1. "Politics is the art of postponing decisions until they are no longer relevant."
The general public considers politicians people of no, or of very little scruples, who have risen to power not for the amelioration of their fellow countrymen, but for their own miserly purposes. The newspapers and other media are abundant with examples of corrupt politicians, pocketing the amounts of money that will go undetected by the control, and purchasing huge villas, newest models of cars and traveling to destinations mere mortals can only dream of. In reality, they are merely taking advantage of the gullible masses that are all too susceptible to their buttered up speeches. Monopolizing the masses is far easier than subduing individuals who refuse to be taken in by false words and insubstantial promises of a better tomorrow. People willingly choose to shut their eyes to the events around them, erroneously believing that if they do not see the wrongdoing before their very eyes, they are able to persuade themselves that it might not be happening, it might not be true. Thus, the politicians consciously and wickedly take full advantage of this approach, and have realized that all they need to do is give ample and extravagant promises, that will allow them to harvest as much of the public money as possible, all under the false pretext that they are putting their plans into motion. But eventually, their plans are always put to a halt, they are stripped off their position in the government or in the party they represented, while the money magically dematerialized without a trace. All that the public is left with are the ample and extravagant promises, now only dangling fervently in mid air, too far to reach.
2. "There was the law of life, so cruel and so just, that one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same."
The human cycle of life is such that the wheels keep constantly turning whether we want them to or not. It is never a question of our choice. One human life is but a mere speck of existence in the endless subsistence of life around it. In some cases, death is gentle enough to let one know it is coming. In others, its swift cutting of the thread of life happens in an instance. Such is the nature of life. This is exactly why, during this abbreviated existence one is privileged to, one must make it not merely a bare survival, but a wondrous experience of life, with all the joys it has to offer.
Time requires change from every individual. The earthly flora and fauna have been adapting to the changing circumstances of their environment for centuries, and naturally, man is no exception to this rule. Yet, he is given not only the means to physically alter himself in ways to become stronger, faster and more resilient; he is given the means to alter himself psychologically, as well. This is exactly what makes the more than brief individual human existence worth living: the knowledge that one cannot control death, cannot prolong life, but can make his reality a meritorious one. He willingly chooses to better himself and not to make the same mistakes he has made in the past. Growing requires conscious thought, something lots of people have buried deep within, and have chosen to blindly follow the masses. These people have made a choice not to develop and to lead a collective existence, renouncing their own individuality. Unfortunately, in most cases, such people realize their mistake only when it is much too late for reparation. They have squandered the most precious thing they will ever possess, their own life, but their situation can by no means be considered cruel and unjust. Everyone gets the same opportunity: make out of your life a miracle, for eventually, you will lose it.
3. "How you do anything is how you do everything."
The opinion of others concerning a person is modified by his own actions. It is not what he says or feels, it is how he expresses these emotions. Consequently, it is not only the voluminous, life-altering decisions that shape a man, it is also the little things in life and how he handles them. It is generally believed, though many people tend to forget it, that life consists not merely of a few groundbreaking decisions and actions, but of millions of little everyday activities. It is how one goes about them that defines the person. Although simultaneously one should be careful when making such judgments about others. For instance, a woman who is seen walking in muddy shoes is not necessarily an unkempt person. Numerous scenarios come to mind where she might have muddied her, usually very clean, shoes and she did not have the time or the means to clean them properly: it might have been raining and she negligently stepped into a puddle and being in a rush, she had not even noticed it; or any such other similar reality plot. On the other hand, if one comes for a visit to this same woman’s house and notices it to be overly dusty, with mud in the hallway, her coffee table adorned with coffee rings and with a general reign of clothes and other objects which belong in a closet or a drawer, one might be very tempted, and rightfully so, to conclude that this woman really does not pay enough attention to housework, and thus can be considered unkempt herself. But then again, it is all about how an individual perceives the actions of others. Human life is abundant with patterns that shape and model its existence: everything we touch is shaped by us, and we ourselves are shaped by everything we touch. It is an inevitable, reciprocal reaction. It is how we come out of this reaction with other people and objects that shape our image in the minds of others.
4. "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change we seek."
History portrays an abundance of unjust and cruel times, where the innocent were oppressed and murdered, where they were being stripped off their basic human rights and treated as second class citizens, or even worse, treated like soulless animals. But, each and every one of these times also offered change, an escape from this inequitable and barbarous treatment, in the guise of several brave individuals, who decided to say: “Enough is enough!” It is all too easy to merely plaintively cry of atrocities and the inhumane behavior one is subjected to, out of lack of incentive for action, out of fear for one’s life or the life of one’s beloveds. Still, such times require a strong belief in a better tomorrow and the fortitude to fight for it, even at the highest cost. Living, stripped off one’s basic human rights is no living at all. Living in fear for one’s own life or the life of one’s family is no living at all. It is mere survival. For some, that is enough. But, for others, it is far from it. One needs to take full possession of one’s own life, take it back from the oppressors, from the jailers of liberty, of free thought and free action, and strive towards a change for a better tomorrow. One cannot simply rely on other people to bring him his own happiness. A man is responsible for his own life, for his own prosperity and peace of mind, and no one else can set him free, but himself. The time for action is always now, the person to take action is always you. We have to be the bringers of our own peace, our own blessedness.
5. "History is the index of man born to soon."
It is a fact that every historical period has had its own “renaissance” persona, someone who refused the strictly adhered to, conventional perspective of life in art, peace, war, politics, etc. and who dared delve into a whole new field, thus making groundbreaking discoveries far ahead of his time. For this, many such people were utterly misunderstood by their contemporaries, people who lacked this innovational and stimulatingly fertile new vision, and decided to refuse anything that protrudes like an abnormal growth on the tissue of conventionalism. These innovators were mostly ridiculed for not being able to adhere to what other people considered “true,” and thus, created their own reality, their own perspective of life and its different aspects. This concept is most conspicuous in art. There are numerous instances of artists whose works created quite the hustle in the artistic world, flatly refusing to obey the generally accepted rules, creating a new current of expression, blooming in imaginativeness. Such artists would include Georgia O’Keefe, with her feminine iconography of sensuously portrayed flowers, resembling female genital organs, the bohemian painter Amedeo Modigliani whose incongruously distorted paintings were sold for ten dollars during his life time, while after his death the price of one painting reached a mind shattering $31.3 million; the list of such artists is amaranthine. What is of crucial importance is that these people never ceased to believe in themselves and their work, even in the face of copious rejections and embarrassing dishonoring of their work by their peers. Most of them did not live to see the grand effect their initially rejected works had on the development on the art world in general, but one is certain: their endurance and belief in their abilities made their names imperishable.
6. "Often things may change us but we start and end with family."
The initial shaping of our inner persona commences with our family. How our family behaves towards us and how we reciprocate these emotions and actions tend to behave as a very punctilious model of our future relationships. Once the time comes for us to “leave the nest” and spread our own wings, our family is still there to support us, help us and provide unconditional love, but we are no longer protected by the maternal and paternal shroud of safety. When something bad happens, we can no longer run to the sheltering embrace of our mother, who only has to kiss our forehead and tell us that everything will be alright. Life can be a pretty harsh experience overall, but the most important thing is to come out victorious in the end, not letting the blows crush you. Thus, growing as a person and learning from your mistakes makes you not only a better person, but a stronger one, too.
Humans are social beings, they cannot function on their own, with no other social contacts. They say that family we are born with, while friends are the family we create for ourselves. This is true. You may not like certain aspects of your family, but they are still your family no matter what and you can always rely on them for anything. Friends being the family you choose for yourself, will also be there for you, but they can never be your flesh and blood. They can turn away from you as a result of a wrong word or action, and never cross your path again. Your family will be hurt by a wrongful action or words, but they will always love you no matter what you have done. This brings to mind the parents of murderers, who await death sentences in prisons, and their parents come to visit them. Such images are heart-breaking, for parents to see what their children have become. But in the end, the love of a family is unconditional and everlasting. Our life really does start and end with family.
7. "Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."
The world, especially the Western society does not offer enough nurture to intelligent people. Sadly, it appears to favor physical fitness over the abilities of the brain, thus presenting and glorifying athletes, football players, hockey players, etc. as good role models, instead of urging children to be more mind oriented. The entire life span of a gifted, highly intelligent person is wrought with difficulty. Starting from the earliest experiences in school, where these children who love to learn and who know the value of information, would be labeled as nerds, geeks and would be deemed socially awkward and unwanted in social circles of popular children. Thus, from the very beginning, they are outsiders. In addition, their emotional development is also on a much lower level than that of their peers with an average IQ. These children resolve their stressful situations and problems alone, with little or no advice and help from friends. While one would be tempted to think that given their high intelligence, they would possess a deeper knowledge on the favorable resolutions to troubling issues, this is not the case. These shunned, socially outcast individuals often progress emotionally and socially much less than children with an average IQ.
In their adult life, people with a high IQ tend to be dissatisfied with things in general because for them, there are very few challenges in life and because their high IQ allows them to achieve things much faster and easier, which simultaneously takes away a certain amount of the sense of accomplishment. Lastly, this social awkwardness never disappears. People of very different IQ levels never associate together, because the satisfaction level with the conversation of both parties is impossible to be achieved. The lower IQ individuals would always feel almost unbearably dumb next to the high IQ individuals, for whom the conversation will never be a satisfactory one, due to the fact that the other side will never be able to keep up with the conversation. Thus, a high IQ always distinguishes the individuals from the crowd, destining them to a life of unhappiness.
8. "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed tonight saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me."
It is a proven fact that we live in a materialistic society, and that we have forgotten about the spiritual values of our existence. We are bombarded by images of the rich and successful via every possible media, and are taught from early infancy that in order to be happy, we must succeed and make a lot of money. Part of this is true. We do have to succeed in the professional field we chose for ourselves. We push our personal limits further and further every time we succeed in one endeavor after another. We develop as human beings and alter our physical and psychological capabilities. Sometimes, the result of our success will be money, so much money that we will not know what to do with it, and will succumb to the materialistic side of human existence, spending it on every shiny artifact that tickles our fancy. This is where we would get lost. It will no longer be a righteous path of advancing, but a path of accumulating wealth for the purposes of buying material things which will prove to other people how rich we are. Nowadays, in this fast paced life style, so many people neglect the fact that it is not how much money we make every day that brightens our being. It is what we do that has a positive impact on the world. It can be a very small act of kindness, such as helping out in the soup kitchen, providing food for the homeless, or it can be an invention of something that makes human life better. Not everyone can be a creator, but one thing is true: everyone has the time for a small act of kindness. If we would all do just one little thing that makes not only our life more wonderful, but someone else’s too, we would be living in a much happier world.
