Happy New Year?

It is just before midnight, fireworks have already begun, there’s laughter and excitement in the air. Text messages with best wishes for the new year are being sent by the millions and people are bragging with new year vows, while secretly already planning on how to break them.

00:00: Fireworks light up the sky with amazing colorful displays. The noise is deafening, yet you still hear the drunken howls from the street. Alcohol is flowing by the tons every minute.

At the same time, a gang och youngsters beat someone up, a drunk driver seriously injures someone, a 14 year old girl is gang raped in her “friends” apartment, a husband hits his wife, a bunch of kids are on the way to the hospital with acute alcohol poisoning, hell breaks lose in a bar, a taxi driver is being assaulted, a rocket smashes through a window and sets the living room ablaze...

Is that really how we want to kick start the new year? If that’s the first day of the new year, what will the others look like?

And why all this misery? Is getting totally wasted really worth all this trouble and suffering we cause ourselves and each other? Shouldn’t we be ashamed of ourselves? Are we really as advanced as we like to believe?

The Power of the Pen

It is said that a pen is more powerful than a sword. It can help someone succeed, or get them dragged through the dirt. It can open doors or slam them shut.

Huge revolutions have been started based on some literary works -- with millions slaughtered. Nations have been created and torn down. Countless wars have been and are being fought on the basis of certain books. Religions and cults are based on writings, and so are the conflicts between them.

The written word seems to be a double-edged blade. It can cut either way. What freedoms and responsibilities does a writer carry? Where does the freedom of expression end and personal responsibility start? What consequences must a writer be aware of?

Our History and Future Generations

Writing has always been the easiest and most reliable way for generations to pass on their legacy and to understand and research the past. Scrolls from agent times, letters from ordinary people, Grandmother’s diary, church records, chronicles, etc. What would we actually know about our past without all these records?

These historic writings were often recorded by monks and historians. There exist also lots of highly valuable records written by regular citizens. Even letters and diaries, which may not have been intended to serve as historical records, help us to understand the past.

But what are we creating nowadays? What legacy will we leave behind us? Newspaper articles, blogs and rants on the Internet, forum posts? How much of that is accurate? How much of it is unbiased? And above all, what picture will it pass on to future generations?

Introduction

What is this blog all about?

I started this blog as a tool to think -- on "paper".

But why just questions?

Because that's where it all starts. To get your answer, you first need to ask yourself the right questions. That often sounds easier than it actually is. You can get all hung up on finding "the answer", but never asked yourself if you're actually looking in the right place. In other words, am I asking the correct questions?

Why not just jump to the answer?

We're used to getting everything served on a silver platter. The media will chew and predigest everything for us. We don't stop to question anything anymore. Critical thinking has ended up in the background -- almost disappeared.

I encourage all readers to comment with their different points of view. To ask the right questions and present their own conclusions.

Disclaimer: Commas, dots, spelling, grammar and everything else you hated in school...

I know my writing isn't on a professional level, nor is it what this blog is all about. Want to get hung up on technicalities, take it up with your professor instead :-)

Thank you!