Lessons Lost

When we are children, our limited experience with the world and other people make us reliant on our parents and other elders to tell us how to behave.  What a child might consider totally appropriate, such as blurting out during movies, borrowing without asking, or undressing ourselves in public is quickly corrected by the people in our lives that know better.  Soon enough however, we learn from other’s reactions, and the lessons imparted on us, to behave according to our social norms. 

 

Yet, for all of this, are there some that we forget, or file away as childish that we should be applying to our daily lives and even, society? 

 

Two of these lessons stick out to me.  As a child, I often remember my mother leaning over and telling me before heading into a group dinner, tailgate, or whatever function to limit my intake.  “Take only what you need”, she would say, preventing me from heaping all of the chicken nuggets and potato chips on my plate before everybody had their fair share.  It’s only common courtesy right?  

 

The second lesson was one of responsibility and accountability.  Whether it was at a guests house, the soccer pitch, or a classroom, the adult in charge would always say, “Let’s leave this place better than we found it”.  The point was that as people borrowing a space or utility, we should not only do anything to avoid harming it, but also leave it a little better if we could. A generally good practice – a fair price for time and use borrowed. 

 

Now, the issue is, and here comes my point, is that while individuals in individual circumstances might still abide by these simple rules we wish to teach our children, as a society, we are not – yet doing so would be easy enough and greatly improve the world.  

 

“Take only what you need”.  Now, before you start calling me a communist, I don’t think we should all seek to obtain the bare minimum or give away/sell the possessions that aren’t considered necessary for survival.  Simply, in your daily life and interaction, try not to take more than you need.  In our current situation, where resources such as water, fuel, and food are scarce for many people, it is important to be conscious of how much you are taking.  Find yourself taking 20 minute showers?  Try to cut it down.  Do you drive a Hummer?  Try for something less (obnoxious) and consuming next time.  I’m sure you’ve seen the reports about how there would have to be between 4-6 Earths to sustain the world if everybody lived like the typical American. Do we really need what our culture has made us accustomed to?  No.  It’s hard to picture, to feel the empathy to take action for something like this.  But the next time you’re at a buffet, or washing your car, be cognizant of how comfortable you are in the fulfilling of your needs.  That you have a surplus, and that there are millions of others that don’t. That what you’re doing might be having a serious environmental impact for our generation as well as subsequent ones. So don’t heap your plate full of chicken nuggets, there are a lot of people behind you that need some too.  

 

“Leave this place better than you find it”, to me, this is something we can always be thinking.  Every situation that we walk into, think, “I need to try to leave this better than I found it”.  Any person that you meet, if it’s for a minute, or a lifetime, try to make that relationship benefit that person, so that when you leave them, they’re better off.  Whether that’s simply from having a new friend in you, receiving a compliment, or hearing a joke to brighten their day, give an effort.  This can apply to anything however, your school, community, business, etc.  Feel connected, pay it forward, we’ve heard it all before.  But the bigger point is; your goal in life should be to leave the Earth better than you find it.  Because just like in any situation as a child, we are essentially borrowing time here.  There were numerous beings here before us, one day we will leave this place, and there will be many after us.  We are, essentially, borrowing time here.  The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth.  When you’re born, you start at 0, it’s your job to not detract from the world by the time its time for you to depart.  Be in the positive, not the negative.  (Incidentally, one way you can do this is not taking more than you need.) 

 

Finally, I don’t like the terms children, teenager, adult, senior, etc.  We are life-long learners, and we shouldn’t think that we’re ever above a lesson at any age.  Some of the more fundamental, basic ones are the best, and the two expressed above are no exceptions.  

 

So, no pressure, these are things that probably aren’t foreign to you, just forgotten, remember your childhood lessons and we can become much better adults that produce a much better world. 

 

-TS 

Rant Forest

As you may have gathered from the name, this post is going to be a good old fashioned rant.  Too often, strong emotions are refrained from writing, especially prose.  Outside of lyrics and poetry these days, most passionate writing takes form in the comments section on fiery Facebook status’, YouTube videos, Reddit and the like.  Yet not here.  If you want to be subject to my frustration and anger, read on – I will try not to ramble, but be fair warned: this might get a little nasty.  

 

I wanted to address this to Mr. Hatch.  But why?  As if he cares or would actually take suggestion.  I have never heard of or seen a more detached University president.  Clemson’s did push-ups during a football game dressed as the school’s mascot.  I’ve seen others make surprise appearances at student events, concerts, dining halls, etc.  But where are you?  Aside from the emails you send to clear the school’s name anytime something embarrassing happens, you’re only to be found at your own ball once every two years.  

Sorry, guess you’re too busy trying to make the school more like Notre Dame. 

 

Yet I digress, although the problems may stem from our fearful leader, they branch much farther than just one man.  Where shall, I start?  Ah! I see, how about the essence of any establishment of (higher) education – CLASSES!  I’ve had 16 classes thus far at Wake Forest University, and I can safely say that only 3-4 I have actually enjoyed, learned, or generally benefitted from, a really poor ratio if you ask me.  

The idea of “The Liberal Arts Education” is great, it’s a large reason I chose to attend.  Truly curious people, the type that seek education, should not just learn about one subject, one tiny finger on the body of knowledge, NO! They should expand, gain influence and expertise from different areas of learning.  And I agree, being well rounded is one of my foremost philosophies.  All humans should know about science, world religions, literature, politics, the like.  It helps us to understand, to be more involved in the world, and along the way become more intelligent, a good path to solve many of the worlds fundamental problems.  

 

But that’s not how we go about it at Wake.  Instead of a system where curious, ambitious students take a variety of classes and pursue the interest you most enjoy – you take a series of classes and pick the area you least hate.  Let’s look at a few examples shall we?  Case 1: Astronomy.  I think space is absolutely amazing, spend a few minute perusing the Hubble website, listening to Neil DeGrasse Tyson, or looking up facts about the universe and can really change your mood and perspective about our tiny little planet and everything that rests on it.  Thus, I thought a great way to fulfill the second half of my science requirement would be to take Astronomy.  How wrong was I.  To start, it was a 150 student class, which is far and away the biggest class at the school, but still, any hope of class questions, discussion, etc was squashed there.  Instead of learning about relevant things about space, about lunar missions, space technology, the ISS, or neat facts about black holes, dark energy, or alternate universes (we did kind of get to that stuff in the end) we spent a lot of time and energy on information that was both dry and not really applicable or interesting to anybody in the class.  Stuff like measuring light, moon phases, etc.  As if that wasn’t enough, the homework and tests were insufferable.  There was no real instruction in class so doing the exercises online was tedious and it was very stressful to get them right.  The tests, while a simple 25 question multiple choice, the only one you’ll get at Wake seemed easy enough, there were always questions on things I’d never heard of, extremely infuriating.  Case 2: Music.  I like music, a lot.  Through my years I’ve learned to play piano, guitar and more recently drums.  I love concerts, a good album and definitely appreciate it and recognize it’s importance.  So, why not take Music 101, as in easy, fun and interesting class for my divisional.  THINK AGAIN!!! It was the hardest class I had last semester.  We had to memorize songs for the tests.  In what ways does memorizing songs help anybody learn (about) music!? 1200 word concert write-ups, tests that tested how well you learned the trivia-worthy knowledge of the book and lectures that could put game-time Ray Lewis to sleep.  I can honestly say that I gained little to nothing from the class yet I put A LOT in the effort to stay afloat in it.  So infuriating. 

 

Speaking of classes, how about about my classes for next semester? Oh wait, what was that?  You don’t have enough? All of the classes are full? Uhh, yes and yes.  I’m sorry, I’m not even going to try to be eloquent or clever here (not that I’m trying to the rest of the time…): WHY, AS A SECOND SEMESTER SOPHOMORE, IS IT SO HARD FOR ME TO GET CLASSES!?!? Seriously, the next semester starts next week and I’m still clawing around, begging for classes to fill up my next semester.  Because of this ridiculous rule where you have to have 40 hours to declare (I had 37 by registration time), I was stuck without a time to register for the classes I wanted/needed.  Instead, I’m on the wait list for ONE Political Science class, and the others are, ohhh, just because. When talking to the dean of Academic Advising, I asked her why it is that nobody seems to win registration, that it is a big fight for everybody to get the classes they want, she replied with something like, “Oh, well, if we have a class with little registration, that’s a waste of resources, so we intentionally have less classes so that we are effectively using our resources”.  What a cold, calculating, emotionless way to view education.  Oh, this is just a factory where we pump out students, and we want to do it not well, but just efficient, so we make it so there aren’t empty classes.  That really made me mad.  It is really hard to get excited for next semester because I know, STILL, that I won’t yet be able to plunge into the academic field that I am interested in.  It is essentially, a little bit of a waste of a semester, and that is absolutely inexcusable considering the cost.  

 

Speaking of cost, of which there is a lot for this institution, I’m going to go ahead and say it’s a REALLLLY bad deal.  At a net cost of about $52,000/yr for my education, I’m paying about 8x what I would if I had just gone to USC, and about 8x as much as my dad paid FOR HIS ENTIRE EDUCATION as I do for one year.  Am I getting an 8x better education than my counterparts?  An 8x better education than my father? 

NO. 

Like I’ve said, I haven’t felt that stimulated or intellectually challenged in many of my classes.  I’m mostly just frustrated in them, as they don’t achieve many of their intended purposes.  The curriculum for my Spanish class included mostly doing hours of annoying online exercises.  It was awful, the exercises were just cookie-cutter from the book website, didn’t require any work from the teacher, and didn’t really help with learning to use the language.  You could do them endlessly until you got a 100 on it and if it wasn’t a brain-numbing multiple choice it was a fill-in-the-blank which was near impossible to get right online.  Learning a language should include lots and lots of commenting to see word and grammar applications, to work out kinks, and to become comfortable and familiar with the language.  Our class included none of that.  

I’m so excited to take TWO MORE Spanish classes so that I can really use that Spanish in my everyday life so that I can keep those skills. 

While I’m still talking about classes, a little side-note here.  Of my five classes this year, 3 of them were taught by teachers instructing the class for the first time, 2 of them at the school for the first year.  This is annoying firstly as the class suffers from a teacher not yet knowing how to best teach the class without the opportunities to know the kinks and flaws of the curriculum and also worrying that the school can’t hold onto teachers.  If we claim to be top-tier or ambitious, and if the market is for teaching flooded as it seems, why is it that so many teachers are moving around?  Anyways…

 

I might change that last statement a little bit.  If you go to the Business School here at Wake and do well, it might be worth the money.  And lemme tell ya, nobody loves money more than those business school folks.  As a “Liberal Arts” school in which they so enslave us into taking these annoying classes, the least they could do would be to show equal favoring to all the majors.  But no, how about that offing Business School baby? HOW ABOUT IT? You know what, the business schools ability to get people jobs is keeping our US NEWS REPORT College Ranking up, let’s build them and brand new, nice-ass business school, JUST FOR THEM, and while we’re at it, let’s have the past 3 commencement speakers pertain especially to the Business School kids.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud we have powerful Business Execs as alum and that we have that strong major, but if kids want to pursue an interest or passion that doesn’t entail accumulating as much money as fucking possible, we should have equal footing too.  (Extra, really funny reading here, http://bit.ly/Wp01s1 ) 

 

COMPLETE CHANGE OF SUBJECT! 

One of the reasons I chose Wake was because of it’s unique size.  At around 5000 students, it seemed ideal.  Big enough to make it seem big, to have a wide range of people to meet, clubs to get involved in.  Small enough to also have that close community feel, and to feel like an individual to the faculty and staff.  But I now realize that 5000 is a unique size for a reason, it doesn’t really work that well.  We have 5000 students and for that many kids we have ONE small(ish) cafeteria and ONE really small gym.  They’re both always crowded, which makes them really less enjoyable.  We’re getting new ones, but by the time they’re operable, I’ll be almost done.  Instead of having that combo feel of big and small, it’s neither.  I don’t feel like the campus and bustling and active and I definitely don’t feel like a close connection to the Wake family as a whole.  It’s difficult to feel that way after everybody groups off and becomes somewhat hostile to the prospect new members after the first semester or so.  Part of that is definitely the lack of arenas in which the student body can really come together or collaborate.  We don’t have a student center of any kind, Clemson has a great one replete with bowling alley, basketball courts, ping pong tables, lounge area, etc.  Nobody gives a damn about sports (probably because it seems like the players and coaches don’t give a damn either) so we don’t have that rallying point.  Plus, the Greek system (of which I am a part) doesn’t help in the division between the kids who choose to take part and those who don’t or couldn’t get in. How sad is it that the only place where our students come together is the effing Pit (our cafeteria).  

 

Last point here and I’m sure it’s something all of our students agree on.  FUCK PARKING MANAGEMENT!!! Holy Hell guys, could you NOT be agents of Satan for just a couple of hours?  First off, parking way the fuck off campus for $300 a year is enough, that’s way more than what my peers at other schools pay for probably better situations.  Secondly, why the $50 tickets for minor infractions?  If I pay $300 for approximately 180 days of parking, why are you fining me $50 for a couple of hours in the wrong spot.  That $50 should get me 30 days of parking you assholes.  Plus, that fine is ridiculous in theory.  Some fines are for late fees like Blockbuster, fining you for the lost profit they could’ve had if they had the movie back.  Some fines are for damage, like if you fined me for hitting a fire-hydrant, or fines for enlargement, if I parked in front of that fire hydrant.  That $50 ticket doesn’t fall under any of those justifications!! Okay, so maybe it’s a deterrent, but a deterrent from what!? Taking a teachers spot, like they don’t have enough already, or like they’re going to be there from 5PM-2AM!? Or a deterrent from parking in Q or W, where there are usually ample spaces!? Horrible money grabbing practice.  And they refuse to do anything about it, like offering more parking or becoming more lenient.  

 

I’ll wrap this up by commenting on that final theme.  Even though Wake is technically a “Non-Profit” organization, and boasts the “Pro Humanitate” slogan and all the help they give, they seem to fall to the flaws of money just like any other.  The rampant penny-pinching and rip off deals (housing, parking, books, tuition) seem to pry on the hopes of the students and vulnerability of the parents.  Of course, Wake aren’t the only ones, it’s rampant in American society, but I thought Wake might be better than that.  And along the lines of parking, there seems to be little action among some of the problems that Wake acknowledges.  The campus is horribly homogenous, a lot of physical and social minorities don’t feel comfortable, a lot of people are mad at the costs, a lot of people are mad at the sports, mad at parking, mad at a lot of things and there doesn’t seem to be much being done about it.  

 

I make Wake sound like a terrible place here, and of course, others experiences may be much different than mine, so I don’t want you to thing it’s the most awful place on earth, there are a handful of things I do like.  Yet, I’m not sure they outweigh these negatives I’ve outlined.  Let’s see if they can change my mind.  

 

If you’ve read this far, wow, thanks, I know nobody likes to listen to/read complaining, so you’re awesome. 

Thanks

-TS 

Gun Control

Hey guys, I’m back.  Probably been about 4 months since I’ve last wrote anything for this blog so this feels somewhat foreign, yet fear not, I have ample time over the next month to make up for it.  This isn’t something I was planning on writing on but the debate has boiled over too high this time, so I’m going to put my stance here.  Enjoy, glad to be back.

(Note, this is a pretty serious tone and obviously solemn topic so be prepared) 

 

It’s March 13, 1996.  An older man of 43, Thomas Hamilton, walks into Dunblane Primary School in Dunblane, England and procedes to shoot 16 young children and their teacher inside the Gymnasium before shooting himself. He used two pistols, a Browning 9mm and a S&W .357 Magnum.

Early the next year, the British Parliament passes the Firearms Amendment No 2 essentially banning all handheld firearms.

April 20, 1999.  Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold enter Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado and kill 12 students, injuring a further 21.  They then killed themselves.  The weapons they used include an Intratec TEC-DC9,  a Hi-Point 995 Carbine, a Savage 67H pump-action shotgun, a Stevens 311D double barreled sawed-off shotgun, and a number of explosives.

Nothing.

April 16, 2007.  Seung-Hui Cho, in two separate attacks, kills 32 people and injures a further 17 on Virginia Techs Campus in Blacksburg Virginia.  He used a Glock 19 and a Walther P22.

Nothing.

January 8, 2011.  Jared Loughner shoots 18 people (including Congresswomen Gabriel Giffords), killing 6 at a public meeting in Tucson, Arizona.  He used a Glock 19 as well.

Nothing.

July 20, 2012.  James Holmes enters Century 16 Movie Theatre in Aurora Colorado, wearing bullet-proof armor, a gas mask, ballistic helmet, and bullet-proof leggings.  He procedes to shoot 71 people, killing 12.  He used a Smith & Wesson M&P15 Rifle, a Remington 870 Express Tactical Shotgun, and 2 Glock 22 Pistols.

Nothing.

December 14, 2012.  Adam Lanza, equipped with a Bushmaster AR-15 .223 rifle, 9mm Glock and a Sig-Sauer, kills his mother, drives to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut and kills 24 people.  20 kids – 4 adults.  Reportedly, he also wore body armor.

The response to this remains to be seen.

Yet I hope with all of my heart that the response is one of serious legislation.  Legislation that can bring us serious measures of gun control.  Before I go any further, let me make a few things clear.  I actually own guns.  2 in fact, and I want to keep them.  They are a 20 Gauge Barretta Shotgun and Remington .22 Rifle.  I use them mostly for target shooting but I wouldn’t say I use them that much.  Gun control doesn’t mean getting rid of all guns, for me, it means getting rid of guns that are made for killing efficiency, which I will argue (almost) nobody needs.  Secondly, I realize that legislation won’t cure the problem.  This is as much a cultural problem as anything.  Our society is surely partly responsible for this.  Bullying, pressure, negligence, access to mental health care.  All of this needs improvement to really solve this problem, but we can start here.

This has to be fixed.  Great Britain imposed a handgun ban after their first massacre, they have one of the lowest rates of gun homicides in the world with 0.07 recorded intentional homicides committed with a firearm per 100,000 inhabitants.  That ratio for the United States is 3.0 (You can see my sources at the end). At the latest count by the CDC in 2007, 32,000 people in America had died via a firearm.  Personal ownership of guns in Japan is forbidden in the constitution (quite the opposite from ours).  Do you know how many people died last year in Japan from gun violence?  11.  That’s right, 11.  That’s less people that died in just one of the shootings that happened this year, Aurora. There are 90 guns per every 100 people in the United States, making us the most heavily armed society in the World.  Our firearm homicide rate is also 20x that of other developed countries.  In case you’re missing the point, there is a clear correlation between gun ownership and gun death.

I don’t know about you, but for me this is extremely embarrassing.  As the world’s leading democracy and most developed nation, why are we clinging to these arcane rules?  Other countries must a) mock us for how stuck in the past some of us are, and b) bawk at us for how stubborn we are to change a system that clearly is a facilitator of death.  After the tragic events of 9/11, huge steps were taken to increase security in the United States.  The Patriot Act was passed which granted the government huge amounts more of leeway to investigate citizens if they were suspected of being terrorists.  There are some important rights of privacy and information that are breached here, but the majority of people don’t seem to kick up much of a fuss.  Not to belittle that horrendous day, but that was an isolated incident, which killed nearly 3,000 people, or 1/10th of the people dead in 2007 because of firearms.  Why are we so hesitant to lose some of our rights for this?  There are a few arguments and I am going to pick them apart as best I can right here:

2nd Amendment Argument

Our right to bear arms is protected by 2nd Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Yet context is extremely important here.  The Constitution was written in 1787, the memories of an oppressive British Government were still fresh and America was still a volatile place, unsettled and with conflict with Native Americans.  The right to bear arms was needed to provide and protect as well as a means to create an instant militia if needed.  Does any of that apply today!?  America is developed, there are no wild animals to hunt for sustenance and there are none coming to kill you for food. (At least, most people don’t live in that rural of an area.) Our political and military strength is enough to not have to worry about us fighting invaders, even if we did, do you think you’d be willing to fight them yourself?  You with a rifle versus tanks, planes, missiles?  Didn’t think so.  So if you want to argue the 2nd Amendment argument, go ahead, keep your barrel-loading, 20 pound, single action musket, I’m not worried about you killing multiple with that.

The best defense against a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun. 

To most people this certainly makes sense.  It’s hard to keep track of who’s deranged, angry or mentally ill.  So why don’t more upstanding citizens carry guns and they can be there to stop any wrongdoers.  Sure, it sounds good in theory but it’s terrible in practice.  That theory assumes that the good guy and bad guy are on level playing fields, they’re not anymore.  These “good guys” are most likely to be carrying small pistols, probably revolvers or 9mm’s. The bad guys of recent have wielded similar guns, but they’ve also used weapons such as semi-automatic assault rifles that can hold 30 rounds.  They’ve used tactical shotguns.  And most recently, they’ve worn body armor.  Just how the assurance of mutual destruction kept the world at peace during the Cold War, good guys with guns could keep the balance.  But just how the US developed a better missile defense system put doubt into MAD, and changed the game, these new killers wearing armor is changing the game, and they’re winning.

I need guns for self-defense. 

Ask most people why the purchased a firearm and the answer will most likely be for self-defense.  They’re worried about the prospects of someone invading their home and they want protection.  That’s certainly reasonable but flawed for a few reasons.  Step one is to not make yourself a target by having a secure house and not making yourself a target.  Most break-ins aren’t break-ins.  They’re walk-ins.  Secondly, I would argue that nobody needs an assault rifle, a tactical shotgun, a 30-round clip, or any kind of high-caliber round to protect your home.  I don’t have any experience with thief’s but I’m sure, most confronted with a simple pistol pointed at their chest from close range (how far-range can you get in your house?) will deter.  Thirdly, while you might have the legal protection for shooting somebody in “self-defense” in your house, you need to seriously consider the moral implications of shooting-to-kill somebody for attempting robbery.  Is robbery really punishable by death?

 

Our fellow citizens, our students, our children… Are dying in this country at the hands of killers who wield deadly weapons.  Weapons made purely for killing, and killing efficiency. You might need a gun that fires accurately at 200 yards for hunting, but you only need/get one shot.  Nobody needs a gun like Adam Lanza’s, which is such a gun, yet he had a large enough clip to let off “hundreds of shots”.  Nobody needs body armor and ballistic helmets.  Nobody needs tactical shotguns.  These weapons and ones like them have no place in our homes or our streets.  You want them?  Go rent one and use it at a secure shooting-range where it belongs.

My solution?

Control guns like we already control cars.  You want to use one?  Show us you know how to intelligently and safely.  There will be street-legal and non-street legal guns like there are cars.  Just like extremely powerful engines, and modded cars are illegal, so will extremely powerful guns, or guns modded with extra ammunition.  Want to use one of those?  Go through extensive training and background checks.

Yet ultimately, no simple law can change us, we need to change us.  We need to lower this culture’s craziness about guns.  We need to cultivate a culture of understanding and listening for troubled individuals.  Nobody listened to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and reports coming out of Connecticut say that people knew Lanza was often angry, yet nobody really talked to him.  I’m not going to get into it here, but this is all part of the humanistic argument for pacifism.  If Lanza was closer to his family, to his community, to his school, would he have killed?  Probably not.  It is also absurd that it is easier to get a gun than it is to get access to mental health care.

So come on guys, let’s make our streets, homes and schools safer.  Let’s move past arcane traditions and join the rest of the modern world.  Let’s get gun control.

Thanks

-TS

 

 

SOURCES:

Killing ratio: http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Homicide/Globa_study_on_homicide_2011_web.pdf

Deaths in US: http://www.cdc.gov/NCHS/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_19.pdf

Most armed nation: http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/08/28/us-world-firearms-idUSL2834893820070828

20x homicide rate: http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2012/jan/27/jim-moran/rep-jim-moran-says-us-gun-homicide-rate-20-times-h/

Japan: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/a-land-without-guns-how-japan-has-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/

Break-ins: http://www.crime-safety-security.com/home-security-walk-in.html

 

 

Soul Pancake Entry 5

Yeah, so I was planning on doing one of these every week or so.  You can see how that turned out.  I’m really bad at sticking to any plan or commitment for more than a month really.  Something I should probably work on.  Anyways, here is our 5th installment (flipping through random pages now…) 

And here we are: 

What is the purpose of art? – Page 25

I’ll start by trying to define what I think art is.  Art is really hard to grasp.  It’s a noun.  It’s a concept.  It’s an idea.  It’s inside all of us and we all enjoy it (some more than others in both circumstances). In a very general sense of the word, art is captured, intentional creativity.  It’s one of the things that makes us uniquely human.  Art is the expression of our inner and outer selves.  Because it can be executed, expressed, demonstrated, shown, and played in so many ways, the different strains of art can trace back to certain cultures, ideas, ethos, and influence.  Art can define us individually and collectively.  Not many things can say the same. I wonder if those first cavemen in Europe who painted in their caves those many thousand of years ago even grasped a tiny bit of the wondrousness of the moment they began to draw.  But I’m getting distracted.  What is the purpose of art?  For me, art is the world’s most beautiful and expansive language.  Art says to us what words can’t quite capture and communicate.  It’s the universal language of expression and passion.  The work of men such as Salvidor Dali and Diego Rivera exemplify the cliche of a picture is worth a thousand words, except I’m sure millions of words have been written about their art.  Hugely popular musicians have a way of uniting people from all different backgrounds who can reconcile by realizing they share a bond through the lyrics and sounds of the music.  I think most people will find that when you think about your closest friends, they usually share music tastes.  Like the words of the great Red Hot Chilli Peppers: “Music the great communicator.  Use two sticks to make it in the nature”. Literature and film put us through the lives of others to help us see life through different eyes and learn about life lessons and struggles so that we might not have to endure the same trials as others.  And those are just the major forms of art.  Dance, Sport, Sculpture, Architecture, Design, Language, things that are so important to how we interpret the world, their importance cannot be understated. 

 

So what is the purpose of art?  It is the singer that unlocks our souls, the author who frees our minds, the painter who colors our eyes.  It is the universal language of personal expression that we all understand.  Art is humanities great escape, and great hope. Art is awesome. 

 

-TS

 

 

 

Personal SOTU

Since it’s the 4th, I figured I would do a little post on my thoughts about the current state of our nation.  Talk a little healthcare, election, etc.  I have an interest in this stuff, but am by no means an expert, so don’t pin me down on some details I get wrong.  Feel free to pin me down on my ideas though (because that’s what America is really about).

It’s an election year and we’re 4 months away from either reelecting President Obama or selecting our 45th leader in the form of Governor Mitt Romney.  Of course coverage, spending, debate, analysis and all of that is so overblown now-a-days and the month leading up to election day will be an absolute mad house.  Election campaigns almost start as soon as the last one ended now, it’s unreal.  But that’s not my real issue with this election, I’m worried that it will be spoiled by two things; Healthcare controversy and the Economy.  I feel like the majority of Americans are buying very heavily into a few misunderstandings about the Affordable Care Act and will vote accordingly.  First of all, it was needed.  The USA was the only Western Industrial power without a universal healthcare system and our healthcare costs proportional to GDP and population were easily the highest out of said group of nations.  Healthcare was expensive and broken, millions of Americans (about 35m I believe) were without insurance, which sucks for a nation of our supposed wealth and progressiveness.  Is this law perfect?  Of course not.  There are plenty of holes and plenty of people have big issues with it.  Completely understandable.  However, there is plenty of good too, such as youths being able to stay on parents, no denial for pre-existing conditions, easier FDA drug approvals (for competition and less expensive testing), etc.  Now, clearly the biggest issue is the individual mandate, and I definitely understand the worry that people have about the precedent this sets as the Gov’ts power to make you buy something seems completely unconstitutional, but thankfully we have a set of 9 judges who are experts on the stuff and I believe they got it right.  (Their responsibility is not to rule on how good or appropriate a law is, but how well it holds up with our constitution.  John Roberts understood this.)  However, the statement “making you buy healthcare” is terribly misconstrued.  Most people complaining about this already have health care and it doesn’t really affect them.  People who DON’T have healthcare will welcome this law.  People who refuse both receive a $95 (about) penalty from the Gov’t.  The percentage of people who will do this is about 1-2%.  So it’s really not a big a deal as republicans are making it.  Whether it’s a “tax” or a “penalty” is really irrelevant.  We elect our Congressmen and Senators to go to DC and legislate & vote.  Often times, this results in new taxes.  Why the hoop-la about this tax is so much bigger doesn’t make much sense to me. (Plus, this is set to cut National Spending $100b in the next 10 years)  What really makes me angry about the republican opposition is that MITT ROMNEYS HEALTHCARE PLAN IS NEARLY IDENTICAL TO OBAMAS!!!  He implemented it in Massachusetts, and his plan for the nations is similar.  Right-wing Christians make me mad opposing this too.  Jesus and the Bible definitely promote socialism.

But continuing, the Economy is easily the biggest issue for the majority of Americans heading into this election and whoever can promise the brighter fiscal future for the United States will have a great chance of taking the office.  My worry is that too many impatient voters will take note of the stagnant Economy (it is improving, if ever so slowly) and make a knee-jerk change.  Short-term solutions is part of what got us in the mess and while a good bit of the stimulus money did go to waste, I won’t argue that (I actually think it should’ve been more money, and more carefully studied, a lot of investments went bad), I think we need more time to tell if these policies will pan out.  Ultimately, de-regulation was a major cause of the Economic crash and putting more restrictions on major banks is what’s needed now and in the future, not a smaller, free-market Gov’t of the GOP.   Honestly, I don’t think either President has what it takes to really fix the economy.  Having to battle either one’s congress will prevent much progress not to mention the uncontrollable situation in the Eurozone and the World Economy will probably continue to creep onwards, on stilts, on a rope, over a volcano.   However, I’m excited to see what a second-term Obama could do.  I’m already very proud of a lot of his social progress and I would HATE to see all the time, effort, money, etc put into ObamaCare simply thrown away.  Once the GOP can stop focussing on beating Obama and the Democrats, maybe they can focus on cooperating… Haha yeah right, who am I kidding?

If I could somehow wave a magic wand to fix American politics, I would institute Presidential-style term limits for Congressmen and Senators to stimulate more action, create a strong 3-party system to help destroy the bi-partisan bitterness that plagues our progress, and slash the electoral system plus reform the primary system that leaves so many voters in the dark.  There is so much fat and non-logic on the Capitol Hill today it’s hard to see how anything gets done.  I could rant about it for pages but I’ll spare you. In the coming years, we’re going to have to pick our battles.  Between the Economy and debt, environment and spending, terrorism and education, healthcare and energy, the list goes on, it’s really too much for a generation to handle.  I’d love to be optimistic and say that we’re up for it but I can’t genuinely get behind that, not enough people are willing to make the sacrifices to solve all of these. (And believe me, sacrifices will be required to solve the environmental/energy crisis as well as the spending/debt one) All we can hope for is that our one true strength, our passion for ingenuity and powering through can lead us through this without too many scars.  I’ll be here for the ride.

-TS

(EXTRA READING: See my post last 4th of July Week as I talk about the absurdity of American Exceptionalism).

Soul Pancake: Entry 4

How can you be confident without being egotistical? – Page 115

I like this question, very applicable to most people’s modern-day life in which we find ourselves trying to find this balance while also being quick to criticize people who have too great an imbalance in this.  Confidence, of course, is a desirable trait while egotism is something nobody likes in others; it is a sour egg that can really spoil the bunch when it comes to somebodies personality.  The paradox really is quite interesting because confidence is valuable in nearly all facets of life while egotism can really be a hindrance as well.  So where is the balance?  I think confidence is the belief in your own abilities to perform well, especially in a variety of circumstances.  Egotism outsteps those boundaries though.  Egotism broadcasts that belief.  Confidence is belief in yourself.  Egotism is belief in yourself, and belief that your good is better than anybody else’s good.  I think in our performance based society, where your tangible accomplishments, measurable statistics, etc has become so important, people are getting more and more egotistical.  The sports culture doesn’t help either.  The me vs you competitive nature definitely fuels it.

But just to talk a bit more, I really despise egotism.  It’s fine to be a little self-absorbed.  If you’re not confident or proud of who you are or what you can do, you need to get to work on that.  But to really think you’re better than some or most other people, in any way really (even if you’re a stud athlete, unless you’re a great all-rounder, you have no reason for egotism) is unacceptable to me.  Simple confidence is enough, egotism has no psychological or evolutionary advantage, it’s actually destructive.   In this giant world (with nearly 7 billion people) in our vast universe, to think that you’re somehow special when you’re really a speck is obnoxious to me.

Anyway, mini-rant over.  In short.  Confidence=subdued belief.  Egotism=broadcasted arrogance.

Thanks guys, see ya

-TS

Soul Pancake: Entry 3

What’s one thing you learned that blew your mind? – Page 47

Between school, conversations, new experiences and just daily life really, we’re all always learning.  Most of it is mundane and expected and on occasion it can be quite intriguing or fascinating, something that sparks our interest and fuels the fun that is discovery.  However, it is quite rare that we learn something that is “mind-blowing”.  Something that totally reset your way of thinking, blew away preconceived notions and replaced with them with new, enticing ideas.  Reforming your outlook and just pretty much setting off an earthquake in your life.  (If that sounds a little dramatic, that’s because it is, just having fun here) Have I ever learned something that ground-shattering?  No, not really.  I don’t think anybody with an open enough mind would really be blown away by much except discovering an entirely new universal existence theory.  But I think I can put my finger on one thing that did go a ways in to planting a new seed of thought and “blowing my mind”.  The Matrix.  

Yeah. 

The first time I watched the movie meaningly, like actually watched it and picked apart the symbolism and dialogue (this when I’m about 12-13) it made me totally rethink a lot of things.  The general message of The Matrix is that perception is everything.  Choosing how you see the world around you, how to interact with it, choosing what is and is not possible, what is and is not real.  How and what do you believe in a place like this?  Who and what do you trust?  These questions the movie asks really sparked my interest and after watching the film found myself questioning a lot about the world around me and if because things are the way there are, is it that way for a reason?  Because it’s the right way?  Or have our complacency seeking minds just gotten used to it and it’s a rotten system?   

That movie and it’s affects.  Blew. My. Mind.