BBC reporter Jon Donnison said, “It is often difficult to pinpoint when a specific escalation in violence started - both sides will always remember what they see as a previous act of aggression by the other which enables them to justify their attacks as retaliation.” But we can do better than that.

"Hold fast by the covenant of Allah all together and be not disunited. And remember Allah's favour to you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts, so by His favour you became brethren." (3:103) 

Reading through "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera, I couldn't help but find myself agreeing with his view of how the human race seems to be less and less able to live without burdens/responsibilities, or in this case we are going to use the umbrella term "weight".

How are we living? The way life as we know it has evolved into an elaborate algorithm, a routine containing classes which get called every morning of a working week. Forgive the pseudo-programmer in me. Obviously, the great villain here is work. Studies, not so much. Sometimes you attend lectures, sometimes you don't. Work on the other hand, has been made into something so inflexible you might think it's a diamond rod that is so far up your arse, it controls your locomotive and limbic system, dictating everything you do and think. Imagine the olden days where Diogenes of Sinope would just lie about learning about the people in his village, or taunting Plato. What happened to good old free will? Why are we bent on bending over and doing shit for other people when we could run our own dream business, the whimsical way we want? The answer most likely is "The money is good." Ah money, another great evil, not to be tackled today otherwise this would never end. With the expenses we make to get a good tertiary education, only to land into a job, that will pay back your student loans after 10 years, we find ourselves, in the best case scenario, 30 years old, before we can even start thinking about investing in a house. The great question here is, are your goals, more important that living the life you dreamt of? Or are your goals eventually going to lead you to realising your dreams? If so, then will you be able to enjoy it fully at the time it will come true?


Lightness. The term "no responsibility" comes to mind. Eternal dreamer that I am, I have come to deduce that the most brilliant ideas come at times when we are just doing and thinking nothing. Like the fly flying aimlessly in a room only to hit the odd unlit lightbulb, that on touch, lights up. Like any living thing, the innate fear of being burnt by the sun  makes the fly recoil and check that light source from a distance. What is it I am talking about you say? It is the fear of making our dreams come true. Because the adage "It's too good to be true." keeps running amok in our head. Media makes us think we need shit we don't have any fucking use for and that is where the money which could be used to make one of your dreams come true, goes.

Weight. Is it good, is it bad? The inexplicable need of doing things that can hurt oneself is inherent in human behaviour, triggers of which are detailed in this paper. Common sense would opt for lightness - opposite of weight in this context - as the good. I am pro-lightness but I do recognise the need for weight as a means to lightness. Think of it as the tunnel that one has to go through from London, before ending up in the City of Love, Paris. :) But then, what is your opinion on the matter?