Life's Perfect (3rd July 2005)

Okay, I'll bet no one agrees with me. I also thought life was a little unfair at times and that in utopia, everyone would be happy. Then I came to realize, it's what we think that's unfair that's actually going to make us happy. So in a way, life is perfect.

I have always thought of Utopia as a place where all humans are living in harmony. Where there is no more conflict, no more problems. Humans are happy. There will no longer be sadness, heartache or disappointment. In fact, I have always lived a conservative live to avoid such feelings. You cannot be sad if there's nothing to be really sad about. Failure does not exist if we do not try.

From that last statement, I have come to realize that the good and the bad co-exist. In order for us to achieve great things, we must first fail sometimes. A good quote from the movie Batman Begins (incidentally, a very good movie. I recommend it to everyone) is, "Why do we fall? So that may we learn how to pick ourselves back up." Along the same lines, in order to truly appreciate the things around us, sometimes we must first lose it. We cannot truly appreciate our friends until we receive their help when we fall. For us to develop close bonds with those around us, we must allow ourselves to get close to them, to trust them, to give them the chance to break our hearts.

As another saying goes, "Life is a mirror." Which is very true and yet, quite strange. If we trust the people around us, we realize that trust is given back to us. When we start to open our hearts to others, they will in turn open their hearts to us. As far as I know, as long as we don't decide to make a move, nothing can happen. That's amazing considering how usually, we always try to have a safety net before we move ahead. But the ones who achieve the most are usually the ones who take the biggest risk. The ones who operate without something to actually fall back to. Truly, if we expect nothing but the best, we frequently get it.

Of course, along the way there are bound to be many oppositions, sadness, disappointments and failures. But what's important is to realize that those failures are actually lessons in disguise. We never really learn our lesson until we truly fall. For example, kids only learn when something is bad when they are punished for it. And those are the lessons we will always remember.

The alternative is to live a very conservative and sheltered life. Stick close to the people we know, don't try anything that looks too risky, living with our 'comfort zone'. If that's the kind of life you prefer, go ahead. Whatever makes you happy. But I must warn you now, you're missing out on all the great things that life has in store for you. Living within what is comfortable is boring. You do the same things everyday. You take the same routes. You don't try something new (unless maybe with a friend). You stick with the same friends and keep everything as constant as you can.

That's the safe life. Nothing out of the ordinary, very comfortable. But, as I said, there's so much that you'll be missing out on. If you keep taking the same routes, you might miss out on a shorter route. Or even, a more interesting route. Trying something new is frightening, uncomfortable even. But as we go through it, we will get used to it. We would have learn something new and quite possible, develop a new interest. We might also make new friends, develop better bonds. In fact, we might even find a new best friend or soulmate when we step out. Whatever the consequence, the new journey will be exciting and adventurous. And with the right mindset, we might even enjoy it.

Also, there's the fact that life is never stagnant. All around us, our world is constantly changing. Routes we usually take might be closed for some reason or another. Friends come and go as they go out, living out their lives. Sooner or later, we will have to adapt to changes. Since that's a fact of life, we might as well accept that and begin to enjoy the ride.

I like to relate life to a very long road. If we take the safe route, it's akin to taking the highway of life. Broad, straight road. No unexpected twist, no twisting and turning, making you carsick. Of course, it's quite boring (espeically Malaysian highways which cut through hills and cleared lands with nothing to see) and uneventful but at least you get to your destination in one piece. But, I'd rather take the road less taken. The back roads that hardly anyone would take. True, it's winding, small, hard to drive. But, it's also more interesting. First of all, navigating through all the twist and turns is going to be interesting. The view would probably be more fascinating as you probably go through small towns and around or over hills. And then, there are the unexpected glitches along the way that makes me work around them. It's a tougher route but definitely, more exciting and entertaining. I'll get to the final destination bruised, maybe even dented but it'll all be worth it.

So, if problems (that includes some unfairness) are part and parcel of life, doesn't that make it better that it still exist? We could be depriving the future generation of opportunities to build character! Having these thoughts through my head, made my passion for making the world a better place seem... pointless in a way.

Then, thanks to some friends' advice and a spam email (God works in mysterious ways...), I started to get a new understanding for life. It's true that problems build character but injustice must still be fought. Character is built by overcoming those problems. Injustice is meant to be fought. It exist to give an opportunity for us to rise up and become strong. Plus, it fuels the next generation to fight other injustice. I can firmly believe in the impossible because those before me have done so and proven it right countless time. And there's no worry about the new generation having life too easy. I notice how certain problems are age old. Also, there will always be new problems cropping up. And finally, at any rate, God has a plan for them. Far be it that I play God and start to plan so far ahead.

In the end, I have come to realize that Utopia does not exist. And Utopia can never exist because we need our world to be non-ideal. If our world is ever ideal, someone else's world won't be and the cycle of changes continues. Also, living in an ideal world is bad. I wouldn't want to spend all my time just lazing about. It's so boring and pretty much, nothing better than being a robot. But at the same time, doing the opposite (which is to just accept the problems will occur) is also bad. By doing so, we end up not doing anything and just live life and accept all things as going to happen. That's a slippery slope to destruction. We were given a heart and mind to go out and accomplish great things, to fight the injustice in the world. As far as I comprehend now, problems exist and will continue to exist but they exist to build us up, to make us stronger. As such, I will continue to fight the problems of this world but with a new understanding that the imperfectness around us is what makes this life so wonderful and actually, quite perfect.