Destroying Ourselves

She was The Honourable Kezia Saint Martin. She has power, name, a long list of ancestors with histories, and not to forget, fortunes. She was born with Money, Power and History running thick in her veins; the 3 things one cannot conjure up, lie about, or steal. She was blessed with beauty, and style. Her mother was The Lady Liane Holmes-Aubrey before marrying her dad, Mr Keenan Saint Martin. Coming from the royal family of England, Kezia's mother with 9 generations of history, power and money married her father, a very rich American man. And Lady Liane, pressured by the expectations of people towards her, the craze paparazzi put before her and the loneliness in her, drank herself to death. She died a tragic death, a usual way for "them" to die. And Mr Keenan Saint Martin "lost" himself after her death. He died in a car accident. And since then, Kezia was brought up by her trustee, Edward. Kezia disliked her life. She finds no freedom in it. The media stalked her everywhere she goes. She can have everything she wants in the world but freedom. Then, she started writing. She writes under various pseudonyms to free herself. She went undercover when the media thought she was spending her time in some exclusive islands. She went to prisons in search of true stories, travel around the globe collecting experiences and life, and be a journalist. She practically lives under pseudonyms.

He was an ex-con. He was prisoned and spent almost half his life behind the bar. He furthered his study in the jail and he writes. And as soon as Lucas John was freed, while still under probation he made himself famous, loved, and hated. He fought for the fate of his fellow friends in the jail. The jailbirds were being forced to work while in jail, without a decent wage. They were being tortured and treated inhumanely. Lucas made it public. He wrote books about it, he gave speeches, press release and interviews. The inmates loved him. But the authority hated him. He sparked too much fire. He caused the riots in prisons. He's a trouble-maker, to the authority.

And they met by chance. Kezia was asked to do an interview on Lucas John. Her agent knows that Kezia had been living in lies all these while. She wasn't being herself, and he knows that an interview with Lucas John, the man who has nothing to lose and stand up for his friends will do Kezia good. And that was Kezia's first interview. Not surprisingly, these two people fell in love. Knowing that Lucas' life is in constant danger, Kezia was always worried sick.......

Well, that was a brief summary of the novel entitled "Passion's Promise" by Danielle Steel that I had just finished. And guess what, this novel was written in 1977! A 33 year old story, good eh. It was a very good novel I'd say, considering the fact that I'm a fan of Danielle Steel. However, the ending of this story scares me off, and I'm not going to tell what the ending was. =p

Danielle Steel's work are always based on a woman who have a very hard and challenging life. Then she will meet a man with a very hard and challenging life too. And then both of them wad will have hard and challenging lives, together. Haha yeah it sounded pathetic. "Hard + Hard = Hard but together". Although her work had always been like that, it attracts me.

Apart from the hard and difficulty of life shown in this story, it made me realise of a thing. Alcohol addiction, or alcoholism is an easy way out. Kezia's mother killed herself by alcohol intoxication, and so did her school friend, Tiffany. And Kezia nearly destroyed herself too towards the end of the story (luckily she did not). It was all too easy to destroy yourself by alcohol (well, according to movies and stories at least). You drink, get drunk, and forget everything. Isn't that just what someone sober needs? To forget? How nice if we can really forget all the problems (think, exams) we have. So, alcohol is actually one of the best "temporary" way out of problems, if one can forget fatty liver, liver cirrhosis and death waiting in line.

Luckily, Islam prevented us from taking alcohol.
Then, we won't have the chance to destroy ourself.
Say Islam do not prohibit alcohol, I'm sure a lot more people will resort to alcohol to forget their problems and, die of it. Maybe I would have too.
So no matter how sober I am, or how down I might feel, I won't take the easy but destructive way out because Islam do not allow it. I'm not sure if this is an extreme confession. Is this one?

I finished this novel on the second night of my hospital posting. I was supposed to read my lecture notes during free time, but I read novel instead! My mum had her shock of the day when she saw two novels in the bag I brought to the hospital. She knew I haven't finish reading one of them, but she did not expect me to bring a new one. And in respect of my mum, my study and JPA, I did not start reading the second one for I know I'll try my best to finish it up and I really can't afford the time anymore. Plus, the ending of this story put me in an I'd say emotionally vulnerable state. And I'm afraid of the effect the next novel might have on me. Hahah... At times I get too carried away by the story, my bad.

Some people think that reading fictions is a waste of time, it's an immature hobby or just ridiculous. But for me, reading novels give you experience. One gets to know how it is like in other people's shoes. Well, that depends greatly on the ability of the writer but, a good writer can bring the reader into the lives of the characters. Thus, your world is not confined only to your own life. How many things can one experience in their own lifetime? So novel is not only lovey-dovey stories, never ever underestimate the power of novels. There are a lot of things we can learn from it. Take the good ones, and leave the bad ones. After all, it's a healthy hobby. It's like watching a whole episode of someone's live in front of you.

I planned to make this post short, I am not sure how successful I am but, I am stopping now. =p
Salam.

Tuesday 8th June 2010
12.10am

-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com