Thoughts

As the stress of AP classes and standardized tests start becoming more and more apparent, it is very easy to start giving up. This may sound like the beginning of a very cliche blog post, but this week I decided to just let my thoughts go and write whatever came to mind. I know a lot of people think that I "never need to study", and am just "naturally smart". Frankly, this is not true at all. There are things like your IQ and other numbers that us humans use to define intelligence, but I think that, at least in high school, they don't really amount to much. What matters the most to me is your mindset. We live in a time where people are dropping phrases like "I want to kill myself" and "I hate my life" left and right just for laughs and memes, and for most people, it is socially acceptable. Over the past couple months, I have noticed this in many of my friends too. This is where the heart of the issue lies. I will admit that these phrases will occasionally slip out of my mouth as well, but for the most part, I think that I am relatively free of these words and thoughts.

I've noticed that these phrases become especially apparent before important tests, like the SAT or an English test. I do realize that sometimes people truly mean these things, but I am talking about the population that say it just because. Even though one may not mean anything by it, words like this deeply affect how one thinks and feels. I've noticed myself that on days that I stay positive and optimistic, despite all the high school pressures, I actually do feel much better both physically and emotionally. If I could give one piece of advice that others would take seriously, it would be to stay positive and don't let negative thoughts cloud your mind, whether intentionally or not. Through personal experience, once you start adapting this new mindset, the results will clearly show up on your grades and other scores, even if you don't consider yourself "smart".

To relate this post to something we learned this week, it is that this is somewhat similar to how Corinthians felt. She had "no ambition, no hunger, no hustle", and that ultimately resulted in her dull and uneventful life. This is related to your mindset in the sense that if you think that you are dumb and don't try to do anything to change it, then that's exactly how it is going to be.

If you have managed to read all the way to the end of this post, good job! I realize that this is definitely not the Edison that you guys know, but I just felt like there was some stuff I wanted to get out. Hopefully next week will be back to the regular posts!

Superstition

This week, as we continued to read Song of Solomon, my thoughts from the last blog post continued to linger in my mind. Are we really creatures of habit that seek the most comfortable and easiest way out? After some more pondering, I came to the same conclusion that, yes, we truly are. One thing that stood out the most to me while reading was the fact that Pilate had no navel. Because of this, "she had to leave" many of the places she lived when she was young (Morrison 144).

Back then, many people were very superstitious and thought that having no navel meant you weren't "born natural" (Morrison 143). I think this was mainly because science wasn't as advanced as it is now, and people wanted an explanation for why some people had no navels, so they just came up with the superstition. Nowadays, science is a lot more advanced, and explains a lot more things than it used to. However, many superstitions still exist today. For example, although I know that getting good test scores are based on how much you prepared and how much rest you got the night before, I still find myself praying to some unknown force to give me a good score and looking at car license plates for "168", a symbol of fortune and good luck in Chinese culture. This goes along with the idea that we always want to travel the most comfortable path in life. Even though we know that certain things are just myths or fake, some part of our brains still continue to believe it just in case it really is true, and it can't really hurt to try some of the old rituals and traditions for luck and happiness.

Actions to Actions

What motivates us to do what we do? For the most part, this question is easily answered: to impress others, to make money, to achieve your dreams, etc. To me, a deeper and more perplexing question is actually the exact opposite. What motivates us to do what we don't do? Obviously to answer this, there are many elements that must be considered. However, I think all of those things boil down to one main idea: the fear of the unknown.

We make decisions everyday, like what to wear, what to eat for lunch, and who to talk to during your free time. Humans are creatures of habit. We like to wear clothes we are used to and comfortable with and eat food we are used to. Why? Because we don't know what might happen when we change our decisions. It's the fear of not knowing what might happen that compels many of us to stick only to what we know and not explore new things.

This is where other's actions come into play. We have the power to influence another person into trying the unknown. One very recent instance of this for me was when my bird had a yeast infection. My family and I noticed he had been acting very sickly for a day. When I told my parents we should go see a vet, they refused. However, when I went online and searched up his symptoms, every source screamed at me to immediately see a vet. It took me a while, but eventually I convinced my parents to go, and he ended up being diagnosed with the infection and we immediately started giving him medicine, which very likely ended up saving his life. This is a prime example of how other's actions influence your own. Perhaps my parents didn't want to spend money on a vet bill, or were scared to find out what was wrong with my bird, but my influence ended up being the reason we finally went. This idea is apparent in Song of Solomon, when "the first colored expectant mother was allowed to give birth inside [the hospital's] wards and not on its steps" (Morrison 5). The reason the mother was allowed inside was because of the death of another African American. The hospital would have never let her in before, but it was the action of another person that finally changed their mind.

Good, Bad Images

Images are a fundamental part of everyone's lives. Whether you see it with your own eyes, or create it in your head from descriptions, an image holds an immense amount of value. They can be happy and cheerful, or dark and intense. The question is: is the latter category of "atrocious images [that] haunt us" beneficial (Sontag)?

In my opinion, these types of images are just as, if not more, important than other types. "Happier" images can actually blur the real world we are in, by giving viewers the false sense that everyone is alright and at peace. However, this not at all what some people's lives really are. This is where the more shocking images come into place. They express the harsh reality we live in, and we learn from them. Lots of these pictures we can see in the news or magazines. If we want to shape the future in a positive way, then it is imperative that we view at least some of these images to realize how devastating our own actions can be on others. 

A common argument against this is that these images are not appropriate for some individuals, such as children. However, I do agree with this. I think that the best way to solve this is to go by levels, showing them more child appropriate things at first, and then gradually building up as their maturity also increases. This way, everyone will still be able to view these images necessary to advancing society without introducing them too early to certain people and negatively affecting them for life.