Although I think C has some features I would *LOVE* Java to have, I realized how well-developed the Java API is.

I was looking for the most efficient way to read data from an input stream in the form of an array of bytes. Lo and behold, the Java API has a ByteArrayInputStream thats perfect for my needs.

Man, I love this.

Why must private schools be allowed? Why is it that just because a child is born into a rich family, he has the capability to go to private school? Why must he/she be allowed access to better education? After all, he/she did absolutely nothing to deserve it other than being born in a well-to-do family.

In fact, if rich children go to public school, they get to be around with normal people, and get to be more down-to-earth, instead of having their heads stuck high up in the clouds. It's no secret that private school graduates have a far greater chance of going to university. Isn't it unfair if a rich, but not as smart, private school student, has a greater chance of going to university than a poor, but brilliant, public school student? Why aren't our governments realizing this? Isn't the injustice obviously clear in this system?

Maybe I already know the answer. Maybe it's because poor people don't matter as much to governments because it's the rich who control them. Maybe it's because the life and wellbeing of the rich man is much more valuable than that of a poor man.

Here in Canada, as most of you will know, we have a government-run, free healthcare system. The government takes care of the health of the needy, and those of us who are more provided for, help out by paying the government in taxes. So far, this system has been wonderful, and is a model for other countries. I agree it isn't without its deficiencies, but hey, it's free regardless of the amount of money you earn or can afford. In India, my place of origin and birth, and the country I know best, we have had a similar healthcare system since the date of our independence. However, times are changing, both here and in my homeland...

More and more, people are showing disinterest in paying taxes in order to pay for the health of our country. Private hospitals are springing up in Alberta as I speak, and I find this system inherently unfair. Money-minded doctors are leaving for these hospitals by the day. I ask, why must someone be denied good healthcare, and someone get excellent healthcare because of money? Why are so many of the rich so cheap, that they do not even want to spare a little money for the overal benefit of society? Why has the desire for money corrupted their minds to such an extent that they no longer care for the wellbeing of humanity? Why has the attitude become, "As long as I am rich, I don't have to give a damn about you?" Why must they be allowed access to the best healthcare in the nation? The answer is, they musn't....

I fear this system is only going to increase the economic gap in our society. The health of the citizens is a primary responsibility of a government, and we cannot allow a group of selfish rich people take that away from the citizens. If you earn a million dollars per year, don't you have enough of a heart to spare a little for those who aren't as fortunate as you? Why must you strive to accumulate money to such an extent that you forget the true meaning of life? What is all that money going to do to you? So what if that money you are going to give to the government in taxes is going to prevent you from buying your new Ferrari? Shouldn't you be feeling glad that your money is going a long way to help someone in distress?

Remember that people in oppressed countries do not even have water to drink or food to eat. You must consider yourself lucky that you have been given the chance to at least have the basic necessities of life. Don't waste your life spending money uncontrollably. A little money to charity or in the form of taxes goes a long way for someone who doesn't have enough money to eat, drink or live.

These aren't the best times the world has seen. In this day and age, everywhere around us we see poverty, misery, injustice and dissatisfaction. Why then, in such an ill-fated time are we trained like robots to go after money? Why are we taught that the primary aim in life is to satisfy the needs of the self, rather than the needs of the society in the whole? Why, I ask, aren't we asking ourselves, "Is money and material wealth all there is to life? Is this meager, cheap satisfaction all one can expect from the brilliant experience of life?"

Why have we been taught, and why are we teaching our children and grandchildren that there is nothing more to life than the mere accumulation of a physical object that has destroyed civilizations and divided countless societies since the dawn of its creation?

Why do we run madly after the fuel of greed and the elixir of all evil? Why don't most of us ever get to realize that true bliss lies in serving humanity and not just serving the meagre self?

In our unquenchable desire for this outwardly illustrious object, we have divided our society, created criminals and removed every ounce of fairness from the face of the planet.

Can mankind ever escape the deathly grasp of the hand of this fiendish being? What has the desire for money ever done other than divide families, ruin times of happiness, and removed justice from our world?

Our society has supposedly achieved a lot in the past few centuries (maybe even decades). Our capitalist system has strengthened, and the standard of living of the citizens of the world in general has been increasing.

From the time we are born, we are trained to think like capitalists. We are told to live to accumulate something that we cannot take with us into the afterlife.

This makes we wonder. Where will this system take us? Are we moving in the right direction by taking care of only ourselves and not our fellow beings? Is this what our primary purpose in life is supposed to be? What do we gain out of pure material satisfaction?

Oh, the joys and pains of living...

All this talk about SARS, and the extensive media coverage about how we can safeguard ourselves worries me...

Are we really doing the right thing by worrying extensively about our health all the time?

It's no secret that the generations before us lived, in some ways, healthier than us. Why, I ask? Why is it that cases of Multiple Sclerosis and OCD are much more common in developed countries than developing countries? The excuse that these countries might not have the technology to detect these ailments is a lame one. Could it be because our medicines and our healthcare system focus purely on symptomatic relief? Could it be because we are brought up in an environment where we are taught to be concerned excessively about our health?

All this makes me wonder, is there a limit to where we should stop worrying? Excessive hygiene might stop bacterial/viral infections, but what about congenital and mental disorders? Can hygiene prevent them? I don't think so...

Maybe the solution is to be hygienic, but not to go overboard and let it turn into an obsession. We have to let our body take its course once in a while. Taking medicines for a common cold is not going to let your body fight it off. Some times, we might just have to trust our body to do its work.