The Blog enters Phase-2

I raised my eyebrows as I read the following quotation:

"In a much quoted passage in his inaugural address, President Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country." It is a striking sign of the temper of our times that the controversy about this passage centered on its origin and not on its content. Neither half of the statement expresses a relation between the citizen and his government that is worthy of the ideals of free men in a free society. The paternalistic "what your country can do for you" implies that government is the patron, the citizen the ward, a view that is at odds with the free man's belief in his own responsibility for his own destiny. The organismic, "what you can do for your country" implies that government is the master or the deity, the citizen, the servant or the votary. To the free man, the country is the collection of individuals who compose it, not something over and above them. He is proud of a common heritage and loyal to common traditions. But he regards government as a means, an instrumentality, neither a grantor of favors and gifts, nor a master or god to be blindly worshiped and served. He recognizes no national goal except as it is the consensus of the goals that the citizens severally serve. He recognizes no national purpose except as it is the consensus of the purposes for which the citizens severally strive."
— Milton Friedman

I was astonished because it was a totally new point of view for me. I usually accept quotations on their face value. This one I did. Around three years ago, my group in college had organized a panel discussion on this quote. The movie Rang De Basanti had just been released and we were all in the grips of patriotic fervor. The general sentiment of the panelists as well as the audience had been 'Yes! We will step forward and do things for India. Kuchh kar ke dikhayeinge.'

Idealism that is woken up by a movie and sleeps back after a few days is so shallow! And gullibe is the mind which lets that happen. I cannot claim much intellectual improvement since. I am still not good at critical analysis. Writers need that skill.

*

You are not going to see any more rants on this blog. And as for that October rant about being a failure and all that, well, it was a phase and it's gone now. Things are back on track. On the writing track.

Till now, this was the blog of a 'wannabe writer'. So, you saw all of my confusions etc. here. I am no more a 'wannabe writer.'