Get Smarter Everyday
“Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him?”
― Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
The quote from Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange encapsulates a profound ethical dilemma about free will and morality. This question is central to the themes explored in the book, which delves into the nature of good and evil, and the importance of choice in defining one’s humanity.
Picture it – the dry, dusty streets of a frontier town somewhere out in the vast expanses of the American West, 1908. The era of the cowboy was fading into twilight, but a few grizzled, sun-baked specimens still roamed these parts. As dusk settled in, you’d see them ambling down the main drag, dust clouds trailing in their wake with every boot strike against the hard-packed earth.
Their path was well-worn – leading to the swinging doors of the town saloon, that ramshackle temple to vice and fortitude, where men were men, and the whiskey flowed like…well, like whiskey. The pungent aroma of stale spirits, well-chewed tobacco, and desperation hung thick in the air as the cowhands bellied up to the bar.
Paul Delaroche’s haunting masterpiece “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey” captures a pivotal moment in English history with a poignancy and pathos that transcends time. Completed in 1833, this monumental canvas transports us back to the tragic events of February 12, 1554, when the 17-year-old Lady Jane Grey was beheaded after a mere nine-day reign as Queen of England.
Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth. You’ll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you’re doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you’ll hear about them.
– Bill Waterson
In 1888, the gaunt heart of Whitechapel lay cloaked in a pall of industrial smoke and the insidious fog that curled its fingers through the maze of narrow alleys and dimly lit streets. It was a landscape painted in the grim hues of despair and decay, where the clatter of a hansom cab over cobbled stones and the distant cry of a vendor were swallowed by an omnipresent murmur of human suffering. Here, in the shadowy corners of London’s East End, life teetered on the sharp edge of survival, each day a grueling testament to endurance.
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
This quote comes from Viktor E. Frankl’s influential book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” in which he reflects on his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II and the insights he gained about the human search for meaning and purpose.
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Completed in 1907, this monumental work marks a radical departure from traditional Western art and is often considered the starting point of Cubism. The painting depicts five naked female figures in a brothel, but Picasso’s treatment of the subject is far from conventional.
“My children didn’t choose to be born, I chose to have children. They owe me nothing, I owe them everything”
This quote can be seen as a direct challenge to the sense of entitlement that some parents feel towards their children.
Some parents may believe that because they chose to have children and raised them, their children owe them certain things in return. This could be in the form of obedience, achievement, financial support in the parents’ old age, or even just constant gratitude. In some cases, parents may use phrases like “After all I’ve done for you…” or “You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me…” to guilt their children into certain behaviors or choices.
