Common Theme: nature
1: “The earth has music for those who listen.”
George Santayana
2: “I should like the fields tinged with red, the rivers yellow and the trees painted blue. Nature has no imagination.”
Charles Baudelaire
3: “The only noise now was the rain, pattering softly with the magnificent indifference of nature for the tangled passions of humans.”
Sherwood Smith
4: “Not just beautiful, though--the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they're watching me.”
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
5: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”Nature surrounds us all, but few take the liberty of appreciating it. Nature is what makes us human - it gives us life and a home. Nature is like our bed - something we use every day but only sometimes will we make our bed. Only sometimes do we take care of nature, whenever it is most convenient for us.
Winston Churchill
Instead, we work hard to adjust nature to fit our needs and desires. We've come to a stage in our existence whereby we can alter nature, albeit to minor extents. Sometimes our egos grow beyond the horizon, and we forget the true power nature possesses. It can obliterate entire cities, it can disrupt whole ecosystems, and it can be the human race's ultimate demise. Nature can destroy lives if it chooses.
It is more important to realise that with the power to control nature (in small ways), we can contribute - not because we want to, but rather because it is our duty - to protect those we care about, including nature itself, our home. With great power comes great responsibility.
George Santayana once said "the earth has music for those who listen". Those who do not listen, fail to appreciate the beauty nature presents. It's not always our fault. Many people today lead busy lives - ones of deadlines, commitment and results. The busier they get, the further from nature they often drift as their work engulfs their life, and sabotages their happiness.
Nature can bring us back to what matters most. Life is not about spreadsheets and pie-charts. It's not about financial gains, while that is important as well. Life is about connecting with each other, and making the people around us live a better life since our intervention. Everyone is different. But one of the few things we all share is our home, the Earth - nature. Protecting it together also brings us together. Ultimately being with others is what makes us happy.
Haruki Murakami once said that "the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they're watching me". We must also understand that nature extends beyond the Earth, and into the universe. And despite its sheer size, the stars are like trees in a forest, and it watches us, like a mother watches her child. While nature has nurtured us since the dawn of mankind, it can also destroy us, especially if we abuse it.
Carl Sagan once pointed out Earth from a photograph taken in space, a mere grain of sand in a beach filled with stars and space. It's a stark reminder of how minuscule we are considering the bigger picture. To paraphrase Sagan: Everything we've ever known and everything we've ever cared about was once on this tiny pale blue dot. We need to realise that nature is great and beyond human measurement, and that we must show humility in order to prosper both on Earth and one day, in space where our destiny lies.
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Common Theme: gossip
1: “Count Olaf sounds like an awful person. I hope he is torn apart by wild animals someday. Wouldn't that be satisfying?”
Lemony Snicket, The Reptile Room
2: “Gossip is just a tool to distract people who have nothing better to do from feeling jealous of those few of us still remaining with noble hearts.”
Anna Godbersen, Splendor
3: “Bittersweet? No, just bitter, the taste of your tongue.
Words you can’t have back, so they linger.”
Coco J. Ginger
4: “How would your life be different if…You walked away from gossip and verbal defamation? Let today be the day…You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same.”
Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
5: “In small towns, news travels at the speed of boredom.”Human communication comes in many forms, from writing to music. Our senses are always being utilised in order to pass on information and news. Sometimes, though, our words can be meaningless as evident by gossip, identified as the casual talk about others that more than often contains details that stray from the truth.
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Anna Godbersen once said that "gossip is just a tool to distract people who have nothing better to do from feeling jealous of those few of us still remaining with noble hearts". While gossip is merely words, or pressure waves in the air generated by our vocal chords, it has the power to cause real damage or inflict pain in those with thinner skin.
Gossip is the talk of the weak - people who need a lie to be content with their life. And it isn't them to blame all of the time. The truth can hurt. Honestly, I can identify with those who hide from the truth. Some people use it as a defense mechanism to shield their own egos. It is simply human nature to do so. However, when the truth is bent so that one individual undeservedly benefits over another, we must seek the truth and expose it.
I've experienced gossip personally first hand and I do not doubt for a second that I am the only one. While it is important for us to distinguish playful teasing with gossip, knowing how to act in each case is a slow learning process. Dealing with rumors and petty lies constitutes a large part of our growing up and it helps us mature into better people. Maybe one day we will be people who realise the problems and frustration that gossip presents, so that we may choose not to participate in it.
Steve Maraboli once asked: "How would your life be different if you walked away from gossip and verbal defamation? Let today be the day. You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same".
Let us take this advice Maraboli presents. Today is the day. Gossip not only wastes our breath, but it also has the potential to hurt others more than we could ever know. In a world that already has as many problems as it does, and many solutions to those problems yet to come, why should we drain our time for an unproductive cause?
Let us only speak of positive attributes, for those negative aspects may not speak wholly of one's character. I hope to see a day where people can live without the fear of lies conjured from thin air about them, and that we will seek the truth before submitting to the soap operas that is gossip.
Gossip is not bittersweet, it is only bitter, as Coco J. Ginger once said. Gossip is the taste left behind on the tongue as words cannot be taken back, so they linger.
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