A man is born to serve what purpose? My guess is as good as yours. Is it to populate, shape and define the world? Maybe. What I am sure of is that a man is born waiting to die. A man’s life is finite. He lives and after a span of time, he dies – forever decayed; no soul, no afterlife. During the time the man lives, he undergoes several transformations toward his ending. He suffers through time to reach that end. Life is a process of dying.
So why do we value life so much? Life is not precious because sooner or later it is gone. It causes all kinds of pain. So why do we protect something that is worthless and destructive? What is so good about the world that we thrive to live in it longer. These questions are yet to be answered; not here, but hopefully a hint appears.
I’ve lived twenty-six worthless years and spent a decade of those years in a quest to answer these questions. I have no answer, but I realized a tiny bit of it – happiness. There is no stopping the birth of man no matter what laws, medications, family planning we implement. Time and time again, man will be born save annihilation. Even so, man will evolve one way or another. So I thought, what would man do if he has no control over his birth? He has to live life and goes in a journey where he avoids suffering that is brought by living. Only in the absence of suffering happiness is reached.
What is suffering? Suffering is a feeling of destruction. Something that will cause physical and mental aspect of man to break down. These things we know as grief, jealousy, envy, hunger, pain, torment, and many more which your imagination can define. By that definition, we can deduce that man suffers because of another. Man does not grieve because of himself, he grieves because of another. Man loves (a form of attachment) another and will do everything to keep the attachment intact. Once the attachment is lost, man undergoes a series of states of suffering - grief, loneliness, depression, etc.
Since the cause of suffering is not oneself, society gets the blame. Social attachment torments a man. Being social do bring happiness, but only until a point. In society man acquaints himself with another who would bring happiness in a moment, but would later on bring lifelong suffering. Once a man attaches himself to another, he will protect both the relationship and the other entity as if it is a treasure.
A treasure is defined as an entity which – naturally – cannot be lost. It is only lost if hidden (i.e. kept or stolen), but it still exists. Life cannot be a treasure because it is lost no matter how careful the caretaker is. What is left behind when a man dies is a pseudo-self which is also known as memory.
Protecting a treasure is already cumbersome and takes so much out of a person. That act in itself contributes to a person’s suffering. How else would the feeling be if the treasure is lost? Naturally, anger, grief, disbelief, etc arise. As previously stated these are sufferings. It is true that having that treasure makes a man happy, but it’s troublesome taking care of that treasure.
In conclusion, eternal bliss cannot be attained by sharing with others. Eternal bliss is for an individual, not a group that’s why it is so difficult to achieve. The happiness we enjoy now is only temporary and we should enjoy that as much as possible. Think not of the future nor the past, enjoy the moment because it is now that will shape the future. Be happy if you’re happy.
May 5th, 2008
“The Children of Huang Shi” is a true story during the Japanese occupation of China. An English journalist’s journey to becoming a great man. George A. Hogg was a British journalist who went to Nan Jing to record a bloody oppression of the Japanese towards the Chinese. He failed to report to the world because he was caught and was nearly beheaded if not for Chen Hansheng. To make the story short, he eventually landed in an orphanage where he took care of “the children of Huang Shi.”
I liked the film not only because of its real nature, but it was an act where one man established a relationship with children who lost everything and learned to love him as a parent. Although there were some who failed, he saved many and taught them many things. I especially applauded the scenes where they journeyed for the silky road and it showed cooperation between these boys through thick and thin. They were helping each other to survive. I thought it was a spectacle.
April 21st, 2008
I was watching “High Fidelity” and I thought about confessing something. The reason why I started collecting CDs is because I wanted to have a soundtrack of my life. As of this moment, I have not picked one, not even a track. There is no way I can choose the tracks that will narrate the moments in my life with my ongoing collection. Rob Gordon (John Cusack) had about tenfolds more records than I do and I’m very particular with the genre I listen to. I have no variety, thus my choices are thin. I’m full of rage inside, yet I can’t listen to a raging music. I listen to the Manics because I love the melodies they make and I love the revolution they make, but I hate the message. I enjoy the act, not the substance. I listen to Travis because they look cool, like some songs, but mostly hate the style because it’s too gloomy for me. I listen to Stereophonics because the music rocks, but I can’t relate to the words because they are all stories. I listen to Oasis because they’re just fooking badass. I listen to the Cranberries because I love the music, but I can’t relate. I listen to the Corrs because they influenced me in so many things especially the love for music. I listen to hundreds of bands and artists in the alternative scene, but I never listened to a record that describes me.
April 19th, 2008
I can’t let an entry pass without writing about “He Was A Quiet Man”, a psychological film from Frank A. Cappello starring Christian Slater, Elisha Cuthbert, and William H. Macy. The film is about the resistance of the weak against the bullies. Bob Maconel (Slater) is an employee who keeps a six shooter in his drawer, but never had the right timing to cause an onslaught on his six predetermined victims until one day when a co-worker did it and he became a hero after killing the murderer. This is where I got lost because the ending showed that it was him who did the killing.
I think the movie failed me, however, Slater’s acting was super-excellent. I’m a big fan of Christian Slater, but he’s really grown into a better actor. Recently I also saw Anthony Hopkins’ mind boggling “Slipstream” and Slater also played a semi-psycho. If “Quiet Man” had more substance, Slater would have been a good candidate for an Oscar. I agree with the critics’ statements about Christian Slater in this movie. This is by far the best acting he’s ever done.
April 17th, 2008
Finally, I had the time and resources to watch this movie. I did not bother watch the series, nor have an intention to. The reason being that firstly, I don’t like the theme of the story and secondly, I don’t like the lead actress in the series. The movie, however, is an exception because of Song Hae Gyo (there are countless spelling in the web, but I chose this for no reason other than it’s easy to pronounce). I will not elaborate on the story because I’m not Korean and I don’t have the background of the story. All I can say is that Song Hae Gyo did her part as Hwang Jin Yi [only from what I know of the character] wonderfully in this motion picture. Not only was she stunningly beautiful, her acting did not fail. I’ve been wanting to see this film even before it was released, but it took me this long to finally see it. I’m not disappointed. It made me watch Full House again.
February 18th, 2008
