Dive head-on

We often lament that things change. But the truth is, they’re supposed to.  It’s how we improve, evolve, and grow.

Just think of the constant updates for all those apps that keep popping up every so often on your devices. It’s how they improve bugs and get the system working better.

We need the same for our lives too.

We need to be creating and choosing change for ourselves. To delve into challenges head-on so that we test ourselves and expand our limits.

Growth is always outside our comfort zone. It occurs when we dive into the unfamiliar, into unchartered waters, unprecedented situations, and the like. We will only find a different path if we tread into the unknown. And just maybe it will be the best decision we’ve ever made.

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The dumb things we do to remain sane

“What is the stupidest thing you ever did?”

She was stunned by the question. This was the first thing he thought of asking her the very first time he even met her? How strange.

Yet, she smiled, blushed, got embarrassed, all at once.

She had done a lot of stupid things. But he didn’t have to know about them.

She had to respond though, and in a flash, all the dumb actions, which at the time seemed perfectly logically, swerved through her mind.

How many silly things have you done? And what exactly comprises as silly? Because all our actions at their time of their development don’t appear to be illogical. It is only after they unfold and their impact is felt that their irrationality also becomes apparent.

The thing is, we all need some craziness in our lives. To dare to do something different, even if it is a simple change of route on the return way home; taking a weekend trip on an impulse; or just ordering something you’ve never eaten off a menu.

It is only by doing something you’ve never done before that life will reward you by taking you somewhere you’ve never been. You never know what pleasant surprise may be awaiting you at the end of that different path.

Like Aristotle said: “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness”.

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die” – Hunter S. Thompson

The scourge of power

He was unfairly imprisoned for a crime he never committed. But in a corrupt society, justice has a price and the laws are what those in power interpret them to be. There could be no righteousness in a world filled with greed.

It is a disturbing truth, however, that those in power will always try to exploit and control those who truly possess it.

He was imprisoned because he held power through a source they could not master. His force stemmed from the intellect. He pushed people to think and question the circumstances that surrounded them. He prompted them to be critical and demand more knowledge. He opened their eyes and minds. And for that he was considered dangerous.

“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it” (Aung San Suu Kyi).

That question we all ask

There is something we all at some point find ourselves doing: seeking the answers we search not in ourselves but in someone else. Because it is much easier to ask others what to do and how to do it rather than try to figure it out ourselves. It is faster and simpler to have others solve the problem instead of finding the way to do it ourselves.

That is why when we find “inspirational” people there is always someone who asks the question of “what should I do” or “how should I do [something] to become like you”? The best answer a truly influential person can give is “go out and act and stop asking me about it”.

No-one can really provide you all the answers you look for. There is no pre-defined right-or-wrong solution to everything that goes on in your head. Plus the responses you may get may very often not fit with your perspective. Or put simply, they may not be what you want to hear.

The best thing is to stop delaying and procrastinating so much. We blame our fallible human nature, our indecisiveness, even our OCD, but deep down there is something else: the fact that we may not want it as much as we believe. Because if we truly wanted something we would do anything we could to achieve it. We wouldn’t over-analyse. We wouldn’t go around asking. We would find ways to act.

It’s as simple as that.

An ancient insult as a way of life

“Why should I go to the Agora tonight? I would much rather go and have a drink at the Stoa. It would certainly be more enjoyable!”

“Cleisthenes, you are an idiot!” humphed Anaxagoras and marched angrily away.

In Ancient Greece, being called a “private citizen”, i.e. an “idiot” was considered an utmost insult. To proclaim that you did not care about public life was dishonoring to say the least, for the very basis of democracy was the unity of decisions for the good of all, taken by the people themselves. Only caring for the good of yourself was selfish, to say the least, and above all…idiotic.

In the present day, an idiot has evolved to mean an imbecile, an utterly foolish or senseless person. But it also retains its initial meaning of a self-centered being. And truth be told, we live in a world surrounded by idiots. Multiplying by the day, especially as the ascent of technology simply enables people to isolate themselves all the more from any social contact. Even Albert Einstein had expressed his certainty about the infinite nature of human stupidity, yet he too feared “the day technology will surpass our human interaction, [as then] the world will have a generation of idiots.”

Today, there are so frequent instances in our daily lives where you at one point or other find yourself agreeing with Bertrand Russell and acknowledging that “the trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt”.

Indeed all these idiots out there, they all behave so arrogantly, certain that they are so sleek, and can do nothing wrong. They are geniuses who can’t even write or speak in their own language, let alone a foreign one; who proclaim fluency in English, for example, and can’t even write a decent sentence or understand half an elaborate one. They are people who think they are the only ones who have something important to do and expect you to be on stand-by, ready to server their every whim or praise their every effort and minor “achievement”. People who have no shame, no conscience, and no knowledge.

They are the people who can’t do their job properly – like ensure a steady Internet connection or promptly inform you of changes that affect you – and this influences your own life (and very often your very sanity). We can’t change all the stupid people in this world. Even if we do take on them one idiot at a time. But when their poor performance encroaches on your livelihood, then it does become your problem too. And the worst of all: no matter how much you twist and shout, there is absolutely nothing you can do about them. If they can’t see the need to change themselves, no one can shine a light on them either. All you can do is hope for the world to change. But then you’ll be the fool expecting an improvement, in a world that is slowly devouring itself and everyone is simply awaiting that the other will be the one to act.

“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
― Albert Einstein