Deep Thoughts?

Despite knowing the theory behind the Relativity of Time, I still find it fascinating how a 5-hour drive to Penang can be so interminably long and tiresome, yet the 5-hour drive back from Penang can pass by in almost a blink. Hmmm.....

I commented on it once, how the journey 'to' always seem longer than the journey back. In response, MrWonderful told me that it was because on your way 'to', malaikats and other celestial beings question your motives for the journey every step of the way.

"Where are you going? What are your motives? What are your intentions?"

Err ... okay. I more or less thought that it was mainly due to the anticipation of arriving somewhere that made the journey 'to' so restless, as opposed to the restfulness of the 'event' being over with which makes the trip back seem shorter, but I could be wrong. *cheek!* I just bear in mind that MrWonderful is the product of a sekolah agama secondary school education, so it's hardly surprising he'd hear things like this.

Not that I completely disregard what he said (and nor am I dissing sekolah agamas!). The sentiment is good, and it's always good to question and to be aware of what your motives are for doing something. However, I can't help but be a teensy weensy bit skeptical. Blame it on the urbanite in me. I wasn't exactly brought up believing heavily in the World of the Unseen. It's something which exists on the fringes of my world. But. Yeah.

This time, however, I happen to know exactly why the trip 'to' was longer than the trip back. On the trip 'to', I sat (okay, more like sprawled) in the back, drifting in and out of sleep the whole time, with no idea of how much time and distance had elapsed between one moment of bleary wakefulness and the next. For those who don't know, I am a bad car-traveller. The worst part about long distance travel by car is the fact that I have nothing to do, coz reading in the car makes me nauseous. I travel badly by car and plane. Oddly though, I'm fine in trains and ships. Even more strangely (or maybe not *winkz*), I never minded long-distance drives with MrWonderful. Those were Events and Quality Time to look forward to. ;o)

The trip back, however, was ridden out in the front seat, occupied by discussion (one might be tempted to call it near-argument) with MrMucho (whom I must now refer to as DrMucho, congratulations honey!) on the societal-discrimination vs self-discrimination of Homosexual Men and Women, but mostly Men (because Straight Men do not seem to find the idea of women kissing as repugnant (hell, some even fantasize about it!) as men kissing, hence the greater censure, but that is a different discussion altogether and has no effect on the topic at hand, so we shall leave it at this for now.. My, aren't we wordy! ;op)

Not going too deeply into all that (it was a 5-hour drive, after all!), it led towards further discussion/arguement into the quest for acceptance, straight vs gay relationships (his argument: being allowed to legally marry makes it easier for straight people to have relationships than it is for gay people to have relationships because being able to legally marry makes the relationship bonds stronger. WTF? Commitments are commitments, legal certificates notwithstanding. Apparently, this is not true for gay men. Being allowed legal marriages allows for better relationship foundations. I think it's just a convenient excuse for not committing. Gay men are still men, after all. *winkz*), and a whole host of other things.

But what it mainly boiled down to was me insisting that fundamentally, every human (man, woman, he/she, she/he, gay, straight, datuk, tengku makhota, you name it) is equal and deserves - and should be accorded - every fundamental right, and that all distinctions and discriminations should be ignored and done away with (Note: By 'discrimination' here I am merely meaning the difference created, not its other, more adverse meaning) whereas he maintained that gay people were different that straight people, even fundamentally. Either I am wrong, or he did not really consider the fact appropriately down to its true fundamentals.

He is proud that he is gay and different; different from straight people as well as from other gay people who think that being gay is all about slutty-sleeping-around, no such thing as long-term relationships, etc. While it is good to have personal pride, I wonder if it is all that great if it continues in this vein. By pride, I am not talking about vanity. I suppose it's more an issue of self-respect.

It baffles me that people can be proud of being different. When you think yourself different, you make distinctions and you create boundaries, and this in turn, I believe, gives room for dissention.

Now, I'm no Conformist myself, but I'm not exactly proud of it. Nor am I ashamed of it. It's not even regardable as an accomplishment, it just is. Things are the way they are, regardless of common-held beliefs and rules. Firstly, beliefs are highly individual, nobody could - nor should - tell you what to believe. Secondly, Rules are created by humans and are never absolute. Heck, some of them might not even be right, so I rarely even bother paying attention to them (except for traffic rules, coz I don't want to pay saman. But even then, I ignore them sometimes. Haha!). Ah well. But like I said, beliefs are highly individual. I might just be delusional. Each to her own.

But I still insist that every human is the same, fundamentally. *winkz*

~@~

All that being said, I wonder sometimes if all these philosophical ramblings and discussions are pointless. People sit and discuss and argue and rant and rave over all things 'philosophical', feeling puffed up and important over their own superior intelligence .. and you wonder what the real outcome really is, if one actually exists. What is philosophy, truly?

I think it's all egotism. It's all about people who need to feel important discussing 'something' while they are, in actual fact, discussing nothing. Over-inflated self-sense of superior intelligence. Like the Mensa society. What a bunch of pompous asses! Haha! Apologies to any supporters of Mensa, but these are just my (not so) humble opinions, and this is, after all, my (not so) private rant page. *winkz* Seriously though, it's true if you think about how the idea for Mensa bourne out of spite by this one man who couldn't get into some university, the reasons for its formation no longer seem so noble. Which university was it? Oxford? Cambridge? Harvard? Yale? Talk about a case of sour grapes. What's more, it creates more division! More discrimination! Boycott Mensa! Hehee. *lolz*

Having said all that, I shall be the first to admit that yes, I am one of those people who sits and think I think big thoughts. I am a pompous, egoistical windbag! Haha! Better to mengaku dulu before anyone else hentam kita! *G*

And yet, being aware of all this, I still sit and ponder on the 'philosophical' workings of our world. I don't believe any of it to be absolute truths, but isn't that what philosophy is all about?

All this shite are the inventions of humans. We, as a species, do tend to drum up a lot of shite, don't we? Yet it is a process which doesn't end until the day we die. I may think up a lot of shite, but pray forgive me. I am, after all, only human. *winkz*