Tag: people

Temptation

She lay on my table, her glowing skin provoking my every sense. I had never seen something so plump and lush, waiting and wanting to be devoured. For a moment, I considered dumping my New Year’s resolution. Only a fool would give it all up. Because one look at those soft swerves began melting my resolve.

Her scent threatened to asphyxiate me as I approached the table. My pendulum of a mind rocked between what it wanted to do and what it should do.

The next thing I knew, I was tearing the chicken, the grease dripping down my elbow.

What’s the Point of Getting Up?

Each time we fall down, the world tells us to get up and dust ourselves. And then get going again.

Setbacks are stepping stones; they come to those who can face it and transform said setbacks into a positive force. Only those who can endure will endure and emerge as victorious.

The universe only pushes us down to see if we can get up again. It’s how nature weeds out the immaterial and unworthy and finds true triers. And so, we should always get back up.
For how long, though?

Perseverance — it’s one of the first lessons we learn as children. Never give up no matter how hard things become. It’s a good lesson, but often misleading.

After a certain point, it makes no sense to pursue what we know is a lost cause. Sometimes we have to give up. Sometimes, we have to accept defeat in a gracious way and move on with whatever pride that’s left in us.

There’s no point in banging a crooked nail over and over again hoping to straighten it. There’s no point in a father telling his daughter he always wanted a son — it’s a girl, dad, deal with it.

But if it’s not too late to change what’s happened, then we’re not trying hard enough. No matter how many failures we face and how many times we get back up again, if we’ve already made up our minds to lose, there’s nothing else to do.

If the heart’s not in it, no game is worth playing, and no fall isn’t worth getting up from.

It’s a Fine Line

Her mother once told her, “Handcrafts are a girl’s best friend.”

She had always had a knack for weaving tight knots. She adored the complexity in the bonds and the scrutiny that it demanded.

It was like meditation for her; first in, then out, squirming through loopholes and around shady corners. Whenever she took a wrong turn, someone always showed up, armed with help. Every plan she wove became an adventure, and every day an action-packed, adrenaline-pumping endeavour.

And as the lawmakers came after her, they realised she was best friends with the crafty and not the handcrafts.

The Absolution That Comes From Unrest

If you think that that’s one scary title, let me break it down: it’s a trap being like everyone else.

Throughout our lives, we’ve been taught to blend in, conform, adjust, and settle without complaint. And to make it all worse, our parents tell us to think about the ones who aren’t as lucky as we are; that ought to shut up a whiny kid.

Since a young age, we are moulded to be like everyone else, and accept what we get. We don’t think beyond what’s given. We are discouraged to, in fact. Even in school, the hyper kid is the first to get punished. If a kid sits in class without questioning the teacher (or throwing paper balls at the board), all would be well.

So we obey the rules, follow the orders, take what we get, compromise when we’re overpowered, and just grow up to be the average tax payer.

It’s the curse of being human. We don’t ask for more.

And it’s everywhere, even in the literature that we cherish and appreciate. Look at our Oliver, for instance. They chased him out of school and cast him into a world of misery — all because he asked for more.

However, what we often forget about Oliver Twist is that if he hadn’t asked for more, we wouldn’t’ve heard of him at all. He could’ve stayed in his bench, licked his bowl clean, and went off to bed. But he didn’t. The moment he asked for more, Oliver broke though all barriers and went beyond every line. The result, changed the course of literature and the life of Dickens.

That’s the power of a rebellion, of unrest.

For as long as we stay with the herd, as long as we settle, we limit ourselves. But when we think beyond the borders of the square we’ve been thrust into, we can reshape our lives.