prophecy/singularity/love

These are themes my friend picked out to give a speech on tomorrow. I thought I'd try to develop some thoughts on them as well. 

I don't usually put that much stock or thought into Prophecies. Either they come true or they don't. They will or won't happen regardless of what people think about them and they will or won't happen regardless of what people try to do about them. And most foreshadowing of future events are vague enough for you t be unable to understand them and specific enough for you to think it's possible or is happening.

For instance Nostradamus said things like There will come a day when a man of evil will rise and speak words of hate and lead great hoards of people to commit cruel acts on mankind. Sounds like Hitler doesn't it? But the fact is every period in history had a man like that -sometimes more than one. People can read things Nostradamus wrote and say, "He was clearly speaking to arm time because he mentions 'machines' and things. The reason he didn't name them more clearly was because it was in the distant future and it was hard for him to explain." Other people can say, "He was talking about things that were vague because he wanted people in the future to think he was talking about them so they would continue to believe he was credible".

There's the issue -you can't tell if a prophecy comes true until it does, and if it is something significant happening -most people won't even be aware of the prophecy in the first place. Prophecies are kind of useless. I don't know what's going to happen 5 years from now or 50 years from now or 5 minutes from now. It doesn't really matter because the only thing I have any control over is what I do with my time that I have to live. You shouldn't focus too much on the future and whether or not you'll live to see a prophecy come true, This is our time. Why wait for something that may come tomorrow when you can create something today? 

I'm tired of all those Chicken Little's out there saying the sky is going to fall. If the world was really ending you think posting that fact on a billboard would help?

Singularity... what does that mean. Hang on I need to consult dictionary.com or something...

A singular, unusual, or unique quality; peculiarity -Dictionary.com

"Singularity is only pardonable in old age and retirement; I may now be as singular as I please, but you may not" - Philip Dormer Sanhope Chesterfeld, 4th Earl

Well that helped. That 4th Earl guy made an interesting point. Being unusual is only disregarded when somebody is old. I think it's because of respect. Or maybe because people don't look down on the old and have more patience with them. Wait, why don't we do this with everybody? If singularity/uniqueness/odd corks are something we all possess than why do we have to wait to the end of our years on this life to feel free to express them and let others feel free to express themselves as well. I don't want to wait until I reach 4th Earl status to feel good about the fact that I'm occassionally weird. 

It's a fact that almost all Genuises are viewed  strange, unusual, or down-right bonkers during their time. Walt Disney was called crazy for believing a cartoon could be turned into a full-length feature film that people who actually pay to go see. He was even loonier when he suggested his theme park. Steve Jobs suggested this thing called an iPod. Clearly an unsound individual... The reason geniuses are seen as odd in their own time is because hey are ahead of their own time. Society has to catch up with them to fully appreciate their contributions.

Finding out who you are is hard enough. Accepting yourself for who you are is even more challenging. And changing yourself to become someone greater is hardest of all. We should all aspire to embrace the things about ourselves that set us apart, and accept the things in others that make them unique as well.

Love. It's a popular topic. Love should always come first. First before Hate. First before Money. First before Jealousy. First before Revenge. First before Indifference. First before Discrimination. First before Personal Gain. Love should come first because when placed on a scale with these things, Love will always be higher and more uplifted than anything weighed against it.