Conflict and Its Aftermath

 Eric Hobsbawm (2002) states, “The 20th century was the most murderous in recorded history.” We understand how it happened. The two deadliest world wars occurred in the 20^th Century. The holocaust happened during the war. Almost the whole world was involved in these wars.

World War II, when Germany and Russia fought each other. Russia has one of the greatest weapons, which is its weather. In any war, they always wait for the Winter. Because different countries' soldiers were unfamiliar with Russia’s harsh winter, most were unprepared for it. Russian soldiers took that opportunity to win the war. This happened with Russia and Germany’s fight, too. Many German soldiers who got into Russia while fighting lost their lives. Some could fly and escape. But mostly couldn’t. Their dead bodies remain on the soil, eaten by the crows.

The Aftermath is now, when one German soldier comes and is looking for his friends, a current Russian responsible person helps them like a brother. They put aside the conflicts that happened long ago. They support each other with history. In that Russian area, they built a memorial for the German soldiers. Still, when they dug, they found the bones of German soldiers. The Russian historians are keeping all records. This is humanity. No matter how hard they fought in history. Now, they understand the cruelty of the war. And trying to keep the peace between the countries. 

Currently, Russia and Ukraine have been fighting with each other for years. Russia invaded Ukraine. The cities and the people of Ukraine are suffering terrible violence and disaster. Many people leave the country as refugees. Canada has taken hundreds of refugees from Ukraine. Other people are living in the subway, which is an underground train station, and soldiers are fighting with Russia. 

Roots:  These two countries were the roots of the USSR. Ukraine is a very resourceful country. Not only minerals, but they are also very rich in agriculture. They have a vibrant culture. Russia didn’t want to lose this resourceful area. And Ukraine didn’t want to stay under Russia like a colony. So that Russians will benefit from Ukraine’s resources and don’t give any power to that population. That’s why Ukraine wanted to join the EU, a group of European countries and North America. North America is Russia’s main opposite party in power. So, Russia tried to capture Ukraine with their army. The war started. 

The potential aftermath: Russia is using their latest model weapons, and EU countries are also giving new weapons to Ukraine to win the war. None of these are suitable for humans or the environment. So, both humans and the environment may suffer for a decade from this war.

The children are facing trouble in education. Though Ukraine has established schools in subway stations, they are not enough to educate children naturally.

Both countries may face financial trouble because of this long war. They primarily invest money in war, not in developing society and economic activities.

Because of the war, people from both countries hate each other. In the long run, hate-related crime may start. 

The world used to have resources from both countries, especially from Ukraine. Because of the war, supplies were interrupted, and in many countries, this created inflation. This may continue for years.

Biography 278: I didn't sit on the rickshaw puller's seat.

 We four sisters used to go to Shishu Academy and Bulbul Lalitokola Academy (Bafa) every week. We had to go to both the Shishu Academy in the morning and Bafa in the afternoon on Friday. And every Wednesday afternoon to Shishu Academy and every Thursday afternoon to Bafa.

In the beginning, my mom used to take us all. After 1 or 2 years, our older sister used to take us. She used to learn to play guitar. I first learned Dancing and then singing. My younger sister learned dancing, art, and singing. Our youngest sister learned dancing and singing.

We used to ride in a rickshaw together. Just to let you know, my home wasn't very near the Shishu Academy. On those days, rickshaws were wider. But still, they weren't good enough for five people. My mom used to sit. Then two sisters could sit beside her, one could sit on my mom's lap, and the rest had to stand up.

We used to fight over who would sit in the seat. One day, they didn't let me sit on the seat. I was complaining about that. Our rickshaw puller couldn't hear it anymore. He said, "You can sit on my seat." My mom said, "See how generous he is. Now sit on that seat." I didn't.

How do people drink black coffee?

 I never thought that I would be able to drink black coffee. I always took coffee with cream and sugar. I used to ask people how you guys drink black coffee. I had decided that if I had to give up sugar, I would stop drinking coffee.

But now I am trying. I drank half a spoonful of instant coffee and hot water in a cup. First, I felt terrible. Then, slowly, I finished it. Still, I don't like it. How do people drink black coffee?

The market can destroy natural resources

 Market Externalities:

Market Externalities mean decision-making problems, like what should be left in the market and what should be provided outside the market. These are specific positive and negative consequences in the market. For example, without regulation, the market can destroy natural resources. To keep up with the people’s demands, people can exploit natural resources for excessive production and services. Another way of Market Externalities could be the death of people who were sick and disabled, who couldn’t buy food from the market. This situation happens because of the unequal distribution of wealth.

To solve this problem, society can act by adding an extra tax on cigarettes for ruining health. They can also provide essential food to all for free.

Coffee:

Finding an adult who doesn’t drink coffee in Canada won't be easy. So, there are a vast number of coffee consumers in the country, and different brands of coffee are available here. Because of the vast number of coffee consumers, we can be united and fix the problems of the market externalities.

First, we need to create awareness among the general coffee consumers so that everyone can be united and pressure the corporations to fix all kinds of problems in different layers of production and selling. All problems can not be solved in one day. Everyone must be patient and fix them one after another.

For example, we must create awareness of the poor people who are involved in the development process of coffee bins. We may share pictures and videos on social media or get help from any non-profit organization that helps these people or works with environmental justice. So that all information can be accessed through the news media and other channels. We must make our voice heard for the poor farmers. And send messages to the corporations that are directly involved in this process. We have to offer them a company that will take responsibility for caring for poor farmers without increasing coffee pricing. We will all buy coffee from that company. We must keep our word if any company takes the initiative, so those farmers can be safe from harmful plasticizers attacking their lungs.

If we start seeing success, then we can focus on other issues. For example, farmers are now producing excessive amounts of coffee to meet the demand and profit. This way, they cut most trees in the forest to cultivate coffee beans. So, many problems, like soil erosion, started. We must come to a solution to this problem so that the farmers won’t face the problems and there will be fewer environmental problems, such as using indigenous ways of cultivation. In this way, they cultivate different crops at the same time. One tree protects another. Or any other scientific way. We must give that information to the farmers through governments and corporations, which will be very helpful for the environment and the whole world. Birds will increase, and the farmers will see fewer pest attacks.

Apart from environmental issues, we must also consider the social and political issues as consumers. We know that corporations will only show interest in fixing problems if they see some benefits. So, we must bring benefits for them too. They need to get some government rules and regulations too, so they have no choice but to take good initiative in the whole process. The government will take policies to help reduce market externalities when they find that their vote bank will like this and give votes to them. Which means we will have to create somewhat win-win situations.

In the end, we can say that the coffee we consume is made through different processes in different countries. In between, corporate companies also change. So, it is tough to fix any problems because everyone will push the reason for problems to the other group. As it is developing in different countries, the government policy differs in different countries.

Biography 277: Caring for my hair.

When I was in Saudi Arabia, my mom used to wash my hair with Sunsilk Shampoo. She said everybody liked my silky black straight hair. They used to ask, Do all Bangladeshi have beautiful hair?

After returning to Bangladesh, my mom often applied coconut oil to my hair and braided it with a ribbon. She said, and I believe that too, because of her effort, I had some good quality hair.

Then I tried to take care of my hair. But I never had the time and energy to do so. With time, now much of my hair has become white. I'm glad I still have some hair. The way I lose hair, the head is supposed to be empty by this time.