IMHO

“I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

- Hellen Keller (American author and educator who was blind and deaf, 1880 - 1968 )

“I am only one, but I am one.
I can’t do everything, but I can do something.
The something I ought to do, I can do.
And by the grace of God, I will.”

- Edward Everett Hale (American clergyman and Writer, 1822 - 1909 )

Sometimes we are despaired that the effort we put in is so miniscule that it doesn’t seem to count for much; and everything seem so futile. At moments like these, I hope you remember these words from these great personalities, and this camp fire song that some of us might have sung in our youth,

It only takes a spark, to get a fire growing
And soon all those around, can warm up in its glowing

Such is the power of action, with faith and perseverance, even water can wear down a hard stone. No action is too small, compared to taking no action at all.

To all my friends, whether I know you or not, who fight for a worthy cause, may you have faith, and continue believing. May your little spark, kindles a great fire, and bring peace, hope and warmth to all mankind.

“We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do.”

- Martha Grimes (American author of detective fiction, 1931 - )

What can I say, I am learning about myself every single day and in every thing I do.  Sometimes, I surprise even myself with the decisions I make.  Anyway, have an open mind, just do it.  You will never know what can be accomplished if you don’t even give it a try.

In was a long time ago, in “The Fisher King”, when Jack Lucas is trying to break into a castle in New York, he commented

“Thank God nobody looks up in this town“.

The line struck a chord with me, and I remembered it ever since.

Why don’t people look up anymore? Or for that matter, look at anything around us? To me, everybody seems to be in a rush from point A to point B. All they see is straight ahead, no wondering eyes to take in their surroundings.

I was just reading Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman Volume Five “A Game of You”. In chapter three, this homeless woman observed that the moon has disappeared for a short while, and then reappeared again. But nobody else noticed it (because they never looked up). Hence she commented that

“Nobody Looks Up in the Sky Anymore.”

And I am sure there are many instances of similar comments everywhere.

I have always enjoyed looking up, looking at:

• the leaves in the trees directly overhead;
• how the sky-scrappers, aka concrete jungle, reaches out to the sky;
• the amazing every-changing patterns formed by the clouds against the blue sky;
• the stars, oh, the beautiful stars and the constellations;
• the colourful sky, especially at dawn and dusk.

Back to my pet topic, there is beauty all around us, all we have to do is to open our eyes, and really take the time to SEE. The beauty is in the things we took for granted, that we passes by each day, looking without seeing. We were so oblivious to the beauty around us, we learned to appreciate the little things in life that makes life so beautiful and wonderful.

This life is ours to live, its not a long time, fifty, seventy, maybe eighty, and if we are really lucky and vigilant, we might live to be one hundred. But if we don’t know how to appreciate beauty, if we don’t know how to enjoy living, what does it matter how long we live? We would be a living dead.

Simplicity, courage to live and to love, to be free; if we don’t have these, wouldn’t life be empty, wouldn’t we be just marking time, waiting to die?

Go on, look up some time.

We are currently in transition to a knowledge economy. Ever since the conception of the internet in the early 1990s, there is an ever-increasing proliferation of information and content. Not only are companies and organisations putting up more information about themselves, their products and services, media companies are putting up more content and information, even individuals are contributing to the growth of content on the internet.

With so much information at our finger tips, have we become more informed? Were we able to make better decisions? Sadly, I am afraid the contrary is true. While we were being bombarded from all sides with data and information, our capability to discern valid information from misinformation have not increase. Our abilities to make good decisions has in fact diminished as a result.

We are constantly being bombarded with information that our attention span has shortened to the extent that we are no longer focus on an issue long enough to understand it, and find a long term viable solution. Instead we are quickly and easily distracted when the next big news break out somewhere.

Furthermore, we have also ignored many important information, choosing instead to indulge in mindless content at You-tube, dating sites, social networking sites, gossip columns and what-not.

So, in the golden age of information abundance, we are faced with two delimmas. First, do not have the proper tools to sift out the real truth; second, we are not spending sufficient time to find the real truth.

Because we cannot see it or touch it, does it prove that something does not exist?

It takes quite a leap of faith to belief. But we do have to belief that there is something greater than us; there simply must be.

Once we believe, we are open to possibilities, and we can begin to notice things and understand things. Things begin to reveal themselves. More than once, the moment I became aware of something, I started noticing things that were previously there but hidden from me. Hidden in plain sight.

Belief is a powerful thing.

I left my previous post hanging incomplete. Well, I stopped myself before I go into preaching mode, hahaha.

Anyway, the next day, I was listening to a podcast about security, and this person mentioned that how we ignore problems very much like what an ostrich did, by sticking its head in the sand.

If you cannot see it, then its not there, right?

We see this everywhere, we try to ignore something hoping it would just go away. But it never did, does it? Until finally it grew and blew up in our face, and we have to deal with a much bigger mess.

So, its back to responsibilities. Its your life, you determine and control how it turn out. But you are not living on an island, everything you do has consequences. Take an interest in the neighbourhood you live in, the community, the precinct, the country, earth, …

I was reading this book War of the Flowers by Tad Williams, and came across this

<three people> who had left so little behind to mark their existence,who had disappeared into death like stones thrown into a river, the ripples gone within moments.

Everybody starts out as somebody. Then it slips away.

The character was thinking of his family, how little he could recall of them, how they had became NoBody.

What would your loved ones/friends/enemies remember about you when you are gone?

Whether we are know it or not, we are all endowed with great responsibilities. Most importantly, we have the responsibilities over our own lives; secondly, we have responsibilities over the environment we live in.

How true the words are, we are always holding people up to some preconceived models of behaviour, and when they are deviate from it, we laugh, we become indignant.

In a group, we tend to adopt the behaviour and mannerism of the group;
in making choices, we tend to flock to where the majority are;
we group think, we defer to the group, we follow the herd like lemmings.

In thinking of conformity, my thoughts returned to Dead Poet Society, to the scene where the students were walking in the courtyard, each starting in their own pace and stride, then slowly they starting marching and clapping in unison.

There is nothing wrong with finding safety in numbers, in remaining anonymous in a group. Standing out is a lonely business, and certainly not for anybody.

For those who try to be themselves, in a society that rewards conformity, I follow in Mr Keating’s example, and give you this quote:

You can’t fight every fight that came your way.

Sometimes, people will want to pick a fight with you, not necessarily the physically throwing the punches type. But do you have go out to battle everytime someone throw down the gaunlet? …… Or pick a fight with everyone that crosses your path?

Not fighting is not equal to cowardice. Fighting is not an act of bravery, just bravado. Sometimes, choosing not to fight is the sign of bravery.

Your actions defines you, so does the fights you choose to fight. Not every fight is worth fighting for, you have to decide which ones are. There is always a choice.

A wise man picks his fight. The fights that he can or will win.

A righteous man picks his fight.The fights worth fighting for.

Love. Honour. Principles. Values. Humanity. Sanity. ……

Some things are worth fighting for, dying for. Pick your fights with mind and heart.

Just two days ago, while attending a training, one of my colleague read off some scribblings on a wall, “I went into the woods because I want to live deliberately…” something immediately clicked in me, I couldn’t explain it, but I immediately thought of the movie “Dead Poets Society“.

I looked up at the wall, and indeed, signed at the end of the verse, “Dead Poets Society“.

For a long time, I claim it as my favourite movie, and till now, I would still have to say its there right at the top of my list. Once in a while, I would recall the mustering call of “Carpe Diem“.

The internet, as always, is a wonderful thing. In it, I found the full peom, here it is, in its entirety:

I wish, by posting this poem here, to remind myself the essence of living. It is to sieze the day, to life live deliberately, never look back, have no regrets.

There are a few people who wanted to live deliberately:
http://www.43things.com/things/view/33333