If there is to be peace in the world, the nations must live in peace.
If there is to be peace among nations, the cities must not rise up against each other.
If there is to be peace in the cities, neighbors must understand each other.
If there is to be peace among neighbors, there must be harmony in the home.
If there is to peace in the home, we must find it in our own heart.

-老子, 6 B.C.

Benn loxo du taccu- "One hand can't clap" in Wolof.

"The unexamined life is not worth living"-- Socrates

“All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare"- Baruch Spinoza

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated" -Mahatma Gandhi

"Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice." - Spinoza

I believe that Peace can only be achieved when there is Peace in our hearts. Conflicts in the world are manifestations of our inner turmoil. I believe that it is imperative to cultivate that inner Sanctuary-- a place you can escape to, partitioned from the world, to meditate and reflect, and find your inner fulcrum.

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." ---Albert Schweitzer

Don't you think it's such a fucked thing that the fucked actions done by immensely fucked fuckers can change things so much that things will never be the same again.

I used to be a violent vengeful sort. Less in damaging of social reputations through malicious backstabbing, but rather in being sort of a vigilante. I used to believe in physical violence, I still pack a strong punch and a good kick. Hair-pulling is chicken, it's what stupid girls do. I used to be the sort that you'd cry if you dared to cross me. Spared no expense. Men cried.

It might be age that has sobered me down, made me wisen up, or made me more of a coward. Perhaps all three. I might never know.

Hurting myself through those means were daft. I wasted time, energy and effort.

I'm not bothering about being the bigger person and walking with my head up high for the sake of appearing to be the bigger person. I want to zip it up now and burn that bottle. Burn all the bottles and scatter the ashes into the dessert wind. Where the sand mixes with the finely pulverized ashes. Where it all gets carried away.

In the whirlwind, in the cyclone, in the tornado.

I know what I can survive with. I know what's true. And I know I found my strength back and threw away all bits of sissyfartism that were practised in the name of not hurting another and in the name of the social.

I will be the woman who walks tall in her stilettoes. These people, their actions and their intentions. They transformed me to climb high so much so that I can thank them. I will be the woman who achieves. I will not be what they try to make me into, not bowing stupidly into submission, fearing their words to bend me and to break me. I will, instead, become the person they fear I'll become the most. The person that is closer towards my ideal, my actualization, my pinnacle and my potential. The woman, that when they choose to compare themselves against with as a benchmark, makes them even more insecure and threatened, because they choose to be.

The Tao says, bend like the willow but know how to be firm.

I will not batter and hammer myself into a new shape, nestling myself within a cocoon just because I am told to be considerate about another's insecurities. I know what my conscience tells me, I know my duties and my inclinations, and I know what I have to do.

The wind blows. The earth grounds. The fire burns and it cleanses. The water sweeps away with sheer force, before diminishing into a drizzle. The remembrance of it all, and the knowledge of power and purification.

I march forth because I can hear the real drum beats now.

--May 02, 2008

"Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant"- Socrates