Don't judge a person by what or how they write

"Don't judge a book by its cover." This is the most classic of quotes that describes how people should not be prejudgmental to one another. If this statement is true, though, could we also argue that we "shouldn't judge a person by what or how they write"?

By now, I'm sure every senior at Burlingame High School is writing or has just about finished writing all of their personal statements and essays for the colleges that they are applying to. The problem with this, though, is that not only is doing college applications extremely annoying because all you do is type in the same information over and over again, but most of the time you don't get a choice about what you want to tell them. If you do get this choice, though, you can't even write it in a way that truly expresses who you are. Take me, for example, it's no secret that I dislike writing essays and that they are not my strongest ability in English class, but I can write informal things, like blogs, well. So the dilemma is, how can you truly know someone by reading something they wrote that doesn't truly express who they are? Sure what they wrote about themselves is true, but the way they wrote it is completely fake. Kids only write formally for colleges because if you don't then they probably won't accept you or take you seriously. I think colleges should take informal writing, like blogs, seriously. Not only are kids writing what the colleges asked for, but they're doing it in a way that expresses them the most.

I feel that informal writing shows you who someone is more than formal writing does. Informal writing allows a person to ramble on about subjects without having to worry too much about silly grammatical errors. I also feel that people are able to dive deeper into a subject because they don't have to worry about making it all sound good and smart for whoever is going to read it. By writing informally, kids are able to express themselves in a true way. Through informal writing, a reader can see who a person is, what they like, what their values are, how they feel about subjects, and more because people are more free in their writing. No thesis or quotes are needed. Just your opinions and thoughts about life or whatever you want to talk about. This is what I feel true writing is.

“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching."

Since this week in class we talked more about law and leadership, I decided that for this weeks blog, I'd just sort of pick my own topic.

"One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching." This quote has really stuck with me this week because of the fact that my best friend's dad (pictured to the left) passed away a week ago. It really made me think about how short life is and how we need to do things that please us because if we don't, then what was the point of it all? It's okay for people to be selfish once in awhile, because if we are not, then we'll spend our whole lives pleasing other people and never ourselves. On the opposite end of that, though, there are those people who are completely selfish and never want to do anything to please or help other people. My point is, everyone needs a balance of being selfish and selfless. Humans are only on this planet for a short amount of time when you compare it to how old the planet actually is. Our time needs to be enjoyed, not spent worrying about things.

There are people who may fear the fact that death comes so soon, when really it is something that should be embraced. Death will catch up to all of us at some point and since we know that, then we should do something about it. Instead of fearing it, people must do the things they want to in life. Go skydiving, shoot a gun, climb Mt. Everest, travel the world, do whatever pleases you because your life will seem so much better and fuller when you do. Those who live the lives they've always wanted to won't be afraid to die because they've done everything in their life that they've wanted to. In the book White Noise, by Don DeLillo, the main character is a father who has an extreme fear of death. The fear of death constantly stays with him and interrupts his life. He's desperate to try and rid himself of this fear and ends up killing someone for drugs that may or may not cure his fear. People like him shouldn't let fear control their lives because it's a factor in everyone's life that can't be controlled. It's not like addiction where you have a chance to get rid of it for forever, death is inevitable.

Since death comes for everyone at some point, people should do their best to leave a positive legacy behind. When you think about it, are the little dramatic fights, the lying, the cheating, the stealing that people do in their lives really worth it? People only have a certain amount of time before they're gone. Would you rather be remembered for fighting someone, or for being a nice person that everyone loved?

Hitler a Great Leader?

This week was very focused on law and leadership... perfect considering we have the lovely task of writing essays on either law or leadership. Since my last blog was focused on law, I guess this time I can focus on leadership.

Today in class we had a good discussion on leadership, and on Goodwin's "Ten Traits of a Great President". One of the most disturbing things that I thought about was the fact that Hitler was a good leader. Yes, I know that Hitler was a horrible man and that what he did was wrong, but he was effective in what he did. I don't agree with anything Hitler did, but the way he did it was profound. His ability to stay confident and in control was probably one of the most important things he did as a leader. He was also able to inspire others and make them believe that what he was doing was the right thing. If he hadn't been able to convince everyone that Jews or gypsies or homosexuals were bad, then he would have failed as a leader. Even his morality helped him be a successful leader. I'm not saying that I agree with Hitler's morals, but what he was doing, he believed was right, therefore he believed he was doing what he though was morally right. Hitler was also willing to take a risk, and he was rewarded in his own way.

Connecting this with Oedipus and Antigone... I think Oedipus started out as a good leader because he was always in control and the people respected him. His downfall, though, was that he never accepted beliefs that were opposite of his own. If people contradicted him, he didn't want to hear it; he always thought he was right. I believe Creon had his downfall because he defied the laws of the gods and offended them. Leaders are there to enforce laws, not to break them.

Leadership takes a lot of strength and courage, and only certain people have the ability to lead. No matter what happens, leaders must stay strong and confident. They must be able to listen to other viewpoints and understand where that's coming from. They must be able to make mistakes and learn from them. Leaders must do all of this and a lot more to be successful. But if the respect of everyone you lead is won, then the rest will be easier.

Humans CAN Fly?

It's almost a universal fact that everyone breaks laws. I don't know anyone who has never broken at least one law in their life. If it's so easy for us to break laws, then what is the point of them? In the world, there a two kinds of laws, artificial and natural. Artificial are laws that humans make and natural laws are laws of nature that are understood by all species. The artificial laws that humans make are there to protect us and to keep order. People fear that if there is no law and order, that people will act like animals, though technically speaking we kind of ARE animals...but I won't get into that. Artificial laws that are easily broken aren't the most extreme or important laws, that's why it's so easy to get away with them. Also, those laws people will continue to break and it's a known fact that they will. For example, it is a fact that teenagers in high school (not all of them though) will drink alcohol and use illegal drugs. This is a known fact, but it's not really something that can be controlled. Teenagers will continue to do this not only because in their minds the marginal benefit is greater than the cost, but because they want to and it's easy to get away with. People won't do something if in their mind, the cost outweighs the benefit. Natural laws, though, are much harder to break, almost impossible. These are understood rules of life that people have to follow because that's just how it is. For example, people can't fly... that's an understood law. We don't have wings and therefore we can't fly. But, sometimes there are ways to "break" these natural laws. Airplanes, hand gliding, and parasailing are ways for humans to "break" the law that humans can't fly. Also, if you're Criss Angel (pictured above) you can just levitate. Laws are in our lives to help us, though people may not always see it that way. Other laws are easier to break than others, but only because there are not as serious as other offenses may be. When was the last time YOU broke the law?

Fate

"It is not what fate has in store for us that matters, but what we do with it when it comes." - Paul Roche.

This line by Paul Roche is perhaps that one line that has stuck with me since I read it and will continue to be stuck in my head for awhile. We talked a lot about fate this week in Lit class, but there are so many different interpretations of what it is and how it works, that it's impossible to have one clear, straight answer. What is fate? How does it work? Can you change your fate? No one can answer these questions and be completely 100% correct. Everyone has different interpretations of what fate actually is.

I believe fate to be someone's destiny. I think that fate can either hit you at one point or can be a buildup of things over your lifetime. I also think that even if people think they can change their fate, that their fate WAS to change their fate (if that makes sense). Fate can be a good thing, a bad thing, or a combination of the two depending on someone's situation.

I do believe in fate. Last weekend my mom and her five sister's came to my house to split up my nana's jewlery... she had a lot. The one thing they couldn't decide on who would get, was my papa's (grandfather's) wedding ring. They put all their names in a bag and I had to pick who would get it. I ended up picking my aunt Libby's name. She has three boys, the oldest of which is sentimental, and when he found out he got the wedding ring, he was very emotional. The point of me telling you this story is that I believe that I was meant to pick my aunt Libby's name. If there was anyone in the family who I think should have gotten the wedding ring, it would be my cousin Frankie (the one who ended up with it).

I do believe things are meant to happen and you can't really change that. People need to embrace their fate instead of fear it.

The New Weekly Song!... O ya and the blog thing

Sunday at 11:00am, the usual time to be doing your weekend homework. Except today I am very dedicated to getting it all done as soon as possible because I have a concert to go to tonight. So Mr. Burke, if I'm falling asleep in class tomorrow, it's because I'll be up late tonight. wahoo.

This week we spent some time disucssing the "4 philisophical problems". The first one, knowledge, is something the really got me thinking. How do we really know anything at all? Everything we know or everything we think we know was all made up by someone else, so how do we even know what anything really is. The fact that 2 + 2 = 4 is a universally accepted fact, but who made this up and decided it? More importantly, why did everyone else accept this fact? Numbers, words, objects, colors, names - they're all things other people came up with that became a universally accepted fact. If I got enough people to accept the fact that a color "X" was really in fact a color that needs to now be called "Flambooola", it could eventually become a real color. Everything we learn and everything we know is conditioned into us from a young age. Everything we know is technically someone else's words and ideas. Though we have our own opinions, the words and objects and colors we think of when we come up with our own opinions is someone else's idea.

It's a weird concept to think about, but that is the topic this week that really got me thinking the most. So anyways, now I must go start reading Oedipus now so I can go visit my friend in the hospital later. We are going to watch the 49ers game. wahoo, go niners!

Also, I'm not sure how to post music on this so I'll just post the youtube link to the songs. They really don't have any relevance to what my rant was about this week, but I get kind of obsesssed with like different songs every week so here are some good ones from the movie, (500) Days of Summer - btw, awesome movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzrC72Xv6pE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3b9E1p9uOA

Just another randomly good song of the week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNzeOL-xdEI

Now, to Oedipus!

What truly defines us?

Sitting at home on a Monday afternoon writing my weekly blog for AP Lit class, what could be better? Since I struggle to find something to occupy my time with before I go out in a couple hours, why not write my blog? I think after this I should probably start reading my IR book. Yes Mr. Burke, I know I should have started it already, but I haven't so I will try today.

So anyways, this week in class we talked a lot about Bartleby and on Friday, we had a long class discussion about Bartleby and about Crawford's "Shop Class as Soulcraft". The discussion we had really got me thinking about what really defines us. Is it our education? experiences? relationships? work? what? In class I said that it's more of our education that defines us than our work because education is what helps us figure out what we want to do with our life. But, it's not the only thing that defines us.

Everything we do and everyone we met helps us to further define ourselves. I came to this conclusion last night when I was at my grandfather's 83rd birthday. I have two little cousins who are sisters that are a couple years apart. Thinking about their differences in their personalities made me think about my personality vs. my brother's. Since the time we were young, you could tell that there were similarities as well as differences between us. If you look at the picture above you can see my brother and myself, but by looking at this picture you can't tell the differences between our personalities, only our physical differences. But what made these differences in our personalities that made us so unique? Again here comes the question of what truly defines us? I think that it is everything in our life. Everything we do is significant to defining ourselves. As we go through our life there are significant and insignificant events that help to shape us as people. Our relationships with people bring out how we feel and what kind of people we are. Our education reveals what we are truly passionate about. Our work shows our determination to go after our dreams and aspirations. There's not one thing that truly defines us, it is a mixture of everything we do and everything we experience.