Education is the Way Forward

Education is something that I feel very strongly about and yet, surprisingly, if my memory serves me correctly, this is the very first blog entry with regards to education. They might be many more blog entries on education in the future, so please bear with me.

Education is one cause that is very near and dear to me.  Basically education for all. Education is a cause that is very near and dear to my heart and a cause that I feel very strongly and passionately for. Education is a basic right of every human being, unfortunately education is instead taken as a privilege for the selected few. Or we think education is just “job skills” or something that is only done if you want a high flying job or it is something that is done for “time pass”. Yes, they are many many people who understand and realize the importance of education, but at the same time there are those who do not realize its importance and give it weird labels similar to the ones I just mentioned. And those who think education is a pointless privilege.

In my opinion, education is the best thing that a person can give another person. The best thing that a parent can give their kid. The best opportunity a human being can be provided with. Because education sets you up for life. Yes, education opens many doors for you employment/job wise. But education has many other hidden benefits also. It is a weapon, it is a tool. Your family will treat you differently if you have education, because they know you have something to fall back on. You are less likely to be abused or denied your basic rights if you have education, because your education can protect you. If you have fallen upon hard times, who is most likely to be employed, the educated or the uneducated? Education gives you credibility. Education means better healthcare hygiene practices. Education means more opportunities for the next generation.

Usually when I am asked what my dream is, I say it is to get a PhD and become a lecturer. But in fact, my very true dream is something else. It is to open an organization that provides free education to those who are denied this opportunity otherwise. I even thought of the slogan for the organization. Thought I'd steal, or should I say, borrow the Kuwait Fund's dialogue, "Helping people to help themselves", LOL. I realize that undertaking will be no easy task because you literally need like a crapton of resources in order to be in any position to undertake such a project, plus there is a huge planning process is quite intensive. Despite these hurdles, this is a project that I would simply love to undertake this project. It is very essential.

No country can survive without education. There are examples internationally where fixing an education system and making it accessible to every single citizen has turned around the future of not only of the country itself, but also improved the quality of life of every single citizen, and not just on the economic front, but otherwise also.

Why am I so passionate about education, you ask? It is because I myself was denied the opportunity to study despite having two university educated parents. I wanted to go to university, parents said no. Finances were not playing a role here, they could cough up the money to pay for it and it wasn't like they were being stingy with their money either. It was because they simply saw no point in it. My mom would say, “You learn nothing new after 10th grade” and, “So you spend a few years at university. Then what?” and, “Study study and go crazy”. I am a university graduate. It was a hard and difficult road for me. I had to fight lack of opportunity at every step. I had my going to university stopped even five times. And at one time my dream was to one day walk on a university campus, carrying my books walking to my first class. Lack of opportunity was so strong that this seemed like an impossible dream to fulfil. Literally impossible. This is the reason why education is a cause that is so near and dear to me.

They say that when something is denied to you or taken away from you, do you learn its true value and only then do you begin to appreciate it. That is exactly what happened to me. I used to be your typical school hating angry kid who wanted to grab a lighter and set fire to their textbooks. It was only until the opportunity to study was being denied to me did I realize its importance to the extent that I now strive to become an education activist.

Education is the way forward.  It is the thing of the future. The world cannot prosper or survive without education any longer.

There is a local news channel which is doing a strong campaign for education, highlighting people who have turned their lives around due to education and highlighting the improvements that are needed in the education system. Anyways, we have elections coming up in May, and with regards to that, I want to leave you with the dialogue that they say with regards to the elections, “Vote For Education!”

The Road Not Taken

As I have already mentioned a few blog posts ago, poetry is not my thing, however I still have two favourite poems that I enjoy and that I feel really “hit home”. I have already shared one of those poems a few blog posts ago. Today I thought I should share the second one of those two poems. This one is entitled, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

As credit should be given where credit is due, this is where I got the poem from: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-road-not-taken/

This poem really shows conformity.  We all live our lives according to one set path. Everyone’s lives follow this one set path. And we just follow this set path instead of breaking away and doing our own thing because that is not what is usually done. Whether it is fear, or the possibility of failure, or the possibility of following victim to society’s ridicule or simply not wanting to be different; whatever the reason is, we just tend to shut up and look around us to see what the people around us are doing and we just do that. We loose ourselves and our own individuality in this process.

My most favourite line in this poem is the last one which says, “I took the one last travelled and that has made all the difference”. That is one of my most favourite quotations even and this is the main reason why this poem appeals to me. It represents a lot. Innovation. Dreaming. Thinking out of the box. Rebellion. So much. Breaking away and doing your own thing is always associated with rebellion and rebellion is always associated with bad things. But actually doing your own thing is a good thing. Look, if nobody took the road less travelled we’d still be in the stone ages. It is because some random cave dude innovated do we have fire. Or someone thought out of the box that we have the wheel. Or modern day things that we now consider a necessity without life can’t be spent, like the internet, the computer, the cell phone.  Taking the road less travelled is so essential.

The reason why this poem holds position of being my second favourite. It tells you to be yourself and do your own thing. And how that is very important and beneficial.

Innocent by Scott Turlow (Spoiler Alert)

The latest book for me has been Innocent by Scott Turow. Goodreads link is here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9315479-innocent It is one of those John Grisham style legal thrillers so if you are a fan of legal thrillers or John Grisham, chances are you will like to read this book. It even says so on the cover “As gripping as Grisham”. Or at least it says so on my copy of the book, and I happen to agree with this assessment.

However, I would say that I am not in a very good position to make a neutral or proper assessment of this book because when I like opened the first page of this book I discovered that this book is actually a sequel to a book written around twenty years ago called “Presumed Innocent”. I knew that reading a book that has a sequel to it is going to be a bit on the irritating side but as it was a legal thriller and described to be “As gripping as Grisham”, I decided to give it a try. Seriously though, I wonder if it would kill the publisher if they could just list on the cover that the book is a sequel.

So, Scott Turow happens to be an author who writes legal thrillers. He is also a practicing lawyer at the same time. And now I have learnt that all, or at least most, of Scott Turow’s books are actually part of one book series or another. So he has a few books series going on simultaneously, all based in Kindle County.

Now because this book was part of a sequel, there was no background information on the characters at all or any kind of introduction about who is who. For this reason, I had to wait until I reached somewhere towards the middle of the book before I could figure out the essential information and details necessary on the characters.

So, Turow has amazing describing power. I just love the way he describes people. It always gave me a good laugh. My two favourite descriptions have to be, “he had flesh under his eyes that looked like used tea bags” and “my duck of a wife”.

Anyways, we meet (or are re-introduced, I guess) to Rusty who is a judge planning to run in the elections for a judgeship on the state supreme court. He has a wife who has some psychological problems as she is battling both bipolar disorder and depression and is on a crapton of medicines because of it. They have a son, Nat, who has recently graduated law school.

Rusty, unhappy with his life, ends up having an affair with a former law clerk of his who is much younger than him. Like twenty years younger or something. But after a few months he feels guilty and ends the affair. About fifteen months that happened, Rusty then finds himself charged with the murder of his wife. Rusty waited one day to report the death of his wife to the police, which results in the prosecuting lawyer, Tommy, who has a personal vendetta against Rusty to start snooping around.

Just like a John Grisham book, we got to bear witness to the courtroom drama that occurs. Witnesses being interrogated. Sensitive questions being asked. Things having to be rephrased just so that they can be asked. Both sides trying to bend the case in their own favour. And the plotting and the planning that goes on behind the scenes in order to win the case. Yes, I really do enjoy reading courtroom drama.  

Rusty is accused of murdering his wife but the prosecution has a very hard time proving it. The defence is claiming that it was a suicide. To use lawyer-speak, all the evidence is circumstantial and there is absolutely no way that the murder can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Due to certain events in the courtroom, Rusty agrees to go to jail for two years on obstruction of justice charges. But when it is discovered that the evidence has been tampered with, Rustry is freed and presumed innocent. What really happened to Rusty’s wife is revealed in the end, and that is very interesting.

In conclusion, despite this book being a sequel and having to struggle with it initially due to that I really enjoyed reading the book and recommend it. However, readers on Goodreads have indicated that this book is like nothing compared to its predecessor “Presumed Innocent” saying that the original first book was much better. But as I have not read the original, I can not say anything in that regard myself.

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence (Spoiler Alert)

My latest read is Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence. Goodreads link is located here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9825769-sons-and-lovers This is a very important book in the world of literature as I was reading that this book was ranked Number 9 in a list published by Modern Library called, “100 Best Novels in English of the 20^th Century”. After this book, I have taken a break from classical books for a while. I guess reading a few classical books in a row became a bit too much for me, figuring out the language and the society they are dealing with plus they happen to be like so damn slow.

D. H. Lawrence is a well known classical author whose books are said to be controversial because for the times and the society in which his books were written, they were very controversial and radical and even outrageous. By the standards of today they are normal and regular, but that was then. Now, this is the first D. H. Lawrence book that I have and I did not find anything in this book that could be labelled “outrageous” in any way, so maybe this happened to be one of his milder books, I do not know.

Anyways, to the book. This book is written in an autobiographical style where it revolves around Paul Morel and his family. His mom plays a very important role in this story as the author has hinted towards Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus Complex. Paul seems to be an Oedipal kid and at the same time Paul's mother is a very possessive lady, one of those kind of parents who don’t allow their children to operate their own lives.  And here we learn about Paul’s attempts to operate his life while battling Oedipus Complex and relationships with two very diverse girls, Clara and Miriam.

So basically this book has been divided into two parts, known as Part I and Part 2. Part 1 deals with Paul's family background and introduction to his early life while Part 2 deals with his later life.

In Part 1 we learn about Paul’s mother, Gertrude, and how she met Paul’s dad, Walter, and their marriage. It is not a happy marriage as Walter drank a lot, and was distant, and at times mistreated his wife and did not provide enough money for the running of the household even though he had the money on him. At this point, Gertrude is extremely attached and possessive to Paul’s older brother, William who may also be exhibiting Oedipus Complex. Both mother and son are very attached to the extent that William doesn’t enjoy anything without his mom. Eventually William does move to London because of his job, experiences social mobility into a higher class and even gets engaged. But then he gets sick and dies, where the mother’s focus shifts to Paul and Paul begins to exhibit Oedipus Complex.

In Part 2 the mother’s focus is now on Paul. Mom is very possessive and dominating over Paul and Paul is attached greatly to Mom also. Paul does not want to leave Mom but he knows he has to go out in the world. Paul eventually gets involved with Miriam, a girl who attends the same Church as him and lives on a nearby farm. Their relationship goes on for several years, after which Paul decides to call it quits, mainly due to Mom’s disapproval. Later on Paul gets involved with another girl, Clara. Clara is married, but currently separated from her husband and is a feminist. In these times and in the society we are dealing with her, being a female separated from her husband and leaning towards feminist ideology makes you one of the most radical and controversial figures ever. Even Paul and Clara’s relationship did not work out as Paul just drifted away from Clara slowly back to mom, which resulted in Clara getting back together with her husband, Baxter. Eventually Mom dies from cancer, leaving Paul all alone in the world.

To sum up, like all classical books, it was so damn slow. And this book is so tedious to read, that when I reached the last page of the book, I was like “Thank God this book is over”. According to the description, it appeared to be a psychological thriller but it was nothing like that at all. It turned out to be one dry tedious book that I couldn’t wait to get over with. Not a book that I would recommend at all. Must be a good book if it got the Number 9 ranking. I am not saying its bad, all I say is that it just did not appeal to me.

Children Learn What They Live

In general poetry is not my thing. However they are two poems which I really like and I feel that those poems “hit home”. God knows if I am even interpreting these two poems correctly or I am even getting the correct message from them. But they do say that there is no correct or incorrect way of interpreting a poem, so I guess I am safe.

Today I am going to share one out of my two favourite poems. And that is Children Learn What They Live by Dorothy Law Nolte.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

As credit should be given where credit is due, I stole this poem from this link: http://www.empowermentresources.com/info2/childrenlearn-long_version.html

So, my thoughts on this poem.. I originally came across this poem by accident a few years ago. I was searching for something in Google, and honestly I don’t even remember what I was looking for, and I came across this poem and this poem really made me think. I like things that send messages and things that make me think.

This poem quite excellently summarizes what sociologists like to call socialization. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, socialization refers to how individuals pick up the norms and values and beliefs of their society and they learn by what is right and wrong. Without going into too much detail over the process and turn this blog entry into a sociology lesson, I will say that this occurs through observation in the sense that individuals learn what they see.

This poem really well summarizes the impact and the influence that the people around us have on us. Whether we choose to admit that impact or continue to deny that impact, that is another matter. What you see around you impacts your personality, it impacts our outlook on life. And notice how the author says “child”, not “individual” or “human being” or “person”. “Child”. Because it is childhood that impacts our personality and it is childhood when personalities are developed. Childhood experiences are so important that the psychologist Sigmund Freud would link everything to childhood. Freud has been discredited for most of his ideas and theories but his theory regarding the importance and impact of childhood is still standing.

This poem has taught me that one must be very careful what message they are sending an individual, child or adult or youth, because of what impact that message may have on that individual. I will leave with the words I heard on the trailer of a television show several years ago, “Words are powerful, use them wisely”.