The paradox of our time in history is that we have
taller buildings but shorter tempers,
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more,but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families,
more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees, but less sense,
more knowledge, but less judgement,
more experts, yet more problems,
more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much,
spend too recklessly, laugh too little,
drive too fast, get too angry,
stay up too late, get up too tired,
read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbour.
We conquer outer space but not inner space.

We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information,
to produce more copies than ever,
but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion,
big men and small character,
steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce,
fancier houses, but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers,
throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies,
and pills that do everything from cheer,
to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the
stockroom.
A time when technology can bring this letter to you,
and a time when you can choose either to share this insight,
or to just hit delete.

"Relationship means something complete, finished, closed.
Love is never a relationship; love is relating.
It is always a river, flowing, unending.

Love knows no full stop;
the honeymoon begins but never ends.
It is not like a novel that starts at a certain point
and ends at a certain point.
It is an ongoing phenomenon.

Lovers end, love continues.
It is a continuum.
It is a verb, not a noun.
And why do we reduce the beauty of relating to relationship?
Why are we in such a hurry?

-Because to relate is insecure,
and relationship is a security,
relationship has a certainty.
Relating is just a meeting of two strangers,
maybe just an overnight stay and in the morning we say goodbye.
Who knows what is going to happen tomorrow?

And we are so afraid that we want to make it certain,
we want to make it predictable.
We would like tomorrow to be according to our ideas;
we don't allow it freedom to have its own say.
So we immediately reduce every verb to a noun."

Short extraction from Polly Pocket (notes) in Facebook:

1. The whiner. Nobody knows the troubles she's seen. Things most of us accept as part of daily life -- carpool snafus, demanding bosses, men with poor communication skills -- she treats as evidence that the world is against her. We all enjoy complaining occasionally, but with her it's a nonstop moan-fest. Susan, 30, a public relations executive, refers to one of her friends as "the Crisis Queen." "It's always a catastrophe. It's draining just to have to hear it," she says.

2. The leech. She treats her friends like servants who exist to feed her dog, cover her shift at work, pick up her dry cleaning or peel her another grape. "She'll start off asking what I'm up to, but she really just wants to find out if I'm free to help her out," says Ellen, 39, a stay-at-home mom, about the leech in her life. "She recently called to ask what my daughter was doing. I said nothing, thinking she was going to invite her over. Instead, she asked if her daughter could come to my house!"

3. The busy bee. She's the PTA president, a party organizer and a domestic goddess all rolled into one. She makes you feel as if you are but a mere blip on her overscheduled radar screen. She consistently shows up late or says she's too busy to take your calls. "Since my friend got a new job, all she talks about is her crazy schedule," says Leslie, 26, an environmental consultant. "She makes it seem as if she's doing me a big favor by making time for me!"

4. The yakker. Thank God for caller ID. Everybody has friends that like to talk (if any of my pals are reading this, please know I've got that muzzle on order), but this buddy never lets you get a word in edgewise. In fact, she missed her calling as a telemarketer or a carnival barker. "I could hand the phone to one of the kids for five minutes and she wouldn't notice," says Kristi, age 42, a personal coach, of her personal Chatty Cathy. "Next time she calls, I'm going to have the country song 'I Wanna Talk About Me' playing in the background and see if she gets the hint."

5. The adviser. We all count on our friends for advice, but nobody needs a steady stream of unsolicited intervention. Whether this pal is trying to prove how smart she is or start her own counseling practice, she's got the answer for everything -- whether you ask her or not. Jodie, 32, a part-time nurse and mother of two, says she quit sharing things with one of her friends because, "She can't just listen; she always has to tell me what to do. She reminds me of the mother-in-law from hell!"

6. The dumper. Whenever something better comes up, she drops you like yesterday's business. The worst kind of dumper is the one that treats her female friends like fill-ins or time-passers until a guy comes into the picture. Jennifer, 24, a law student, says of one boy-crazy friend: "You'd think she was still in high school. We'll make plans weeks in advance, but if her boyfriend calls and asks her to hang out, she rushes over."

7. The bragger. She's been there and done that -- way better than you have. She just can't resist telling you how many carats her diamonds are or how much better her office is. She lets you know that your discount designer duds are so last season, while her outfits came straight from the Paris runway. "My conversations with this one friend consists of how important she is at work, what she's done to her house and how perfect her marriage is," says Julie, 31, a human resources administrator. "Doesn't she know it's supposed to be a friendship, not a competition?"




I regret to say that I've met/am meeting all 7 types of people before/currently.