Approaching life in a different perspective
Recently, I read a convocation speech by Adrian Tan from a friend's blog. It was a different kind of speech that one would expect to hear. In case you are wondering who on earth is Adrian Tan, he is a laywer and the author of The Teenage Textbook. Some famous guy apparently.
He said our lives are pretty much over when education ends. Since the saying goes "learning is a lifelong process" and the end of education means we are done learning, we are done living. (He believes the saying is a gimmick for teachers to have customers. After all they are in the learning business.) Given that life has ended, we are free to play. We should pursue something that we enjoy so much so that we would do it for free. This passion will energize us and becomes an obsession. This should be how we embrace a new fulfilling life.
If not, we are working. And the most important point to note is we should never work. "If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there's nothing left." This strong statement makes me think about people around me. Sad to admit, some of them are extinguishing.
Adrian also commented that people are working hard for more than half their lives so that they could enjoy the small remaining portion in comfort. However, many of them never reach that part. You never know when you are going to drop dead. Maybe years, weeks, days, or hours later. Damn! Life is never fair. We never get what we want. As much as we want to play, we often are left without options. If you have already found your obsession, I'm happy for you. But if you don't have a chance and is working, try to find something to keep the flames burning! Remember to enjoy every moment that is left of you.
Another interesting thought of his is not to settle ourselves with life expectations set by average people. Just because everyone else is diligently following a set of rules to live life, doesn't mean we have to aspire to be them. Like we are told to find high pay jobs, how much hours to work, responsibilities, etc.
Moreover, he said being someone nice is easy but it simply categorizes you into the average group. So he believes we should aim to be hated. Think about it, great figures around the world are hated by at least one person. They are not as accommodating as nice people and they hold strong convictions. Yet, they are not evil. They are just doing what they love to do. Thus, be hated is a sign that you are successful. But most great figures don't have good endings. Everything comes with a price, doesn't it?
The last advice he gave is to love someone. Not be loved. Bringing along with loving someone come admiration, attraction, learning, and happiness. You will inspire to be better in every way. It is easier to find a reason not to love someone than to love someone. Acceptance, therefore, is important. However, people sometimes voice out what's wrong. Does that mean they can't accept you, hence, doesn't love you? Or they just hope to improve things for the better? It is tacky to decide, isn't it? Acceptance is hard work. We have to work hard on it. Perhaps like how he put it, when the face is less important than the brain and the body is less important than the heart, you have found someone to love.
No matter what aspect of life he is talking about, no matter how much you believe his interesting/weird theories, he put his point across... like how I keep hearing this word in gossip girls, Find Your
Muse! And Enjoy!
