A Ray Of Hope

He thought there would be something left, some trace of memory, something...but looking into my dark, brown eyes that had once so mesmerized him, he could find nothing. The questing soul that had once shone from them was gone. All there now was the shallow emptiness he saw everywhere. But he just found one good thing for himself, a gleam inside my gloomy eyes and that was a Ray of Hope.

Hope is the most exciting thing in life and if you honestly believe that Happiness is out there, it will come. And even if it doesn't come straight away there is still that chance all through your life that it will.
-Josh Hartnett

When Andy Dufresne (lead character in Shawshank Redemption) was there in jail, he was different from other offenders, where the integrity is lacking. Because He had one thing present in him, even after facing the same treatment like other offenders, and that was ‘Hope’. The integrity of Andy was based on the optimism of getting away from the jail and living a life at a place which he had dreamt of. As Tim Robbins(Andy) says,"Remember, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies"

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
-Oscar Wilde

Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know that they are happy and want us to be happy.
-Eskimo proverb

Ron (Lead Character of Ron Clark Story) wanted to achieve some heights in teaching profession. He went to a big city from a town to teach at big school. He put his soul in his work while teaching kids, who were not ready to change their way of attending schools and they lost their faith and possibility of clearing the SET exams. He never lost Hope and worked on innovative methods to teach kids, made a bond with them and their families, worked hard for the lessons which he was going to teach in class.

Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.
-Simply Saying

So keep moving, if circumstances are making you stop, halt a bit, take back you hand and put a big punch on the face of circumstances. Because even in those conditions, you have a big weapon with you –> Hope. What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise. So we should not blame anyone for anything but should move ahead with a smile on face and hope in heart.

Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.
-Bill Cosby

For God's Sake...!!!

We first fought the heathens in the name of religion, then Communism, and now in the name of drugs and terrorism. Our excuses for global domination always change.
-Serj Tankian

These views, I am putting as eye drops, so that picture get visible to all. These came into my mind when I watched the movie "Khuda ke Liye". Something that Naseerudin (who plays the good maulana) says about religion gave a new direction about spirituality to my mind. He said that the external manifestations of religion like the way one dressed are not important. It’s the way one lives that is far more important. He said that many evil people use these external garbs that symbolize religious faith but are actually evil people. There are many things explained by him which is an education for non-Muslims like me. This movie is worth a see, particularly because it comes from Pakistan, a religious country.

One of the characters talks about the majority of Pakistanis being able to read Arabic, but not understand it. This is just same as Most of the hindus/even pandits don't know why they join their palms and use tilak while praying to God. They don't know what is the meaning of the sloks written in Geeta, but they can chant it for hours.

Lets begin a journey to the center of the matter. Origin of human being to the time we live in. How terrorism took shape and why this path of terrorism is taken by educated youths?

Civilization is a slow process of adopting the ideas and implementing them for the welfare of people.
-Simply Saying

If we look back to progress of human civilization, we find that at the initial stage for centuries man had to fight continuously with the fierce beasts in the jungle, for their survival. As a result man became aggressive, self-centered to save himself. When they learnt to live in groups, due to conflict of interest there were often fight between groups. Man did not hesitate to kill animals and also men of other groups. Then kingdoms came into existence and fight of strength and dominance spread all over world. Then countries divided boundaries which led to world wars. Thus violence and hatred became inherent in human character.

Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble.
-Ralph W. Emerson

With the dawn of religions, smell of peace and calmness developed and man learnt to worship God for their benefit and also learnt to love others. The most powerful exponent for peace was Gautam Buddha. Millions of people of many countries were inspired with the preaching of Buddha that non-violence and peace is the most valuable asset of human civilization. Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for the cause of love, justice and peace. Hazarat Mohammed Sahab, founder of Islam religion, also preached for justice, peace and love. Each religion had the core theme of spreading peace in world. All these religions play a vital role in developing ethical values in the society and sense of natural justice.

Even the best of friends face conflicts, but that needn't mean the end of the relationship.
-Simply Saying

Who don’t have conflicts? Even feelings of injustice and discrimination give rise to conflict. Children fight over small things because of the conflicts they have on the number of pencils and toys. These feelings may have some real basis or it may be only because of some imaginary ideas. Something happens to somebody doesn’t mean it will happen with everybody. Sometimes false ego gives rise to conflict. And in that situation the egoistic person don't listen anything which can help him settle the conflicts. Conflicts are also created or imposed upon by person or groups for some evil motive to make some gain out of it. In a multi-dimension, multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural country like India there is always a challenge on ethnic, communal, language or cultural issues creating conflicts. The contradiction between the privileged and deprived sections of the people, educated and illiterate people, people of higher caste and lower caste within the same religion, social discrimination between men and women are the major sources of conflict. Resolution of conflict becomes easier when a sense of natural justice prevails in the society.

What our leaders never notices that the terrorists -- whichever religion they follow, how much educated they are, whichever state or country they might belong to -- might also be rational human beings; which is to say that in their own minds they have a justification for their actions. Most terrorists are people deeply effected by what they see as social, political, or religious injustice and hypocrisy.

-William Blum

If a person is mentally/economically/socially unsatisfied with society, feels boycotted by society, feels discriminated or simply feels lonely in fast moving world, then what he needs is a group of people who will offer him support. And the terror spreading groups offer them more than that, they brainwash the person to absurd levels and the victim is hooked. And religion is often used to do this because this is where all the conflicts ends and more than 95% of the population believe in some or the other super power/God.

If we go through the profiles of the offenders who have been arrested in concern with the terrorist activities are well educated and employed/established in a so called urban society. These educated youth become influenced by an Islamic activist/Hindu Extremist/Greedy Politicians. They begin to practice the extremist interpretation of Islam/Hindu/any religion, grows a beard/moustache and goes against/in favour of music.

The most ill and terrible thing about terrorism is that ultimately it destroys whoever practice it. Slowly but surely, as they try to extinguish life in others, the light within them dies.

-Terry Waite

They are educated men with loving families and therefore if they got caught as terrorist, they have to take some of the blame on them too. How can a brilliant mind take such inhuman steps. Ultimately they are not only destroying the world but themselves.

Its a great way to just say God told you to kill. But God never tell so to any of his followers.If there will be no religion to take as excuse, then these evil people of the world would find other justifications to kill. Did Hitler/world war used religion? his aim to capture the whole world was sufficient for him. Revenge is often another justification used to murder innocent people. Evil people always justify their deeds.

Thus the conclusion to curb terrorism is not to find terrorists (specially in particular community) but to find why people are taking such steps and make them come again to Life full of happiness and satisfaction. The reason, I think, why the educated people taking the path of terrorism is one word term "Falling out" (hearing or understanding what is going on around one but feeling powerless to change something, feeling alone due to discrimination which may be false impression, dissatisfaction with the way society works). All criminals need a brotherhood.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
-Galatians 5:22 Bible

Actually, no religion justifies a behavior of killing people or suicide, and Islam is no exception. Islam is not just a religion but a beautiful poetry of God which spread love, care, bonding with God, peace and harmony. Religion is there to live happily and it should not be used as counter for peace. People who use this term for their self interest should stop such evil deed because this is not only affecting them but to whole mankind.

Great Minds in Unrealistic World

When it comes to the innovation, we think of the greatest of the minds working hard, doing research, making things work. The inventors, the scientist, and the intellectuals whose ideas have moved the world since the dawn of civilization have one more thing common in them; they made complex thoeries look simple when they presented their ideas. They have shaped everyday life since ancient centuries. From the alarm clock which wake us in the morning to the sleep pills which make us go to bed, all are the result of someone's perseverance and insight. But now think of a world without these innovation, We know, we can't even imagine without these. And take more insight into the crux of the matter, a question arises, are/were these innovators really want/wanted these innovation for the betterment of the human community or they want/wanted to become immortal in this unrealistic world.(It sounds more of a critical/pessimistic but this is mind who thinks for me and not my soul.)

Unrealistic world can be: people living a virtual life (second life) or virtual social networking or living in a real world but acting different characters at different situations, like being at office-act like professional, being at home-act like family guy, being a visitor-act like tourist, etc.

But the theme here, I am trying to put across, is not talking about unrealistic world but exploring the great minds in this unrealistic world. How they work, how the react, how they perceive, how they conceive, how they express, how they live their life in 24 hours of each day.

''If you live in an unrealistic world then you can say everything should be a community garden''

-Mr. Giuliani

This is how, it is expressed in educated world about the world and how to live in it. knowing the fact, we are in an unrealistic world, try to be in a community and serve it. Keeping the facts at place and convincing people is the art of great minds. But ain't it that many don't know how to convince people but still they stand on the right track which can help community. But hopelessly they are not considered while implementing ideas. Great minds neednot be great speakers, great managers, great marketing gurus, great sales representatives, great PR managers, great HRs, great business makers; but they can be good at what they can do. Even a pot maker can be called a great mind based on the skill that he/she can make a pot with an innovative idea of keeping the water cool for longer hours. But in this unrealistic world if he/she can't sell his/her that pot at higher price than he/she is not a great mind at work.

I have been in touch with n number of great minds working hard and fast for 'no reason but to achieve'. They can answer the question,"What are you doing?" but can't answer,"Why are you doing this?". Then they come up with a business language reply,"We are working on this innovative approach which will bring value to customers." I guess they didn't understand my question, I asked them, "Why are you doing this?"

I can't question their great mind but the only thing that I always miss interacting them is that they don't express their own views on their individual life.

Then I guess few of the answers, on my own, which can fit best for them: they want to become immortal by doing this; they want to serve the community with this; they want to prove their knowledge to world or some individual; they want to keep themselves busy in something so that they can't face the real world; they have made comprimise with the reality in the unrealistic world and are acting as slaves to them; they want to bring a huge change in the society but are working slowly and secretly for it; they think their silence will kill the evil around.

As people become more intelligent, they care less for preaches and more for teachers

-Robert G. Ingersoll

But here the scenario seems changing, as people become more intelligent in this unrealistic world, they care less for preaches or teaches and more for reaches.

Being Artistic

Reason, Observation, and Experience - the Holy Trinity of Science.
-Robert G.

'Art to Eye' is observing things around with a long look, learning the way things work normally and bringing a new concept to make it work more appropriately.
Robert G. Ingersoll, in his quote, told about the three basic things which makes science understandable and useful for the world. The same can apply for life at large.

Reason, Observation, and Experience - The Holy Trinity of Life.

Once Alice Neel explained her artistic trait in which she said everything which can be done is artistic, even sitting idle and watching people is artistic. This quote of her give more insight into her thoughts.

Whether I'm painting or not, I have this overweening interest in humanity. Even if I'm not working, I'm still analyzing people.
-Alice Neel

Being artistic, help analyse world and minutest of its details. The observation of nature is part of an artist's life, it enlarges his/her knowledge, keeps him/her fresh, and feeds inspiration.

So I can draw a conclusion out of being artistic that: 'The only time I feel alive is when I'm observing something with full concentration.'