When springtime comes, it's surely a warmly welcomed season for most people, sick and tired of snow and rain during the winter. But there is a certain group of people, who just wish this time would never come. No, we aren't talking about goths or emo. Allergy sufferers have a very hard time when all the flowers and plants start blooming giving much more problems to deal with. These are the typical symptoms of an allergy:
1. Itch in the eyes
2. Runny nose
3. Sinus pressure
4. Sneezing
5. Headaches
What is the main reason behind allergies?
The most wide spread of all allergies observed in people is the so-called hay fever. This sort of illness is caused by such allergens as grass, pollen and ragweed.
Meanwhile, there are other allergies that are not affected by seasonal changes, these include allergies to foods, dust or pets.
Is there any specific age for allergies?
To much surprise, allergies can break out in any age. And even if you have been free of this condition in your teens and early adulthood, there's still a chance to suffer from it later on. In reality, allergies go the both ways - a child can outgrow them, but a senior can develop it later in life.
How to cope with allergies?
In case you well aware of your allergy or think that your annual springtime sickness might be a form of allergy it's best to discuss it with your physician. Only a professional can competently analyze your symptoms and come up with an effective treatment for your condition. Antihistamines and decongestants are the most typical medications doctors prescribe for treating allergies. The first type is well known for causing sleepiness with patients, but there are many newer drugs that treat allergies without such side-effects.
Besides taking drugs, you might want to follow these tips that will help you minimize contact with sickening allergens:
* Mowing a fresh loan might be not a very bright idea if you are allergic to grass.
* Keep your clothes and hair clean when walking outside. Pollen may stick to it and get into your home.
* Pollen usually counts soar in the morning and evening, so it's better to go out during the daytime.
* Close your windows and keep the air conditions in order to keep the pollen out of your home.
Is there any cheap medical insurance that will pay for my treatment?
In most cases, insurance companies pay for treating allergic diseases with their policyholders. However, it is recommended that you first check your policy or consult with your agent to make sure your cheap health insurance plan provides such a coverage. The main aspect here is to stick to your insurance company's guidelines. For example, in case you are with an HMO, before you go to an allergist, you'll have to acquire a referral from your primary healthcare provider.
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How to deal with allergies and insurance?
Health plans for college teens
When fresh high school graduates hit their prom ball, most of them probably has a very good idea about where to go next. But do you have any idea about insuring your new student's health when he or she leaves to college?
In most cases, teenagers younger than 24 years old are covered by their parent's medical insurance policy. But if your or your spouse's plan doesn't cover college student, it's time to see what the education facility your teen is heading to has to offer in terms of insurance. The basics of college insurance plans
In some colleges insurance policies are partially or fully payed by the facility, which undoubtedly will save parents a lot of money. However, the benefits vary substantially from one college to another, so it's recommended that you study the offers thoroughly after selecting a college. Local insurance companies
tend to collaborate with college committees in order to design specific insurance packages for the present college student market.
Signing with a college insurance plans usually offers free doctor's office visits and annual check ups, however any additional tests, examinations, treatments and prescriptions will have to be paid for. Additional services that may be included as free include maternity care, AIDS/STD tests, cholesterol checks and other activities. The amount of premiums and selection of bonuses vary substantially between colleges, in most cases due to state regulations.
Out-of-network issues
The primary concern for parents with their kids going to college is how the teen will be covered by the family insurance plan (if choosing to stay with it) and how the doctors will respond when he or she goes out-of-state. If you have an HMO plan, it requires special referrals for visiting doctors and other healthcare specialists out of your network. PPOs simply pay less when a person visits out-of-network specialists. In case the teen is leaving for a college that is out of your state, and you don't want him or her to hassle with domestic doctor referrals, getting prompt medical attention, going with what the college has to offer insurance-wise is the most rational decision for you.
Points to think of when deciding on a college insurance plan
There is a set of factors to think about when selecting a cheap health insurance plan that may save you time and money in the future if evaluated correctly. Here are the main ones:
* Find out of there are any restrictions concerning providers that a student can apply to.
* Learn if there is any coverage during the vacation periods.
* See if there is any health coverage during the summer or winter breaks for the student.
* Get to know if there is an easy access to treatment facilities at the college.
* Investigate what services are offered free of charge or at a reduced price at the campus clinic.
Avoid the coverage from lapsing
Lapsing health insurance when your teen already has a pre-existing condition is likely to cause issues later on. HIPAA imposes that any pre-existing medical conditions can be covered as exclusions in not more 12 months after enrollment. But in case the qualifying coverage is kept without lapsing of 63 days, the insurance company has to take out the length of coverage from the period of exclusion. For example, a 4-month exclusion will result from a 8-month prior coverage, however there won't be no exclusion period for 18-year coverage. This way it is very important to keep continuous coverage for all medical conditions, regardless whether you buy cheap health insurance at the college or renew your present policy.
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High Cholesterol?
What’s the big deal about blood cholesterol anyway? Is your cholesterol high, low, middling, whatever? Well, the fact of the matter is that if you have high cholesterol you could be well on your way to a heart attack or stroke so that’s reason enough to start worrying about it. Is your cholesterol high? Let’s look at what could contribute to high blood cholesterol. It could be all that weight you’re carrying around, it could be all that junk food you’re downing everyday, it could be the lazy, laid-back life you love which thinks of exercise and shudders. It could be your cholesterol is high due to stress - at home, at work, maybe even at play. And for women over 50 with high cholesterol, it could just be the fact that they are over 50. You might just say, ‘So what if my cholesterol’s high? Well, if your cholesterol’s high, you need to know this. We all have good cholesterol HDLs or high density lipoproteins and bad cholesterol LDLs or low density lipoproteins. HDLs are the transporters - they carry the excess cholesterol to the liver to be broken down. LDLs, however, can cause a build-up of plaque in the arteries. If high cholesterol symptoms are left untended, it can give you a rather rude wake-up call, i.e. a heart attack
The trouble is the problem sneaks up on you so quietly, and very often high cholesterol shows no warning signs and you don’t really know about it till it explodes. That’s why it’s important to have your self checked for symptoms of high cholesterol and to check that your LDL levels are below100 mg/dL and your HDL levels are over 40 mg/dL. The National Cholesterol Education Program was launched by The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in 1985 to reduce the percentage of Americans who have cholesterol higher than what it should be through educational campaigns run by professionals. What ways are there to treat high cholesterol, or better still, prevent it? Well, exercising, giving up smoking and controlling your weight are great ways to begin. You could also look at a low cholesterol diet (for high cholesterol) and at what Nature has to offer. One natural remedy that packs quite a punch is garlic. All you need to do is to pop a clove in your mouth and chew first thing every morning - it’s a great LDL-fighter. If you just can’t do it, then chop it up and swallow it down with water. If even that’s too much, try taking garlic supplements in capsule form. Mitamins‘ Natural Remedy for High Cholesterol contains garlic extract amongst other vitamins, herbs and minerals thought to reduce bad cholesterol. Fish oil or Omega-3 is a great natural remedy for the treatment and prevention of high cholesterol too. Participants in a study who took a daily fish oil supplement actually had a 40% lower chance of sudden heart-related deaths than non-fish-oil takers. That’s probably why Eskimos hardly suffer from high cholesterol. Also good are oat bran, red rice and avocado. A 1000mg Vitamin C tablet a day is also supposed to help when cholesterol is high. The trick is to measure cholesterol levels at least once every five years and to get what is called a ‘lipoprotein profile’. Is your cholesterol high? Managing cholesterol levels and making sure they are not high is in your hands so do the best you can for your health.
Author Bio: Mitamins team bd@mitamins.net Targeted: High Cholesterol; Safety: Avoid Vitamins Overdose, Supplement Drug Interactions; Quality: Freshly Made with Brand Ingredients. vitamin support for high cholesterol treatment(http://www.mitamins.com/disease/High-Cholesterol.html)
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Broccoli sprouts offer protection
A concentrated extract of freeze dried broccoli sprouts cut development of bladder tumours in an animal model by more than half, according to a report in the March 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. This finding reinforces human epidemiologic studies that have suggested that eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli is associated with reduced risk for bladder cancer, according to the study's senior investigator, Yuesheng Zhang, MD, PhD, professor of oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. "Although this is an animal study, it provides potent evidence that eating vegetables is beneficial in bladder cancer prevention," he said. There is strong evidence that the protective action of cruciferous vegetables derives at least in part from isothyiocyanates (ITCs), a group of phytochemicals with well-known cancer preventive activities."The bladder is particularly responsive to this grou
p of natural chemicals," Zhang said. "In our experiments, the broccoli sprout ITCs after oral administration were selectively delivered to the bladder tissues through urinary excretion." Other cruciferous vegetables with ITCs include mature broccoli, cabbage, kale, collard greens and others. Broccoli sprouts have approximately 30 times more ITCs than mature broccoli, and the sprout extract used by the researchers contains approximately 600 times as much. Although animals that had the most protection against development of bladder cancer were given high doses of the extract, Zhang said humans at increased risk for this cancer likely do not need to eat huge amounts of broccoli sprouts in order to derive protective benefits. "Epidemiologic studies have shown that dietary ITCs and cruciferous vegetable intake are inversely associated with bladder cancer risk in humans. It is possible that ITC doses much lower than those given to the rats in this study may be adequate for bladder cancer prevention," he said. Zhang and his colleagues tested the ability of the concentrate to prevent bladder tumours in five groups of rats. The first group acted as a control, while the second group was given only the broccoli extract to test for safety. The remaining three groups were given a chemical, N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine (BBN) in drinking water, which induces bladder cancer. Two of these groups were given the broccoli extract in diet, beginning two weeks before the carcinogenic chemical was delivered. In the control group and the group given only the extract, no tumours developed, and there was no toxicity from the extract in the rats. About 96 percent of animals given only BBN developed an average of almost two tumours each of varying sizes. By comparison, about 74 percent of animals given a low dose of the extract developed cancer, and the number of tumours per rat was 1.39. The group given the high dose of extract had even fewer tumours. About 38 percent of this high-dose group developed cancer, and the average number of tumours per animal was only .46 and, unlike the other animals, the majority were very small in size.
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Trends in school counseling journals: the first fifty years
The school counseling profession has published three journals in the course of its history. All articles in these journals were coded as to authorship, article type, content, and the core areas of the 2001 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Standards. Distributions of articles in each category are discussed by decade, and the three journals are compared. Implications of the findings are discussed
The first known school guidance program in the United States dates to 1889, when a Detroit school principal, Jesse B. Davis, introduced a guidance curriculum that was delivered in each English class in his school (Coy, 1999). In response to the industrialization and urbanization that was taking place in the country, the first decade of the 20th century saw increased concern for vocational guidance (Aubrey, 1992). Between 1914 and 1918, school guidance programs were initiated in several large cities around the United States (Poppen & Thompson, 1974). While vocational guidance came to include educational or academic guidance in the 1930s, counseling was originally conceived of as a tool or technique to assist in the guidance program (Aubrey).
It was not until the middle of the 20th century that the field of school counseling attained the status of a profession. That milestone is marked by the formation of a professional organization, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), in 1952. As ASCA is celebrating its 50th anniversary, now is an appropriate time to reflect on "where it has been, where it is now, and where it is going" (Brown, 1969). ASCA was formed at close to the same time as the American Personnel and Guidance Association, forerunner of the American Counseling Association (ACA). APGA was inaugurated and became the fifth division to formally join the larger organization in 1953. This alliance was an important one, as "ASCA and ACA sort of grew together" (McDaniels, quoted in Simmons, 2002a). The ACA is also celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the significant contribution of ASCA to the broader field has been noted.
The importance of school counseling was reflected in the movement by states to develop and implement counseling certification standards. The first certificate (Pupil Personnel Service Certificate, Guidance and Counseling) was issued in Ohio in 1955 (Coy, 1999). The newly legitimized profession of school guidance and counseling received a boost from Title V of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), which was passed in 1958 in reaction to the launching of Sputnik by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This act provided funding for expanding school testing programs and for training institutes for school counselors, both novice and experienced (Poppen & Thompson, 1974). The effect was an increase in the number of school counselors from 6,780 in 1951 to more than 30,000 in 1965 (Aubrey, 1992). Further support for expanded school guidance and counseling came from the James B. Conant report on American education, published in 1959 (Poppen & Thompson). In 1960, a White House Conference on Children and Youth also stressed the need for school counseling programs. The 1960s saw national upheaval concerning the issues of human and civil rights, which was a factor in the APGA national convention in 1968 (Simmons, 2002b). In the 1970s, Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided funding for elementary school guidance and counseling programs.
The present focus on developmental guidance and counseling in the schools can be traced to the influence of Robert Mathewson, who, as early as 1949, proposed that the school guidance program should be organized and implemented in a developmental fashion. He argued that teachers alone could not provide the necessary experiences required for optimal development of students, and he saw guidance programs as the most critical educational factor in enhancing student development (Aubrey, 1992).
A profession's journals can be viewed as a reflection of the history of the profession. Goodyear (1984), on the occasion of the publication of the inaugural issue of the newly titled Journal of Counseling and Development, reviewed the content of the previous journal (Personnel and Guidance Journal) as a means of evaluating the development of the profession to that point. At various times in the journal's history, other authors have examined the journal as a tool for self-reflection. Weinrach, Lustig, Chan, and Thomas (1998) commented that, "Studies such as these need to be conducted periodically to provide the profession with information about itself" (p. 428).
In 1954, the first journal dedicated exclusively to the school counseling profession, The School Counselor, was published by ASCA. In 1967, a second periodical, Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, was added. In 1997, the two journals were merged, and the flagship journal of the organization, Professional School Counseling, was introduced. As individuals reflect on 50 years of professional school counseling, an analysis of the journals provides a unique perspective from which to review its development. Although other researchers have considered a portion of the school counseling literature, this analysis is unique in that it covers the entire history of all of the school counseling journals.
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Mental health issues
This issue focuses largely on mental health issues. Five of the articles deal directly or indirectly with children's mental health matters in the context of Medicaid. This overview compares and discusses the findings of these articles in some detail before briefly outlining the remaining articles on more specialized topics.
The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health issued its final report in July 2003, setting forth a number of key goals and findings. Among those particularly relevant to matters discussed in this issue is Goal 1, which emphasized, "Mental health is essential to overall health ...," and Goal 3, that disparities in mental health services [specifically, the underserving of minority populations] should be eliminated. In 2004, SAMSHA expects to issue its action agenda for implementing the Commission's recommendations. A key part of that agenda will be the conduct of research to understand disparities in mental health treatment and provide a basis for their elimination. The first three articles in this issue contain findings that underscore the continued existence of the disparities noted by the Commission, and, to some extent, particularize those disparities--information that can be helpful in addressing this critical problem.
Children's Mental Health Services under Medicaid
The article by Larson, Miller, Sharma, and Manderscheid examines data on service use and payments for children in racial/ethnic subgroups in Medicaid Programs of four States, and compares the service use of children treated for mental health/substance abuse conditions with those without such conditions. The authors note previous findings that mental health problems among children and adolescents affect about 10 to 20 percent of children age 9-13, and that treatment rates appear to be increasing. Most importantly, they note that previous evidence suggests that the overall rate of diagnosable mental health/ substance abuse disorders is comparable across racial and ethnic groups. In this article, the authors present updated analyses of Medicaid data that predate many State health care reform initiatives in order to provide baseline data for the analysis of reforms. The Larson et al. study resulted in a number of complex findings concerning demographic differences in treatment rates and types of conditions treated for various groups. Particularly striking are the findings that: nearly all diagnoses are more common among Medicaid recipients who are white; mental health/substance abuse diagnoses among white claimants are over two times the rate of diagnoses of children in other racial or ethnic groups combined; and major depression, bipolar disorders, and other psychoses are nearly three times more common among white child/adolescent claimants than youth in other race/ethnicity groups. Not surprisingly, similar findings of concern related to disparities in the actual use of mental health/substance abuse services, such as physician services and inpatient hospital care. Their article closes with some helpful suggestions as to approaches to address disparities in diagnosis and treatment of mental health/substance abuse disorders, noting that, ultimately, public insurance programs such as Medicaid "... must use multiple points of leverage to increase access, address stigma and misperceptions of care, and influence the quality of care delivered."
The article by Saunders and Heflinger examines the effects of introducing Medicaid managed care into a previously fee-for-service (FFS) environment on children and adolescents' access to behavioral health care services, and on the mix of such services that will be available. It does this by comparing access and service mix in Mississippi (FFS) and Tennessee (managed care). It also examines access and service mix in these States based on race, sex, age, and Medicaid enrollment category. The study found, among other things, that although each State experienced positive annual growth in behavioral health service access (with the exception of Tennessee's overnight services), female and minority youth were less likely to access behavioral health services, both overall and by type of service. The authors comment that their logistic regressions "... offer evidence that managed care not only reduces access to behavioral services overall and both access to and mix of inpatient services ..., but it also may lead to reductions in specialty outpatient services as well." In the Medicaid categories, the authors report "... a consistent pattern of lower access to behavioral health services among poverty-related youth and greater access of foster care youth relative to youth on supplemental security income."
On the other hand, the authors state: "Nevertheless, the news [coming from this study] is not all bad for managed care ..." explaining that Tennessee experienced significant positive increases in case management services. This suggests that the problem of reduced access to mental health service providers is offset by increased use of the services of case managers.
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Lembur lagee....
hari ini pertama puasa 1430 H, huaamm., capek juga sehh., tapi harus tetap semangatt... SMANGATTTT!!!!!!!!! bangun pagi masih juga kebawa ngantuk, pas liat makanan yang masih terpajang didapur jadi ngiler,, he..
Jam 07.30 >> harus berangkat ngantor, sekarang jadwal lembur pagi, malezzznya minta ampun, masa harus masuk jam 8 pagi trus pulangnya jam 8 malam., tar buka puasa sendiri dunk di kantor,
Emmaaakkkk, Nikahin anakmoe ini secepatnyaaaaa,, gak sanggup lage nehhh sendiriannnn....
:)
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Pelajaran dari sang Pengamen
Sembari mengikuti tax brevet jum’at malam kemarin, entah mengapa perut ini begitu laparnya, pikiran ini melayang-layang memikirkan makanan apa yang hendak dimakan sepulang kuliah. Pikiran tentang Capcay Rebus, Mie Ayam, Nasi Goreng, Nasi Padang, Sop Kambing dan Mie Goreng, bercampur baur dengan penjelasan tentang sengketa pajak yang disampaikan oleh instruktur..[*pfiuuuhh]. Padahal udah hampir sebulan ini saya jarang sekali lapar dan makan “berat” di malam hari. Mungkin cuaca yang begitu dingin penyebab rasa lapar itu sem
akin menjadi. Cuaca dingin ini disebabkan sore hari kemarin Yogya diguyur hujan yang deras.
Hingga selesai kuliah, keputusan tentang makanan apa yang akan disantap belum juga didapatkan. Akhirnya dalam perjalanan pulang, saya jadi teringat dengan sop kaki kambing yang terletak tidak jauh dari bundaran UGM. Selama saya berada di kota ini baru sekali saya makan di tempat ini [dengan tadi malam jadi dua kali], rasanya lumayan nancap di lidah. Meskipun di pinggir jalan, pengunjung yang datang ramai dan beragam, dari yang berkendaraan roda dua hingga empat terparkir disitu sehingga agak sedikit mengambil ruas jalan yang terletak di arah selatan bundaran UGM itu.
Pernak-pernik sop yang membangkitkan selera, mulai dari babat, daging, tulang iga, tulang muda dsb, dapat kita pilih dengan bebas di kedai sop kaki kambing ini, dengan harga yang relatif terjangkau. Kita cukup merogoh kocek kurang dari 20 ribu, lezatnya santapan sop kambing sudah bisa dinikmati. Singkat cerita saya pun mulai menyantap makanan yang telah saya pesan dengan lahapnya [* dah kelaparan banget neeh]. Tak berapa lama setelah itu, datang seorang pengamen yang dengan santunnya mengucapkan kata permisi untuk beraksi di depan pengunjung kedai sop kambing tersebut.
Sejak awal saya sudah cukup respect dengan kesantunan sang pengamen ini, kesantunan ini ternyata juga diiringi dengan kepiawaiannya dalam memainkan gitar ditambah lagi dengan suaranya yang bagus. Alunan tembang-tembang lawas dari Panbers dengan iringan nada yang sedikit jazzy keluar dari bibir sang Pengamen semakin menambah kenikmatan saya menyantap nasi sop kambing di tengah cuaca yang dingin. Sesekali saya memerhatikan wajah si Pengamen, terlihat keseriusan dan kesungguhannya dalam melakukan pekerjaannya. Ia begitu menikmati apa yang sedang dilakukannya.
Pikiran saya pun langsung melayang-layang dan kemudian tercenung. Begitu banyak dari kita yang terkadang tidak mensyukuri nikmat yang telah diberikan Tuhan. Banyak orang yang ingin sibuk tetapi tidak ada yang memberikannya kesibukan, tetapi ketika kesibukan itu telah ada, keluh-kesah seringkali muncul. Terkadang kita mengeluh dengan pekerjaan yang kita lakukan, dengan berdalih kerja dibawah tekanan, gaji yang tidak memadai, pas-pasan, dsb. Pernyataan seperti itu biasa saya dengar dari rekan sekerja maupun yang berbeda. Mengeluh itu memang sifat manusia, Tuhan juga menyatakan bahwa manusia itu diciptakan bersifat keluh kesah, sehingga wajar bila sesekali hal itu kita alami, namun menjadi tak wajar bila intensitas mengeluhnya sudah berulang-ulang kali.
Jika kita melihat apa yang dilakukan oleh pengamen itu dibandingkan dengan kita yang sudah bekerja dengan diberi imbalan penghasilan, seharusnya kita patut bersyukur. Harapan akan uang recehan yang belum tentu didapatkan dari pengunjung kedai makan membuat pengamen itu begitu menikmati pekerjaannya. Mengapa kita yang telah diberi pekerjaan dengan penghasilan yang sudah bisa kita ukur seringkali membuat kita menjadi mengeluh ?. Ingatlah masa-masa ketika kita sedang bingung selepas kuliah mencari pekerjaan kesana kemari atau merintis usaha dengan kerasnya disertai peluh keringat. Masa-masa itu kadang membuat kita berfikir betapa susahnya hidup ini, betapa tidak berfihaknya hidup ini kepada diri kita. Masa-masa susah itu seharusnya membuat kita semakin bersyukur atas apa yang telah kita dapatkan saat ini.
Tidak ada kondisi yang ideal memang ketika kita bekerja. Pengalaman saya bekerja di lingkungan swasta dan pemerintahan memberikan pemahaman bahwa selalu saja ada kelemahan dan kelebihan masing-masing. Konflik, kejenuhan dan berbagai intrik itu selalu ada, tapi yang terpenting adalah bagaimana kita menyikapi itu semua. Hidup ini bukan urusan orang lain tetapi urusan Anda sendiri (Mario Teguh). Albert Schweizer pernah berkata jika kita mencintai apa yang kita lakukan kita akan mencapai kesuksesan. Lakukanlah pekerjaan yang kita miliki dengan sebaik-baiknya. Berusahalah menjadi yang terbaik, apapun posisi kita saat ini. Jika saat ini kita hanyalah rumput, jadilah rumput permadani yang lembut dan indah dipandang mata. Walaupun kita ini hanyalah wong ndeso nan kutu kupret tetaplah bernyanyi tentang kebaikan dan profesionalisme. Mulai dari diri sendiri walaupun sebait kata dan sedikit perilaku. Selalu ada yang mendengarkan dan merasakan kebaikan dan profesionalisme yang kita senandungkan dan lakukan dimanapun kita berada dan apapun posisi kita saat ini. Kesempurnaan itu memang tidak mungkin, tetapi yang mungkin adalah menyempurnakan tindakan kita. Melakukan pekerjaan dengan penuh kebaikan dan cinta kasih akan semakin menumbuhkan rasa syukur kita terhadap Tuhan. Pesan dari ibu Theresa patut menjadi renungan bagi kita, terkadang dalam hidup ini kita tidak bisa melakukan hal-hal yang besar, tetapi kita dapat melakukan sesuatu yang kecil dengan cinta yang besar. Profesionalisme dalam melakukan setiap tindakan akan menghasilkan sesuatu yang luar biasa, tidak peduli apapun tindakan yang kita lakukan apakah kejahatan atau kebaikan. Kejahatan yang dilakukan secara professional saja bisa mendatangkan sesuatu yang luar biasa seperti Mafia, Triad dan Yakuza. Apalagi jika kebaikan !?.
……
Kerja adalah wujud nyata cinta. Bila kita tidak dapat bekerja dengan kecintaan, tapi hanya dengan kebencian, lebih baik tinggalkan pekerjaan itu. Lalu, duduklah di gerbang rumah ibadat dan terimalah derma dari mereka yang bekerja dengan penuh suka cita. (Kahlil Gibran)
Bekerja dengan rasa cinta, berarti menyatukan diri dengan diri kalian sendiri, dengan diri orang lain dan kepada Tuhan. Tapi bagaimanakah bekerja dengan rasa cinta itu ? Bagaikan menenun kain dengan benang yang ditarik dari jantungmu, seolah-olah kekasihmu yang akan memakainya kelak. (Kahlil Gibran)
…..
*
Sambil mendengarkan alunan lagu dari sang pengamen dan merenung kesana kemari. Nasi dan sop di piring serta jeruk hangat di gelas pun sudah berpindah tempat ke perut saya. Rasa lapar tadi telah hilang. Saya pun beranjak dari tempat duduk, dengan memberikan imbalan ke sang Pengamen tadi yang hampir menyelesaikan lagu kedua yang dinyanyikannya. Satu lagi yang menggugah perasaan saya, dengan ucapan terimakasih yang halus dan ekspresi tubuh yang amat santun, pengamen tersebut menerima uang yang saya berikan. Begitu bersyukurnya ia menerima uang yang mungkin bagi sebagian dari kita tidak memiliki makna apa-apa.
Sumber : http://arifperdana.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/pelajaran-dari-sang-pengamen/
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Algoritma Percabangan dan Perulangan dalam Kehidupan
Bagi Anda yang berkecimpung dalam dunia scripting pemrograman komputer atau coding istilah-istilah seperti if .. then., while.., do.. while, do .. until, dan for.. next, tentunya sudah sangat tidak asing lagi. Istilah-istilah tersebut berkaitan dengan fungsi dasar dalam computer programming yaitu fungsi percabangan dan perulangan (looping). Hampir semua jenis bahasa pemrograman mulai dari yang tingkat tinggi maupun tingkat rendah mem
iliki fungsi tersebut walaupun dengan syntax yang berbeda-beda. Ok..kita tidak akan membahas masalah teknis bahasa dan syntax kode pemrograman, tapi dengan sedikit pengetahuan saya di bidang pemrograman komputer, tulisan ini akan menguraikan tentang konsep dasar dari kedua fungsi pemrograman tersebut jika dihubungkan dengan kehidupan sehari-hari kita.
Seorang programmer dengan seorang penulis sebenarnya memiliki kesamaan, jika programmer menghasilkan karyanya dengan menulis bahasa pemrograman, sementara penulis dengan bahasa komunikasi. Hasil karya berupa software komputer juga dapat dianalogikan sebagai karya sastra dari seorang programmer komputer. Sang programmer memiliki kendali penuh atas alur cerita yang akan ia sajikan dalam software garapannya, mulai dari bagaimana mengelola input dan memprosesnya hingga menghasilkan output sesuai dengan yang diinginkan. Programmer komputer harus mempertimbangkan berbagai hal yang berhubungan dengan interaktifitas user dengan software buatannya. Restriksi-restriksi tertentu pun perlu diberlakukan agar pemrosesan data dapat berjalan sesuai dengan yang diinginkan. Ada banyak macam fungsi dalam pemrograman komputer, namun dua fungsi dasar yang amat diperlukan untuk hal tersebut adalah fungsi percabangan dan fungsi perulangan. Fungsi percabangan akan melakukan suatu aksi tertentu bila telah terpenuhinya suatu syarat, sedangkan fungsi perulangan akan melakukan perulangan terhadap suatu aksi hingga atau sampai suatu syarat itu terpenuhi. Sederhananya fungsi percabangan dapat diekspresikan dengan bahasa komunikasi sebagai : “jika…… maka……”, “jika…dan… maka….”, “jika…atau….maka….”, jika….dan…..atau….maka….”, ”pilih ….. lakukan……”. Untuk fungsi perulangan dapat diekspresikan sebagai berikut : “lakukan…. ketika……”, “lakukan……sampai…….”, dan “untuk kondisi ….. lakukan…….”.
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Dalam lingkup kecil, konsep dasar fungsi percabangan dan fungsi perulangan selalu diterapkan di dalam dunia komputasi. Dalam lingkup kehidupan jika kita merenungi sejenak, kehidupan yang kita jalani mulai dari kita dilahirkan, dewasa dan hingga dipanggil kembali ke hadapan Ilahi, semuanya sangat berhubungan dengan fungsi percabangan dan perulangan ini. Jika dianalogikan, Tuhan Sang Pencipta adalah Programmer yang Maha Hebat. Kehidupan kita ini sejatinya telah diatur dalam script-script pemrograman Ilahiah yang didalamnya tercakup alur dan rangkaian cerita dari kedua fungsi tersebut. Segala sesuatunya baik yang sudah, sedang maupun belum terjadi telah terprogram dengan canggih. Kehidupan manusia beserta tatanan alam raya ini merupakan alur dan rangkaian cerita hasil script pemrograman Tuhan yang sedang berjalan. Tuhan memiliki Integrated Development Environment (IDE) yang amat canggih beserta kode-kode blok pemrograman, compiler dan debugger yang super hebat dalam menciptakan objek pemrograman tersebut.
Permasalahan mengenai takdir sebenarnya dapat disederhanakan ketika kita bisa memahami konsep percabangan dan perulangan. Kedua konsep ini merupakan bagian dari fungsi logika yang sebenarnya dapat dikerucutkan lagi menjadi satu konsep yaitu hukum sebab akibat. Baik fungsi percabangan maupun perulangan memerlukan syarat untuk dapat berjalan dengan baik. Begitu juga halnya dengan kehidupan ini, semua yang telah, sedang dan akan terjadi semuanya merupakan kondisi bersyarat.
Manusia diberikan kebebasan oleh Tuhan untuk mengatur dan memilih alur kehidupannya sendiri. Berbagai tindak tanduk manusia dan interaktifitasnya dengan lingkungan alam raya sejatinya telah diatur dan tertata dalam konsep pemrograman yang amat canggih. Setiap manusia diberikan potensi untuk menuju kebaikan dan keburukan, kebenaran dan kesesatan. Dia telah mengatur dengan amat sangat baik bagaimana objek hasil ciptaannya (makhluk dan alam raya) berinteraksi dan berperilaku di dalam alur pemrograman yang dibuatNya. Tuhan sebagai sang Programmer juga telah menetapkan batasan-batasan tertentu atas pilihan-pilihan tersebut. Batasan-batasan inilah yang sesungguhnya disebut sebagai takdir kehidupan. Batasan-batasan yang diberikan oleh Tuhan sehingga alur kehidupan ini dapat berjalan dari awal dimulainya waktu hingga berakhirnya nanti di hari akhir. Jadi, dengan merujuk kepada konsep ini, takdir itu pun sebenarnya merupakan suatu event atau kejadian yang telah diprogram oleh Tuhan. Takdir berlaku jika dengan berbagai pilihan yang ada dan telah kita tempuh dalam script pemrograman tersebut menghasilkan output yang tetap sama. Kita sebagai objek hasil ciptaan tidak dapat melenceng dari alur program, Tuhan hanya memberikan satu hak ,yaitu untuk memilih satu dari sekian banyak alur program yang telah dikodekan. Kita sebagai objek pemrograman tinggal memilih blok kode mana yang akan kita lalui. Manusia tidak memiliki hak untuk mengubah alur kode program yang ada, dengan demikian hanya Tuhanlah yang bisa mengubah-ubah kode program tersebut. Cara yang terbaik untuk mengubah alur kode program tersebut adalah dengan memohon dan mendekatkan diri kepada Sang Programmer.
Kehidupan yang kita jalani ini merupakan suatu rangkaian cerita yang unik, namun sebenarnya dapat kita sederhanakan dengan konsep percabangan dan perulangan. Contohnya, hukum alam akan menghadiahkan keberhasilan bagi orang-orang yang ulet dan tekun. Mari kita sederhanakan dengan bahasa logika, jika ulet dan tekun maka berhasil. Contoh lainnya jika hujan maka basah, jika siang maka terang, jika malam maka gelap, jika bersyukur maka nikmat bertambah, jika berbuat baik maka mendapatkan pahala, jika berdusta maka celaka, dan masih banyak lagi yang lainnya. Semua kegiatan manusia dalam hidup dan berkehidupan yang pada dasarnya merupakan kondisi bersyarat, sehingga dapat disederhanakan menjadi blok kode logika seperti ilustrasi diatas. Usia manusia juga diatur dengan kondisi bersyarat melalui fungsi perulangan, fungsi ini akan mengatur tahapan kehidupan manusia dan akan berakhir hingga di suatu waktu yang telah ditentukan.
Dalam tuntunan religi telah jelas disebutkan bahwa makhluk sebagai objek pemrograman diciptakan dengan tujuan untuk menyembah kepadaNya. Namun apa sebenarnya tujuan Tuhan menciptakan makhlukNya ?, semua alur cerita telah Dia program, manusia hanya tinggal memilih. Disembah ataupun tidak disembah Tuhan tetaplah Tuhan tanpa sedikitpun mengurangi keMaha KuasaanNya. Manusia mau beribadah ataupun tidak juga tidak merugikan Tuhan ? Mau menjadi ajengan ataupun bajingan itu juga satu pilihan. Tetapi hasil akhir dari semua itu tentunya juga sudah diprogram dan dicatat oleh Tuhan di dalam kitab yang nyata . Permasalahan dalam memilih ataukah mengubah alur pemrograman dalam kehidupan ini cukup pelik dan bahkan telah menimbulkan kelompok-kelompok tertentu dalam teologi. Kesimpulannya, jangan terlalu memusingkan diri dengan hal ini, toh semua cerita dari alur program tersebut juga merupakan rahasia Tuhan, yang diluar jangkauan pemikiran dan indera manusia. Dalam hidup di dunia berlaku hukum sebab akibat. Jadilah sebab yang baik bagi kehidupan kini dan selanjutnya, dan Tuhan akan senantiasa melihat dan memberikan ganjaran yang setimpal atas perilaku umatNya dimuka bumi baik dalam kekinian hidup maupun kelak ketika kehidupan kita yang kedua kalinya dimulai kembali.
Wallahu’alam bishawab.
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