Psychic numbing

          Morality is defined as a system or code that we humans use to differentiate between right and wrong. When i hear morality i right away think morals. I think that many people these days dont really seem to care about their morals or  having respect for themselves. lately i’ve seen girls going around having no respect for there bodies, even if someone tells them that they are acting like a slut they dont change because they dont want to believe it or they simply dont care. This applies to Why We Don’t Care About Darfur because even though we read things like “More than 200,000 people dead in Darfur,Tens of thousands of women raped in eastern Congo,One million killed by malaria each year- mostly in Africa, 3,000 children alone are dying every day.” We seem to not do anything about these problems we hear because we either dont believe it or we just dont care. In Why We Don’t Care About Darfur it says when we hear things we dont want to hear or that we dont care about “the brain is simply not up to the task of processing it: Psychic numbing kicks in, and we don’t feel anything, emotionally or in the gut.” When you actually read and understand whats going on in Why We Don’t Care About Darfur the information given is overwhelming, it made me feel like crap. How can I be living such a great life here in Canada but in Darfur theres people dying and getting raped all over the place. These statistics we read about death is hard to fathom just like this quote from Why We Don’t Care About Darfur “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” I dont get how we can afford all these things we really dont need, but cant pitch in to help save people in Darfur.

                                                                       

The end..

          Well this is it… seems like yesterday i walked into my grade 8 english class, not knowing what to expect. Of course as per usual there were book reports, grammer, and literature terms. All the boring things english has to offer. When I walked into my english 12 class it was nothing like the previous classes, IT WAS INTERESTING! We got to talk  and learn about things that matter in life like materialism, relationships, and the over all world issues. yes, things like Heart of darkness and the final essay were a grind, but we did it!  and thank god its over so i can graduate and move on to bigger and better things.

          My favorite part of english 12 was our girl boy debate. I found it interesting because everyone in the class could relate and get involved with the conversations. It was cool to hear what other people had to say and there opinion on the topics, it made us understand more about why guys and girls do the things they do.

          Overal i had a good time in english 12 there were times where i thought of giving up and not handing in an assignment but what kept me going was Linda saying  things like “i dont give a fuck what you do, but i know you can do it, so dont give up.”       🙂

                            

Shark Finning

 A few days ago, I got the privilege of watching the movie “Shark Water.” This not only opened my eyes to the inhumane practice of hacking off shark’s fins and throwing its still living body back to sea, it also proved how barbaric our world has become. This indiscriminate slaughter at an unsustainable rate is pushing many species to the brink of extinction. Since the 1970s the populations of several species have been decimated by over 95%. These facts prove how much our world can change over a shallow period of time, and the devastating idea that noone is willing to take action and make a difference. Wealth is no less than a desire this generation. We thrive on having it all, having our cake and eating it too. There may be websites, petitions and strikes going against the finning of sharks but because of its insane value, not everyone is willing to go out of the status quo and fight against it.

  I feel that this is an emotional topic, and the idea of it all is harsh and hard to believe, yet we all stand by. When the sharks get their fins cut off, their bodies are still alive when thrown back to sea, which is a disturbing thought. Shark fins, once they are harvested, are then dried to be sold in markets to individuals and restaurants to be made into shark fin soup and sold to the public without any second thought. Shark fins are also used in supplements that have been proven to bring more disease than aid to a human being. Every factor revolving around the finning of sharks is brought to the outcome of status. Because of the shark fins’ value, the well-being of these magnificant creatures is subsided and overruled by wealth and gratitude.

 “Sharks are one of our planets oldest inhabitants having been here some four hundred million years, while mankind, natures great destroyers, has only been here a mere two hundred thousand years.” Sir David Jason.

This quote proves that we are overlooking past generations, and as humans we are selfish and trapped in our perfect world right now. We have no aspiration to change our lifestyle, and we are damaging ourselves along the way. Our society is crumbling before our eyes.

communication is key

In both the short stories “hills like white elephants” by Ernest Hemingway and “rope” by Katherine Anne Porter have communication issues between male and female. In “hills like white elephants” the male and female are debating whether or not the female should have an abortion, but there communication with each other is poor as they are trying to figure out a life changing incident. As for the short story “rope” the male and female argue about little things because they can’t communicate enough with each other to figure our the bigger problem in there relationship.

“Hills like white elephants” is about a male and a female who are discussing her pregnancy. The man wants her to abort the child as the woman wants to keep it. Instead of the two having a civil conversation with each other and working it out they just say things to each other like “It’s really an awfully simple operation” and “its not really an operation at all”, making the woman mad so she says things with a taint sarcasm like she will have the procedure “because I don’t care about me.” the story never gives us the answer in what happens but without good communication this dilemma could go on for a while.

In the short story “rope” the male and female argue and knit pick every little thing because they don’t have good enough communication with each other to talk about the bigger problem in there relationship, which is the female thinking that he cheated on her. In the story the female character wants the man to bring her back 2 pounds of coffee from town when he comes back he seems to have forgotten her request but came back with a rope. She got mad because all she wanted was the coffee but instead he brought back a rope. The rope symbolizes there relations hanging by a rope and also that there communication problem is always there just like the rope because when he goes back to get her coffee and return the rope he comes back home with the coffee and seems to have forgotten to return the rope. The two characters in this story need to realize that the lack of communication is ruining there relationship with each other.

Overall good communication in any relationship is the key to a strong and healthy relationship. Without it, it seems to bring upon argument that no one wants to deal with making the relationship more stressful.

References:
Hemingway, H. 2006. Hills Like White Elephants, Perrine’s Story and Structure

Porter, K.  Rope. 1935.  New York,  Parkway Printing Company

Reality.

  In my opinion, Materialism is taking over our generation in more ways than one. Although it is common, and every individual is slightly materialistic, in the past few years the idea of selfishness has rapidly become a lifestyle all of its own. Our daily routine now revolves around looking good, owning the right items, being noted on the “cool” factor and overall self image. Not only has this become a problem for the generations to come, it also has portrayed our generation as the selfish generation. To me, the fact that people now care more about unrealistic values rather than emotional gradifications is disgusting. People of less fortune may now feel even more lower ranked due to the fact money is now an object and is thrown around carelessly.

  Materialism is stated to mean everything in life is physical, or that there is nothing over and above the physical, or that the physical facts in a certain sense exhaust all the facts about the world. In the minds of materialistic individuals, success is measured by how much you can accumulate. This portrays selfishness, and states that everything in the universe is matter. We live in a world surrounded by and composed of matter. It is natural, therefore, that we may become distracted from spiritual or intellectual pursuits by material possessions, but this is frequently where problems occur. We can become obsessed by a desire to obtain them, or simply frustrated by the need to maintain them.

  Materialism is ruining or planet, and everyone’s outlook on life, yet theres no desire to change our ways. Whats next?

happiness is not a destination.

Suffering and happiness are not mutually exclusive, they are like two sound tracks that play simultaneously. You can easily turn down one to hear the other. Which would you rather play in your life?

In the novella Heart of Darkness, Marlow has to experience grief, regret and sadness to truely know what happiness feels like. Personally I think everyone experiences dissapointment at some point in their life. Even the most successful people have conquered the journey of ups and downs through their emotions in life. However, what really matters is how you handle the hurdles you face and the frustrations you have had to deal with.

Happiness is not a destination. It is a mood, it is not permanent. It comes and goes and if people thought that way then maybe people would find happiness more often. Yet, our society today finds so many misleading paths to depression making us hope that at the end of the road happiness will arise but thats not the case. Happiness can be easily brought out if someone has dealt a lot with depression, but for someone who leads a content life, there is no reason to think that grief will somehow potray inner happiness along the road. It’s okay to let yourself be happy because you never know how fleeting that happiness might be.

References: Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: New American Library, 1997.
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Deer in headlights?

Derive happiness in oneself from a good day’s work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us. – Henri Matisse.

In the novella Heart of Darkness, Marlow is faced with a roadblock of fog on his journey down the congo river. This not only affected his vision, it also mentally froze and sustained his thoughts in general. You could say he had a “deer in the headlights” look to him, with his thoughts roaming each and every way possible. Because Marlow was left with his thoughts, certain aspects and topics were brought up due to the effect. The fog required silence, leaving him completely speechless and questionable. Personally when I think about things such as the future or upcoming occurances, my mind is vague and decisive. I question a lot of aspects, and find my head “foggy”.

It is not the clear-sighted who rule the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm fog. -Joseph Conrad.

References: Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: New American Library, 1997.
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Heart of Darkness

For the past month i have been reading a book called Heart of Darkness. As i read I’m having a hard time reading and fully understanding the book. While im reading, part of me is reading the words on the page and part of me is sitting there not caring or just zoning out. The class talks are really helpful because it opens my mind up to questions i have never thought of before. I feel like at first glance all of the description layed out in the book is confusing yet when the class potrays a deeper image i have a better understanding.  The Quote “Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” -Carl Jung, This quote signifies the idea that nothing can be defined as perfect, life is what you make it. Personally, when i am sad my thoughts are lost, im left with nothing but ideas and general feelings which can contain goals and dreams for my future. This fact means that every human being has to visit an area of sadness once and a while to refocus and connect themselves to the underlying truth of the meaning of life. If the world was revolving with constant happiness, the emotion level would be flying resulting in everyone shutting  down completely. Relationships, aspirations and goals could not be in effect due to the fact emotion is a valuable tool in a happy, constant lifestyle.

References: Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: New American Library, 1997.
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