Posts Tagged ‘essay’
Courage is self-created
Posted on: September 13, 2020
- In: essay
- Leave a Comment
Courage is the ability to feel bold and brave, to stand up and keep walking and keep doing something that others might feel daunting. In today’s society, one needs a lot of courage just to strive through their days because of our extremely busy and stressful lifestyles. Therefore, we cannot depend on anyone to encourage us, but ourselves. Without courage, we might be defeated easily. Moreover, everyone has their own problems to solve, therefore, no one will actually care about our problems and obstacles. Creating our own courage is easier than most people thought, though it includes adjusting your mindset and lifestyle accordingly.
From the moment we are born, we can only depend on ourselves. Without courage we might be defeated easily in life’s brutal reality. I recently have a lot of problems at work. Life is a problem-creating machine that never let you down. Even when you think your life is going smoothly, something out of nowhere will surely come and present itself, inflict its burden on your life and demand you to solve it. I love my job, but the amount of drama that I have to deal with recently has been hectic and pushing all my mental limits within such a small amount of time. Moreover, the world is going through a pandemic crisis and personally, I have been gaining weight and not at my best fitness level due to lack of motivation for exercise as well as the inability to leave home. I am, by all means, not at my best. I feel defeated and I feel like a total loser. I realised how fragile our mental health is and a little bit of a ripples on the calm surface can sway us to have such negative thoughts. I need courage to keep solving my own problems. The only way to solve this is to break all the problems that makes me feel bad down into smaller pieces and deal with them one by one. I can only depend on myself, and if I don’t find the courage to wake myself up and keep going, I will be defeated, also by myself, for sure.
Expand our view out, everyone has their own obstacles and issues to deal with everyday. Therefore, even though they might listen (or pretend to listen), no one actually care about your problems. A counsellor is paid to listen to your problems. A doctor is paid to treat you. A psychologist charged you money for their time. There’s always a catch. You might argue well a phone with a friend might be genuine, but at the end of the day, only we can solve our own problems. After an hour phone call with three different friends, I sit in my room and realise the problem is still there. I do feel a bit better, but tomorrow is a new week and I still have to go into work and face it head-on. It is difficult to find the courage to tackle these. However, once you have the right independent mindset, you will start to change your own life.
How do we find our own courage and not depend on others for this? When I exercise today, I feel that I’m not as fit as I use too. I am heavy and my weight has increased. Nevertheless, I told myself to take small steps and keep going slowly with the exercises. Even though I am out of breath and the world seems to spin around me, after some gulps of water, I feel better. My heart is pumping faster and my mood elevated. I feel invigorated and alive again. Exercise is one of the most effective method to combat mental health problems such as depression. Once your mood is elevated, it is easier to find the courage to solve other problems. When you have a talk with a friend about your problems, don’t just rant on about it. Take this opportunity to discuss with them the answer to our problems. Most of the time, the issue weighs us down because we focus too much on the issue’s characteristic instead of the solutions. Break the issue down into smaller steps and solve one by one. Once you solve each step, it will give you the courage to continue to the next one, and the next one.
Today, I told myself that I will create my own courage. I realise that I am alone in this life (not in a lonely meaning) and I need to stop being a loser. I will start to find my own courage. It will be hard sometimes, but whenever life gets hard, just remember that courage is inside each of us, you just have to dig it up under all the depressing messes that you bury your own courage. Be healthy, live a good lifestyle, help people, make yourself feel good and never forget to rest when your body required. These things will make sure you have the strength to keep going tomorrow.
(Completed in timed 30 minutes)
*Background info: I am required to develop a piece of writing based on 5 quotes about patriotism, I chose this one to write on:
“Patriotism is not short ,frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime” – Adlai Stevenson
ESSAY
PATRIOTISM – THE LOVE THAT NEVER STOPS
I never understand patriotism until I packed my bag for studying abroad in Australia. Then I miss everything about my country and family. Patriotism is a broad term that it is hard to grasp at young age. It is often confused with the love for family, for certain memories of the past, but indeed, it is a collection of all of those. The first few night sleeping alone in the foreign country, i finally realise how far my family is and how my life will never be the same anymore. A slow emotional reaction, to a reality that changed too fast to absorb all at once. I guess this is the love for my country, this feeling. But what I did not know is it can manifest to something much bigger and last much longer.
Patriotism can be small, simple things. A memory. A piece of souvenir from your country. A melody of an old song which stirs up memory, in the case of my Mom. She used to listen to “Huong xua” (in Vietnamese it translate to “Aromas from the past”) and cries every time. Patriotism reveal itself inside each person when we have to leave behind our hometown or even move to a new place. it can be a moment of high emotion, laying in bed at night thinking about old times. However, it can also be something bigger.
After 1975, the communist from the North of Vietnam invaded the South of Vietnam, results in a mass of refugee fleeing the country by boats. Many reached their liberty harbour, but a large amount of people died on the way. The fire of patriotism has not stopped burning inside the Vietnamese living oversea since then. My uncle, a veteran in the Vietnam War, keep on fighting in his anti-communism organisation with other veterans around the world. They all hope one day magically Vietnam will become democratic again and communism will collapse. Several people also travel back to their homeland to help the poverty there by doing charity and volunteer work. The love for our country never ends after more than 40 years. Some have been fighting in peace for a lifetime literally.
So to correct Adlai Stevenson statement – “Patriotism can be a short, frenzied outburst of emotion, but it can also be the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime”. I thought I knew how patriotism feels like; I thought I knew about my country; but as I age, I realise I know nothing much about it at all. It is this vast vacuole inside my soul, waiting to be explored more and filled with even more love and memory.
“All I know of you (Vietnam) is the sight of war. A film by Coppola, a helicopter’s roar” – The sweet sound of Quynh Anh’s singing “Hello Vietnam”, originally in french,”Bonjour Vietnam” by Marc Lavoine, is echoing in my mind.
What is war? I always picture it as people fighting each other on a vast field, either by shields and swords, or by guns and cannons. As a person who was fortunate enough to be born into piece, the significance of war has never really make sense in my mind until I become mature.
When I was small, I only see wars through movies and documentaries. It has never been my interest since wars come with history, my least favourite subject at school. Just like any other kids, war also come about through old stories from grandma and my parents. War was days and days of hardship, of men and husband fighting on battlefields, of wives and lovers waiting at home hopelessly, of love songs about parting each other. War, in a kid’s mind, have all been sugar-coated and honey-dipped to protect our naive minds from tragedies, sadness and loss. For me, war was as normal as the daily forecast on TV with a few people died in Iraq followed by a couple of rains in Saigon my hometown.
As I progress through life, my perception changed and I have a better understanding of war. Through reading and stories, war is now a horrible word. It is the lost of a loved ones, torn of families and sometimes an ironic romance that never been fulfilled. After the war between the North and South of Vietnam ended in 1975, thousands of Vietnamese left the country by boats. Some made it to the other end, but a large number never reached the freedom harbour. Reading “The kite runners” by Khaled Hosseini and seeing the fate of children in war-torn countries, I came to realise how these barbaric events affect people around the world, especially children. I realised how lucky I am.
War is waged by men, not by gods. How good will this world be if we can all negotiate through disagreements by talking. War is the way countries showing power to one another and it is also an inhumane way to make money through selling weapons. Since Donald Trump became the president of the United States, he has made a good amount of controversial decisions and created several conflicts with other nations. Recently is the economic war with China. Who know if these will later lead to World War III? It is painful to think that war was created by a few political leaders, who claim to represents a whole country’s people. This need to change, from the way countries are dealing with one another.
The power game between nations need to stop. To think that one day, in human progression where war will become morally impossible, like Charles Harpur said, is a bit idealistic. Nevertheless, It is possible to follow Sun Tzu’s advices: “The supreme excellence is not to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. The supreme excellence is to subdue the armies your enemies without even having to fight them”. How? By love! Think about love when you’re about to start a fight. Children need to be taught love, not hate. They need to learn to love not also their family, but also for human kind; because after a war ends, we will all be asking ourselves “What are we even fighting for? We are all human”.
Sunday 22/07/2018
Essay: No joy sparked
Posted on: July 9, 2018
Going through my Dad’s drawer in his room, I came across an unused Parker pen with several full ink refills accompanied it, all bundled together in a small plastic bag at the back of the drawer. Another day, I was curious to see what was in the cupboard under the sink in my Mom’s bathroom. I stumbled across piles and piles of old Vietnamese books of my Dad. Some still have cover wrapped in old newspaper or old calendar pages.
Looking at them, I suddenly feel so sad and I could not find the reason why, probably because they are objects that were never used properly and would possibly never been used anymore. They are still new, shiny, books that have pages still smell of ink. I suddenly think of Marie Kondo, the ‘master’ of tidying from Japan. In her book “The life-changing magic of tidying up”, she spoke about objects that ‘spark joy’ within us when we see them. These objects in my Mom’s drawer probably never spark joy. The Parker pen possibly sparked only once when it was bought. They have become part of a hoarding mess of life. Sad and lonely.
I then shift my thinking to the problem of buying excessively in people. Even I have the same problem sometimes. Will the objects really give us joy or it is just an impulse buy and we are once again a victim of the vicious marketing strategies of the seller? Do I really need this pen or I want it just because it looks nice in the display counter? I notice that when I am on holiday and I sit and study at a big but empty table, my ability to concentrate drastically improve. There are no laptop around to distract. There are no little decorating ornaments to fondle with my fingers. There are no annoying peripheral stimuli to irritate my working brain. If a place is de-cluttered, a mind living in it will also be.
Human beings are similar to unused objects in term of we start to feel useless and depressed. We see this in elderly. As they get older, their ability and quality of life decrease as they cannot do what they used to anymore. Some will find new things to do and adapt, some never will. It is a sad sight when seeing elderly migrants in foreign countries as they have a better life in another country, but they are never truly happy. They arrived to the new land with at a mismatch age, not young anymore to work, but old enough to start feeling the length of time on their shoulders. No more joy is sparked.
I then came across a small Vietnamese book amongst the pile with the title “Happiness: picked up”. The book has page after page with inspirational quote about happiness. I open a random page that read “Happiness is right inside ourselves”. These words spark joy. I picked up the book and decided to keep it to read. Finding happiness within us is a great quality to have as we are no longer depend on the outside factors. We are happiness. If we learn to make use of ourselves an if everyone could think this way, the world would have less depression.
(Complete 08/07/2018)
“The grass is always greener on the other side” – my Mom always said when I was small. She keeps reminding me every time I compare my life or my job with others’. As I grow up, I slowly realised and learned from experience how true this saying is. However, I need to be told from time to time so that I refrain from comparing myself with people around me. Self-awareness is an important quality that everyone should pursuit in life. No one can make us feel inferior if we do not allow them to.
It is hard to always be ware of what we already have, especially when the world is filled with people who constantly brag and show off about their luxury lifestyle, whether it is real or just an instagram illusion. Social media is drowned in magnificent pictures of self-obsessed individuals who are trying to compete with each other for virtual ‘likes’ from other same strangers. We think we know someone just by looking at their facebook profile. People feels inferior and trying to boost their egos in the next social media post. Nonetheless, one self-awareness is acquired and strengthened, self-validation comes with it. The right to validate one’s life does not remain in another’s hand but our own. “Empty vessels make the greatest sound”. Once we are content, we have no need to brag about our lives anymore.
Self-awareness is, however, different from being judgemental. Dwight Morrow has said “we judge ourselves by our motive and others by their actions”. People failed to see other’s motives in their actions. I used to hate my managers until I become one. Only then, I feel the pressure from the upper level managers and I understand why all my former bosses were being harsh on their staffs. A new lesson has been learned. Constantly thinking twice or a few times before judging is important. It is hard to fit ourselves into someone else’s shoes but we do not know it is uncomfortable until we do. Maybe they also feel the same.
I still see the greener grass on my neighbour’s lawn everyday. However, something new has emerged inside: I do not care! I am content. Only being this way that can help one be happy. “Everyone has their time in life” is another reminder from Mom. Be aware and be happy!
(Thursday 28/06/2018)
Essay: Censorship – Expository
Posted on: June 22, 2018
“Censorship” – A word that only should exist in the movie-making world, has actually been the ways several political systems work. When there is censorship, we know for sure someone is insecure and has something to hide. Noel Miller has said “A confident outgoing society has no need for censorship”. This is always true.
No one is competent enough to decide what everyone should read. “Read” here does not just mean from books, but also means social media and everything else on the internet that provides us with information. The recent passing of the “Cyber-security Law” in Vietnam is a sound example of inappropriate, to the point of stupidity, censorship. Passing of this law requires global companies like Google and Facebook to have sub-headquarters in the country so the political system can control the information easily; in turn, the dictating one-party communist government can control what citizens can and cannot see. The issue slows down dramatically the economical developments of the country. Right after the law was passed, stock values in Vietnam dropped substantially as many investors leaving the country where they have no control over their own information anymore. The basics has been stripped off and censored, therefore, bad consequences came.
Reading is always paired wiht expressing of one’s opinion and ideas. This helps to facilitate and push society forwards. Censoring ideas means the same with damaging basic right: the freedom of speech. Without being freely to express our ideas, the society can only go backwards. Looking at North Korea, another extreme communist country. Are they developed? Or they end up being one of the most out-dated and constraint country in the world? Consequently, censorship dumbs down its won people and result in poorly development. Freedom of speech is essential. Being able to expose ourselves to new ideas and controversial opinion help us to be viable, to shape ourselves and progress.
Everyone needs to realise censorship does not work. There will always be ways to bypass it. In fact, sometimes the consequences can be far more pronounced. In June 2018, a valedictorian high school girl of Petaluma High School in California, United States, has been “shut up” during her speech when she started to mention about her own alleged case of being sexually assaulted on campus. Noted that the school did not take action when she reported the case in confidential. Her microphone was silent. Her voice was silent against something, in contrast, needs to be exposed and corrected. After, she took her full speech on social media and youtube, ended up with more than 300,000 views worldwide. You cannot silent the right, it will ways find ways to amplify itself.
Trying ti hide something by censorship is always a show insecurities to the world. A healthy society has nothing cover. Instead, like a beautiful body and soul, it needs to be showed off, to inspire and to continue growing strong.
(Friday 22/06/2018)
NeverGiveUp_Boy's Blog 
Newest comments