When I looked down at the street, I only saw dirt and gravel. And then this crack caught my eye.
Just a tiny crack, the beginning of a bigger chasm.
It wasn’t a Tuesday, but it was good enough for Tuesdays of Texture.
Tag: conflict
Never Let Me Go
Sometimes we have the habit of volunteering for sadness. That’s how I watched this movie.
This is not the kind of movie you’d watch on a lazy Saturday afternoon with the best tasting food on one side and some bitter beer on the other. It’s far from a romantic comedy that would help you relax and probably fall into a deep sleep.
It’s not the kind of movie you’d watch in the theatre, or on a chilly Friday night, with friends looking for adventure.
This is one of those good movies that tug at your heartstrings and make you feel bad about yourself.
It makes you hate yourself — it’s one of those movies people say would change the way you see the world.
True that; it does. But it also makes you realize how evil we are as humans.
The story is of three friends who are a part of the National Donor Program. A program that raises children in isolation, monitors everything from their food intake to their life choices, and ensures they are healthy enough — until they are old enough to fulfill their purpose. Their purpose: to donate vital organs to save the lives of people they’d never meet.
Every donor goes through multiple donations until they complete — or die, in simple terms. Some complete after four donations, but most do sooner than that.
‘Never let me go’ is the story of Tommy, Kathy and Ruth – three youngsters who fall in love with themselves and then into life’s greedy hands.
This movie will leave you miserable. The music – the violin solo – will painfully clench your heart and will render you speechless.
It did for me.
The Ever-Changing Trait
Am I the same person I was two years ago?
Surely not.
Am I the same person I was one week ago?
Perhaps not.
Am I the same person I was when I began writing this post?
Nope.
Who am I? I am a changing person. I change so much that even I don’t know how often I change. My personality, my opinions, my attitude, my mood — everything changes. And these are such rapid changes that I’m not always aware of them happening.
We assume that we seldom change. Perhaps in appearance, we don’t much but our minds are ever-changing. And that’s hard to accept.
But that’s the break-even point. Once we realize that we’re constantly changing — or evolving if you will — it crushes our ego. That’s what happened to me.
Sometimes in a lengthy argument, I begin strong but as we continue, I often change my opinions. Perhaps it’s my opponent’s argumentative ability, or that I give myself some time to analyze — either way; I change.
Once I accept that, I’d lost interest in arguing — I still can if I want to, but what’s the point? If someone makes a valid point, why not accept it? After all, there’s no harm in trying out others’ suggestions.
Some people call it a negative habit.
But then again, why is unlikable? We all change, so it’s only good that we accept the transition as quickly as possible.
Besides, sooner the better. Huh?
The Bearded Bard
The best thing about the Bard: he makes you think. He fills you with wonder, shows possibilities you hadn’t considered, and leaves you in a flurry of amazement.
Shakespeare’s command over the language stuns me. How could one man possess such understanding of the language we hold dear?
Words are sharp, they are powerful. They inspire all kinds of emotions. The good, the bad – they’re all in words. Even those deep feelings we can’t put into words — Shakespeare has his way of bringing them to our mind’s eye.
He makes you feel the word. Is it the wording, or a full stop in place of the overused exclamation mark? A little use of the license, or a negligible grammar violation that makes a tasteful piece of writing?
No one does it as well as the Bearded Bard.
If words be actions, Shakespeare can make you cringe in shame, in such a way that you relive that moment each time you face a mirror. All these, without laying a finger on you.
The sheer thought of such power scares me.
Everything the man ever wrote is wisdom for a society that’s as foolish and as ignorant as ours. There never will come another writer whose works live as long as Shakespeare’s. Five centuries old; still as attractive, as delectable as fresh pie.
Though he largely referred to the Elizabethan society, his works seem tailored for us.
That makes me wonder — why do we have such a society? A society that holds self before anything else, one that judges people on birth, instead of the person they’ve become.
Why are we such Assholes?
It’s all in the marriage of two minds.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.
We are a society that prioritizes the need for a partner. For everything. It begins at school when we look for a lunch buddy, visit the restrooms in pairs, or hang out in groups.
Solitude is taboo. We grow up to that principle. We are so accustomed to the warmth of human companionship that we reach a point where the quality doesn’t matter as much.
We’re happy as long as we have a partner. Perhaps that’s what forces us to rush into relationships, both marital and otherwise.
Perhaps we don’t dedicate thought to the person we commit to spending our time with. Because when we do, we realize the subtleties and positives of the relationship.
If only people’s minds were married instead of the bodies, we would have a whole different populace.
Our attitude toward life would differ. It would be a full, retrospective thought process, where we’d have worthy priorities.
People would marry for true love, they would sacrifice, and do so, knowing the consequences. And everything we do would have clarity. Our society would sincerely respect each other.
Or as the great man says himself, we’d know from experience,
“Love is not love … which alters when it alteration finds,”
Once we realize the truth in those words, nothing would be greater than true love. Love that spreads warmth and compassion across the world.
And that would be a world worth protecting.
Then The Worst Happened
Sometimes, it only takes one small incident to change us. A word of love, or a word in haste, a disaster, a tiny flaw – whatever it is, it changes us. And once that happens, we’re forever free.
The Chaos Within 