Thursday, January 22, 2009

Reminiscence

Looking at some of my old class mates on facebook evokes some rather strange thoughts. These people, whom I had once rubbed shoulders with literally while doing all the usual school stuff, have turned into people that are completely different from before. Is this what they call ``growing up'' then? Is this something that I should aspire to?

I highly doubt it. I like the way I am, not a part of the whole ``yuppie'' culture, not a part of the usual rat race that faces most people who choose a more mundane lifestyle. I like the way that I live, the carefree intellectual inquisition that I employ, the ability to look far and beyond what people have already done. I love to think not about money, but about big ideas, how things work, how things can be made even more efficient, how life can proceed in the splendour that was envisioned by the sages of old. I enjoy the thrills of the hunt for that elusive piece of knowledge, the knowing that I can do something that many people have tried to do but failed, the ability to triumph over my own intellectual shortcomings to be a whole person, the distances that I have gone, the sights that I have seen, the things that I have heard and the deeds that I have done.

I am not a sheeple, and I'm proud of it! If I cannot lead a life that I am proud of, why should I live on in the first place? Why then should I consume all those resources only to be a couch potato and not advance myself or the human race as a whole should my abilities grant it? But I am proud of the life that I lead---I do not say it out loud because I don't need to announce to the world of what I like, but here I feel that I need to say it out once to remind myself that I am a great person in my own right. I'm not as great as the Field Medallist or the Turing Award Recipient or even the Nobel Award Recipient, but I am great as it is for having done what I have done, living through what I had lived through, dealing with all my problems with sagacity and tenacity, and never backing down easily when an obstacle is thrown into my path, and to seek external help when I cannot deal with the problem alone.

I am damn proud of all 24 years of my life.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Read this entry of yours and thought of the song, 流れ星.

Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auc3aWuxfeE&feature=related
Lyrics and Translation: http://www.kiwi-musume.com/lyrics/homemadekazoku/nagareboshi.html

Yes, you are a unique star in the sky of many different stars! Because you are believing and pursuing in your unique wishes and dreams with the positivism of a bright shining star.

... If you start to talk about non-helpful things like harmful radiation energy et cetera, an imaginary flying murtabak will spawn and land with a loud splat on your face.

Take care.