This is what most of the people say when they are starting their conversation after a sigh, which sounds like as if someone has taken all the air out of their lungs.

Remember that you are living in a world where billions of people die just because they can’t manage to get clean water, let alone a few grains of food. You might be one of those lucky people who can afford internet, might be sitting on a chair, under a roof which doesn’t leak when it rains. You have absolutely a billion reasons to be happy about. But yes, does that solve your “i hate my job” thing? Maybe not, or maybe it does, it’s just the way you look at it.

Here are a few things to “love” your job:-

• Apply for something else, something that you “love” doing
• Do more at work, because most of the times one hates a job because one has nothing to do
• At a time where finance crisis might hit again, be thankful for what you have and hang in there
• If you are in a job you hate, and been there for a few years with same mindset, I would never want you working for me, but ask yourself would you hire yourself?
• Do some courses, go on seminars to learn more about your field. The only person who’s stopping you from learning, is you.

If the above few tips don’t help. Then visit the local unemployment center where you live, and see how people struggle to get even a few hours job to manage their day.

I don’t recall a single job I hated, i liked them all in one way or the other. Because it was either that or being unemployed. So the choice is yours. If you want to move up the ladder, give your best and as far as I remember when I used to work as a sales agent at a tiny shop in Norway when employers didn’t see the potential in me, I kept applying until a few did. And I have never looked back.

I do recall and thank God for the moments I have managed to go through, but one thing is for sure… I love all my jobs, because they put bread and butter on my table. *

* Norway is going through a butter-crisis these days, so maybe this line won’t fit

I often wonder what makes a racist person tick, and to be honest I guess everything and everyone that isn’t like them makes them go nuts.

A racist person usually uses his race card whenever he has to prove a point, and most of the times or almost all of the times, the race card is used to ridicule the other person’s feelings and emotions. I am sure if the laws in some western countries are really followed then lots of such people will be charged for psychologically torturing people around them who are just interested in being left alone so they can do their daily chores.

Often it’s shown in the media that Muslims are rude and uncivilized people, but never has anyone bothered to really see what a practicing Muslim is to be like. Often we hear people say “I know how it feels when someone makes fun of your religion or your background”, to be very honest, no one would know unless you are from the same background, that’s the fact.

How to fight racism?

Let’s talk constructive.

• Teach your children to respect others despite what their background is, remember you will be thankful you did, because children who see their parents make fun of others are usually not someone children can look up to, maybe at childhood but when they grow older, they will realize what hate-speech is. So stop sooner than later.
• It’s not wrong to read the news, but remember that most news channels and sites are now tabloids who are just interested in advertisement income, sadly not looking at the after affects of their news.
• If you have hard feelings about someone who is from a different country, first ask yourself if its really worth it that you are holding on to feelings only due to some news channels? Is it a personal experience, then remember you can’t hate the whole group based on one person. To look at it constructively ask yourself if everyone should hate you because you belong to the same background as a serial rapist?

Being racist is not cool! Click on “recommend” below to share this on Facebook!

This is probably one of the most difficult words one can say. In life we come across people who just by trying to be nice say yes to everything. They fail to realize that before pleasing others it’s important that they please themselves first. And by that I mean just what I said. Pleasing oneself is absolutely impossible if what you are doing for others is making you miserable.

Examples:-

• When someone asks you to do something for them and you KNOW that you have no capacity to do the task, please say no. It’s not rude to say so, but it’s worse when you can’t do the task when you have no time to do it.
• Say no to give yourself a break, because no matter how you look at it one can really exhaust oneself by pleasing other people

The idea behind this tiny post is not to tell you to say no to everything. I myself love helping others, and usually hardly ever say no. But I have my own way of saying a kind no to something I can’t do. Although we can all be better at it if we try.

So summing it up:-

• Be nice and kind, but learn to say no
• Be sweet but learn to realize where your limit is
• Be helpful but realize if something you are saying yes to is even possible without someone else’s help

I find it very unreasonable when I see people around me trying to look down at someone just because they are different or belong to a background which the media pretends is evil and the root of all the wars around the world. I find it as an excuse to look beyond the things that can be done to better a situation that is not going to get better before we all work together.

Negative people will stay negative

Well not always, but most of the times negative people have a surrounding that’s feeding them with such thoughts. A person who hates someone just because of their background is getting “fed” by the media to hate them even more, and in that whole process I find the media has the same amount of blame as the one who is hating others.

How can that be changed?

Journalists need to be taught about various cultures rather than just growing up in a society that hates “different” people and working at places where they are responsible for millions of mindsets being set about a certain group. They need to get some proper education in religious studies and be aware that what they say is not only read, but creates conflicts that usually end up like the one in Oslo on 22nd July 2011.

What is a healthy society?

In my view it’s a society which respects and realizes that certain groups are here to stay, now I am talking about countries where immigrants are living and working day and night becoming an important part of that land while contributing to its safety. It’s heart breaking seeing posts and news articles where day and night people are posting comments trying to show their hate towards certain groups just because of a few nutcases who don’t care to follow their religion properly.

Norway is being hit hard by a wave of rapes. So I guess it’s probably time to bring back the article I wrote a few months back derived from an interview with rapists in a prison in US. It was an article I found online and I gathered all the tips into a 10 point list. 

Click for the list

Hi everyone, I have in the past few days been very much into Speed Reading. A concept that allows you to improve your reading speed. I thought that maybe making something for others might help them enjoy this technique as well.

The software I have had developed allows you to adjust the “words per minute” and “words at a time”, plus other settings.  I am just adding this post to give you access to a FREE version of the windows application of the software.

The program comes in two versions.

1. Web-based version = http://www.WakReader.com

2. Windows version = http://www.wakreader.com/free_download.php

You can try the software on the web-based version, and then download a copy for your PC. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed having it made according to sketched out specs.

I recall living in Pakistan the first 8 years of my life with my mother and grandmum, my dad was in Norway who came only once or twice in the whole duration to see us. Yes, it was hell for a kid who used to cry every night wondering where his dad is when he used to see others playing with their fathers. Mum was a strong person, may God give her place in Paradise, ameen sum ameen.

The experience taught me one thing and that was, that I give my kid as much time as I can. Money comes and goes but if the time is gone I can never bring it back. I wouldn’t ever wish for my kid to grow up wondering why I never gave him time when I could, this is one thing that every parent should work on.

Why is it important?
Well first of all, if you have had a baby then not giving it time is very unfair. You brought it to the world, so what’s the excuse of not showing him/her your love? And on the other hand I think the most important reason for giving kids time early in life is, that you can focus on injecting in them nice values of humanity and anything that you missed out in your childhood, just program the kid to be an individual who everyone loves to be around. Show him that materialism is not the thing to go, but the values that lie in the heart of people.

You will thank yourself when your child grows up and gives you their time and love. I wish my mum was alive, so I could give her even more time than what I did. I am sure I wouldn’t have repaid a single night’s pain of labor she went through even if I had taken care of her till the Judgment day.

I was having a conversation with someone few days ago about giving up. He said that when a person gives up, it’s because they have tried everything and that’s the reason they have this kind of an attitude of someone who wouldn’t wish to push the limits further.

I disagree to the extent that I feel, one can’t and shouldn’t give up when it’s something that other people have also achieved. For example, if a person says “I can’t reach the top of Mount Everest” then that would be a statement that holds absolutely no strength, because there have been numerous people just like you and I, who have reached the top of Mount Everest, on the other hand referring to a very common thing we go through in our lives is applying for new jobs. Lots of people give up when they can’t get the job they applied for.

Remember, you won’t get the job you are looking for if you don’t apply for the one you are most suitable for, simple as that. So if you are good in designs, applying for a job that requires a guy who is good with light bulbs won’t do the trick. And when you finally get in for the interview, NEVER EVER LIE! Yes, It’s in CAPS, because I feel that when you lie to get a job, you won’t manage to stay for long.

Honesty is definitely the best policy, if you want to stick around. When you can’t do something, just say it, don’t twist people around.

It started on Friday 22 July 2011. With a painful picture of a building that was unrecognizable I realized that Norway is under attack by someone who has lots of hate in their heart. I didn’t know who was behind it, or what intentions they had. But one thing I had doubts of, it might be someone who will misuse my lovely religion Islam. But what will happen now I thought? Would I be the victim of hate each time I am in the city, will the ethnic-Norwegians look at me and say “Hey terrorist, get out of here”

But where am I to go? This is also my country, I have lived here as much as I have lived in Pakistan.

Evening of 22 July

While watching the scenes on tv, I was on Facebook seeing the updates by people. So much hate, that it was unbearable that people would start targeting Muslims just minutes after the bomb went off. Thanks to the media, people hated us Muslims due to every single political attack around the world, and when they paint it with “religion”, people tend to think, “here comes Jihad”.. Jihad is a struggle within ourselves and no where in the Quran the word is mentioned as a “fight”, and neither will you find the word “holy war” in there.

Group that brought Norway together – 230 000 members!!

Between 16:00 and 17:00 I started a group event called “together against terror” which later on became “Standing together for peace”. Little did I know that it would turn into a 100 000 strong group in matter of a few hours, at the time of writing this it’s over 230 000.  I saw that people needed some way of showing their support and that’s when a thought came to mind. And i posted this message on Friday evening.

Let’s start a “National March Day” where every Norwegian can come out of their homes and show their love and support for those that passed away and those affected by it. Let’s show the world if one person’s hate can go beyond the love we all can create together. Let’s do it guys!!

I put up a few words in the event info page and asked everyone to message me if they are in a different city than Oslo, so that we can start a march there as well. My “condition” was:-

• timing has to be 18:00
• date has to be Monday 25 July

Why this date and time?
Since I was helping promote the event in Oslo by another facebook member, I thought that choosing the same time rather than starting my own campaign would be a better idea. Afterall if I was talking about unity, why would I start my own “march”.. it wouldn’t be right to divide Norway into one Oslo march and one for each city, not logical, I thought.

What happened behind the scenes?
When a person would ask me if their city had a march, I would tell them to call the police, pick a meeting place of their choice, and send me the link to an event and told them how to make it, others knew the procedure. The link would then go on the official “march” page at http://www.StandingTogetherForPeace.com and the site got packed with traffic, so much that it crashed a few times.

I was up awake till 4 in the morning on friday , saturday, sunday and then even upto 17:30 I kept getting new “march” info from various people around Norway who wanted to be listed. I had to do the updates via my iphone to avoid anyone to miss out, I apologize if someone didn’t get their listed, it was a LOT of work. And you guys rocked and made it all happen, as I mentioned on the event start.. together we are stronger!

On Monday I appeared on TV2, a Norwegian tv channel, to explain the way it all worked and how I thought of the process and the unexpected amazing results that appeared. All those that said yes to setting up an event in their own city have done a great job, and some cities managed a number between 50 000 to over 150 000 people, the one in Oslo which had only 3250  members in its own event page got a sudden boost after I listed it on my front page as the official gathering I am supporting! The result was 200 000 people who came to Oslo, and more than 800 000 all over Norway came together at one exact time

Was it important to say on the Facebook page that I am a Muslim?

Was it not? When all the media is busy spreading is hate towards Muslims? I was asked on the TV show as to why I mentioned that I was a Muslim on the event page. It was very important I said, maybe because of the way media has programmed everyone about Muslims. I wanted to change that by showing that we also care about Norway just like an Ethnic-Norwegian would, it’s also my country. And I want peace, don’t you?

What will change now?

I hope things change, first of all the police should shut down all hate groups present in Norway and other countries should also shut down every single group that promotes hate against other religious groups. If a so called, self-invented group like Al-Qaida, is mentioned as a terrorist organization then groups like EDL should also be on the list, since that’s what they do, they promote hate and that’s what we saw on 22 July.

Why hasn’t the media mentioned that a Muslim was behind the Idea of a National march?

At the time of writing this, apart from Tv2 in Norway, no other media had the guts or courage to mention that the biggest event organizer who kick started the whole thing was a Muslim, and a Norwegian. I rather not have my name mentioned anywhere, but I feel it was VERY important at this time to mention that a “Muslim” took the initiative and pushed others to join this amazing cause of showing concern and love towards others.

I got a very awkward response from a journalist in one of the so called “top” newspapers in Norway, which is known for it’s “fuel” towards us Muslims. He said that reason behind me not writing that the group is created by a Muslim is, that it wouldn’t be of any use and won’t affect people’s mindset in a positive way. I totally disagree, but i didn’t find it reasonable to respond back to.

So what’s the plan for “Standing together for peace”?

I have set up another group with the same name, and will focus on setting up and helping “peaceful” gatherings all over the world. Am working on a few applications for the web that will enable people to set up events. The only condition is, the event HAS to be for a peaceful cause otherwise they won’t be listed!

I hope that we can see beyond the religious values we all have among ourselves, and keep our negativity aside. Because at the end of the day, those that were killed by the terrorist on Friday, were from all backgrounds. A bullet doesn’t see who it’s hurting, but we humans do! So watch your words and stay safe!

Regards,

A Muslim!

—-

My interviews in the media:-

- TV 2 (Appeared in the morning show)

- Dagsavisen (Power of social media)

- NTB (The day that changed everything and nothing)

- Eastern Eye

I see people who somewhat have a good education and good family background as they claim but might not consider for a single second the harm they might be doing by opening up their lips to utter anything harsh about someone.

Rudeness is not just a bad thing but a sickness that truly doesn’t have any place in a civilized society. But then again which civilized society are we talking about? A society where it’s encouraged when someone is making fun of someone or opening up the pandora’s box with all secrets of that person to the world?

The only way we can fix this whole “society” is to look within ourselves and think before we speak.

Ask yourself the following.

Is what I am going to say going to :-

1. ..spoil a friendship?
2. ..ruin someone’s mood?
3. ..destroy a relation?
4. ..make me “feel” evil?
5. ..turn me into a liar?
6. ..put me to shame later on in life?

If answer to any or all the above is “yes”, then stop before saying anything. You will thank yourself.