Challenge Completed

Voltaire (1694-1778) - French writer and philosopher

 Earlier this year, I challenged myself to read 50 books throughout 2011. I have always set to follow the path of those who came before me - to study their wisdom, heed their advice, and learn from their mistakes - by reading what they have put down in paper. Of course, not all sages wrote books. Some of those that I read were published posthumously (after the author has passed away); others, were not received well when they were first published; while others were popular right from the beginning. 

Last night, in one of my journeys in the London Underground, I completed this challenge - as I read the closing paragraph of a satire entitled Candide (1759) by Voltaire. 

"All that is very well," answered Candide, "but let us cultivate our garden."

It is story of a young man named Candide, who was taught that all in life is good - only humans make it bad. He truly admired his teacher and accepted his philosophy wholeheartedly - but then something happened. Later, Candide found it difficult to hold on to this blind optimism, as misery and tragedy befell him and almost everyone around him - including his teacher. Fortunately, it was not a sad ending for him - but his was not a truly happy ending either. 

All these books that I read this year have been nonfiction - except the last one, Candide. This change of genre may be a sign to my future reading list. I wonder where it will take me next.

....

One Year Abroad

It's almost unbelievable. 

I have already spent one year away from home. 

Then again, I have never truly left home - it is where I am. 

Of course I love my family, and I do miss them.

It's been a year since we last hugged and kissed each other. 

I also miss my friends whom I have not met for a year and I'd love to spend time with. 

But I'm not saddened by these thoughts.

That's because love is not mere hugs and kisses. 

Love is not mere company and embrace. 

Love is the sacred bond that traverses infinite space and time. 

Love is not to be returned. 

It can only be initiated.

London Riots - A Black Swan Event

Despite any attempt to make sense of the recent unrest in London streets, I think we should admit that it had caught everyone by surprise. It had a great impact on many people - especially the victims of looters, muggers and rioters; and also to the police, and the UK government - that we all wonder why we didn't expect this to happen at all.


There was a time when the Europeans thought that black swans do not exist, as they had never seen one - until they 'discover' them in Australia.


Nassim Nicholas Taleb had a name for the unexpected, highly significant, retrospectively predictable event: the black swan. In his book, The Black Swan, he discussed the impact of the highly improbable; and since it pervades history, how are we to live with these uncertainties. It's futile, he said, to make predictions about the future, as we can never truly understand the full force of history.


However, we can try to account for all possible futures, but accept what then happen and admit our ignorance of its causes. Just remember that even those with the smallest probabilities can occur - and those that are most probable, do not necessarily happen. With that in mind, I think we can live our lives happily discovering the good surprises that come, and not get badly injured by the unpredictable harmful events as we are mindful of its possibility.


Who would have imagined that suddenly in many streets of London, groups of young 'rioters' go rogue - smashing windows, looting shops, and burning them down? Could we have anticipated the riots and prevented the unrest from getting to such a massive scale? Well, I think not. Maybe the police could have taken a stronger stance against the rioters; Maybe the kids could have been better educated and had better parenting; Maybe the government could have tackled poverty and social inequalities better. They didn't - but we should not be quick as to blame them on all that had happened.