God bless the victims, families, and the community of
Newtown, Connecticut. You are all in our
thoughts and prayers.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Most Powerful People in the World 2012
Last week Forbes Magazine released its annual list of the
world’s most powerful people. Whether or
not the people on the list care one way or another about the list is irrelevant
to the fact that the subscribers to the magazine are fascinated with the
results.
Each year they analyze who is up, who is down, who is new,
and who is no longer worthy of the list.
Ironically we have a tendency to take the list as fact. The list is put together by highly informed
and educated individuals registering their opinions. There is not a mathematical formula or any
other tool used to measure personal power and influence. It is based on the educated opinion of the
lists contributors.
There was little movement in the top ten this year. The President of the United States is still
#1. President Obama is followed by the
Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel.
Below are the top ten.
1.
Barrack Obama, President of the United States
2.
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
3.
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
4.
Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation
5.
Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Roman Catholic Church
6.
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve
7.
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, King of Saudi
Arabia
8.
Mario Draghi, President of the European Central
Bank
9.
Xi Jinping, General Secretary Communist Party,
China
10.
David Cameron, Prime Minister, United Kingdom
The complete list can be found at: http://www.forbes.com/powerful-people/list/
What are your impressions of the list? What criteria would you use to judge people’s
power in the world? Given your criteria,
who should be included on your list and why?
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Hurricane Sandy
It has been five weeks from Hurricane Sandy and its
devastation to the East Coast of the United States. Places in New York and New Jersey were
decimated as a result of the storm and its aftermath.
The cost of the storm’s devastation is still undetermined. These costs include rescue efforts,
evacuation, structural damage and property restoration. Below is a link which shows before and after
pictures of the New Jersey Coast.
While tragedy is always
horrible to read about and witness, it is also within these times we are able
to witness to strength of the human spirit and the incredible lengths people
are willing to go to help their neighbors.
One such story comes from New
Jersey. Within days of the storm’s
devastation, New Jersey Strong was organized as a non-profit organization. Its sole purpose is to aid the families
victimized along the Jersey coast who were victimized by Sandy.
The organization has focused
its efforts on clean up. They are
gathering and deploying numerous volunteers to homes, parks, and other
locations to clean up the debris and attempt to restore property to the
condition it was before the storm. While
they can use money, their primary request from the public that want to be
involved is manpower. They have faced
some challenges, but with concentrated focus and relentless effort, they are
providing hope to many people who have lost their homes, cars, photos, and sense
of security.
The focus, passion, and
commitment they have shown to their community are inspiring. This is a grassroots effort to reclaim the New
Jersey shoreline, which has been an important place in their lives.
Do you know anyone who was affected
by Hurricane Sandy? What obstacles did
they face and how did they overcome those obstacles? What do you think about the efforts of New
Jersey Strong?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)