I only admire people worthy of my admiration.
Some of the people I hold in high esteemed are mostly dead, obscure or either misunderstood in their times. Like youths of today, I too have my own idols. However, they do not sing, most of them can't dance (I suppose the waltz was a social norm) and they are not endowed with incredibly good looks either. The two following persons have always been admired by me...
1) Nikola Tesla
2) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Whenever we flick the light switch, nobody thinks about Nikola Tesla. The name doesn't even ring a bell to most people, sure everyone has heard of Edison and his light bulb but not Tesla. Im not sure why this great man has gone into obscurity after all his great achievements. Tesla was a key player in the War of Currents where both he and Edison were fighting to electrify the world. Edison advocated the use of DC (direct current) while Tesla insisted on the AC (alternating current). Obviously, we knew who won because all our electricty is transmitted using AC and yet, Nikola Tesla is not a household name. The 20th centuary was due to Tesla... Tesla died alone and without recognition. I particularly like this quote: "Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs, The future, for which I have really worked, is mine."
Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey is another great man. He modernised turkey into a secular democratic state from the religious absolute monarchy of the Ottoman empire. As an Atheist, secularism is very important to me... and amidst the rising tension between different religious group everywhere in the world, we see the importance secular government. The US over the years have increasingly been more religious, perhaps due to the charismatic movement. Even here in the island, I see a rise in religiousity amongst the population. Being an Atheist and out to the public now although is more acceptable, is still looked down on. People simply can't see why other people can have no god to worship. Some of us can't just understand why people get killed over each other's imaginary comfort giving deity either. I guess people need to feel "protected" and "guided" by someone greater than themselves. Or simply because people need to be comforted in their times of sadness and despair, prefer to shut themselves from reality and prefer to believe its their deity's will that their lives are the way they are or when someone dies. Thinking deeper, if its the deity's will that life is like it is, then praying does not help at all since it wont change anything.
Well thats lots of things to think about and I like to keep my post short. The religious part was triggered by someone giving me the Pascal's Wager (better to believe than not to believe). Mathematically and using statistics, it can be made the other way round too (better no to believe than to believe) so its a double edged sword.
1) Nikola Tesla
2) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Whenever we flick the light switch, nobody thinks about Nikola Tesla. The name doesn't even ring a bell to most people, sure everyone has heard of Edison and his light bulb but not Tesla. Im not sure why this great man has gone into obscurity after all his great achievements. Tesla was a key player in the War of Currents where both he and Edison were fighting to electrify the world. Edison advocated the use of DC (direct current) while Tesla insisted on the AC (alternating current). Obviously, we knew who won because all our electricty is transmitted using AC and yet, Nikola Tesla is not a household name. The 20th centuary was due to Tesla... Tesla died alone and without recognition. I particularly like this quote: "Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs, The future, for which I have really worked, is mine."
Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey is another great man. He modernised turkey into a secular democratic state from the religious absolute monarchy of the Ottoman empire. As an Atheist, secularism is very important to me... and amidst the rising tension between different religious group everywhere in the world, we see the importance secular government. The US over the years have increasingly been more religious, perhaps due to the charismatic movement. Even here in the island, I see a rise in religiousity amongst the population. Being an Atheist and out to the public now although is more acceptable, is still looked down on. People simply can't see why other people can have no god to worship. Some of us can't just understand why people get killed over each other's imaginary comfort giving deity either. I guess people need to feel "protected" and "guided" by someone greater than themselves. Or simply because people need to be comforted in their times of sadness and despair, prefer to shut themselves from reality and prefer to believe its their deity's will that their lives are the way they are or when someone dies. Thinking deeper, if its the deity's will that life is like it is, then praying does not help at all since it wont change anything.
Well thats lots of things to think about and I like to keep my post short. The religious part was triggered by someone giving me the Pascal's Wager (better to believe than not to believe). Mathematically and using statistics, it can be made the other way round too (better no to believe than to believe) so its a double edged sword.
1 Comments:
well, i agree with the first two paragraphs at least. haha - kq
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