Felix Kimanthi

The Social Contract " by Jean-Jacques Rousseau -1762 One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are. People deserve to be free but that they are chained by the societies in which they live.  What he is trying to do in this book is to discuss when it can be legitimate for a society to put its people in "chains." A society may legitimately coerce its people only when they agree to be ruled by that society.   Rousseau believes that people joined together in societies in order preserve their lives and make cooperation between people possible.  They willingly made a "social contract" in which they agreed to be ruled by the state in order that their lives can be improved through increased safety and cooperation. When people are in society, they are "in chains."  The society places all sorts of rules on them that limit their freedom.  This is what the quote means--it is saying that people in societies have ...

If we could reduce the world's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this: The village would have 61 Asians, 13 Africans, 12 Europeans, 9 Latin Americans, and 5 from the USA and Canada 50 would be male, 50 would be female 75 would be non-white; 25 white 67 would be non-Christian; 33 would be Christian 80 would live in substandard housing 16 would be unable to read or write 50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation 33 would be without access to a safe water supply 39 would lack access to improved sanitation 24 would not have any electricity (And of the 76 that do  have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.) 8 people would have access to the Internet 1 would have a college education 1 would have HIV 2 would be near birth; 1 near death 5 would control 32% of the entire world's wealth; all 5 would be US citizens 48 would live on less than US$ 2 a ...

  A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we will fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. When you get old in life things get taken from you. That's, that's part of life.But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out that life is just a game of inches. Like football. Because in either game life or football the margin for error is so small. One half step too late or too early you don't quite make it. One half second too slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every br...

Branson aboard one of his rail's trains. In the summer of 2012, the British government informed  Virgin Trains  that it had lost the bid to retain the operating rights to the UK's West Coast rail franchise. Virgin Trains had been running the 7-billion-pound ( $10.9 billion ) franchise for 15 years, expanding the line and growing its annual passenger numbers from 13 million to 30 million. Richard Branson, chair of Virgin Train's parent company the Virgin Group, writes in his book " The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership " that he was "stunned and baffled" that he could have lost the bid to FirstGroup. He decided to stay quiet for awhile, meeting with lawyers and advisors to see if Virgin had actually been beaten fairly. Everyone he spoke with seemed to conclude that FirstGroup's numbers were unsustainable, meaning the British government had made a mistake in calculations. Regardless, many of his senior team told Branson that he...

Marriage is a partnership.  It may not be a 50/50 split but hopefully it is two people working together to grow a thriving family life.  One person may be the bread winner and the other takes center stage when it comes to raising the kids.  Or perhaps you both work and you both contribute to the running of the household.  So what happens when the Family, LLC has a breakdown?  When one of the CEO’s makes bad decisions or doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain.  How can you effectively get through choppy family waters together?    While there are many ways in which breakdowns occur there is a consistent way of fixing the issue that will leave you both feeling better.   Please know that not all breakdowns are fixable but in many cases they are.  Of course there is communication– being able to listen and hear what your spouse is going through.  But one of the toughest parts is the act of forgiving.  Being able to fo...

Patience is the art of handling the passing of time with a goal in mind. How Success is Like a Chinese Bamboo Tree Chinese Bamboo Tree The Story of The Chinese Bamboo Tree Like any plant, growth of the Chinese Bamboo Tree requires nurturing – water, fertile soil, sunshine. In its first year, we see no visible signs of activity. In the second year, again, no growth above the soil. The third, the fourth, still nothing. Our patience is tested and we begin to wonder if our efforts (caring, water, etc.) will ever be rewarded. And finally in the fifth year – behold, a miracle! We experience growth. And what growth it is! The Chinese Bamboo Tree grows 80 feet in just six weeks! But let’s be serious, does the Chinese Bamboo Tree really grow 80 feet in six weeks? Did the Chinese Bamboo Tree lie dormant for four years only to grow exponentially in the fifth? Or, was the little tree growing underground, developing a root system strong enough to support its potential for ou...

Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you Take comfort in the Lyrics of this song. Don't give up by ,Peter Gabriel featuring .Kate Bush. In this proud land we grew up strong We were wanted all along I was taught to fight, taught to win I never thought I could fail No fight left or so it seems I am a man whose dreams have all deserted I’ve changed my face, I’ve changed my name But no-one wants you when you lose Don’t give up ‘cos you have friends Don’t give up You’re not beaten yet Don’t give up I know you can make it good Though I saw it all around Never thought that I could be affected Thought that we’d be last to go It is so strange the way things turn Drove the night toward my home The place that I was born, on the lakeside As daylight broke, I saw the earth The trees had burned down to the ground Don’t give up You still have us Don’t give up We don’t need much of anything Don’t give up ’cause somewhere th...