolculuklara çıkabiliyor, yepyeni ve değişik ortamlara girebiliyor, görünmeyen/bazen de sadece ekranda görünen dostluklar kurabiliyor ve onlarla sohbet ediyoruz. Böylesine insanın günlük hayatına, ilişki ve ihtiyaçlarına çöreklenmiş bulunan bilgisayar ve onun ürünü olan sanal dünya; bizi ne kadar etkiliyor?! Çocuklarımız bu sanal dünyadan ve internet ortamından neler ediniyor veya bu aşırı “bağlanma” sebebiyle nelerden mahrum kalıyorlar? İleriye yönelik ne gibi kalıcı problemler ortaya çıkıyor.Son zamanlarda yapılan araştırmalarda 13-19 yaşlarındaki gençler, anne ve babalarından çok daha fazla internet kullanmaktadır. Bu gençler ise interneti genellikle oyun oynamak, müzik dinlemek ve yeni insanlarla tanışmak için tercih ediyorlar.Evet, internet herşeyden önce büyük bir bilgi bombardıman merkezi!... İyisiyle kötüsüyle, doğrusuyla yanlışıyla kontrolü yapılmamış milyonlarca bilgi bir “tık”la karşınızda!.. Oysa bilhassa gelişim dönemindeki çocuklar için bilgiyi sınırlandırmak, mesajları ve içeriği basitleştirmek gerekmektedir. Aşırı bilgi yüklenmesi yetişkinler üzerinde bile “bitkinlik oluşturan bilgi sendromu” gibi olumsuz tesirlere neden olmaktadır. Bu miktarda bilgi yığını karşısında kalan çocukların kafaları karışacak ve doğruyla yanlışı seçmek gitgide imkânsızlaşacaktır.Diğer taraftan internetteki kontrolden geçmemiş bilgiler, çocukların zihinsel gelişimini de olumsuz yönde etkileyebilmektedir. Zira küçük çocuklar gördükleri, duydukları ve hissettikleri her şeyi onaylatmak için büyüklerine ihtiyaç duyarlar. Ancak internetteki her şeyi her ân denetleme ve doğruları ile yanlışlarını ayırt etme imkânı yoktur. Bu yüzden çocuklar, internetin başına geçtikleri zaman gerçeği gerçek olmayandan ayırmaya muktedir olamıyorlar ve sanal dünyadaki gerçekliği test etmeye güçleri yetmiyor.İnternet ortamı, ilkokuldan üniversite çağına kadar bütün öğrencileri de etkilemektedir. İnternet başında günlerini, saatlerini harcamaktan çekinmeyen öğrenciler; ev ödevlerine veya okul için gerekli araştırmalara vakit ayıramamakta, sıkıştığı zamanlarda da internetten aldığı hazır bilgilerle sıkıntıyı (!) başından savmaktadırlar. Bu ise onların araştırmacı yönlerinin gelişmesini köreltmekte ve hazıra konmayı kolaylaştırmaktadır.E-posta ve chat tarzı ifade ve yazım şekilleri de gençlerin dil gelişimini etkilemekte, duygu ve düşüncelerini sınırlı kelimeler ve kalıplarla ifade etmeye sebep olmaktadır. Bu da zamanla dil ve zihin gelişimini olumsuz etkilemektedir.İnternet, doğru bir şekilde kullanıldığında çocukların okula dayalı öğrenimlerini zenginleştirebilir ve başkaları ile çalışma sırasında yaratıcı ve entellektüel bir araç olabilir. Bununla birlikte, suistimal edildiğinde ise çocukları, hayattan ve önemli sosyal faaliyetleri yapmaktan alıkoyabilir: Ev ödevleri, âile ve arkadaşlar ile zaman geçirme, hobi ve el becerileri geliştirme, park ve oyun sahalarında spor yapma, bulunduğu şehri veya ülkeyi tanmıaya yönelik gezi faaliyetlerine katılma vb…İnternet ortamında her geçen gün daha sık karşılaşılmaya başlanan ve korunması gittikçe zorlaşan şiddet, müstehcenlik, kutsal şeylere karşı saygısızlık gibi uygunsuz içerikler de çocuklarımızın ve genlerimizin geleceğine yönelik ciddi endişeler doğurmaktadır.Özetle, her araç gibi interneti de şartlarına uygun, yerli yerinde ve ihtiyaç kadar kullanmak pek çok fayda sağlarken; aksi davranışlar gençlerimizin maddî ve mânevî gelişimlerinde maalesef kalıcı hasarlar meydana getirebilmektedir.

Me and my children in the day-care centre..

We are playing a game..

Me :)

All Muslims are “callers” to Islam

"That face should not have been slapped...
I can never forget a scene that once wrung my heart.
At the time we were offering the first Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan. Standing in front of me were two men and a boy. The boy was seven or eight years of age. His face was shining, but he looked timid, as if he were perhaps visiting the mosque for the first time. He was struggling to repeat the actions of the congregation, by observing the movements of the man next to him, so that he could pray. When the two units of Friday prayer that must be performed in congregation were finished he hesitated, not sure whether he should leave the mosque along with several other members of the congregation without performing the supererogatory ones, or stay. In the mean time, some of those who intended to continue with the supererogatory prayers started to pray.
The boy, at last, made up his mind to leave and started walking. Yet, as soon as he began to walk, one of the men who had already started praying slapped his face, and then pushed him back to his previous position. The man was angry with the boy for walking in front of a praying person. The boy was taken aback. He looked at the man with fear in his eyes. He had no idea as to why he had been slapped. The man who had been unable to put up with a small boy walking in front of another while praying, grumbled and continued praying without saying a word to the boy. Another man, who had not started to pray, held the boy by the hand and took him out of the mosque.
I think about that boy. He must have been very enthusiastic and happy about going to the mosque. Perhaps he had even started to fast that very day and had run to the mosque upon hearing the call to prayer. Perhaps he had been sent to the Mosque for Friday prayer by his mother, who wished for her son to get used to the mosque. I am concerned with the feelings that boy must have felt after being slapped; he had expected praise from his “uncles” in the mosque, instead he was slapped. I wish I had left off my prayer to give him a hug and to comfort his broken heart.
I wonder whether that boy will ever visit a mosque again.
I wonder what that boy thinks about Muslims who pray.
I wonder who bears the spiritual responsibility of that boy for not setting foot in the mosque ever again.
Prayer, the Prophet, and Children
I envision how the Prophet reacted to the children who wanted to play with him, attracting his attention by pulling on his clothes during the prayer. He not only did not push them, but he also used to hug them while standing up from the bowing position. I try to understand the meaning of the Prophet’s behavior. I think that the trio of Prophet, prayer, and children make a good combination. I think that a child who stays in the middle of this combination will never dissociate himself from the Prophet or from prayer.
I also envision other scenes that I have witnessed in mosques.
I remember the old men, the regulars of the mosques, who often reprimand the young people for not praying properly. I once witnessed several older men in the mosque looking disapprovingly on a younger man with long hair who was praying in the mosque.
A young girl once complained about the intolerance of the congregation in mosques, telling me this story: “I once went to the mosque on the night of Qadr (the holy night in the month of Ramadan when the Qur’an is believed to have been revealed on Earth). There was an old woman next to me. She looked at me in a threatening way, and then tugged on my skirt so hard that it nearly tore. She did this because she thought my skirt was not long enough. It was long enough for me. Now, I am afraid to go to a mosque again, because I think that I will face such an attitude again.”
I am sure readers of this article have also witnessed or experienced similar actions in mosques.
Now, I would like to invite those of you who regard themselves as being in the service of religion to think about this matter deeply.
It seems to me that we have not been able to properly explain to Muslims that they are all missionaries, or ones who call others to Islam. Many assume that inviting people to the right path is a duty incumbent only on those in the official service of the religion. It is Muslims such as these who express such the attitudes we have mentioned above.
All Muslims are “callers” to Islam
Thus, we have to educate Muslims as “callers” to Islam. We have to make them internalize the tolerant personality of the Prophet, to help them to believe that “Allah’s messenger has set good examples for us.”
I would like to relate a story concerning the Prophet that shows us how we have to handle fellow Muslims, no matter how ignorant or rude they may be.
The Prophet was one day in conversation with some other Muslims in the mosque. A Bedouin came in to pray. Bedouins at that time were generally people with rough manners, as they had to live under the difficult circumstances found in the desert. The Bedouin performed two units of prayer before offering a devotion to God as follows:
“O Allah! Show mercy to me and Muhammad, the Prophet, not to others!”
The Prophet heard him and tried to amend his devotion saying:
“You have limited Allah’s mercy which has no boundary!”
The floor of Prophet’s mosque was at that time covered with sand and soil. A little later, the Bedouin went to relieve himself in the corner of the mosque. The other Muslims had not seen such an act done before in a mosque, and they shouted at the man and approached him. The Prophet calmed them down, saying:
“Let him finish what he is doing and then pour a bucket of water where he has relieved himself. You have not been sent to make things difficult, but to make things easy!”
Then he asked the Bedouin to come over and told him:
“Mosques are not made relieve yourself in, but rather to remember Allah, offer prayers, and read the Quran in.” (Bukhari, Wudu, 58, Adab, 80, Muslim, Taharat, 98-100; Abu Dawud, Taharat, 136; Dhirmizi, Taharat, 112).
Our ancestors who spread Islam throughout the world over a relatively short time were not moody, argumentative, or rude people, but were rather soft-spoken, compassionate, and tolerant. Their superior morality, tolerance and pleasant behavior paved the way for them to be able to communicate with new people when they went to new lands. Since they were welcomed because of their behavior, Islam was also welcomed by the people in these new lands.
Thus, it is our responsibility to make fellow Muslims understand properly that each Muslim is a representative or a caller to Islam. Moreover, we do not have the right to make mistakes as we spread the religion of Islam.
Those of us who do not realize that our religion does not take things at face value also cannot realize that such rituals as prayer and fasting make us spiritually pure. Such Muslims assume that Allah will reward them with Paradise as long as they perform these rituals, no matter how they might offend their fellow humans at other times.
Let us warn our fellow Muslims on this matter, like a teacher would warn his or her students. Let us teach our brothers and sisters that if we are unable to bring up our children in a pleasant way, then it is preferable to let them alone.
Let us remind them of how Almighty Allah appreciates the way the Prophet handled his people in the Qur’an: “...had you been rough or hard hearted, they would certainly have dispersed …” (Ali Imran 3: 159)." http://altinoluk.com