"One must be poor to know the luxury of giving."
-George Eliot
In all honesty, I don't agree with this quote. Sure, those who suffer financially are more aware of how even the smallest donation is embraced, much more so than the folks who are stable. On the other hand, take a look at the rich folks who donate so generously to charities. Obviously they enjoy the feeling they receive through their charity work. I can't say for certain that they know the "luxury" of giving, since I'm not rich or anything, but I think it's safe to assume it's a feeling somewhat similar. although financial situations do have an effect on personality, i'm not so sure it's directly related to the differences of selfishness and generosity. maybe i'm wrong.
Happy? Perhaps. It's hard to tell, really. It's only just begun.
I don't particularly agree with the reasoning behind celebrating the New Year. A brand new year does not mean a brand new person. It's frustrating to think that dreams and hopes are built around the event of a number changing. However, I am guilty of basing my existance upon time, I've turned my life into an incessant "tomorrow."
It's pathetic.
2006.
Where to begin.
First kiss, first lead in a school play, exposure to so many amazing people.
somewhere along the way however, I lost my ambition. Any motivation I had. I'm not sure where it went, but I'd really like to find it. Life without it is pretty difficult. It toys with my self-confidence, self-worth, and it has turned my outlook on life into something i never dreamt it could be: Negative. Although it will be a hard obstacle to overcome, I've met a few folks who have the ability to make me see life through different perspectives, to realize im more than i think. I don't want them to feel as though they have to burden themselves by playing hero. I am just really grateful i have them.
2006 was a memorable year. lots of ups and downs. The downs were mostly internal. The ups were the smiles i shared with friends. The new music and literature i made acquaintance with. I do have plenty of regrets though, lots of things i would change. I think it's pointless to dwell on the past, though i think it's important to learn from mistakes. So, if i believed in making resolutions, mine would be to change my attitude. It's something i've been trying to do, prior to the dropping of the ball in times square.
My hopes for the future involve happiness and love.
Cliche?
You bet.
Impossible?
Maybe not so much.
On the bright side, I dont think 2007 can disappointment me as much as 2006 did.
I have every intention of donating my organs after I die. I don't see the point of them rotting inside of me, serving no purpose, while they could be keeping someone else alive.
Patricia Stanton, of Cheektowaga, NY, according to an article from the Buffalo News, received a cornea transplant in October, The first 65 years of her life were frustrating to an extent most of us will never be able to understand. The most her eyes allowed her to see were blurs. Her new found vision came only with the organ donations of a truly gracious person. For the first time in her life, she was able to see her 12 children. Two of them, she was able only to view pictures of, as their deaths occured previous to the operation.
This story touched my heart. It also made me realize how fortunate I am to have my body function properly. I take my sight for granted, oftentimes complaining about having to wear glasses and putting contacts in and whatnot. It also filled me hope. If more and more people are willing to donate their corneas after their death, more and more people would be blessed with the gift of sight. It's amazing.
According to http://www.eyedonation.org/history.html, cornea transplants exceed 33,000 in the United States every year. More than 1,100 of them occur in New York State alone.
That means thousands of people, who otherwise wouldn't be able to see, are able to.
Thanksgiving and I will most likely never agree. It's not that I'm ungrateful or so self-absorbed I think I deserve all the fortunes I've received without a sliver of gratitude in exchange. I say "thank you" for pretty much everything, even when a teacher hands me a test. Anyway, it's just, most people have forgotten the true essence of the holiday, since it
now revolves around turkey and pies and hours of food preparation.
First, Thanksgiving is an awkward holiday for most vegetarians, I would imagine. At our family gathering each year, my mom forbids me to speak on behalf of the turkey, even though the poor thing died as a result of human vanity. Since I refuse to eat the turkey, which is expected after five and a half years of not digesting animal flesh, you'd think there'd still be a feast for my mouth to partake in. However, I'm easily one of the pickiest eaters on the face of the earth, I swear. So I usually just eat corn and stuffing, since my Aunt Kathy makes special non-animal product stuffing for me, and I feel bad if i don't at least swallow some spoonfuls. And then comes my fear of watching people eat. It's not really a fear, but it causes great discomfort. Hearing the sound of people chew, to me, is the equivilent of hearing someone go to the bathroom, it's just the beginning of the process, not the end. I can't fathom even desiring to spend hours preparing one meal that will last for weeks. It causes unnecessary stress, and it makes you fat. Another part of Thanksgiving I don't particularly enjoy is the saying of grace. I think it's a little ironic, spending all that money on food and then thanking God for putting it on the table in front of you. Especially when there are children in third world countries starving to death. Maybe with all of our praising God, he basks in his glory and momentarily ignores those in need as to relish in his ego boost. Maybe not. I don't think I believe God exists. Sometimes it's hard to, other times it's hard not to. Plus, my cat's name is Grace, so when someone mentions "grace", I end up thinking about her, and then about the turkey population the human race has greatly reduced, and ought to be thanking, instead of God.
I guess you could call me the "Scrooge of Thanksgiving"
Perspective.
It's a known concept, however it's not always widely accepted. In his novel Slaughter-House-Five, Kurt Vonnegut showed this by creating a main character, Billy, who invents Tralfamodorians. "Invents" isn't quite the right word, as an invention is usually intentional, whereas the Tralfamodorians sort of just appeared to Billy. The Tralfamodorians see time in a way completely foreign to humans. In their minds, they can go back to any point in time in their life, and feel it as though they are living it again. With such standards, it's obvious that if any hard times are occuring, they will avoid them at all costs, simply by living in their mind and reminding themselves of happy experiences. the only "bad" time in the life of a Tralfamodorian is when it dies, which I can't imagine would be a very fun event to partake in. I also can't imagine being happy all the time. It seems like a pointless way to live. It takes away the essence of existing, not experiencing emotion. It's fake. I think Billy's mission to educate the public about the Tralfamodorian way of life is what he believes is the best interest of the people. However, I believe otherwise. Being happy all the time would essentially take away all other emotions. When a loved one dies, you basically would ignore it. You would only think about the happy memories you had with them. One wouldn't accept, one would ignore. In the human perspective, if my mom died, I would cry. I would be upset. In the Tralfamodorian world, if my mom died, I would think about an ice cream cone I ate when I was five. It wouldn't be because i didn't care, I just wouldn't know how to channel my sadness any other way. So in a way, Tralfamodorians feel sad by ignoring reality by convincing themselves that they're happy. It's how they experience all of their emotions. It makes me wonder if they know what emotion is. Do they know how sad feels? do they know how happy feels? The type of uncontrollable, real happy, not their default happy.
"You'll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you'll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we'll have a lot more of them. And they'll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs" (Slaughter-House-Five, page 14).
Mary O'Hare is a brilliant woman. I don't need pages and pages of descriptive characterization to prove this opinion of mine. She may be fictional, but the above quote makes her real to me. For the most part, I believe Hollywood glorifies war, much like Hollywood glorifies sex, drugs, murder. However, I don't believe the glamourization is intended to make people yearn for war. The writers and directors are doing their job: creating a convincing storyline to please their audience. Obviously they've succeeded if their project influences adolescents to join the army. I think movie-makers need to realize how gullible humans are, how easily influenced we are as a species. Pearl Harbor, for example, is a war film that i feel definitely gives a misleading perspective of war. Of course young men are going to want to go to war if it resulted in them being a hero and winning the gal. however, i do believe that man is partially to blame for these misinterpretations. If they would think about war, about what they have to do in war, before they go to war, maybe their hopes wouldn't be shattered.
personally, I can't imagine killing people would be too glamorous.
this is an assumption, but i don't think there are many veterans who come home from war with love stories and happy endings, who feel as though any act of courage they may have performed made them a hero.
I think in the past, it was expected of men to want to fight for their country, more so than it is today. So, I think film-makers had every intention of making war some type of desired illusion. Also, in the past, those who spoke out against war were generally assumed to be against the government. The Cold War, for example, anti-war folks were thought to be communists and they were arrested, sometimes executed.
Like Mary O'Hare, I don't believe in war. Too many young people throw their lives away, she's right. Many soldiers are just children. It's a little hypocritical, isn't it? Here in America, such a fuss is made when a child somehow gets ahold of a gun, or a seventeen year old decides to shoot some of his peers at school, the ones he finds to be distasteful. Yet, it would be perfectly acceptable for that seventeen to wait a year, join the army, and blow the heads off the people our government has decided is the enemy.
People interest me, plain and simple. More specifically, the diversity humans have embraced to make themselves unique attracts my attention. It fascinates me how there are some folks who can't grasp the concept that different people have different brains, that their opinions oppose those of others. God forbid that should happen. In speech class, for example, there is a particular girl [no names] that has been made into a joke because she's different. I'm sure she has figured it out by now, due to the lack of surpressing laughter and whispers that were a waste of attempting to whisper, since everyone in the room heard each word clearly. It kind of amazes me how she can surround herself by these people for 40 mintues everyday without showing the slightest bit of lost-confidence. I guess I don't have the right to complain about how horrible the situation is, as i just sit there everyday, not defending her or anything. It makes me feel like a bad person, but I'm not the type to really stand up for what i believe in. I wish I could, but I have the mentality of "oh, what difference can I make? Im not that great." Bad logic, I guess. It makes me have admiration for dictators and such, even of the cruelest sorts, such as Adolf Hitler, Suddam Hussein, etc. because they knew they could make a difference. Both ending in tragic, unimaginable results, yet never-underminding the "i know what i want, i won't stop until i achieve it" attitude. Which brings my point back to Superiority. everyone has a vision of perfection. everyone wants to achieve perfection. everyone has a different perception of perfection.
I believe in individuality.
And i also believe that it's important to stand up for what you believe. Im aware that i've previously mentioned that it's not something i do, making me a hypocrit. But i think it's good advice, regardless if i follow it or not.
SARAH.
GIRL.
SEVENTEEN.
SENIOR.
