advise to the unborn

An advise to the unborn
By David Verveer

It might be the most important decision in your life, selecting when, where and to whom to be a born. Choosing the most suitable parents is not something to mismanage, as this decision will influence your entire life.

When you will be standing in the hall where all elements (I am not sure if the word “elements” is correctly used, but the reader can always replace it with a more suitable term) are distributed, do not waste too much time on external features such as: a small nose, blue eyes, medium sized ears, nice looking legs, etc. as those, in our modern time, can be adjusted by simple operations.

When in the queue for brains, remember, too much brain power, will endanger your chance in becoming somebody important and / or content. General, too clever people are not liked very well, specially if they feel obliged to tell the truth. I would go, if I was you for a medium size unit, with many practical add-ons . Don’t worry too much about the I.Q., people with very low I.Qs came to be very important people (even presidents).

Going to the next station, religions and beliefs, choose something vague, something adoptable and easy going, don’t get caught in the trap of the very religious , irrelevant which religion, because it will make your life a living hell. Nationality and country is irrelevant, everywhere is fine, but personally, I prefer the warmer climates.

Now, the next station is where you choose your constitution, with elements such as pessimism, optimism, happiness, feelings, caution, hate, fanatics, etc, it is difficult to advise you, however, I would rather go for the positive alternatives, even though, they are less suitable for our modern living conditions.

Now you come to the station where one chooses your parents, pay attention, this is very important, do not choose “do-gooders”, a waste of time, also “over achievers” will not bring you the happiness you deserve. Try to go for the “professionals”, people happy with what they are and do , “idealists and pioneers” should not be selected, as they have no time for their own offspring, as they are too busy in trying to become immortal. It is important to examine the size of family, too many brothers and sisters, might be less desirable than a smaller family, but never agree to be an only child, as the attention smothers.

Rich or poor parents is less important, as fortune changes several times during lifetime, too rich or too poor are like all elements with “too” in it, to be evaded, try to go for “comfortable”.
As last station you can upload such features as “appetite”, “scholarship”, “adjustability”, “friendship”, “adoptability” and important features such as “humor” and “menschlichkeit ” (being a human in Yiddish), take a little bid of all, but a large portions of the last two elements.
I wish you success with your selections, and hope to see you soon, on this side of the border.

an archeological find from king david's period

An archeological find from the King David period
By David Verveer

To all protestors, please note: this is a fictional story, based on some facts from the past and present.

It begins with the current discovery of a tunnel in Jerusalem, which leads to the pool used by King David. The digs, which have been underway for years, are located in David's city, west of the Wailing Wall. A year ago, archeologists discovered a pool from the days of the Second Temple, that have been used by pilgrims to Jerusalem, to refresh them after their long journey. Recently, the edge of the tunnel was discovered in the digs. Archeologists posit that it leads to a pool, originally located next to the garden full of fruit trees, where King David and other kings of the dynasty used to bathe.
Professor Heinrich Gurnicht Mit Leber, or the Caracataca University of Colombia, on his Sabbatical, participating in the above dig, discovered last year an ancient jar, buried in the tunnel pass way, in which a scroll was found, revealing a report during the reign of King David, and political power structure, of those days. The scroll is written in ancient Hebrew, and seems to be written by court priests serving the temple, during the reign of David's son, King Salomon. Like most of the written material found from this period, the scroll was never completed, and the story told, does not show, how those serious political problems influenced the final years of the reign of King David.

The story deals with the period when David had become king of both Judah and Israel. He had consolidated the kingdom, and declared the town Jebus as the countries capital, named Jerusalem. He built a palace and intended to built a temple. He subjected most of Israel's neighbors, with exception of the Ammonites, which were not completely defeated. The Chief General fighting the Ammonites was named Joab, who commanded the troops on the front, while King David remained in his palace home in Jerusalem.

According to the scrolls, King David scrolls about the rooftop of his palace on a hot night, and happen to see a girl bathing completely naked on a roof nearby. He was struck with her beauty, and the following day tried to discover her identity. It was a girl named "B" married to Uriah, a Hittite, serving as General, in David's army. According the investigation run by Nathan, the prophet and head of the moral police of those days, David kidnapped "B", and raped her, (according her version of the story, while the king insist, they only talked) before sending her home.

"B", informed the king that she was pregnant and expecting a child, which according her, was David's offspring. It is not clear from the story, if this was an attempt of blackmail the king by "B". But it appears that David ordered his chief of staff, Joab to make sure that Uriah would be sent to the most dangerous front, fighting with the Amonnites. And indeed, in the next battle, Uriah got killed.

Nathan's team investigating a complaint for alleged rape and other charges, believed the material collected so far contained sufficient evidence for at least three charges in the affair, based on the evidence it appears highly likely that the team will recommend indicting the king on three charges. While the evidence is strong regarding the charges of sexual harassment, in other matters, improper conduct in the granting of pardons and spying on the king's service men, more evidence will be needed to make it stick.

Nathan, in a meeting with the King, advised him to retire from reign, ahead of publishing the report of the investigating team. There is no evidence of the king taking the advise of Nathan, but as said before the scroll was not completed and we will never know, how the King managed to continue his reign, after such a scandal. \n \nEpilogue:\nThe above mentioned girl "B", according the bible story appears to be a girl named Bathsheba, but it could be that there were more girls indicated by the letter "B".

Nathan, in a meeting with the King, advised him to retire from reign, ahead of publishing the report of the investigating team. There is no evidence of the king taking the advise of Nathan, but as said before the scroll was not completed and we will never know, how the King managed to continue his reign, after such a scandal.

Epilogue:

The above mentioned girl "B", according the bible story appears to be a girl named Bathsheba, but it could be that there were more girls indicated by the letter "B".

Forgetfullness

Loss of memory
By David Verveer
This is not about me, I NEVER FORGET ANYTHING, yes dear, I will take the trash!
Forgetfulness comes with the age, there is not much you can do about it, simply your brain which works like a computer, is not able anymore to contain the enormous quantity of information stacked, and start pushing parts of your memory into deep black corners of your brains daily operation. Before I forget, I tell you some silly old age jokes, illustrating the problem:
· An older gentleman told his grandson that the second thing that goes, when you get old, is your memory, the grandson asks, what is the first, on which granny replied, I forgot.
· Two old friends meet after many years, the one says to the other, you remember, we both run after the same girl, his friend agreed and said, I remember it clearly, but what I don’t remember, is why?
· An older man was told that he forgot to close his fly, he replied that is nothing, the trouble is when I forget to open it.
But I too, am getting older, and forgot most of those stupid jokes, thus let us get one moment serious, and discuss the problem, and please be so kind to remind me now, what was again the subject?
The grade of forgetfulness is different for any individual, and also when it starts to take effect. First , one does not realize the process, when somebody pried himself, never to forget a name, suddenly he sees a face, which he can not label with a name. This is specially irritant when you see a movie, and the film star is familiar to you, but you can not remember, from which film. With me, that is terrible annoying, as I don’t like to give in, and spend nights on placing this guy or lady. Also these things happen, when you meet somebody removed of his usual environment, I met during the Yom Kippur war in Sinai an officer, who was extremely familiar, but still we both could not recollect from where we knew each other, we tried the army, but he was much younger, we tried the neighborhood, but he lived in another place, etc., until we got fed up with trying and parted. A few months later, after I got back to the office, I suddenly saw him, and realized that he was the owner of a blueprint shop, who served our office on a daily base.
The brain does not work logical, according the filing system: first in, first out, just the opposite, one remembers things which happened 50 years ago, much better than what happened last week. In my case, I underwent in my youth, the trauma of the holocaust , that were only 3 to 5 years of my life, but I still vividly remember most pleasant memories of those days, (thank God, the bad memories I forgot and try to push back in the dim, even, when artificially, I am forced to think about those days, due to yearly memorial days.

Memory Loss With Aging: What's Normal, What's Not (copied from the website: familydoctor.org)
How does the brain store information?
Information is stored in different parts of your memory. Information stored in the short-term memory may include the name of a person you met moments ago. Information stored in the recent memory may include what you ate for breakfast.
Information stored in the remote memory includes things that you stored in your memory years ago, such as memories of childhood.
How does aging change the brain?
Beginning when you're in your 20s, you begin to lose brain cells a few at a time. Your body also starts to make less of the chemicals your brain cells need to work. The older you are, the more these changes can affect your memory. Aging may affect memory by changing the way your brain stores information and by making it harder to recall stored information. Your short-term and remote memories aren't usually affected by aging. But your recent memory may be affected. You may forget names of people you've met recently. These are normal changes.
What about when I know a word but can't recall it?
This is usually just a glitch in your memory. You'll almost always remember the word with time. This may become more common as you age. It can be very frustrating, but it's not usually serious. (end quote).

I am of course not talking about Alzheimer and other memory losing illnesses, which are tragic, and hope that soon cures are found for these, as memory is the only thing, which makes somebody so special.
To be able to put memories on paper (or in the computer) is very important, as family and descendants have the right to know the historical days and happenings, and comprehend those days, so different but also so similar to the present. Specially when efforts trying to recall and record the past, helps fighting loss of memory.
Memory means many things, personality, experience, love, fright and professionalism, without it, one is a living death.