The four letter word that defines your existence

 The little perverts will think of the F word. Others will be tempted to shout out: Love. Well, you don’t need love to define your existence unless you are Romeo (and are fond of poisons).

And here it comes- drum roll and curtain lift- Life… Anti-climatic, I know.

Well, what is life?

Life, the four-letter word that encapsulates the chaos and beauty of all living beings. It can be the greatest mystery, the cruellest joke, and the warmest embrace all rolled into one messy, glorious package. But let’s not take my word for it; let’s stroll through the musings of literary giants, because, after all, “A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone” (George R.R. Martin).

Shakespeare, the original bard, quipped, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Life, then, is a theatre without a script. One moment, you’re delivering a speech about unrequited love and the next, you’re tripping over your cape and spilling wine at the banquet. Shakespeare’s metaphor reminds us that we could be both the stars and the audience, clapping and cringing at our own performances. More often so, we clap at our own performance, and we cringe at others, like the typical narcissist most of us are.

Albert Camus took a darker, yet oddly liberating view: “The literal meaning of life is whatever you’re doing that prevents you from killing yourself.” A bit grim, but Camus’ philosophy encourages us to find joy in the simple act of staying alive… a little bit like Bee Gees’ Staying Alive- If the universe doesn’t care about your Monday blues, you might as well eat that extra donut and get those endorphins coursing through your blood so you don’t pick up that gun in your bag.

On the sunnier side, there’s Anne Frank, a Jewish diarist alive during Nazi times, who, despite her circumstances, wrote, “Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” Her words are a gentle nudge to look up from our smartphones and notice the sunset, the laughter of children, or the way coffee smells on a rainy morning (The sleep-doctor in me surrenders to that thought!) . Life is beautiful not because it’s perfect, it will never be… but because it will insist on shining even in the darkest corners like those Patronus charms chasing the Dementors away.

Then there’s Ernest Hemingway, an American novelist, who declared, “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” Life is as much about heartbreak as it is about happiness. Hemingway’s wisdom suggests that pain isn’t the end—it’s the forge that shapes us into something stronger, albeit a little bent and bruised. That is what we should try to remember when circumstances break you down slowly. Or for the Harry Potter fans (like myself), burn down to the ashes to rise up like the Phoenix, ever so majestic in its splendour. Ahemm, I don’t really relate myself to majestic or splendour, but you get the overall idea here- Be strong and fight!

Helen Keller, who overcame barriers most of us can barely fathom, said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” She was an American educator that was both blind and deaf. Her words are a call to arms against monotony. Sure, adventure doesn’t always mean skydiving; sometimes it’s striking up a conversation with a stranger… as long as you don’t end up in a body bag later on.

In the end, life is an amalgam of all and nothing- a stage, an absurdity sometimes, a beauty, a heartbreak, an adventure, a love story.

Or perhaps, as Oscar Wilde quipped, “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Life, then, is what we make of it: a canvas where every laugh, tear, and breath adds a stroke of color… a unique creation if you wish it to be.

So, dear reader, what is life? I sincerely have no real answer to the question. Maybe it’s a question that doesn’t need an answer.

And well, as Wilde also said- Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.

Be the star in your own movie, not the extra.

If you do possess some degree of common sense (NB. Voltaire and my mentor later surmised- Common sense is not so common), you will learn to be genuine. 

If not, well, doesn’t matter, follow the crowd like sheep following the next sheep’s bum in front of you… Whether you end up in a wolf’s mouth or not will not be your decision anyway. You might as well then burst your lungs out crying 'Wolf' as a progress to your own story- 'The boy who cried Wolf' revamped! 

The bright side: Probably thousands of likes on your social media account!

The Dark Side: Well, if I have to explain this part, it just means that the 'common sense' part of your brain function is currently on a vacation somewhere. Fear not, and hope for the best- it will return at some point... hopefully for you.

Else, well, I guess- practice shouting out loud - Wolf!!!