The Pencil

A nice story from Paulo Coelho highlighting some the fundamental qualities that one has to adhere:

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked: ‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’ His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson: ‘I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special. ‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’

‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’

‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’

‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

source: “Like the Flowing River” by Paulo Coelho

My rise as a philosopher

Of recent, I have been really thinking about this blog. No clue why. Hope I am finally getting over my 3 year long "writers block"(that's fancy word for laziness).

Of late, the life and death of Socrates has been a matter for most of thoughts. No clue why all of a sudden am I getting so philosophical. But I can just think of my favourite quotes from Socrates.

By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will become happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.

But since I am not married. I guess I will have to edit this a bit:

If you have a good life you will become happy, and if you have a bad one you will become a philosopher.

Information "Explosion" or "Implosion+Duplication"

When i was first introduced to the internet. I clearly remember that it was said that the internet was going to be a media where the information explosion is going to take place. But with the go of the current trend that i am experiencing, i must say that the internet is a media of information implosion & duplication. One site prepares the information and the rest blindly copies those information & puts it on their site under their name. When i google for some information these days and check some of the first few hits. Its all the same. I have no idea which site actually came up with the information and which site copied it. Its a direct Ctrl+C Ctrl+V. Not even a slight change to show an attempt of trying to cover up the fact that the information is copied.

The Return of ....

For some reason i was thinking about Superman's life as a real life situation. Not the fact of a man with super-power trying to hide it and live a normal life. But the part where he just disappears without even telling a bye to his loved ones.
Its a real agony when a LOVED ONE just disappears. Especially when you know that the LOVED ONE might face danger/problem. I have been through that agony. Must say that, its a horrible one. I serious hope that its just once a lifetime event(but it repeated for me).
But the worser part is, when you know that they have returned safely and they have not informed you. But you just came to know through someone else. It just gets worse when you come to know that the LOVED ONE does not want you to know that they are back.
First i was shocked. Then i was angry. Anger became pity. Now i am confused. I am confused if i should accept things as they are and hope that the person will atleast call me oneday and wait. Or consider their disappearance as the END of your relation in this mortal world and relish the time i associated with that person.
In this confusing world, I guess this is going to be the new confusion to my huge list of confusions that is going to haunt me.
Must say that my life is extremely eventful with all these confusions.

A pattern of life

for every laugh there should be a tear

Must that these are the words of some really wise person. I dont know if its just me or everyone. I have seen that everything that does up, does land down as per the Newtons Law of Gravity. And the worst thing is, there is always a proportion in that.
At what intensity you go up, you fall down in the same intensity.
Its really tough to move pass those things especially if it went up at a great intensity and it had to end in a rather great intensity. It does prick me from time to time. But i guess as a mortal human being, i have to learn to accept this as a Law of Nature like Birth & death and move on in life with a heavy heart.

What is love to do about marriage and family!?

marriage isn't about love at all. It's about social contract. Family isn't about love either, it's about bondage

I just came across this line and it just put me in a deep though if love really exist or is it just a concept that was created for keeping the gift & greeting cards and the film industry alive.
Does this concept really exist or its just an illusion that we are made to believe like how the Magicians try to make us believe that the rabbit just appeared in his hat when he put him hand in.
I dont mean to offend anyone one or make this claim just b'cos i have not found a love in my life. But just could not help but just wonder. "What if..."

Dying for life?

First i was dying to finish my high school and start collage
And then i was dying to finish collage and start working
Then i was dying to marry and have children
And then i was dying for my childen to grow old enough so i could go back to work
But then i was dying to retire
And now i'm dying
And suddenly i realized i forgot to live

A review of my daily horoscope

One thing i love about the newspapers is the daily horoscope. I really liked my reading today. It goes like this:

The time has come to draw the line. As much as you love one individual, they've been taking advantage of both your kindness and your good nature. Don't worry that in being tough you would alienate them. They already know that they're pushing it, and won't be at all surprised when you confront them.

I just did that today but could not feel like confronting the person. I know that it will be really be tough for that person. But i did confront in am indirect way and i feel that person understood it.

It was really tough doing it. As i really care for this person. But i just hope that what i did was right. I just felt that i had to do it.

Well, thats just one more thing thats going to bug me for the rest of my life. But i am sure i can put up with it.

How much to love???

"Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have."

I guess this one thing that we often forget and spend our time worrying as to why does the other person not love you the way you love them. Expressing ones true feeling is one of the toughest things to do. Sometimes a father has to punish his child even though he loves his child just to discipline the child and he hopes that child will realize that in the future.

Even in relations, sometimes we are forced to hurt the other person just for their own good and hope that they will realize it in future. But the worst thing will be, if your plan went wrong and the person who you cared for turns against you.

Love

I usually come across people who try to find the definition of love. I too at one stage was desperate to define it. But anyways, i am not going to define love here now, its being already done by many. And anyways, i am not even eligible to define now. I will do it when i feel that i am eligble. But for now, i can just tell one thing about love.

"Most of the times we give love to people who don't deserve it."