I do not trust the U.S. Postal Office (USPS) in their ability to deliver on time. I have two recent bad experience. First, I submitted a claim for medical expenses to Acclaim, but was never received or processed. It may not be the fault of the USPS, however. Second, the USPS returned my tax return on April 17 (two days after the deadline) because of insufficient postage. I used two postal stamps ($.84), which had been sufficient over the years. The returned envelope indicated that an additional $0.16 was needed. That’s asinine! I took the tax return to the postal office and had it weighted. The auto postal machine showed that a postal fee of $.59, which is less than the value of two stamps ($.84). With that info in mind, I then took it to a postal clerk. She said that it was not the weight but the thickness (max. of 1/4 inches) or the size exceeded the limit. That was just preposterous. There were about 10 sheets of paper inside the envelop. It’s possible that as papers are folded twice the thickness may exceed the ¼” limit since the center is hollow. If that’s case, simply press them down for a few minutes should bring the thickness down significantly. The postal clerk did not prove that was the case. Instead, she quickly struck all markings (including postal due) with a marker, stamped it, deposited into a bin (so that it would be difficult to fetch), and said, "I am sorry. You should have the Postal Office weigh and measure the tax return." I thought that was one of the most stupid statement ever made. Does the postal office really want to service all tax-filers who choose to file their tax returns by mail? My perception was that she simply did not want to admit that the Postal Office had made a mistake.
Anyway, I will do all transactions online if it is available. It's simply more reliable and quicker.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The Recent Economic Downturn - A Buddhist View
Emotional sufferings emerge as a result of the loss of jobs, home, retirement and investment savings during the recent troubling economic times. Even if we are fortunate, perhaps family members or friends have lost their jobs. We are expected to work more without additional pay to pick up the work left by workers that were let go. The future remains uncertain despite statements from the Federal Reserve that this deep recession will end soon.
It is difficult to bear the pain of losing our possessions, our money, our home, our job, and our style of living. Detachment from these things becomes insurmountable as we are so attached to our social and economic status as viewed by ourselves, our family, friends, colleagues and community. However, our difficulty in letting go of our attachments blinds us from the realization that attachment is the root of suffering and we should simply accept things as they are as we have no control and everything in this universe is constantly changing – nothing is permanent.
According to Buddhism, everything is impermanent and interdependent. The economy will decline. The values of our home and investment will decline. We simply cannot expect them to grow indefinitely. Our failure to recognize this fact kept us fully invested in the seemingly ever rising stock market despite its impermanent nature and inherent risks. However, we need to resist the temptation to withdraw money completely from the market in fear that current market condition will continue to fall. Remember, nothing is permanent and the market will recover eventually.
To overcome suffering, we must accept the way it is – the ever changing nature of all physical and mental phenomena. We have to face our fears and disturbing emotions directly, change our distorted views shaped by our experience and upbringings, and open our hearts to discover our true nature - loving kindness, compassion. Meditate to relief stress, let go of negative and unproductive feelings, and feel fortunate of what you already have. We have the freedom to choose how we feel about ourselves and others. We can choose love over hatred, joy over sadness, and generosity over greed. We will succeed if we persist.
It is difficult to bear the pain of losing our possessions, our money, our home, our job, and our style of living. Detachment from these things becomes insurmountable as we are so attached to our social and economic status as viewed by ourselves, our family, friends, colleagues and community. However, our difficulty in letting go of our attachments blinds us from the realization that attachment is the root of suffering and we should simply accept things as they are as we have no control and everything in this universe is constantly changing – nothing is permanent.
According to Buddhism, everything is impermanent and interdependent. The economy will decline. The values of our home and investment will decline. We simply cannot expect them to grow indefinitely. Our failure to recognize this fact kept us fully invested in the seemingly ever rising stock market despite its impermanent nature and inherent risks. However, we need to resist the temptation to withdraw money completely from the market in fear that current market condition will continue to fall. Remember, nothing is permanent and the market will recover eventually.
To overcome suffering, we must accept the way it is – the ever changing nature of all physical and mental phenomena. We have to face our fears and disturbing emotions directly, change our distorted views shaped by our experience and upbringings, and open our hearts to discover our true nature - loving kindness, compassion. Meditate to relief stress, let go of negative and unproductive feelings, and feel fortunate of what you already have. We have the freedom to choose how we feel about ourselves and others. We can choose love over hatred, joy over sadness, and generosity over greed. We will succeed if we persist.
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