Free Will

"Free will is a gift you'll never how to use until you fight for it..."

This is a quote from a movie, "The Adjustment Bureau" that tells a story about a man who tries to fight all obstacles that come in his way in being with the love of his life. It sets a question that has been asked by philosophers and laymen altogether, "What is free will?"

I'm not a philosopher and I can never talk eruditely about philosophy whatsoever but this movie makes me think, how do fates and our free will interplay to create the life we have now? In an ordinary person's language, how many percents of influence and power do fate and free will have? I used to discuss with my friend about how if there is a "jodoh", you'll find your soulmate. We tried to answer the question, do we search for the partner of our life, or do we fight for him/her?

In Islam we are required to believe in Qada' and Qadar. These are the notions that our lives are predestined, but it doesn't mean we have to just let it be, we still need to make efforts upon something. What I understand is that (and please, if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me) everything is already written, and by our efforts and prayers, we can either stay in the presupposed condition, or we can "rewrite" it on the permission of Allah.

This movie really teaches me the value of fighting for your fate, or in a more familiar term, the value of fighting for your dream. I can't stop hearing people believing the notion that if it's too hard, it means you're not supposed to do it. Have you ever heard people say, "It's raining, it means we're not supposed to eat out..." or, "I failed again, I don't think I'm cut out for this," or, "You see, our car breaks down, it's a sign we're not supposed to go!" We are too easy to be tackled down and we're too easy to give up. But we rarely realize that giving up is a way of "writing" our fate for us to fail.

Remember this particular verse in Qur'an (the meaning is roughly translated from Rad : 11),

"Allah would not change the fate of a people until they change it themselves..."

When We Were Young

Take That released their mini album, with their single, "Love Love" being the theme song for X-Men's latest series part. Said that, this entry is not about Take That nor X-Men, but I'm particularly touched with one of Take That's song in their latest album, called "When We Were Young."

The main gist of the song is that when we children, everything seems simple and idealistic. We believe in superheroes and ultimate justice. We believe that good things happen to good people and that bad endings will always befall the unjust ones. We live in this fairy imaginations that guide our happiness and simplicity.

Yes, they are simple and colorful, but we as adults can learn so much from them. They are these "foolish fearless" who somehow only know the concept of consequences after doing something. I don't condone just doing things impulsively, but I don't condone living in fear too. Some of us, especially me, always worry about tomorrow and what it might bring us. In a way, these worries always stop us from really enjoying things.

As adults, we learn how to act in accordance to the results that will occur after that, but it can be too much that it's the only thing that we ever think of. I just wonder, are we too adult? Why is it so hard for us to see things as they seem, and to see every day as a dream? Rather we overanalyze things to be what they are not, and every day is a fearful passing time.

Balancing between your adult self and your inner child can be an art. How wonderful it can be if we know how to be careful, but see things as how children see... colorfully.

The Dilemma of Writing

One of the things that I want to be when I grow up is a writer. I love writing because since I'm a person who cannot very much speak that laudably, I can express my feelings and opinions better by writing them. But who knows, writing has its own price. Try to think, when you write, you become so invested with it that you let your thought, imagination, and creativity run freely. Some people let them run too much that it becomes a piece that hurts other people. It becomes a piece that destroys relationships.

I always wonder how writers (such as journalists, creative writers, etc) write and still have to face their emotional and ethical dilemma in day-by-day basis. When they write something, they don't just involve their own selves, but also the subjects whom they are writing about. And the topics that they have to write about are not always safe, but can be very controversial and emotion-provoking in nature. In brief, the scopes of their writing is something that hurts others, and when this happens, you ruin the reputation you have, not as a writer only, but as a human being.

I don't have much to talk about this issue, but I promise myself I'll learn better. There is someone who I hurt and I think I have betrayed his trust. I am truly deeply sorry for what I wrote and I hope my entries in the future will be something that are professional and beneficial in nature.