Even the unlikeliest people can change our perspectives. If only we’d listen.
Found this on Pinterest – Sylvia Plath has a way with words. Could there be a better way of saying it?
National Blog Posting Month – #Day16
Category: Literature
Well, If You Must…
Cleaning is a tedious task. I hate cleaning and setting things in order. My room in particular. Chaos is peace; when everything’s in order, I just lose myself.
Besides, who’d clean, instead of all the other things you can do? I’d rather sit and stare into space, or procrastinate, or sleep, or listen to some music. Anything to get away from the chore.
So you can imagine my thrill when I stumbled upon this little poem.
Dust If You Must — Kassie Webb
Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better
To paint a picture, or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed;
Ponder the difference between want and need?
Dust if you must, but there’s not much time,
With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb;
Music to hear, and books to read;
Friends to cherish, and life to lead.
Dust if you must, but the world’s out there
With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair;
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
This day will not come around again.
Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it’s not kind.
And when you go (and go you must)
You, yourself, will make more dust.
Such a simple thought — spend time doing what matters — yet so full of meaning.
What do you guys think of this poem?
National Blog Posting Month – #Day12
The Best Advice
Here’s the thing about advice: it’s best recieved from an inanimate object. I meant a book. Because the worst you can do to a book is rip it to pieces, and what it says isn’t going to change. It’s much better than taking advice from friends or family where at the end of the day, the relationship might be hanging on a noose.
Anyway, books — they have the best advice. A few quotes always help me so much on a bad day. Here are a few of my favourite quotes.
“First sign of madness, talking to your own head,”
~Harry Potter
I talk to myself a lot. Random ramblings to conversation replays — it all happens in my head. And I smile each time I think about that line. Sheer madness!
“Keep in mind that many people have died for their beliefs; it’s actually quite common. The real courage is in living and suffering for what you believe.”
~ Christopher Paolini, Eragon
Dare to believe in what is worth believing and worth dying for — a great advice. This book surprised me, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Pity the others in the series weren’t as interesting.
“We’re fighting.”
~Harry Potter
If an imaginary character can fight for something he believes in, why can’t I? Motivation in its purest form. Someone says something like that to me when I’m distressed, I’d probably punch them — but it’s just a quote, so it’s fine.
“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
~Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
This is where I fell for Paulo Coelho’s writing. Raw truth, not to mention bitter. I know this feeling only too well — when I wish people would stop telling me what to do and leave me alone. Been there?
“I am not worried…I am with you.”
~Harry Potter
An incredible teacher — student conversation in a life threatening situation! How would it be if teachers trust students with their lives? What would students do? Endless possibilities; endless entertainment.
“Truth doesn’t have to be liked. It only has to be spoken. Speak it out. The truth may hurt you, but it will set you free.”
~ Amish Tripathi, The Secret of the Nagas
Well, Amish has said it all, and I have nothing better to add.
Any thoughts? You know what they say, “Spit it out!”
National Blog Posting Month – #Day8
The Ultimate Race
On your marks, get set, go! Arms flailing, the girls rush forward. The stronger of the two wins. Naturally. The children clap and cheer, the teachers smile their appreciation. The girl who has won laughs happily and runs back in triumph. I look at the girl who has lost. In her eyes, I see shame, I see fear, I see despair. Shame at not being able to win. fear of what others are thinking, despair at not knowing what to do next. I see a soul that is slowly being bruised and brutalised by comparison. Something within her has withered. I want to tell her that she is beautiful and sensitive, that this race doesn’t matter, that it’s just a silly system that grown-ups invented for their own selfish reasons. I want to give her something to make her feel better. In my hand, I have an orange, Impulsively, I reach forward, take the hand of this child and put the orange into it. ‘Take this’, I say to her. ‘It’s for coming second.’
— Excerpt from “Ramblings on a beach” by Kabir Bedi
Oh, isn’t the world drunk on competition!
Everyone wants to outdo each other. Run, run, life is a race. The only purpose is to win the rat race. We’re so high on the thought that we easily fail to recognize the little things that we lose, merely by winning a good-for-nothing rat race.
How many poeple have we hurt, how many people we’ve made feel small. We’ve crushed too many souls. We’ve lost friends, family, health and joy. It’s all our obsessive need to belong, to be on top, to succeed. The need to override others, to control, to influence, to manipulate, to exploit.
What’s the point? What do we gain by walking over the very things that matter the most to us?
But hey, we’ve won the race! And now we’re alone.
The Death of Children
“Now, at three and a half, you’re a little lady. You have your own friends, your own stubborn opinions. All this is super. But, I’m sad because now you come and tell me about the Buddhi Mai coming to get you, the ghosts in the dark, and a hundred other fears. My baby, you grew up loving the dark, enjoying the sea and you reached out to people. Now you withdraw from people, looking for Buddhi Mai in disguise. You cry in the dark and you are afraid of this magnificent sea. Who put all that garbage into your lovely head, baby? I shouldn’t be asking. I know this answer. It’s the other children, your friends, who tell you this. And how can I be angry with them? I can only be angry at the twisted minds of the grown-ups who put these fears into the minds of children to make them behave.”
— Excerpt from “Ramblings on a beach” by Kabir Bedi
Adults are so boring that they’re destroying the innocent with them.
We complain that children are losing their innocence; they know more than we did when we were their age, they act differently — which some adults claim to be mature, and they are no longer children.
Some blame technology, but it’s really our wrongdoing.
My parents let me explore, learn and discover the elements of society — both evil and good ones. They didn’t scare me away from wandering with stories of madmen hunting children. They didn’t threaten me with monster attacks just so I wouldn’t be myself. I was a child, and children are curious. They are mischievous. And just because parents can’t handle children for the way they are, doesn’t mean they have the right to curb a child’s nature — in the name of discipline.
We’re losing our children. Soon, we won’t have children anymore — just smaller people who are too afraid to explore and express their potential. Just as adults are.
And all we would do is complain. Just because we couldn’t accept innocence for what it is.
The Chaos Within 