A war of loss and who is the winner!?

War barely brings anything good for humanity and US war in Afghanistan is not an exception!

For years, Afghanistan was ruled by many foreign powers! And lastly, after 9/11, US military came into the picture to defeat Taliban. A war continued for almost two decades and it’s the fate of the people of this region that they had to face this reality! From daily roadside bombing to killing women and children from airstrikes; There were no peace for years. One side Taliban playing the card of Shariah, on the other hand, super power had to demonstrate their super powers. Weaponry showing off and exhibition of costly military power despite Taliban remains undefeated. US military had to leave this region unnoticed with so many questions unanswered. One of them is “What was the point?”.

Suddenly, US troops completely evacuated Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Once a home for almost 100000 soldiers, a massive military arsenal, symbol of strength of US military, now a deserted place. As many people say war in Afghanistan is a war of numbers, we will try to explore some figures.

Let’s have a look at the loss of life:                     

Afghan: Between 2009 to 2020; Over 38,000 civilians were killed and more than 70,000 others were wounded. (UNAM) And also people have been displaced in large numbers.

US: With more than 2400 military personnel killed and over 20,700 wounded.

Afghan Security Forces: Afghan government has been skeptical in publishing the number of the casualties in security forces. But President Ashraf Ghani in 2019 said that more than 45,000 members of security forces have been killed since 2014.

Financial cost of the battle:

As of 30 September 2019, the Pentagon officially estimated the cost of US operations in Afghanistan at $776 billion since 2001.

All the parties involved in war in Afghanistan somehow lost something. Everyone has paid the price including the NATO, the US military, the Taliban and the Afghan Forces. In term of achievements, Taliban has a lot to tell. But, what about the US army!

As the critic says, it’s a mission of failure!         

Source: https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2021/0706/1233329-afghanistan/

Steve Jobs: The Legend!

If you need to visualize a person of idea and innovation, you should consider Steve Jobs at the first place. His deathbed wisdom might be able to give you some kind of understanding on life and persuasion.

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success.

However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to.

At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.

In the darkness, I look at the green lights from the life supporting machines and hear the humming mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of god of death drawing closer …

Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters that are unrelated to wealth …

Should be something that is more important:

Perhaps relationships, perhaps art, perhaps a dream from younger days

Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me.

God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth.

The wealth I have won in my life I cannot bring with me. What I can bring is only the memories precipitated by love.

That’s the true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on.

Love can travel a thousand miles. Life has no limit. Go where you want to go. Reach the height you want to reach. It is all in your heart and in your hands.

What is the most expensive bed in the world?

Sick bed …

You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear the sickness for you.

Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost — Life.

When a person goes into the operating room, he will realize that there is one book that he has yet to finish reading — Book of Healthy Life.

Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down.

Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends.

Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” STEVE JOBS (1955-2011)

Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/steve-jobs-deathbed-speech/

10 Things You Should Know Before Starting a Blog

Before starting a blog, get some basic understanding of English grammar, synonym-antonym, sentence structure, writing tone, and techniques.

Blogging or writing is a passion for many. And I am not afraid to tell you that I am one of those people who love it very much. As we all know, it is important to learn some core issues before we start something, why not in blogging?

We are in a world where everything is getting digital. And the flow of the contents on the internet is rising day by day. Reaching your content to a wide range of audiences needs some work to do. The most important issue in this regard is that your content should be optimized for search engines, especially for Google.    

But if you are a newbie, these are the things you should consider along the way of your blogging journey:

Firstly, if you want to be good at blogging. You should have ideas on a wide range of issues. To be more specific, you should always be hungry for learning more and more. If you are not a good reader and you are not consistent. Then, it would be difficult be create a unique blog.

Then, you should have a sufficient stock of words in your brain. Or, you should be enthusiastic about learning and practicing more words daily.

The third most crucial factor is that you should have a good understanding of grammar and sentence structure. Without a proper understanding of grammar, your writing will fail to create a clearer impact. So, if you are lacking in grammar awareness but you want to start blogging; Don’t make any delay to buy a good grammar book and start practicing.

Fourthly, you should be comfortable in research and analysis. Your researching capability will provide you an extra advantage in producing creative content.

Now, you should be careful about your audience. In the process, you will create some views on your website. But be cautious about whom you writing for. Be very careful that your content is not for any controversy rather than making a good impact in your community.

Sixthly, keep it simple. Whatever topic you are writing on, try to keep it simple and easy to understand.

Seventhly, don’t feel uncomfortable to take some professional help if you want to reach your content to a larger amount of people. It will give you more confidence in your blogging.

Eighthly, create your own website. There are free services around us to have a website. But, try to have a domain to make money through your blogging.

Ninthly, gather some HTML and CSS knowledge to make a longer impact in your journey of blogging. If you are not familiar with these, don’t worry. Just start the writing.

Tenthly, you should keep your enthusiasm alive for blogging. Most people fail to keep themselves engaged when they start something new. Don’t be that lazy.

(Being careful on the tone of your writing, careful for the audience, choosing the title, and creating unique content, using synonyms and antonyms)

Conclusion

Writing is not easy and starting a blog is the hardest. But if you really want to do something creative and you are curious about expressing your thoughts and feelings through writing, you should start writing asap. As a newcomer in this field, you may face so difficulties along the way. But don’t lose hope and start blogging now.

Shamsuddoha Miraj

Copy Writer, Content Writer, Editor, Learner.

Email: anafmim@gmail.com

More of Indicators, less of senses!?

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to be settler for something else.

-Lee Lacocca

I am not a student of Mahbubul Alam sir. If we put things into perspective, he is a teacher and I’m a student. So, the equation is simple. Recently, there emerged a situation, tension sparked in his students and also in the community of people known to him.

I checked his profile. I’m shocked and surprised at the same time that I have encounter the profile of an incredibly talented human being. He studied at MIT, Stanford University, University of Cambridge and a former postdoc of Imperial College London. With a basic understanding, it is clear that sir is not a normal human being. He could be anywhere in the planet if he just wanted to be. But he chose to be in Bangladesh.

People know what he has done for this country and his Institution over the years. Nevertheless, something really serious going on in this country. As our economic indicators going up, we consistently loosing our sense of respect and dignity towards others. We often forget that these are the people who have revolutionized the education of this country, these are the heroes who let us know how to dream, these are the people who have created the path to higher education.

Mathematics and theoretical physics aren’t the easiest subjects to approach and a very handful of people in this world have his level of qualifications. Despite the fact, having difficulties in his teaching gives us the message that as a nation….

Are we heading towards the wrong direction!?

Breakfast at my House

During the week we’re often walking out the door with a coffee in one hand and slice of toast in the other, but on weekends breakfast is never rushed. It’s a late affair, sometimes spilling over to lunch, with lots of reading and chatter in between courses of fruits, poached eggs, honey and toast. One of our favorite things we like to serve when friends are visiting are buckwheat blueberry pancakes.