Useless fact of the day:

In an episode of The Simpsons, Sideshow Bob's Criminal Number is 24601, the same as the Criminal number of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.

Ok, as the headline perhaps indicated, this Blab is going to be about Ghandi. Yes, THE Ghandi.
      The reason? Well, I saw the movie about his life last night, and I have only seen a bit of it before. And I realized that my non-hostile Blabbing was actually inspired by his passive-resistance philosophy. So call me a rip-off or whatever, but I would like to think that I didn't invent something as obvious as the things I preach about, and for the record, neither did Ghandi, but he truly fought for them, and dedicated his whole life to it, and died for it, for the things he believed in, for the things he felt and knew were right. Myself, well, I'm just sitting in my comfortable Gnug-Cave infront of the computer, playing Mr. Justice by complaining about oh how bad and evil we all are, and how the world has gone to hell with all the misery and apathy among us, and where power, greed and injustice rule.
      I feel it's only fair to talk about this little man with glasses who took on the British empire, injustice and discrimination without the use of any traditional weapons. There have been many other great people, but no-one quite like Ghandi, and the Terror organizations and dictators of today should all go an rent the movie about him, or look up what he did.

The entire idea and philosophy about turning your cheek ofcourse comes from farther back, but so few really practice this what is alot more efficient than just using brute force. Ofcourse, in the world today, one can always discuss about certain needs of using force, but just use your imagination a bit, and you should be able to see and determine where to utilize what Ghandi did so well. And where as he brought a lot of people together in a common cause, trying to incorporate the non-violence/non-hostile/passive resistance idea into ones own life and everyday should be something all people aimed for, it should be taught in schools and on Television, it should be the beginning of a new world order, where violence is shunned and simply not an option.
      And do notice that I'm not implying that we should all become passive dummies infront of some hostile element who would obviously abuse the fact that you weren't gonna strike back at that person.

A rather concrete and ambitious answer to the whole thing could come in the shape of something like Aikido. Yes, the Martial Art Aikido. Now I'm not an expert here, and I haven't had the opportunity to look into this properly, but I do beleive the basic idea and philosophy behind Aikido is to defend oneself, and turn attacks against the attacker. Obsolving offenses.

Now some would say that the best defence is attacking, but that has it's time and not. It doesn't mean that one should attack anything prematurely, but when it has its obvious purposes, I assume that it can be justified properly. But for now, a martial art with the likes of Aikido is the sort of thing that could solve some of the immediate situations and questions one can produce in a scenario of trying to create a new world order.

So what has this to do with Ghandi? A lot and at the same time, not much. Ghandi tried to change things, wrong things, and make them right. Which in his place and time was the Grip that the British Empire held on India. And Ghandi defied the laws that he felt were wrong. Laws that opressed his people. And how did he defy them? Well, he didn't get all fired up and went on a rampage of killing and hostage taking, he simply defied the unfair laws. And that's exactly what those laws were, unfair. So I'm not urging you to go out on a defiance rampage just becuase you feel that speed limit is unfair. I'd smack you non-violantly and passively in the face if you gave me a paralell such as that one. This is no time for petty selfishness and closed mindedness. It is usually pretty obvious which laws and such are totally unfair and unjust, and which are not. These were different times Ghandi lived in, and things were a lot different back then. Simpler perhaps, but that doesn't mean that one can compare the fights he had with fights of today. But just as the days were different, so would the fighting have to be different today, but not essentially or fundamentally different. I believe that one could fight for some noble purpose today with keeping the Philosophies of Ghandi in mind and be all the more successful than utilizing other methods. I'm talking about incorporating and modernizing the ideas and Philosophies of Ghandi to fit today. And all other great ideas and philosophies from old times for that matter. Society seems to have lost focus these days, and there isn't any single great overwhelming injustice out there to fight anymore, atleast not one that's all that visible. Things aren't all that simple anymore. But to get all corny here: I have a dream. And that dream basically consists of a better and unified world, since it's all gone totally bonkers now.
      One could just give up and give in, lose hope in humanity, but with people like Ghandi, an ounce of hope is revived. The fact that a person like him has ever lived makes it all worth while, and one can have a moment of pride in being a member of the species.

So a request here: Go rent or see the movie "Ghandi", and search yourself afterwards (And during). What could you do to make a better world ? What can you learn from the story about the little balled Indian man with Glasses ? What can you use that he preached in your everyday?
      Bettering oneself is an occupation that we should all take upon ourselves, and never stop with it. I guess there are some elements of Star-Trek in that too. Captain Picard said it quite well when he said that (Quoting off hand here): "The aquisition of wealht is no longer the drive in our lives. We seek to better ourselves and our species."

Ghandi preached something that wasn't all that different, and he lived by it too.

The fight for a better world is also in each individual.

--- o ---

Well, I hope I didn't lose myself in there again today, it would be a shame, especially when Blabbing about something like this, and someone as honorable as Ghandi.

I know I might be saying many things over and over, in different packages or outfits, but I would think it's Better to say it all twice, than not having said everything.

*Preaching mode: Off:

The promise about the Newbie Blabbing will have to be fulfilled in the next Blab. Actually, I'm in the middle of writing it, but feel it needs more time, and this seemed to take presedence, since I want to talk about the movie before I forget about too many of the details. Not that I'll simply forget about this ingenious movie and the man it was about. This has been etched into my memory.

And where does humour come into this ? Well, like someone said: "Joke, don't mock"!
      One can easily be humorous without being disrespectful. That's atleast a philosophy I agree with. If someone doesn't agree, I don't think I'd want to be spending any time with them.
      The reason I say this is becuase some might feel that the humor in my latest Blabs has decreased or simply disappeared, if there ever was any humor in the earlier Blabs that is. Well, don't worry, I couldn't fit humor into any of these Blabs, or more likely, I didn't think about humor when I wrote them, too busy preaching. But I hope I haven't been too dry or serious sounding. AND HEY, I'M NOT DONE PREACHING YET! BWAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA