Writer's Block

A detested blank page, white and crisp, unmarred by graphite. The white abyss saps away all the ideas and thoughts, blurred by the endless sheet of white. Like unblinking eyes it stares ahead, daring for the first line to appear. A strange hypnosis settles over, and all one can do is stare back. What should be the first word? What should be the first mark, a break in the infinite whiteness? Thoughts begin to lose focus, drained and sucked away by the daunting paper.

The outside air seems fresh and sweet, the sounds of the city rides on the wind, and the clouds twists and churns, flowing high above deforming and reforming. The laughter from anonymous passersby floats through the window and harmonizes with the constant hum of a computer.

Bright ideas flashes through an empty mind, like silver fish in a charming lake, evasive yet so obvious. A sentence appears on the paper, slowly and deliberately the pencil moves. The period marks the end, and the first line is done. Staring beneath the lonely words, all blood rushes out of the face at the task to fill the rest. Rubbing a forehead, two more sentences appears, only for them all to be erased, the shavings litter across the page. A few more words, then erase, like an unbroken pattern. The page, now scarred with blurred out lines laugh a sinister laugh. Filled with malice, it refuses to be filled.

Reaching out for a phone, scrolling through empty notification bars as an excuse to look at the time. Shutting off the screen and putting it aside, a drawn out sigh echoes through the room. The sun makes its lazy journey across the summer sky. Pleasant musings fill the head, as drawn out scenes seem to dance across the page. Touching the phone again, unlocking the screen only to be locked again.

Frustrated taps of the pencil leaves tiny dot marks on the page. Words seem to form in the head only to dissolve on the page. Looking around the room, trying to think of that one elusive, impalpable, vexing, irksome, impish, necessary word. Searching online, searching the thesaurus, the dictionary and suddenly an eureka moment occurs.

Like a dam overflowing, ideas crash through and suddenly the pencil jumps to life. Repeating them in the mind to retain these precious thoughts. The page fills to the halfway point and once again, the colorful, vibrant, bright ideas pool away.

The dots on the paper seem to have a sudden shape, the lines of the parchment are suddenly touched by imagination. Doodles and sketches blossom around the margins and tabs and windows of much more captivating subjects litter the computer screen.

Peeking at the time, a instant panic clenches the throat. Hastily erasing evidence of the wandering mind, the pencil hurries to scribble down the conclusion. A bright horizon looms ahead, freedom lingers in every breath. The last paragraph, the last sentence and as if the Gates of Heaven were open, a sudden peace settles as the last dot marks the end. Sweet liberty grasps the hand and with the head tossed back, the page is filled. A small smile flits across the face as the vile, discouraging, empty, crisp sheet is at last tamed.

City Lights

Under the shadows of the moon and the quiet lullabies of a thousand stars, the silence of a sleeping neighbourhood is almost deafening. Almost. It long way from the hustle-bustle of the heart of the city but the tired wail of a lone car is never far from people. The silhouettes of towering buildings and structures line up the horizon, it’s lights only a faint memory of the day. Another day gone. Another day come. The stock market just dropped. The gas price climbed yet again. But for now, in the safety of the night, the promise of tomorrow is enough to sing the anxious hearts to sleep. 

And when they do, all the worries from the day fade away. After all, no one determines what’s important other than yourself. They sleep and they dream, but in every dream, there is a killer. When morning comes once again, kids jump mechanically into a school bus and parents robotically drive into the glass city for another day of work.

But the lights from the city are not just another fading lullaby. While small neighbourhoods are leaving behind the eventful day, the city is wide and awake. Under the blessing of the moon and the quiet laughter of a thousand stars, the proudly shining lights border the coastline. The shops and stores are far from closing while people come and go, passing through the doors while their bodies dance across the streets. Waving spotlights beckon for a night of movie marathoning while flashing signs lure carefree people to a night of feasting. 

Arms leaning to the ground, straining against the weight of the many bags from the countless malls, their laughter bounces off the roads. The night is still young. The beaming glow entrap the wild youth, no time for sleep and no place to hide. Where crying is not a sign of weakness but of strength, there is no time for tears. In the safety of metal cars, young life drive through intersections, away from regrets, until there was no telling where the streets began and where they ended.

As the cars drive aimlessly through the dark, they head back, searching for home. Wrapped in the warmth of the city life, they know that they have already found it. While we may gaze longingly beyond the clouds, the universe is gazing longingly back down at the vibrant city and its unforgettable tunes sung by the people.

While the neighbourhoods are quiet - doctors taking prescribed sleeps and businessmen shaking hands with their dreams, the metropolis hums with life. The glass buildings are far from perfect, but what really is perfect? The wrongs from the day and the constant worries are nothing as they are blinded by the city lights.

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, social media sites are now being used by many people across the planet. In fact 1.15 billion people are active on Facebook as of 2013. One can comment on a picture of what their friends did during the weekend, congratulate a friend for their new baby daughter and one can be updated with breaking news with a flick of their fingers. Yet with this newfound way of communication, we are also creating many problems in society.

Social media has made it easier for identity theft. Identity theft is one someone impersonates another person and thus "steals their identity" usually for financial gain. Because social media sites earn money by targeted advertising, these sites encourage the users to post sensitive information about themselves. In 2011, around 12 million Americans were victims of identity theft, a 13 percent increase from 2010 according to a report from Javelin Strategy & Research. 75 percent out of 700 teenagers were found to be quite open with their personal information, which heightens their risk of being victims of identity theft. A report from The Japan News shows how easy people surrender their private information to fraud posts with links. These messages lead to another page which asks users for contact details. Because these links are thought to be sent by a trusted source, these teens rashly post their personal information, and could become victims of identity theft.

Social media sites also decrease productivity, especially in an office setting. Although these businesses use social media to attract clients, the employees, with access to Facebook and Instagram, are more interested in scrolling through their news feed than actually working. Studies posted by Wired.com show that British companies lose 2.2 billion dollars a year because of the distraction these social media sites provide. Mashable reports social networks could be costing the U.S. economy 650 billion dollars per year. They also report that for ever 10.5 minutes, an employee is distracted by social media, and 41 percent of this time is on Facebook. A study by Ohio State University showed a correlation between people who use Facebook and their grades. As time spent on Facebook cuts back on their studying time, people who do use Facebook tend to receive lower grades.

Social networking is also interfering with our social lives, as paradoxical as it may sound. For one, because we become more and more comfortable interacting with each other behind screens, we have less person-to-person confrontation, which impacts our language skills as well as our public speaking skills. We would have difficulties reading body language and isolation from one another isn't healthy as humans are social animals, meaning they need interactions with one another. And even though these sites let you make many friends, these relationships are superficial. In fact we spend more time with online friends than real friends

In conclusion, social media is, undoubtedly an asset to society, however, it also hinders it as well. Through social media, we are creating more and more problems for ourselves and at times, instead of moving forward, we are in fact, slipping backwards. As social media is becoming more and more widespread, we must also be educated on its effects.

Watercolor Paintings

Blue Sky

The shrill buzz of the cicada breaks through the stagnant air of summer. The sun's heat pelted down onto the serrated leaves, creating a small canopy of shade and offers little relief of the sweltering heat and the stuffy air. Wisps of clouds disperse throughout the cerulean sky. Above, pairs of birds flutter, circling the landscape.

The brittle grass shows patches of yellow, the tips becoming arid as the season progresses. The pale dusty dirt crumbles when disturbed and the much wanted occasional wind would stir up a dust cloud. The leaves of trees and other flora were riddled with holes, victims of the appetites of ants, snails and other insects. Some flowers are in full bloom, unraveling their vibrant colours, and others, their glory days long past, drop their sweet scented petals onto the the dirt ground.

Bees and wasps buzz around, visiting flower and plant, carrying their powdery cargo. Dragonflies and damselflies zip across ponds and lakes. Butterflies flutter across the scenery, visiting flowers and giving the landscape a splash of color. Ladybugs and other beetles scurry around the bottom the plant stalks as ants leave their colonies in search of food. Snails stick to the underside of leaves, to prevent themselves from drying out.

Birds chirp in the distance, fluffing out their feathers and taking towards the clouds. Their calls ring around, asking and replying to each other from tree to tree. They perch on the branches, their wings comfortably tucked behind them, their coloured feathers peak out from the foliage. Squirrels dart out from the trees, onto the open field below, searching for nuts, they quickly dash around.

Shielding the eyes form the blistering sun one lays on the ground under the endless sky. Sweat beads collect on foreheads, slowly dripping down the face and automatically wiped off. In sticky clothes people lounge around, unwilling to budge under the glare of the sun searching in vain for a cooler spot, hoping for a god-sent cloud to block the sun or a gently breeze to take away the heat.

Under the watchful eye of the blue sky, life is in full bloom.

And it starts with spring ...

The rain drops fall delicately onto the earth like the tears of angels. Above, the sun is taking a leave from daylight and the clouds are his curtains. As he sleeps, the grey sky weeps and cleanses the world. 

Does the rain signify the end or just another start? 

Visiting an old home brings back nostalgic memories. Leaving a home takes memories forward. Every smell of damp earth and fallen leaves makes an imprint upon the sands of the mind. Taking a walk through an old pathway of worn cobblestone, the best perfume is the one of home. Like in a forest, where every bush, flower and tree have their own unique scent. They make themselves a home in our hearts and come out to the surface when remembered. 

Buying a new house up north, my family is moving after almost 10 years of living in our current home. Right now, we live a cozy townhouse in the middle of many, making up a small clutter of units and suites. 50 years strong, the red bricks of the houses are now a pale faded shade, some places chipped. They are small but sturdy like a colony of ants. The red bricks contrasts with the black of the asphalt shingles. Some parts are peeling off, but it still keeps the homes safe and warm nonetheless. 

Lining the pathways of our own community, are small bushes and narrow clearings of grass. The sweet smell of the flowers and berries are calming and soothing. The green is a relaxing sight to the eyes and out there is a forest of our own. 

A few streets away is a park with a small ravine running across the fields. Deer and other small animals scurry under the bushes and live alongside the humans among the shadows. Every time we walk through the forest, the sun is cast and shining across the roads.

Each block of townhouses are covered and hidden behind a myriad of trees and bushes. A window in our house looks out upon a small square garden contained within a stone block. In the middle of the garden is a petite baby tree. It's trunk is slim with delicate branches reaching out to the sky. It has been there since we moved in. Season through seasons, it has grown, slowly, but surely. We've watched it lose its leaves only to grow them back every year. With each coat gone, it grows a bit taller.

After all, it starts with spring. A new leaf. A stronger tree. 

This community is our summer, autumn and winter. The brightness of the initial joy, the turning of a new page, and the melancholy reminiscence. And the future holds our spring to our new home. Leaving behind every sight and wonder, but never forgetting. They are brought with us, wherever we go to come back one day. And when they do, the waves of memories wash over us like a comforting blanket of all the years past.

The end of a chapter. The start of another. 

After a harsh cold winter, it will always start again with spring.

Euthanasia

Euthanasia or assisted suicide is the act of killing a patient suffering an incurable disease painlessly. Many people are against the idea of killing a person, whether someone wishes to die or not as it is regarded as a type of murder and is considered inhumane. Euthanasia is illegal in most countries and when it does occur, it raises a wave of controversy. However, although one should help a human to survive and live, at the end, people should have the choice to decide whether they want to end their own lives.

People say that once a person dies, one will never know whether the patient will survive or a miracle recovery would happen. However, in most countries that did legalize euthanasia, it is reserved exclusively for terminally ill people. Many people would argue that were euthanasia be legalized, doctors would abuse that power to free spaces in a hospital or to use less funds. However, just because euthanasia is legalized, the process for a patient to be approved to undergo euthanasia is also long and complicated and doctors won't have the permission to carry out the action without sufficient paperwork. This paperwork can supervise abuses of euthanasia

Passive euthanasia, where a patient's life is ended without the use of drugs, usually by being taken off of life support of being denied food, is already widespread in the world. In a study in 2012, as many as 57 thousand people die every year in Britain through passive euthanasia. Euthanasia in Britain is illegal, so the government won't be able to track the abuse. In contrast, a report in 1991 in the Netherlands, a decade before euthanasia was legalized there, 0.8 percent of euthanasia procedures were performed without the patient's consent. In 2005, another study found that this number dropped to 0.4 percent.

People who are denied euthanasia often claim their life is dull and sheer torture. They often state that their dignity and privacy are lost. Tony Nicklinson was, a 58 year-old-man who suffered from locked-in syndrome, where the patient in conscious and is capable of sound, but they are paralyzed from neck down and are unable to speak. He can only communicate by blinking and a few head movements. He can only eat if someone feeds him and he has to be washed and dressed by caregivers. He described his life as a living torture. In 2010 and 2012 he bid to die, but he was rejected. In the end, he starved himself and died within a week.

Euthanasia is performed by veterinarians. People bring their dying and suffering pets to be "put to sleep" The pets are injected in a vein with pentobarbital with shuts down the functionality of the brain and stops the heart. The animal immediately looses consciousness so they don't feel any pain and the whole process, in most cases takes about 5 seconds. If animals are euthanized because of chronic diseases or severe illnesses, why can't humans.

The Hippocratic Oath, "First do no harm" is used by doctors as a code of conduct. This means that doctor's can't do anything to harm a patient's chance of survival. The Hippocratic Oath was a piece of text written 2000 years ago by Hippocrates and was summed up into the maxim. However, today, with modern advancements in medicine, most of the points in the oath are not viable anymore, so why are we still clinging onto the Hippocratic Oath? Besides, put under a different perspective, it could also mean "don't hurt a patient by letting them suffer." Through a different light, "harm" can have a different meaning. By keeping a patient in anguish and letting them suffer by keeping them alive, we are also violating the maxim by causing them pain and harm.

Although assisted suicide does present new problems, it also allows suffering victims to alleviate their pain. Much of the public already supports euthanasia. Currently, 70 percent of Americans support "ending a patient's life by some painless mean" in Gallup's poll. Euthanasia is not an immoral action. Through assisted suicide, patients are able to experience death with dignity.