Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Kim Kardashian’s Ass

2 October 2010

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This article isn’t about Kim Kardashian’s ass.  Her and her ass are just my reference point to our dysfunction as a society.  It seems that our attention is perpetually focused on trivial, unimportant things…shit, for a lack of a better word.  Leonardo DiCaprio, Lady Gaga, Oprah, Ricky Martin’s sexuality, Paris Hilton’s sex tape, Pamela Anderson’s sex tape, Kim Kardashian’s sex tape, Kendra’s sex tape, Keeley Hazel’s sex tape, Lindsey Lohan’s drug problem and Tiger Woods’ whore problem…a bunch of shit that no one really ought to care about.  Oh, I almost forgot Heidi Montag’s boob job…the controversy that created!

We’re so obsessed with Hollywood and celebrities that we ignore the world around us.  Reality TV has become a substitution for actual reality.  Our conversations revolve around who was voted off the island last night, not the atrocities taking place this very moment in Darfur.  The scandals on American Idol are of more concern to us than the dolphins being slaughtered in Taiji, Japan.  And did you hear that the Jonas brothers aren’t wearing their purity rings anymore!?  OMG!

The problem isn’t so much that we care about celebrities, it’s that we don’t care about the other things that actually matter.  Why?  Why don’t we give a shit?  As much as I hate to admit it, I get it.  I understand why we ignore the problems of the world and fill our thoughts with superficial garbage.

It’s easier. 

Looking at pictures of celebrities in bikinis is much more enjoyable than looking at pictures of babies starving to death or whales being brutalized.  Watching Josh Hartnett make love to a beautiful girl in the movies allows us to escape into a fantasy world but the bad things don’t get better by ignoring them.  The children are still starving.  By the time you finish reading this sentence, another child has died.  Climate change will happen whether you believe it or not.  Governments will continue to oppress their people.  Today wars are fought for oil and tomorrow, water.

But what difference can you make anyways?   You’re but one person in a sea of billions.  Your voice is no louder than the next person’s.  You and I may never change the world alone but if we stand together with hundreds, thousands or even millions of others just like us, we do have the power to be the catalysts of change.  Together, no longer are our voices small and meek but instead become a thunderous roar, one united voice, loud enough to move mountains.

“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” ~Gandhi

It’s time to forget about Kim Kardashian’s ass and unite to fight for what we believe in and stand up against the injustices all around the world.  As for Paris Hilton’s sex tape…it wasn’t even that good.

Finding Internal Peace

12 June 2010

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What is internal peace?

This is a question people have been chasing the answer to for centuries.  Entire religions have been founded on the premise of finding internal peace.  The Dali Lama has said:

We can never obtain peace in the world if we neglect the inner world and don’t make peace with ourselves. World peace must develop out of inner peace. Without inner peace it is impossible to achieve world peace, external peace.

At the beginning of the year, finding internal peace became one of my many New Year’s Resolutions and since beginning my search, I have pondered what exactly this means.  At the time when I added finding internal peace to my list of resolutions, I was doing a lot of thinking about my own mortality and a better way to have worded my resolution might have been “Come to terms with the reality that I will someday die.”

It has been difficult to reconcile the reality of my eventual death with my human desire for immortality but less than being afraid of death itself, what takes place after I die leaves me with an uneasy feeling.

The Meaninglessness of Time: The very moment we pass the threshold into the afterlife (you can decide what that means to you), time lacks any meaning.  A second may as well be an eternity.  While life for the living ticks by every second, time is irrelevant to the dead.

Leaving Loved Ones Behind: I hate the idea of losing people I love and even more, the thought of leaving my loved ones behind.  After I die, I won’t be able to be there for the special moments or in the times of need.  There are no more opportunities to create memories, to tell them how much they mean to me and I the words “I love you” will never escape my lips again.  When the time comes, I won’t be there to comfort the ones I love as they make their transition into the afterlife.

What Happens When I am Gone: Human history isn’t only the past but today and eventually the future.  I wonder what will happen to the world when I am gone.  How will the world view the blink of time we are currently occupying?  I wonder about what will happen to humanity after I have died.  Will scientists find a cure for a serious disease the day I die?  Will the world experience wars and conflict that tear down the political systems and boundaries as I knew them throughout my life?  Will America become the next Roman Empire?

The Transitional Nature of Life: Nothing is forever.  As much as we would like to believe that the world we know today will always remain, it won’t.  It can’t.  The reality is that the world is in constant transition.  Just as people live and die, so does everything.  If you look back at the history of man, the relics we are left with are relatively recent and few and far between.  Nothing is static.  Will the same happen to our society?

People spend a lifetime trying to understand the meaning of life and seeking the elusive state of internal peace.  After six months of searching, I may not be any closer to having the answers to these questions.  What I have concluded is that no one wants to die and only those who are on the cusp of death can accept the reality that they will die.  Maybe finding internal peace isn’t all that it is cracked up to be.

Instead of seeking internal peace and trying to come to terms with our eventual death, we should enjoy every moment we are blessed with the energy of life.  Instead of trying to figure out the meaning of life, live a life of meaning.  Coming to terms with the reality of our mortality shouldn’t happen until the very day when we must face death in a more intimate way.

We must have a greater appreciation for the moments that are spent with our eyes open.

I’m Going to Die

19 December 2009

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Have you ever known something but not understood what it meant?

The other night while I was lying in bed I began to think about life and ultimately, death. I was struck with the realization that I am going to die; someday. Since that night I have been overcome with an almost sick feeling and I haven’t been able to shake the thought that, in fact, I will die.

It isn’t that I will die that bothers me so much as the feeling of isolation that comes with the thought of death.  When I pass over the threshold, I will leave behind everything and everyone that I have ever cared about.  The thought of being physically trapped in a box buried beneath the ground goes against the spirit of my being and the thought of cremation seems morbid.

I have always rejected the thought of an afterlife, though now I find myself seeking comfort in the idea that there may be something more beyond my worldly existence.  In a way, these thoughts are selfish.  They serve only as a way to alleviate my fears of death.

I find myself struggling to accept death as a part of life.  I know death is inescapable, that we were born into a game we cannot beat, yet I find myself trying to ignore reality.  At the same time, this understanding is an awakening.  So many people never realize that they have never actually lived until they are already at the end of their life.

With this knowledge, I will live my life as a gift not only every day but every moment.  I will follow my heart, live ambitiously, love purely, share freely  and give abundantly.  Only then will I live life without the concern of death.

Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.
-A. Sachs