Free will or not?

The last few months have made me realize how little control we have over our lives than we think.

We can all rave about living in a democracy, exercising our right of speech and expression and the ability to lead life as we want to. But did the following have the free will to prevent or control what happened to them? Victims of the Mumbai terror attack , serial blasts in Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad or Guwahati, Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings or passengers of the hijacked planes that crashed into WTC towers on 9/11 and even the girls who were beaten up at the Mangalore pub. And why restrict to man made terror. How about those who have fallen prey to natural disasters -- the 2004 tsunami, earthquakes or even Titanic, the ship that could never sink.

The future seems to be equally bleak for 'free will'. There are fears of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists, global warming has only just begun, super volcanoes threaten to plunge the world into an ice age, an asteroid might collide with earth. Apart from these there are the usual chances of accidents, plane crashes and natural phenomenon like floods and earthquakes.

So, is there no such thing as free will? Yes, there IS. Although we cannot control the above events, we can mitigate the effects of their outcomes by the choices we make. Switching to green energy, judicious use of electricity and water and planting more trees can mitigate the effects of global warming. More than this, we have the choice to be good or bad. We can choose to spread love or destruct ourselves with hate. Live and let live can go a far way in reducing the futile conflicts that men get into for superficial matters like race, religion, gender, caste, nationality etc.

Ayn Rand sums it the best:

Man is a being with free will; therefore, each man is potentially good or evil, and it's up to him and only him (through his reasoning mind) to decide which he wants to be

To Tag or Not to Tag

The other day, I had a hard time tagging 25 people on Facebook for the '25 random things about me' post. Once tagged, the post requires you to write your own post and then tag 25 people in your friends' list including the person who tagged you. I must confess I had a hard time selecting the 24 people despite boasting of 160 friends.

School friends, childhood friends, college friends, friends from work, Toastmasters friends, family...they are all there. Yet, I had trouble tagging 15% of my friends list . While I personally know all 160, I did not want to share some random facts about myself with them. As I browsed through the list, I wondered how many of them can really be called friends. As per dictionary.com a friend is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard or a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter. Going by these definitions, there hasn't really been an exchange of affection or patronage with most of my 'friends'. I haven't interacted with most of them since we added each other.

So, should I call them friends, acquaintances or associate? Does seeing photos, reading/commenting on status messages, poking, wall posts make friends? Which are your most memorable times spent with friends? Hanging out with them, pulling each other's leg, laughing your head off over a cup of coffee or Facebooking/Orkutting them? Do you remember the birthday when your buddies showed up with warm smiles on their faces and wished you with a hug or the one line ' Happy Birthday! Have a Blast!' wall post?

Facebook is a great way to extend that face-to-face interaction and be more involved in another person's life. It has also connected me to some long lost friends. But unless I make the effort to interact with them personally, I will not be able to form that long lasting bond. Which is what happened to most of those 160 friends on my list. I do know them from work, school, college or other activities but I have had different levels of interaction with them none of which are affectionate or patronizing.

In conclusion, I would say that social networking is a good way to extend that personal connection but not sustainable in itself.