Personal awareness

As I stood at the front porch feeling the cool night wind blowing, I frantically dry my hair with a towel and I randomly uttered 'How is life? How is work? How is everything?'. Those are not things we ask ourselves daily but I am just there living the moment. I am still healthy, feeling great, enjoying life so far I guess. Perhaps those questions are not to be taken seriously because if we care too much, life becomes calculative and minor details become big issues. As what a colleague pointed out in an article, why do people bother looking at the glass and thinking if it is half full or half empty all the time? Consider the glass already broken and you don't have to care so much anymore but just handle it with care. A day earned is a day gained? Anyway the post today is going to be philosophical so for people who hates it, you have been warned.

First of all, I would like to complain about the fact that I think I am born on the wrong side of the world. As I sit here watching all those award shows, live performances and greet the fans sessions in youtube, I can't believe how much I am missing by sitting here. We need to wait for celebrities and idols to come visit us most of the time before we even catch a glimpse of them. Yet, they have weekly appearances at their home country and awesome concerts to bring in the festivities. Our local celebrations and celebrities pale in comparison. The same can be said for local movies and dramas. Entertainment aside, what about job prospects? Sporting events? City infrastructure? Should we just sit here and be thankful about the fact we do not have wars or natural disasters? We should be thankful all the time but we should also strive to move forward and to be better.

I guess most of us would like to move away and experience life in other places but we are bound by circumstances that surround us. And circumstances have no human values or sense of fairness or compassion. Things happen because they do and so we can only deal with it when it strikes. Of course we can try to prepare as much as possible but that is only for the privileged. Some of us just live day by day, step by step. Just because we do good things doesn't mean we will be blessed with good karma. Just because I exercise, doesn't mean I will not get sick or will not die from health issues. There are not many things in life that is really certain. I can only hope that I can be sure of myself, the things I do and the path I walk. We change as time passes by because we try to adapt though not always in a good way. However, the definition of good or bad depends on the person and the perspective.

Time that has passed can never be experienced again. No matter how hard we try, even if we are still the person from 5 years ago, we cannot say the same for everything else. All the things we miss, it is lost forever. Falling in love now is different from falling in love at form 5. Attending a concert this year will never be the same as attending it last year. Perhaps they will disband next month and I will never see them live ever again. We have many excuses like lack of money, lack of free time but judging by how our society operates, by the time we have enough money and time, we would already be old. Even if you could attend their concert this time, what about the next? Nobody in this world I believe, can actually attend all the concerts of any popular international band. Living with such awareness is very difficult and impractical and that is why I think it is acceptable if people choose to take it lightly.

Perhaps this is why people always say ignorance is bliss. The less you care, the less concerns you have. Are people that live sheltered and comfortable lives really better than us who suffer and aware of reality? Do you want to leave this world without seeing everything the world has to offer? A person who has happiness all his life will never appreciate it until there is sadness. Are we to suffer just so we can attain greater positive emotion? Some people may argue, even if we are aware, even if we are wise beyond our peers, nothing matters because all that awaits is death. And upon death, does leaving a memory, leaving a mark in history really matter? Even if the theory of afterlife is true, do you think being the world's richest/strongest/smartest man mean anything? What we pursue now is for our time being alive only. Think about it. And enjoy Saturday!!!