Huh? Its Valentines day? Really? And the superbowl is in a couple of weeks? What happened to January?...And other deep revelations.

I completely forgot that Feb 14th was V-day. It came as a little bit of a surprise when my instructor said there will be no surfing tomorrow because he has to take his gf out. Why so surprising? I guess for me at home V-day usually has a pretty big build up (TV, radio, friends, etc…). Yet this time, it had completely slipped my mind. Well, that and there are very little advertisements/reminders for V-day here (at least English ones). I have to admit that V-day is usually kinda depressing for me (I should actually say it IS depressing) as a majority of the time, I spend it single. But out here, I’m almost completely alone (I have no friends out here besides the locals which don’t exactly have the best English) and I don’t feel one ounce of sadness about it.

Things are different at home I guess. Getting pounded over and over again with the same corporate garbage, still has an effect on you regardless of how well you know its just a fictitious holiday. I’ve had a few interesting revelations out here (in Lampuuk) while sitting in my room, sweating like a pig, bored to tears. Mostly about how the world as I see it. Generally its regarding what my parents have always told me, but also about life in a first world country.

I read the book The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (excellent read for those of you atheists, or religious but atheistic at heart people) while in Malaysia. It really got me thinking, not about religion (I’ve always been an atheist, now I’m just more proud to say it), but in terms of the way that people think. So many of us (I included) have been raised to think a certain way about life. This gives us a very unique set of morals and beliefs (some of which are religious) which I have began to notice are almost, dare I say, country specific. They are also specific to your socioeconomic class, but most importantly, how you were raised by your parents.

I’m not saying that my parents have raised me wrong in any way. Nor am I saying that I was raised perfectly. I’m just saying that the things that I believe, and what my parents have told me are not always true/correct. Back to the idea of V-day, understanding new truths about life after being bombarded for years about another, has been sort of an epiphany for me. I have always thought of myself as a free thinking person. Flexible and bendable in every way. But I’m slowing coming to the realization that I’m a damn stubborn fool.

Change is slow, painful (sometimes), and constant battle within yourself. For the better? Maybe. For the worse? Again, another maybe. Back to Dawkins, he mentioned several times about religious zealots, like Al Qadia and American Taliban. At first I was just thinking that these people are just crazies. They believe that the Bible/Qran is the word of God, while in reality, it MAY have been, but after being translated so many times, who knows (I’m not going to argue whether the Bible is the greatest work of fiction here, this is a travel blog people, hahaah!).

I now see the struggle in which these people must endure. In the face of overwhelming evidence, they still cling onto their beliefs. They call it faith. I call it something else. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it stupidity (or I’d be calling myself stupid). I’d instead label it as fear, in my case at least. To go against everything you’ve been taught and told (over and over by some) about how to live your life and the choices to make.

Dawkins talks about this. Its called Hell to Christians. To me, its my own personal hell. A place where, if you didn’t listen to the advice of your parents, friends, and less importantly, governments and big corporations, you end up, instead of being happy and successful (ie. rich as corporations would have you believe).

Life is much more complicated than what all combined would have you believe. But then again, that is the old me talking. Life really isn’t that hard. Its more simple that you think. History has shown, when Man is confronted with a huge problem, great thinkers may spend years, even lifetimes, dreaming up complicated models, methods and solutions. Yet some of the greatest mysteries have been solved with just the simplest of equations (remember e=mc2?).

Sometimes, it’s the simplest solution that makes the most sense.
Sometimes, they’re also the hardest to accept.

-bk