Other People’s Opinions

As a young person, I have always been encouraged not to care about other people's views of me, but lately, that thought process has been called into questioning.

I recently read “The Secret” and it got me thinking, if our thoughts make up our own universe, who’s to say that someone else’s can’t influence your universe?

Think about it, our friends, our families and even our enemies are components of our world.

How we view them, how we feel about them and how we treat them do from time to time cross our minds.

Who’s to say that we don’t influence them with the power of our thoughts?

Who’s to say that our opinions have no power?

I’m not saying that someone else’s opinion can influence your whole life, there are so many real life cases that prove me wrong, but who’s to say that they don’t influence the parts of your life that you agree on?

Isn't this why positive things happen when you are around positive people?

Because not one person’s thoughts but two are emitting positive things into the universe for you.

I mean 2 are better than one, right?

So I think that in certain aspects, people’s opinions of you do matter.

You need to choose how you want the world to see you and act on that.

Because those small opinions that they have of you, the parts you are in sync with that can be key factors in how your world can be.

The more positivity there is, the greater the force you are emitting.

Let’s say you are not a believer in the Secret, I’d like to share with you why I still think that other people’s opinions are important.

Your actions make up who you are.

Don’t you agree?

You postpone cleaning your room therefore you are most likely to postpone doing the majority of things in your life, and without realizing it you may even postpone your future success or happiness.

I’m not saying that you should walk around continuously trying to please people or prove to them that you are worth something because some of the greatest scientists in history were seen as crazy until proven right.

But in actuality, we all need somebody to believe in us.

I think that just one other person’s faith can make all the difference in your life.

So watch the people you surround yourself with and try and make sure that they see you the way you want to be seen, because with those actions, you are a step closer to becoming who you want to be.

Africa’s view from another point of view

So, being an African I have become accustomed to the ignorant views that the world has on my continent.

& it makes me wonder how on earth this happened.

To uneducated and misinformed people Africa is depicted as a single country, not consisting of independent areas, where there is a lack of civilization and an abhorrent amount of poverty and suffering.

And sadly, I blame this world view on my fellow Africans.

I could blame the rest of the world for focusing on the negative aspects in Africa.

I could blame foreigners for taking our land or our minerals.

And these are a factors, I will not disagree.

But I still choose to blame my fellow Africans.

If you are African, you are probably wondering what a horrible person I am to say such a thing, but hear me out.

I feel like Africans feel like they should be Westernized  a thought process that shall be doomed for failure.

The Westerners are amazing at what they do, because they came up with how to do it.

I respect that, I have no bitter feelings nor am I envious of this.

As every person is unique, so is every continent.

And trying to be like the west is doomed for failure no matter the time, information, or money we are given.

Today, I will be focusing on the African need to impress the rest of the world when we do not even have ourselves in order.

We do elaborate things like buying private jets or spending millions on a Presidential home, not because it’s necessary, but because we want to impress.

Don’t you ever wonder what a difference it would make if African countries used their money a little more wisely?

Even if just for a brief period of time?

Do you really think we would still need so much foreign aid if we made aiding ourselves a priority?

We should attempt helping ourselves before asking for help or allowing for anybody else to help us.

Think about yourself, when you have a lot of pride and are suffering, you gather all your strength to fix yourself and if you fail, then you ask for help.

It should be like that with our governments, we should focus on building ourselves first before asking for help.

Do you know how much the world’s views on Africa would change if we vanquished our own poverty?

It would gain Africa a lot of credit and respect as a whole continent because all we have done is depicted ourselves as weak and perhaps even a little greedy.

It could be done though, blessed countries could help themselves then help their neighbors.

African’s are notorious for being generous people who want the best for their community as a whole, and I honestly feel like the US views on politics especially capitalism is one of the major downfalls of Africa as a continent because we are forcing ourselves to view things in a way that’s unnatural for us and as a result our continent is still suffering greatly.

If we tried to do things our own way, stick to our values and our nature then our land shall heal itself but as long as we are trying to be something that we are not, we can never truly develop because we are imitating what we can never be.

I mean, driving a Benz is pretty cool.

But wouldn't it be cooler if the rest of the world could imagine African countries as  places where driving a Benz is normal?

I know I have left a number of points here untouched, but I shall be getting on them soon enough.

Written by a thinker

How do you know?

We live in a world where people’s mindset is set on two major factors, religion and science.

The way our lives are lived are rather dependent on theories conjured by those other than ourselves, the youth are the major ones impacted by theses outside forces.

So the question that I am challenging you with today is how do you know that you are living your life the way that you think that you should?

How do you know that the life making decision you are making is entirely for your benefit? Or are you the type of person aspiring to impact the greater good?

These are the questions more people should be asking themselves.

Over the past year, I have started University younger than most of my peers so I felt that the change would have affected me more than it affected them.

The change made me question myself and my beliefs.

I have always been one to believe that if something was meant to happen, it just would, at the Universe’s will, God’s will, or whatever supernatural Bigger-than-Us force that could be out there. However that always made the line where one should step in to make changes rather blurry and being an engineering student seems to counteract my beliefs because my peers and my course encourage me to think more logically than wistfully. Despite this, I have tried experimenting with both sides of the spectrum, mastering my own fate and leaving my fate up to the universe.

I have to say that when it comes to leaving your fate to the gods, you tend to sleep better at night. It is easier to be at peace with something you feel you have no control over.

However, I feel like it can also make one weak, lazy even, to aspire for more than they think that they could. Giving up, when it feels like the Universe is saying “no”.

Believing that misfortune is part of God’s plan or the Universe’s will.

Continuously settling can drown out one’s ambitions.

However, if you think about it, it is a rather irresponsible way to look at your life, because at the end of the day, when you are unsatisfied with the life that you have lived, you will have no one to blame but yourself, don’t you think?

Mastering your own fate is tricky though. However, it is a more scientific way to look at your fate, if you are open minded enough to believe in fate.

I feel like the go-getters in life are the ones who work the hardest at mastering their own fate.

The only problem with attempting to master your own fate, is knowing when to give up, knowing the difference between being on the right path and simply chasing pavements.

How many times have we seen someone chase after a dream that they could simply never have?

This is why I’m asking you how do you know?

Fate is a tricky thing.

I am sure most of you have read about Malala.

For those of you who haven’t, I shall elaborate.

Malala is a 14 year old Muslim residing in Pakistan.

Personally, I view her as the unofficial spokesperson of female education in Pakistan.

She fights for her right to be educated and has so far won the only Nobel Peace prize that Pakistan has ever received.

She is mastering her own fate instead of accepting the fate that the Taliban would enforce upon her.

Her explanation on fighting was she would want to have a reasonable answer when Allah asked her what her excuse was for not fighting for what she wanted, what was right. 

After reading Malala’s story, my own decisions on my beliefs were made.

I think that the most influential people, who at the same time have lived their lives well, are the ones who have worked like their fate is completely dependent on themselves, while believing that their fate was in the hands of a force greater than themselves, a force that has a plan that’s bigger than the ones that they have.

Malala never let any external force but her belief’s drive her to doing what she wants, yet she does so while believing that it was what Allah had intended for her.

That’s how I think that you know, when the fate you work hard at mastering is worth fighting for and when you have enough faith to believe that the universe will deliver it.

When you feel like even if you walk away from your dream because you have tried your utter best, when you know in your heart that this dream is no longer yours, you shall find a bigger and better dream that was always meant for you or the Universe will show you that your dream was always the intended dream.

Thing is with believing in the Universe's will, is acknowledging that it may not always give you what you want, they way you want it, however it will always work to get what is best for you.

I think that your fate will always end up being a combination on how far you will go to master it and how willing you are to acknowledge what was always meant to be yours.

Written by a thinker