About conclusions

Activies in life find closure and conclusion quite easily. Things get prepared and planned for, they happen, and find finale.

The long-prepared and arduous task of preparing for ClimbX is finally over ... well almost ... apart from the remnant post-event administration that needs to be done. The months of toil and hard work culminated in a single day - that turned out to be a 'blue' success. The crowd was great and the weather held out fine - really fine. Things went smoothly and according to plan, with clockwork precision and execution. I have little to complain about the event and feel really proud for having done it.

"Dead-on-cue" is done too with this night's performance being the final run. The kids were great - I've never seen such a standard from them before and am really surprised. They have much potential. And so, even the effort and hype that was generated over this production finally simmers and resides.

There is an unexplainable calm within now, with the closing of these two major events in life. It's a calm that I am enjoying but it's a calm that forebodes a storm as well ...

Oftentimes we work hard to remove ourselves from the real problems that persist, that glare at us in our faces but with which we choose to turn away from. Work is good but it is often a (sub)conscious escape from unresolved tensions, issues and problems that plague our everyday existence. Often, these tensions are emotional. And because we feel powerless to resolve them (at least we think we feel powerless), we choose to run ... till such time the run tires and wears us thin. Or when the run is forced to conclude and the finishing line is crossed.

When that short sprint is over, we sit down again to face ourselves and our demons. We can choose to run again of course. Maybe that's why there is an increasing number of people who feel that life is meaningless after years of work and mindless accumulation of monetary gain. An ennui seeps in - a condition of commercial capitalism and profit motif. Yet recognising it does not mean we are able to live apart or away. We find our own ways and often wish the way we have found is worthy and worthwhile.

If only other things in life were that straightforward as events - a proper beginning, a development, a climax, and a proper resolution - no doubt in many ways Aristotelian.

Is life a stage? I'm not too sure. At times I'm inclined to say that life certainly isn't a movie, a stage or a narrative - life doesn't end in 2 - 3 hours. Oftentimes, the longest and darkest hours seem like eternity. Yet, art does imitate life in many ways and life, in a parasitical relationship, imitates art.