Childhood

I met some Oliver Twists during my first visit to the richest continent on the planet. Though these children may never share the fortunate fairy-tale climax that he had.

October 14th. After the first half of the conference. We were in the train station and were waiting to buy tickets. A one-way ticket to my hostel from the university was 1.50 euros. Three little kids, not more than 10 years old, came and stood all around me, very close to me. They had unused tickets in their hand and were trying to get me to buy those instead of from the slot machines. Suspicious, I told them that I didn't want their tickets.

Two of the children got closer to me and to the slot machine that I was trying to operate. I selected the option of buying one ticket and put in the money for it. The money came out instead of a ticket. Now why would that happen?! I decided to try again. I selected the single ticket option and put in the money again. I noticed the kid who was to my left stealthily press the cancel button that he had positioned himself against. The kid on the right, by then, had his tiny hands in the tiny slot where the money would come out. The money did fall out in a bit and he took it all and they both scurried away. My friend who was also trying to buy tickets caught one of them by hand. The other dropped the coins he had and they all made an escape. All in a few seconds. Training and practice were evident. The boldness was startling.

When you are 10 years old, you don't want to do things that are bad. Or rather, even if you want to, you don't want to be caught by anyone doing those bad things. Drinking honey from a bottle and then filling it up with enough water to make things look untouched makes kids, kids.

These children, had none of that innocence. They did what they did openly and daringly. There was none of the subtleties of Fagin's methods. They were stealing. Another persons property. But what did that even mean to them? Did they have anything they called their own, for the meaning of ownership to be revealed to them? Were they raised by parents who taught them that it was bad to steal what was not yours? But did they know what "yours" meant? They probably knew what "not yours" meant though. Wasn't that everything there was? Did they have parents who taught them things and were kind enough to be listened to? Did they have parents?

In India, I would expect things to be worse, but I have not seen children stealing so openly and brazenly. It was a shocking experience. Clearly, things are wrong everywhere.

I do not know where we are headed. Does anybody?

Faith vs. Reason

Accepting a view on faith is admitting that it cannot be accepted on its own merit - Anon.

The people who do this cannot be expected to reason about everything they do. They can be expected to be unreasonable. And they live upto these expectations.

People like this, in a herd, are a hard bunch to do anything with. Or without.

So people, REASON! Get out of that crowd that acts based on the reason-less brainwashing called faith! Reason and then rigorously examine your reasons. For each of your actions.

Food

Something that so many people go without each night. The lack of which causes so many deaths each year. The primary reason why we labour. I cannot accept food being wasted. No justification can be valid.

I do not eat meat. I can never bring myself to kill my own meat. I cannot enjoy eating something that had to be killed. I have been offered/ coaxed/ forced plenty of times, but I have never knowingly eaten any meat.

Then I dished onto my plate some meat entrée the other day. Unknowingly. A friend told me just in time that it contained meat. I threw the plate away and started over with a new one.

What followed was guilt. Anytime that I saw food for the next few days. Did I do the right thing? I had thrown away what is food for so many.

What are my morals? Is an objective analysis of ones morality ever possible? If it is ones own, is any analysis possible? Can all ones actions be truly morale even only within ones own definitions of morality?

On shadows and then some

While walking home some days ago, some cars tried to trample my shadow. But it was my shadow that always won! Yet, it could lose. If it were on the wrong side of me...

Philosophizing this bit of physics, I inferred what the Mahabharatha says, characterizing Karna as it does. "Be on the right side. And you will win."

If only all things were that simple all the time. Or at the very least some of the times?

By the way, what is right? And what is loss? Does loss lead to sadness? And what is happiness?

What a decision makes

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

- The Scottish Himalayan Expedition by
William Hutchinson Murray quoting Goethe

How many people in this world give up their dreams for senseless reasons? How many people never realise that magic is for them to create? How many never dare?

Far too many.

Tolerance

What is tolerance? The most unimaginative beginning would be to pull words from the dictionary.

From Dictionary.com, Tolerance is "a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry"

That is clear and mostly unambiguous. And yet, we are unable to tolerate even small behavioral differences even though we want to belong in this shrinking world. Is the human race capable of living together as a peaceful, coherent structure? Or will there forever be chaos? Isn't the global village about being together as a people as one community? Can we ever get to that stage where we look at a random person from this planet and say s/he is a potential friend? Without thinking about race, color, religion?

Will there ever be light?

Change the world

Go read: http://www.goodnewsindia.com/index.php/Magazine/story/elango-kuthambakkam/

This is to all those of us who can't seem to think that we can actually make the difference. No... I'm not pointing fingers here, I belong in that group too.

I've actually had the fortune of having met this person in my social entrepreneurship classes, and the article pales in comparison to the persona... If you get a chance, go there!