I remember when I was younger, and music used to be so...clean. At that point in my life, I knew music was wrong and declared haraam in my religion, but I was too young to make decisions for myself and my family still heard it. As I grew older, I became more and more involved into music...it was like an ecape from everything. And the lyrics just touched me. The way it was presented, sung, everything.
I wasn't really a religious kid, and it was okay with me. Specially since I grew up in the west, I was surrounded by people who never really considered it wrong.
And I can't really blame myself. Music then actually had some class. Not that it made it any less haraam, it's just...atleast it made sense. Today, in the era of rap and punk and God knows what, it barely is music. It's trance. It's dance. It's just, horrific. I amn't denying there are some good artists still present some good music, with PROPER lyrics, not just about sex and cars and money and fame. But VALUES. But really, there are VERY little of them. It's all about "shawty looks so sexy on the dance floor that I wanna smack her" and all I'm thinking is..what the HECK?
I mean, seriously...and people enjoy it? Do I have ot smack them in the head and yell at them what is wrong with you?! Honestly, I would if I could. And we've all become slaves to it. Like we can't sit in a car ride or sit through a party without having some loud, lyricless, full of I still have no idea WHAT music. It's sad. And what's sadder is that we don't even think or reflect on what is wrong.
Welcome!
The title may sound a bit harsh to you... But this place is not about harshness. It is merely about the realities of life. They be bitter, or true, or happy, I am going to try to state what I think the world looks like to those who don't look back twice. I will talk about how so many things are noticed yet remain unnoticed, and how, in today's world the things that are happening affect each of our lives. This is how I feel about the world, and how the world connects back with me.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Comparison of Two CV's
Chief Executive of IndiaTitle: Prime Minister
Name: Dr Manmohan Singh
EDUCATION /Qualification:
1950: Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh ,
1952; Stood first in MA (Economics), Panjab University , Chandigarh,
1954; Wright's Prize for distinguished performance at St John's College,Cambridge,
1955 and 1957; Wrenbury scholar, University of Cambridge ,
1957; DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India's export competitiveness
Working Experience [Teaching] Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 1957-59;
Reader, Economics, 1959-63;
Professor, Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1963-65;
Professor, International Trade, Delhi School of Economics,Universit y of Delhi , 1969-71;
Honorary professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi, 1976 and Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,1996 and Civil Servant
Working Experience [INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS]: 1966: Economic Affairs Officer
1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD
1972-74: Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform
1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings
1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting
1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting
1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Cyprus 1993: Human Rights World Conference, Vienna
Working Experience [Government Positions]:
1971-72: Economic advisor, ministry of foreign trade
1972-76: Chief economic advisor, ministry of finance
1976-80: - Director, Reserve Bank of India; Director, Industrial Development Bank of India;
- Alternate governor for India , Board of governors , Asian Development Bank;
- Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, IBRD
- November 1976 - April 1980: Secretary, ministry of finance (Department of economic affairs);
- Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission ; Member,finance, Space Commission
April 1980 - September 15, 1982: Member-secretary, Planning Commission
1980-83: Chairman, India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study committee
September 16, 1982 - January 14 , 1985: Governor, Reserve Bank of India.
1982-85: Alternate Governor for India, Board of governors, International Monetary Fund
1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister
1985: President, Indian Economic Association
January 15 , 1985 - July 31, 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
August 1, 1987 - November 10, 1990: Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission, Geneva
December 10 , 1990 - March 14, 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs
March 15, 1991 - June 20, 1991: Chairman, UGC
June 21, 1991 - May 15, 1996: Union finance minister
October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam on Congress ticket
June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the ministry of finance
August 1, 1996 - December 4 , 1997: Chairman, Parliamentary standing committee on commerce
March 21, 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha
June 5, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on finance
August 13, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on rules
Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges 2000 onwards: Member,
executive committee, Indian parliamentary group
June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
Aug 2001 onwards: Member, general purposes committee
2004: Prime Minister of India
BOOKS: India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon Press, Oxford University , 1964;
also published a large number of articles in various economic journals .
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Adam Smith Prize , University of Cambridge, 1956
Padma Vibhushan , 1987
Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;
Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia , 1993 and 1994
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CV 2
Chief Executive of Pakistan Title: President of Pakistan
Name: Asif Ali Zardari
Name: Dr Manmohan Singh
EDUCATION /Qualification:
1950: Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh ,
1952; Stood first in MA (Economics), Panjab University , Chandigarh,
1954; Wright's Prize for distinguished performance at St John's College,Cambridge,
1955 and 1957; Wrenbury scholar, University of Cambridge ,
1957; DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India's export competitiveness
Working Experience [Teaching] Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 1957-59;
Reader, Economics, 1959-63;
Professor, Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1963-65;
Professor, International Trade, Delhi School of Economics,Universit y of Delhi , 1969-71;
Honorary professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi, 1976 and Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,1996 and Civil Servant
Working Experience [INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS]: 1966: Economic Affairs Officer
1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD
1972-74: Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform
1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings
1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting
1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting
1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Cyprus 1993: Human Rights World Conference, Vienna
Working Experience [Government Positions]:
1971-72: Economic advisor, ministry of foreign trade
1972-76: Chief economic advisor, ministry of finance
1976-80: - Director, Reserve Bank of India; Director, Industrial Development Bank of India;
- Alternate governor for India , Board of governors , Asian Development Bank;
- Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, IBRD
- November 1976 - April 1980: Secretary, ministry of finance (Department of economic affairs);
- Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission ; Member,finance, Space Commission
April 1980 - September 15, 1982: Member-secretary, Planning Commission
1980-83: Chairman, India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study committee
September 16, 1982 - January 14 , 1985: Governor, Reserve Bank of India.
1982-85: Alternate Governor for India, Board of governors, International Monetary Fund
1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister
1985: President, Indian Economic Association
January 15 , 1985 - July 31, 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
August 1, 1987 - November 10, 1990: Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission, Geneva
December 10 , 1990 - March 14, 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs
March 15, 1991 - June 20, 1991: Chairman, UGC
June 21, 1991 - May 15, 1996: Union finance minister
October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam on Congress ticket
June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the ministry of finance
August 1, 1996 - December 4 , 1997: Chairman, Parliamentary standing committee on commerce
March 21, 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha
June 5, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on finance
August 13, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on rules
Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges 2000 onwards: Member,
executive committee, Indian parliamentary group
June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
Aug 2001 onwards: Member, general purposes committee
2004: Prime Minister of India
BOOKS: India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon Press, Oxford University , 1964;
also published a large number of articles in various economic journals .
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Adam Smith Prize , University of Cambridge, 1956
Padma Vibhushan , 1987
Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;
Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia , 1993 and 1994
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CV 2
Chief Executive of Pakistan Title: President of Pakistan
Name: Asif Ali Zardari
EDUCATION /Qualification: High School from Cadet College Petaro
Details of higher formal education not known; Claims graduation from London but not available to be verified. As per some account. His official biography says he attended a commercial college called Pedinton School . But a search of tertiary educational institutions in London showed no such school.
Working Experience:
Early days: Working at the family owned Bambino Cinema at Karachi . Some accuse Mr Zardari of small-time ticket frauds to steal money from the family business.
Up till 1987 (marriage to the future Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto): No record.
1988 to date: While no official record of any business exists, Mr Zardari is widely believed to be one of the (if not the) richest man in Pakistan . An unofficial list of family owned businesses, property and accounts exists but the completeness of the same cannot be verified. Mr Zardari has however been involved in various national and international cases relating to his businesses. The most significant European cases are a Swiss money-laundering inquiry and a British civil cases.
Working Experience [Politics]:
1988-1990: Husband of the Prime Minister
1993–1996: Minister of Environment during his wife's second term as the Prime Minister
Un till 1999: Senator
30 December 2007: Appointed himself as the co-chairman of the PPP, along with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
September 9, 2008: Zardari was elected president of Pakistan . Sworn in by Abdul Hameed Dogar, whose position as the Chiefe Justice of Pakistan remains a contested issue by an overwhelming majority of the Pakistani legal fraternity.
Working Experience [Other]:
Other experience of Mr Zardari includes his widely believed but not proven involvement in
- Several murders - most famously of his brother in law, possibly his wife
- Wrapping a bomb to the leg of a famous UK businessman to ask for money
- Embezzlement & looting of Billions of Pakistan's wealth
BOOKS:
None on record
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Marrying the then future and now ex (RIP) Prime Minister of Pakistan
Only serving politician to have spent 10 years in Jail
Told the US VP Candidate that she is "gorgeous" and said : "Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you". When the photographers asked the two to keep shaking hands, he replied : " If he insists, I might hug you". This was one day after the President delivered an emotional speech at the UN in new York waving a photograph of his deceased wife only months after the murder of his wife.
I need not to say anything more.
Details of higher formal education not known; Claims graduation from London but not available to be verified. As per some account. His official biography says he attended a commercial college called Pedinton School . But a search of tertiary educational institutions in London showed no such school.
Working Experience:
Early days: Working at the family owned Bambino Cinema at Karachi . Some accuse Mr Zardari of small-time ticket frauds to steal money from the family business.
Up till 1987 (marriage to the future Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto): No record.
1988 to date: While no official record of any business exists, Mr Zardari is widely believed to be one of the (if not the) richest man in Pakistan . An unofficial list of family owned businesses, property and accounts exists but the completeness of the same cannot be verified. Mr Zardari has however been involved in various national and international cases relating to his businesses. The most significant European cases are a Swiss money-laundering inquiry and a British civil cases.
Working Experience [Politics]:
1988-1990: Husband of the Prime Minister
1993–1996: Minister of Environment during his wife's second term as the Prime Minister
Un till 1999: Senator
30 December 2007: Appointed himself as the co-chairman of the PPP, along with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
September 9, 2008: Zardari was elected president of Pakistan . Sworn in by Abdul Hameed Dogar, whose position as the Chiefe Justice of Pakistan remains a contested issue by an overwhelming majority of the Pakistani legal fraternity.
Working Experience [Other]:
Other experience of Mr Zardari includes his widely believed but not proven involvement in
- Several murders - most famously of his brother in law, possibly his wife
- Wrapping a bomb to the leg of a famous UK businessman to ask for money
- Embezzlement & looting of Billions of Pakistan's wealth
BOOKS:
None on record
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Marrying the then future and now ex (RIP) Prime Minister of Pakistan
Only serving politician to have spent 10 years in Jail
Told the US VP Candidate that she is "gorgeous" and said : "Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you". When the photographers asked the two to keep shaking hands, he replied : " If he insists, I might hug you". This was one day after the President delivered an emotional speech at the UN in new York waving a photograph of his deceased wife only months after the murder of his wife.
I need not to say anything more.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Yearbook Quotes
Don't you just love how you can completely relate to some quotes? Sometimes, infact, quotes give us an inspiration to do things or to viw things from a completely diffrerent angle. So, I have decided to compile my list of most inspirational yearbook quotations. Enjoy!
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wherever you go, go with all your heart. ~Confucius
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same. ~Flavia Weedn, Forever
Just about a month from now I'm set adrift, with a diploma for a sail and lots of nerve for oars. ~Richard Halliburton
There is a good reason they call these ceremonies "commencement exercises." Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning. ~Orrin Hatch
Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. ~Wendy Wasserstein
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ~e.e. cummings, 1955
Put your future in good hands - your own. ~Author Unknown
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. ~Milton Berle
Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show The Wonder Years
When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you've got plenty to watch. ~Author unknown, from a television commercial
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while you could miss it. ~From the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off
God gave us memories that we might have roses in December. ~J.M. Barrie, Courage, 1922
How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
~Dr. Seuss
We do not remember days; we remember moments. ~Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand
Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. ~John Lennon
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do. ~Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, 1996
Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. ~Eleanor Powell
Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember. ~Seneca
Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. ~Mark Twain
There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship. ~Author Unknown
It is indeed ironic that we spend our school days yearning to graduate and our remaining days waxing nostalgic about our school days. ~Isabel Waxman
A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked. ~Author Unknown
Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. ~David Frost
Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. ~James Dean
Time goes, you say? Ah no!
Alas, Time stays, we go.
~Henry Austin Dobson
Friends are kisses blown to us by angels. ~Author Unknown
Friends are relatives you make for yourself. ~Eustache Deschamps
The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley
Don't let anyone steal your dream. It's your dream, not theirs. ~Dan Zadra
If at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you. ~Author Unknown
As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools. ~Author Unknown
The language of friendship is not words but meanings. ~Henry David Thoreau
It takes a long time to grow an old friend. ~John Leonard
It doesn't make much difference what you study, as long as you don't like it. ~Finley Peter Dunne
We have been friends together
In sunshine and in shade.
~Caroline Sheridan Norton
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~Theodore Roosevelt
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson
May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!
~Irish Blessing
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wherever you go, go with all your heart. ~Confucius
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same. ~Flavia Weedn, Forever
Just about a month from now I'm set adrift, with a diploma for a sail and lots of nerve for oars. ~Richard Halliburton
There is a good reason they call these ceremonies "commencement exercises." Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning. ~Orrin Hatch
Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. ~Wendy Wasserstein
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ~e.e. cummings, 1955
Put your future in good hands - your own. ~Author Unknown
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. ~Milton Berle
Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show The Wonder Years
When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you've got plenty to watch. ~Author unknown, from a television commercial
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while you could miss it. ~From the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off
God gave us memories that we might have roses in December. ~J.M. Barrie, Courage, 1922
How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
~Dr. Seuss
We do not remember days; we remember moments. ~Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand
Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. ~John Lennon
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do. ~Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, 1996
Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. ~Eleanor Powell
Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember. ~Seneca
Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. ~Mark Twain
There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship. ~Author Unknown
It is indeed ironic that we spend our school days yearning to graduate and our remaining days waxing nostalgic about our school days. ~Isabel Waxman
A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked. ~Author Unknown
Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. ~David Frost
Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. ~James Dean
Time goes, you say? Ah no!
Alas, Time stays, we go.
~Henry Austin Dobson
Friends are kisses blown to us by angels. ~Author Unknown
Friends are relatives you make for yourself. ~Eustache Deschamps
The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley
Don't let anyone steal your dream. It's your dream, not theirs. ~Dan Zadra
If at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you. ~Author Unknown
As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools. ~Author Unknown
The language of friendship is not words but meanings. ~Henry David Thoreau
It takes a long time to grow an old friend. ~John Leonard
It doesn't make much difference what you study, as long as you don't like it. ~Finley Peter Dunne
We have been friends together
In sunshine and in shade.
~Caroline Sheridan Norton
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~Theodore Roosevelt
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson
May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!
~Irish Blessing
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Heartless Long View...
The recent earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy destroyed not only quite a few lives but also an extensive amount of medieval architecture that had survived a 18th-century quake. Certainly the loss of medieval material history is unfortunate, but certainly not as bad as the loss of life. The thing is, taking a really "long view"of time and the Earth means not really lamenting it at all. In a lithic view of time, these churches, towers, walls are houses of cards--erected for a moment and built so tenuously that they fall down after a mere shudder.
Perhaps this view is completely off; perhaps it's a we-all-return-from-whence-we-came sort of view whose big selling point is that it's comforting and totally unprovable. I don't know. I do know that in general, removed terms, I actually mourn the loss of those historical artifacts sometimes greater than the human life only in general, removed terms. I mean..call me evil.. But we're all destined to die, aren't we? I hate it when people have to die like that...but when we harm the earth and history as well...it makes me feel worse.
When it's faceless Italians who are represented by just an unfathomable number (not many of us can really envision 200+ corpses or 1000 people who've been injured; or maybe we can.. Pakistan surely has had it's share of murder and blook for the past few years), it's easier to mourn for the loss of history. I think in some ways--especially for classicists and medievalists--the loss of history hurts more because our minds soar. What did we lose when the Great Library in Alexandria burned? What did we lose in the Ashburnham fire of 1731. But sometimes the loss is greater when a person dies. What did we lose when Hemingway put a gun in his mouth? What did we lose when Tolkien, Borges, or Barthes died? Was there more they had to say? For that matter, what do we lose every time some kid in Africa dies because he can't get enough to eat or drink? Do we lose a voice like Achebe? What do we lose every time someone dominates and silences (in one way or another) the voice of his wife because she's a woman? Do we lose a Gilman?
At any rate, this event makes me think about what people will say in 100 years. I imagine it will be something along the lines of what we say now. We complain about Early Moderns tearing up medieval MSS to make end pages for their books or reinforce spines. We complain about what the medieval inhabitants did to the Roman baths in Bath. We complain about what contemporary acid rain has done to Cleopatra's Needle and what the shipwreck did to the Elgin Marbles. I bet one day, they'll complain about the crude and damaging methods used to rescue the victims in L'Aquila. What they will forget--and what we forget now--are the pressing concerns, the (sometimes fierce) urgency of Now that dictates our actions.
I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes the Earth throws off our intricate structures and screws up our history. And sometimes we do.
Perhaps this view is completely off; perhaps it's a we-all-return-from-whence-we-came sort of view whose big selling point is that it's comforting and totally unprovable. I don't know. I do know that in general, removed terms, I actually mourn the loss of those historical artifacts sometimes greater than the human life only in general, removed terms. I mean..call me evil.. But we're all destined to die, aren't we? I hate it when people have to die like that...but when we harm the earth and history as well...it makes me feel worse.
When it's faceless Italians who are represented by just an unfathomable number (not many of us can really envision 200+ corpses or 1000 people who've been injured; or maybe we can.. Pakistan surely has had it's share of murder and blook for the past few years), it's easier to mourn for the loss of history. I think in some ways--especially for classicists and medievalists--the loss of history hurts more because our minds soar. What did we lose when the Great Library in Alexandria burned? What did we lose in the Ashburnham fire of 1731. But sometimes the loss is greater when a person dies. What did we lose when Hemingway put a gun in his mouth? What did we lose when Tolkien, Borges, or Barthes died? Was there more they had to say? For that matter, what do we lose every time some kid in Africa dies because he can't get enough to eat or drink? Do we lose a voice like Achebe? What do we lose every time someone dominates and silences (in one way or another) the voice of his wife because she's a woman? Do we lose a Gilman?
At any rate, this event makes me think about what people will say in 100 years. I imagine it will be something along the lines of what we say now. We complain about Early Moderns tearing up medieval MSS to make end pages for their books or reinforce spines. We complain about what the medieval inhabitants did to the Roman baths in Bath. We complain about what contemporary acid rain has done to Cleopatra's Needle and what the shipwreck did to the Elgin Marbles. I bet one day, they'll complain about the crude and damaging methods used to rescue the victims in L'Aquila. What they will forget--and what we forget now--are the pressing concerns, the (sometimes fierce) urgency of Now that dictates our actions.
I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes the Earth throws off our intricate structures and screws up our history. And sometimes we do.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Religion vs Science, again and again
Sometimes we get so caught up in the Science vs. Religion debate that we miss important facts, such as: Medieval-era scientists were Christians. Concordia College, a college of the ELCA, located in Moorhead, Minn, recently hosted a symposium titled “Awakening to Wonder: Re-enchantment in a Post-secular Age.” The event brought together respected academicians from across the country to discuss topics ranging from science and technology to mystery, magic and faith.
The opening plenary address was given by Adam Frank, professor at the University of Rochester. Although Frank seemed to be too much of an apologist for atheism, he sparked a good wave of discussion that continued throughout the symposium.
He offered another perspective to the debate between science and religion which usually holds that science is bad, religion is good and no shade of gray exists. Frank emphasized that it does not have to be that way and that both can be used to complement each other’s respective paths. Many people are surprised by the idea that science and religion could actually complement each other, as if the two were designed to be foes.
It’s interesting how a simple fact, such as that Galileo Galilei was a devout Christian, can quickly be forgotten as people continue to frame scientists as innate enemies of religion. In reality these early scientists planned to use science as a way to further their knowledge in religion.
Frank argued that everyone has different encounters with sacredness and that each awe-filled encounter will contribute to how people individually and collectively understand the sacred. He uses “sacred” because he believes “religion” does not adequately represent every faith-based community and that religion puts humanity into a box; it puts restrictions on human thought.
Science, in the lens of Islam, should be used for purposes that can further understanding between God and man — the gray area — but not to dangerously play the role of God. After all, God gave humans a complex brain in order to inquire and understand, not to take charge.
The opening plenary address was given by Adam Frank, professor at the University of Rochester. Although Frank seemed to be too much of an apologist for atheism, he sparked a good wave of discussion that continued throughout the symposium.
He offered another perspective to the debate between science and religion which usually holds that science is bad, religion is good and no shade of gray exists. Frank emphasized that it does not have to be that way and that both can be used to complement each other’s respective paths. Many people are surprised by the idea that science and religion could actually complement each other, as if the two were designed to be foes.
It’s interesting how a simple fact, such as that Galileo Galilei was a devout Christian, can quickly be forgotten as people continue to frame scientists as innate enemies of religion. In reality these early scientists planned to use science as a way to further their knowledge in religion.
Frank argued that everyone has different encounters with sacredness and that each awe-filled encounter will contribute to how people individually and collectively understand the sacred. He uses “sacred” because he believes “religion” does not adequately represent every faith-based community and that religion puts humanity into a box; it puts restrictions on human thought.
Science, in the lens of Islam, should be used for purposes that can further understanding between God and man — the gray area — but not to dangerously play the role of God. After all, God gave humans a complex brain in order to inquire and understand, not to take charge.
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