Independence.
I was at my grandma's house just now, watching my cousin play Maplestory. Not sure about why it's a story(I couldn't see a story, or maybe I was cockeyed), but that's beside the point. My cousin's character name was some Mrindenpent or something.
I'm thinking that he was trying to spell independent, but I think I can understand if he spelt it as 'independant'. I mean, I could screw that up, too. But indenpent is a bit..
Oh well.
Back to the topic.
So I was sitting there watching him kill stumps of wood when I started thinking about how teenagers always talk about 'freedom' and 'independence' as if it's their basic human rights, and not a prerogative that they are so often deprived of.
'I got curfew.'
'Mother say I must study if not cannot play computer.'
'Mother say I cannot play computer because I played too long.'
I think we can all agree that with independence comes freedom. For example, if I have money, I won't have to work for a boss. If I don't have to be an employee, I have more free(sex) time, thus fulfilling my 'freedom' rights.
But how many people actually get to be 'independent'? In life, there are many shackles binding us. Take for example, me. I have school, I have to go to school, I have to do my homework, I have to blah blah blah.
Even in my free-time, I am bound to stuff like 'I have to be online at XX:XXhrs to set this stuff building/send troops to somewhere.
I think that this kills the freedom.
But I think I'm deviating from the topic. I was talking about independence and its influence on freedom of a human.
So if there's no 'independence', there's no 'freedom'.
So is there 'independence'?
I think not.
For teenagers, we have no financial capabilities. We can't even feed ourselves, or at least most of us can't. Or at least, I can't. The terms for 'independence' can't be fulfilled here then.
This is the definition of independence from dictionary.com:
2. freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like of, of others.
To achieve independence, you need all the above criteria. For teenagers like us, it's not possible. We need to eat. Where do we get our food? Our parents/maids cook them. If not, we eat out. And where do you get the money to eat out? From parents. So you are, in a way, bound to your parents.
And if you're bound to your parents, you have no freedom.
It just isn't possible to achieve freedom without independence. If I were to live under someone else's roof, I am a guest. I am dependent on the host's hospitality, like, if they don't want to keep me there, I can't. If they don't allow me to use the toilet, I can't. If they don't want me to keep my private parts to myself, I can't. Unless I leave their house and stop being a guest.
And if I were to leave the house, where can I stay?
Same rule applies to the relationship we have with our parents. We live off them, we live with them, we listen to them. Simple.
Therefore, independence is a term that can never be fulfilled.
Let's talk about 'influence', dictionary.com once again:
1. The capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others: He used family influence to get the contract.
From this, there's nobody who can truly claim that he/she is independent. Everyone is under the influence of everyone else. Every corporation, every country, everything is influenced by the things around them.
So there's no such thing as an independent country. Independent would simply translate as 'isolated'.
What everyone should work for would be 'interdependent'.
The term 'independent' is impossible; the criteria for it cannot be met by anybody or anything of this world.
I think that most people catch no ball on what I'm trying to compare. First, I talked about my cousin(P5, 9years old, as of this writing). Then I talked about teenagers, who are always raring about 'freedom', 'independence', and then I talked about me(always raring about 'sex'). OK I admit that I didn't talk about myself and 'sex', but I thought that was fairly obvious.
So anyway, the conclusion is that teenagers aren't sexactly as matured as they should be, unlike me, who is always concerned with the future generation, procreation, and copulating.
Why are teenagers and children the same? Why do they wish for the same stuff? I cannot stand this.
OK lah to be fair most people want those stuff. It's just that those are impossible to achieve. Humans are troublesome creatures.
My sister is a gambler. She started fulfilling her patriotic duty of paying tax voluntary via Singapore Pools at the tender age of 18. She noted all her betting expenditures, and her gains.
It's been nearly 2 years since she started betting. So far, she has won about twice. Rather big ones, too. Like, 200 bucks each time. So she bathically earnt 400bucks.
However, the 400bucks + some smaller wins did not make up for the losses throughout these 2 years.
What does this mean?
Singapore Pools is out to suck your money. Don't bother with it.
Betting is meant for rich people. My cousin watches football with his father, and his father's brothers/friends, and they bet by the hundreds. Even if they lose, it's OK, and if they win, it's nothing much either. For them, betting is just another form of entertainment.
For the middle-class people, betting is 'buying hope'.
For the poorer people, I don't think they actually bet that much. But if they do, it's probably their job.
No one would do a business that only loses money. Only stupid people do that. Casinos are not run by stupid people.
-- 3/17/2009 11:28:00 PM
