Category: Random Thoughts

  • roxygen replied to your post: Further to my earlier post, I find it morbidly…

    I think the problem is few people actually believe democracy works, therefore they do not exercise justified measures to prevent some of the things you listed. I mean it in the very general sense of democracy. It requires emphasis on self-reliance.

    The problem I have with democracy is that the majority will always over rule the minority regardless of how many millions that minority may be. So it’s a game of numbers that trivialises the real issues.

    But I’m still more intrigued and disgusted by how men can behave with such ruthlessness when attacking men, women and children from their own communities. In South Africa I could still rationalise it. It was based on racial and cultural hatred albeit based on gross ignorance. But in the Arab world, it doesn’t make sense to me. I struggle to understand how a man can gun down, brutally rape, torture or maim people simply because they don’t support the man that’s paying his salary? Let’s forget that this is often Muslim on Muslim violence, because that would take the insanity to an entirely different level.

    This is just beyond my level of comprehension. Every single one of those men that shoot innocent civilians is a father, or husband, or son. How deep must their allegiance and hatred run for them to act in such a barbaric manner sincerely believing that they’re carrying out a justifiable and meritorious duty for a dictator? The brainwashing and indoctrination is just absurd!

  • Nasheed – Ya Akhi

    This nasheed by Ahmad Bukhatir has often played in my head since I first heard it. For some reason, I always sub-consciously substituted his words of ‘Ya Akhi’ with ‘Ya Allah’, but now that I’ve finally seen the English translation, I realise that it may not be entirely appropriate. I’m not exactly certain as to who he refers to in this nasheed, but I could draw many parallels with the way in which Rasulullah (SAW) is a source of comfort through his teachings and guidance that he left for us. 

    The melodious and soothing tone of this nasheed appeals to me. It doesn’t by any means serve as a prayer or religious icon in any way, it just is a nasheed that I’ve grown fond of since the first time I heard it.

    (Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

  • Random thought

    Reading through some of my recent posts, I realised how much I annoy myself. I hate that I constantly tend towards speaking of ‘we’ instead of ‘me’. There’s a strong undertone of arrogance in such a presumptuous position, by assuming that I am capable of speaking on behalf of others when in fact my observations are nothing but a reflection of my own life’s experiences. 

    It seems sincerity and humility are still whiling away in  the distance whilst I delude myself into believing that I’ve acquired it already. Like they say, the mere profession of humility is in itself arrogance. 　

  • Brain Dump

    My mind is a mess. Articulating even the most simple thoughts are proving to be a challenge. There’s a haziness in my thought processes that feels angst-y and unnatural. I hate almost every post I write these days and I feel like a superficial moron seeking attention more often than not. For the first time ever I had to remind myself that this is my blog and not a public bulletin board.

    This is supposed to be my space to rant and rave and ramble without apology yet recently I’ve been addicted to affirmation. As is the case with affirmation, it’s rarely there when sought after. I despise this state of mind that tends towards attention-seeking behaviour while simultaneously feeling disgusted at the thought of writing for an audience. I feel agitated and irritated and unnatural in my space. I feel like something is amiss. 

    There’s a consistent dis-ease within me that is exacerbated the moment I step into the house after a light hearted day at the office. Writing this all down has required constant conscious effort to dismiss the thoughts of who would read what into what I’m saying. I cannot afford to care. If I do, it will add to the weight of self-imposed responsibility that claws at my conscience every waking hour in my quest to constantly consider the needs of others before my own. I tire me out and from that there appears to be no…repose. 

  • I think we use people that are inconsequential in our lives, but abuse people that are important to us. It’s easier to take for granted someone that’s close to us, than it is to take a stranger or an acquaintance for granted because there has to be an expectation of consistency and reliability before you can take someone for granted. Hence abusing those close to us.

    However, I’ve often thought that taking someone for granted can be construed as a compliment. But such a compliment is wasted and justifiably unappreciated if it is never balanced with due care and consideration as well. 　

  • Disordered Minds – follow up

    The speech that I wrote for my niece seemed to have fared well. She received full marks and was asked to present herself and her speech to the regional head of department from the Department of Education in South Africa. She received more positive feedback from the HoD as well. 

    Earlier this week, she came to me again for advice, but this time it was about a poster she needed to compile for an Afrikaans assignment regarding social decay, or something like that. For some reason, I’m still the first person she seems to think of whenever topics of this nature come up. But the part that tickled me most about it was that she took the following quote from my original post, translated it into Afrikaans and reused it on her poster. The quote was:

    “Of all the things we take for granted in life, our power of choice is probably the most abused gift we’ll ever receive.”

    Then she looked at me and said that it was the quote that “I got from that Cynically Jaded guy”. She still doesn’t know that I am that guy. 🙂

  • I just deleted about 30 posts from my blog. Many of them left me feeling self-indulgent and some were associated with a plagiarist that I was once again naive enough to trust. I loved some of the content, but I couldn’t in good conscience keep it published on my blog knowing that it was part of an elaborate scheme of deception, regardless of the motivation.

    Betrayal is my weakness. More accurately, being betrayed is what deflates me more than any other experience in the world. I sometimes despise my old school values. It places a burden on me akin to juggling hot coals in my hands. It forces me to accept the wickedness in others, and constantly challenges me to suppress my ego in my efforts to accept and forgive, so that I can gather my strength to move on again.

    I sometimes feel a strong desire to lash out and discard decorum in my efforts to expose the bullshit of the callous players that toy with the emotions and compassion of others. I never do, because I’m painfully aware of the reality that this world celebrates aggressors and tyrants and humiliates victims.

    I needed to recalibrate my blog so that it is a reflection of me, and not of what I would like others to see in me. This is my ventlet to criticise the world for its bullshit and double standards. I smile sadly at the thought of those that find reason to lie about losing a loved one in order to gain attention, juxtaposed with the news that six family members died in a car crash under excessively tragic circumstances.

    Society has a low self-esteem, and it’s reflected in the actions of the weakest amongst us. The attention-seekers, of which there is no scarcity, often succumb to self-pity and self-loathing, then express such emotions to a public audience, who inevitably pour out their affections in the hope of raising the spirits of one they identify with so easily, all the while dismissing the nagging realisation that they feel a sense of purpose only when they’re extending a hand to one they see as lesser than themselves. It’s easier to earn significance in that manner rather than to establish your worth through selfless fulfilment of your duty to society.

    We have more consumers than we have contributors to the collective wholesomeness of society. The contributors are fighting the debilitating symptoms of compassion fatigue, while the consumers do nothing but cry foul and wait impatiently for their lot to be improved by someone else.

  • THAT awkward moment

    cynicallyjaded:

    That truly awkward moment when you look at your dashboard and realise that all the reblogs of profound messages regarding the ephemeral nature of life is all just nice ideas and hardly a soul that reblogs them even realises the true meaning behind them because they’re so busy hating and debating and arguing and fighting that even the news of death only shakes them for long enough to reblog it without actually changing their attitude or perspective because we’re still so deluded about our awesomeness that we fail to realise that that very same life that we mourn the loss of is the very same life that we’re wasting away concerning ourselves about those things that do not concern us in our effort to establish our significance in the lives of those that matter only as long as we choose to follow them after which they’re a distant memory if anything at all while we find a new audience to appease with our clever use of phrases and sharp rebuttals in our on-going efforts to ignore the huge elephant standing in the room with a tiny label attached to its tail with just one simple word. Ego.