Of Philosophy and the Millennium Falcon....

It has been a while since I permitted by philosophical thoughts to permeate through my fingers and type them out. For some reason tonight, as my lids weigh heavily upon my eyes, my synapses are firing away hard enough forcing me to type my thoughts out. It's weird how inspiration works. It hits at odd hours, and refuses to co-operate with the rest of your body parts. My eyes are insisting that I go to bed but my head wants to spill out thoughts that I doubt anything will appear coherent. In some ways, I'm beginning to sound like Edgar Allan Poe, going in circles before I finally reach my point. If there is a point to arrive at anyway. But then again, I guess a roundabout rambling is due on this blog, after all the common sense I've been trying to advocate in my last few postings. I think I deserve to ramble aimlessly for a bit.

At this point, I'm not entirely sure what my brain wants to deliver. Initially I was thinking about fear. But as my introduction pretty much sounded like Han Solo taking his Millennium Falcon out for a spin with no destination in mind, I'm beginning to stray from what I wanted to type out when I started.

It's been a rather tiring day, and as I lie down in bed at 3am, with Sheldon Cooper radiating from my tv screen, I just feel like typing. I've been writing ever since I could remember. My Dad has always been my biggest fan. And as of the past 5 years, I gained another big fan. My other half. I've always felt great knowing that they enjoy my writing. Although I myself think that more often than not I sound like a bumbling idiot. As the saying goes, "The artiste in me creates, while the critique in me destroys it." The number of unfinished writings in my computer will bear testament to that.

I've had this blog for about 3 years now, and for the most part, I've always had a small and steady stream of readers, mostly made up of my close friends. And even that was enough to make me a happy writer. But recent events have opened up my blog to a wider audience and the compliments I've received since leaves me amazingly flattered. It feels good to know that some people find my writings easy to comprehend and my spontaneity hits the mark right on the nose. Truly, I am humbled. All I am is just a girl who has always turned to writing to express herself. When I was about 12, I wrote my first short story. For the life of me I can't remember what it was called. Since then, I have always enjoyed writing. Whether fiction or simply expressing my frustration in the things around me, writing has always been my best friend.

However you do have to bear with me for I tend to stray a lot. I started out this post mumbling something about being philosophical, then I said I was gonna write about fear, and suddenly I'm regaling my life story. My apologies if you came here looking for another article hitting out at something else I find annoying. I promise the next one I'll get back to my sarcastic, spontaneous side. For this one, I just wish to ramble. Sometimes the mind needs to ramble. It allows the juices to flow and frees up some space for more intellectual ideas.

This is a nonsensical post. Nothing in here makes sense unless you can comprehend the internal workings of my mind, something even I have trouble understanding sometimes. Alright, for the sake of you, my readers, I shall make a point right now. I wanted to talk about fear. And how some people misuse it. For the most part, those in positions of power resort to fear in hopes of achieving longevity. Power has the ability to consume a person causing him or her to fear losing it. In fearing that, they then invoke fear in others to fear them so that they can remain in power for as long as they possibly can. Am I making sense? This post actually is related to my last few posts. I am not going to spell it out but if you can read between the lines, you'll be able to get my drift. If one is truly a great leader, then there is no need to rule with fear. The public can decide for themselves. If one has to resort to fear to exercise one's authority, then maybe one should take a long hard look at one's self and wonder if one has the makings of a great leader. A good leader rules with a good head on his or her shoulders. Not with emotions and fear. And a good leader does not feed on compliments. I have to admit that compliments make you feel great, I myself have been enjoying the amount of compliments I've been getting these past few weeks. Yet I still refuse to let it get to my head. The critique in me still insists that I suck at writing. This post should bear testimony to that. I've been rambling on for quite a few paragraphs in hopes of sounding philosophical but I think all I have been doing is vociferously going around in circles. Writing is not a plebeian task. Although to me I think it is, because I consider myself as a normal person subjected to the normalcies in life. But the truth is that, it is not. It is a task as grand as discovering penicillin. Or Radium. For lack of a better example at this hour. Curie gave her life to it. Picasso cut off his ear. Hemingway found comfort in alcohol. And the list goes on. Writing is a daunting task. Sometimes you achieve what you set out to express, sometimes you just run around in circles hoping to reach a point. Einstein describes insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. But more often than not a little bit of insanity is needed to make sense in a world that seems to be going crazier by the minute.

As I was saying earlier, fear is not the way to go. As a Muslim, the only One we should fear is Allah. There is absolutely no sense in placing fear in some other mortal being. No matter how powerful they are, truth remains, they're as mortal as you and I. One day, someone else will come along, replace them, and the cycle of life continues. Misplaced fear and adulation are the worst kinds of things to misplace. It takes you farther away from the great journey of life. While I'm on the subject, what baffles me even more than those who rule with fear is those who idolize them blindly. Paving their path with compliments after compliments, defending their ways as though they were defense attorneys. That is something I wouldn't do even if it was a paid job. It is fine to favor a celebrity or a public figure or a leader, but to fight tooth and nail with others to defend the things they do is just sheer and utter madness. And showering them with nonsensical compliments day in and day out. What is the point? If our public figures are apt in handling compliments, then fine, but the way I see it, just a couple of compliments seem enough to kick their feet permanently off the ground. And to think that they get a constant barrage of these compliments, I'm pretty sure their feet won't be coming back to earth anytime soon. Maturity is something that no amount of power or money can buy. You need maturity to combat being 'perasan'. Unfortunately for most of our public figures, maturity is a myth. Something they read about in books, but have yet to experience for themselves. So when you hand them butt loads of compliments, and they have no maturity to counter it, that's when you get them behaving like children when someone has the sense to point out their flaws.

All I can say is, after rambling on for quite a bit now, is instead of surgically attaching themselves to technology to feed on compliments, what they should do is detach themselves for a while, and pick up a book. Perhaps Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance. Or Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. Or if those are too heavy, even Enid Blyton would do the trick. Heck I picked up a lot of common sense and intellect hidden between the pages of Amelia Jane, The Enchanted Tree and The Naughtiest Girl in School. Try it. Trust me it will do you more good than feeding on compliments thus filling up the space between your ears with more air.