Readings #1

One of the most fascinating stories I’ve read of how a child soldier is made and the complexities of sentencing someone who, on one hand, is a hardened war criminal with scores of atrocities to his name, and on the other, a victim of the circumstances he lived in.

The Globe and Mail – The Making of a Monster

Ponder

Almost everyone has a desire to leave a legacy, an imprint of their own on the world. It can be as simple as taking a beautiful photo. This picture captures a moment that the photographer wants to remember, and not only says something about the subject that it captured, but something about the photographer as well. This photo can then be shared, and touch the lives of family and friends, who then understand this photographer a little better. In decades to come, the picture will mean different things, whether it be a memento of a younger time or something now deeply offensive to the photographer. However, this single fact remains clear – through the photo, the photographer has left a mark on history.

There are also far more ambitious means of expression. There are those who aim to be doctors, lawyers, businessmen known across the world. Those who want to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, lift the poor. These are all equally valid means of expression, if not varying in terms of reward.

But what about those who just want to leave the world as is? To leave the people around them untouched, so that they cannot be judged negatively for their actions? What if their only goal in this world is to pass by? What is their reward? What is their purpose?

We all need a means of expression. It is crucial, fundamental to our very existence. Some of us will search for it all our lives, and never find it. But it is always worth trying, because the process of finding it can become a means in and of itself.