Search Results for: blog what affects friendship

What Affects Friendship?

Friendship seems to be the ‘in’ topic at the moment. Everywhere I find articles about friendship making friends, keeping friends, letting go of friends, dealing with friends in specific situations. I’ve written several myself on the topic. It all made me wonder why friendship has recently become such a big topic. Is it because people are so pressured for time and time poor in today’s society that relationships, whether that be romantic or friendly relationships are the first to suffer? Is it because people move more often than they did in earlier times and those moves often put people further … Continue reading →

San Francisco’s Blackout Affects Internet Users Across the Country

When San Francisco suffered an eleven hour blackout on Tuesday, the people in the city weren’t the only ones affected. All across the country, people who rely on certain websites to do business or have fun were left in the dark. That is, besides people, the city also contained data centers with servers and computer equipment for websites such as Craigslist, LiveJournal and Technorati. The power outages were caused by a series of problems with Pacific Gas & Electrical Equipment, although false rumors are still running rampant across the Internet saying that the absence of Craigslist was due to some … Continue reading →

Educating Teachers and Students

It’s the start of the new school year and everyone is excited (and nervous) from parents to high school kids to kindergarteners. For some kids, the beginning of school doesn’t mean the reuniting of friends, it signifies that start of another year of loneliness and anxiety. This can be especially true for children who have special needs. Children can be cruel to other kids, especially when there are things they don’t understand, like why someone is in wheelchair or use crutches or why someone has to cough all the time. Kids often see someone that’s different and since they don’t … Continue reading →

Staying for the Sake of the Kids

Should you stay in a physically abusive situation or even a verbally abusive situation for the same of the kids? That’s the question one of our families members posed recently. Now I have to say I have never been in this position and can’t imagine being so, but I known thing, like several of you who responded to this woman’s dilemma, I think staying is not the best option. Although it might initially seem less disruptive to the children’s lives and therefore seemed better to stay and shut up and ensure the children have a father, in the end it … Continue reading →

An Unknown Word These Days

What does it mean to be faithful? Mick and I were surprised to find some people don’t even know what the word means. This week, as we do every week, Mick and I were teaching classes together at a local school. The word faithful came up in one of the activities and Mick and I were astounded to find not one child in that class knew what the word meant. These were 9-10 year olds who asked us ’what does that word mean?’ So we ended up explaining to them that being faithful means someone who you can trust, who … Continue reading →

Yes, I Teach My Teens Abstinence

Despite all of the sex education being taught in school, the condoms that are being made available on some high school campuses and the trend of “friends with benefits,” I have chosen to, yes, teach my teens abstinence. Abstinence teaching is not given much thought. If it is taught in sex education it is more likely a topic that is quickly glossed over. Not much attention is given to that concept because we seem so sure that every teenager in America is going to have sex whether we like it or not. My personal thought on that is we have … Continue reading →

Beyond BooYah: Jim Cramer’s Trip to Israel

When I’m not blogging, chasing after my kids or trying to locate someone’s lost second shoe, I write news recaps for SeekingAlpha.com. (I bet people who Google my name think they’ve reached two different Miriam Metzingers, one who writes financial news and the other who writes about Jewish families. But no, we are one and the same person). My work includes writing summaries of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money program on CNBC. I can’t believe I’ve already been doing this for four years, and it has been educational and entertaining, as I finally think I’ve gotten some idea of the method … Continue reading →

The Value of Conversations

Something struck me yesterday while doing a spell check after writing an article. I’d meant to write ‘conversation’ but because I’m the world worst typist – dyslexic fingers, it came out not even close. As a result spell check suggested I meant ‘conversion.’ But that error actually made me think. How often do conversions of family or friends or neighbors come about because of conversations? Statistics in Australia show the majority of people are invited to church or church activities by a friend. It also shows that most people come to know Jesus and commit their lives to Him, which … Continue reading →

Accepting Help

Someone brought up an interesting point in the comment on my do it together blog about accepting help. It’s as important to be able to accept help graciously as it is to give help. Years ago I had a dear friend who would do anything she could to help others. Whatever you needed she was there to help. But the sad thing was she found it hard to accept help and always felt she had to do something in return for any help given. Since we were good friends who could talk about anything I had a chat to her … Continue reading →

Maintaining Friends

On one of the forums recently one person bemoaned the fact that since she and her boyfriend have been together she has lost contact with friends. This is what can often happen when people become part of a couple or get married, unless we make an effort not to allow it too. We need to work to prevent this and to ensure that we maintain friendships that were formed in earlier times. We cannot afford to be cavalier with friendships and disregard them easily. True friends are a great source of blessing, help and encouragement as we go through life … Continue reading →