Hi,
They say
it is always calmest before the storm.
This is all way too overdramatic for what this post is about. But the point is, it seems things always turn to poop just as they are looking up. The only thing that matters is how you react. Things happen. 90% of life is things happening to you. 10% is you reacting to things happening (those numbers are made up). Continue reading “broken”
Hi 😊,
We all seek escapism. I’m not here to judge. I’m just here to say I do too. I’m no stranger to the need to leave behind the stresses of everyday life. People seek this from all kinds of places. Some take drugs/alcohol and others go to entertainment or gaming/virtual reality. Some even go to God. Over the years, I have used various media outlets for escapism. Continue reading “fantasia”
This is really just an entry of something I was thinking of. It has no structure despite the supposed break down into headings. Oh, it also has no personal references (which is not the way I like to write).
Misconstrued
We often use the phrase “looking back, in hindsight” in the many situations that life throws at us, and most of the time, it is because we have misread all the signals along the way or ignored them altogether. We also often say that experience is the best teacher. Yet, when we decipher the context of the content of that statement, we can see that there is no appropriation of said experience. No allocation of responsibility. Nothing states that it must be your experience that is your best teacher. Nevertheless, we feel obliged to take on the mantle and be guinea pigs for life’s tests.
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,…, Patterns
The problem with “society” is that we are built on habit. Originally, our existence is based on trial and error. We will try everything once. The outcome of this attempt will then structure how we react to a reoccurrence in future. If we like the experience, we continue to indulge in it until it becomes second nature. Conversely, if we do not enjoy the experience, we tend to “try something new”. But, imminently, it develops into a habit. And this is backed up by a man named Leonardo Pisano (aka Fibonacci), a mathematician. He discovered that everything on earth was a series of patterns (numerical sequences) and the patterns were exactly the same for many things, reproduction in rabbits to the rotation of planets. Okay, I will spare you the boring mathematics lecture. But, basically, it is our design to continue in a certain manner, because we are humans.
The Best Teacher
There will be a thousand and one conflicting theories on why this isn’t the case. But let us think about it. Everything we do in all aspects of “human-dom” is essentially as a result of things that others before us have done. We try to take their work as the basis for ours in hopes that we better said work. We don’t necessarily try new things as nothing is new under the sun. Essentially, all we are doing is being a part of the cycle – doing our bit to complete the pattern – try, fail, repeat; in the hope that we one day converge to the right answer. I believe it was Sam Levenson who said
You must learn from the mistakes of others. You cannot possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.
So maybe, example, rather than experience, should be the best teacher.
Domino
Anyway, back to the point. Which is, that we tend to ignore all signs along the road of life – and life is full of patterns (Fibonacci reference here). If we can learn from the mistakes of those before us, then we can move forward a lot quicker. We cut out the unnecessary waste of time and resources and begin to achieve more. Cue the domino effect. The possibilities are endless. The less mistakes we make in our time, the less the next generation have to clear up. There is a lot that still lingers on today because of what the previous generations did wrong. Take Hiroshima and the slave trade era as your examples. The Japanese are only just beginning to recover from the effects of that massacre. I feel blacks may never be taught to appreciate their past rather than victimise themselves, antagonise the white man, and continue to exist with a defeatist mentality.
Little Science Lesson
Every mistake we make in life is like a wound. When wounded, the body works to protect itself from the “alien body” by producing a scab covering over the vulnerable area. The body heals itself leaving behind a scar (many of which I have). This scar is a reminder of the fact, at one point, the body was damaged. But the body’s defences had worked to repair the damage. even though you can’t feel the pain anymore, you are reminded of the incident.
The same is true for us as humans. History is there for us to learn for – to serve as a reminder. To appreciate what our people have done through the good and bad times – not to let it linger and be the reason for much enmity and chaos. Let those who have eyes read.
Pentagon football, bare feet on dry sand;
Innocent minded but I spent time with thugs and men in gangs;
Streetwise in my pre-teens;
Most adults act dumb in the streets.
Parents probably weren’t happy about it;
Bad Company. But I did score with men in the streets;
Planned it, took me out the hood at thirteen;
Ten years later, those hoodlums probably never made it to their thirties.
Stab wounds on their backs, battle scars on the skin;
Deep hole in my head, scrape marks on my shin;
Game over. I head to my two-storey;
While they disperse to wooden huts. Homely.
Death.
Not the opposite of life.
But more the absence thereof.
Yet, personified, it lingers like a pungent aroma. A sweet smelling odour.
As time tends towards the positive infinity of reality,
it dawns that time is merely the slow,
burning catalyst that brings forward the
inevitability of death.
We therefore spend each and every single day of our living, dying.
And maybe that’s why we are in such a haste to grow and to live out our youth.
Because instinctively, we accept the predictability of our mortality.
And more so the unpredictability of its happening.
We understand that,
the more life we cram and congest,
into the time we are permitted,
the less dying we have left.
So we are willing to take risks.
Make mistakes.
To reach the mortal high. To fill a void.
But soon a Newtonian Eureka applies that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
We soon begin to pay the price for our actions.
Dance to the tune of the piper.
The concepts forced upon our youth go out the window as life strikes with the severity of a tre-mor,
and we are sha-ken in our foundations.
Some recover.
Some don’t.
But we are all wounded in equal measure,
leaving scars that may never fade.
Death.
Not the opposite of life.
But more the absence thereof.
Yet it defines our existence somewhat, as we all strive, not to cheat the inevitable,
but to make the most of what little, or plentiful, time we have left.
So I was initially going to write an entry on recognising and appreciating the value of good health and how, as with many things in life, we take our good health for granted because we expect to wake up tomorrow with a fully functioning body.
As a Civil Engineering student, I know a little about collapse of structures and failure – catastrophic and gradual. Catastrophic referring to failure that occurs suddenly with no warning and elapses in a short period.
Going back to health, I don’t think any condition leading to ill health is ever sudden. I believe it is a build up over time and is either genetic or due to your environment. Yet we never expect to wake up to one illness or another. No one goes to bed without cancer and wakes up with it, for example. It just means they didn’t notice the cancer last night and have this morning.
Anyway, I’ve been to the doctor’s over the past year and I have racked up a list of conditions that have caused me pain resulting in reduced mobility, laziness, fatigue and so on. And I realised that as a man in my 20s, I have failed to appreciate enough what it means to be of good health. So if you don’t have to be in a hospital or on medication, I suggest you take time to fully appreciate that. Being unfit/unwell/unhealthy in any way is just a massive inconvenience.
The links below will educate you on the conditions I have…
Life. Every human deserves one. However there are a few that we as a unit have set above ourselves as higher beings for the hope of being recognised by them and stealing a bit of their limelight. I’m referring to so called celebrities that gain such a status because we put them there. The list is huge from glorified Z listers to YouTube vloggers.
The idea that you can devote your time to gaining attention from these individuals will continue to baffle me. They are as human as you are. Nothing makes them any better or any worse. So why would a person tweet for hours to get the attention of AyyOnline for example? Who is he? He’s a not so funny funny man on YouTube. Or Joey Essex. The over-pampered Essex man who was shot into fame by his poor acting and generally annoying appearance.
Anyway I will move on. (And by the way I have nothing against these people. I’m against their groupie “god status”).
My question. A celebrity found with drugs, or causes GBH or ABH, gets away with measly punishment like rehabilitation.
An “average Joe” commits the same crime and suddenly he(she) is looking at prison time with a lot of testosterone fuelled men who want to violate him(her) in the showers.
Why?
There are many cases to back this up. Chris Brown (vs Rihanna). Bobby Brown (vsWhitney Houston). Bobby Brown AND Whitney Houston. Eminem. 50 Cent. To name a few.
And how can a rapper talk about how much crack he has, or how many guns he has, or how many people he has popped a cap in, and STILL BE ABLE TO WALK THE STREETS EVERY DAY?!
Who determines what my life is worth? I mean I was born. Just like you. From a womb. So when did your life gain value?
Let’s look at Mr Tom Daley. Now he is a magnificent athlete and probably a nice person. But what is to say his life is more important than mine?
A while back I was involved in an incident where someone had made up a fake account on twitter and attacked people racially and threatened others including myself. The person had also contacted a bunch of 14 year old girls using this account. Of course people noticed it wasn’t me. I hacked into twitter using a simple code and I deleted their account. I walked into the police station and explained my case. The woman who answered me said “we have nothing to do with twitter. Take it up with twitter’s head office”. That was that.
I reported the account to twitter with proof and the accounts were shut down.
A few days ago, Tom Daley was attacked on twitter. He quoted the tweet and replied. Before long, the attacker was arrested. For a tweet. One tweet. Not 50-100 tweets. Just one.
Process that, along with your genetically modified organic food. Peace.
MCHLJUNIOR 