Bibliophile

I am an amateur book-lover. I've decided to pursue reading books as an educational, recreational and as a self-fulfilling hobby slash duty when I was first year college (I'm only fifteen years old then). With the myriad treasures and literary satisfaction that can be found and extracted by reading, I've made a stand: I'll be collecting and having those books that I've already read and must-read items I've overheard, referred to and browsed through the Internet. But collecting books is not a cinch.

I always cry foul to see exorbitant prices and taxed books in mainstream bookstores. Why do they oppress and limit the reading capacity of people who can't afford books of such price ranges. That's insufferable indeed. Dead authors still posthumously make a killing through their expensive and bestselling literary tour-de-force. Or is it the publishers? Damn lucky dummies. Anyhow, this is not the intention of my blog entry. I'm here to list down my ever-expanding collection of my own books. I've already read the majority of them, the minority is still pushed to the back-burner and hoarded as though books are edible tangibles.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami

Sabbath’s Theater – Philip Roth

The Rachel Papers – Martin Amis

Atonement – Ian McEwan

Atomised – Michel Houellebecq

The Possibility of an Island – Michel Houllebecq

The Other Side of Midnight – Sidney Sheldon

The Tunnel Rats – Stephen Leather

War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand

Mr. Murder – Dean Koontz

False Memory – Dean Koontz

The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran

The Man Whose Teeth Was Exactly Alike – Philip K. Dick

The Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

The Lord of the Flies – William Golding

BFG – Roald Dahl

Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

Gargantua and Pantagruel – Francois Rabelais

The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger

The forgotten virtue

At the Sermon on the Mount according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus laid out the rudimentary precepts of morality that are to become the foundation of the universality of the church and its dogmas. The sermon included the preaching of the beatitudes and some enlightening discourses. Profound and evoking as they are, Jesus' messages centered on spreading the love for the innate tendency of mankind to be perpetually righteous, upright, virtuous and good. We have the commandments and capital virtues to abide by, and I must say it's kind of tough to catch up with this spiritual requirements (though that is just my two cents). In our constant dismay we find many things that have supplanted our values. We tend to pet our vices rather than uphold virtues and scruples. We rather commit a sin than perform a good deed for the benefit of others.

We already forgot certain things that should be inherent to our nature. Case in point is understanding. Understanding is far deeper and complex than knowledge. You can know someone, but you cannot fully understand someone. Understanding is the sinewy agent that binds gaps and rifts. Understanding holds power vast enough to make this world a good deal of a place to live. Without understanding, we will all be left slack-jawed and incapacitated to different negative thoughts and harmful sentiments. We will all go down the drain without it. Understanding is the key to comprehend the complexity and intricacy of our society, but I'm warning you, it will leave you goggle-eyed and perplexed if you want to understand this universe in general.

Erring politicians, philandering husbands, sleazy whores, snotty brats, mentally slow individuals, homosexuals, murderers, cheaters, no-goodniks, dipsomaniacs, gluts, misfits, con artists, Sunday Christians, sexual offenders, substance abusers, promiscuous women, freaks, racists - the list is pretty much endless. We must put ourselves in the position wherein we have to understand them- why they do, act and think things like that, why their being, chemicals and nature are like that, why they are saddled for the continuity of their lives in a rough, bad and universally unaccepted situation, why are they predisposed to commit socially untoward and misbehaved actions, why are they doing things that are generally and ethically against our founded norms. Unfortunately, the concept of understanding is given less importance and is always misunderstood in this society we are all in. Not because you understand someone already means that you tolerate someone. Not because you are fully aware of something doesn't necessarily mean that you completely agree on it. Not because you express a personal understanding to a crime or action committed does not mean you favor it.

Understanding - this is a long-forgotten virtue. Should people from different color, creed and race start adopting understanding as a virtue, then I foresee less bloodshed, genocides, crimes, wars, conflicts, personal rifts, and arguments in its wake. If we know how to understand, then we will find out that the errors and imperfections we encounter in our lives are part and parcel of our human making.