"But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something."
-Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings

We are as flowers in bloom, each and every human. Our lives pass in what seems to be the space of nothing in the vastness of time and the history of our race. As many flowers that have blossomed, so as many humans have been born, and out of the multitudes, how can any one single flower be remembered? There are few humans (few, considering the billions upon billions that have existed) who are remembered beyond a few decades, let alone a millenia. And as flowers, we blossom, we live for a short amount time in the fullness and splendor of beauty, and we wither away. Most are forgotten, because it happens to every human that has lived; the evanescent passing of beauty into grayness of decay and final dry, gray fragments of an existence that has come to an end.

But some flowers do not wither away naturally-some are plucked too soon from life, in the their full bloom, and their beauty crushed before it even began to wither. Such was the case of a recent death here in Texas. For the sake of confidentially, I will not say her name; only that she was 18, and that a few weeks ago, she was shot in events too unexpected and too swift. She had simply been at home one morning, taking care of a very young sibling, a normal college student who took more time than typical for the care of her family. The shock of her death had indeed been a dark shadow, and will continue to be so. But the sun is shining in the memories that she left behind, and the knowledge that she has gone on to a better place.

Through a series of extenuating relationships, I knew this girl. I never met her, and only through the connection of one cousin it is through this cousin, the cousin of this deceased girl, that I had any connection of acquaintance. Two of my current dance students were also friends with her, and it was from them that I heard  some details of the story.

I knew her face from pictures on the cousin's facebook. But I never knew her, never met her.

Yet when I sat down to watch news one night, and saw the story covering her death, I was stunned.

She was 18. She was in her first year of school, an aspiring entrepreneur who bought and sold sneakers and other clothing on ebay. She was very close to all her family-brothers, little sister, parents, cousins.

She was starting college, hoping to further build a career in business. Like any other person her age, she was just beginning life, deciding on a future, deciding what she would make of it, and hoping to further build a career in business.

Hearing this story, this all too true and too real story, made me stop and think. And ask questions of my life-questions we should all be asking ourselves, and knowing or at least finding the answers to.

Because like anyone one of us, we plan for the future, we slave away for the great unknown and uncertainty that is our lives, and we slave away to make all of it concrete, real, attainable, to make the dreams in our minds and hearts (even the one's we're only half sure about, because its better to work towards something than nothing at all); we'll push ourselves to attain those dreams, set the bar for excellence, cross out that goal as complete from our 'to-do' list. Sleepless nights of school and work, raging doubt that threatens to overcome all sense of confidence in accomplishment, the adversity of the mundane and tragic alike....we fight to overcome those things to. We struggle against obstacles, against anything that keeps us from attaining that mission in life, if we indeed have one; otherwise, we spend the rest of our time looking for one.

In the midst of all these struggles and half-wrought dreams, do we ever stop to think that it could all suddenly, shockingly unexpectedly, just cease? Do we every look around to take time to think what could or will happen when this life on earth ends, and if the work we did in this life was worth it?

I'm generalizing, I know; but I'm trying to put it into everyone's perspective.

If you haven't, then stop. Think of this girl, this young, hopeful creature, and realize that you are mortal, and that this, all of this, will end-and it may not be at a time of our choosing.

The pathway to the world was at her feet, but she was taken to the heavens before she had fully begun to walk that road.

For those that believe in an afterlife (any sort), you will know and believe that death, as Samewise said, is a passing shadow, that good will come of it-the eternal life that is to come. And while the darkness of is still there in the grief felt, we must always take comfort that it isn't all there is to death, that something good will come out of it, and that they will be with their loved ones in that unknown place above. We can take comfort that this young girl's existence is now that of immortality of the soul, lived far outside the constraints of time and space, beyond anything we can comprehend, til we have that for ourselves someday.

She left nothing but memories of hope and beauty for her family. So remember this. Whether or not you believe that this physical world is all there is, still pause and ask yourself this: what have you made of your life thus far, and that if this life on earth were to end today, how would you want people to remember about it? Ask yourself if you are truly giving everything of yourself that you can give to the things and people you love. And most important of all, ask yourself and realize exactly what it is you do with your time 'Do not squander time, because it is the stuff life is made of'-and for some, we are given so little time without ever realizing it. Ask yourself if you are putting time to good use, towards something that was worth the time when this life has ended.

Ask yourself those questions, whether you be young or old. Ask yourself, and look at your life, and be aware that this physical life, that we as humans, are but flowers.Which is why we must make the most of it to be remembered, as this girl did.

If you are familiar with Catholic doctrine, you might know there are 7 deadly sins: Greed (or avarice, if you're actually the sort who reads dictionaries to learn impressive words), sloth, gluttony, lust, anger, pride, and.....bother, what was the last one. I can never remember all of them, but ANYWAYS. That list is pretty accurate of what are the roots of the actions that causes humans to do terrible, destructive things to each other.

There is something that should be added to that list: indifference. I'm not sure 'vice' is even the correct word for it. But whatever you call it-carelessness, inertia, detachment, callousness-what it simply means is that people stand by and do nothing while evil is being committed. We can argue all day (and night, and the day after, and the night after that, beyond infinity)-about what the definition of 'evil' is, to your personal beliefs or how different cultures have different perceptions of what is 'evil'. But there are few in this world, I hope, who would argue that a gang rape is unspeakably, undeniably evil. Mala in se.

But what makes gang rape of an 15 year old at her homecoming dance is not that fact that that 7, perhaps 8 men took their turns with her, leering and laughing as she lay in an alcohol-induced stupor right on the grounds of her high school. Nor was it the brutal beatings that took course during the rape, or that she was robbed or her jewelry, dignity, and humanity. The men who raped this girl are not the ones solely responsible for this horrendous crime. The people truly responsible are the ones who stood by and did nothing to stop it. Reports state that as many as a dozen people wandered to where the ruckus was taking place, and did the first person who witnessed this horrible thing happening whip out their cell phone and call 911? Well, they certainly  did whip out their phone, only not to call anyone-but to take pictures. Like it was some special porn theater putting on a live show for everyone's viewing pleasure. Some even joined in the fun; I imagine it must have been difficult to restrain themselves, after being so stimulated by the previous acts taking place.

8 men, one after another. More than a dozen people watching-and not one person felt compelled to immediately put a stop to it.

I'm not terribly surprised by this. I know there are people who are shocked speechless, outraged as much as surprised, that people could stand by and let evil happen and do nothing. But this singular act of savagery is just one of many that happens everyday; what people find horrifying is that people stood by and did nothing. Hence the outcry in the media coverage

It is no wonder to me that people stood by and watched it like it was free-for-all, interactive porn. Right now, there are millions more incidents like that happening: 10 year old girls being bought and sold for sex, for easy profit in an industry making billions. A 7 year old boy snatched from his yard while playing, his body found weeks later, violated and decaying. A woman is raped every 2 minuets. But how does one cope with this sort of knowledge? We simply think things like, it happens all the time, and how can one stop all these things from happening?  It doesn't really hurt me. And it doesn't affect me.

There is where the desensitization begins, when we accept that evil happens everywhere.Why not just accept it?
Its is a terribly cynical world view, yes. But after reading this story....how can you tell me that there is little truth to it?





*Note to self: reading certain books of philosophy is destructive to one's sense of optimism and faith in the goodness of mankind. (Though not nearly as destructive as the doings of humans in general.)Must cease....soon.

So there's this story I'm writing at the moment (my creative muse jumps around from one universe of stories to the next at the speed of light. It really is terrible for story completion and meeting deadlines, but anyway!), and a concept for the current story I'm writing is the idea of what is 'right' or 'wrong'. In our current civilization, there are many who consider those concepts to be unique to each individual's opinion. Which brings me to this question:

Do humans need to be told what is 'right' or 'wrong', or are we born with an innate knowledge of good and evil" Do humans posses an instinctual, visceral reaction to those acts which are evil, and comfort and happiness to those acts which are good? Or do we need religion, governments, or philosophies to tell us these things?

"There is neither good nor evil, but thinking makes it so." ~Hamlet


I think too damn much.....

I have my own beliefs on what is the answer to this question, but I'd like to hear other people's answers as well.

And of all the blogs topics to write, I pick some philosophical question on human nature. I could write about the  racial  obsession and how its destroying xanga, the health care debate, the abortion debate and its existence in the health care bill, tax increases because of said health care bill, the rising unemployment numbers, the race-rape connection that is oh soooooo popular on xanga right now....and I ask this ridiculous question. Storywriting is an excellent way to keep out of touch from reality.

Douche. Also see: Kanye West.

Never has that word been uttered so many times in so few seconds, across facebook twitter, and every other manner of communications device. Even some political writers on my twitter feed commentated on this-which was how I found it out, because my attic has squirrels that chewed thru the Dish wires, so I'm left to monitor the VMA's via twitter and VMA website. Not that I care for MTV-just this once a year.

But back to Douche. Please, please don't let anyone turn this into some kind of raciest-political statement.

Poor Taylor Swift. I hope she wins another award, so as to wave a giant middle finger in Kanye's face. bahahahaha.

I gotta feeling this is going to spark a new bandwagon here. Those ok with Kanye's actions, and those disgusted by him. Oh la la.

Now back to caring about things that matter.