Lies and imposters

“Dear religion,
This week I safely dropped a man from space while you shot a child in the head for wanting to go to school.
Yours, Science”

A friend of mine posted this image on her Facebook with the comment “Enough said”.

I say not quite.

That wasn’t religion.
That was an imposter. And a lie.

You see, no matter what they call it, no matter what claims they make and no matter what “excuses” they may try to sell you,
the truth is that evil is just evil.
It’s not an integrated part of anything else. It’s just evil.

Remember that.

There’s never a good time for bad wording

At the time I’m writing this, there’s 48 days remaining until the American 2012 election and the republican candidate Mitt Romney is in rough weather after being recorded saying 47 % of American voters will never vote for him because… well basically because, in his opinion, they’re simply too stupid to be reasoned with. In his defense, he did not use those exact words and it may not even be anywhere near what he meant to say. But that’s more or less how it came across.

So, basically, Romney did the kind of thing where you write a nasty e-mail about someone and it ends up getting sent to them? It happens. Well, if you write nasty e-mails about people, it will. Just a matter of time. And there’s never a good time for something like that to come back and bite you – and bite you it will. Which is why you shouldn’t write nasty e-mails about people, or post crappy comments online. You may think you are “amongst your own” at the time, but you never know who might eventually end up reading it and how bad it can make you look in their eyes. In fact, this applies not only to e-mails and online comments, but to pretty much the whole world in general: It is never a good idea to try to impress people by speaking badly of others. At the end of the day, most people will be anything but impressed.

Friday

Today is Friday. Yes, I know the date and no, it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s just as dangerous as any other day, but there are actually fewer accidents on this date because people are more careful - or perhaps some of us just don’t do stuff on this date. Whichever is the case, I hope you have a nice day and a good weekend. And that’s all for now.

If everyone cared

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

(Chorus from the song "If everyone cared" by Nickleback.)

Theoretically, and in a perfect world, this could be possible.

As we all know, our world is not perfect and probably never will be.
But there is always room to take a few steps in the right direction.
Let's never forget that.

New moon - Old moon

Tonight I saw two moons - a new one and an old one
I have great faith in the new moon
But it's probably the old one

(My own translation of a Norwegian poem by Olav H. Hauge)

Note to self: Yes, it is the old one. Always was, always will be.
And what am I going to do about that?

Making a difference

Do you believe you can make a difference?
In your life? In someone else’s life? Or in the world at large?

Do you believe you can make a difference?

I’m not going to answer for you. You’ll have to find your own answer, because it won’t have any real value to you unless it’s yours and you do believe it. But I can share my answer with you and my answer is yes, I believe I can make a difference and yes, I believe that the choices I make every day do matter, not only to myself, but to the people around me, to my work and in fact to the whole world that I live in – if only on a very small scale.

I’m not going to dwell on this very much further right now, I’m just going to share a story I once heard on some not-quite-so-silly TV show which I think pretty much says it all:

One fine day, a guy comes walking down to the beach, and he discovers that for some reason, thousands of starfish have been washed ashore. They’re all over the beach, as far as the eye can see, and they’re all just lying there dying in the sun.

Next, he discovers a guy who is walking up and down the beach picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the sea.

“Why do you bother?”, the first guy asks.

“That’s not going to make any difference.”

The other guy just looks at him for a second without saying a word. He bends down, picks up another starfish and throws it back into the sea.

Then he looks back up and says, “It made a difference to that one”.

The meaning of life

All right, I am starting fresh and aiming high here, so let’s go for the meaning of life next! Too high, you say? Oh, I don’t think so. You see, I have my answer. I found it years ago. And to this day, I am still both amazed and filled with pride and joy by the sheer beauty and simplicity of it.

So, what’s the meaning of my life?

Simply this:

If, at the end of the day, someone, somewhere is glad that I’m here, and they smile a little smile or laugh a little laugh as they think of me, that’s all the meaning I’ll ever need right there.

Rockstars

Hi everybody, I'm Vegard and this is my first post on my brand new blog.

Rockstars.
We all want to be rockstars at times.
No, actually, we all are rockstars, in our own way.
At least that's my point of view.

Earlier today, I listened to some music while sitting here by myself working, and I more or less stumbled across the song "Rockstar" by Nickleback, which is pretty much what inspired me to write this post now. It's a kind of satirical and probably somewhat self-ironical song about how we all want to be stars and how commercials and media promote some very shallow, very materialistic ideas of what a successful life is.

I'm through with standin' in line to clubs I'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win
This life just hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be
(Tell me what you want)

I want a brand new house on an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enough for ten plus me
(So what ya need)

I need a a credit card that’s got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
(...)

OK, I guess that's enough - by now you see exactly where this is headed.

So, my simple question is:
Do you really need any of this to be a happy or successful person?
Is this really worth striving for?
Or are there other things in your life that are more important?

I've got my answer and to me it really wasn't hard to find at all.

'Cause we all just want to be big rock stars
And live in hilltop houses, drivin' fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat

Yeah, that sounds healthy...
Is your life better or worth more if you have a bigger house,
a more expensive car or a more powerful computer?
And do you really have to be skinny to be happy?

I don't think so.

But yeah, I guess it is pretty much true that we all do want to be rock stars - at least some times and in some ways. We all do want to be great at something.
And we all - at least to some extent - do want our greatness to be recognized by others.

We want the easy life - at least some times.

But what really is easy?
How do you measure success in a life?
And what really does make you happy?

I know I really can't answer for you, but for me, I know it's really not about money or a big, huge house or a collection of expensive cars. It's not even about computers, even though they've been my number 1 hobby since childhood and they're now also my work.

I have smaller, simpler and far cheaper things in my life that keep me smiling. Little things like seeing the smiles on my daughters' faces when I come to them or the light of joy and love in my wife's eyes when I've done something to make her happy, hearing the birds sing or watching the sky at sunrise or sunset.
And I don't need to be rich or famous to get any of this - it's all right here for me every day and I just have to open my eyes to it. There are also times when I can find a lot of joy and comfort in my own company, but mostly, I find my life revolves around the people close to me.

Yeah, I do want to be a rockstar. But not in Hollywood or Beverly Hills or anywhere like that. Right here, right now, in my own life and to my own closest family, friends an colleagues is enough for me. And you know what? I think I already have that. I already am a star – in my own life and in my own ways.

Yes, I do have my flaws and yes, I do have bad days, but any star has bad days from time to time. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Madonna, Jon Bon Jovi, Robbie Williams or Elton John.
I’m pretty sure they’ll all tell you the same thing.

The thing we often forget is that just because other people (in this case the rockstars) don’t have the same problems we do, that doesn’t mean they don’t have their problems. We should always remember this and think about it before we envy anybody.

Having a bad day or having problems does not mean you’re not a star. It just means there are things that can be done better, which there always will be, no matter who you are and what you do. Don’t let this drag you down, but use it to your advantage: There are always things that can be done better – and you can be the one to make them better if you choose to. This is your life. You’re the one in charge here.

The stage is set, the lights are on and the audience is waiting.
Can you hear them calling your name?
Smile today. Think positive thoughts.
Then go out there, let the spotlights find you and give them your best,
because in your life, you are the star of every show.