History in the Present

One form of evidence for evolutionary thought are the pieces of the past perserved in the present beings and places. This evidence is found through things such as vestigal organs, to the coal found in the icy lands of the Antarctica. I feel, though, that it encompasses more than just that.

Have you ever studied psychology? I haven't really too much, but at times I find myself to be rather vouyeristic. I'm intrigued by studying the behavior of others'. There's so much you learn about them. Especially when you learn their history - then their behavior makes sense.

A lot of times, you notice that people's behavior perserves their past. Maybe their more conservative when they're older to cover up the lack of respect they had for themselves. And sometimes the lack of respect they have for their selves comes from the home in which they are raised. And the home from which they are raised comes from the home in which their parents are raised, and the experiences their parents went through. A lot of hobbies and talents come that way, too. Natural abilities and tendencies that a closely related relative have we emulate. I look at myself - I have my mother's love for music, and writing. I have my father's passion for hard-work. I have my grandmother's love for reusing and making art. I have my grandfather's love for nature and traveling. I have my other grandmother's simplicity, and her husband's interest in economics. I am pieces of every distant relative, through behaviors and interests. Whether in a positive way or negative way, I believe that our past affects who we are today. Even when we try to be extra good to undo the mistakes our parents made, we hold in us a part of them - the motivation to do better than them. They still influence us. They still affect us. Therefore, they are preserved in us.

I believe, then, that it is crucial to learn the past. I feel it brings us a better understanding of the present, and of our tendencies. Maybe it brings into sight behaviors and hang-ups we weren't even aware of - or places we're heading that we wouldn't want to go. But I feel that understanding our past makes us better people. I'm not sure that we'll ever be able to eliminate its presence - and I think that's okay. It gives us the ability to understand the now and move forward from the now. Without understanding where you've come from, you can't possibly understand where you're going. And everyone wants to know that.

Repulsive

I guess we've all noticed the regression of modesty in women. We've seen the media become sexualized. We've seen the magazines, and the expectations. But that's all them. It's not us, right? It's just them. We just see it and have to protect ourselves against it, right?

No. No. No.

I'm on facebook looking through friend's pictures and I feel like I'm looking at childhood pornography. These girls look virtually naked. Covering up the nipples and vagina is nice, but you've got to do more than that.

"But what about freedom? We should have the right of self-expression!" You know, I'm all for it. But cover up, girls! We're no longer the five years old manipulated by the latest treads. We have power. Even if you buy the magazines and watch the trashy television programs (although I don't advise it) don't buy into it yourselves! You are stronger than that!

I've not yet read it, but I know the facts in it are astounding and therefore I'd suggest readers here to read "the Lolita Effect". The sexualization is incredible. But I'm still amazed that people my age are just sucked into it. I understand children being manipulated, and adults being sucked into it (or mature enough to "handle it"), but my generation? My age? We're still falling into it? Guys, come on! Gain some self-respect.

Maybe the problem's really not the media at all. Maybe it's a self-respect issue. Maybe it's the way that we're showing people how to view themselves. What if the provocative dress, and sexualized media was a manifestation of a separate problem? Where would the deepest roots lie?

I don't have any answers. I just know that whatever it is, the manifestations are getting uglier, and uglier.

Open-Mindedness

I think of open-mindedness as more of acceptance. It's not the absence of an opinion. It's just the ability to hear the other side despite your own personal opinion and beliefs. I believe it's a way at neutrality.

I'd like to think of myself as fairly open-minded, but I have incredibly strong opinions on some subjects. On other subjects, I'm not so sure. Don't be fooled, though; even when I come across as strong, I do possess the ability to listen. And accept. Most of the time I end up sharing my opinions here, because I personally feel rejected for them elsewhere, and want people to know my viewpoint. Or because I am venting with a specific challenge statement to other people.

For example, "Go Ask Alice" was a deeply disturbing story. Not only did it make me upset for the girl, but assess my own life. It also helped me see the areas that I personally can cope with and others can't. I was hoping to point out what happens when you have a son or daughter that can't handle the pressure and being alone. I do my best to make it, as do others, but sometimes, we can't do it. I feel sad. And I feel I did my part by warning and thinking and reflecting to try so that won't happen again to another person.

Sorry to offend parents. I only meant to open your eyes. I'm not saying I'm great in that area, but that's why I know that I can speak for that. I see a need for it in my own life, and in others. I understand that we're so busy that we don't have time ... But all of this belongs in a different post.

But please, feel free to comment freely. I'm here to make friends and introduce the world to my philosophies. I'm not here to make enemies.

Our strength?

Freedom. Ah, sweet freedom. Is that not our country's strength? We have the freedom to talk, and know, and to live, and to own, and to hope, and to create ... We have the freedom to do whatever we want (within a very few boundaries). As a matter of fact, we have the freedom to hate, and to verbally hurt, and to judge, and to... Oops. I guess we forgot about that.

I think so many times, we don't realize how much of a weakness our strength can be. For example, my passion is my strength. It's also a weakness. Because with every trait comes good and bad things.

I mean, I guess as imperfect humans, everything we have, create or desire has some sort of evil in it. We're taught to be made in the image of God, yet we're not perfect like him. I think it's because we have the same emotions that he has, only his our perfect. We have love, but his is more beautiful. He has judgment, but his is pure. I think it's just another aspect of the Bible and God we won't be able to understand.

"Go Ask Alice"

I just finished reading this novel. It was actually a diary written by a fifteen year old drug user. But look, I bet you I've already given you negative connotations of her. Drug user. Isn't that such a horrid term? Especially for the girl, who seemed to be so nice. She didn't even willingly try it. She, for once in her life, was invited to a party and wanted to fit in. In her nervousness, and desire to play it cool, she played the games that the people at the party were playing (unaware, of course, that the stuff they were drinking had drugs in it). She was hooked, although she knew it was wrong. It was this constant battle. And when she'd want to stay clean, it was hard. Her new friends all did it. Everywhere she went, people seemed to do it. She'd stay on drugs for a little, feel bad realizing what it did and go off of it. But the pushers at her school harassed her, bringing her back the first time. But the last time, after so much crap had happened to her, she was done for good. So they put LSD in some of her candy when she was babysitting a neighbor. She ripped out her some fingernails, ripped out some of her hair. She had bruises everywhere and couldn't remember what happened. They put drugs in candy and warned her to watch her sister, etc. It was horrible.

But I want to emphasize a reason why she went through all of that. Think about it: She's a good kid, and she doesn't want to do drugs again. But, at the same time, although she didn't do it willingly, she liked them, and she had friends when she did them. If she was with her friends, she was tempted to do it again. But what brought her back to her friends, and back to the drugs although she didn't want to: fear. She was ashamed the first time, and couldn't talk to anyone. Her grandparents didn't know what had happened, and encouraged her to go out. She was afraid to be judged when it started getting really bad, so she couldn't stop it. Shame. Guilt. Fear.

Do parents, teachers, and people in all places of authority realize what they do to children these days? They trap kids in their mistakes, by being judgmental and un-understanding. A lot of those kids that even the girl in the book met, they had been bribed, or tricked into started, got hooked, and did stupid stuff to get drugs, and even stupider stuff to escape the shame of the first time. But does no one see that we allow this to happen? We don't let people speak freely. We don't let them talk. We condemn them for their past, without ever understanding the pain they go through every waking moment they think of their mistake. We judge. We guilt trip. What kind of humans are we?

I will forever emphasize the lack of free speech in this country and the uprise of political correctness. Even within my own family, I've seen people afraid to speak of their past. I actually felt bad for the people at church sharing their testimonies of past mistakes. But we don't know why people do what they do; we just condemn them. Condemn. Judge. Condemn. Judge.

But after, we're so shocked and depressed when we hear of teens suicide. Or we mock them for their "teenaged angst" and their "attention cries". But we never, ever, ever give them an ear. At least not without consequence. I understand that every action has a consequence, however, could we even try to be understanding? Just try?

Sure, we are free to hate, and judge, and condemn in this country. That's a part of our freedom. And I'm not guilt free. But this is one of the reasons we should work on it: death. Good people that get sucked into bad things, and left helpless because of what someone might say. Trapped. Used.

Is that what we want?

We complain about our country's youth. But do we ever help them? Do we ever stop our lives and listen. Not just partially, but really listen. Our youth needs listeners. Someone to talk to them, and understand them. Someone to help them out. But we're not giving them that. We expect them to listen, and keep their mouth closed, and be respectful. Sometimes, though, adults need to watch how they act towards kids. Maybe it's not completely the youth's fault that they are the way they are.

After all, we do learn from our example.

However, I don't want anyone to think I'm blaming all the adults. Of course, it's not your fault completely. But think about what you could do to stop harm from happening and create a healthy generation of kids. Mitch Albom was right with the line, "All parents damage their children." Of course, this is not intentional. But we all come up short. We have failings. And we hurt other people. Seen or unseen, our every move, affects another person. Whether neglect, or abuse, or nagging. Think before you make a move. When your watching your computer screen while your daughter's talking to you, and when you ground your daughter from all social life for not making her bed, forgetting to commend her achievements in school, think again. Those little things make a differences. And be interested in your kids' lives. Find the balance that works for your family. And watch out for signs that something's going wrong. Make an environment in which people are willing to talk to you in your house. Be gracious, and gentle. Be understanding. And let them know through your actions that you are. Everything you do affects other people inside AND outside of your family.

Are you willing to kill another Alice today?

Religion in Schools

I believe in the co-existence of both science and God. However, I do not believe in the co-existence of faith and science in a high-school science class. Let's think about the differences: science, and scientific theories come from observable and re-observable observations, and data. Faith comes from emotional experiences and beings that can not be tested, because they are not manifested in a physical form. For this reason, science and faith needs to be separated in a school setting.

I don't want people to get the wrong idea - I do think that children and teens should be introduced to different religions in school. But when I say different religions, I think they should learn about different religions. Not just Christianity. Not just Judaism. Not just Islam. There's Hinduism, and Janism, and Buddhism, and Confuscism, and Taoism, etc. There are more religions that we don't know anything about because we were never taught it. We could incorporate religion into a world history class, or we could make a religion class for an elective. But I don't believe that people should be introduced to one idea only. There's a world out there, and they need to choose for themselves the right way. We can't spoon feed them.

But then there's an argument that science class only teaches one theory. So let it teach more in regards to evolution. However, the only one I've ever heard of is the string theory. And in other aspects of science, we have theories that no one contradicts. No one contradicts the cell theory. No one makes any effort. So what makes the theories of the origin of universe so much more uncomfortable? I guess because nothing in religion talks about the make up living things. Otherwise, we'd have more petty arguments.

I hope I don't come across as bitter. I'm a Christian, too, but the ignorance of so many of these arguments bothers me. And I like to be informed. And I feel so many times in churches that they lie, or use political propaganda, and don't do what God expects of them. And I felt like sharing this through my anger.

Interpretation

Being a teacher of science, my biology teacher this past year made sure to define terms in black and white. With the help of essayist Stephen Jay Gould, our teacher educated us on the difference between fact and theory (specifically, in regards to evolution; however, the same basis could help clear up other conflicts, too). Evolution was the fact (evolution, meaning the change of species over time) and natural selection was the theory (natural selection being the mechanism that seems the most probable tool to change it. Misunderstanding the basis of evolution, and what science was really trying to say, people like myself got up in arms because of religious beliefs. And I think that many of us end up rejected facts and theories, because we don't know the difference between the two and the power of our perception.

Lately, I've tried to be more of an objective thinker. Obviously, no one person is without bias, however, I've tried to assess life looking at different angles, hearing the different sides before determining what I think and feel. I'm personally beginning to learn a lot more truths, and understand things that were otherwise unknown. But I've also been able to understand so much of the conflict that goes on around us. The root of conflict, on a large scale, comes from ignorance and misunderstandings.

Let me make myself clear, before I give an example: I am a Christian. I believe in God, and the resurrection of Christ. I believe that He was and is and is to come. Now, the other day, I found a yahoo news video on a family who believes their son to be a reincarnated World War II pilot that crash 60 years ago. I started laughing when I read the headline, but, being intrigued, decided to watch the video regardless. It ended up being quite amazing. This couple's son had nightmares in vivid details about planes fighting the Japanese. He knew all about war planes. He was able to describe the actual event that he died during in his dream. They did research for years and found that it matched the life of a specific American pilot from World War II. They assumed, then, that the boy must be reincarnated.

I remember telling my stepmom, thinking it was cool. She was unsure what to think of it, because she doesn't believe in reincarnation. I don't necessarily believe in it either. But when I think about it, I realize this: the boy had nightmares with information he didn't know from outside sources (he was only 2). We can argue about mechanisms, but the fact remains the same.

Facts can be interpretted differently. I'm positive that there is a right way to define and interpret seemingly supernatural happenings, however, I don't know it. I know how I feel, and what I believe to be right, however, when I look at it, many other explanations, when accompanied by human experiences seem just as logical. How can I argue with another's experience and feeling? How can they argue with mine? It'll never end!