"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." ~Henry Ford
"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." ~Les Brown
My first July post, oh how exciting! I believe that I have found an answer to at least part of my problem (of not being able to attend classes this fall), the answer is to use some of my fafsa allocated student loan money to pay for Winter -- I didn't think that the financial aid dept would allow that but because of my circumstances they have stated that they most likely will. I'm lucky because it is very close to them not letting me do it and I need a few hundred paid off my bill from winter for them to allow it, but it is still hopefully going to work (ready 3 followers - fingers crossed). This gives me more time to come up with the money ($3,000 in two months was pretty crazy) and allows me a little breathing room (I'll still probably have to work 80 hour weeks, but that's a lot better than 100 hour weeks…). (WOW that was a lot of information for one paragraph, or at least that's how it feels…)
I'm working on getting an internship with my Congressman in his Flint
Now, certain people with whom I am acquainted have expressed concern about my desire to do all I can to change the world; their concern is that I should "find myself" before I teach others and that I do not know enough about the world yet to change it and that I should take time away from my dreams in order to learn about the world. To them I respond below.
I believe that Thomas Szasz said it best in "Personal Conduct," The Second Sin, 1973, when he said "People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates." I have found my path, that path my change, but I have a passion for that path. I am not in need of finding myself, I am - through every move I make, every choice, creating who I am. It is this path that I am on through which I will see the world - I am in Lansing
I believe that these people must not see my plan to its full extent, the plan is this: a stepwise motion towards a goal in my life with the understanding that goals change and the wisdom to know that these steps will better me as a person, increase my knowledge, and help me in any career I choose. I understand that there are unknowns in life and (much different than when I was young) I can handle changes very easily. I find though, that when a person does not have a goal that they are working towards - when they are just floating - they do not work to better themselves, they do not increase their knowledge (very much), and they do not achieve greatness. They sit at home and play on facebook or some such thing and accomplish very little. I find this lifestyle quite depressing and do not wish to partake in it. But, to each his own. I find my lifestyle (although sometimes stressful), full of hard work and full of relaxation and exploration. I've never learned or seen so many things as I have in the past year and I do not wish to end that or to choose one life over the other. I feel that my life incorporates freedom and adventure while including hard work and learning, and that is exactly what I want with my life.
Robert Brault said, "Never mind searching for who you are. Search for the person you aspire to be." I aspire to be great, and because of that I will search for greatness within myself.
Flora Whittemore said "The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live." I want to decide my life, through the hard work I put in now and through the decisions I will make in the future. But it is my life to choose.
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. I make a point of relaxing every evening; I cannot sleep unless I have. I take holiday weekend at the Lake with Mike and I forget everything that has to do with work and I just am and I am happy. I take days or hours to myself to relax and I enjoy them, but I never stop bettering myself. It has been said that we should "Let loose of what you can't control. Serenity will be yours." I repeat the serenity prayer every day as I leave my house and every time that I face a difficult situation because I deeply believe that we should strive to have the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference; and that is how I life my life.
En Breve:
I am becoming who I am to be through the things that I am doing currently. I am relaxing, I am exploring, and I am learning. And that is what I want. Thank you to those who have expressed concern.
Closing:
I had a wonderful time at debate practice last night, I had a very strong opening and closing and my content was pretty good too (I think I'm getting better! And I'm definitely getting better style). Mike went to a job fair today, not exactly everything we had hoped it would be but it was still worth the experience (of course with almost every job in this age, you HAVE to apply online, but he learned some more about the agencies and he's well prepared for future interviews). Again, classical music is keeping me sane and relaxed at the moment and keeps me smiling all the time. Life is hard, but life is also beautiful - if at first you don’t succeed, or if one door closes… just keep on keepin on.
Alright... so my understanding is that you wish to have a quote battle (I say that only to get to my point and don't actually believe this) and therefore that's how I will perpetuate my comments.
ReplyDelete"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Ghandi.
What Ghandi meant by this is that there is no better guide to how you should live your life than to be that which you expect out of other humans. Thus, what you can gain from this quote from a wise man is that one part of changing the world is being that which you want from the world. It is simple as practice what you preach. Fortunately, you already understand this. So just always keep it in mind and I will move on.
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." Sir Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill is a role model for me as to what a man should be like. He is commonly considered one of the greatest men to ever live. So I find it important to note why he would say this; Churchill was a cool mother fucker. He smoked, he drank, he enjoyed life. The people that bothered one of the greatest men in the world most was those who could not enjoy the good things in life. Take note that both Buddha and Socrates professed indulgence in moderation. Why I am telling you all this? Not because you don't enjoy the good things in life, but because you possibly do not understand why so many people do overindulge and why people never touch anything.
Here is some serious perspective on something you may not have known before. Those who overindulge generally overindulge because they can not handle life. They do not enjoy their lifestyles and every day when they come home from work and they look at their family with fear of the future rather than love of their existence, You get a person who is prone to wanting to put all of it away in a cell and to lock it up. They do that with alcohol. Not to mention how many of our population are slaves to pills due to prescriptions to adderall and other amphetamines.
Throughout probably most of your life, you've had that perpetual force; the force that guides you through life. That force was very powerful and very effective for moving the United States to the point of growth we've reached today. However, the perpetual force is gone for the country and therefore is leaving the lives of the people. When people have been guided their whole lives without ever having to embrace adulthood, you get mid life crisis', you get alcoholism, and you get drug abuse. This is because people are forced to realize that the world won't do everything for them. Unfortunately, I think this should be the point where people finally figure out what they want out of life and go get it... but this is the point that breaks most people. I know for a fact that nothing in this world can break you. But I just want you to understand those you wish to help. They're all broken Jess. Look around you at all the lonely people. This is a sad and shallow world... people don't even want to learn anymore. Personally, I want to help them. I want to teach people how to live. But what am I to do? I shall be the change I wish to see.
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." - Henry David Thoreau
ReplyDelete"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it." Henry David Thoreau
"How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live." Henry David Thoreau
Alright so... Thoreau bomb. I was trying to grab the desperation quote and got caught up on some others.
Alright, so the mass of men live quiet lives of desperation. Watch American Beauty if you want the full spectrum of that reality. Most men will never understand what it means to live for something. Most men don't know what to take seriously in their lives or basically how to live. This is a failure in the education system. This is a failure of the church. This is a failure of our culture. Capitalism is phenomenal and the only way I want to live, but the fact is that some people are going to try and take advantage of people and right now, we are seeing what happens when every source of power is trying to take advantage of people. Which drives me to his next quote, Any fool can make a rule and any fool will mind it.
Thoreau is trying to tell us that rules are a subjective thing. Rules are based off of opinions. Opinions are great for debate and argumentation, however, when making rules for the mass of men, we should not allow those who don't understand the people to make the rules. If you've ever worked at the lowest level of a place, it is common for some stupid exec to make a rule that hinders productivity for something completely nonsensical. It happens all the time. That is why you've heard me say "I break lots of laws." This is because I don't give a shit about what some other man believes about how I should live my life. Thoreau agrees. The last quote of his was just a slap and tickle. If you don't know what that is... it's a joke.
Moving on to my last quote.
"The definition of insanity is to try the same thing over and over again expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
Just think about that one for a while. Let it sink in. To really evolve your mind and bend it around new concepts and to ultimately understand the world (not sure if that is possible by definition... but to get as close as possible is my goal), you must improve yourself at your weakest points of understanding. Think about something you still do that you know never gets you anywhere. I am lucky, I have a best friend who has no problem telling me where my faults lie. I literally ask him so that I can become better. My point is that most of the time he points something out for me, I feel as if Einstein's quote applies. If something isn't working, try it from a new angle. That's a big key to learning about the world.
So anyways, what was the point of all that? Basically... I feel that you are capable of becoming a great person on your own path. I know that I was once on the same path and got knocked off and have always wondered what I would've become had that not happened. I still have the same passion for certain things but now I have different goals. I want to believe I would not have become the most arrogant douche bag in the world, but I still have to keep my superiority complex in check everyday. I think that the things I had to go through made me more human though. However, even though I see you going down a path similar to what mine could've been, I feel that you're gonna be something great no matter what. So now, I am just gonna try to teach you some of the things I had to learn the hard way rather than preach to you about not making horrible decisions. I'll be also posting my own blogs soon that will be more academic writing than personal stuff, but I hope you read it and criticize the shit out of it so that I can make it better.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Ghandi.
ReplyDeleteI am. I am a hard working, fun loving, american who has values and a political identity but who is always learning and open minded. That is how I lead by example.
I win.