Superior

Disklemer: Ini semua pendapat peribadi semata-mata. 

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The Belief in A Superior Power

Aka God. I feel lucky being born into a family whose religion holds the believe in a God. And not just one God; the one and only God. No other. And that religion is Islam. I'm not gonna talk about theology in this post. Rather, my opinion on the meaning of life (although this is coming from a mere kid who has not enough experience on what life has to offer).

I sometimes ponder what it feels like to have no belief in a superior power - any power, that is - who is the Creator of the world and everything in it. How people strive so hard to look for answers about the origin of life through what they call scientific research, when the answers are crystal clear to a believer of God. God created life. Period.

But some people claim that that cannot be tested scientifically, thus ignoring that God created life altogether. But isn't it more illogical to say that the world 'accidentally' happened on its own? That some genes in a single cell 'randomly' mutated thus giving rise to the life species as we can see today? Isn't that explanation way more preposterous than simply believing that God created us all? (If you want to read more about molecular evolution stuff, continue reading. If not, skip the next paragraph)

Based on what I've learned in an introductory biology course in college, we all come from one unicellular organism. The cell replicates itself over and over and over until a DNA mutation occurs. And contrary to popular belief, mutation occurs at random, not because the organism wants it or needs it to happen. Once a mutation occurs, the cell changes. The replication and mutation keeps going on until more and more species starts to appear. The following simplified tree of life explains this process. Some of the evidences of evolution includes the fact that all species share the same molecular code which is ATCG for DNA and AUGC for RNA. You can read more about this online. Or you can ask me, of course

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A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this show called Ancient Aliens on History Channel. Apparently it's about some scientists investigating the possibility that events in the past are caused by aliens. That day, the topic was about Noah's Ark. They were proposing that instead of being caused by God, the huge flood was caused by aliens. And they started doing some thorough investigation. I didn't finish the episode because it got pretty boring. 

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying that science is wrong. Scientific research is essential to understanding things going on around us. In fact, science is what helps us understand what God has created for us.

Sometimes, people look everywhere to find the reason to live; the meaning of life. Some look for it in fame and fortune. Some look for it in wealth and health. Some look for it in friends and family. But that's the problem about this world. It's full of temporary things and it itself is temporary. As a result, we constantly crave for more as we lose those worldly things. For me, my answer is that I live to be the servant of God. At least, that's what I set my goal to be, and everything else comes after that.

Death is Like Sleep

During my first semester in college, I was in this class called Quran Exegesis which talks about the Quran (duh). So one of our discussions was about the verse that relates death with sleep:

"God takes the souls (al-anfus) at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep; then He withholds those on whom He has passed the decree of death and sends the others back till an appointed term; most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect." (Qur'an 39:42)

The question is, is death really like sleep? Are we in a dream-like state after we die? When we 'wake up' from the dream like state (aka Judgement day), do we remember the dream? How long will the dream-like state last? As we know from experience, dreams can be very vivid and very convincing that we might confuse a dream with reality. Also, we lose the sense of time when we sleep, meaning that an 8-hour sleep just flew by like a breeze. Is that what death feels like? Obviously none of us have the exact answer, but you can read more about it online.

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Well, I think there's some more for me to say, but I'm not used to writing long, serious posts. Maybe next time?

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Backspaces

Who knew time flew so fast huh? From reaching KLIA the other day to having a week's worth of jet lag to starting with online classes to Ramadan to catching up with old buds. Now it's less than three weeks left of my online summer courses which means less than three weeks of my summer holiday. In other words, I have to start getting my shit back together for the next three years of college.

Dammit this is so true. Wasted crap on textbook that I don't even read (Credits)

Actually I just found the meme on the internet and was frustrated at how much it really applied to me.

Anyway, I'm glad to say this summer (it's always summer in Malaysia) didn't go to waste. Here's a list of things that I managed to accomplish up to this point:

1. I learned how to drive. Don't have a license yet but planning to get one in the states.

2. Almost finished watching Fresh off the Boat.

3. Almost finished online summer courses (although I'm not sure how my grades will end up)

4. Finished reading a book (although I wish I could've completed even more books in the summer)

But most importantly,

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5. Survived Ramadan. Now it's already Syawal. My Ramadan goal every year is to not have any regrets after Ramadan is over. No reminiscing the times I could've added more pages to my Quran-reading or more rakaat's during taraweeh. Alhamdulillah I'm happy with this year's ramadan, and hope to improve again next year. I do miss having Ramadan in PERMATA. That was the first time I took every opportunity that Ramadan has to offer, and I began to wonder how many previous Ramadans I have left wasted.

Oh and I almost forgot (actually I didn't forget. I just wanted to put this off until the end of the post).

I get to meet up with some of my closest friends: those from Sabah and those from PERMATA. I'd say, teenage life are the golden days. You grow up with the best friends you'll ever make in life. Because trust me, once you get to college, you'll find it harder to make meaningful, long-lasting relationships and friendships.

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And there comes a point in life where we encounter a fork in the road with numerous branches. That's when those whom we have been together with for so long have to go separate ways. And we're left wondering what'll happen 10 years into the future. Well, whatever happens, we have to keep moving forward because you know what? There's no backspaces in life.

p/s: I'm not good at metaphors

Rumput Itu Lebih Hijau

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Ever heard the phrase "The grass is greener on the other side"?

Sure you have! You think about it all day long don't you? At least I tend to. Well, not all day long *defensive mode*. I think about it when I think about it. Fair enough.

For those of you boring, literal, non-metaphorical people, the metaphor above refers to the human's tendency to look at other people as being more fortunate than they are. Hence, it always looks better on the other side than on our side.

Weird huh? If the grass is always greener on the other side, and our "other side" is the other side, and the other side's "other side" is our side, then which grass is actually greener? I'm not sure if you even understood with that awkward statement but if you could just bear with me, I assure you that you'll get even more confused. Eh?

The point is, sometimes we get too caught up in what others have and we don't, that we forget what we do have and we fail to take advantage of that. Take vision for example. Some people would dream of being blessed with the gift of sight and here we are, failing to appreciate this wonderful gift. That's just a simple example. I'll leave it to you guys to think of even more.

Truth is,

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The grass is greener where you water it. Why waste time looking over the fence when you can spend your time working on perfecting your own lawn? In other words, stop comparing what others have! Start improving yourself with what you already have!

So next time you see someone sheepishly peering over their fence to take a look at your lawn, just give them this piece of advice: Water your grass you lazypants!

The Great Gatsby

It was finals week. Everyone else was pulling up an all-nighter, studying their ass off for the final the next day. What was I doing? I was having a novel-reading marathon. Yup. Finished more books that week than the amount of books the whole year. One of the books that I've read, as you might guess, is The Great Gatsby. It was one of the books listed on the must-read books list on goodreads so I borrowed it from the library.

I haven't seen the movie before I went read the book, so I pretty much didn't know the story at all. What immediately caught my attention was the quote at the beginning of the book. It was a quote by the author's father.

"Whenever you feel like critisizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had" - Nick's dad

That's just one of the truest quotes I've ever read my entire life. Nick's dad must've been a genius! Anyway, I do not intend on elaborating the quote, mostly because I'm not qualified enough and partially because I think it's wonderful for us to ponder upon it on our own. Mind-blowing, when you read and internalize it again and again.

The Great Gatsby was a great book, but it was also one of the few books that I hardly understand a thing. I mean, I do understand the events, but I don't think I fully understood the main gist of the book. ie the hidden meaning and all those literature stuff. I also read 1984 and Animal Farm by George Powell. All of them are heavy books that I'd recommend to anyone looking for some tough reading. Anyway, I've run out of words to say. I'm also dangerously running out of ideas to write in this blog. Hope the quote above blew you away just as it did to me.

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I Think I Was Born Feminist

One of my favourite cartoons was Avatar the Last Airbender. I watched the whole four seasons three freaking times on tv! It was legit the most epic cartoon series ever! (Hi five to those who think the same. You guys rock!). My favourite character of all time is by the name of Toph. It's this kid right here:

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She's a blind orphan who mastered earth bending from badger moles and could actually 'see' her surroundings by feeling the ground using here bare feet. She was exactly the girl I wanted to be: tough, independent, and carefree. She was also famous for her crankiness and short temper. She likes her name - Toph - because it sounds exactly like tough.

Now let's move on to one of my favourite Disney movies (after Monsters Inc.): Mulan. I think almost everyone my age out there have seen this movie at least once in their lifetime. It's the story of Mulan who goes to fight the war by dressing up as a man, since only men were allowed to go to war.

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What do these two have in common? They're fighters. Independent female figures who defy the stereotype against women and show others what they're really capable of doing. As a child, I was fascinated by that idea. Not only that. I also grew furious every time I watch a drama portraying a female getting abused by a male. I disapproved of such symbolization of women; that we are weak and easily manipulated and unable to have our say in a given hierarchy.

But that was long before I knew the term feminism existed. It was just in my instincts that women should be portrayed as a strong and important figures, capable of so much more than merely the dependence on men. Sure, men and women have different roles in society. The only way feminism can work is if men receive the rights of men and women receive the rights of women. But I believe that if women do not need to be protected BY men and FROM men, the world would've been a more peaceful place.

Bottom line: Go watch Avatar the Last Airbender!

"You educate a man, you educate a man. You educate a woman, you educate a generation." -Brigham Young