Thought...
"Gray and motionless / The frog looks flatter than usual / What envious stupidity!"
This was a haiku I made for my Creative Writing class. It sounded pretty weird, even to myself, when I wrote it last Tuesday; but now I realize that there might actually be more to it than I thought.
In Philosophy class this morning, Fr. David talked about Jean-Jacques Rosseau and his thoughts on the past of humans. He said that long before humans became social beings, we were all absolutely free and that we lived our lives based on instinct. One of these instincts was COMPASSION.
Rosseau stated that before language, humans never even gave compassion a second thought. In fact, they never gave it a thought -- it just flowed out from them like a spring of water. Humans used to be compassionate not only towards co-humans, but also towards everything!
Now what exactly destroyed this free-flowing willingness to be compassionate? Well, Rosseau answers: REASON is the culprit! It is reason that makes us think selfishly -- makes us wonder what it is we need to have and need to do. Due to our preoccupation with our own lives and due to the incessant thinking and worrying we do; WE FORGET THAT THERE ARE OTHERS WHO NEED US AND OUR HELP. Due to reason, we protect ourselves, and thus, make it impossible for us to protect others.
Let me give an example. Joe De Venecia's daughter just died in a fire accident. Now, how come she wasn't saved eventhough there were countless firefighters and by-standers gathered around during the fire? Well, it was because those people had the capacity to reason. They knew thay had to preserve their lives! To brave the fires would mean certain death, and nobody surely wants that!
But think of it this way: If people, especially the people present during the fire, didn't have reason, they wouldn't have thought about impending death when they saw the fire, and, they would have gone in to save the poor girl when she shouted for help.
You see, THOUGHT and REASON don't only make us heartless and incompassionate, it also makes us all COWARDS!
Tonight, I wish I were just plain STUPID! No thought or reason whatsoever... Then maybe I could show more compassion towards myself... And also, perhaps, I could gather more strength to say what needs to be said.
You see, tonight, I was given a Christmas Gift. Nothing material... A "friend" let me watch a play, and she paid for my ticket. In all honesty, I believe it was a very cute gift. I do love the theatre anyway... But it just didn't feel right...
She wasn't there with me.
I know, it sure does not sound like me. I mean, I'm the type of person whom you'd hear saying, "Your gift is nice, but I need the cash." But this was different.
I wanted her to be there with me... To share her thoughts on the play like we'd use to in the past. I wanted to laugh at the lines with her. To sit right next to the empty chair beside me so that I'd have someone to punch (lightly on the shoulder that is) when a really funny line would be thrown, or pinch when a truly cheesy scene would come up.
For the first time in my life, I didn't mind getting a gift or not. I just missed the person. I don't care about the material, and I don't care about the money. If given the choice, I'd rather choose her.
Well, of course I could have told her all this when I called her after the play to thank her; but then that's when the evil thought and reason came in. You can't tell her -- "It would be weird,""She probably won't understand,""She won't even care anyway." And so on...
And so, when she asked how the play was, all I could say was, "It was ok." When the truth was, the words "It was just not the same without you," were desperately trying to barge their way out of my mouth.
Once again, reason got the best of me. It failed to show me (and probably her also) compassion; and, in addition turned me into a coward.
For once, I'd just want to forget thinking about the consequences of my actions and just do what instinct tells me.
But that's just not possible, for where's the fun in that?
Anyway, wherever you are: "Thanks for the gift, whether it be the one you gave tonight, or the one that you've given me that would last a lifetime."
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
This was a haiku I made for my Creative Writing class. It sounded pretty weird, even to myself, when I wrote it last Tuesday; but now I realize that there might actually be more to it than I thought.
In Philosophy class this morning, Fr. David talked about Jean-Jacques Rosseau and his thoughts on the past of humans. He said that long before humans became social beings, we were all absolutely free and that we lived our lives based on instinct. One of these instincts was COMPASSION.
Rosseau stated that before language, humans never even gave compassion a second thought. In fact, they never gave it a thought -- it just flowed out from them like a spring of water. Humans used to be compassionate not only towards co-humans, but also towards everything!
Now what exactly destroyed this free-flowing willingness to be compassionate? Well, Rosseau answers: REASON is the culprit! It is reason that makes us think selfishly -- makes us wonder what it is we need to have and need to do. Due to our preoccupation with our own lives and due to the incessant thinking and worrying we do; WE FORGET THAT THERE ARE OTHERS WHO NEED US AND OUR HELP. Due to reason, we protect ourselves, and thus, make it impossible for us to protect others.
Let me give an example. Joe De Venecia's daughter just died in a fire accident. Now, how come she wasn't saved eventhough there were countless firefighters and by-standers gathered around during the fire? Well, it was because those people had the capacity to reason. They knew thay had to preserve their lives! To brave the fires would mean certain death, and nobody surely wants that!
But think of it this way: If people, especially the people present during the fire, didn't have reason, they wouldn't have thought about impending death when they saw the fire, and, they would have gone in to save the poor girl when she shouted for help.
You see, THOUGHT and REASON don't only make us heartless and incompassionate, it also makes us all COWARDS!
Tonight, I wish I were just plain STUPID! No thought or reason whatsoever... Then maybe I could show more compassion towards myself... And also, perhaps, I could gather more strength to say what needs to be said.
You see, tonight, I was given a Christmas Gift. Nothing material... A "friend" let me watch a play, and she paid for my ticket. In all honesty, I believe it was a very cute gift. I do love the theatre anyway... But it just didn't feel right...
She wasn't there with me.
I know, it sure does not sound like me. I mean, I'm the type of person whom you'd hear saying, "Your gift is nice, but I need the cash." But this was different.
I wanted her to be there with me... To share her thoughts on the play like we'd use to in the past. I wanted to laugh at the lines with her. To sit right next to the empty chair beside me so that I'd have someone to punch (lightly on the shoulder that is) when a really funny line would be thrown, or pinch when a truly cheesy scene would come up.
For the first time in my life, I didn't mind getting a gift or not. I just missed the person. I don't care about the material, and I don't care about the money. If given the choice, I'd rather choose her.
Well, of course I could have told her all this when I called her after the play to thank her; but then that's when the evil thought and reason came in. You can't tell her -- "It would be weird,""She probably won't understand,""She won't even care anyway." And so on...
And so, when she asked how the play was, all I could say was, "It was ok." When the truth was, the words "It was just not the same without you," were desperately trying to barge their way out of my mouth.
Once again, reason got the best of me. It failed to show me (and probably her also) compassion; and, in addition turned me into a coward.
For once, I'd just want to forget thinking about the consequences of my actions and just do what instinct tells me.
But that's just not possible, for where's the fun in that?
Anyway, wherever you are: "Thanks for the gift, whether it be the one you gave tonight, or the one that you've given me that would last a lifetime."
MERRY CHRISTMAS!