SASUKI

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The Benefits of Humor

Most people would agree that laughter is good for you in every possible way. Scientific research on laughter suggests that there are many exceptional benefits to a good sense of humor and a good laugh. The old expression, “laughter is the best medicine”, is not just a cliché, but has real scientific merit.
What happens when we laugh?
Our physiology changes:
Our blood pressure and pulse immediately go up but then come down to a lower level than before. The more often you laugh the more likely your pulse and blood pressure will improve.
Our breathing is improved. Laughter causes us to breathe deeper than before, sending more oxygen into the bloodstream and nutrients throughout our system. Most of us breathe with shallow breaths and need to deepen those breaths frequently to maximize the benefits of oxygenation.
Production of our stress hormones decreases and our immune system is therefore better able to defend against disease.
There is a system wide increase in protein molecules or disease fighting antibodies. Researchers are now studying the positive effect laughter may have on production of these antibodies as they relate to fighting cancer.
People with a good sense of humor who laugh every day are more likely to have healthier hearts. A study by the University of Maryland found that people with heart disease had been 40% less likely to laugh or smile in general. The researchers concluded that laughing is likely to protect the heart.
Laughter helps oxygenate the blood and improve brain functioning. Some studies have shown that after laughing subjects show some improvement in their ability to grasp learning new material, suggesting improvement in the learning centers of the brain.
What are some of the other benefits?
Humor and laughter can help to diffuse anger. Most tense situations can be softened by injecting some humor at the right time.
Humor relieves stress and can help a person develop a better perspective. It is often far better to appreciate the more comical side of things than the serious side.
Humor brings people together and makes for a more relaxed atmosphere. Everyone enjoys being entertained and laughing is very entertaining (and contagious).
Developing a sense of humor can stave off depression by replacing negative feelings with pleasurable emotions.
Humor seems to boost our energy level. When we laugh and have fun we are apt to engage in more activities.
Humor “breaks the ice” and can help people get to know each other more easily. When meeting someone for the first time it is always better to share a laugh than a complaint.
How to develop a sense of humor.
Try becoming friendlier: Everyday make it a goal to engage a stranger (or friend or family member) with a “good morning”, “how are you?” or a “you look great today”. Making small positive connections with others lifts the spirits and creates an atmosphere for humor to develop..
Smile often: Whenever you make eye contact with someone smile at them. It is a small pleasantry that helps to keep morale and spirits high.
Learn to laugh everyday: Listen to your favorite comedian, associate with people who enjoy humor, try to view things from a humorous perspective and simply “lighten up”!
Don’t take yourself too seriously: Notice the silly things you do, notice how vain you are, notice how many things are really not that important and notice whether or not you are a little too uptight for your own good and then begin to poke some fun at yourself.
Try saying something funny: Once you have noticed some of the more comical things in your world, try pointing them out to friends. Consider engaging in more humor laden conversations, even about the economy (although that may be a stretch for an amateur), politics or any subject you like.
Having a sense of humor is essential for enjoying your life. It will help relieve stress, enhance your relationships and it may even extend your life. If you already have a sense of humor, use it as often as possible. If you don’t, then develop one as soon as possible.

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وصلــي علـى حبيبـي المصطفـى

يا قــارئ خطــي لا تبكــي على موتـي
اليـوم أنـا معــك وغــداً فـي التـُـراب وحـــــدي
فإن عشت فإني معك وإن مُـت فللذكرى أروي .
ويا مـاراً على قبــري لا تعجب من أمـري
بالأمس كنـت معــك وغـداً ستكـون معي ..
فيـا مـن غـرّتـكَ دنيـاك أنظـــر إلـى ضعفــــي
كـم عشـت مثلـك لا أبــالي إلــى نفســي ..
خطوت خطـوات على سطـح الذنـوب بقدمـي
بــل انغمسـت فيهـا ولعلـّي كنــت أدري ..
ولكنــي أنـاجــي رب غفـــور هـــو حسبــــــي
أن يغفــر لــي ذنــوبي ويرحمنــي ..
رب ألهمني الصبر على طاعتك وحسبي أنك حولــي
وصلــي علـى حبيبـي المصطفـى
عـدد مـاكـان وعــدد ما يكـــون وعــــدد مـــا حــــولي
أمــُـوت و يبقـــى كـل مـا كتبتـُـه ذكــــرى ..
فيــا ليــت كـُـل مـن قــرأ خطـــي دعــَـــا لــــــي

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فكر " ابن خلدون " فى تربية الطفولة

فكر " ابن خلدون " فى تربية الطفولة

 

لم يكن الفكر التربوى حكراً على فلاسفة الغرب، بل كان للفكر التربوى الإسلامى على مر العصور إسهاماته الفاعلة فى تطوير التربية ، ولا يقل بحال من الأحوال عن فلاسفة ومفكرى الحضارة الغربية إن لم يكن متفوقاً عليهم فى بعض جوانب التربية ، حيث جاءت كتابات عدد كبير من فلاسفة المسلمين بآراء مبتكرة ، ومذاهب تربوية كاملة مستمدة مما ورد فى القرآن الكريم والسنة النبوية الشريفة .
 

ويعد ابن خلدون عبقرية عربية واسلامية متميزة ، ولد فى تونس وتوفى فى مصر ( 732 – 808 ﻫ ) فهو المؤسس الأول لعلم الاجتماع ، والمجدد لعلم التاريخ ، وله افكاره الرائدة فى علم التربية تخطت عصره ، وما أحوجنا الى تطبيقها فى تربية أبنائنا فى عصرنا الراهن ، نورد من هذا الفكر التربوي الخالد بعض الآراء التى تناولت تربية الطفولة المبكرة ، كما وردت فى مقدمته الشهيرة ، التى خصص فيها باباً كاملاً تناول فيه العلوم وأنواعها والتعليم وطرقه المختلفة، ويقتصر العرض على طائفة من آرائه التربوية ، وخاصة ما يتعلق منها بتربية الأطفال فى مراحلهم الأولى ، وذلك فيما يلى:
- يرى ابن خلدون ضرورة ترتيب العلوم التى يدرسها الأطفال فى هذه المرحلة ، ويوضح العلوم التى يبدأ الطفل فى تعليمها ، فيقول : " إن تعليم الولدان القرآن شعار من شعائر الدين أخذ به أهل الملة لما يسبق فيه إلى القلوب من رسوخ الإيمان وعقائده من آيات القرآن وبعض متون الحديث ، وصار القرآن أصل الحديث وينبنى عليه مايحصل بعد من الملكات ، وسبب ذلك أن تعليم الصغر أشد رسوخاً وهو أصل لما بعده ، لأن السابق الأول للقلوب كالأساس للملكات ، وعلى حسب الأساس وأساليبه يكون حال ما ينبنى عليه".
- وعلى الرغم من تقرير ابن خلدون أهمية تعليم القرآن الكريم للأطفال فى بدء كل تعليم وأوضح آثار ذلك فى تكوينهم ، غير أنه ذكر رأى القاضى " أبو بكر بن العربى" وأقره الذى يرى تقديم تعليم اللغة العربية والشعر على سائر العلوم ، ثم ينتقل الطفل منه إلى تعليم الحساب فيتمرن فيه حتى يرى القوانين ثم ينتقل إلى درس القرآن ، فإنه يتيسر عليه دراسته بهذه المقدمة ، ويبدو هذا الرأى غير مألوف ، حيث ما استقر فى الأذهان واثبتته تجارب الواقع أن بدء التعليم بحفظ القرآن الكريم فى الصغر يعود الطفل على سلامة النطق واستقامة اللغة وتوسيع مدارك الطفل ، فمن المعروف أن كثيراً من الأئمة حفظوا القرآن فى سن صغيرة قبل بداية أى تعليم ، وثمة من يؤيد ابن خلدون فى إقراره لهذا الرأى .
- كما يرى ابن خلدون أن كثرة العلوم التى تقدم للأطفال مضرة بهم ، لأنها تؤدى إلى حشو ذهن الطفل بتفاصيل من المعرفة لاحاجة إليها فى هذه المرحلة من التعليم ، فيقول : " ما يضر الناس فى تحصيل العلم والوقوف على غاياته كثرة التأليف واختلاف الاصطلاحات فى التعليم وتعدد طرقها ثم مطالبة المتعلم باستحضار ذلك ، فيحتاج المتعلم إلى حفظها كلها أو أكثرها فيقع القصور" وهنا يضع ابن خلدون مبدأً من أهم مبادئ التربية وهو أن تتناسب طبيعة العلوم التى يدرسها الأطفال مع طبيعة نموهم العقلى ، وأن كل زيادة فى هذه العلوم سوف تؤدى إلى تكوين عادات غير مرغوبة تربوياً مثل قلة الفهم والتعود على الحفظ والاستظهار .
- يوضح ابن خلدون أسلوب التدريس الأمثل للأطفال ، بقوله : " إن تلقين العلوم للمتعلم إنما يكون مفيداً إذا كان على التدريج شيئاً فشيئاً وقليلاً قليلاً ، يلقى عليه أولاً مسائل من كل باب هى أصول ذلك الباب ، ويقرب له فى شرحها على سبيل الإجمال ، ويراعى فى ذلك قوة عقله واستعداده لقبول ما يرد عليه حتى ينتهى إلى آخر الفن ، وعند ذلك يحصل له ملكة فى ذلك العلم " ، وبهذا يسبق ابن خلدون بآرائه فى أساليب التعليم علماء النفس والتربية فى العصر الحديث ، حيث يقرر الطريقة الكلية فى التعليم ، وهو ما أقرته نظريات التعلم فى العصر الحديث ، كما يقرر ابن خلدون مبدأً آخر هو مراعاة القدرات العقلية للمتعلم أثناء التدريس من خلال التدريج فى التعليم بما يناسب ذكاء واستعداد كل طفل ، أو ما يطلق عليه فى عصرنا الحديث بمصطلح مراعاة الفروق الفردية بين التلاميذ.
- وضح ابن خلدون الأسلوب الأمثل للتعامل مع الأطفال أثناء التدريس حيث نهى عن ممارسة الشدة واستخدام أسلوب القهر والتعسف مع المتعلمين لأنه يضر بتكوين شخصياتهم، فيقول : " من كان مرباه بالعسف والقهر من المتعلمين سطا به القهر وضيق على النفس فى انبساطها ، وذهب بنشاطها ، ودعاه إلى الكسل ، وحمل على الكذب والخبث وهو التظاهر بغير ما فى ضميره خوفاً من انبساط الأيدى بالقهر عليه ، وعلمه المكر والخديعة ، وصارت له هذه عادةً وخلقاً ، وفسدت معانى الإنسانية التى له وهى الحمية والمدافعة عن نفسه ومنزله ، وصار عيالاً على غيره فى ذلك ، بل وكسلت النفس عن اكتساب الفضائل والخلق الجميل فانقبضت عن غايتها ومدى إنسانيتها فارتكس وعاد فى أسفل السافلين " ، وقدم ابن خلدون أمثلة لأمم تعرضت لهذا القهر والتعسف فساءت أخلاقها ، ويختتم ابن خلدون فكره التربوى فى الثواب والعقاب بقوله : " ينبغى للمعلم فى متعلمه والوالد فى ولده أن لا يستبد عليه فى التأديب".

                                                                        

وهكذا نظر ابن خلدون إلى التعليم على أنه صنعة ، أو مهنة مثل غيره من المهن تحتاج إلى الإعداد والتأهيل المناسب للقيام بها على خير وجه ، وبين ترتيب العلوم التى تقدم للأطفال ، وأساليب التدريس وكيفية التعامل مع الأطفال ، وبهذا فقد سبق ابن خلدون فى كثير من آرائه المذاهب التربوية الحدبثة

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لا تفعل يا أبى فإني تعبت فيه اليوم

 

 

 

طلب الوالد من ابنه أن يعمل وكانت أمه ترى ألا يعمل لئلا يتعب وكان الولد يضيع نهاره في اللعب وفي المساء تعطيه أمه مالاً ليقدمه إلى أبيه كأنه أجرة اليوم فيأخذ الرجل المال، ويوهم الولد أنه يلقيه من النافذة ولما نفد مال الأم طلبت من ابنها أن يذهب ويعمل وعاد الولد بأجره وقدمه إلى أبيه فأخذ الوالد المال وهم برميه من النافذة كما كان يفعل فصرخ الولد : لا تفعل يا أبى فإني تعبت فيه اليوم. فقال له والده : حقا يا ولدى لا يعرف قيمة المال إلا من تعب في الحصول عليه....

 

 

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Alexander Graham Bell

 Alexander Graham Bell

Born: March 3, 1847
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died: August 2, 1922
Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada
Scottish-born American inventor 

 

Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born American inventor and teacher of the deaf, is best known for perfecting the telephone to transmit, or send, vocal messages using electricity. The telephone began a new age in communications technology.

The young man

Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Alexander Melville Bell, was an expert on the mechanics of the voice and on elocution (the art of public speaking). His grandfather, Alexander Bell, was an elocution professor. Bell's mother, Eliza, was hard of hearing but became an accomplished pianist (as well as a painter), and Bell took an interest in music. Eliza taught Alexander, who was the middle of three brothers, until he was ten years old. When he was a youth he took a challenge from a mill operator and created a machine that removed the husks from grain. He would later call it his first invention.
After studying at the University of Edinburgh and University College, London, England, Bell became his father's assistant. He taught the deaf to talk by adopting his father's system of visible speech (illustrations of speaking positions of the lips and tongue). In London he studied Hermann Ludwig von Helmholtz's (1821–1894) experiments with tuning forks and magnets to produce complex sounds. In 1865 Bell made scientific studies of the resonance (vibration) of the mouth while speaking.
Both of Bell's brothers had died of tuberculosis (a fatal disease that attacks the lungs). In 1870 his parents, in search of a healthier climate, convinced him to move with them to Brantford, Ontario, Canada. In 1871 he went to Boston, Massachusetts, to teach at Sarah Fuller's School for the Deaf, the first such school in the world. He also tutored private students, including Helen Keller (1880–1968). As professor of voice and speech at Boston University in 1873, he initiated conventions for teachers of the deaf. Throughout his life he continued to educate the deaf, and he founded the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf.

Inventing the telephone

From 1873 to 1876 Bell experimented with many inventions, including an electric speaking telegraph (the telephone). The funds came from the fathers of two of his students. One of these men, Gardiner Hubbard, had a deaf daughter, Mabel, who later became Bell's wife.

Alexander Graham Bell.

To help deaf children, Bell experimented in the summer of 1874 with a human ear and attached bones, magnets, smoked glass, and other things. He conceived the theory of the telephone: that an electric current can be made to change its force just as the pressure of air varies during sound production. That same year he invented a telegraph that could send several messages at once over one wire, as well as a telephonic-telegraphic receiver.
Bell supplied the ideas; Thomas Watson created the equipment. Working with tuned reeds and magnets to make a receiving instrument and sender work together, they transmitted a musical note on June 2, 1875. Bell's telephone receiver and transmitter were identical: a thin disk in front of an electromagnet (a magnet created by an electric current).
On February 14, 1876, Bell's attorney filed for a patent, or a document guaranteeing a person the right to make and sell an invention for a set number of years. The exact hour was not recorded, but on that same day Elisha Gray (1835–1901) filed his caveat (intention to invent) for a telephone. The U.S. Patent Office granted Bell the patent for the "electric speaking telephone" on March 7. It was the most valuable single patent ever issued. It opened a new age in communications technology.
Bell continued his experiments to improve the telephone's quality. By accident, Bell sent the first sentence, "Watson, come here; I want you," on March 10, 1876. The first public demonstration occurred at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences convention in Boston two months later. Bell's display at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition a month later gained more publicity. Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil (1825–1891) ordered one hundred telephones for his country. The telephone, which had been given only eighteen words in the official catalog of the exposition, suddenly became the "star" attraction.

Establishing an industry

Repeated demonstrations overcame public doubts. The first two-way outdoor conversation was between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Bell and Watson on October 9, 1876. In 1877 the first telephone was installed in a private home; a conversation took place between Boston and New York using telegraph lines; in May the first switchboard (a central machine used to connect different telephone lines), devised by E. T. Holmes in Boston, was a burglar alarm connecting five banks; and in July the first organization to make the telephone a commercial venture, the Bell Telephone Company, was formed. That year, while on his honeymoon, Bell introduced the telephone to England and France.
The first commercial switchboard was set up in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1878, the same year Bell's New England Telephone Company was organized. Charles Scribner improved switchboards, with more than five hundred inventions. Thomas Cornish, a Philadelphia electrician, had a switchboard for eight customers and published a one-page telephone directory in 1878.

Questioning Bell's patent

Other inventors had been at work between 1867 and 1873. Professor Elisha Gray (of Oberlin College in Ohio) invented an "automatic self-adjusting telegraph relay," installed it in hotels, and made telegraph printers. He also tried to perfect a speaking telephone from his multiple-current telegraph. The Gray and Batton Manufacturing Company of Chicago developed into the Western Electric Company.
Another competitor was Professor Amos E. Dolbear, who insisted that Bell's telephone was only an improvement on an 1860 invention by Johann Reis, a German who had experimented with pigs' ears and may have made a telephone. Dolbear's own instrument could transmit tones but not voice quality.
In 1879 Western Union, with its American Speaking Telephone Company, ignored Bell's patents and hired Thomas Edison (1847–1931), along with Dolbear and Gray, as inventors and improvers. Later that year Bell and Western Union formed a joint company, with the latter getting 20 percent for providing wires, equipment, and the like. Theodore Vail, organizer of Bell Telephone Company, combined six companies in 1881. The modern transmitter was born mainly in the work of Emile Berliner and Edison in 1877 and Francis Blake in 1878. Blake's transmitter was later sold to Bell.
The claims of other inventors were contested. Daniel Drawbaugh, who was from rural Pennsylvania and had little formal schooling, almost won a legal battle with Bell in 1884 but was defeated by a four-to-three vote in the Supreme Court (the highest court in the United States). This claim made for the most exciting lawsuit over telephone patents. Altogether the Bell Company was involved in 587 lawsuits, of which five went to the Supreme Court. Bell won every case. The defending argument for Bell was that no competitor had claimed to be original until seventeen months after Bell's patent. Also, at the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition, major electrical scientists, especially Lord Kelvin (1824–1907), the world's leading authority, had declared Bell's invention to be "new." Professors, scientists, and researchers defended Bell, pointing to his lifelong study of the ear and his books and lectures on speech mechanics.

The Bell Company

The Bell Company built the first long-distance line in 1884, connecting Boston and New York. Bell and others organized The American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885 to operate other long-distance lines. By 1889 there were 11,000 miles of underground wires in New York City.
The Volta Laboratory was started by Bell in Washington, D.C., with France awarding the Volta Prize money (about $10,000) for his invention. At the laboratory Bell and his associates worked on various projects during the 1880s, including the photophone, induction balance, audiometer, and phonograph improvements. The photophone transmitted speech by light. The induction balance (electric probe) located metal in the body. The audiometer, used to test a person's hearing, indicated Bell's continued interest in deafness. The first successful phonograph record was produced. The Columbia Gramophone Company made profitable Bell's phonograph records. With the profits Bell established an organization in Washington to study deafness.

Bell's later interests

Bell was also involved in other activities that took much of his time. The magazine Science (later the official publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) was founded in 1880 because of Bell's efforts. He made many addresses and published many papers. As National Geographic Society president from 1896 to 1904, he contributed to the success of the society and its publications. In 1898 he became a member of a governing board of the Smithsonian Institution. He was also involved in sheep breeding, hydrodynamics (the study of the forces of fluids, such as water), and projects related to aviation, or the development and design of airplanes.
Aviation was Bell's primary interest after 1895. He aided physicist and astronomer Samuel Langley (1834–1906), who experimented with heavier-than-air flying machines; invented a special kite (1903); and founded the Aerial Experiment Association (1907), bringing together aviator and inventor Glenn Curtiss (1878–1930), Francis Baldwin, and others. Curtiss provided the motor for Bell's man-carrying kite in 1907.
Bell died in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada, on August 2, 1922. His contribution to the modern world and its technologies was enormous.

For More Information

Grosvenor, Edwin S., and Morgan Wesson. Alexander Graham Bell. New York: Harry Abrams, 1997.

Mackay, James A. Alexander Graham Bell: A Life. New York: J. Wiley, 1998.

Weaver, Robyn M. Alexander Graham Bell. San Diego: Lucent, 2000. 

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