Life is Beautiful... (and a lie?)

Overall the movie was great and tied in well with Man's Search for Meaning. Guido's cleverness and wit protected his innocent four-year-old son from the harsh realityof what really happens in the concentration camps. Initially, I thought Guido should not have lied to his son, because if Joshua discovered the hurtful truth, he wouldn't have known how to trust his father after that point. Needless to say, after a certain point I felt that the lie became irreversible and there was no going back. At the end of the movie, when Dora (Guido's wife, Joshua's mother) and Joshua are liberated by the Americans, I think that would have been a good time for Joshua to find out about the Holocaust, and what is being done to his people, and also to find out that his father might not have made it. I think telling him at that point would have eased much of the pain than years later, should he constantly wonder where his v father is. However, throughout the movie, I kept wondering how differently Guido's game would have played out if Joshua was a little bit older in the camps, maybe seven or eight, but still was unaware of what happens in the camps. I feel that Guido would have never started the game in the first place, fearing that Joshua's reasoning skills would be more developed than a four-year-old's, and that he would become suspicious.

Our Stranger Meaning

Here's a fact- no one knows for what reason we are placed on planet earth. Here's another fact- no one knows for sure what happens after we pass on to the afterlife. So why are we here? What is the meaning of our lives? What are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to do anything, for that matter? Well, like I said, no one knows, and I think it's impossible to find out. However, some people tend to stay away from wondering what humans were put on this earth to do, and rather focus on what they personally think they are here for.

Me, you ask? What do I think I'm here for? Hm. I personally think I'm here to help others. I know it sounds generic, but that's what I really think. Ever since I was a little kid I've loved to help others. By seven years old I was already volunteering in parks and food kitchens. In seventh grade I became a math and reading tutor. I especially loved that because the students' teachers returned to me the next year and told me that their grades actually improved. During the past few summers I've taken seven days out of each month to help out at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a huge warehouse that packages donated food and gives it to the homeless and hungry.

Helping others makes me feel warm inside, and I will continue to do it for as long as possible.

Is The Punishment Worth The Crime? (Or Is The Crime Worth The Punishment?)

Candide has committed many acts of injustice throughout the novel, including murder. Consequently, he's received his shares of punishments for these crimes. But one punishment he's received strikes me in particular.

In Chapter 16, he hears shrieks as he eats with Cacambo. He thinks that they are shrieks of painn. A little while later, he comes across two women being chased by two monkeys. Yes, real monkeys. (Or are they?) The apes are biting the women's buttocks and legs. Because he assumes the monkeys are hurting them, Candide shots and kills them. He thinks he has done a good deed. Although, afterwards, the women start weeping and mourning and they leave. Furthermore, they leave Candide with questions pertaining to why they are crying. Now Candide is doubting whether the primates were 'with' the women. Maybe the cries were cries of pleasure.

To me, this mental situation Candide now deals with is the 'punishment'. It's more of a passive, mental punishment, rather than a physical punishment. From then on, Candide must wonder whether the act he committed was an act of valor or just plain murder.

How Do We Know What We Know? (Do YOU Know?)

Think of something you know. Not the trivial stuff, but the in-depth things. Like if you're awake right now. Now think of an answer to this question. You probably answered, "Yes, I AM awake right now." pretty confidently. But how do we KNOW these things for certain? Is it common knowledge? Is it assumed? Do we learn it?

I think that we don't know anything until we are taught it. We are born ignorant. For the most part, our ignorance as children shape the way we learn. We know what we know because we don't know any better, so we take what is taught to us to be true. Its only natural. It's the way we learn. For example, the first time we do something. wrong, we are told that that is not the correct way of doing that action. After, we want to learn the correct way, and when we do, we store that information in the backs of our minds forever. Then when the situation faces us again, we know the correct method of going about it. Whether we choose to do what is wanted or correct is a different subject, but in essence, we will go with the moralistically correct way.

Also,  we know what we know because we went through experiences of the situation first-hand. 

"The American people don't believe anything until they see it on television."

-Richard Nixon

The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living?/ The Modern Gadfly

(I'm not even sure I'm supposed to be doing this blog with the Teachers' Strike and all, but better be safe than sorry, so I'll try to make the most sense out of it as I can without any type of guidelines... NOTE: This post will be updated if there is any outline for it when school resumes)

So- because Google tells you EVERYTHING, I figured out that "The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living" is a quote by Socrates.

First of all, the word 'examine' has different definitions- to inspect, observe, study, analyze, etc.; so there could be many varying meanings to this quote, but I think that by saying this, Socrates proposes ideas to the meaning of life(no, not 42). For example, are life and what we see really there, or is it just a figment of our overactive imaginations.

I mean, come on, that kinda stuff has got to make you think.

UPDATE- Thursday, September 27th

Through classwork, I learned that Socrates' quote proposes the question- "Why live if I don't know what I'm living for?"
I think we shouldn't ask ourselves this question until the age of 15 or 16. Some of us have a little trouble deciding what we want to accomplish in life, and don't make this lifechanging decision until we are maybe 18, 19, or even older.
This is probably the most important decision we make as young adults, because it definies what type of person we are going to become as we get into our twenties and thirties.

The Modern Gadfly

Who Was He?

Darius Echols.
Where do I even start with him?
He was an intelligent soul, with a heart for mathematics and sciences;
He was a compassionate soul, who felt the problems of others;
He was a helpful soul, who assisted others in their times of need;
He was a talented soul, with strength in video games and the performing arts.

Yet...
He was a shy soul, who was not a big contributor to formal conversation;
He was a lazy soul, (usually) waiting until the last possible minute to do something.

Nevertheless, every single one of us in this room, we all have our own positives and negatives, but those only help us become the individuals that we are.
I shall end this eulogy reminding ourselves that we are not here to mourn the loss of this young adult, but to celebrate the fact that he is now in a better place. A place that we all crave to be a part of, a place in which we can rest, knowing that our troubles in life are no more.

Thank you.