O wanderer’ be warned, for what is presumed might not always be true: what is shown might be an act of play; and what is said might be a word of mere fiction
For the concealed does not always meet the eyes, what is hidden beneath does never raise a suspicion, the dark shadows after all, might not be so empty; what lurks behind will not always be revealed
so be weary when you get near for what you may presume to be grass swinging in air, could be a fearsome monster’s hair, trying to lurk you into it’s lair.
“I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited.”
-Jorge Luis Borges
I’d come across this quote on Pinterest and it has been on my mind ever since.
Maybe it’s the teenage identity crisis or the influence of the ever-enlarging media, while constantly trying to re-invent myself, always trying to be different than everyone else, I have developed this feeling of what if I end up becoming a copy and not an original.
If I start pulling quotes too much from my favourite books and start reciting the poems of my favourite poets too often will all my thoughts just be borrowed and nothing else?
Will I end up being an echo?
As it is our times here are limited, what if I am unable to reinvent myself enough to be an original?
In me, I have this ambition of being new, something novel, I have this ambition of being me.
With all this said, here’s my version of this quote:
Do I exist? At first I was sure, I exist, and I am me, but what was it to be me? what were the thoughts that I called my own?
Harry1 inspired me to “burn with my natural passions”, but it became difficult for me to find them. Thoreautold me to “launch myself on every wave“, but at the time I didn’t understand what it meant. Whitmanreminded me to “contribute my verse”, But what was “my” verse?
Jorge Luis then added his share, I am a mixture of everything that was there! “I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited, all my ancestors.”
And then I realised, that there was also more to me; I am all the choices I have made, all the adventures I have taken, all the lies I have told, and all the words I have chosen
I am all the calories I gained, all the tears that I lost, all the stuff toys beside my bed, all the clothes in my loft.
There were parts of me everywhere, afterall I did have my “natural passions” and I did launch myself on new waves and I had contributed my verse
I didn’t end up being an echo, learned my lessons from Dorian2, realised there was so much more in me, that only I could give!
References: 1- another name for Lord Henry Wotton in Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture Of Dorian Gray 2- protagonist of Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture Of Dorian Gray
To add on, here’s some Lord Henry philosophies/inspirations (which also happens to be one of my favourite quotes ever from a book)
“There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral-immoral from the scientific point of view…… Because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of some one else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realise one’s nature perfectly–that is what each one of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one’s self. Of course, they are charitable. They feed the hungry and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve and are naked……………..”
I guess I will just keep doing these daily prompts randomly now!
Anyways, to answer the question; there are so many things that I’d like to be, especially if I can be it for just one day. Imagine what a life it would be where you have this one thing you would do all the time, and then just for a change or for fun you’d be something else for a day. It would be a reality where in you can literally do and be everything. This reminds me of the quote:
“Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly for the ones that I did not.” -Donna Tartt, The Secret History
and therefore, we’d be able to fulfill all of our fantasies.
Now to my answer: Out of the many things one of the first things that came to my mind were I’d like to be Cardiothoracic surgeon. This specifically because I genuinely don’t think I have it in me to be a Cardiothoracic surgeon for longer periods cause it takes a lot (of just about everything). Great respect to all the doctors and surgeons out there.
Other things that I’d like to be are: A professor, a radio jockey, a scientist, an inventor, a SAP consultant (cause I’d like to know how my dad feels like), a boxer, an athlete, etc.
Thinking of an answer for this quote, my mind spread across all the many quotes I’ve known. Many of them from The Picture Of Dorian Gray (because that’s like my recent favorite read and it is just so beautifully written and has so many quotes). However this particular quote struck to me the most.
“Carpe Diem” is a Latin phrase literally translating to “Pluck the day”, although is most widely meant to be used as “Seize the day”.
This is one of those phrases that you just happen to know. But, it wasn’t until this quote was so passionately(?) mentioned and put to use in Dead Poet’s Society that I understood it’s essence. And I must say that through this semester, I have indeed used this much.
Through this, it urges not only the characters of the movie, but also inspires the viewers to not wait until you are “fertilizing daffodils” in Mr. Keating’s own words and seize the day.
This quote has helped me through my overthinking and anxiety at times of “Should I or Should I not?” in school, and I hope it continues to.
Whatever happens tomorrow is still a mystery, but what we do have is today. We can’t do differently what we did yesterday, so let’s just live this moment the best!
For once there lived a queen, the most beautiful the eyes had ever seen with umber hair and ebony eyes, with a soft touch and pretty smiles.
In the kingdom she was often the topic of the talk, for most were bewitched by her breathtaking walk
she was a fighter, a warrior, strong to butcher a head and she was brilliant and clever and smart to compose a tale
her stories and verses of princes and beasts, of monstrosities and witches and of all good and evil were known everywhere by scholars and kings and praises of her, all children would sing
Then once in the town came a maiden so fair, with admirable beauty and raven hair Upon her arrival, her presence was known and soon came her invite to meet the throne
Through the court when she walked, all eyes followed her, and all the lips that talked, were now quiet in her grandeur
The queen too saw, that all her beauty was true, but the feminist she was, she wanted to see what this girl could do
“What lies behind those curls? What’s there more those eyes could offer? Is there more to that mind of yours? Or are only your looks that you have to declare as yours?” [asked the queen]
“Poetries and Stories, Painting and Pottery My mother made sure I learned them well Swordsmanship and Archery Were learned under my father’s charge”; [replied she]
“Swordsmanship you say, let’s see how well you play”
Soon a day was fixed and a time and a place to declare who was the better, and who the best
their fight went on, for an hour, then two, even then no one knew, who was gonna win and who’d lose.
Still with no winner declared, the girl stole hearts, for no one else before her, had dared take such a task.
Overcome with anger, and jealousy and envy and spite, the queen cursed the girl to suffer all her life. she cursed her with imagination : to think of unrealities, to mess with her senses, and all the truths.
_
It is said that the girls ancestors still roam the earth today, with their dreams and thoughts, all spiraled away, You’ll see them scribbling, and walking and talking, and their heads in a different world than in which they stay
This was a fun one to write.
This was highly inspired by overthinking and the Myth of Arachne Here’s a link to a ted-ed video of the Tale of Arachne, Click here And here’s a link to the Cambridge definition of overthinking, Click here (As if that was needed)
I take this moment as the one destined for me,
All I know is that now I am alive and able
I take this opportunity to live
For what will be a bigger regret than to have not lived while I was living
You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this
― Henry David Thoreau
My first post for the year. So; Happy New Year and Congratulations on having made through another year filled with a lot of memories and ups and downs and Best Wishes to living life more this New Year.
When once moments of joy, become moments of despair when quitting seems not like losing, but rather letting go; leave what u r holding tight in ur hands for once a wilful friend, now seems like a captive being forced it is not necessary to smile sometimes, let the tears roll it’s time to let it go.
At times as friendships and relations mature, their bonds grow old and retire, it is human nature and our instinct at these times that tell us it is our responsibility to hold tight onto these bonds and mend them, it is a desperate attempt that we give to preserve what was once treasured out of our fear of losing what once we cherished.
However these futile attempts might leave us more miserable at times. When letting go, we do not only allow someone to leave but also make space in our mind. Letting go is not letting go the friendships that was cherished, it’s not losing the treasures or the memories preserved, it is only walking ahead with them.
It’s okay for some days to pass by Without much accomplished tasks; It’s okay for some days to just sit and see Without much thought to appreciate beauty
Somedays will be lazy And some will be burnt-out It’s fine to take a break And just lay in your couch
Some days there won’t be much to tick off And it feels like a day wasted away; It’s fine to zone out of the moment To make moments in another space
Not all days you live; your heart will beat actively always (poetic reference only*) Somedays it will be fast and somedays it will be slow (poetic reference only*) The feeling of uselessness on you might grow It’s okay to not have thought about others for a day
Its okay for days to not expect to wake up early And its okay to binge watch late night tv (or youtube if you don’t have a tv*)
But these moments are momentary days; with time they pass by to pave ways for new mornings to come and new days to be lived in joy
hence, some days sleep in and wake up brighter and fresh for tomorrow will be a better glory tomorrow the sun shall shine more bright
and then spend time in smiles shower your charm as you go by
I remember a time in last year; when I was overwhelmed; too overwhelmed for my own good. And from that time I remember the words my mom said to us on dinner table:
Whatever you do each day, give your fullest and do your best at it. Even if it’s being lazy, be lazy to the fullest. But then the next day get up and do your best.
_My Mummy
So it’s fine to be lazy, as long as you get up the next day. You know we sometimes need a break from being our own selves and do NOTHING. So it’s fine.
Now that I’d clicked there was no moment of choiceleft; it were just momentsof wait.
After clicking on the link; I waited for my browser to respond. This was when I took a look at the URL of the link, it sure was an odd one and if I was even in the least sense bothered in any way, I would’ve backed out.
The speed that the link took to load didn’t help much either; but it was difficult to figure if the fault was of the website; my 10 year old ancestry laptop or perhaps my roommate’s Wi-Fi connection.
Soon but the wait was over and open before me was a page in white- just white; it was completely blank with no context or information written or typed on it and I thought of it as the most stupid prank ever, because even my unbothered self would’ve taken the effort to write some code for the content of the website. Nevertheless I was about to exit it when suddenly my gaze fell upon the side scroll-bar thing; —– and even though my screen was as white as the milk, from the scroll bar it seemed like it was quite a long webpage; so I scrolled down and surely there were things…
Written on white screen in a font that eerily resembled (only resembled) Lucida Sans, in bold, blood red font-color were the words “THE ACADEMY”, in the highest font size. This font decoration was followed by a short description and a featured image which I assume probably to be of this “Academy”.
Written by Nabeeha 