In Continuum.

One's Compelling Aspects

I always tell people that inspiration usually strikes in the most unusual manner.I dont consider myself to be a terribly good writer,or a terribly average writer at that.I am merely a passionate storyteller,and there is a difference there.I think it is rather sad that so many people out there are afraid/unwilling to take on the step of storytelling,despite the potentials,just because there are already so many greater writers out there.

My take is that a writer should write not because he thinks that he is better than most of the writers out there,or not write because he is not as good as a lot of writers.I think one should write because he has the passion to tell a story,to bring his or her point across to the general public,and i think that is the most crucial factor when you are before your computer,with the cursor blinking on the blank Microsoft Word screen thinking about whether or not you should start writing something.I think everybody should just attempt to write SOMETHING,even if they are mere thoughts rushing through your head like a runaway train.I mean,im sure Dan Brown or Mitch Albom,more contemporary writers did not start out wanting to overtake others like Dickens or Hemingway,right?

Anyway,let me bring the point of this entry back to where it started(Sidenote:I actually forgot for just a little while before this bracketed sentence).I have a vague idea where my first good idea struck in a weird place.In was on the toilet bowl on a Saturday afternoon,a little more than three years ago when i was still in SRJC.I typed a self-composed SMS and showed it to a couple of friends,and sort of became an instant hit(I remember Kelly asking it from me so she could send to her then-boyfriend).That was where it all started,sources of inspiration disguised in strange and often unexpected places.

I was in the shower just yesterday when i came up with this idea.I was thinking about the aspects of our lives that are the most compelling.Of course,everybody probably have different priorities in things,right.You dont expect somebody working on Wall Street with millions of dollars going in and out of his office everyday,to place priority of a cheeseburger over say,his Mercedes Benz in a raging fire at home.That's the priority of a beggar,and i think the compelling aspects of life differs with social classes.

I was,however,looking for a common aspect that strikes people as,being something important.Something we often neglect,or too afraid to admit it.I figured that there are three aspects of everybody's life that are the most compelling,the three aspects that deters everything that we do,or rather ought to be the things that dictate our actions.Not greed,not temptations,not wants but pure need through these three aspects of our lives.

Life.Love.Death.It is easy to come up with these three aspects,if you read them merely by their words really.After all,we speak,we hear,we talk,we experience such things all the time.Every moment that you are breathing you are experiencing life.Everytime you fall in love,have a crush,or ruffle your fingers through your dog's fur,you are experiencing love.Everytime a friend of a friend dies,a relative passes away,somebody close to hear moves on in the afterlife,you are experiencing death.And the interesting point to note here is that as water gushed down my body from the shower,with soap all over my face i figured out the connection between the three.

I think there is a sort of relationship between all three.I have to mention the theory of "Six Degrees of Separation" once more.While the three aspects do not have six people in between them,they are directly or indirectly related to each other,no matter which way you look.

Love gives meaning to life.Life gives meaning to death.Death gives meaning to love.It goes in this loop that goes round and round,doesnt it.The way there is an universal balance in everything.Love gives meaning to life,that is not a difficult concept to grasp.

In view of the suicidal entries that i have dished out over the past few weeks,or even months,i think it is only fair to give "Life" a fair share of argument.Imagine yourself in a loving relationship.Your boyfriend is good,and he treats you good.Not great perhaps,but i guess in the world of today you shouldnt ask for too much.Not everybody is Jerry Maguire,really.Anyway,You guys had a fun start,and through the times you guys were together,you smiled more than you frowned.Even when you cry,you cry happy tears.From laughing too hard,from the gifts on a rainy day,from the words softly whispered over the phone.

One day,however,that fairy tale ends.You are beside your bedroom window,sitting on a high chair drinking bitter wine,wondering what went wrong.To correct your mistake,you thought,you might take a step out of the window and let the pavement below do the rest of the forgetting.You start to think about,whether your life is worth living afterwards,after the break up.You wonder if,without the love of this man,who so naturally occupied your life for the past six years,you are going to be whole again.

The reason to life,the reason to live,really is love.There are others who love you,for different reasons.You dont just go on ending your life,thinking that it is not worth living because one love is gone.One love's disappearance is really another's emergence.If not for all the riches in the world,love is really what we should all aim to live for,to take the next step for,to take the next breath for.

Life gives meaning to death,that is perhaps a rather difficult concept to grasp.Or rather,a little more complicated.It doesnt add up,the way you read it i understand.But let's picture yourself in a scenario once more.I think if there is a scale to measure the greatness of one's death,that scale will depend fully on one's live.William Wallace said in the movie BraveHeart,"Everybody dies,but not everybody truly lives",and i think that sort of explains the whole concept of how life gives meaning to death.

Everyday,somebody dies somewhere.It is inevitable,and death comes with life,naturally.It is rather daunting at times if you were to think about the amount of space these dead corpses are going to take up,urns or no urns.Death is such a common thing,that it surpasses the common-ness of say,taking a cab,hanging out with friends in town,a night out at a club.So many people die,and you wonder what is the meaning death,if it is the inevitable end to everybody's journey through life.People die,others weep,then later forgotten with time.The lack of remembrance is the part of the package of death,really.

But what really differs one death from another is the life before the death.What people do you life,that really matters."What you do in life,echos in eternity",shouted Maximus before the Roman troops attacked the barbarians in Germania.So true,the way death suddenly has all the meanings,once life is taken into consideration,dont you think?

Death gives meaning to love,this concept is rather morbid.I think people can never love somebody enough until death comes knocking at one's door.It's just sad that in this cold world of ours nowadays,people are so close and yet,so very far away from one another.Shoulders brush against one another,you smell somebody else's cologne,you smell her hair in the train to work,the way intimacy is supposed to work.And yet,people are so careless of each others' presence nowadays,you start to wonder if "Love" is merely a word somebody created because it sounded nice with the curling of the tongue,or perhaps somebody came up with that word to describe "Wants","Temptations",just an excuse to want something to satisfy your greed,perhaps?

Only when death is faced,when somebody is at his or her death bed do we truly LOVE somebody.I dont think love is truly enough anywhere,not even the UNICEF workers all around the world,not until the kids' lives start to wain and you are holding his arm,so weak and thin.That is when love truly works its magic,when it is in full bloom,when it truly matters.

So this is all a circle,love,life and death.People usually give too much emphasis on the first aspect but never the latter two,always taken for granted.I dont think i am fit enough to say i live by what i said.Truthfully speaking,i think you must be some sort of saint to be able to live the three aspects to the fullest.But i guess the least one can do is to recognise the compelling aspects of life,and witness it with arms outstretched and mind wide opened when the time comes.