Revelation of an Icon

The future belongs to the people, and gradually, or in one strike, they will take power, here and in every country.

The terrible thing is, the people need to be educated, and this they cannot do before taking power, only after.

They can only learn at the cost of their own mistakes, which will be very serious and will cost many innocent lives.

Or perhaps not, maybe those lives will not have been innocent because they will have committed the huge sin against nature; meaning, a lack of ability to adapt.

All of them, those unable to adapt - you and I, for example - will die cursing the power they helped, through great sacrifice, to create.

Revolution is impersonal; it will take their lives, even utilizing their memory as an example or as an instrument for domesticating the youth who follow them.

My sin is greater because I, more astute and with greater experience, call it what you like, will die knowing that my sacrifice stems only from an inflexibility symbolizing our rotten civilization, which is crumbling!

I also know - and this won't alter the course of history or your personal view of me - that you will die with a clenched fist and a tense jaw, the epitome of hatred and struggle, because you are not a symbol (some inanimate example) but a genuine member of the society to be destroyed; the spirit of the beehive speaks through your mouth and motivates your actions.

You are as useful as I am, but you are not aware of how useful your contribution is to the society that sacrifices you.

The Motorcycle Diaries

by

Ernesto CHE Guevara

wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/FitzpatrickChe.jpg

The First Act of Every Morning

Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day: 

I shall not fear anyone on earth.

I shall fear only God.

I shall not bear ill toward anyone.

I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.

I shall conquer untruth by truth.

And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering. 

by 
Mahatma Gandhi

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free/One

I wish, I knew how, it would feel, to be free
I wish, I could break, all the chains, holding me
I wish, I could say, all the things, that I should say
    Say em loud, say em clear
    For the whole wide world to hear

I wish, I could share, all the love, that's in my heart
Remove, all the bars, that keep us apart
And I wish, you could know, how it feels to be me
    Then you'd see, and agree, that every man, should be free

I wish, I could be, like a bird, in the sky
How sweet, it would be, if I found I could fly
Well I'd soar, to the sun, and look down at the sea
    And I'd sing, cos I'd know, how it feels, to be free

I wish, I knew how, it would feel, to be free
I wish, I could break, all the chains, holding me
I wish, I could say, all the things, that I wanna say
    Say em loud, say em clear
    For the whole wide world to hear
    Say em loud, say em clear
    For the whole wide world to hear
    Say em loud, say em clear
    For the whole wide world to hear

One love, One blood, One life, You got to do what you should
One life, With each other, Sister, Brothers
One love, But we're not the same, We get to carry each other
Carry each other, woah, woah, woah, woah
 

I wish I knew how, it would feel to be free
I wish I knew how, it would feel to be free

By 

Tunde Baiyewu and Paul Tucker

The Lighthouse Family

on Travel after Myanmar trip May 1-21, 2012

The first commandment for every good explorer is:

An expedition has two points, the point of departure and the point of arrival.

If your intention is to make the second theoretical point conincide with the actual point of arrival, don't think about the means - because the journey is a virtual space that finishes when it finishes, and there are as many means as there are different ways of "finishing".

That is to say, the means are endless.

The Motorcycle Diaries

by

Ernesto 'CHE' Guevara

Awana Porto Malai - Langkawi, Aug 2006.

Who you want to be

People are often unreasonable and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may acuse you of ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.

Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.

Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.

by

Mother Theresa

Tanjung Jara - Terengganu, Apr 2009.

Faith & Einstein

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son?
Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, you believe in GOD?
Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good?
Student : Sure.

Professor : Is GOD all powerful?
Student : Yes.

Professor : My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?
(Student was silent.)

Professor : You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?
Student : Yes.

Professor : Is satan good?
Student : No.

Professor : Where does satan come from?
Student : From … GOD …

Professor : That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student : Yes.

Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.

Professor : So who created evil?
(Student did not answer.)

Professor : Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, who created them?
(Student had no answer.)

Professor : Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?
Student : No, sir.

Professor : Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?
Student : No , sir.

Professor : Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor : Yet you still believe in Him?
Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.
Professor : Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.
 

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Professor : Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?
Professor : Yes.
 

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.
(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?
Professor : So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Professor: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Professor : If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?
(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Professor : I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.
I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?
Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH.
By the way, that student was EINSTEIN.

**Note**

Extract from Cory Jone's note in facebook.

Freedom 384

It has always been a dream. 

When I was 8 year old, I read a short story about Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego.  They called Ushuaia, the southern most city, The End of The World. Since then, it has been a dream.  It is a dream to visit this place.

Many times as I changed job, I always asked the questions - can I have a gap of 3 months before I joined?  But every company seems to be in urgency and every company can not wait.  Thus, I was not able to take off even I planned and budget the trip.

I met Diego at New York in 2005 for our Citibank Global Talent Associate Program.  Diego is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. It brought up the flame of the dream once again.  Also, 2001 collapse in economy has made Argentina a lot more affordable than before.  Thus, we started talking about a long visit to his home country.

It took two more changed in job till Aug 2009, my plan was in confirmation.  On one hand, it is the right timing as all the projects for the current job is quite settled.  On the other, I felt just right and Argentina economy is booming where the inflation is raising.  With Diego help in planning,  a bit more budgeting - in which I realized the cost has been double or 100% more expensive in 2010 than 2007, the plan was executed.

Finally, I bought the flight ticket in Oct 2009, confirmed with Diego and left my last job on Mar 2010 for my dream.

On Mar 10, 2010 as my last day at work, the freedom started the countdown.  Well, that is because I know there will come the day I have to go back to work.

On Mar 28, 2010, I boarded my flight to Buenos Aires, feeling so free like never before.  Even the flight was with an emergency landing at Johanesberg and delayed for closed to 10 hours, my spirit was up and up.  I landed at Buenos Aires at mid night the same date, chilly feeling the Autumn winds and the life time journey started there for my Freedom 384.

On Apr 4, 2010, I arrived at Ushuaia.  Well, the journey itself is another story to tell.  But I can never forget the feeling of walking out from the airport, add on top like a DejaVu. Then and now, whenever I talked to friends, I always say believe and have a dream, that is what life is all about.

Over the 384 days that I was not working, I had spent 160 days and travelled 8 countries.  I had read closed to 17 books and still reading a couple now.  I had called all my best friends from primary and high school I could get contact with. I had visited friends that I had not seen for 20 to 25 years. Of course, I had met many people who are traveling around the world.  For all to summarize, try it if you have never.  It is something Asian should do more often.

On this night Mar 30, 2011, my last night of freedom before going back to work, after 384 days away from a job and enjoying all the freedom of doing anything I wanted, I still tell all my friends, have a dream and live to fulfill it because that is the most incredible thing that can happen to a person.

In this very same night, I received a sad news of an old colleague passed away in a car accident 2 weeks ago at the age of 39.  The news re-enforced the statement.

So, guys, have a dream.  Like me, at least I have my Freedom 384 once. :-)e