sometimes perfection can be,
it can be perfect hell.
Perfect.

-Jack's Mannequin

Social Contract

It was Thomas Hobbes who declared that men are incapable of controlling their brutish ways. They enter the social contract with the sovereign, subserviently for protection in exchange for freedom and rights. Each individual enters this covenant at his own will. For Hobbes, men are incapable of breaching this contract, because doing so would be contradictory to its original intention. It would be an act of returning to the state of nature, resorting to the interests of the 'selfish self', that which the individual once was prior to engaging into the social contract.

For John Locke, the purpose of the social contract was for men to maintain protection of their property and estates. In the state of nature, every man was his own king. The insecurity that existed called for a community of men to unite, and give consent to the government. The contract between the people and the state makes each dependent on the other. The existence of check and balances limits arbitrariness and factions. Unlike Hobbes model, the people have the capability to dissolve the government.

Rousseau warns that "Man is born free but is everywhere in chains". Today, I witnessed the people of Egypt untangle a part of the chains. The will of the people was heard, a revolution of non-violence and persistence to oust their own leader. I do not know what will happen next, nor am I sure where Egypt is in the model of the social contract. Especially at this transitional point in time. But I do believe that citizens share a certain power over the state. And that the general will of the people determines the legitimacy of a state's action. And that the the people when united, becomes indivisible.

I think I just witnessed a defining moment in history.
So long, Mubarak. I pray for a smooth transition in Egypt.

In solidarity,

Worm

I am just so happy.  =]
Good  GREAT things do happen to those who wait.
The patient bird is catching the most juiciest worm after all.
Alhamdulillah.

Reign

Look at the wooden wheels spinning
It's a tragic comedy of broken dialogue
I sat on the cart of bandaged chivalry
Hands tied to my back, dripping dignity
Soaked red in royalty of a monarch,
In my own castle of liberty.

Gutenberg

My printer ate my Philosophy of Feminism paper. And instead of playing doctor and operating on my junk piece of machine, I decided to blog my frustration. I honestly blame Johannes Gutenberg for his printing press invention. What a world we could have lived in, if trees hadn't been chopped off and pulped into gazillions of wasted papers. Papers I'd spend hours on, printed, submitted, marked...only to be chucked into the garbage bin after. I'm not narcissistic enough to frame each one of my essays, thank you very much.

And don't get me started on the textbooks...

Silly things

I miss you.

& the silly missions we'd run,

going for cheesecake at 8pm to help brainstorm logo plans for CSAS

sitting on the porch eating ice-cream summer evenings
driving around highways just to watch airplanes land

singing stupid songs in the car out of tune

sharing random stories all night.

I miss simple things.

Noun

Simone de Beauvoir insists that, "One is not born a woman, one becomes one". I am in the awkward phase in life, where my mental existence and intellect are rallying for recognition of maturity. However my emotional tendencies are incapable of conforming or catching up. Nineteen is an awkward age.

I'll get upset if you call me a lady.

But I may also cringe if you call me a girl.

So choose your noun wisely.