The Meaning of Life (Part 3)

This is a speech taken from one of my favourite movies: 'Life of David Gale'

You get Lacan's point.


Fantasies have to be unrealistic...

Because the moment... the second...

that you get what you seek...


you don't...

you can't want it anymore.

In order to continue to exist...


desire must have its objects

perpetually absent.


It's not the "it" that you want.

It's the fantasy of"it."


- So, desire supports crazy fantasies.


This is what Pascal means when he says

that we are only truly happy...


when daydreaming

about future happiness.


- Or why we say...


the hunt is sweeter

than the kill.


Or be careful what you wish for,

not because you'll get it...


but because you're doomed

not to want it once you do.


So the lesson of Lacan is,

living by your wants

will never make you happy.


What it means to be fully human is

to strive to live by ideas and ideals...


and not to measure your life

by what you've attained

in terms of your desires...


but those small moments

of integrity, compassion...

rationality, even self-sacrifice.

Because in the end, the only way

that we can measure the

significance of our own lives...

is by valuing the lives of others.

Apolitical Intellectuals

One day
the apolitical
intellectuals
of my country
will be interrogated
by the simplest
of our people.

They will be asked
what they did
when their nation died out
slowly,
like a sweet fire
small and alone.

No one will ask them
about their dress,
their long siestas
after lunch,
no one will want to know
about their sterile combats
with "the idea
of the nothing"
no one will care about
their higher financial learning.

They won't be questioned
on Greek mythology,
or regarding their self-disgust
when someone within them
begins to die
the coward's death.

They'll be asked nothing
about their absurd
justifications,
born in the shadow
of the total lie.

On that day
the simple men will come.

Those who had no place
in the books and poems
of the apolitical intellectuals,
but daily delivered
their bread and milk,
their tortillas and eggs,
those who drove their cars,
who cared for their dogs and gardens
and worked for them,
and they'll ask:

"What did you do when the poor
suffered, when tenderness
and life
burned out of them?"

Apolitical intellectuals
of my sweet country,
you will not be able to answer.

A vulture of silence
will eat your gut.

Your own misery
will pick at your soul.

And you will be mute in your shame.

(Otto Rene Castillo)

An Interesting Lesson

There once was a man walking down a deserted street in a beautiful, leafy suburb. The place had nice homes with big gardens and front porches. As he was walking towards one of the houses, he heard the sound of a dog making painful whimpering noises. He walked to the gate and saw a man on a rocking chair, right next to the dog. The dog seemed to be in excruciating pain, but the owner didn’t even seem bothered. Our guy was upset, he couldn’t believe that the owner was ignoring the dogs pain. He walked up to the man on the rocking chair and confronted him.

‘Is this your dog?’,

‘Yep, it’s my dog, can I help you?’

‘Well, can’t you see he’s in pain. What’s wrong with him’,

‘Oh, he’s sitting on a nail’

‘What?! Why isn’t he moving off since it’s hurting him so much?’

‘I guess, he’s not in enough pain yet...’

The man turned around and walked away

Africa Rise!

The fragile are not the weakest,
The smallest are not the least,
The unheard are not the voiceless...

(A vision for FTM)

Move (By Simba Rupare)

It will happen when you are in an open field of complacency
When you do not take note of your feet compressing the ground
Not being self-concious of your breathing
Confident that your heart will keep on beating.

And when that times comes,
It blasts you like a storm
A gatharing storm with an angry blackness.
It will take you by surprise, and when it does, you will have no choice but to fight.

When you are against the wall, unable to move
Unable to speak, unable to run
You will gather the strength from your hunter ancestors
You will have that strength that will whisper 'I need to live'.

This moment doesn't discriminate.
Nor does it feel sorry for your pain.
It shows no mercy,
Unless you are will to die for it.

Stuck and paralysed you remember one thing.
The one thing that will make all the difference.
You begin to MOVE.
You begin to SHIFT.

The blast lessesens, and your ambitions rise
Your need to live survives.
You know this time had to come.
And when you did, you never forgot to MOVE!!!!