Dear Parents

Being a parent is hard, I know it's hard, but it is oh so important. Children are the future of the nation, so raising one is quite an important task. You can't be strict, because then your children will eventually fly free-er than an eagle, and you will lose the grip you once had on them. You can't be too lenient, because then they might fall into trouble that they might not be able to get out of. So what is the perfect balance of strictness and lenience? Is there even a perfect balance? Well let me tell you, there's not one perfect way to raise a child, each one is different and should therefore should be raised differently. I don't know how you did it ma, but you did one hell of job raising 11 kids. I didn't understand it at the time, but now I completely understand why you'd have different levels of strictness for each one of us. I would get so mad at some of the things you would do, but I know that it was all done for a reason, and with love. Respect to all parents out there, because its a rough job.

Frankl-y Speaking

When I started my new job, my mentor gave me a poster that said "ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING" in big, bold, red letters. She gave it to me so that I would walk into my new job with confidence that I would complete any task assigned to me and overcome any obstacle that I would face in my time there. In reading Man's Search for Meaning, I felt that Frankl was expressing exactly what my mentor expressed to me when I began my new job, but Frankl did so in a much broader manner. What I take from this book is the realization that we have full control of the situations we face in our lives. We can't control what happens to us, but we can definitely control how we are affected by it. We can either have it make us, or break us.

The Meaning of Life

George Lucas says that "If we have a meaningful place, it is to try to fit into a healthy, symbiotic relationship with others. I agree with Mr. Lucas. In my eyes, the meaning of life and one's happiness go hand in hand. They are both subjective and can be different for every person alive. However, we need to fit in some place in society to feel happy and complete. For some of us that is our family, for others our friends, coworkers, or peers. Being with them make us happy, they make us laugh, they share precious moments and memories with us. I don't interpret Lucas's quote as having to feel accomplished or having to feel important as a part of something bigger. I interpret it as being happy and the only way we can truly be happy is if we share our happiness. Regardless of what we choose to do with our lives, our ultimate goal is to be happy and "happiness is only real when shared," so share it.

Thankful for a classmate

I've been attending Whitney Young for quite some time now, and I am grateful to have met so many people who have positively impacted my life. Those teachers, counselors, and friends have always been by my side in my hardest times and have made my high school experience a memorable one. Although I have met and befriended many people, there is one friend in particular who I am especially grateful for. I met her freshman year in our first period physical education class. We hardly talked outside of that gym class, but I would still call her my "best friend." As time went on, we began to talk and hang out outside of the classroom and she actually became the closest friends I've ever had. I think what makes us so close is the fact that we go through similar situations in life, but we are still very different. Her parents are strict and very structured, while my parents are almost non-existent in my life. She's like a sister to me: we trust each other, and help each other, motivate each other, and teach each other. We don't always have the same views on everything, but we respect each other and learn from each other. Like own family, I hold Amanda near and dear to my heart. I'm thankful for Amanda because she has always been there for me whenever I needed someone to talk to. She's taught me so much and has made see the potential inside me that I didn't even see. But what I'm most thankful for is the fact that we make each other laugh so hard. I'm literally rolling on the floor laughing so hard every time I'm at her house, it's pure happiness.

Into the Wild Alone

I love watching Into the Wild because every time I watch it, my perspective on life changes. The whole idea of being separated from society and its ideology really fascinates me. I don't think I would be able to do it, but its definitely interesting to think about how life would be on my own in the wild, away from people's judgement and creed. I think our generation does it all the time. We go away for college, away from our family, friends, city, and everything else that has become a part of our daily life. In away, going away for college is like doing into the wild because you experience things that you have experiences before. Those experiences open our eyes and allows us to get to know the person we really are and the things that we really like. Although we are still affected by societal views and we are still being pressured by different people in college, the overall experience is like going into the wild, alone.

We Still Haven't Figured This Out Yet

We learn so much as we grow up and as a society, we are still learning as well. We discover new things and ideas everyday yet there are still many things that we do not know. 

There are things we know we have yet to discover and we are currently looking for an answer to it. For example, the cure for cancer or whether or not there is life outside earth. These are things that human kind has been in search of for many years and we still have not figured it out yet but there are many other more ideological things that we have not discovered yet. For example: word peace. We have yet to create a world where humanity is united as one. A world without war and hatred where everyone is equal. Whether or not this is a possibility is debatable, but by now we should have been able come up with some kind of way to solve our problems without the use of violence. 

Lastly, and I think most importantly, we have not figured ourselves out. As high school seniors, most of us don't know what we want to be in life or what we want to study. Some of us don't even have a slight idea of things we like or things that intrigue us. These are things that we don't know now, but will eventually figure it out. There are, however, some things that we don't know now and we may never find out. Like what the purpose of life is, or what life after death is like. There are religious beliefs that answer these questions but there is no solid answer to it, they're more like opinions. These things we have to find out for ourselves and create our own opinion for because no one will be able to give us a straight answer to it. 

How do I know what I know?

Everyone has their own way of learning. Some are auditory learners, some are visual learners but I personally learn from touch and experience. I'm a kinesthetic learners. I can sit in a classroom for hours, take notes and listen attentively for hours and still manage not to learn a single thing. Well I guess that's a bit of an exaggeration, I do learn something but it isn't until I experience or do what was just taught that I really understand the concept at hand. Take math for example, math teachers usually talk about how to do a problem and then show how to solve the problem on the board. What helps me the most, however, is doing the problems myself. If I get it wrong, I find out what I did wrong and try again, making sure not to make the same mistake again. Even in this class, there are many things that we talk about that are interesting, but they don't resonate with me unless I can make a true personal connection to it. Of course most topics discussed are relatable, but those topics that are more sensible and important to me are the ones that stay with me the most and leave e pondering for days. Same is true for other subjects and for other aspects of life as well. When I’m at work, my supervisor can explain to me how to do something, but It isn’t until I sit down and do it that I truly understand what it is that I’m actually doing. Many times I have to figure it out myself: I navigate through several programs and web links until I find what I am looking for. The good thing about that is that the next time I need to find it, I know exactly where it is. Everything that is taught and said to me has to be analyzed and tested in my mind before I actually accept is as being true. I guess the moral of the story is that I learn from experience, but more importantly I learn from my mistakes.