Tuesday, April 14, 2015

To be great is to be misunderstood

Ralph Waldo Emerson is commenting on how many great men followed their own intuition in spite of criticism or misunderstanding from society. He says, "Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh." To that he adds "To be great is to be misunderstood."
In context, Emerson also says that great men are not always consistent. In fact, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines". Thus, if one is not always consistent, one may be misunderstood. But, since many great men have not be understood by society, then you are you have great company when people don't understand you. What is important, according to Emerson, is that one not violate his or her own nature. You must be true to yourself, even if it mean saying one thing one day and saying something else the next day. That way we show that we trust ourselves and not others to dictate our beliefs.

I must be careful to apply this, as in not to believe in the wrong ways and think that I am on the right path.

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Being mindful of what is happening, but not getting affected

Honestly, the one thing I don't like being adult is reading news about world events, the conflicts, the unnecessary blood shed, accidents, terrorism and the impact of all those things on human life (possibly far away from us). Sometimes we read of scenarios where major accident or 'Act of God' disaster everywhere. It is simply so depressing.

And amid all this, my prayer goes to those affected and their family members. There is only so much of this news I can take daily. And I have to put on a positive spin for my family and my kid. It is definitely not easy. But we have to, with all the uncertain, we have God which is certain (at least for me) and with him as the foundation, we just have to provide the love and the truth to people around us. Let's not let the mood of things around us affect us, let the strength of God flow through us.

I look forward to the next meeting with friends, the next moment I have playing with my kids, the next football match (go Manchester United) and the next basketball game I have with my friend (while I still can jump, a little)...

Give me some good news, news editors.

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Technology, Usage and What is Next as of 2015

I remembered that not too long ago, the buzz word was what hardware is being released. I followed the Pentium processor being upgraded from one speed to another, as though, somehow, it creates excitement just by following it, but not owning it.

Then comes a time that the speed isn't followed that closely anymore, but we look at what version of software are being released. I followed Windows, from 3.1 up till now :) And it creates an excitement as well, just to get my hand on the latest version and try things out.

Then the Internet, with its ever increasing speed, introduced, freeware, e-commerce, online games and all of its possible outcomes. It created a lot of possibilities, fun, excitement: many more services that could be offered faster, better and cross the country boundaries.

It didn't stop there, as you know, with the emergence of mobile phone. And people talk of Internet of Things (as of 2015). Again, a lot of excitement of what is possible and I am already thinking about my fridge, washing machine and my car being online :) Can I just talk to them instead of pressing a button?

But one thing persist since Internet matured is that, it seems that technology doesn't seem to be that exciting anymore. It is not the most cutting edge processor that is in my mind or the users, no. It seems that seemingly simple application such as Whatsapp and picture/video filled Facebook is getting all the attention. We might have looked at Whatsapp and Facebook more than our friends in a day. Hmmm....

So, what can I say, technology (not cutting edge ones) is helping us define our lifestyle. And the next exciting thing, should be, what can we use to improve (or seemingly improve) or get us hooked on? Alibaba (getting that much attention) and its founder/employees are probably getting the biggest paycheck ever, so if I have to put my money, I would put in not on cutting edge technology, but idea that can change our lifestyle, intertwine simple technology which are readily available into our every day living, whether it is going to improve us or get us hooked on. Truth to be told, iPhones, iPads had the best intentions of us using it wisely, but, sadly, a lot of people get hooked on it, especially children on gaming etc. You might have read many articles about people not talking as much and are staring at screens everywhere they go.

That's what I think of the next big thing.... What do you think?

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

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