The Human Destiny
Death is compulsory for every human being
irrespective of caste,creed and status.
The Hindu, (One of India's National Newspapers) dated 01-07-2009. reports:
Plane crashes into sea with 153 people
MORONI (Comoros): An Yemenia jet with 153 people on board crashed into the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, as it tried to land during strong winds on the island nation of Comoros. Officials said one child was rescued alive from the sea. There was no word on other survivors.
Picture and News from the "Daily Thanthi"India's Tamil Newspaper dated 01-07-2010 reports thus:"The escape of the 5 year old boy is incredible and is a Miracle"
The Hindu, (One of India's National Newspapers) dated 16-07-2009. reports:
Motorcyclist crushed to death
Staff Reporter: A tree that had a very weak root collapsed on the victim in strong wind
CHENNAI: A motorcyclist was crushed to death when a tree fell on him on 11th Avenue Ashok Nagar on Wednesday.
The victim, V. Balamurugan (33), was on his way to office from his home in Jafferkhanpet when the accident took place. Police officials said Balamurugan belonged to Tuticorin and was employed as an assistant director in the film industry . He has worked in several films including those of K.S. Ravikumar.
S. Charles Sam Rajadurai, Inspector (Law & Order), Kumaran Nagar Police Station, said that the tree which fell on the victim had a very weak root and collapsed when a strong gust of wind blew.
Kumaran Nagar police have registered a case under Section 174 (death under mysterious circumstances) of the CrPC.
A senior official of the Forest Department said that improper maintenance is one of the reasons for well grown trees getting uprooted when strong winds blow. Proper care has to be taken for at least three or four years after a sapling is planted to make it take roots properly.
Adequate care has to be taken to minimise the damage to the root system while digging the ground for stormwater drain or for laying cable to prevent such incidents, the official said.
Picture and News from the "Daily Thanthi"India's Tamil Newspaper dated 16-07-2009 reports thus:"A road side tree fell on a motor cyclist who was waiting in a road signal .When about 50 persons were waiting in the road signal,the tree fell on him particularly and crushed him.This is also incredible."
Deccan Chronicle dated 21-10-2010
This shows that the death of a man is pre-destined .Nobody can say When and How a man dies.The death of a human being is beyond the control of Living beings in the earth.
Metal rod pierces body, removed !RARE SURGERY
A two-foot metal rod that had pierced a person from the back and emerged from the chest was removed after a rare surgery by a private hospital here.
Doctors and paramedical staff were stunned to see a calm Mr Thyagarajan being brought to the hospital with a metal rod jutting out from both sides of his body.
There was no bleeding and doctors said that the rod was a tight fit and the pressure had stopped the bleeding.
The trader from Madurai did not appear to be in pain because the impact had been so severe that the area had become totally numb, Dr V. Nandakumar, chief cardiothoracic surgeon of Kovai Medical College and Hospital, told this newspaper.
Mr Thyagarajan was travelling from Madurai to Ooty in a bus when the vehicle collided with another bus coming from the opposite direction. "The impact had been so severe that the window railing next to which he was sitting broke, pierced his back and came out through the left side of his chest. As we were unable to put him on the surgery table, the metal rod that was protruding behind had to be cut using a hacksaw," the doctor said.
Dr Nandakumar further said that the rod had passed through the lungs and was luckily away from the heart and other arterial blood vessels that could have cost his life.
"This is the second such case I have come across in 35 years of my cardio surgical experience."
Deccan Chronicle dt 13-10-2010.
disaster and accident in Chile
33 Miners trapped under 2050 feet depth for 68 days!
The miners were trapped when the shaft they were working on collapsed on August 5. For the first 17 days, they had hope, but no sign that anyone would find them. People above ground had in fact presumed them either dead or beyond rescue.On the 17th day, a drill probe reached them. The miners sent a note back up, reading "All 33 of us are safe in the shelter." Pinera showed Urzua the note immediately after he stepped out of the rescue capsule at the San Jose copper mine.The ordeal of 33 miners trapped for two months underground in Chile ended late Wednesday as the last miner, Luis Urzua, 54 - the man who guided his men through the ordeal - emerged to safety and ear-splitting cheers above ground.The rescue capsule designed and built by the Chilean navy was equipped with oxygen tanks, communication lines and special belts to monitor the miners' vital signs. The men consumed only a liquid diet to prevent nausea and boost blood pressure during the ascent from the 622-metre-deep launch platform, which took close to 18 minutes for the first miners and nearer 10 minutes for the last.The rescue in the Atacama Desert took place in an atmosphere of euphoria, patriotism, religious fervour and optimism. While the faces of family members were inscribed with tension while they awaited the first handful of miners to emerge, most traces of anxiety had vanished as it was clear the system worked. An estimated 1 billion people worldwide watched the rescue operations on television, US broadcasters estimated.It was the first known rescue of its kind from that depth in the history of underground accidents. The health of the men was generally "more than satisfactory" as they emerged, Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich said. Seven required special care, in particular one who suffered from acute pneumonia and two others who needed dental surgery under general anaesthesia."All of them are in very good psychological condition," Manalich said.
Man forgets the natural event that one day he has to die.The course of his life is predestined.The destiny(fate) shapes the grooves through which it will move. The various events in his life occur in a sequence in a schedule of time as per the dictations of the fate or destiny.
This can very well be illustrated by looking into the life history of any human being.For the purpose of analyzing, here we go through the life of a well known person the "Iron Man of the world" Saddam Hussain,the one time Emperor of Iraq.
Saddam Hussein was born on 28-04-1937 in the town of Al-Awja, 13 km (8 mi) from the Iraqi town of Tikrit, to a family of shepherds.
He never knew his father, Hussein 'Abid al-Majid, who disappeared six months before Saddam was born. Shortly afterward, Saddam's 13-year-old brother died of cancer. The infant Saddam was sent to the family of his maternal uncle Khairallah Talfah until he was three.
His mother remarried, and Saddam gained three half-brothers through this marriage. His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return.
At around 10 Saddam fled the family and returned to live in Baghdad with his uncle Kharaillah Tulfah. Tulfah, the father of Saddam's future wife, Under the guidance of his uncle he attended a nationalistic high school in Baghdad. After secondary school Saddam studied at an Iraqi law school for three years, dropping out in 1957 at the age of 20 to join the revolutionary pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, of which his uncle was a supporter. During this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher.
In 1958, a year after Saddam had joined the Ba'ath party, army officers led by General Abd al-Karim Qasim overthrew Faisal II of Iraq. The Ba'athists opposed the new government, and in 1959 Saddam was involved in the unsuccessful United States-backed plot to assassinate Abdul Karim Qassim.
Army officers with ties to the Ba'ath Party overthrew Qassim in a coup in 1963. Ba'athist leaders were appointed to the cabinet and Abdul Salam Arif became president. Arif dismissed and arrested the Ba'athist leaders later that year. Saddam returned to Iraq, but was imprisoned in 1964. Just prior to his imprisonment and until 1968, Saddam held the position of Ba'ath party secretary.He escaped from prison in 1967 and quickly became a leading member of the party. In 1968, Saddam participated in a bloodless coup led by Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr that overthrew Abdul Rahman Arif. Al-Bakr was named president and Saddam was named his deputy, and deputy chairman of the Baathist Revolutionary Command Council.
In 1976, Saddam rose to the position of general in the Iraqi armed forces, and rapidly became the strongman of the government. As the ailing, elderly al-Bakr became unable to execute his duties, Saddam took on an increasingly prominent role as the face of the government both internally and externally. He soon became the architect of Iraq's foreign policy and represented the nation in all diplomatic situations. He was the de facto leader of Iraq some years before he formally came to power in 1979. He slowly began to consolidate his power over Iraq's government and the Ba'ath party.
In 1979 al-Bakr started to make treaties with Syria, also under Ba'athist leadership, that would lead to unification between the two countries. Syrian President Hafez al-Assad would become deputy leader in a union, and this would drive Saddam to obscurity. Saddam acted to secure his grip on power. He forced the ailing al-Bakr to resign on 16 July 1979, and formally assumed the presidency.
Shortly afterwards, he convened an assembly of Ba'ath party leaders on 22 July 1979.
During the assembly,Saddam claimed to have found a fifth column within the Ba'ath Party and directed Muhyi Abdel-Hussein to read out a confession and the names of 68 alleged co-conspirators. These members were labelled "disloyal" and were removed from the room one by one and taken into custody. After the list was read, Saddam congratulated those still seated in the room for their past and future loyalty. The 68 people arrested at the meeting were subsequently tried together and found guilty of treason. 22 were sentenced to execution. Other high-ranking members of the party formed the firing squad. By 1 August 1979, hundreds of high-ranking Ba'ath party members had been executed.
Saddam married his first wife and cousin Sajida Talfah in an arranged marriage. Sajida is the daughter of Khairallah Talfah, Saddam's uncle and mentor. Their marriage was arranged for Hussein at age five when Sajida was seven; however, the two never met until their wedding. They were married in Egypt during his exile. The couple had five children.
Saddam married his second wife, Samira Shahbandar in 1986. She was originally the wife of an Iraqi Airways executive but later became the mistress of Saddam. Eventually, Saddam forced Samira's husband to divorce her so he could marry her.
After the war, Samira fled to Beirut, Lebanon. She is believed to have mothered Hussein's sixth child. Members of Hussein's family have denied this.
Saddam had allegedly married a third wife, Nidal al-Hamdani, the general manager of the Solar Energy Research Center in the Council of Scientific Research. She bore him no children.
Wafa el-Mullah al-Howeish is rumoured to have married Saddam as his fourth wife in 2002. There is no firm evidence for this marriage. Wafa is the daughter of Abdul Tawab el-Mullah Howeish, a former minister of military industry in Iraq and Saddam's last deputy Prime Minister. There were no children from this marriage.
In August 1995, Raghad,the oldest daughter and her husband Hussein Kamel al-Majid and Rana,the second daughter and her husband, Saddam Kamel al-Majid, defected to Jordan, taking their children with them. They returned to Iraq when they received assurances that Saddam would pardon them. Within three days of their return in February 1996, both of the Kamel brothers were attacked and killed in a gunfight with other clan members who considered them traitors. Saddam had made it clear that although pardoned, they would lose all status and would not receive any protection.
In the first days of the war with Iran, there was heavy ground fighting around strategic ports as Iraq launched an attack on Khuzestan. After making some initial gains, Iraq's troops began to suffer losses from human wave attacks by Iran. By 1982, Iraq was on the defensive and looking for ways to end the war.
At this point, Saddam asked his ministers for candid advice. Health Minister Dr Riyadh Ibrahim suggested that Saddam temporarily step down to promote peace negotiations. Initially, Saddam Hussein appeared to take in this opinion as part of his cabinet democracy. A few weeks later, Dr Ibrahim was sacked when held responsible for a fatal incident in an Iraqi hospital where a patient died from intravenous administration of the wrong concentration of Potassium supplement.
Dr Ibrahim was arrested a few days after he started his new life as a sacked Minister. He was known to have publicly declared before that arrest that he was "glad that he got away alive." Pieces of Ibrahim's dismembered body were delivered to his wife the next day.
The bloody eight-year war with Iran ended in a stalemate. There were hundreds of thousands of casualties with estimates of up to one million dead. Neither side had achieved what they had originally desired and at the borders were left nearly unchanged. The southern, oil rich and prosperous Khuzestan and Basra area (the main focus of the war, and the primary source of their economies) were almost completely destroyed and were left at the pre 1979 border, while Iran managed to make some small gains on its borders in the Northern Kurdish area. Both economies, previously healthy and expanding, were left in ruins.
The end of the war with Iran served to deepen latent tensions between Iraq and its wealthy neighbor Kuwait. Saddam urged the Kuwaitis to forgive the Iraqi debt accumulated in the war, some $30 billion, but they refused.
Saddam pushed oil-exporting countries to raise oil prices by cutting back production; Kuwait refused, however. In addition to refusing the request, Kuwait spearheaded the opposition in OPEC to the cuts that Saddam had requested. Kuwait was pumping large amounts of oil, and thus keeping prices low, when Iraq needed to sell high-priced oil from its wells to pay off a huge debt.
Saddam had always argued that Kuwait was historically an integral part of Iraq, and that Kuwait had only come into being through the maneuverings of British imperialism; this echoed a belief that Iraqi nationalists had voiced for the past 50 years.
On 2 August 1990, Saddam invaded and annexed Kuwait, thus sparking an international crisis.
A ground force consisting largely of U.S. and British armoured and infantry divisions ejected Saddam's army from Kuwait in February 1991 and occupied the southern portion of Iraq as far as the Euphrates.
Western charges of Iraqi resistance to UN access to suspected weapons were the pretext for crises between 1997 and 1998, culminating in intensive U.S. and British missile strikes on Iraq, 16-19 December 1998. After two years of intermittent activity, U.S. and British warplanes struck harder at sites near Baghdad in February 2001.
With war looming on 24 February 2003, Saddam Hussein took part in an interview with CBS News reporter Dan Rather. Talking for more than three hours, he expressed a wish to have a live televised debate with George W. Bush, which was declined. It was his first interview with a U.S. reporter in over a decade.[56] CBS aired the taped interview later that week.
The Iraqi government and military collapsed within three weeks of the beginning of the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq on 20 March. The United States made at least two attempts to kill Saddam with targeted air strikes, but both failed to hit their target, killing civilians instead.
When Baghdad fell to U.S-led forces on 9 April, Saddam was nowhere to be found.
At various times Saddam released audio tapes promoting popular resistance to the U.S.-led occupation.
Saddam was placed at the top of the U.S. list of "most-wanted Iraqis". In July 2003, his sons Uday and Qusay and 14-year-old grandson Mustapha were killed in a three-hour[57] gunfight with U.S. forces.
On 14 December 2003, U.S. administrator in Iraq L. Paul Bremer announced that Saddam Hussein had been captured at a farmhouse in ad-Dawr near Tikrit.[58] Bremer presented video footage of Saddam in custody.
Saddam was shown with a full beard and hair longer than his familiar appearance. The day after his capture he was reportedly visited by longtime opponents such as Ahmed Chalabi.
British tabloid newspaper The Sun posted a picture of Saddam wearing white briefs on the front cover of a newspaper. Other photographs inside the paper show Saddam washing his trousers, shuffling, and sleeping.
A few weeks later, he was charged by the Iraqi Special Tribunal with crimes committed against residents of Dujail in 1982, following a failed assassination attempt against him. Specific charges included the murder of 148 people, torture of women and children and the illegal arrest of 399 others.
Saddam was hanged on the first day of Eid ul-Adha, 30 December 2006, despite his wish to be shot (which he felt would be more dignified).
It was later claimed by the head guard at the tomb where his body remains that Saddam's body was stabbed six times after the execution.[69]
It sparked speculation that the execution was carried out incorrectly as Saddam Hussein had a gaping hole in his neck.
Saddam was buried at his birthplace of Al-Awja in Tikrit, Iraq, 3 km (2 mi) from his sons Uday and Qusay Hussein, on 31 December 2006.
Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein
On perusing the various events in the life of Saddam Hussein,we understand that they have occurred as per the dictations of the destiny. No one could prevent his death,eventhough he enjoyed very good support in his own country and in different parts of the world. The destiny has shaped the grooves through which Saddam Hussein treaded. This shows that the mind of a man works in the direction of the grooves shaped by destiny.
Deccan Herald, Colombo, Oct 3, (PTI):
Sri Lankan war-hero Fonseka spending nights on cement floor in jail
Sri Lanka's war-hero Sarath Fonseka, who once commanded his troops against the LTTE, has been lodged in a solitary cell where he sleeps on a mat on the cement floor, attired in ill-fitting prison clothes.
You have done it Well ! Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa Congratulated to Sri Lanka Army Chief, Lt. General Sarath Fonseka After Defeating the Terrorism from Sri Lanka on 18/05/2009
Sri Lanka's " War Hero" Sarath Fonseka's life in prison.
[ Sunday, 03 October 2010, 12:49.27 PM GMT +05:30 ]
Like other prisoners he carried the plate which belonged to him, stood in the long queue for his morning meal.
Former Military Commander Sarath Fonseka was brought last Wednesday from the Colombo Navy base camp to the Welikade prison, under high security to the "S" room which was separately allocated to him. He was registered as the 0-22032 numbered prisoner at the Welikade Prison. He removed his national dress and wore the prisoner's uniform. He slept in the cement floor by resting his head on a pillow.
The next day at 5.00 a.m, like other prisoners he got up and found that there was no water at the toilet. Hence he walked and took water to complete his morning activities. Later like other prisoners he carried the plate which belonged to him, stood in the long queue for his morning meal. The morning meal was rice and coconut sambol. The prison officers confirmed his presence and a doctor visited him and examined. A tailor came to take the measurements for his clothes.
In the afternoon with the plate in hand he waited for his lunch and the food was rice, small fish and green leaves. He came back to his room at 2.00 p.m. After completing his night meal at 7.00 p.m, he went to his room to sleep. An English Newspaper has published a news item, that a war hero who achieved victory against the war with TamiL Eelam Liberation tigers is now kept in the prison as a convict. According to a report though the Court Martial sentenced Fonseka to a rigorous jail term upto three years, the Sri Lankan President commuted it to 30-months. Fonseka, who successfully led the Sri Lankan military in the war against the LTTE which ended in May last year, was charged with favouring a company headed by his son-in-law, who is also an accused in a separate case filed in the high court on the same charges.
what is destiny?
Destiny is a power, controlling the occurrence of an event determined beforehand and well in advance. The Indian explanation of Destiny (Fate) is 'Karma', the past actions both in this birth and in the previous births.
The basis of Human Destiny is that 'what you have sown, you have to reap' whether it be in the present or succeeding lives and there is no escape. Human beings are destined to possess both evil destiny and benefic destiny.
The past actions of a human being determine his Destiny (Fate). Each action of a human being inexonarably causes some effects and each effect causes further effects like ripples.Whenever the Destiny (karmas) ripens to fruition at the scheduled time, they penetrate into the astral bodies namely the Planets and influence the human beings by affecting the mind. The Planets virtually take control of the human beings and force them to behave in the ways designed for them in a sequence and as per the schedule of time in compliance with the orders of the Destiny. (i.e.Karma,or.the Fate)The Destiny may be good or evil and changeable or non -changeable.
The actions of every human being is recorded and the thought of a man is also entered in the books of Destiny (Karma).The cause and effect relationship is inseparable and so also, the Destiny (karma) are also indivisible. The law of Destiny (Karma) resembles the Newton's third law of Motion which states," For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" The Law of Destiny is not a tit-for -tat theory.Man has to atone for his actions and so undergoes difficulties for sins and reaps benefits for benevolence. Both are separate and cannot be reconciled together.The Law of Destiny (Karma) is based on equity,is inviolable and cannot be set at naught by human and divine agency.When a human being is unaware or not conscious of an action done by him, it is an unknown Destiny (Karma). This unknown (karma) is traced to previous births.When a human being is aware of an action done by him, it is a Known Destiny (Karma).The Destiny (karma) ripens to fruition only at the scheduled time whether in this birth or in the forthcoming birth.
SALIENT FEATURES OF DESTINY
- The actions of every human being is recorded and the thought of a man is also entered in the books of Destiny (Karma)
- The cause and effect relationship is inseparable and so also, the Destiny (karma) are also indivisible.
- The law of Destiny (Karma) resembles the Newton's third law of Motion which states," For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction"
- The Law of Destiny is not a tit-for -tat theory.
- The Law of Destiny (Karma) is based on equity.
- The Law of Destiny is inviolable and cannot be set at naught by human and divine agency.
- When a human being is unaware or not conscious of an action done by him, it is an unknown Destiny (Karma). This unknown (karma) is traced to previous births.
- When a human being is aware of an action done by him, it is a Known Destiny (Karma).
- The Destiny (karma) ripens to fruition only at the scheduled time whether in this birth or in the forthcoming birth.
- The basis of Destiny is that 'what you have sown, you have to reap' whether it be in the present or succeeding lives and there is no escape.
Destiny causes the same pain and anguish that is being undergone
An episode From the Famous Hindu Epic 'RAMAYANA'
A man was taking his parents both of whom were blind, to another town through a forest. The parents felt thirsty and so the son kept both of them under a shady tree and came to a nearby river to fetch a bucket of water. At the same time, King Dasaratha was in the same forest .He had come there for hunting. He heard the noise of the water and mistook it for a deer drinking the water. Therefore, he shot his arrow and it hit the son killing him on the spot. The aged parents were anxiously expecting the return of their son. When King Dasaratha came to see the place, he was shocked to see a dead man. He told the aged parents what had happened and assured them that he will take care of them. The aged parents cursed the King Dassaratha that he will one day suffer the same pain and anguish that is being undergone by them now. And it was this curse that separated Prince Rama from his father King Dassaratha and unable to see the departure of his son Rama to forest for 14 years, King Dassaratha was hurt deeply and died at once.
From this story, we can say that
- The evil destiny of the King Dassaratha fruitioned in the current birth itself.
- The law of Destiny (Karma) resembling the Newton's third law of Motion which states, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" is true
- The Law of Destiny is not a tit-for -tat theory is true
- The Law of Destiny (Karma) is based on equity.
- King Dassaratha was aware of an action done by him and it is a Known Destiny (Karma).
Destiny drives a human being to undergo certain actions.
( a Story recited by "Kribananda Variar Swamigal")
A marriage function was going on in a village house. The elderly people solemnized the marriage in an auspicious time and the function was being conducted as enshrined in the Vedic Hindu Religion. The bridegroom tied the Mangalya sutra knot in the bride's neck(as per Hindu Vedic Sastra) and by this time, it started raining. Due to the incessant rains, the marriage hall flooded with rain water .The water could not be flushed out since the outlet hole was blocked by dusts. The just married bridegroom anxiously came near the outlet hole, with a view to clear the blockage, inserted his hand into the hole, A poisonous snake inside the outlet hole bit him and the bridegroom died on the spot. The marriage hall became a death house. The bride became a widow within minutes of her wedding. She cried and wept for this ill fate. Her parents and relatives were unable to console her. The girl thereafter lived with her parents, She kept herself aloof. She did not come out and did not participate in any functions. She never went to Temples accusing the God for such a misfortune and tragedy. Few years later, a Hindu Seer by name Vallalar Ramalinga Swami gal visited the locality. People thronged the area to get blessings of the Seer. This girl requested her parents to take her to the Seer.Accordingly,her parents made arrangements for meeting the Seer .The girl on seeing the Seer made her outburst by accusing the God for having bestowed such an ill-fate for no fault of her. She cried that she never committed any sins in her life. Her grief could not be consolable. The Seer patiently heard her story and observed with His Divine Power. The Seer told her that this ill fate is a retaliation of her Karma (Destiny) of the previous life in a previous birth. In the previous birth, she lived as a farmer man and this farmer was yearning vigorously to marry his maternal uncle's daughter. But his uncle' daughter was betrothed to another groom. Unable to digest this, the farmer killed the groom on the spot where the marriage was betrothed. Now in this birth, the killer farmer has taken the birth of this ill-fate girl and the uncle's daughter has taken the birth of a snake to avenge the farmer who spoiled her life. The Seer said that whatever agony, disaster and tragedy encountered by the uncle's daughter in the previous birth is now being experienced by the farmer who has now taken the birth of this girl. And so saying, the Seer convinced her that it is the fate or destiny that drives a human being to undergo certain actions.
From this story, we can say that
- the evil destiny fruitioned in the next birth i.e. it is traced to a previous birth.
- The girl is unaware or not conscious of an action done by her and so, it is an unknown Destiny (Karma).
- The Destiny is inviolable and is unable to be set at naught by human and divine agency.
- The actions of every human being is recorded and the thought of a man is also entered in the books of Destiny (Karma)
- The cause and effect relationship is inseparable and so also, the Destiny (karma) are also indivisible.
- The Destiny (Karma) resembles the Newton's third law of Motion which states," For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction"
Destiny is indivisible and not reconcilable.
The cause and effect relationship of destiny is inseparable and the Destiny (karma) is also indivisible.The evil effects of destiny and the benefic effects of destiny are not reconcilable.
Planets take the role of agents:
The rewards for the Destiny (Karma) are not determined by the Planets.The Planets do not have any say on the rewards for the Destiny. (Karma). The criteria adopted in evaluating the Destiny (Karma) for the rewards are not known to the planets. The Planets just execute the work entrusted to them. The Planets take the role of agents in implementing the work allotted to them.