Monday, September 9, 2013

F is for Family

Family. You didn't choose them. They didn't choose you. Both of you were given to each other.

There is family by blood and there's family beyond blood...to my reckoning. You will hurt each other (universal experience), but you can't help but be vulnerable with yourselves, because you were chosen for each other.
Here lies a difficult load to bear.

We can't decide who is family, but it is obvious (on a larger scale) that the entire human race is related. It always was.

I believe anyone reading this has (in travels long or short) come across people of different cultures and races bearing the same features of people familiar to them. But I believe the connection does not stop there.

Noble blood was once common blood. The identities that we have adopted over millenia are expected, seeing as the human race (like all life) is competitive by nature. What is not expected...or should I say universally accepted, is the abuse of sensibility and wisdom (note, I did not say intelligence or cunning...I will expatiate on that later).

A mob (ochlocracy, not the mafia) is not family. In a mob, no one is responsible, but everyone is guilty. If you doubt me on that, go into the heart of Newcastle, England and scream, "Alan Shearer is a tosser!". You may not know who he is or what that means...but it is guaranteed that you will be violently 'educated' by means of the mob of one identity 'Newcastle United'. (Some experiments were not meant to be survived, so do not try it.)

When the words 'War, Famine, Drought, Crime, CSI' come up, I get very worried when people assume them to be normal. They are not. War is politicians (the state) abusing their influence over the military policies in their countries, thus giving the next generation a load of loss to bear...sometimes the military 'coup de etat' back (retweet this at @remiolutimayin if you get it). But there is always some stupidity that sparked it off.

Pride is an illusion that separates us.

Profit is a fix, but it is never fixed for it is always of the moment, and not forever (if you doubt me, study the history of sugar...once the 'oil' of Napoleon's era).

To covet is a waste of energy (I've never heard of property loving its owners back...remember Gollum and 'my precious').

Security is a dream pursued but never attained by the whole, only the few (fleeting dream at best...remember Louis XVI and the French revolution).

There are eternal things, you ought to keep your eyes on them (remind yourself of them as often as it takes) but do not be so focused on them that you destroy what the eternal has placed before you in the temporal. In plain words, be awake to the needs of people around you and don't destroy them with your words and actions.

To nurture demands that you be more skillful. To destroy...well, Seal Team 6 members aren't at their best during peaceful times. Every soldier prays for peace. Don't just remember that, respect that.

And on a final note, share this please. You cannot judge who needs to read this based on where you are right now.


It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well -- Rene Descartes

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