Fragile Things

Sometimes, the fragility of this world scares me. In his book, Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman says, “People break so easily, and so do dreams and hearts.” This one line had me stunned for hours, not because of anything but the truth behind this simple statement. I look around, and there are days when everything confuses me. Why is the world made this way? Happiness, sorrow, it all seems so variable, so very fragile. Is there anything that’s constant, and most importantly, is there such a thing as true happiness? Is it really this hard to find a place where we truly belong?

I have always thought that people who have layers to themselves, depth of a different sort, are the ones who lead the most complicated lives. But recently, I was proven otherwise, only to realize that truly, we complicate our own lives, irrespective of what kind of people we are, irrespective of the various layers we may or may not possess.

The world is made in odd ways. We all let differences take over us; we remain biased no matter how much we have been exposed to, no matter how much of life we have seen. Most of the time, I feel that we might spend our whole lives trying to understand the workings of the world, the minds of people, and still fail miserably at it.

I remember having some wild, crazy dreams as a child. I was so sure I’d end up doing something revolutionary, out of the ordinary. There was so much in life that I was passionate about, and I was eager to turn this passion into something real. But, I think somewhere along the way, things drastically changed. Reality sunk in, and reality is the most complex thing I have ever come across. Issues like world peace and global warming still affect me greatly, but I know for a fact that as a kid, despite knowing much less than I do now, I felt more for these things than I probably ever shall in the future.

But life can’t just be about wasted hours and broken dreams. There has to be a deeper, better meaning to everything that we do, and more importantly, everything that we want to do.

We all dream of touching people; of not only changing our own lives, but also changing the lives of others, in some small way or the other. It's definitely not as easy as it sounds - not all of us can give memorable speeches like Martin Luther King, or selflessly help people like Mother Teresa. But no one said that we have to do something drastic - a small thought or gesture to the people we love most can mean so much, and can mark itself down in history in a smaller, but equally important way.

I think one of the hardest things in the world is regret. Personally, I don’t think that I’ve seen enough of life to fully understand what it is to deeply regret something. But recently, after watching a Swedish film, Wild Strawberries, I understood that it is never too late to undo the things you regret- your whole life may have rushed past you, and you may feel like it's too late to change your life, but the truth is, it's never too late to change yourself.

I guess this post is just a compilation of my thoughts and feelings, these past few weeks. All I’m trying to say is stop and look around once in a while. Try and understand the things around you. It’s a hard, almost impossible task, but every bit effort and thought that goes into it is worth it, because whether you find your answers or not, the feeling of trying is the most satisfying thing ever.