Choose Who You Want To Be

I was not a positive person. Not that I was a pessimist, but I like to think of myself as a realist. I told myself that I would look at the worst so that I wouldn't be upset. But most of all, I allowed the outside world to determine how I felt on the inside.
Over the past year and a half, I have struggled internally to find out what happiness is and how I can achieve it. How do I make my days better and see the brighter things in life. 
The answer wasn't about materialistic things. It was't whether I had the best clothes or a nice home. That did bring me happiness. But temporary happiness.
It was only after so many failed attempts that I began to see a pattern. It was the days that I choose to feel better that made me happier. The days that I realised that I didn't listen to the people that said that I was stupid or dumb or ugly.
I was the one that got to choose who I was. Whether I was the funny one or the smart one or the beautiful one. I got to define who I was and who I am. 
I saw this TedX Talk recently and it really hit home. Lizzie Velasquez has been labelled as "The World's Ugliest Woman". She was bullied at every step and turn she made about the way she looked and now she's a motivational speaker, has two books under her name and has a documentary coming about about her life. She's a person who has turned bad situations into good ones and used the negativity to fuel her into becoming better at what she does. 
If a person who has so much negativity in her life; a person who has been told to "do the world a favor, put a gun to your head and kill youself" can be so positive, what makes you think you can't?
Everyone has their own personal journey. Everyone has their own story. Everyone has their own insecurities. But only you can control how you feel. You can control what you think. You can choose who you want to be.
Be happy.

The Basics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjGL6YY6oMs

The interview above with Malala Yousafzai has been making it's round on the internet. It brings about one topic that has been debated on countless time and that is education.

I don't know if this was subconsciously in my head, but this happened to be the theme of today as I watched Aarakshan by Prakash Jha.

Both bring about the same points about education, that it brings about equality and no one should have it taken away from them. Of course it looks at it from different points of view, for Aarakshan, it was education for the lower caste and the reservation system while for Malala, it was education for women.

We come from a society where education empowers people. Education shouldn't have to be for selective people, but for everyone. When people say that someone doesn't deserve education, the answer should be that everyone does. Everyone is a human being. Education should be given freely to empower the future generation. If a women is educated, she is able to study for a degree and help her family by earning money. She doesn't have to sit at home and take care of the house if she doesn't want to. If she does, then great, but she should have the choice.

In the movie Aarakshan, the reservation system was brought into question. Whether people in lower castes should be allocated a certain percentage in colleges. Why should we live in a society in which such conditions exist? Shouldn't we live in a place where everyone starts off in the same platform? Shouldn't we able to provide at least basic education to our children so that everyone has the same chance for life and strive for a better future.

Every country talks about the future generation and how they will bring about a change in the world, but if a large percentage of the doesn't even get basic education for cleanliness, forget proper classes, then what hope do we have?

Free education should be given to everyone. No matter their caste, gender, religion, etc. We are all here to make the world a better place, so let's start from the basics.

S