Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Playing God
Everytime a calamity strikes, I really get annoyed when I how people blabber about it being God's wrath, or how the world will end soon. Do we really need to blame it all on God, for God's sake!?
When landslides ruined several provinces, it was not an act of God. It was a bitter harvest of what we have sown, or in this case what illegal loggers reaped in wanton regard.
When we see hungry and homeless children roam our streets begging, I do not see it as an act of God. It's a picture of a society where surplus food in restaurants are being burned rather than donated to poor families, because doing so would upset their statistics and records. (Additional taxes, I can agree with but how much of it really goes back to us, the taxpayers?)
When a bomb goes off in a public place or in a public transport, can you say that it's an act of God? I say it is an act of a few who are narrow-minded enough to pull such an inhuman stunt for an equally narrow-minded cause.
(Don't get me wrong, I do believe in a Supreme Being who governs all but can we stop blaming him/her for what we are doing to ourselves!? And I can't imagine a God who would require his faithful blood sacrifice and murder. As one professor in college once told us, DO NOT LET RELIGION RUIN YOUR SPIRITUALITY)
When landslides ruined several provinces, it was not an act of God. It was a bitter harvest of what we have sown, or in this case what illegal loggers reaped in wanton regard.
When we see hungry and homeless children roam our streets begging, I do not see it as an act of God. It's a picture of a society where surplus food in restaurants are being burned rather than donated to poor families, because doing so would upset their statistics and records. (Additional taxes, I can agree with but how much of it really goes back to us, the taxpayers?)
When a bomb goes off in a public place or in a public transport, can you say that it's an act of God? I say it is an act of a few who are narrow-minded enough to pull such an inhuman stunt for an equally narrow-minded cause.
(Don't get me wrong, I do believe in a Supreme Being who governs all but can we stop blaming him/her for what we are doing to ourselves!? And I can't imagine a God who would require his faithful blood sacrifice and murder. As one professor in college once told us, DO NOT LET RELIGION RUIN YOUR SPIRITUALITY)
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Curiouser and curiouser
When I read a book, I find that I become too "drawn" to the characters of the story that I am reading. Lately I've been finding out that no single book can satiate my need to know everything about the characters that I have read and have been reading all this time. It really is an unending process, discovering all that took place which led to the story that you have in the pages that you are reading. Kung mukhang malabo, take this for example -
My curiosity was piqued by the Mines of Moria when I was reading The Lord of the Rings. Apparently, the events that led to the downfall of the mines can fill-up another book. And yet the tale is not complete, I think (I think the author himself admitted to this, if I'm wrong I am sorry, Mr. Tolkien). I would have liked to know more about it (how, when, why, etc. and yes, I've read about the other books and yet it only made the itch more unbearable) but I find that as you go along with different stories, new character and new places will only add-up to your "need to know list". My long list inlcudes - The origin of Sauron, Lady Door's childhood, the reign of Tristan Thorn and many more.
I am reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower lately and the same "need to know more" feeling is back. A good story does not really end, does it?
I have never been a Stephen King fan, but I think The Dark Tower made me appreciate Mr. Kings unique strorytelling. He does have this "cinematized" way of unfolding the events to his readers, in The Dark Tower at least.
When I innocently picked up the Gunslinger (Book 1 of the Dark Tower series), I never thought I will be mentioning it in the same breath as Lord of the Rings (for the nth time!), Neverwhere and Stardust, and The Little Prince (the best pa din Calvin and Hobbes!). So there, I shared the itch and the never-ending quests that the books I've read pose to its' readers (especially those who rather take these stories to heart). So the next time you open a book, rest assured that it will take you places - literally and figuratively.
After all, a really good story does not really end, does it?
My curiosity was piqued by the Mines of Moria when I was reading The Lord of the Rings. Apparently, the events that led to the downfall of the mines can fill-up another book. And yet the tale is not complete, I think (I think the author himself admitted to this, if I'm wrong I am sorry, Mr. Tolkien). I would have liked to know more about it (how, when, why, etc. and yes, I've read about the other books and yet it only made the itch more unbearable) but I find that as you go along with different stories, new character and new places will only add-up to your "need to know list". My long list inlcudes - The origin of Sauron, Lady Door's childhood, the reign of Tristan Thorn and many more.
I am reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower lately and the same "need to know more" feeling is back. A good story does not really end, does it?
I have never been a Stephen King fan, but I think The Dark Tower made me appreciate Mr. Kings unique strorytelling. He does have this "cinematized" way of unfolding the events to his readers, in The Dark Tower at least.
When I innocently picked up the Gunslinger (Book 1 of the Dark Tower series), I never thought I will be mentioning it in the same breath as Lord of the Rings (for the nth time!), Neverwhere and Stardust, and The Little Prince (the best pa din Calvin and Hobbes!). So there, I shared the itch and the never-ending quests that the books I've read pose to its' readers (especially those who rather take these stories to heart). So the next time you open a book, rest assured that it will take you places - literally and figuratively.
After all, a really good story does not really end, does it?
