New Becomings

  “Life is unfair, but remember sometimes it is unfair in your favor.” — Peter Ustinov I wrote a letter to my grandmother when I was about 21, updating her on my trials and tribulations after moving to the other side of the country. In it, I'd expressed how, once leaving the basic comfort and safety of a stint at university, unfairness was everywhere. My grandmother had always given me advice, usually warnings about strangers with ill-intent and unkind situations that I was bound to run into. Growing up, I'd thought she was a bit overprotective in trying to explain the harsh realities of life, but in fact, she was not. I remember writing: "It's weird that life seems easier for people who cheat." I was in a poor state, making dumb decisions out of pure innocence, and people all around me were either swindled or swindlers themselves. There was a lot of advice from acquaintances about how to cheat the system, I took that advice once - but the nagging rem...

Many years ago, in a land most don't remember, was written the death certificate for Common Sense - it was said that Common Sense was survived by 4 stepbrothers: I Know My Rights, I Want My Rights, I Want It Now, and I’m A Victim. Common Sense has long passed, while the step brothers have taken over all corners of the mad world. But, Common Ground will never die; and it is with this foundational structure, the supreme being of human nature, that we may find the long lost descendants of Common Sense: Hope, Faith, Charity, and Love. These descendants furtively imbue the daily lives of every single person on this planet - and that is where we stash our innermost ideal; yearning for a better world. The problem with trying to create 'a better world' is that Common Sense's wicked stepsisters, Fear, Rage, Blame, and Despair, were unacknowledged in the Will and have been furious ever since. They are now extremely loud and obnoxious; so blaring that the faint calls for calm-in-s...