Man is an habitual animal

Quite true! We all define ourselves, and others, through habits; he is a worrier, she is a cry-baby, they are annoying (yes funny as it may sound annoying is a habit as well) and so on and on. Like so many of the other things in this life, habits also exist in pairs and we have duly categorised them as good and bad habits. The good habits should be here to stay, contrary to popular belief, it is a lot harder to maintain a good habit than a bad habit quite simply because of that modicum of extra effort required. The bad habits is what I am concerned about, not because they are bad but because there is a deeper meaning behind them that people fail to see. Although, completely subjective is how we define bad habits, there are still some we can identify as bad. We all know of the individual who has rationalised their shortcomings.

Onto the bad habits we move. Bad habits always have a to take root somewhere and sometime. The habit itself just doesn't pop out all of a sudden. Voila! I now will start to be arrogant. It never happens that way and sadly that is how most people tend to view others like that. The pot takes time to simmer and so too with such habitual fallings. Having people give up on a bad habit is a lot easier if we can go back and trace where the seed was planted and almost always we will find the "X" marking the spot. The bullseye.

The gist of an argument is always best illustrated by an example and I firmly believe, that by defining extremes, (impossible as it is, we can give it our best effort) we can then easily locate where something lies in the spectrum of what we are to elaborate upon. Take for instance OCDs (obsessive compulsive disorders), they are bad not because whatever is being carried out is bad, although that could be the case, but the point being here is that they take up so much of one's time by fretting over minute details where this time and energy could be better and more positively directed. The OCD of washing hands incessantly to keep oneself clean is a prime example. Cleaning hands is a good thing but not when done to an extreme. We should try to delve into what is the basis for this obsession. Usually one can identify some sort of paranoia or other misconception of the sort. Once the root has been identified it is much easier to proceed to solve the problem.

Master of the Moon

Here is an excerpt from an interview of Ronnie James Dio regarding the choice of song title for the song "Master of the Moon". I do not think I could have summed this up better.

"I wrote that about a friend of mine who has a 15-year-old kid who has all these hormones coursing through his body and does not want to be told what to do. He has a bit of a rebellious nature. His parents tell him that he must do this or that. The lyrics are “Turn around and you can face the sun and we can make you be just like everyone.” He doesn’t want to be just like everyone. The operative line is “face the sun.” People think the sun is everything so the moon must suck. I called him ‘master of the moon’ because he is not doing what people think he should be doing. He is a master of crap, I guess."

For the remainder of the interview you can visit:

http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/Interviews04/RonnieJamesDio.htm

Close Sesame!

"If one door has closed, don't fret my friend, others will open up."

We are very familiar with such maxims and have been brought to attention to them at some point or another; but this phrase despite having underlying meanings of hope and prospect, really is for the faint of heart. Let me elucidate on my standpoint. Such phrases really are trying to tell you that you have very little or no control over your life, while that might be true at certain points of your life and in such an instance one really can't do much, but what about those times when you see all the doors open? In that case you have to walk through one of them and that means shutting out the other doors. What I am trying to say is that we can close doors at our will as well, and we should. Society as of now has taught us to accept things the way they are. People no longer dream of doing things on their own, we have become a slave to this juggernaut of a machinery. We should wrest our right once again to shut certain doors for ourself even if those doors seem to be very beneficial. The rock inspired teen who has given up his school for his musical career is one example. So take charge and start closing doors yourself, take risks, society has frowned upon those who take risks. People think it is better to have a 9-5 job rather than chase their dreams.

Another, interesting point about doors of opportunity (or misfortune) is that once it has been shut, it need not be necessarry that it is locked. You may still enter through your desired gate but it may require a bit of work.

Like a rainbow in the dark!

Such were the words from the great metal vocalist, Ronnie James Dio. Upon first hearing these words may strike one as being rather bizarre and illogical, but being the deep sea detective I have decided to once again unearth a jewel from seabed, where many a man has feared to venture. Very simple I tell you what Ronnie was trying to tell us, although he may disagree given the context of the song, but this one line holds a very interesting secret to life. A rainbow in the dark, means we can not see the rainbow, but yet it exists! The same goes for all things in life; happiness, success, failure, despondency etc. We may not see certain things at times but we can not and should not deny their existence. You can take this in any way whatsoever, and I choose my rainbow will represent the dangers lurking in the dark but like I said it could be something that does well for you.

There's no sign of the morning coming
You've been left on your own
Like a Rainbow in the Dark

Lyrics by Ronnie James Dio from "Rainbow in the dark"

Pride and prejudice

Biases, partiality, prejudices, all are words that seem to have a negative conotation associated with them; but let's once again delve a little deeper and see if we can come up with something different. Aha! I just did. Being biased, prejudiced or partial is not a bad thing in and of itself. We all come with inclinations, where we feel strongly about certain issues. Whether they be as serious as race, religion, political ideology or as flippant and casual as coffees, clothes or cigarettes. Let's face the reality and accept that we have such serious and perfunctory leanings. We all have at one time or another stereotyped the followers of a particular race or religion, some people may say that is stereotyping but who are we kidding here? That is still a prejudice, and one wouldn't be saying so if one didn't feel that the other party was inferior and hence a prejudice.

Now it is not wrong that we have certain dispositions, it seems only natural that in the variety of life we like only so many of the flavours we come across. The idea here is not to deny a certain flavour the respect just because one feels they are superior. Take for instance, a person who is a raging racist and hates caucasians. Him hating caucasians is not as bad when for example he starts to make decisions based on his prejudice. That I feel is worse. Too many people nowadays spend time correcting others' faults when they should be trying to address the real problem and that is that such people act upon such ideas. I have much respect for a racist who speaks his mind but when the time comes he does not base any decision based on such a subjective idea.

Here is a real life example I heard from a friend of my father. Their corporation happened to be hiring at that time and he was on a panel of three recruiters (can't remember the exact number but there was more than one). On that panel was one person who had a dislike for Mexicans and people of that origin. Once the panel was through with the interview process, my father's friend felt that the Mexican was the best candidate for the job, and knowing well that a fellow panel member disliked Mexicans, he decided to voice his opinion and speak his mind. Here is the shocker, despite his dislike, our racist panelist, felt the same way and decided to go with the Mexican chap.

This account shows what I am trying to get at. Rather than to tell people "Hey you should not be so prejudiced," like some saint, we ought to remind people that their prejudice ought not to get in the way of justice being done. In this little case, justice was done and rightly so. The right man was hired for the job.

Extremism

Extremism in one form or another will always be never welcome in a conversation. A group or person, not willing to change their opinion and violently opposed to all other opinions can also be though of as a form of extremism, despite some people calling it staunch support or plain old or label the person "opinionated". This is a dangerous way to conduct one's thinking, especially when one is presented with sound arguments against what they believe in. The really ironic thing is that some people who are so against extremism in any form are extremists themselves. Think about it for a moment and let it sink in, these same people who accuse others of bigotry and want them to moderate their rhetoric slightly are so doing by believing that they are right in this aspect and not for once stopping to think that maybe the bigot in a particular case is right. I am not advocating extremism here, rather I am pointing out an apparent paradox in the person who believes that extremism is not the right way to go. I know people who so strongly hold onto their beliefs and accuse others of extremism (maybe rightly so in some cases) that they themselves are not willing to change their opinion. So in this case who is the real extremist?

Parents and decisions

Decisions are a reality of everybody's life and often times we are put in the precarious situation where we have to make a decision based on one of two things; our own will and desire or the environment that we live in. Sometimes, the choice is very simple, as we can not exercise our will or the environment does not play a major role. In such cases, the verdict is straightforward. What of those moments when the ruling can be based on either one? Take for instance this example; a young lad wants to follow a particular line of work but his family i.e. parents, think he ought to do so otherwise because that line of work is not as rewarding financially. Let us assume the young man is of sound mind and capable of making wise decisions and possesses a good work ethic whereby if applied correctly he reaps a satisfactory reward. In this case it is his will pitted against the environment (his parents' will). I'd be damned if he follows his parents' counsel, because ultimately he has to live his life so why not let him carve out his future? At times parents want the best for their offspring and that is a natural desire, but should it really come at the expense of the fledgling's wishes? The torn young man has to make a decision but he does not want to upset his parents as well. Say he takes up on his parents' advice and goes down a career that he did not want to initially pursue, in all likelihood he will not enjoy this pursuit as he has no desire nor an interest and he may end up as a dismal shadow of what his potentional could have him realise. Parents ought to be there to help in making choices and showing the various paths and the difficulties that could entail with such choices. I do not think it is right for parents to decide for anyone of their children when it comes to such a major decision that will affect someone for the remainder of their lives. Such a practice is very commonplace in third-world countries where the society is very much centralised around the patriarch. I have nothing against how a society is organised but I do believe that people have the right to make choices especially when it is known that such people are capable of doing so. Parents are like a guiding light and the child a lamp that has yet to be lit. The brightness of this lamp depends upon how well the child carries out in its life and the quality of decisions undertaken. Back to the main problem; say if the child chose the vocation of his choosing chances are he will be much more successful had he opted for the other route. In such a case where the child is already torn apart, the parents must try to stand by the child and give him hope that despite having not chosen the more commercially viable field (the one the parents chose) they will be there always for him. I think that is a better formula for success than having the child choose a field of the parents' liking.

Religion and objectivism

Somehow people do not seem to understand the difference between religion and their own desires. Often times I have seen people act in a manner which is totally contradictory to that of the religion they are following. If ever asked regarding the motives of their actions they try to rationlise this seemingly bizarre dichotomy. What people do not understand is that their alibi, whatever it maybe, is very weak. Religion has always been (and will stay that way) an ideology where you have good and evil and everything is based on this classification. That will NEVER change! People have a hard time owning up to the fact that they might be actually wrong for once and hence spiralling into a world full of lies and deceit, lying to themselves that is. Saying, "Oh but that is not what this statement means, what God was really trying to say was .....," is a sham, honestly speaking, and a shame. Who gave you the right to put words into God's mouth? Did The All-Knowing consult you before He issued the decree? I think not. What people fail to understand is that religion is an absolute and objective, it has carved out for the followers what is right and wrong and how you are to dictate your life. The paradigm these people have set up for themselves is a grotesque twisting of religion and at the end religion ends up getting a bad rap an is blamed all because of a few idiots! This does not apply to the fanatics only, I am very sure we can all pick out one such incident where some fool will try to remain in his apparent paradise.

Light at the end of the tunnel

You know how we always talk about light being at the end of a tunnel. Well that's not always the case. So what does one really do in such circumstances? Let me try changing your perspective a bit here. Think of life as a maze of tunnels and the light at the end representing your goal or reward or plain ol' good luck (if you believe in fate then good fate). To begin you are put at some random spot in this web what you will later on call life. Initially, you are guided through this labyrinth by people you recognise as your parents. Once on your own navigation is a slighlty more challenging, there are bumps and knocks and lessons to be learnt at every turn, fork and end. Soon enough you learn to maneuver your ship through the seas of life and make decisions that will get you to a desirable finish. However, there is this time always that you have hit a dead-end. You think to yourself what do I do now? I was always told there would be light at the end of the tunnel. But not this one! Well simple, turn around and go where you came from and you will see the light once again. Sometimes, in life we need to take a step backwards to really move forward.

Cuss words galore

Here's an interesting article

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12063093/from/RS.4/?GT1=7938