Darrel Lendon

Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk Thíc Quang Duc sits perfectly still amidst being engulfed in flames over the protest of the Viet government's religious oppression in Saigon, 1963. This act is called self-immolation; the act of sacrificing oneself by setting oneself on fire and burning to death. It is typically used for political or religious reasons, often a form of non-violent protest or in acts of martyrdom. It has a centuries-long recognition as the most extreme form of protest possible by humankind. (Wikipedia). "As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him," says Photographer Malcolm Browne, who captured the scene in Saigon.  At first, I thought 'wow.' Then it dawned on me; this monk is an actual human being with 2 eyes, 4 limbs, and 206 bones just like me. This begged the question: how did he not move a single muscle to communicate the pain? Like how? It's unimagin...

There was a remote cabin, tucked away like a secret near the foot of a mountain. You know, like the ones near a river; where you have smoke poppin’ from the chimney, and it’s raining outside while the cat slowly paces up and down the fireplace casting shadows around the room - you get the picture.        There’s our friend, comfortably nestled in the sofa nearly facing the fireplace. He has his head buried deep in some Clive Cussler novel about a lost Buddha or something. I don’t know, he’s just read past page 25. He is lost in his fictional world; one leg over the other, and one hand supporting his chin in a classical reading pose.        And in front of him is some old furniture matching a coffee table, and on it - his favorite white mug. It had been 10 pages ago since he last picked up the mug; the coffee must be cold by now I guess. But he took a sip anyway.        Taste buds now dissatisfied, he put the mug away and buried...

 “Reading Is To The Mind, What Exercise Is To The Body” – a famous quote by English essayist, poet, and playwright, Joseph Addison, on the value of the mind. Reading is not just about scanning the words until you come to a full stop. You will come to understand that authors do not just one day decide to sit down and write up something just because they want to, or feel like it. Every chapter requires vigorous effort and much more mental stamina than one can imagine. A book contains very strong emotions; the author conceals different representations of his/her soul behind those words.  Books also give the reader a 4-Dimensional perspective to life. Books build a mental checkpoint in the reader's mind, which only filters and feeds vital information to the brain. A reader's perspective on life is very different from a non-reader's. A reader can think outside the box and find a solution to a problem. And he goes away from that box to find one. The solution won't make sense ...

Hammer is to a Carpenter, as Social Media is to the Rest of the World.  This is a derived post from a previous one regarding the metaverse (see below for link). I mentioned that social media was here to stay and we just have to deal with it. Since this is a “social media post” and not a thesis paper, I’ll try not to bore my readers with facts and referencing. This is just a little cherry on the cake. Alright, diving in. Social media is neither good nor bad; it is a tool that helps us with our everyday life. Politicians use it for campaigns. Businesses use it to reach out to customers; artists to their fans and friends use it to communicate. It is the ideal approach when we want to minimize the world. Social media is a tool in life – let’s fix this fact. Just like what a hammer is in carpentry; social media is in life. The hammer does not hit itself on a person’s thumb, the person accidentally hits himself. When something bad happens online, we cannot be pointing fingers at the indu...