.......JUSTICE FOR SUJEDRA................

25-year-old Sujendra Amarasingham

I am disgusted!  I am mad!  I want Justice!  

 

I never met 25-year-old Sujendra Amarasingham.  I wish I had.  He was studying electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. 

He immigrated to the United States from Sri Lanka, where his parents still live, in the hopes of finding a better life.  Instead he was murdered!  Gunned down in cold blood yesterday, while he worked at a Gas Station in Kansas City, Missouri. 

It's not bad enough that some dirt bag gunned him down for a small amount of money, but after he had been shot and lay literally dying on the ground, by the cash register, a customer, who had been pumping gas - stepped over his body and stole more money from the cash register!!!!  YES, that's right!  One jerk gunned him down and fled and THEN some worthless customer helped himself to cash and free gasoline - then drove away WITHOUT calling 9-1-1 or comforting Sujendra! 

I am ashamed for all Americans!!!  How can anyone do this to another human being????

For more on the story - go to the Kansas City Star HERE and HERE

If, by chance, you know anything about this horrific incident, please call the Kansas City Police @

816-474-TIPS (474-8477)

.......Goals for the New Year (no resolutions!).......

(This is my submission to the Seneca News Dispatch for this week)

As the New Year approaches, many people will be discussing their “resolutions”.  I will not be one of them.  You see, I am not good at keeping my resolutions, so I have decided to have goals or targets.  This way if I mess up I will just say; “I missed my target” and not feel like such a bum for failing.

There are always things we can improve upon.  I have struggled with my weight for years.  I know all of the reasons I must lose weight, from appearances to heart health.  I have tried to diet and exercise.  Every time, I seem to miss my target and fall off the wagon.  I find comfort in eating food, especially when I am stressed. 

Eating because you are stressed is not much different than an alcoholic drinking because they can’t cope with their life.  Now, before you get too upset with me in comparing over eating and over indulging alcohol – realize there really are similarities. 

Neither of these activities is good for your body and each leads to a multitude of health problems.  People become ill and go to emergency rooms all over the Country because of health issues related to obesity and alcoholism. Much money is wasted by people spending to satisfy these bad habits.  There is no question, in my mind, alcoholism is much more serious of a social issue, but you get the idea of what I am illustrating.

Along with my eating habits, I am working hard to rein in my spending and inflate my savings.  Along with most of you, this past year has not been kind to my pocket book.  The economy has impacted all of us in some way or another. 

I think it is imperative we reduce our personal debt, along with the National Debt.  There is no sense in leaving a lot of bills behind for my children to pay.  Instead, I want to be in a healthy financial position, which will allow me to assist my kids – as they age.  I will continue to focus on what I “need” versus what I “want”.  I will make wise choices, so I can enjoy a nice trip to Europe or Australia, without feeling guilty or breaking my bank account!

Along with my weight and finances, I am going to seek out ways to make the community better.  This is something I have considered for years and I encourage you to do the same.  If each one of us would do something simple, for example, pick up one piece of outdoor litter everyday.  How much cleaner would our community be?  If we all took the time to hold open a door for a Senior Citizen or to pause and allow someone else to have a parking place in front of us as we cruised a crowded store lot – would the world be just a little bit nicer? I think so!

Ushering in 2011 will not bring resolutions to me but it will cause me to focus a little harder on my target.  I wish you the best as the new calendar turns over.  For those of you brave enough to make “resolutions”, I bid you good luck.  As for myself, here’s hoping for a thinner, richer, and more philanthropic year!  

.....Happiness is everywhere if you look for it!.......

(This article is my submission to the Midwest Times for this week)

Recently, I had a reader from the Granby area; ask me if it was difficult come up with columns for this paper.  The reader noted our efforts of publishing “happier” news articles.  They said it was interesting to them how there were few if any stories about crime, car crashes, and the like here.  Then they really got me going, because they said it was surprising there was enough good news out there to even print.

To this long time friend and reader, I know you will see this.  I promised a published response to your words, since I felt it was important for all of us to really think about what is around us. 

For those of you who have read my column over the last couple of months, you have heard about my travels across the area and my belief we should all look out for one another.   But, here in this week’s column I hope to go a step further and ask you to go one whole week without talking about the “bad news” in the World and right here at home.  My hope and desire is you will be forced to see all the good.

I think it is human nature to be attracted to the “bad” things in life.  We drive down the road coming upon a horrible wreck, is there a person out there who does not glance over at the tangled metal to see what has happened?  As we glance at the crash, why don’t we become proud of the volunteer fireman who dropped their dinner or left their child’s ballgame, in order to race off to the aid of someone in need?

If each of us would “train” our minds to see the good in all situations, I think we would be surprised what is out there.  Just like the illustration of the traffic crash above, there are very few situations where good does not take place.

During my relatively short life, there have been many horrible news stories.  Like the attacks on September 11, 2001.  We all know many people died that day, but we also know heroes came forward and saved many others, both by thwarting the hijackers, over Pennsylvania, and by rushing to donate blood for the injured in Washington and New York.  There were many stories of complete strangers welcoming other strangers into their homes, as workers were stranded in New York.

Another tragic event, which struck much closer to home and greatly impacted my life, was the horrific Church Shooting in Neosho, which took place in August of 2007.  The story was covered locally and internationally.  However, I saw no stories talking about the citizens who came forward shortly after the incident to offer food and other kinds of comfort to the victims.  There were many area Churches who offered their sanctuaries to the affected congregation, so they could meet while their home Church was repaired. 

While there is undoubtedly a lot of evil and bad news in the world, there is much good and mush of it you never hear about.  Don’t rely on the established media outlets to tell you the joys behind the tragedies. 

You see, these media outlets have missed the boat as they seem to believe we would rather read about all the horrible events around us; however, I see The Midwest Times as a small step forward in making the world more enjoyable.  Look around you and see what’s positive.  Your life will be better if you look for the happy events, even when it may appear hard to find, happiness is all around us everyday!