Revolution!
I don’t really have anything to say. I’ll see if I can come up with some random topics that have been floating around these days.
It certainly has been a fun vacation. I think quite a lot of interesting developments have come out of it but I guess the most important of them all is that my parents (and maybe I) have realised that I’m not as aloof from the rest of the family as they thought.
I think it’s been a long time since I made the effort of going to each family member and talking to them. One of the best parts about my character is that I can relate to everyone given that they are open to talking. Talking to everyone reminded me that my family’s special especially because I’ve never known another family that is as fun-loving and united as mine. No matter where I went, there was laughter even in the most serious of times. There’s no one in my family who I’d even think of exchanging for someone else.
The past month has been really interesting. I guess the topic might have been given a voice by my birthday but it probably would have come up anyway. My brothers and I are getting older. We’re coming in to our own and soon we’ll be leading our own lives. Our jobs, our families and our houses will be specific to each of us but we’ll still be united through our parents i.e. our blood.
Everyone’s been talking about it. Since the topic of my birthday came up (which I always try not to mention), people have been telling me that we’re all grown up now and that it must be a relief to our parents.
I certainly don’t feel any different. I don’t feel grown-up. In fact, just today, I was trying to watch “The Archies” on TV because I wanted to know what sort of voices each character had so that when I read the comics, my imagination would be complete.
My parents are talking about getting older. About them not having to care for us as much anymore and noticing that they don’t have as many other responsibilities since their kids are picking up the slack… well, one kid. That’s the cycle of life.
They certainly are proud. I mean, they’ve managed to turn out three young men who are all destined for greatness. Well, mediocrity for one of them.
Life’s become pretty simple these days. No complications, no nothing. Some people might disagree and remind me that certain points here and there meant problems could arise. I think even that’s pretty easy to sum up into simplicity. “Sometimes, life doesn’t go as you plan”.
Simple lives have a whole bunch of advantages. Troubles don’t seem so bleak and humour can be found at every corner. There’s way too much humour in this world. A simple person keeps laughing and others keep telling them, “Stop laughing! It’s not funny! This is serious!” That alone is enough to crack me up again.
I’ve always been a sucker for overcoming the odds and continuing on undeterred. I think my favourite question is “If you come to a brick wall barring your path, and you notice a rope ladder and a metal pipe going up the face of the wall, how will you proceed?” My answer is “Break the wall down!” I don’t want that stupid wall there every time I take that path. What about the people who will follow me? I don’t want them to stop following me because I can’t make their paths easier. After all, they are following me because they think that I can help them in their lives. I guess this could be considered “Thinking outside the box”.
I’ve re-affirmed my conviction of going through with Industrial Engineering. Why? Because now I repeatedly see signs that there’s a great future to be had if I can come through the course smelling like roses. It’s a bit late now to bud out like that but I don’t like roses anyway. Two more years – I just need to get a great grade and after that, I have a good chance of getting the future that I want. I guess it’s what my dad’s been trying to make me realise all my life. Study for the first twenty; reap the rewards for the remaining sixty. Just need to focus. That’s the hardest part.
There was a huge debate and lecture session with one of my younger cousins. As some of his eldest cousins, we had to give him advice and guide him. Once again, I found myself spewing out the same old lines that I guess represent the way I treat life.
You need to be confident. So confident that you can state an obvious lie with such conviction that others will doubt the truth. Confidence will call others to follow you. To trust you.
You need to understand that although following society’s guidelines is necessary to get by; being an individual means you don’t stick to everything that’s expected. Again – Think outside the box.
Merge the first two points and you get your third. You cannot argue against the world. You need to be able to back it up with something. Confidence and supporters can help there. Haha, I can see why some might think that I’m stepping into becoming an extremist. However, I’m not leaning towards anarchy. I’m trying to break through stereotypes.
People are stupid. They generalise way too often and then accept those theories as facts. I do it too. I’m sure I do. However, it’s important to realise that there are several exceptions to the generalisations. Depending on how open-minded you are, you can find more proof that you’re wrong.
That’s coming from me. One of the most stubborn people alive. I think what peeves me is that people are afraid to do anything because if their efforts are fruitless, others will shun them or judge them. Their claim: We’re waiting for the right moment.
Am I wrong in thinking that sitting around does nothing and if I remember well, I was really proud of one of my lines “Make your moments”?
It takes people with guts who can get up and make a change to give rise to improvements. Again, these are people who think outside the box that we keep shutting ourselves in.
Boy, I really think I’m sending out the wrong signals. That I’m out for the wrong intentions. So I guess I should stop being so general and become more specific.
Let’s look at a small town. The people have become lazy, illiterate and they aren’t worth two dimes in the opinion of others. This is the general opinion of the town. Notice the word “general”? A word with similar roots – generalisation. Meaning what? It’s not a fact. Meaning what? There could be exceptions. Meaning what? There are people in that town who are active, educated and they are worth their weight in gold. You know what these people need to do? They need to shut up and pretend they are just like the rest. That way, no one will get upset that they are stirring up trouble.
Oh wait… that’s wrong. These people need to make an effort to improve their town. It would be ideal if they work together (which is what governments do, I guess) and they go out into the world to prove that the town they hail from is not full of lazy, illiterate slobs.
I think we need to take advantage of the sheep-like qualities of people. They tend to follow. We also need to do what they want the most. Play up to their pride and laziness. A typical person when told that he is hard-working and overall, a good person will be delighted and continue to do the same. Exceptions – Some people will take that praise to heart and want more. They’ll strive to improve. You tell a person that he’s a miserable slob and that there’s nothing that you’d ever want to do with him. What happens? Well, he won’t like it. But let’s assume that you’re addressing the aforementioned town. You call them a pack of miscreants who should be flogged. They won’t like that. But if the whole world thinks that and the whole world repeatedly tells them that, they will shut up and sit down. No one will do anything. They’ll take the verbal abuse and accept that they are no good. That’s who they are. Acceptance or perhaps… Settlement.
What about the exceptional people? The ones who are from that town but are not willing to take those insults? They want to make a change but since no one else will join them, they sit back down too, dejected at the lack of hope.
I’m losing track of my point. I guess the thing I want to say is that I want the world to be a better place. I want people to stop accepting the current way of life and start looking into ways of improving it.
We need people to think outside of the box and we need people who aren’t afraid of what the rest of the world will say. I mentioned this in one of my previous blogs. It was a joke from “Friends”. When Joey didn’t want to talk about his dream,
Fat load of good speaking out loud did for him. He got shot!
What about the rest of the world? Didn’t he leave it a much better place? Did he back down from all the other attempts on his life? Nope, he plugged on and he got his point across without any violence. He organised sit-ins and protest marches.
Back to my point. I think what I’m most afraid of is that when my time comes to leave this world, I’ll look back and think that I did exactly what I always seem to be against doing – I lived my life just like everyone else. I did nothing to leave the world a better place. I took my place in society and I sat there quietly.
I don’t think there’s any cause out there that I want to join. I don’t want to protest against anything and I don’t want to have sit-ins. I want people to stop being afraid of presenting their ideas and actively joining the quest to improve our lives. Not just their own but everyone’s. Selfish?
I guess people draw lines at the level of impact they want to make on this world. Some are content with making an impact within their families. Some are content on an industrial scale. Some on a local population scale. For me, I think big. These are certainly important areas where one needs to be involved for greater improvement but the areas I want to focus on come in to city impacts, country impacts and the Holy Grail – world impact.
My aim in life? I just told you. To leave the world a better place. Now all I need is a well-chiselled body and a blinding smile. I could be your next Mr. Universe. Move over,
How do I plan on doing that? Alone? No. I want people to unite. I want people to realise that just because the whole world considers them slobs, they shouldn’t live like slobs. They shouldn’t settle for being slobs. They shouldn’t let themselves be told what they are. They should make themselves whatever they want to be. They shouldn’t wait for the time to be right. That’s what the whole world lives in the wait of. They want the right moment. Well, it doesn’t come along often, if at all. So, make your darn moment!
Speeches like that are what make me extremist, right? Well, “God loves everyone, but prefers fruit of the Spirit over religious nuts!”
I’m so sure that I’ve left half of my points dangling incomplete.
Life is short. Let’s not dawdle on being so rapt up in our own lives that we forget that once we pass on, how comfortable we made our own lives won’t matter. If you really want to be content when you go to the grave, you should be able to say to yourself that you were able to do everything that you ever wanted while you still walked the green Earth. Quote: “Work for the Lord, the pay isn’t much but the retirement is out of this world”
In my case, I won’t be content with just skydiving, go-karting and scuba diving though they all rank high on my list. Well, done the first two. I won’t be content with seeing the whole world. I won’t be content with understanding different cultures. I’ll be happy once I can say… actually, not me… but others say “He made our lives better”
I’m tired now… I keep losing my point and end up sounding like some fanatical fool. I read my last few blogs and some of them made me realise that I sounded way too serious in them.
This blog? It’s not a huge serious deal for me. It’s a pet peeve, you can say. I’m peeved that people are content to follow. Then again, a leader won’t be a leader if there aren’t any followers. So I guess I’m peeved that people are content with settling.
Imagine a world where everyone was equal. No one country was considered worse than another. Every country had people at the helm who were striving to improve the country with the help of their followers. Sounds ideal, right?
You know why it won’t happen? Because there are too many people in this world who aren’t content until they know that they are superior to others. You know what this could mean though? That these people will move up to the front and put their hands on the “Improvement Train”
Then there are people who don’t want to be helped. They think they don’t need any help and that they are fine the way they are. Well, the next time they catch themselves complaining about something, they should realise that perhaps there is room for improvement, however little.
Then there are people who think that since the whole world is living like this, why should they be any different or yearn for anything else? “Do not think that you are on the right road just because it is a well-beaten path.”
Then there are people who try to step up and make a difference. What happens to them? They get squashed and their spirit is sucked out of them. You know what determination does? It re-inflates them with renewed spirit and vigour.
Then there are people who think to themselves. He’s got no clue as to what he’s talking about. He’s just one person. Well, there was some really cool Chinese proverb that I’m going to proceed to mar now with editions and additions. “Do not think that you are only one in a world of seven billion. Instead, be all that you can be as one.” Now, that was a horrible regurgitation of it but it’ll do. In case you didn’t get it, I said that just because you’re only one person shouldn’t stop you. You’re still capable of doing a lot.
Then there are people who are just naturally evil and will take advantage of other people being naïve. Well, I’m not asking people to dummy up. “Trust in God, but tie up your camel!”
What’s my point? Society’s dumb and not rational. They need a collective logical mind at the forefront. Life better be a much nicer place to live by the time I die or I’ll be pissed!
P.S. Somewhere after a paragraph or two, I completely forgot that I was talking about my little cousin! I moved on to bigger matters!
