O me! O life!

There is a tendency for people to go inward rather than outward when facing crises. Some people call it listening to the voice of God. Some people call it meditation and clearing out emotional baggage. My former colleagues at Integrative Learning would call it an A-I-C time (it isn't the same, really, if you ask them).

Whatever name it may be, reflection oftentimes works.

My inspiration is Uncle Walt (Whitman, not Disney), and strangely enough, I discovered this poem through Peter Weir's "Dead Poets Society":

O me! O life! of these questions recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew'd,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring - What good amid these? O me, O life?

Answer -
That you are here - that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
(Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass)


My thoughts exactly. Still feeling irrelevant? Just read back and reflect.

And - oh! the political situation in the Philippines, hey? What more can I say? I'm just glad to be

SITTING ON THE FENCE.

Because it feels so pretentious to bellow out one way or the other as the impasse grows. The terror attacks in London carry more significance as what kinds of freedom will be affected by the measures the British government will take.

Still, the oppressed remain oppressed. John Lennon puts it succinctly in one of the Beatles' B-side's, "Rain":

If the rain comes they run and hide their heads.
They might as well be dead.
If the rain comes, if the rain comes.

When the sun shines they slip into the shade
(When the sun shines down.)
And drink their lemonade.
(When the sun shines down.)
When the sun shines, when the sun shines.

Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the weather's fine.

I can show you that when it starts to rain,
(When the rain comes down.)
Everything's the same.
(When the rain comes down.)
I can show you, I can show you.

Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the weather's fine.

Can you hear me, that when it rains and shines,
(When it rains and shines.)
It's just a state of mind?
(When itrains and shines.)
Can you hear me, can you hear me?

sdaeh rieht edih dna nur yeht semoc niar eht fI.
(Rain)
naiR.
(Rain)
enihsnuS.

Rain or shine, it's all the same, the politicking musical-chairs game.