A beautiful sunny day seems perfect to many people. Nothing could be better than the shining sun on their backs, and the birds singing through the skies. Cheer seems to fill the air with its rays. But then the rain comes. The clouds slither in, the light is covered, and depression ensues. But I take a different approach. I embrace the darkness that surrounds the sky, and wait anxiously for my favorite activity of the day: dancing in the rain.
I believe in dancing in the rain
No need for umbrellas
My hair catches every drop just fine
Feeling the water drip from my head
To my face
And down my arms
Soaking wet until I can’t separate myself from the weather
The rain heals my problems
Cleans the slate
To create anew
I raise my arms to the pouring water
Engulfing every drop I can reach.
Anything to get a step closer to perfection
As the lightning surrounds the night sky
I begin to spin
Creating a whirl of shapes and colors
Watching the water fly around me
The rain protects me from reality
While the world swings by
After the funeral of a loved one I dance
After the failure of a test I dance
After the friends I once held leave I dance
I take refuge in the rain
And where it comes from
Music plays in my mind
Creating a rhythm
For me to move along to
I love this time of free expression
Ignoring the looks of confusion from my family
As I find the beat of the drops
Helping me release
And let go.
My faith says that God flooded the Earth in order to rid it of horrors. Every time I feel the rain wash against my skin while I dance I remember Him, and no matter what current troubles I am in, I know that after the 40 days and 40 nights, a rainbow will always be there, showing me that a new day of light shall come.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
A Modest Proposal
I come to you with a sad heart, feeling distant and alone due to the rate of which people are ending their lives, far sooner than intended. This rate is very large and I must proclaim that something has got to be done in order to stop these events from occurring. After weighing whether or not this would hurt things like population control or a funeral home’s supply for business, I decided that the benefits out way the costs, leading me to my only possible conclusion. I propose that a society of children be raised to watch every person in the world, through the technology we have today, in order to prevent people from committing suicide.
This may seem like an invasion of your privacy, but if you truly loved your country and had a heart for your fellow man, you would not mind a little invasion, since governments already track your every move. In order to complete my plan of action, one child will be taken at birth from every family that has at least two children. The second child is the most obvious choice since parents only really love their first child anyway.
I can understand that one may believe this is not possible but, this idea could change the world in a way nobody has tried to do yet—believe me there aren’t many of these ways left. First, if a new society is raised just to watch people there would be more jobs left for the rest of that generation, decreasing unemployment rates which, coincidentally, can lead to depression, a cause of suicide.
Second, if one child is taken from homes with two or more children, that family’s financial burden will lesson, and their love will not have to be stretched out over a vast sea of offspring. This, in itself, will decrease the suicide rate since children will fell more loved and parents will not feel over worked.
Third, these children, turned spies, will not feel any emotion, so they will not be out in the world looking for their ‘one true love’ – this will give the rest of you mediocre people a change to feel love in your life.
Forth, this system will not be abused to monitor criminals, so their line of work will not be interrupted while the trained agents are looking for suicidal people. Therefore, no civil liberties will be violated by the proposal; at least ones the government hasn’t already violated.
I can think of nothing any one can say against this proposal due to my long thought process of over fifteen minutes of how to stop this problem. Thing such as being nicer to people, showing people close to us that we care about them, asking for professional help when we feel helpless, eliminating unnecessary stressors from our lives including: buying items we don’t have the money to pay for, trying to have perfect relationships with people who aren’t perfect, attempting to get A’s on every AP test we take, worrying about people we can’t help, wondering how we are going to support our habits of cigarettes and alcohol that we use to suppress these other stressors; are just a few of the things we can never accomplish to lesson the rate of suicide in the world.
After all of these reasons I do believe everyone should be on my side in agreeing that this is the only way to help suicide. Obviously, I am an objective judge to this since I have never wanted to commit suicide nor will I care if my child is taken since, I do not plan on having children.
Monday, March 9, 2009
1984 superiority
Two of the most terrifying novels or prophesies of the world could come to are still 1984 and Brave New World. Although these were both written many years ago, they are both very relevant in today’s society. In Brave New World, Huxley believes that the sensual pleasures people lead their lives in will eventually take control of everything, where as Orwell says in 1984 that a governmental power will eventually fear this world into submission. Even though the year of 1984 has past, as Postman says, “We, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.” However, this just because the year has come and gone does not mean that the reality of 1984 will never come true. Since a time line has actually been placed to one of these novels, the general public seems to believe that only one holds an impending doom over society, where as it is clear we are closer to the 1984 society than Brave New World’s civilization.
First, if one takes into perspective the idea of doublespeak, it seems that we already have seen this ability to speak around what we are trying to say in order to lull the public into a false sense of security. If one listens to a political speech, no matter the affiliation, it is clear that there are certain words used in order to bamboozle the general population into believing one idea rather than another. Words are powerful, and one in power, such as a high political office, can use this to their power, just like in 1984. When dealing with an illiterate, incompetent population, history will tell you that it is easy to be an absolute ruler, but when you educate the masses, the task to have complete control becomes more difficult. This seems to have lead to more and more elitists throughout the world, needed to make them sound more intelligent in order to fool the masses of now educated peoples. “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books.” (Postman) This is clearly an example of our society because in order to create an absolute power in one place, education and the ability to acquire knowledge would have to be cut off completely. Simply believe that “…There would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.” would not make any sense since most of humanity is educated.
Another point that Orwell had correct was the idea of complete government control without our knowledge. Although my knowledge of government secret procedure is not very lengthy, I am aware that some of the technology they have has enabled they to listen to and track nearly everything one says or types. This type of control with “Big Brother watching” clearly shows that there are many secrets in governments the general public does not know about. “Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information.” Evidently, this has happened is we are all not given every piece of information that could affect things such as our civil liberties.
Huxley did make some relevant points in his idea of the future regarding the expansion of science and the love of pleasure that the public feels. However, Orwell’s somewhat paranoid idea of the control that the government can have, without society even knowing this control is happening, has taken precedence in the world we live in today where power is what nearly all strive for, in their own unique ways.
First, if one takes into perspective the idea of doublespeak, it seems that we already have seen this ability to speak around what we are trying to say in order to lull the public into a false sense of security. If one listens to a political speech, no matter the affiliation, it is clear that there are certain words used in order to bamboozle the general population into believing one idea rather than another. Words are powerful, and one in power, such as a high political office, can use this to their power, just like in 1984. When dealing with an illiterate, incompetent population, history will tell you that it is easy to be an absolute ruler, but when you educate the masses, the task to have complete control becomes more difficult. This seems to have lead to more and more elitists throughout the world, needed to make them sound more intelligent in order to fool the masses of now educated peoples. “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books.” (Postman) This is clearly an example of our society because in order to create an absolute power in one place, education and the ability to acquire knowledge would have to be cut off completely. Simply believe that “…There would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.” would not make any sense since most of humanity is educated.
Another point that Orwell had correct was the idea of complete government control without our knowledge. Although my knowledge of government secret procedure is not very lengthy, I am aware that some of the technology they have has enabled they to listen to and track nearly everything one says or types. This type of control with “Big Brother watching” clearly shows that there are many secrets in governments the general public does not know about. “Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information.” Evidently, this has happened is we are all not given every piece of information that could affect things such as our civil liberties.
Huxley did make some relevant points in his idea of the future regarding the expansion of science and the love of pleasure that the public feels. However, Orwell’s somewhat paranoid idea of the control that the government can have, without society even knowing this control is happening, has taken precedence in the world we live in today where power is what nearly all strive for, in their own unique ways.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Arguement
There are many students that work very hard throughout their entire schooling career in order to prepare themselves for college and to eventually get a degree in a field of their choice. However, until college choices are limited as far as scheduling in high school and are non-existent in this aspect in elementary school. The only two classes designated to be taken all four years of one’s college education are English and physical education. Insisting that these two subjects are taken throughout one’s high school education is insinuating that these subjects are more important than others such as math, science, and history, which all have much broader aspects for students to learn. Electives can end up giving a student more knowledge in a field they specifically are interested in, yet other classes are held as more important. Although all students should have knowledge in the four main subjects throughout high school, students should not be forced to take more years of one subject in order to get a diploma.
English, a very important subject and necessary in almost all aspects of life, is a class must be taken all four years of high school. However, students are not forced to increase their levels of study. One can take a modified English class throughout high school, coasting their way through, not learning new things each year. Unless one increases their level of education to an honors or AP class they are missing out on useful information, such as fallacies, rhetorical devices, ect. This space allotted to these English classes could be used to further one’s development in another subject, such as history, where new things are learned each year and there are many more ways to expand without increasing difficulty. Physical education classes are also required each year of high school, in an effort to reduce the obesity in teenagers. This is a very noble attempt, but that is a period everyday that one could use to further their education of knowledge, rather than to exercise. These classes are necessary in order to facilitate labs for science courses but there are students already forced to take a lab out of other courses due to scheduling issue so it can be done. One does not learn new things every year in physical education the way one can learn something in history or math.
There are many different electives that can be taken in order to help a student focus on a field of their choice, however most of these electives are not considered core courses so they do not count to fulfill graduation requirements. One example of this is in the science field. A class such as forensic science does not count as a year, even though it has a lab period and students do just as much work as in other science classes. The requirements to graduate do not apply to this course, thus depriving a student of taking it if a required class conflicts with it. There are many other electives rich in educational value that students may overlook because they are too busy taking required classes that many not be as beneficial to that particular student.
One may say that not requiring a certain number of years in the core classes would cause students to take easy classes to attempt to not do any work during high school. This would be prevented by the consideration of colleges, which will commonly not take students unless they take a certain number of classes in certain subjects of study. This new way of organizing a student’s schedule would allow for more freedom for the student and a focused path to their future instead of a generic path their peers are on. Putting more responsibility on the student would force them to plan ahead and better prepare them for college.
Mark Twain once said, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." In forcing students to take classes they are not interested in, the system is trying to control a student’s schooling, not thinking about the effect it will have on their future education. Maintaining a rigorous schedule should not be based on specific classes but rather helpful classes to enhance a student’s knowledge. Students have many things to worry about throughout their school lives, trying to schedule classes they have interest and a requirement in should not be one of them.
English, a very important subject and necessary in almost all aspects of life, is a class must be taken all four years of high school. However, students are not forced to increase their levels of study. One can take a modified English class throughout high school, coasting their way through, not learning new things each year. Unless one increases their level of education to an honors or AP class they are missing out on useful information, such as fallacies, rhetorical devices, ect. This space allotted to these English classes could be used to further one’s development in another subject, such as history, where new things are learned each year and there are many more ways to expand without increasing difficulty. Physical education classes are also required each year of high school, in an effort to reduce the obesity in teenagers. This is a very noble attempt, but that is a period everyday that one could use to further their education of knowledge, rather than to exercise. These classes are necessary in order to facilitate labs for science courses but there are students already forced to take a lab out of other courses due to scheduling issue so it can be done. One does not learn new things every year in physical education the way one can learn something in history or math.
There are many different electives that can be taken in order to help a student focus on a field of their choice, however most of these electives are not considered core courses so they do not count to fulfill graduation requirements. One example of this is in the science field. A class such as forensic science does not count as a year, even though it has a lab period and students do just as much work as in other science classes. The requirements to graduate do not apply to this course, thus depriving a student of taking it if a required class conflicts with it. There are many other electives rich in educational value that students may overlook because they are too busy taking required classes that many not be as beneficial to that particular student.
One may say that not requiring a certain number of years in the core classes would cause students to take easy classes to attempt to not do any work during high school. This would be prevented by the consideration of colleges, which will commonly not take students unless they take a certain number of classes in certain subjects of study. This new way of organizing a student’s schedule would allow for more freedom for the student and a focused path to their future instead of a generic path their peers are on. Putting more responsibility on the student would force them to plan ahead and better prepare them for college.
Mark Twain once said, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." In forcing students to take classes they are not interested in, the system is trying to control a student’s schooling, not thinking about the effect it will have on their future education. Maintaining a rigorous schedule should not be based on specific classes but rather helpful classes to enhance a student’s knowledge. Students have many things to worry about throughout their school lives, trying to schedule classes they have interest and a requirement in should not be one of them.
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