The Castle in the Pyrenees

It was another fantastic book by Jostein Gaarder. The story was great but it didn't affect me too much. The general idea was about religious or superstitious beliefs and paraphysics. It was like making the ends meet even though it was impossible.

The main characters were Sol and Stein. Sol was a religious person who believe in the paranormal stuff, while Stein is someone who believes scientifical explanations, a rational person. They used to be together despite this great of a difference. But one day, during one of their excavations, they met with an unexplainable occurence. From then on, they started to drift apart from each other. Nevertheless, all the years they were away from each other, I believe that they are still bound together.

During one of their so-called excavations, they hit someone while driving beyond speed limits. When they returned to see if they really did hit someone, they didn't find anything in the area besides a few shards of glass and a rose-pink colored shawl. It was the same shawl that woman, who they saw earlier that day in the highway, owns. It puzzled them and believed that the white van, which passed by them in the opposite lane after hitting something or someone, took the woman's body. They were anxious the entire time waiting for the police to go after them. Days pass but no reports were aired in the radio with regards to the hit-and-run accident. The police weren't after them either.

One afternoon, while still on their excavation, they went to explore the area behind the hotel they were staying in. It was a forest-ish area and they were headed for a hut a bit farther from the hotel. Then, the woman in the same gray clothing and rose-pink shawl that they saw in the highway and they believed they had hit, appeared before them. Sol and Steinn believed that she had spoken to them but were told different things at the same time. "You are what I was; I am what you will become." and "You should have gotten speeding ticket instead." It was so much of a mystery to them but they could not explain it either.

Not after returning to their little apartment, Sol moved out and returned to her parents place. It would be impossible to live together despite all that have happened. They had no choice but to let go of each other. They didn't see each other until one day, after thirty years, they find each other standing in the balcony of the hotel they last stayed in.

Two lives interconnected by fate and disturbed by a mysterious occurence, indeed. The story was very interesting but I guess I missed some stuffs in there. There was something in it that keeps me unsettled. It was something that I probably don't want to believe in or something that I refuse to think about. Besides my personal struggles, the story was indeed amazing.

It wasn't much of a different approach as the Sophie's World. The story was organized in a correspondence-like manner. It was modern, at least, a correspondence through emails. Vita Brevis was a letter compiled in a book. I have another Jostein Gaarder book, but I haven't touched it yet. I wonder how it will be different.

Anyway...I can't say that I believe or I don't believe in the supernatural. I just don't think about it too much. Besides, as most people say, everything is possible. I also think that I have experienced a supernatural occurence myself. It was through a lucid dream and it was a figurative dream. Given that it was a dream, I am really hesitating if that was real or not. I had decided that it was real. Besides it was the night before the last day of my grandfather's wake, and the only day I attended the wake.

In the dream, I saw a white, luminuous butterfly entered our room from the house and was flying towards me. It landed in my hands since I reached for it. I clasp it and thought that 'I am too sleepy to move around so if the butterfly managed to escape, at least the powder from its wings will be evidence that I caught it in my hands, and make me believe that it wasn't a dream.' I manage to think like that so I partly convinced myself that my mind was awake at that time. When I woke up, my hands were clasping each other, the same position as I remember in my dream, should it really be a dream. However, there were no traces of powder in my hands. In the funeral, there were white butterflies hanging around. So, I made myself think that it was my grandfather's symbol or something.

Even in the dream, the moment I saw the butterfly, I already knew that it was my grandfather. I didn't even hesitate that it was a dream. However, the passing of years made me hesitate if it was a dream or not.

Well, so much of my old dream. Here are some things mentioned in the books that I find fascinating.

*  "The world isn't a mosaic of coincidences. It's all interconnected."

*  "I'm the first to admit that two people can be in close proximity even though the physical distance between them is great."

*  "There is no death. And there are no dead."

*  "Fear is infectious. Insanity is too."

*  "But why look back? It's like moving agains't the current. Wouldn't it be better to position ourselves at the other end and take part in the breakneck journey right from the beginning?"

*  "The severance between us was surgical, and there was no anaesthetic."

*  "Atheism is not believing in the glory of your own soul." - by an Indian pundit

The Story of My Life

I was never into reading biographies although they tell mostly truths about a person's life. These days though, some biographies are twisted truths or beautified realities. Why? Perhaps to let the readers imagine an excellent person instead of a struggling person.

Like I just mentioned, I am not really into reading biographies but reading diaries is a different matter. I read Anne Frank's and now, Helen Keller's short biography and compilation of letters. The biography part is mostly about her childhood years and her struggles with her studies in her special condition. She managed to attend a college for people with normal sight and hearing, and be one them. I believe that she had too great of a pressure so that she can cope with her inefficiencies. The letter part was mostly of her letters to various people and some responses from them.

Helen Keller became deaf and blind after acquiring an illness at a very young age. She had trouble communicating with others ever since, however, there were still people patient enough to understand her lack of words. Being deaf and blind at the same time prevents her from learning quickly and from communicating with others efficiently. She still has the ability to talk using her voice but it wasn't used until later in her teenage years. Her inability to distinguish sounds deprives her of her ability to produce vocal sounds as well. With proper guidance, she was able to use her voice to talk with people but I am just not too sure how she managed to receive the responses. It would either be through writing in her palm or feeling the movements of the lips of the person.

Helen Keller was given a tutor who has stayed with her ever since they met - Ms. Sullivan. I think that she was the greatest person ever mentioned in her story. Since I managed to read Ms. Keller's thoughts and perception of various things, I wanted to know Ms. Sullivan's view-point. Surely, it was difficult to learn by being deaf and blind and not knowing anything of the world. But, how much of a struggle was it to teach a deaf and blind person who knows nothing of the world? Interesting, isn't it?

Another thing I am curious about is her originality in ideas. Helen Keller cannot see or hear but I believe that her sense of touch is sharper given her condition. She learns her environment by having people describe it for her. The book is actually filled with adjectives and descriptive words and phrases - something I am not very good at. Anyway, how can her thoughts about something be original if her knowledge is basically someone else's that was imprinted to her? Well, a person can always make a mental picture of something, and it is a lot easier for people who have sight. But for a person who's sight was taken during her childhood - when she doesn't even know what a sun or a sea is - to be able to create a mental picture of something? I just cannot imagine it.

What else? I realized that well-known personalities in both science and literature today have really lived before. I mean, I would only read their names after their inventions or the titles of their masterpieces, but I really don't know anything about them. Helen Keller, however, was privileged to meet some of these distinguished people - Mark Twain, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, Wright brothers and some other people who made names in both literature and science departments. I knew that they were real people, but I just had a clearer image of the time they were alive; that they are not some stuck-up people who only locked themselves in their houses while inventing or writing something.

In a sense, Helen Keller's life is very inspiring and motivating. It feels like I can be very grateful for what I am now and that I need not to wish for more. It can make you remember that life has its ups and downs and that there will always be people who will support you through everything. It can make you feel good about yourself and about the little things you've accomplished. It would allow you to think that life is not all about happiness, but is shared with sorrows and regrets. It was a very good read. I am thankful for my friend to gave me the book.

Well, here are some thoughts that I like from the book...

*  "When I try to classify my earliest impressions, I find that fact and fancy look alike across the years that link the past with the present."

*  "Knowledge is love and light and wisdom."

*  "Thus I learned from life itself."

*  "Any teacher can take a child to the classroom, but not every teacher can make him learn."

*  "It seems to me that the great difficulty of writing is to make the language of the educated mind express our confused ideas, half feelings, half thoughts, when we are little more than bundle of instinctive tendencies."

*  "There is no way to become original, except to be born so." - Stevenson

*  "Man only is interesting to man."

*  "I suppose we aimed o high, and disappointment was therefore inevitable."

*  "For after all, everyone who wishes to gain true knowledge must climb the Hill Difficulty alone, and since there is no royal road to the summit, I must zigzag it in my own way. I slip back many times, I fall, I stand still, I run against the edge of hidden obstacles, I lose my temper and find it again and keep it better. I trudge on, I gain a little, I feel encouraged, I get more eager and climb higher and began to see the widening horizon."

*  "Every struggle is a victory."

*  "There are as many opinions as there are men."

*  "But there is nothing more capricious than the memory of a child: what it will hold and what it will lose."

*  "To be banished from Rome is but t live outside of Rome."

*  "One goes to college to learn, it seems, not to think."

*  "I used to think that everybody was always happy, and at first it made me very sad to know about pain and great sorrow; but now I know that we could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world."

*  "I wonder how many years there will be in eternity. I am afraid I cannot think about so much time."

*  "We are all discoverers in one sense, being born quite ignorant of all things."

*  "Some one is ever ready to scatter little acts of kindness along our pathway, making it smooth and pleasant."

*  "I wonder what becomes of lost opportunities. Perhaps our guardian angel gathers them up as we drop them and will give them back to us in the beautiful sometime when we have grown wiser and learned how to use them rightly."

*  "The thought that my dear Heavenly Father is always near, giving me abundantly of all those things which truly enrich life and make it sweet and beautiful, makes every deprivation seem of little moment compared with countless blessings I enjoy."

*  "But I am slowly learning that there is not happiness enough in the world for everyone to have all that he wants."

The Odyssey

I listened to a n audiobook of The Odyssey that I downloaded in my Ipod Touch. It was an interesting story and I can have a clearer image of the events in the story since the reading was full of emotions, unlike reading a book by myself.

I have watched the movie of The Odyssey some years ago and made a movie review as a requirement for my English course. That time, however, I did not focus much attention to the story and I have already forgotten it by now. Listening to the reading by various people is quite the feat since it is a new thing for me.

Basically, the story is about the misfortunes of Ulysses on his way back home after the war in Troy. There was also the story of the struggles of Telemachus, son of Ulysses, as he deals with the several suitors of his mother, Penelope, believing that Ulysses had died. Minerva, a goddess fond of Ulysses, had helped Ulysses and even Telemachus and Penelope through all their struggles. Provided with guidance from various people and with Minerva, Ulysses managed to return to his homeland and be reunited with his own family after 20 years and take revenge to the hateful suitors.

I think that the story was dark and gloomy talking mostly of one's misfortunes. I believe that the story belongs to a certain kind of literature. I am guessing that it was, at least in the old times, a tradition to ask one who they just met not only for their names but also for their misfortunes. In all honesty, I find it totally odd but I guess one could better understand a stranger by knowing what difficult things he had gone through. Even so, asking that from a person whom you just met is kind of rude, at least on this day.

I am also thinking that it was part of the traditions on the old days to ask not only for one's name, but also for his parents' name and his hometown. One's father and mother will reflect and affect one's character and so is the place where he has been raises. The culture, practices and traditions of the people in the place will partake in other's judgement of the person who came from that place. Like, if his hometown was a place known for its various sports, then the others would expect that he would at least excel in one or two of those sports. Likewise, if his parents are of noble origins, he is expected to be of excellent disposition. Even on this day, people are very careful not to bring shame on their family names. Sometimes, an adult relative of your friend will also mention that your this or that person's son or daughter. Well, the parents have lived for some good period of time, made acquaintances with several people and made themselves distinguished in one way or another...at least as compared to their off-springs.

It was also a bit evident how hospitable people were during those era. They will invite strangers into their houses and feed them before they get to know anything from these people. In this day, that very act was like asking to be doomed for it was very dangerous. Strangers are only being fed during festival celebrations, which is a tradition that has been dying as the years passed. In that age, however, I guess that their beliefs of gods were more powerful than anything and being kind to strangers is upon the will of their gods. They also believed that their gods take on the form of a mortal human and be among the human crowds to see who do excellent deeds and mischief among their fellows.

I was thinking that The Odyssey is another feminist story. In the olden times, I believe that male dominates female over almost everything. In the story however, there were some female characters who have shown dominance over males. Minerva and Penelope are some of the major female supporting characters in the story. It was also mentioned several times in the story that the cause of the war in Troy was Helen - the main story should be contained in Iliad.

Minerva, a goddess endowed with immortal beauty and magnificent powers is the main character to come to Ulysses's help. Her power and status is not as great as his father's, Jupiter, and uncle's, Neptune. There was even a part in the story where Minerva admitted that she is afraid of Neptune's anger. She had helped Ulysses to return to his hometown despite many misfortunes he had encountered. There were parts in the story were Minerva had shown her powers by changing Ulysses looks to deceive those around him or to make those around him treat him with more respect. Minerva also took forms of humans in order to come to both Ulysses's and Telemachus's aides, as well as to Penelope's. Although in the end, she still revealed herself as a goddess.

Penelope, Ulysses's wife, had gathered several suitors even though it was against her will. It was obvious how fair of a woman she was just by seeing the number of men who have come to take her for marriage. Her cleverness has been shown by her idea of making a needlework for Ulysses's father and that she will choose a man to marry after she finishes it. It was her trick to deceive the suitors since she undo her stitches every night. It was later discovered by the suitors through her maids that have fallen prey to them. Then, during a celebration when Ulysses, in disguise of an old man, return, she had come up with an idea of having an archery competition and that the winner will be chosen as the one she will marry. The suitors had a dreadful end in Ulysses's hand though.

There was also Nausicaa, a princess in the country of the Phaeacians, whose people had escorted Ulysses back to his homeland, Ithaca. I would say that his meeting with Nausicaa was the end of his misfortunes. It was Nausicaa who gave him the idea to ask his Father and Mother for help in sending him back to his country. It was through her that Ulysses managed to see his homeland again.

"Still, death is certain and when a man's hour came, not even the gods can help him no matter how fond they are of him."

This was the line that I like throughout the entire reading. Perhaps it was the only part that I remembered. It was mentioned by Minerva while on her disguised as a mortal.

I let it slipped.

Since last week, I was very excited for my 'supposedly' off day last Saturday, 15 September. That was my scheduled off last week that was abruptly cancelled because my colleague called in sick. One call and everything just changed.

I was totally looking forward for the Library Book Sale that was then held at Singapore Expo for only 2 days, 15th and 16th of September. Since I only get to have one day off a week, I had to request it to be on Saturday to accommodate the event. I used to have an all-nighter the previous night prior to my off, and I did just that on Friday night. I was about to sleep at 0600hrs on Saturday morning when I received a call from my manager asking me if I can come to work on that day. I agreed to do so given that I'll be coming in for the afternoon shift.

I roughly slept for 5 hours since I woke up by myself at around 1100-1200hrs that day. I've been sleeping like a good kid the previous days. It has become a cycle that if I managed to sleep a lot for consecutive days, there will be a day when I will become unable to sleep or that I will be able to manage through the day despite lacking of sleep. That Saturday was the same but since it was out of my plan to work on my day off, I was not in the proper orientation.

It was my only chance to go for the Library Book Sale but I let it slipped. I was very excited about it considering that it was a 'library' book fair. I was thinking of what old books I will be able to add to my collection or that I might be able to find the books that I've been wanting to have. But that was cancelled. I didn't took the effort of going to the Singapore Expo far in the east nor did I get to own new titles. Instead, I worked like a diligent young adult I am.

My last off prior to that on Saturday was early the previous week so it feels like working for 14 days consecutively. I didn't feel the fatigue at all on Saturday but when I woke up on the following Monday, it just came to me. The tiredness slowly piled up and I didn't even feel it. But I knew that it was there, being inconspicuous. The good thing was that my next off, for this week I mean, was Tuesday. I felt like sleeping all the day but it was already the middle of the month. I can't afford to have myself cooped up at home dulling my precious offs away. I just have to go somewhere.

LVELJ.C04 (20.09.2012)

Vita Brevis: A Letter to Saint Augustine

I got this book from my friend last May 2012. She actually promised to lend me, and eventually give me, a Madeleine L'Engle book but her sister was reading it at that time. So, she offered me this instead. I know the writer. I read his book before, back in third year in college. Or was it second year? The thickest book I've read so far - Sohpie's World. I like the idea of the story but never really paid any good attention to the philosopher's ideals. My philosophy professor recommended the book to help us learn more about philosophy. I guess reading the book the way I did was not of much help.

The book, Vita Brevis, was about, or more like, contains translated documents that Jostein Gaarder found in a fair he was invited to. Because of this book, I learned that not only Philippines is using Peso as a currency. Because of this book, too, I realized how fun it is to go to fairs and find interesting things. Singapore has a lot of fairs throughout the year. Most of it, though, were electronics fair.

The document was actually a letter of a woman to Saint Augustine, or at least it was supposed to be. In the letter, she considers herself a former lover or Saint Augustine to whom she refers to as Aurel. What I love about this book is not the story, nor the whining of the woman named Floria. It was the discovery of the name Aurel which I find very beautiful. Aurel Nathan. Yes, I'm dreaming of naming this to my future son. Considering that Aurel is actually referring to Saint Augustine, would the meaning of the name be 'Augustine's gift'. Nathan means gift in some language, by the way.

Getting back to the book...I can somehow understand the woman in the book, even though I was not dumped but was the one who dumped a person. The first part of the book gets me attached to it. While reading more of it, however, I kind of have a feeling of wanting to tear the book apart. The woman, Floria, was just so whiny, as my friend says. For some reason, she was holding onto something that was long ago gone. She shared love with that person, an intimate kind of love. That person left her but she's clinging to those feelings. She's clinging to them too much that it annoys me. I know that feeling of wanting to be reunited with a certain someone so, at least a little, I can somehow understand her. And that very fact annoys me.

I finished reading the book, even though I came to the point of wanting to tear it. Here are the sentences I liked that were mentioned.

*  "But I was curious, and I wasn't the first person to pay dear for his curiosity." - J. Gaarder

*  "Your wound would not heal, it was inflamed and terribly painful until eventually it festered and you grew less sensitive to pain." - Floria

*  "Justice is done only among equals."

*  "It did not spur me on to seek this or that philosophical direction, but to love and seek and with truth itself." - Cicero

*  "It is comforting to let oneself go now and again." - Horace

*  "....boys will be boys, they always have been." - Floria

*  "We must first live, and then - yes, then we can philosophise." - Floria

*  "Life is so short and we cannot be sure that there is any eternity for our frail souls." - Floria

*  "But life is so short and I know so little." - Floria

*  "I loved life's true happiness, but feared to seek it where it is to be found. And at the same time as I sought it, I fled from it." - Aurel

*  "Always believe that each day that dawns is your last." - Horace

*  "To confess is medicine for one who has gone astray." - Cicero

*  "When foolish people want to avoid making a mistake, they usually do the opposite thing." - Horace

*  "He who desires much, lacks much." - Horace

*  "Why should it be so hard to run away from one's own shadow?" - Zenon

*  "The world is so big, and we know far too little about it. And life is far too short." - Floria

I finished reading the book after a week. It caused me to go through different emotions - to love and be loved, to fear, be treated unjustly, be betrayed, be annoyed, etc. While reading the book, at one point I can understand the writter of  the letter. Then, I'll come to hate her. Then, I would understand her again, and hate her again. It's like a cycle of hating and understanding her. Her words are passing me from one emotion to another, like a ball. I am in no position to say she's all bad, though. It was merely a letter and I don't know her whole circumstances.

Life is short.

She mentioned several times in her letter that 'Life is short.' She was forcefully separated from her own son, and beloved as well. Then, death falls upon his son without her seeing him even once after their separation. I believe that she still had hopes of being reunited with her son. The pain she bore through all the years she was partly separated from her son was too much, let alone the fact that she can never be with her son again. A mother would certainly go crazy. This world is big. Life is short. And, we know far too little.

I was never too deeply attached to death. Ever since I had my own consciousness, the closest person to me who's death I've witnessed was that of my Grandfather's. Peace be with him. After that incident, everything just changed although it doesn't feel like something changed at all. He used to live with my family to look after me and my siblings. Then, I grew used to him not living with us ever since I entered high school. But him being completely gone physically is an entirely different story. It was like a nightmare that you can't be with that person ever again once death falls upon him.

Recently, I've wondered what would happen to me when I died. It was a question that I cannot find an answer even if I searched in Google. I would love to hear personal experience of life after death but, of course, that would never be possible. I realized, too, that I was so much attached to the physical world. Well, that's what I've been living in for my entire life so far, and I was never a religious person to begin with. Would I still be able to take pictures in the afterlife? Would I still get to eat delicious food there? Would I still get to see picturesque scenery there? And, would there be my kind of music in there? And, yes. These questions portray nothing but my attachment to the physical world.

Death could be scary. Although, there was a time when I thpught that I am not afraid to die. Should death come to me, then let it be. At least I am not the one who's been left behind. Then, a time came when these thoughts became the exact opposite. I became very afraid to die because I don't want to have my beloved suffer because of the loss - me. But, surely, everything will come to an end, and life in the physical world will end as well. I'm scared of death because I don't know what comes after that. Ignorance can make me very insecure.

These thoughts about death are and probably because of reading this book, A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle, and Where I Want To Be by Adele Griffin.

Theologians and Philosophers.

I think that Floria is instating that Aurel is still better when he was still in the league of philosophy, before he came to theology. I actually searched, using my mobile application, the terms Theologians and Philosophers. Theologians are the ones who seek to understand God and every thing related to him. Philosophers, on the other hand, are the ones who seek knowledge and truth, be it about God or other trivial matters.

So I was thinking, if Theologians, in search for God, are keeping a blind eye to the things that denies His existence or ideals? Well, as far as I can gather from the letter, Saint Augustine-slash-Aurel wants to free himself from all the worldly desires. Floria, however, is trying to say that these worldly desires were God-given things. Floria convinced me in a way, since it was her letter after all. It should be up to me to decide what is good and bad, and right and wrong. These worldly desires would surely cause temptations. I don't really understand if giving in to these temptations would lead to having your soul dirtied. But, I think that as long as your conscience is clean, then you're good.

Where I Want To Be

I just finished reading a book that I randomly picked from a second-hand bookstore last May 2012. It's only July now and I only started reading it not even a week ago. It's by Adele Griffin and it says that she's a National Book Award Nominee. Honestly, I don't know her and I don't know many authors to be frank. I only picked the book because of the title and the cover which is dark blue with a house print in the middle. Second-hand. Hard-bound. Hundred and fifty pages. Forty-five pesos (roughly S$1.50 in the currency of this country.) I may says it's a good deal for a good story, better even. :)

This is not a book report, or book review. I'm no good with that. I'm just gonna state the sentences I liked from the book and some comments, I guess. There were some borrowed ideass from Henry David Thoreau, as well. For some reason, I chose books quoting and unquoting famous lines from famous people.

Where I Want To Be by Adele Griffin

*   "It's strange how so much life can be lived without speaking."

*   "She liked to surround herself with other people's things. They comfort her, I guess, when people themselves could not."

*   "The fastest journey is achieve by foot. - Henry David Thoreau"

*   "It doesn't seem like real time, though. It feels like one single, perfect day blended with forever."

*   "Because the difference was important."

*   "....if you've been dead and alive, you're changed forever."

*   "Indifference is weird."

*   "But wasn't a dead bee fake? Because it was no longer real."

*   "Maybe the moment right before you're ready to move on is always when it's hardest to let go."

*   "There are usually reasons behind being left out."

*   "You were alone. But I didn't know what all alone felt like until you left me."

*   "Changes are going to happen whether you want them to or not. The best thing to do is to learn how to pace yourself alongside them."

*   "Like life was just a timeline to punch in with anniversary bullets."

*   "Live in the present. Launch yourself on every wave. And find your eternity in every moment. - Henry David Thoreau"

About the story. It was like two monologues alternating in every chapter. One story said in two views, from two worlds.

The story was about two sisters, Jane and Lily. Lily was the younger sister blessed with talent and beauty. Jane, on the other hand, is the big sister with a psychological illness. It was never mentioned in the story the name of the illness, though. Jane loved her sister so much, and I could say that Lily also loved her sister, adore her even. But they are growing up and along with growing up, changes occur in all aspects. And it was difficult for Jane, with her illness, to adapt and accept all those changes. When they were kids Jane used to have Lily all to herself, but as they grew up that changed.

Jane loved their grandparent's and Orchard Way, what she named their grandparents house. But her grandfather died. Then, her grandmother. Eventually, they have to let go of Orchard Way, as well. It's like loosing one precious thing after the next to Jane. It was her sanctuary, but one day it's gone. Even so, she still has Lily. But their worlds are different. Lily is liked by everybody and she has Caleb, her boyfriend, but no one liked Jane. Jane's Lily became everybody's Lily, Caleb's Lily. Without her sanctuary to run to, Jane is lost. 'Help me' seems a line she can't bring herself to ask of Lily. Her awareness of her condition and everybody's indifference towards Jane is a burden to her.

I liked the story. It was a bit similar to A Corner of the Universe by A. Martin because of the psychological illness. What I liked best is how A. Griffin set the plot of the story. I knew from chapter 2 that Jane was dead, but somewhere in the middle of the story, I can't help to confuse myself whther she is dead or alive. The story didn't made me cry, though.

Original post here.

Love for Book and Literacy

Ex Libris.

I totally have nothing to say in this.

To share a laudable act, is my wish.

It's by an old man from my country.

Read the article, just click the link.

It's by a writer, and I don't know him too.

Search a little, his credibility you'll prove.

It's worth trying, and worth reading.

Just a couple of minutes from your time.

You wouldn't know how it would affect your life.

Again, just give it a try.

---

The article, where the links are directed to, is written by Ruel S. De Vera for (Philippine) Inquirer Lifestyle.

Can you lift a corner of universe?

22.April.2011

Universe, as defined by most dictionaries and encyclopedias, composed of what we see right beside us to the farthest ends of not only Earth, but of the space outside this planet. However, as it was described in A Corner of the Universe by Ann Martin, each of us, despite being part of a broad universe, has our own universe. To put it simply, each of us has our own world being affected by others and which affects the others. In this universe, we are definitely the center. We maybe normal in our own universe and others are aliens, and vice versa, they are normal in their own universe and we are the aliens. However, we are not mere heavenly bodies in our universe that acts according to what is happening to our own environment; we are humans, with individual personalities, who can go against the environment. Being humans, we can invade other people's universe and either be accepted or rejected. Whatever it is, we have the innate capability to see through one's universe and affect it's center, and eventually change it's nature.

Awww...I hope that I said something not-so whimsical there. I only mean to say that we have the capability to see through one's attitudes and appearance, and affect it in our own way. Anyway, I was touched by the story of Adam and Hattie. I don't know if I could meet someone who have the same experience as Hattie. And maybe, I can be Leila, a passing person in that person's life. Well, well, well....A Corner of the Universe is a good read and I get the chance to learn a new disorder, Schizophrenia. I think it maybe similar to autism but not exactly. By the way, I finished reading the book now, that's why I made such remarks.