Charms in tuesdays with Morrie

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, 191 pages

*The title on the book is capitalized as I have typed, so it is not a mistake although most online reviews and pages for the book capitalize the t and the w.

"Simpson trial was in full swing, and there were people who surrendered their entire lunch hours watching it, then taped the rest so they could watch more at night. They didn't know O. J. Simpson. They didn't know anyone involved in the case. Yet they gave up days and weeks of their lives, addicted to someone else's drama."

"Love is the only rational act."

"Mitch, if you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down on you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone."

"Love each other, or perish."

"People are only mean when they're threatened."

"In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? [...] But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well."

"Death ends a life, not a relationship."
--
No matter how old you are right now, no matter how many books you may be reading at this time, and no matter how busy you might be, allot three hours of your day today and read this book. Your view on how to live your life will completely change, and if it doesn't you can email me for the three hours you lost. This book not only has a powerful writing style, but also a beautiful plot. It is a highly emotional story, one that will definitely remain unforgettable to me for the rest of my life. I am certain that you will fall in love with Morrie and I hope after you read it, you take his advice and start thoroughly enjoying your life.

Here is a picture of my copy from the library. I have also read 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom and I really enjoyed it, though not as much as this one. tuesdays with Morrie became a favorite as soon as I finished the last page and really, I cannot express how much I would be happy if every single soul on the planet could read this book and cherish it.

photograp by Belle, 2013

Charms in Insurgent

Insurgent  by Veronica Roth, 525 pages (Divergent #2)

"Like a wild animal, the truth is too powerful to remain caged."

"Noise and activity are the refuges of the bereaved and the guilty."

"There is no real reason for tear glands to overproduce tears at the behest of an emotion. I think we cry to release the animal parts of us without losing our humanity."

"People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them."

"[S]ometimes the people you oppress become mightier than you would like."
--
I really enjoyed every bit of this follow-up to Divergent. The plot kept me turning the pages, and the story was filled with both emotions and actions. I am looking forward to Allegiant, both for the mellifluous writing and the anticipated ending.

[Spoilers and a More Thorough Review]

The relationships between people in this book surprised me in each passing chapter. I think Veronica Roth has a talent with extreme plot twists and manipulation. Peter saving Tris, Caleb turning out to be a traitor, Tris allying with Marcus, Johanna stepping down from Amity... There was so much tension all throughout the book, but the strained relationship between Tris and Tobias made me anxious the most. Fight after fight they came back with more difficulties and secrets, although I had lost all hope at some point, I liked the reconciliated ending. The message deliverance and the factionless overtake was brilliant. One problem I personally had was the death of Jeanine. It was really sudden and I liked her as a strong interesting character, so I wanted to hear her logical fights and plans in an interrogation or a ceremony, but she just died. What I am left wondering is if the factions will open the gates, and go into the world, and who was the Prior who delivered the message in the video?

I. Am. The. Change.

My life, in all its flat eccentricity involves a lot of soliloquies, and yesterday after I watched 6 TED talks, and was in the process of getting ready to pray, I imagined myself a TED speaker. It was a rare moment of pure intellectual inspiration and I recorded what I was saying instead of typing it or jotting it down because I couldn't risk losing certain concepts that formed in my brain -- I had an inner discovery about change. Change as a general factor in our lives and in our society. This was shortly after reading through an infographic about the millennial generation.

In Turkish, there is a saying along the lines of "If you call a person stupid 40 times, he will eventually believe himself to be stupid." This is the case with our generation, the millennial generation. The generation before us (the adults) and the generation before them (the seniors) keep calling us lazy, impassive, inactive, bored, detached, indifferent and disinterested. And in the end, some of us will believe that we cannot change the world, but the world can't afford that sort of a mindset right now. We can't afford to have a fraction of our generation partially hopeful, a fraction of it completely cynical, and the remaining nonchalantly stoical.

Especially at this time, we can't have people unaware of their surroundings and unwilling to act because they don't believe in their power to change the world. There are lots of challenges waiting to be tackled and every single person on the planet needs to contribute to the solutions. By calling my generation stupid and unable to accomplish anything, not only do people demotivate us but they also drag us into a black hole they have created out of their debts, racism, sexism, discrimination, wars, waste and moral corruptness.

They want us to follow their footsteps and throw ourselves into this black hole, but we won't do that. Why? Because we CAN change the world and we WILL, but the first step is to believe. We need people to understand that we ARE capable of doing that. We are capable of changing the world, and we need people to believe that. We are so much more than what the last generation was. We are capable of producing ideas outside the box that is in reality a dotted circle. We are creative and daring. More than the ones that came before us.

But, we need to believe. My generation needs to believe, and everyone else needs to support that belief. The world took a downturn before us, and the people of my generation were the promised saviors. We were born believing and we were going full speed but suddenly obstacles appeared on our road to changing the world. Suddenly people started saying "Nope, there is a speed limit to how fast you can achieve near-perfection" and "You know, you might even be underage to be on this road..."

I am foolishly realizing that people KNOW we are capable of changing the world, and they KNOW we can help them out of their black hole, but they are so proud and so arrogant, they don't want us to succeed, which makes believing the first threshold we need to step over.

A few weeks ago, I had a small debate with a university professor about what should be done about the youth to insure our paths in life. I told him that the youth needs a clear sense of direction but that alone won't solve our issues, and the environment in which the youth grow and mature needs to be appropriate. And to achieve that environment we need to also direct the parents, the teachers, the leaders, and other influences on the youth in the right direction. He told me it was easier said than done, because no matter how much we work on the youth, we can never change the parents or the teachers or the adults in general because their personalities are already set in stone.

Well, with that mindset, of course we can't. If we believe that we can change the environment, we can. And, that sounds so naive and unrealistically optimistic, but it is true. If I believe I can change these people, I will, but I DO need help. I need people who are passionate and genuinely interested in changing the world. I need people who believe they can change the world.

The professor said, these adults already shaped how they live their lives, you can't change a person's lifestyle after he is 50 years old. That is partially true because 'child is father of the man,' but people change all the time. People change over the years, people change overnight, criminals become philanthropists, football players become artists, atheists becomes theists etc.

And society accepts them wholeheartedly. We don't say 'NO. You were a criminal when you were 17 and you need to die a criminal too. You aren't allowed to help our society by being a good person and doing good things. You are forbidden to change." Since this is not the case, why don't we accept small changes in personalities and mindsets? Small perspective changes to make people more acquainted with the world and open their eyes. If I present you with a new way to view the world, your brain automatically registers that and your horizons broaden despite you. You may not have wanted to know, but as soon as you hear what I say, you cannot undo that, you can't command your brain to erase it, you can't restore to a previous version, you have gained a new frame of reference and that's all it takes.

That, is how I believe I can change the world. And, I am not the only person who believes in herself and in this generation to change the world. There may be thousands of us, but that is still not enough. The world holds 7 billion people, we need to move quicker and we need to make people believe. We need support. We need sincere individuals with the same goal. And, we start small, but in the course of time we will grow. If each impassioned individual influences (yay alliteration) 50 close friends and family, and those 50 people become a part of this huge cause to change the world, the impact will grow exponentially. Each of those 50 people can influence 50 people and if everyone continues to pay it forward, and I was the only person to start the chain reaction it would take less than 6 complete rounds of 50 people to cover the globe's population.

And, if everyone believes, imagine how creatively we will change the world. Our diversities and our different educations, cultures, backgrounds, and languages will coalesce in a unique harmony and we will change the world abstractly. And, (not to brag or anything) my generation will be the artist behind this new masterpiece, my generation will be the author of this new world. A new world where education is free, poverty is at its lowest, people aren't hungry and there is a cure for cancer. We CAN do this. But to do that, we need to start, and to start is at the heart. We need to believe, we need to find it logical to believe, and we need to act.

Everyone needs to do something in zer power. If your best ability is to tweet then tweet, if you have a lot of connections on Facebook, then share with people, if you can video blog, then become a YouTuber, make a recording, post it on Tumblr, make a collage on your wall that tells a story, take a picture of it, put it on Instagram. Use the social networking websites/apps to change the same adults who shame them. Show them we can. Show them we can change them, show them we aren't disconnected, show them we WILL change the world. Show them how easy it is for us to accomplish that.

Be inspired. Be passionate.
Because we can get the hell away from that black hole and we can start a new world on a different star. We can watch the galaxies and we can travel on the moon. Is this relevant? Yes. Every ounce of it. I am inspired, I am happy, I believe. I believe that every word I type on this blog, every photograph I share, every single line I draw in my sketch book contributes to something. Something I believe in. Something that will change the world.

Yours truly,
A fervent Belle