“Keep this out of the reach of children.” You have probably seen this inscription somewhere. Bottles of medicines and other “harmful” substances normally bear such labels because it is common knowledge that kids are the most inquisitive people on earth. They see an insect and they want to touch it to know whether or not
Month: November 2019
Now We Can Tell The World Our Stories
“Once I did bad and that I heard ever; twice I did good, but that I heard never.” Do you remember this famous quote by Dale Carnegie which highlights the tendency of people to only recognize the weaknesses of others and not acknowledge their strengths? Well, social media too has fallen a victim, since most
In American Politics, Hate Attracts Hate as the Nation Disintegrates and Drifts Toward Civil War
Introduction The Politics of Hate is the most dangerous threat facing the United States today. We have lost our great democratic traditions which have made this country great for centuries and replaced them with a crude tribal system of politics in which the country is evenly divided and each group hates the other one. In
A Story Without Conflicts
Imagine a story without conflicts. Say a love story. A girl meets a boy. They date. They are compatible. They like each other. They get married. And live happily ever after. Now imagine a story with conflicts. Another love story. A girl meets a boy. They date. They like each other. The boy is
A Piece of the Puzzle
There are a thousand and one quotes on self-discovery, maybe more. There is also a general misconception that it is more important to know exactly what you are than focusing on being what you want to be. Most young children are pressured to be conformed to a particular image and identity at an early age.
For those on fast horses, jump to the end
‘If I had asked people what they wanted they would have said faster horses’ – Oh Henry Ford, how wrong you are. You should never ever speak on behalf of someone you don’t know (much less, everyone as a whole, lumping us all in together). Rule 1 of human decency. Yet plenty of people do
Love breeds Love
“Hate attracts hate.” I fully agree with this statement. But it is equally true to say that “love attracts love”, and “generosity attracts generosity”. As a side note, I prefer the more old-fashioned term, “breed”. “Violence breeds violence.” “Honesty breeds honesty.” Because the word “breed” gives off the idea of not only reproducing, growing and
The Core of All Things Real
Without conflict, we don’t have stories! It is at the core of not only every good story but of humanity itself. It is the expression of the main character, provides the setting to draw the reader in and gives perspective for where the story is headed. Conflict in real life grows and matures us. It
I Am What I Am
When we are born, we come into this world as a clean canvas. A spiritual being in a human bodysuit. We have no concepts of life, no models of reality, no judgements or pre-conceived ideas. As an innocent child we lived in each present moment – crying one second and playing the next, without being
The Price of Conflict
“If there’s no conflict, there are no stories worth telling — or reading.” — Veronica Roth Do you agree? — No. How fascinated we have become with the storylines in films and books which we admire. How stealthily and quickly these ideas creep into our heads: the idea that what happens in those stories, which
No Stories Worth Telling; No Life Worth Living
“If there is no conflict, there are no stories worth telling – or reading.” – Veronica Roth Conflict. It permeates every moment of our lives from the moment our toes touch the chilly floor in the morning, until our heads sink into the softness of our pillow at night. As we close our eyes and
“The main interest in life and work is to become someone else you were not in the beginning” – Foucault
Michel Foucault during an interview with Rex Martin on October 25th, 1982, was asked a question: “You are most frequently termed “philosopher” but also “historian”, “structuralist”, and “Marxist”. The title of your chair at the College de France is “Professor of the History of Systems of Thought”. What does this mean?” However, Michel Foucault replied with
Conflict: A Precursor to History
I agree with Veronica Roth’s quote that if there’s no conflict, there are no stories worth telling – or reading. Although there are resolutions that can be taken to avoid conflict and apathy, not many stories can be told or read about if there were no conflict. For instance, if there had not been one
Conflicts and the World
A wise man once quoted, “The greatest battles are born in conflict.” I stand to affirm that if there is no conflict, there will be no stories to tell at all. If all was peaceful and tranquil, who will remember the valiant effort of the warriors that fought for their clan’s freedom? No great king
Hardship and Prosperity: How Conflict Enriches Our Lives
Across time and cultures, it has long been acknowledged that our lives exist on a pendulum of hardship and prosperity, swinging from one end to the other throughout our journey on Earth. As many schools of thought have put it: there cannot be light without dark, good without evil, or joy without suffering. For some
Victor or Victim?
As he opened his mouth to speak, he felt a knot inside his throat. He tried to breathe but the words would not come out. He was choking from within as if someone was squeezing his throat with their powerful hands. The harder he tried, the more painful it became. As his ears turned red
La Haine Attire La Haine
2Pac, in an interview over his ‘THUG LIFE’ tattoo, explained: “The hate you give little infants destroys everyone.” How true this is because just as an African proverb puts it, ‘A war erupts when the children remember that certain warriors killed their parents’. Hate can only attract hate. Such was the case for Lil Joe,
Are you who you are?
The interviewer has his face heavily punctuated with wrinkles, his eyes dart from side to side as you walk in. With all his fingers locked in on themselves and both thumbs rubbing against each other, he doesn’t hesitate to ask, “Who are you?” You’re as sure as ever that he has asked every single person
The Power of Stories
Stories, the very reflections of our dreams and our fears, have always been around us since the beginning of our history. Being older than mankind, the power of stories lies in neither how old their origins date back nor where they come from. Rather, the power of stories is their similar nature to what we
Our Life is a Mirror
Have you ever heard anyone say, “Everything is going wrong in my life”? And things continue to go wrong instead of getting the desired outcomes. I have heard this phrase many times. What do you think happens then? Simple- the human being attributes bad situations to life and adopts several negative feelings, and hate is no