--v--<@ A flower that grows despite cement holes @>--v--
The Good Fight
Monday, August 21, 2006
I am reading "The Pilgrimage" by Paulo Coelho.
It is a fantastic read. I devour and feast on the wisdom of this book like a glutton and couldn't lay my fingers off it at all.
Then I came across a term 'The Good Fight'. I've always thought it is a common phrase that some fella created decades ago and now it is passed down by word of mouth. Turns out that the fella was St Paul, and it was created centuries ago...
A friend once told me I'm a fighter. I had the image of Wonder Woman in my head, but the cups are too huge to fill in, so I guess that's as much a fighter I am. But when I come across the term 'the good fight', I so totally dig!
I quote the book... in the spirit of sharing knowledge and wisdom and definitely not committing piracy (disclaimer :P )
"The good fight is the one that's fought in the name of our dreams. When we're young and our dreams first explode inside us with all their force, we are very courageous, but we haven't learned how to fight.
With great effort, we learn how to fight, but by then we no longer have the courage to go into combat. So we turn against ourselves to battle within. We become our own worst enemy. We say that our dreams were childish, or too difficult to realise, or the result of our not having known enough about life. We kill our dreams because we are afraid to fight the good fight.
...the first symptom of the process of our killing our dreams is the lack of time... the truth is, they are afraid to fight the good fight...
The second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we don't want to see life as a grand adventure, we being to think of ourselves as wise and fair and correct in asking so little of life...
...and finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more than we are willing to give. In that state, we think of ourselves as being mature we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and professional achievement. We are surprised when people our age say that they still want this or that out of life. But really, deep in our hearts, we know that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams - we have refused to fight the good fight...
...when we renounce our dreams and find peace... we go through a short period of tranquility. But the dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being. We become cruel to those around us, and then we being to direct this cruelty against ourselves. That's when illnesses and psychoses arise. What we sought to avoid in combat - disappointment and defeat - come upon us because of our cowardice. And one day, the dead, spoiled dreams make it difficult to dream, and we actually seek death..."
To all my friends and the Singaporeans who have forgotten to dream or dreamt and haven't fought... Flower from concrete jungle _ b l o g g e d _ @ 12:57 AM |
Renee Chua A flower that refuses to let the cement close in on her... she fights her way through to fight for her rights to sunshine and rain...yet never lose her beauty to the weather...
Likes: Humanity
Jazz, new age, alternative, acid jazz, soft rock music
Watch and read a good play
Direct and act in a few excellent plays
Photography
Designing
A good hearty laugh
Dislikes: Snobs and bitches (same category)
Those who just wanna make life difficult for others
Drivers who can't make up their mind which lane to drive on
The self contradicting systems in my country
MY TAGBOARD
The Good Fight
Monday, August 21, 2006
I am reading "The Pilgrimage" by Paulo Coelho.
It is a fantastic read. I devour and feast on the wisdom of this book like a glutton and couldn't lay my fingers off it at all.
Then I came across a term 'The Good Fight'. I've always thought it is a common phrase that some fella created decades ago and now it is passed down by word of mouth. Turns out that the fella was St Paul, and it was created centuries ago...
A friend once told me I'm a fighter. I had the image of Wonder Woman in my head, but the cups are too huge to fill in, so I guess that's as much a fighter I am. But when I come across the term 'the good fight', I so totally dig!
I quote the book... in the spirit of sharing knowledge and wisdom and definitely not committing piracy (disclaimer :P )
"The good fight is the one that's fought in the name of our dreams. When we're young and our dreams first explode inside us with all their force, we are very courageous, but we haven't learned how to fight.
With great effort, we learn how to fight, but by then we no longer have the courage to go into combat. So we turn against ourselves to battle within. We become our own worst enemy. We say that our dreams were childish, or too difficult to realise, or the result of our not having known enough about life. We kill our dreams because we are afraid to fight the good fight.
...the first symptom of the process of our killing our dreams is the lack of time... the truth is, they are afraid to fight the good fight...
The second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we don't want to see life as a grand adventure, we being to think of ourselves as wise and fair and correct in asking so little of life...
...and finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more than we are willing to give. In that state, we think of ourselves as being mature we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and professional achievement. We are surprised when people our age say that they still want this or that out of life. But really, deep in our hearts, we know that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams - we have refused to fight the good fight...
...when we renounce our dreams and find peace... we go through a short period of tranquility. But the dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being. We become cruel to those around us, and then we being to direct this cruelty against ourselves. That's when illnesses and psychoses arise. What we sought to avoid in combat - disappointment and defeat - come upon us because of our cowardice. And one day, the dead, spoiled dreams make it difficult to dream, and we actually seek death..."
To all my friends and the Singaporeans who have forgotten to dream or dreamt and haven't fought... Y o u r N a m e _ b l o g g e d _ @ 12:57 AM |
