Vid: Life of Pi

The novel was amazing. The story, mind blowing.  

“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.” - Yann Martel, Life of Pi

p/s: You know, when you read a book, you kinda feel yourself as the main character. You feel what they feel, you thought what they thought, and the journey seems similar. Maybe, because we are human. Maybe, because we are living. 

Life: How?

People are people. It got me thinking, what actually defines human? In every chapter of my life after every turn of events, there is always a period of self-reflection.

Perhaps, the genuineness of that particular action determines what living is all about. Self-reflection aims at an individual, yet to construct a judiciary to ourselves, it is almost impossible. People tend to feel that they are superior than others, as a result of self-centeredness or egocentrism which has made people capable of living in a judgemental society where actions and words are closely watched and are being evaluated according to the standard that long ago has been built to maintain social balance.

Thus, in current state of mind, we feel that what we are doing is right, to some extent, ethical as long as people don't interfere with our well being. By far, these conditions succumb the idea of self-reflection as self-awareness is not put in the highest place above all emotions. 

What steer the life of people is emotion. All the while, we cannot escape from feeling anxious, doubt and insecure. After every event that happened, worst if it left any scars, we are more prone to be egocentric and an introvert just to help ourselves heal from those wounds and continue living, a scenario which people have developed immunity or endurance towards criticism in consequence of abandoning what we preach known as moral doctrine.

Internally, this is what drives people to become a jury. People take authority of others if they are somewhat different - belief, race, ideology, physical and etc - judging them for who and what they are as a requirement of living as a group of people who share common interest. In need to survive, it's either they follow these common interests or suffer from being alienated.

As people exhibits the nature of criticizing others, how could they criticize themselves when one already feels their everyday actions are morally right and now they are expected to find a solution to their own internal problem? Judging others is easier as we are not placed in the same boat as them, thus we don't experience what they have gone through, putting us in a stable state of mind and we are able to evaluate everything without any mental disturbance although there is a flaw as we may have pursue such action according to our own knowledge, experience and belief which may not coincide with that targeted people.

Factuality, self-reflection is not as easy as we thought. Separating one's mind into two, and to hope one portion is capable of judging the other half, seeing through our problem and finding a solution are not realistic. The potential we see in ourselves is somewhat inadequate and insufficient. But in reality, it is needed and it does make sense.

By the time we try to do a self-reflection, we may not have come to a conclusion. To improvise when we lack in knowledge and common sense, we decide impromptu to just continue what we are doing as when matter involves emotional-attachment and wrong reasons, it's hard to perceive things as a whole. Self-reflection requires seeing yourself as a totally different entity, and to inspect every part of that entity as a whole in term of physical, emotional and spiritual aspects.

Then, one question arises,

How?

A Tribute To Mr D

During my memorable time at Taylor's, there are three people who inspired me the most and will continue to do so through my hard and ease. Those three are Mr Steven Wise, Ms Foo and a man named Michel De Lottinville.

Mr D wasn't just any lecturer you can find at most universities, he was more than that. A father figure, a leader, motivator and a mentor to me. I remember the first time I met him in his Business Leadership class as he was mourning how his name spell like a girl's name and he was having a hard time pronouncing our names. He did it with joy, but I saw right through him that he took this seriously.

"Michel, could you believe it? But I like my name, but don't call me that. Mr D is fine"

I was never a loud and talkative person. Especially in class. But since BL required us to speak and present in front almost everyday, I was encouraged by him to take a small step. To this day, my presentation skill improved a lot thanks to him, that I was able to score 93 in Individual Presentation and 90 during my ISU (Independent Study Unit) in Mr Wise's class.

But that's just a bit memory of me with him. I like to whistle in class. Sometimes, I do this unconsciously. Then, he cracked like an angry man, "Who did that?" Scared but I raised my hand. Doing his witty smile with one of his eye brows raised a bit, "You shouldn't whistle by yourself. It's never fun that way."

And since that day, we always whistle while doing our homework accompanied by others who can whistle as well. He talked about his family the most. How sad he felt when he lost his mother and brother at such a young age, but he never once forget them. As such, he told us this with a smile on his face and always end up something with a lousy joke with him questioning us at the end, "That wasn't funny right? I need to find a new one."

He would played "I Gotta Feeling" before starting the class while taking our attendance and we need to reply in our own fancy ways, such as singing along with the song and come out in front of the class dancing or doing something indicating that you're present that day. For someone who have a rough day, seeing his smile gives you spirit to go on with life no matter how hard it is, no matter how crook the roads are. 

Despite his cheerful and fun-loving character, he taught us many things by example. Respect, manner and chivalry. He bought us ice-cream almost every week saying "When you have a tough week, nothing beats the sweetness of an ice-cream."

I could see the admiration his students have for him and his passionate demeanour, and understood why they loved him. And I too, love him. He cared for his students, always asking about how was our day going with tests, projects and ISUs, and told us to never give up on our dreams. His word of wisdom and jovial expression keep us alive, and to enjoy every moment till our heart is content.

Though we are so shocked with the news as we never expected Mr D would pull such act knowing him in person, may you rest in peace Mr D. You'll be missed. And I'm thinking of buying your book. 

I've never seen a person who always smile throughout his entire day. But then, it got me, he is Michel De Lottinville. 

. 

TTL #17

The meaning of life is to give life a meaning. So what's your raison d'etre?