A few days ago, amid the pseudo-stress of exams, I met up with a friend that I don’t get to see very often. We met in a little tea shop, downtown Chicago – it was a bit cool out. Along the course of catching up, we stumbled upon the the topic of happiness (not something too many people readily talk about, in my experience). We had different sources of happiness, at least on the face of it, but there were some noteworthy similarities....
In an attempt to quantify educational success, most colleges assign some numeric weight to letter grades. Most are weighted on a 4.0 scale. Now, it has been well documented that this indicator has been on the rise for years… which poses a few interesting questions. Are students getting smarter, is the curriculum getting easier, or are higher grades simply being given out more often for equivalent work? Embedded in those questions are other questions: how has GPA importance changed, how have professors’ attitudes changed, how has education itself changed?...
So, I’ve been absent for a stretch. It would be just wonderful if I were able to report back with captivating tales of adventure and exploration – but I’ve no reports at all. I can’t even relate the agony of an Internet outage – there was none. I’ve just been in thought… and feeling quiet. I don’t have too many interesting thoughts to share in this post, I’m basically writing to stave off the “wellness checks” and pass along a few tidbits about what I’ve been doing so that I’ll have some sort of record....
I was just sitting around reading some works of Galileo. I took a break, and after reading a play review my sister wrote, decided to look up the Wikipedia article on morality. Then I started to think about that, and decided to sketch a few of my moral ideas down… for something I’m planning to write later. I will not address the why behind these thoughts just yet. So, here goes:...
I’d rather a love that never died, As opposed to one that always tried. Self-preservation and enjoyment, both. To live and love, an intermingled oath. Even those that love does not employ, Should stay alive, to occasionally enjoy. So it pains me, hurts me deeply, to see Those I knew, or loved, or both… plea. For death. Actions expediate sure demise. It hurts enough, to yield tear-filled eyes. Strangers too, I might never chance to meet....
I usually don’t post too much about what I’ve actually done. I find it largely unimportant. What matters to me is what I thought about what I’ve done, or thought about doing, or thought about in general. Actions speak louder than words, so we’ve all heard… I just feel like that adage applies in very specific situations. In the larger scheme of things, ideas are all that exist. I’m going to tell you today about something I’ve done....
Clay face, eyeless, mouth-less, is Beaten repeatedly by loving hands. Impressionable, soft, the surface, is Transformed into the mind’s image. Muscle, sweat, salt, eyeballs, are Twitching, stinging, aching, creating. Form, taken, given, inevitable, is Somehow unintentional, startling. Nightmares, flashbacks, the past, is Embodied there. Destroyed instantaneously. Cracks, chunks, dust, anger, anxiety, are Splattered. Baseball bat’s sole purpose. Damned, cursed, mumbling, mad, man, is Plagued, fabricating reminders of, a hell....
What does it mean to be selfless? To be selfish? Are the two necessarily opposite, or do they, in fact, usually intermingle? It has been said to me, somewhat recently, that it is irrelevant. The motivational distinction was said to be of no importance, and only results were worth examining. I cannot help but think that the speaker, in this case, was simply taking the easy way out. There must be some importance attached to how a self will be effected by an action, and if that effect was considered before the action was made....
So inspired by a comment on my previous post, I’ve decided I’d like to explore my thoughts with unanswered questions. Questions that reveal what I suspect my mind will be working on, aside from formal education, during the next few months. I may or may not shuffle the list – to keep the focus on the ideas, rather than their order. Where to next? How was Morocco? Can I help you find yourself?...
When I was applying to colleges, I was tasked with telling the countless admissions boards about myself. What I was. What I did. Why I did it. I had about five hundred words to work with and nearly as many rough drafts. What I eventually decided upon was a piece that related who I was, by investigating exactly what I was not. Upside-down, perhaps, but most would deem the attempt a successful one....