Where will you go when you die?

Where will you go after you die?

I'd rather live a life with a divine purpose and passion, than to live a fleeting life chasing things called comfort and entertainment.
I'd rather die in peace, than to die in distress.
I'd rather be right about not going to hell, than to be wrong about heaven.
I'd rather choose an eternity in paradise, than an eternity in damnation.

Book review: Every Day by David Levithan

What began with single quote, ended up with one of the most memorable written stories I've ever read.
I found this book purely through accident as I was browsing through Goodreads. This book is also my first book I ever purchased online. I kid you not, I actually thought it was so good that it deserved to be purchased. If I could summarize this book in a few sentences, this book would be a book in which I would simply hang individual pages on the wall -all framed up-. The quotes are simply marvelously I-will-make-your-heart-flutter kind of quotes. If you ever needed a book or a love story to make you feel the butterflies, it would be this book. The only qualm I have about this book is that it should have a sequel. The story seems, to my dismay, to be left hanging. Last two words for this book: Read it!

“I am a drifter, and as lonely as that can be, it is also remarkably freeing. I will never define myself in terms of anyone else. I will never feel the pressure of peers or the burden of parental expectation. I can view everyone as pieces of a whole, and focus on the whole, not the pieces. I have learned to observe, far better than most people observe. I am not blinded by the past or motivated by the future. I focus on the present because that is where I am destined to live.” 
― David Levithan, Every Day

Humanity & Convenience

I was born in the booming age of technology. I have seen how technology, like the internet, has grown throughout the years. I have experienced my fair share of internet related issues. For example, on the unimaginably slow (by today's standards) dial up internet we all once had, where streaming videos were simply unheard of; downloading movies was a thing for the distant future. Also, on how I always needed to scramble to find a pillow big enough to muffle the horrendous and unmistakable wailing tone of the dial up modem whenever I lost connection and needed to reconnect in the middle of the night.

Technology has brought great conveniences to the lives of many, things seemingly impossible a few years ago are achievable within the boundaries of a few swift clicks of the mouse. Interactions with human operators through the phone are now seen as the last dreadful resort in resolving issues which tend to end up with additional distress and more unresolved issues. I'm sure you've read something written like this a couple of million times in your office cubicle, wondering of the questions of life in the midst of our procrastination, but I'm not one who would be qualified to judge, as I'm writing this at work. *grins*

The question remains: are we trading our humanity for the convenience of technology?
Writing letters are unheard of these days and are often reduced to marriage invites (which I'm getting a lot, another topic involving age) with pre-written scripted sentences mass produced for millions of people around the globe. Where has humanity gone wrong in our conquest of technological convenience? Is there a way out of this? How far are we being reduced to a society with an ever reducing threshold for patience and an ever increasing satiety for everything convenient? Even our human interactions have been shaped by this growing trend. Friendships are out of convenience. Marriages are out of convenience. Even meeting our family members for dinner become a matter of convenience.

As mentioned by Philip Larkin in his famous line from "An Arundel Tomb",

What will survive of us is love. Letters fulfill and safeguard this prophecy. Without letters we risk losing sight of our history, or at least our nuance. The decline and abandonment of letters - the price of progress - will be an immeasurable defeat

To end this, I leave with you a final question (hypothetical), to win in this endless race of technology, are we trading in the warmth and humanity of our souls?

 

Desert days

Today I stumbled on some notes I took during a sermon a few years back, it was entitled " Do's and don't-s -- During your desert days ". I'm pretty sure everyone had a season of dryness, a season where nothing seems to be happening, where activity seem abuzz but satisfaction or purpose seem to be absent. Don't fret, here's a little something to help you along the way.

DON'T.....

1. Don't lose your balance
2. Don't make irreversible decisions during emotional low times, or rather, don't make rash decisions. 
3. Don't isolate yourself through disappointment!
4. Don't doubt in darkness what God has shown you in the light!
5. Don't lose your confidence in God
6. Don't lose your joy!
7. Don't stay in the corner through disappointment

DO....

1. Let your disappointment lead you to God
2. Make a quality decision to help people in need
3. Guard your emotional energy against emotional leaks
4. Use your desert time to get a clearer calling or goals
5. Cast your care upon God
6. Be patient with God and let patience complete it's perfect work
7. Realise that obstacles are part of God's purpose to mould and empower us

When boy meets girl

I don't believe in coincidences nor do I even believe in luck. Everything happens for a reason, big or small, you name it all. And in the clichéd words of the many who have possibly written something like this before, it started with a hello ;)

“The moment you fall in love feels like it has centuries behind it, generations - all of them rearranging themselves so this precise, remarkable intersection could happen. In your heart, in your bones, no matter how silly you know it is, you feel that everything has been leading to this, all the secret arrows were pointing here, the universe and time itself crafted this long ago, and you are just now realizing it, you are just now arriving at the place you were always meant to be.”  - David Levithan, Every Day

Traveller

In a recent post which I happened to chance upon on my facebook feed, there was an article which mentioned of the possibilities that humans beings (us) are not native to this planet. It mentioned of the many ailments that continue to afflict us as we strive to live on this floating piece of rock we call earth. Obviously, I find the article to be a complete joke as it's purely based on speculation. However, from another perspective, is it a joke or is there an ounce of truth to be gleaned from this article.

For I am a stranger with You,
A sojourner, as all my fathers were. 

For all the passing years in this humanly existence, I find myself, alone (in terms of human to human connections). Though you may beg to disagree but under the guise of existentialism, do you not groan in anguish of heart. Does anyone truly understand and feel like they belong in this hostile world which hides itself in its blanket of familiarity and ignorance. Some may say that friends and family do understand, but when you stop trying, does the relationship stop too?

We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. - Orson Welles

Where do you belong?
Where do you belong when no human mind can comprehend the inner workings of your own soul.
Where do you belong when the tears are flowing and the silent cries fill the empty night.
Where do you belong when all you see are just people passing by in the happiness of their own bankroll.
Where do you belong when all you come back to is to just wait for passing by of another night.

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

Who and where can I seek help from?
Who can I seek help from while seeing the many around me struggling in their own path
Where do I seek help from in this mess of a world, where people just consider you a burden

I look up to the mountains
    does my help come from there?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!

I am but a traveler in this foreign and strange world waiting for the time to come when He will come to bring me home.

Monologue Monday

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

Who's there? Anyone?

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Ah it's you! Didn't see you there, come on in, must've been some pretty rough traffic coming here. I heard over the radio that there were some road accidents causing a crawl. 

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*plop* Is that enough sugar you have in your cocoa? I've got some marshmallows if you fancy. The secret to longevity some say *wide grin* So what do I owe for a fine lad like you visiting an old geezer like me in this horrid weather. I must say that it was pleasant surprise, the scones you brought the other day were dandy! Went perfect with the tea I ordered from Gujarat. It's in India, if you didn't realise. The spot where me and my lovely... ah.. forgive this old fool for blabbering on. How was your day?

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Oh is that so? The trailer drove off the road? Those wretched drivers, I really don't know where'd they get their licenses from. Probably bought them, if you ask me. There's not a single day where they don't cause a fuss, they just can't bloody drive properly. My blood boils thinking of them.

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Alright alright, I'll cool down. Anger does no good to this old heart. How was the rest of the day?