Art

Is it entirely subjective? Do we really notice the beauty of the world around us? Do we stop to notice the guitar player on the side of the road trying to earn his dinner or the leaves strewn across the grass by the wind? Do we look down too often and watch where our feet are stepping rather than looking up and appreciating the world around us? Too often we are told what is good and what we should appreciate instead of looking for ourselves. Too often to we let our head droop from exhaustion until someone says “look.” The world we live in today is extremely contextualized: we are told day to day what to do, what to listen to, what to look at, what to think. It is so much so that we often don’t think for ourselves. When asking someone what they think about a controversial subject, ask where they got their opinion. More often than not, they took their opinion from others and didn’t search it out for themselves. That is the world we live it today: thinking has become a tedious, monotonous and unnecessary task.

Indifference

In Webster's Online Dictionary, there is a certain definition set for 'indifference.' However, I would like to try defining it myself. Indifferece is when someone is apathetic towards someone or something; a.k.a. they don't really car. It is a lack of emotion. For example: 1 - I was indifferent to what my roommate did as long as it didn't affect me. 2 - Someone gets killed right in front of you and it doesn't eve faze you. You don't react.

As Elie Wiesel portrayed in her essay entitled The Perils of Indifference, indifference is making a choice not to make a choice.

You often have to force yourself to be indifferent similar to what Peter Parker did when he decided not to be Spiderman. Indifference makes us inhuman. Sometimes indifference is confused with greed and selfishness. Both actions take away a person’s humanity. Was Christ ever indifferent? However, is indifference always bad? Can we ever enjoy a good meal? Do we have to practice indifference to keep sane, live and function? Can indifference make us in some way human? The only way you can be righteously indifferent is if you are indifferent of your own suffering.

What is a story?

Mark Bennion, a professor at BYU-I wrote in his essay Thinking About the Self, “We tell stories to call forth our humanity, bind ourselves to a greater community, and declare that an individual’s values and perceptions still matter.” But what is a story really but a collection of words with meaning attached? I believe in the power of stories, but I posed that question to make myself think. A story is something more than just a jumble of words, but rather a part of our lives we are attempting to give to the listener.

AP Calculus AB

The best teacher I ever had would probably have to be my AP Calculus AB teacher, Mr. Smith. He stayed long hours of every day, including Saturdays and over certain holidays so that we might pass the AP test at the end of the year. From 6 am to 9 pm, he worked and taught and laughed and enjoyed himself. His policy was that if we were able to learn and gave our best effort, he hadn’t failed and would continue to teach. His sole purpose was to help us learn not only those things needed to pass the exam, but those things needed for life as well: hard work, determination, and most of all believing in you. He worked like no other teacher has worked before. He sweated, got stressed, tired, cried, ate, laughed, worked, played, memorized and grew with us. He was someone we looked to for answers and someone we knew we could count on. He was our friend, ally, and familiar. He influenced us in more ways than we can count. He believed in us so we believed in ourselves.

Fear

What is fear but the absence of comfort and confidence? Why does it mean so much to us and why can this feeling paralize our bodies and weaken our minds? Perhaps it's because fear is something that is felt by everything no matter if it has a heart or not.  It is a universal emotion that unites everyone and everything. No matter how tough and hardened the criminal is, fear will always be felt. People like to act all tough and fearless but that is only their insecurity speaking. You can't deny fear. It will always be there. The best that we humans can do is decide to ignore it and push on anyway. Forget our own feelings and keep going because in the end, it will be worth it.

Interesting

“The black sheep, a sore thumb, the ugly duckling – all things which notoriously stick out and don’t quite fit in, and to such a list one may add the name of Richard Hartman, a Baptist Pastor in Rexburg, Idaho.” (pg 94, I Think)

What an interesting way to open anything, whether a book, speech or paper. The title of this paper is “A Baptist in Zion: Life Through the Eyes of Religious Minorities.” You can only assume that they will be talking about this Baptist, Hartman, and how he “doesn’t quite fit in” as the opening line states. But the part that snags me is everything before the dash; the first nine words. Each of us know what those things have in common and the different stories behind each of them, especially if that sore thumb is ours or we believe to ourselves to be the ugly duckling or black sheep in the family. There is always someone out of place and more often than not, we believe that to be ourselves no matter how “in place” we are. This first sentence, especially the first part, appeals to our human nature and therefore draws us in with curiosity and a need to identify with others like us in some way.

What are "Idle" Words?

*In this post, I stated my thoughts, someone replied, and I replied back.*

Me: Idle words are those that we choose to share for no reason at all. They fill space just because they can. Some people talk just to hear themselves talk or to fill the empty space around them. To be idle is a narrower way of saying lazy. Idle people are never moving forward, rather backwards as they sift through space and time never making an effect on the world around them.

Response: Comparing writing and talking really helped me understand the effect of “idle,” and I fully agree to your last statement about idle things never making a difference in the things around them. This thought also came to me as I thought about the question. What do you think can help fix this problem of idleness?

Me: One simple way to fix this problem can be summed up in one word: education. There is a concept in humanities called The Abundant Life vs. Cultural Poverty. The more we know the more power we have. The more power, the more you are compelled to act and to reach beyond your limit of space and make a difference in the world around you. With education comes the power to do differently than you would otherwise.