Moodswings and Other Things

Do you ever get into weird moods? So that you don't know whether to laugh or get angry?

Like sometimes when i'm driving i drive purposely on the shoulder, so that people will flash their hazards at me as they pass. Just because i love hearing people say thank you. It makes me feel accomplished, but then i think about it and i realise i must be mad ("but then all the best people are").

Or when i go to the supermarket to buy something small, like a chocolate or one bottle of juice. I stand at the express till, that only handles customers with ten items or less, and then there's someone in front of me with a fully loaded trolley. Or a basket that looks suspiciously full. "That surely can't be just ten items!"

So as they're unpacking their items onto the counter i count them, one by one. I always catch myself doing this and i have to laugh. Or even just smile ruefully at myself. (Sometimes i do laugh out loud and then people look at me like i'm the loon. He's the one standing in the wrong queue!)

But on a really bad day, when the person has precisely ten items and then they ask the cashier to add a packet, i want to point an accusing finger, "Aha! That's eleven items! Please move; you're in my way! Can't you see this is an express queue???!!!"

Of course i never do that. Because it's rude. And because it actually doesn't matter. For every one person who disobeys the express checkout rule, there are nine others who obey it. (Or maybe more than that. I don't know. Someone should research it.)

Most days i don't even notice their overburdened baskets. Other days i'm just in a mood that wants to attack unsuspecting supermarket offenders. (Even though i've personally done much worse. Although not in a supermarket.)

What situation gets you so riled up that you don't know whether to laugh or cry?

PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  Rank: wait...  Traffic: wait...  Price: wait...  C: wait...

Art or Porn?

What distinguishes one book, film or picture as art from another that's merely pornography?

Some friends and i are going to watch the Oscar-nominated movie, Nine, this weekend (my review of Nine will be up on my Heartflicks Film Review Blog on Monday), despite some people's reservations that it's "just soft porn" and "a bit dodgy". These misgivings were countered with comments that it's actually art that inspires and demands serious talent. While you can't really judge much from the previews, in some ways it does seem like a musical excuse to be smutty. But you can't really tell until you've seen it – and if it's been made by some seriously gifted people and has been nominated for awards, it surely can't be just bad?

Which makes me wonder: what determines the difference between art and pornography? What makes one film a cultured flick and another a blue movie? What makes one nude portrait an artwork and another a dirty picture?

Is it the motivation of the producer for creating it? Is it the quality/skill/technique of the execution? Or is it the intentions of the audience in watching it?

So what do you think makes it art or porn?

How Do You Plead?

Innocent until proven guilty.

This principle assumes that the average person is naturally innocent. But in fact, anyone that's ever been put on trial is undeniably guilty.

Perhaps not guilty of the crime they're accused of, but certainly guilty of something.

Guilty of kicking the neighbour's dog. Or of stealing the boss's pen. Or of having naughty thoughts about the girl across the road.

I was listening to Sarah McLachlan's song, Adia, the other day. The lyrics go,
"...we were born innocent;
 believe me, Adia, we are still innocent"

A beautiful song with beautiful sentiments, but it troubled me, because it got me thinking about babies.

A baby is surely the most innocent being on the planet – yet are babies really born innocent when we are all born into sin?

For "by the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners" (Romans 5:12–21, vs19).

Does that mean a baby is guilty at birth even before his first 'personal' sin?

I guess that's where God's grace comes in. A grace that is even greater than the sin. A grace that makes us all alive, even though we were dead. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

A grace that makes us innocent, regardless of the evidence.

You Get More Than What You See

Like millions of others i saw the movie Avatar. And like millions of others i loved it.

One of my favourite things about Avatar is that expression the Na'vi people have: "i see you".

To them it means much more than just seeing one's outward physical appearance. To the Na'vi it means seeing into a person's heart. It is recognition and acknowledgement of one's worth and one's potential. It is affirmation not just of who you are, but of all that you can be.

How often do we "see" the people around us?

Really see them?

Do you see the gifts and talents of your friends? Do you take note of your employees' potential? Are you aware of your boss's leadership skills? Do you appreciate your partner's true value?

Even in searching for that one person to share your life with, do you really see what is right in front of you? We meet so many people, but no-one seems to measure up to our standards, so we keep looking. There must be something better out there.

But is it really that everyone we've met has fallen short – or is it just that we haven't really seen them for all that they are?

And if we can't see a person for who they're created to be, can we really appreciate them as we should?

Crime and Punishment

"Often times have i heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.
But i say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,
So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.
And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,
So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all...
And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.
Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who, though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone."

-Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Mightier Than The Sword

I love pencils. The smell of them. Their smooth roughness. The way you can really see when one's been working hard, because a stub is all that's left of it.
 
When i sit down to write i usually write in pencil first. A pencil makes me feel creative. A pencil gets my mind rolling and wandering. I can doodle in pencil. I can draw in pencil. I can scribble and scratch and sketch in pencil.

And it's not about the flexibility – i don't user erasers. There's nothing more gratifying than seeing a pencil-filled page with scratched out lines and circled lines and lines with arrows directing them to a different paragraph. It's the mark of a job well done.

I love pencils so much, even my name is darylhb!

Some of the wisest advice i've ever heard is that if you want to have a day of rest, do only what you love and nothing that riles you up.

I love writing, but the minute i switch a laptop on, my mind shifts to work mode. Pens induce exam stress. But pencils. Pencils get me in touch with my inner child. My alter artiste. My hidden bard.

And a sharp-pointed pencil is the clearest metaphor for the power and frailty of words.