I
couldn’t think of any real themes from this week, so I decided to write something
completely different. Now I know some
people will find this hard to hear, but doing well doesn’t always require a lot
of effort. What it does require,
however, is effort in the right places. I
know some people have stereotypes to live up to, and some people have parents
that won’t let things be, but honestly, twenty pages of B.S. is, in the end, no
better than two pages of clear, straight-to-the-point writing. There were people writing essays on the
summer reading, and I can only guess that the big reason is that they were so
pumped up to write their twenty pages of B.S. that they didn’t realize the
directions told them to do something completely different. With essays I see people running up to grab
more paper every few seconds, while I got 100% on at least half of my APUSH
essays last year with only two, maybe two and a half pages of writing. On top of that, I rarely studied for more
than ten minutes (that’s total, in the entire period before a test). I got an A on most of the tests. Putting effort into extra work isn’t going to
get you anywhere; putting effort into the work that needs to be done will. When someone asks, “What major event happened
on December 7th, 1941,” you don’t need to go off talking about how
Hitler’s surprise strike in the Ardennes influenced the Japanese plans in the
Pacific. All you need to say is, “The
Japanese used carrier-launched aircraft to attack U.S. installations on the
island of Oahu.” Shoot, you could probably get by saying, “The Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor.” You don’t need to talk about the buildup or the success
or the effects, you just need to say what happened. Extra effort only wastes time. I got a 5 in APUSH by putting the right
effort in the right places. Anyone can
do the same in any class from "Intro to Shapes" to Calc 3.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
Do it for Sparta
Always throw the first punch. Yeah, I know the rules of warfare-don’t fire
unless fired upon-but in some situations that’s just a way for people who are
too scared to fight to keep from getting a black eye. Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself
and for others. Sherman Alexie learned
to throw the first punch because otherwise your opponent will fire first, and
by the time you hit the ground your foe is already in the lead. You have to throw the first punch because 99.9%
of the time there’s not going to be someone to do it for you. I could go on another rant about this, but I’d
probably get myself sent to the principal’s office, so I’m going to keep this
simple and clean. When someone needs your
help, you can’t trust someone else to be there.
You can’t trust that some bystander is going to step in and provide
their assistance, because they’re probably thinking exactly what you are. The
other guy is going to do it. But by
the time you realize they won’t, it’s already too late. When you’re being threatened by someone with
a gun, you can’t expect that someone will step in and stop it. You have to throw the first punch. In the business world, if you don’t step up
to the challenge, someone else is going to take your opportunity from you. The moral of the story: Always throw the
first punch. I hope you’ve got a good
cause, but if you can find no other reason, then do it for Sparta.
Monday, September 16, 2013
The most important post you will ever read
This is an edited version of a post I made to Facebook, with a few additions to connect it to English class. I just had to share this with the world...perhaps someone will come along and find this blog and be like "HOLY MOTHER OF CHUCK NORRIS!!! Mind: Blown!"
A couple weeks ago I posted a quote (on Facebook) from the movie Signs, that ends: "Is it possible that there are no coincidences?" I've been gathering personal evidence on the subject through my experiences before and since I posted the quote on Facebook. My finds: startling. In another post approximately a week or two after the post, I described an encounter I had with a ditch in the dark, in which a subconscious decision pushed my body to left, avoiding a ditch I couldn't see. Another example happened just today. In the past couple weeks I had been seriously considering the possibility that perhaps, just perhaps, the world I live in isn't really real, that instead it's a dream, or a simulation, or something like The Matrix. I pondered it today while I was making dinner for myself. I made the decision to eat downstairs so I could watch TV-a normal decision for me when I'm home alone. As it turns out, Through the Wormhole, a show on the Science Channel that questions things in the world, was on. And somehow, the episode that was on while I was eating dinner...was precisely what I had been considering the moment before. Is this world really real? I could truly list hundreds of more "coincidences" that I have experienced over the course of my life. Sometimes we don't even notice them, they just happen. In Huckleberry Finn, Huck talks of the divine guidance of Providence, who is always there when he needs help the most. Maybe, just maybe, Providence is real. And although I believe in God and Huck believes in God, Providence isn't necessarily God. And considering The Things They Carried, did you ever stop to ponder how O'Brien was in such a perfect position at the perfect time that he was never shot fatally, but instead only received minor wounds? Or, in a negative way, you can consider how Kiowa was in the wrong place at the wrong time in the field where he was killed? Kind of like during the movie Signs, when the main character's wife is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a man driving drowsy falls asleep at the perfect moment, so that he runs off the road and kills her? That can be followed up with how the car actually pinned her to the tree so that she was still alive for a while, allowing her to speak to her husband one more time? On another point that will loop back around to the one I've been typing about, I get funny feelings. Yes, I know we all get funny feelings. This is a specific one I'd like to address. I call it the God effect, personally. I use it as a sign that I am on the right path to finding myself and to finding the truth. I could simply be listening to the right song, or coming up with an incredible thought about life (which will often end up in a Facebook post). The more amazing the thought, the more extreme the sensation is. And whether it's just a feeling or truly a message that I'm on to something here, I'm going to take these as signs. But the most intriguing thing to me, which I just experienced today, is this: Just as I sat down to type this post, I felt the most powerful feeling I have ever felt. Crazy, isn't it? So, "Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?"
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Decisions, decisions
Well, this is my first post for English, so if by some chance some random person out there is reading this you'll probably be disappointed with the content of my blog.
Today’s
post will be about the basic nature of humankind. To evaluate this I will be pulling examples
from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. When it comes down to it, 99.9% of my
decisions are not intended to be good or evil.
They are merely intended to bring the best result to myself. If someone is done good by my decision, then
wonderful, but if someone is hurt by my decision, it simply leads to another
decision that I have to make. Huck Finn
needs to get away from his abusing father, but in the process he has to make
vital decisions. He doesn’t help Jim out
of the goodness of his heart. Huck helps
Jim because at the moment he met the man, it benefited himself best to help
him escape. The only things that can
change our decision to help ourselves are love and anger. If we are truly angry at someone we can be
pushed to extremes, sometimes risking our own well-being to do so. On the other hand, there is also love. Love compels us to act in a way that will
benefit someone else, even if the personal benefit to ourselves isn’t so
great. When Huck meets Mary Jane, it is
a combination of his affection for her along with his need to rid himself of
the “duke” and the “king” that leads him to attempt to help her. In the world at large, you see these actions
every day. Politicians never do a nice
thing simply out of the good of their hearts.
They do it because some adviser told them that it would be a good
idea. Even when they give a wonderful
speech in front of an adoring crowd, it’s only for the popularity. The American Revolution was mainly caused
because a group of men decided they didn’t like England’s policies, and it came
to be that the only solution was independence.
There were few people who simply wanted their own nation just to be able
to fly a new flag. Basic human nature is
neither good nor evil. Human nature is
to push for a better life.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)