On Rules

Rules between rule-makers, rule-keepers, and rule-breakers. Between rule-makers who break the rules, and rule-breakers zealous about the rules, and rule-keepers who don't believe in the rules. Between rule-keepers who would like less rules or no rules, and rule-breakers who want more rules. Between rule-makers who make rules they like and rules they hate, all the rules that benefit them if followed (by others), and rule-breakers who hate rule-makers for not making the rules they believe should be set (for others) even if they themselves would break the rules. Between rule-keepers who are punctual about the rules they keep but believe it is fine not to be so rigid with the rules, and rule-breakers who rage fanatically against rule-keepers for not being as zealous about said rules which rule-breakers lazily break. Rules, say the righteous rule-breakers to the unrighteous rule-keepers, are meant to be made and kept. 

[Edited on 14-10-2022]

Consequences

It was Ramadhan, the fasting man had no patience left. He got out of his car and beat the laborer who had angered him. He looked very official as he beat the laborer. Another man filmed the event, and posted it online. There was an uproar, and a law came out because of this. You were not allowed anymore to post a person's photo or personal data online without their consent.

(Not) Selling dogs can be a dangerous business…

A dog-owner wanted to sell his dog. A dog-buyer came to his house to buy the dog. The dog-owner's little girl told her dad she didn't want him to sell the dog. The dog-owner accepted his daughter's wish and told the dog-buyer he wouldn't be selling the dog. The dog-buyer got up in a rage, went to his car, brought back a sword, hit the dog-owner on the head, and chopped off his hand. The dog-buyer didn't get the dog and went to jail, the dog-owner lost his hand but kept the dog, and the dog lives on, freely, limbs intact.

True story.

Edited: 29-07-2022

Fears and non-fears

Afraid of making a mistake, I avoid doing something, while wondering if it's a mistake to avoid doing it. 

Although I'm worried that doing it may not be a mistake, still I avoid doing it, because what if others think doing it would be a mistake?

And though it would be a useful fear to have, I don't wonder if others would think avoiding it is the mistake.

I wonder why I don't wonder this. 

My Ego

He hurts my ego, and my instinct is to ascribe some moral flaw to him for hurting me. But since I know it's my ego that is hurt, I tell myself I should not react in defense of my ego. This makes me feel better, since I get to tell myself, "Look how noble you are, allowing him to say what hurts you because you don't want to defend your ego." Being aware of this self-deception though, disarms my defense, and I am left again with my offended ego. I am now very conscious of my ego, and my self-deception as a defense mechanism; I am also aware that these are subtle incidents in one's soul that others may not notice in themselves. This last bit is also a defense mechanism in which I am telling myself not how noble I am, but how everyone else must be just as bad, (although I'm also praising myself for noticing).

Edited: 14-09-2022

How



We're hurt by what others say and don't mean, and what they mean and don't say, and what we imagine them to mean, and madly enough, what we imagine them saying and meaning because it makes sense that they would, or that they could, the possibility exists and that is enough to hurt. 

Posted on Instagram. 

A New Nose

Her wedding was coming up and she wanted a new nose. Her old nose was fine, but oh the photos she could post of her honeymoon with her new nose! So she took her old nose to the doctor and asked for a replacement. Her new nose brought her headaches at first, then swelling, then bleeding eventually, finally landing her in the emergency unit in the hospital, and the courts soon after. Her fiancé had left her new nose, she told the courts, and though it wasn't clear why, her job also quit on her new nose. She sometimes dreamed of her old nose laughing at her, mocking her new nose.

[Edited on 04-10-2022]

The Cat

The cat ran out. The man ran after the cat. The man who ran after the cat passed a boy walking his dog who said the dog had scared the cat that ran away. The man who ran beat the boy walking his dog who said the dog had scared the cat that ran away; this upset the dog that scared the cat and pushed the dog to run away. The dog returned, but would not eat nor drink, and slept all day. The court fined the man who beat the boy who walked his dog that ran away and then returned: 5,000 for beating the boy, 40,000 for the dog that ran away and then returned, and 1,000 in legal fees; the court wasn’t told what happened to the cat that ran away. 

(Short story in six sentences. I posted this on Instagram. It was inspired by this article.)

This Blog

My idea for this blog is for it to be like a notebook. This is where I’ll post drafts, notes, thoughts, incomplete writings, and writing exercises like short stories in six sentences and so on. This way there is less pressure to only post what is good. If I post something, it doesn’t have to be the final version, and I can keep editing it as I see fit. I’ll add in the dates every time I edit. 

I suppose I’ll find out more about what I’ll do with it, if anything at all, as I go along.