Sunday, September 10, 2006

clearing my head: a long one

warning: very, very long post, read at your own peril. though i do commend you if you ever reach the end.

my friends, what's life?

what does it mean 'to live'?

looking at what's in store for my life now, i don't feel like i want to live. i'm sure most of you would have a life schedule in the mould of this: graduation, hectic job, raking in the money, have kids, grow old, die.

honestly none of the aforementioned are essential to life. the first 3 are consequences of choices we make in life, the fourth an avoidable option and the last two unfortunately inevitable. definitely not the way any of us want to live.

why do we need an education? why do we need a job? why do we need money? why do we have kids? why do we have to die?

normally, people answer this sequence head first, so let's rock:

we need education because it is a form of self-progression and improvement. as humans we should always seek to improve ourselves. score! weee. model answer.

we need a job because it helps us keep ourselves occupied in life. in addition, a job helps us realise the potential within ourselves and together with the education we received, create value to our environment and society. therefore, when all of us create value in such a way, we will be helping our society advance as a whole. ting! model answer no. 2.

money? we don't really need money, we really just need food, water and shelter! it's just a reward for us when we create value to the society! the more value we create, the more money we get! it's very difficult for people to pay us in terms of our needs, so to make it more convenient for humans, money was created to facilitate ease of rewarding! values are also attached to our needs so that we can exchange our monetary rewards for them! hooray for human advancement!

do i really have to say this? well to be blunt, we need children for the sustained continuation of the human race! we always strive for the betterment of humans as a whole and children will grow up to carry on the legacy left behind by their forefathers! in time they will have their children and they in turn will carry on the human legacy as well! for sustained development!

mmm death...touchy topic i say. i guess it's needed because it's presence ensures humility within the human race. it also ensures efficiency as goals and expectations have to be realised within every short lifespan. without death, humans would flaunt their immortality, slip into a sloth like state and generally be apathetic in nature. that only spells our degeneration! so death is innately good as it keeps us on our twinkly toes! amen brother.

bullshit. glad u agreed.

come on, let's take another approach. let's go backwards:

die? none of us wants to die. please. i want to be like an elf in lord of the rings. can't die unless through grief or combat. come on, thousands of years old and still look like arwen/legolas? sign me up anytime. unfortunately, death is part of life. it's like a timebomb strapped to your body, counting down the days. when it reaches zero. adious. makes life all the more precious, don't you think? in fact, i think immortality would solve a whole lot of issues. but that's another story for another day.

kids. if we had immortality, i think we'd eradicate the need for kids. they'd be more like a case of 'oops, forgot my protection.' but we are mortals, so we have kids to, honestly, carry on our legacy. when we plan to have kids, we've already planned a future for them as well. ever caught yourself in a moment when you said: 'if i had kids, i will not let this/that happen to them.' sure, the primary reason why we have kids is so that the human race can live on but we all know that! we can easily prevent kids if we wanted to anyway, so why have kids. sad to say, parents treat kids like clay. not dirt-type clay but mouldable clay. they have kids so that they could project their wishes and hopes onto the next generation, create images of themselves they could not see when they were kids themselves. when children stray from this, parents become disappointed. now you know why. anyway, because we have death, therefore we have kids. goals we cannot accomplish we pass on to them to fulfill. unless you have no goals of cause, but then..you're a different story. death creates need for kids.

money..kaching! we really don't need money. REALLY. but because of how society has grown over 10000 years, the inevitable formation of economics, demand and supply, blah blah yak yak, we have money today. but that still doesn't explain a need. so here goes: we live to enjoy. the grand purpose to be around here is to enjoy. if you have been depressed from the day you're born, i suppose you're probably better off dead. sadly for us, everything in this world that entertains has a value attached to it. thank economics. and also because everything in this world in a sense has an expiry date, a value is attached to it so people can PAY to enjoy it before it expires. (which is an irony because i happen to know a certain glittering commodity that's supposed to last forever yet has an exorbitant price tag attached to it..) long story short: presence of death creates need to enjoy creates value for entertainment creates need for money. death creates kids as well. they certainly aren't free.

job. i don't need a job to keep me occupied. sure a little work here and there helps tide the time but why can't i just make merry with my friends 24/7? truth time. you need a job cos it pays the bills. if you don't know what's going on, you skipped the previous paragraph. go read it again. death brings need for enjoyment brings need for money brings need for job. but...but...i could do what i like and it still pays? does it pay enough? can you actually do what you like? what if i like to play? ahhhh..facts of life.

education. well true in a sense. makes people smarter. that much i agree. helps get a job. helps pay the bills. helps us enjoy life. hola! winning formula here! it is really the one part of life i'd whole heartedly agree to. it's just how society bottlenecks you to a few selected paths that disturbs me(maybe just our society). do i really want to do business/finance? not really. banker..well, no, stressful. doctor? eh..too bloody. lawyer? mmm...imposing environment. then why...cause of money, YOU FOOLS! weeeeeee. i want money. many many money(bad english intended)! cos it helps me enjoy life before i die. self-satisfaction my friends. i have big dreams and high expectations. i'm sure you do too. if you've kept up with me through-out, you'd understand by now.

ok fine, perhaps i paint an extreme scenario, but you cannot deny the fundamentals are there. if you think i'm talking about death then you missed the point. in any case, i'm not saying death is bad. you can't say that. it's just inevitable. say if one day you're sitting in your house and a lightning bolt curves inwards to electrocute you, can you say it's bad? i don't even think it qualifies as bad luck. it's not bad, it's just inevitable. don't focus on the inevitable!

what i'm saying is: guys, there are many ways to live a life, why has it come to this? why must the inevitabilities of life combined with the pressures of our environment propel us in this way such as to make life so meaningless? in moving on, we must still find time to take a break and enjoy the subtleties of life and remember that while somethings in life are inevitable, we have a choice in everything else. choose wisely and live life like it should always have been.

i suggest everyone devote a moment everyday to doing something you really want to. do it and not regret it. if one day you want to start an argument with your professor for the fun of it, JUST DO IT. if one day you really feel like kicking someone in the ass, JUST DO IT. if one day you really want to grab this person and drag him/her to the corner and do something, well, emmm..just do it. i'm asking you to just be aware of life. be aware of why you are alive and take advantage of the fact that you're still around to enjoy it. spice up your life TODAY.

awareness for life: satisfies.

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