Sword of Damocles. According to Greek legend, the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius (end of the 5th century BC) offered to replace him for one day on the throne to his favorite Damocles, who considered Dionysius the happiest of mortals. In the midst of fun at the feast, Damocles suddenly saw a naked sword hanging over his head, hanging on a horsehair, and realized the illusory nature of well-being.
Crisis is some very disturbing word and a state hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles. Everywhere there is only talk: someone was fired, someone was sent on vacation for an indefinite period, someone had an unpaid loan, someone is sick, and the medicine is getting more expensive, and then ... What will happen next?
There are troubles, such as wars, when you can survive only by uniting all the people. There are troubles when everyone survives on their own, and even relying on the help of a friend, or united in some small cells.
Let's learn to survive. Where to begin? First, don't panic! Any panic is an additional expenditure of energy, nerves, money, it is chaos. Try to clearly distinguish between your personal problems, your social group and state ones. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the state is not always us, it has its own difficulties. If you are a civil servant or hired worker, or you have your own business, these are also somewhat different planes. In the first case, if you are nevertheless fired, do not make a tragedy out of it. Calm down, wait it out and just look for another job, perhaps changing your occupation altogether. Try to find yourself a use in some other area. It may turn out that everything is for the better, and before you worked at all there, and the changes will open up new abilities in you, other perspectives.
Believe me, there is always work, the only question is what to do. Don't be afraid of change! Remember that in the 90s, many engineers and teachers changed jobs to ones that were completely uncharacteristic of their education: they went into business, repairs, and trade. Among my acquaintances in those years, a former officer took up Internet technologies, and the best teacher of the year in one of the republics took up construction. Someone has remained in this area, grew up and feels great, someone returned to the profession back and remembers those years as some kind of adventure, not the worst in life. Which, meanwhile, made it possible to simply survive in something very difficult time help yourself and your family. The current owners of their own business can all the more proudly say: I survived in more difficult situation, I survived, nothing broke me and will not break me now.
It is important in stressful situations not to focus on yourself, on your own suffering, not to accumulate and nurture resentment at the injustice of our world order. Everything passes - the crisis will also pass. Jumping down is not always bad. What we spent a lot of energy on suddenly goes away and we free up a lot of time and energy for something else. In life, nothing happens just like that Maybe someone deliberately stopped your endless running in circles to nowhere and you need to look back and think? In fact, a person needs close people, a loved one, understanding for happiness. And in monetary terms, our relative well-being fits into the amounts that we can always earn. Of course, if you do not sit idly by.
What's going on, crisis? But nothing threatens you as an individual. Decreased income? A reason to calmly analyze your expenses. Believe me, you will definitely find that in some ways they require adjustment for a long time and they can be limited absolutely painlessly. Remember that free time can be spent not only in the hustle and bustle of shops, sometimes buying absolutely unnecessary things or stuffing shopping carts to the top in supermarkets. With great pleasure, you can spend a day in the park or outside the city, in the fresh air and at minimal cost.
Remember that you once had a “hobby”, you were fond of something, for example, music or growing tomatoes on the windowsill, or very fond of collecting the most complex models of aircraft carriers. Or maybe you should try to discover the talent of a painter in yourself or remember that there are wonderful books in the world that you could not possibly be going to read. Or maybe you have long wanted to correct your figure or make your biceps more prominent? Start now! An excellent stress reliever.
It sounds trite, but life has proven it: the rich also cry, the presence or absence of happiness does not depend on the number of rubles or dollars in your pocket. Money alone does not make people happier. The most brilliant works came out from the pen or brush of the masters during periods of their greatest begging and misfortune.
So what we need from today:
1. Accept as an axiom that there is no stability in our time and never will be. Even if you are currently working, have a backup option. He might come in handy.
2. Try to have multiple sources of income. Let it be a few thin streams. If suddenly one runs out, the rest will help you stay afloat.
3. Don't be afraid to think and act outside the box. Don't be afraid to be "not like everyone else". It is non-standard solutions that sometimes give the most unexpected and positive results. Don't be afraid to make mistakes!
4. At the slightest opportunity - study. Don't be afraid to look ridiculous in someone's eyes. There is an opportunity - study at least Chinese. Who knows, maybe this will be the decisive factor and help you draw out your lucky lottery ticket.
5. Be an optimist! Friday the 13th? Quite anxious? Go ahead, get to work! On Thursday the 12th, dye your black cat red - he will definitely bring you good luck.
The world is changing before our eyes, rapidly. Changes beyond recognition. You have to live with this.
There is only one life. Appreciate every moment, even during a crisis.
Tell yourself: I am a man! I am a person! I can do everything! Life is Beautiful!
Any test is another step up. Don't be afraid to go up the stairs.
09.02.2014 09:04
"God forbid you live in an era of change." (Chinese proverb)
During the time of the perestroika that unexpectedly overtook us and the changes that followed after that, the opinion was established that the period of stagnation was the most disgusting in the former life. However, it soon became clear that it was the years of perestroika and upheavals, financial collapses and social shifts, social cataclysms and political instability that turned out to be an even greater misfortune. The most terrible, disastrous and wasted time.
This banal truth, noted by ancient Chinese sages, had to be rediscovered and tested on one's own skin.
Fortunately, in Israel, we have avoided revolutionary upheavals, although there is no need to talk about complete calm / stagnation. There has always been plenty of unrest and cause for concern: political crises, economic difficulties, difficulties in adapting, not counting military conflicts, intifadas, shelling of cities and terrorist attacks.
And yet those tragic events, those moments of crisis were a temporary phenomenon. They either flared brightly or slowly faded, but somehow quickly faded into the shadows, and the public quickly lost interest in them.
And only one social phenomenon enjoys constant attention and is in the center of vigilant control of the press. Only in one area is breaking and restructuring taking place, one revolution is replaced by another, one reform, not having time to end, is replaced by another, ready to begin.
"Those who peer into the tip of a hair will not notice how big the world is."
We are talking about the reform of school education in the country.
Just like home renovation, having started and involving many performers into its orbit, it never ends - so a large-scale reform, having gained momentum, having felt a surge of money and ministerial initiatives, will never be completed. The school reform seems to be an endless red carpet, overturned into the future, along which it is so convenient for reforming officials to walk. There is a place for the bossy hand to roam, there is a place for the reformist shoulder to itch.
I don't want to talk about everyone: the ordinary Israeli was spared by the endless school tsunami. Maybe it hurt a little those whose children are now studying, and who felt the tremors through them. Who indirectly, in a reflected way, got an idea of the grandiose advances, colossal plans and total restructuring in school education.
If we allowed ourselves to place and out of place brazenly quote folk Chinese wisdom, then it would be a sin not to remember the folk Russian poet. To paraphrase Nekrasov: the great chain broke, broke and hit - with one end of the teacher; to others, a student.
Only the victims (students) and scapegoats (teachers), direct participants and performers of the mass entertainment event under the formidable name "School Reform" felt the consequences of the rising wave of changes.
"He who listens to thunder will not hear silence."
Starting as a progressive movement towards change in outdated Israeli education, as a helping hand to the modern student, as a change in the image of the teacher, the reforms turned against both the student and the teacher in the end.
The first wave of planned school reforms rose back in the distant 2000s. At that time, the need and timeliness of reforms was indeed obvious: it was provoked both by the results of inspections falling from year to year, and by the public's complaints about outdated methods and old approaches.
The large-scale school reform planned by the Dovrat Commission attempted to cover all aspects of school life: teachers' pay and workload, teacher training, improving the image of teachers, and changing methods. Shlomo Dovrat wrote that his group "spends long hours with the leadership of the teachers' union and makes tremendous efforts to bring about reform that covers all aspects of the education system."
At the head of the prepared reform was the then persistent and ambitious Limor Livnat (2001-2006), who was able to convince Ariel Sharon of the necessity and usefulness of the school reform.
"He who sees more will not see less."
But even then, at the time of the heyday and universal approval of the reform, a nasty fly in the ointment was poured into a barrel of honey. To begin with, before entering into the reform, Limor Livnat hastened to make a statement: “According to the reform plan, the number of teachers will be reduced. The dismissal of a number of teachers will increase the salaries of the remaining teachers and create vacancies for new teachers.”
Limor Livnat was replaced by Yulia Tamir, she was replaced by Gideon Saar, who in turn ceded his post to Shai Peron. The ministers of education were different, but in one they remained unchanged - they were all zealous reformers, supporters of the ongoing reform-pressure.
Having begun under Limor Livnat as a good undertaking, under Gideon Saar the reform turned into an effective instrument of pressure on the school, into a battering ram that brought down on the school that had not yet recovered from the shocks either reform for the lower grades (“Ofek Hadash”), then for the older ones (“Oz -le-Tmura").
If at the beginning of the reform of the school there was only a small dose of fly in the ointment in future benefits to the teacher, now there was less talk about supplements - more about new responsibilities. The whole working day of the teacher changed: the full working day became obligatory - 40 hours, equalizing it with civil servants.
“He who listens to what is close will not reach what is far away.”
AND final stage The protracted epic of school reform came with the advent of the new Minister of Education, Shai Peron. It seemed to him not only what had already been done with the school, not only that every step of the teacher was taken under control - the soul demanded new broad gestures.
Another round of endless reform touched this time inner sides school life. Now it was no longer the established objective criteria that dictated the set of final exams and the rules for entering universities, but the subjective ministerial opinion.
If the minister does not like psychometric tests for admission to universities and colleges, we will abolish them with a stroke of the pen. Shay Peron does not like a lot of final exams in various subjects - let's radically reduce them. Moreover, the minister plans to deepen and continue the reform: “Shai Peron is planning a more ambitious reform, which provides for a radical reduction in the number of subjects in which students take exams ... He promised that it would be carried out in two stages, and in the second stage the number of subjects in which schoolchildren take their final exams, will decrease.”
Making it clear: the revolution has a beginning - there is no end to the reform.
09.02.2014 09:04
"God forbid you live in an era of change." (Chinese proverb)
During the time of the perestroika that unexpectedly overtook us and the changes that followed after that, the opinion was established that the period of stagnation was the most disgusting in the former life. However, it soon became clear that it was the years of perestroika and upheavals, financial collapses and social shifts, social cataclysms and political instability that turned out to be an even greater misfortune. The most terrible, disastrous and wasted time.
This banal truth, noted by ancient Chinese sages, had to be rediscovered and tested on one's own skin.
Fortunately, in Israel, we have avoided revolutionary upheavals, although there is no need to talk about complete calm / stagnation. There has always been plenty of unrest and cause for concern: political crises, economic difficulties, difficulties in adapting, not counting military conflicts, intifadas, shelling of cities and terrorist attacks.
And yet those tragic events, those moments of crisis were a temporary phenomenon. They either flared brightly or slowly faded, but somehow quickly faded into the shadows, and the public quickly lost interest in them.
And only one social phenomenon enjoys constant attention and is in the center of vigilant control of the press. Only in one area is breaking and restructuring taking place, one revolution is replaced by another, one reform, not having time to end, is replaced by another, ready to begin.
"Those who peer into the tip of a hair will not notice how big the world is."
We are talking about the reform of school education in the country.
Just like home renovation, having started and involving many performers into its orbit, it never ends - so a large-scale reform, having gained momentum, having felt a surge of money and ministerial initiatives, will never be completed. The school reform seems to be an endless red carpet, overturned into the future, along which it is so convenient for reforming officials to walk. There is a place for the bossy hand to roam, there is a place for the reformist shoulder to itch.
I don't want to talk about everyone: the ordinary Israeli was spared by the endless school tsunami. Maybe it hurt a little those whose children are now studying, and who felt the tremors through them. Who indirectly, in a reflected way, got an idea of the grandiose advances, colossal plans and total restructuring in school education.
If we allowed ourselves to place and out of place brazenly quote folk Chinese wisdom, then it would be a sin not to remember the folk Russian poet. To paraphrase Nekrasov: the great chain broke, broke and hit - with one end of the teacher; to others, a student.
Only the victims (students) and scapegoats (teachers), direct participants and performers of the mass entertainment event under the formidable name "School Reform" felt the consequences of the rising wave of changes.
"He who listens to thunder will not hear silence."
Starting as a progressive movement towards change in outdated Israeli education, as a helping hand to the modern student, as a change in the image of the teacher, the reforms turned against both the student and the teacher in the end.
The first wave of planned school reforms rose back in the distant 2000s. At that time, the need and timeliness of reforms was indeed obvious: it was provoked both by the results of inspections falling from year to year, and by the public's complaints about outdated methods and old approaches.
The large-scale school reform planned by the Dovrat Commission attempted to cover all aspects of school life: teachers' pay and workload, teacher training, improving the image of teachers, and changing methods. Shlomo Dovrat wrote that his group "spends long hours with the leadership of the teachers' union and makes tremendous efforts to bring about reform that covers all aspects of the education system."
At the head of the prepared reform was the then persistent and ambitious Limor Livnat (2001-2006), who was able to convince Ariel Sharon of the necessity and usefulness of the school reform.
"He who sees more will not see less."
But even then, at the time of the heyday and universal approval of the reform, a nasty fly in the ointment was poured into a barrel of honey. To begin with, before entering into the reform, Limor Livnat hastened to make a statement: “According to the reform plan, the number of teachers will be reduced. The dismissal of a number of teachers will increase the salaries of the remaining teachers and create vacancies for new teachers.”
Limor Livnat was replaced by Yulia Tamir, she was replaced by Gideon Saar, who in turn ceded his post to Shai Peron. The ministers of education were different, but in one they remained unchanged - they were all zealous reformers, supporters of the ongoing reform-pressure.
Having begun under Limor Livnat as a good undertaking, under Gideon Saar the reform turned into an effective instrument of pressure on the school, into a battering ram that brought down on the school that had not yet recovered from the shocks either reform for the lower grades (“Ofek Hadash”), then for the older ones (“Oz -le-Tmura").
If at the beginning of the reform of the school there was only a small dose of fly in the ointment in future benefits to the teacher, now there was less talk about supplements - more about new responsibilities. The whole working day of the teacher changed: the full working day became obligatory - 40 hours, equalizing it with civil servants.
“He who listens to what is close will not reach what is far away.”
And the last stage of the protracted saga of school reform came with the advent of the new Minister of Education Shai Peron. It seemed to him not only what had already been done with the school, not only that every step of the teacher was taken under control - the soul demanded new broad gestures.
Another round of endless reform touched this time the inner aspects of school life. Now it was no longer the established objective criteria that dictated the set of final exams and the rules for entering universities, but the subjective ministerial opinion.
If the minister does not like psychometric tests for admission to universities and colleges, we will abolish them with a stroke of the pen. Shay Peron does not like a lot of final exams in various subjects - let's radically reduce them. Moreover, the minister plans to deepen and continue the reform: “Shai Peron is planning a more ambitious reform, which provides for a radical reduction in the number of subjects in which students take exams ... He promised that it would be carried out in two stages, and in the second stage the number of subjects in which schoolchildren take their final exams, will decrease.”
Making it clear: the revolution has a beginning - there is no end to the reform.
“God forbid to live in an era of change,” says an old Chinese proverb, meanwhile, this era never stops, and perhaps there can be no other. Of course, when you read the classics, it seems as if they have the same things - the same problems, experiences, dreams and anxieties. However, is this true? Not really. Even over the past 100–150 years, many aspects Everyday life changed beyond recognition, and what shocks us today left our ancestors indifferent, while the usual modern man things caused in the old days a lot of embarrassment, hostility and inconvenience.
Housing
Today it is normal for us to have our own apartment or even a house, or to rent a house. The object of rent is usually either an entire apartment or a room. Looking at luxurious apartments from old paintings and engravings, we forget how a huge percentage of city dwellers huddled in corners, attics and basements.
Previously, not only rooms were rented out in apartments, but also corners and beds
Not even rooms were rented - corners. In one room, separated by a screen or curtain, singles and whole families could cohabit. Moreover, it was practiced to rent the same bed to several people at once: while you are at work, several tenants manage to sleep in your bed.
Personal hygiene
You don't know anything about shame unless you've had to hide the bathroom in a closet and hide the shower behind a fake door. Meanwhile, according to the etiquette of the nineteenth century, such items were considered indecent. In the palace of Alexander II, the bathroom was hidden in a special recess in the floor, on top of which there was a sofa, and the shower was literally in the closet. Before filling the bath with water, it was necessary to lay a clean sheet in it - they tried to avoid direct contact of the body with the body of the bath. Chandelier showers were also popular - candles were inserted into them on one side, and water flowed out of the holes on the other.
Gau Eduard Petrovich. Bathroom of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1877
Way of life
Staying late at work, you probably warn your family about this. But imagine that a late return promises you at night on the street. And not because a jealous spouse or spouse will not let you on the threshold, but because your own janitor simply will not open it for you. Returning after midnight and not being allowed into your own apartment is a common thing for residents of tenement houses. For reasons of order and security, the janitors always locked entrance doors, and latecomers were taken "for tea".
Pets"
“If there was a hut, there would be cockroaches”, “A cockroach is not a fly, it will not stir up a belly” - there are many proverbs about cockroaches in Russian culture, and it is no coincidence that, together with fleas, bedbugs, ants and other pests, they were an integral part of the inhabitants of residential houses. “What is sleep without a bedbug?” one of Goncharov’s characters argued in Oblomov. It’s not that they weren’t tried to be taken out, but they weren’t considered a special disaster either. The dwellings of ordinary citizens, that of those very beautiful aristocrats from the ceremonial portraits were teeming with various pests and insects. Instead of fighting them, people of even the highest society often preferred to carry elegant bite-scratches and exquisite flea trap boxes.
It is difficult to imagine what of the ordinary and familiar today will become savagery for our descendants. What will they laugh at in a hundred years and what will the next generations be horrified by? It seems to us that we are absolutely normal now.
