“Strange” thoughts

First things first…. the trigger to this rambling is Tithi’s blog post (http://meetnil.blogspot.com/2011/02/that-stranger-we-meet.html ); thanks kiddo :)

The thought that struck me first is “Who is a stranger? “ Well, simply put, a stranger is someone strange, that’s obvious… Then what is strange? Someone /something we don’t understand. And what is the first emotion that comes in our mind for someone or something we don’t understand? Fear!!! Fear of the unknown, fear of getting hurt by something unpredictable. It probably all started when man first put his hand into the strange, dancing “thing” called Fire, and got his hand burnt….

And yet it is this insatiable thirst for the unknown which drives us; it the quest for the unknown and the incomprehensible which have been the cornerstone of human civilization. The man who got his hand singed by the fire wanted to understand what the fire was all about, Columbus ventured into the unknown lands of the American Continent, Newton wanted to understand the strange phenomenon of the apple landing on his head. And probably there-in lies the Balance, the fear of the unknown balanced by the desire to make it “known”. Not by foolhardy, feeble, dispassionate attempts though; imagine what would have happened if the man had persisted in keeping his hand in the fire, Columbus had given up hope or Newton had just continued observing apples falling from the tree and hoping for a “flash of light” to hit him with the explanation :)

Maybe it is the earnestness and the heart, combined with the preparation and the “brain” we put in comprehending the incomprehensible that keeps the world going, and makes it a better place to live in.