Blogging Around

Andy Han wrote a blog titled "An Inconvenient Truth: My Dream Might Not Come True". In this blog, Andy describes his mental struggle in overcoming numerous obstacles when it came to reaching his goal of one day becoming a doctor. The message was clear, no matter how dismal the path may seem, you must never lose faith and strive to live your dream. In response, I wrote...


Andy, I really like the message behind this post. Your mindset of overcoming every obstacle is legitimately inspiring. When someone isn't dealt the right hand, he/she shouldn't throw those cards away. Optimism is the perfect response to any situation. However, I don't think I have it in me to be completely optimistic. 

Throughout all of my life, my father had always told me that life is unfair. Actually, life is downright cruel. I am forced to realize that some things are simply impossible for me to accomplish. My dream had been to be a musician or work in some field pertaining to music. However, something tells me that reaching my goal will be impossible. The music industry is extremely selective, and depends on a whole lot of luck. My talents will never measure up to those whose lives revolve around the musical world. That is something I will have to live with. So in short, I believe that you should strive for all that is within reason. Some things are just unattainable, but Andy, go save some lives.

Kali Croke wrote a blog titled "iMedia: "Society" by Eddie Vedder. This blog analyzes Eddie Vedder's song from the movie Into the Wild. The movie was about a young man who cuts his ties with the civilized world and hitchhikes all the way to Alaska. Kali went off of this and wrote about society's affect on the minds of people and the limitations that they set on the mindsets of the human race in terms of greed and material possession. To this, I responded...


This post does a fantastic job of illustrating society's unrelenting grasp and influence on the minds of us all. Society manipulates, shapes, and at times even controls our thoughts and emotions, like "a tight rope around our subconscious." However, I do not believe that society is a completely terrible thing. There is another aspect of society that molds human behavior and thought: the cultural aspect.

As human beings, we live our lives under the guidelines and rules established through centuries of culture and civilization. All of this rich history has molded society into what we experience today. Yes, this does include patriarchy, a lust for material goods, and racism. However, it is also responsible for music, friendship, arts, and the other beauties of life. I cannot imagine a world without these wonders, and if society is influencing my thoughts at this moment, then so be it.

For this reason, I embrace society instead of reject it. In a way, society influences all of our minds, but in very different ways. As contradictory as that sounds, it is true: society nurtures individuality. 

An Inconvenient Truth: Politics

      The United States of America is known as the land of the free, the land of endless opportunities. At the head of this wonderful nation lies our government, a democratic republic with a charismatic and intelligent individual holding the reigns. This is our president. He is the one who toils for the people and fights to preserve the rights that Americans hold so dear. When I was an uninformed child, I believed that the elections were an efficient and effective way of choosing the right leader to propel our nation into prosperity. However, after closely observing this year's presidential elections, I have come to realize the saddening truth. The method of electing our nation's leader is a giant political mess.

      At the center of this politically charged jumble stands the men competing for the most important job in the country. My initial discovery when analyzing the 2012 elections were the actions of the candidates themselves. After listening to countless talk shows and programs on what each candidate planned to do concerning important topics from health care to gun control, I couldn't find myself believing anything both Romney or Obama was saying. In my opinion, the candidates were only attempting to appeal to the variety of ethnic groups and income classes that inhabit this nation. In class, Mr. Williams even said that candidates tend to adopt extremely republican or democratic viewpoints in order to appeal to the extremists and later comfortably shift into viewpoints that appeal to the rest of the voting population. This includes recounting previously stated stances. I believe that it is time to address the elephant in the room (no pun intended). Is it okay to elect a man who will eventually lead our nation whose eyes are focused on the throne and not the future of the country? There is the argument that getting elected is the first priority, and from there the president is able to make changes to the country. However, I don't see how a president is allowed to rise to power by stating plans that he may not even believe in or will not even follow through with. I know that at the end of the day, this meaningless banter works and gets candidates elected, but is this truly the path our nation should be on?

      An inconvenient truth lies within the claims that candidates make. In every election, the individual that is running against the former president always makes it a point to blast the efforts and progressions of the president's previous term. Because of the wedge between the ideals of the republicans and democrats, the opposing party always recants the progress of the former Commander in Chief. A four year term is a small blip in the huge scale of history. I believe that no significant changes can be made in the small course of a presidential term. To make things worse, if every new president has an opposing mindset, I do not see a significant course of action to mend our countries problems like the national debt and ridiculous health care costs. This wild ride of contradicting actions welds our nation to the floor, and it's going to take a very expensive power tool to lift our nation back into motion.

      I always hoped that the elections and politics were a foolproof way of electing an individual that could harness the powers of presidency and drive our country into the right direction, but I don't think that is the case anymore. Maybe I am just a pessimist and a skeptic who doesn't value the good in the system, but I simply don't see it. There are too many obstructions that prevent an election of my description. The sad thing is, there is absolutely no way that the system will be changed. The only thing I can do is ride out the wave and live with this grand inconvenient truth: Politics is a mess.

Best of Today: A Moment

      Today in class, we watched a video that really stood out to me. It was a video that was simply titled "Moments". The artistic piece consisted of a montage of seemingly random clips, where each one showed a brief moment in someone's life. The clips varied from mundane tasks like an old woman eating cereal to simple pleasures of life like a man casting his rod into the lagoon. Meanwhile, the entire collaboration was accompanied by and edited to the rhythm of a serene soundtrack. Although our class focused more on the artistic and poetic aspects of the video, it wasn't the emotional crescendo or the expertly placed transitions that grabbed my attention. These artistic aspects only amplified the "real deal breaker". In fact, the message of the video is what caused me to take such interest in the topic. In a mere four minutes and seventeen seconds, the video exclaimed the beauty of the current moment; the beauty of the present.

      If the present is as enticing and interesting as the video suggests, then why does society disregard the current moment? It is a shame that people are completely unaware of the beauty of now. I am also at fault. As I reflect upon my life, there has never been a moment in my life when I noticed the poetic and wonderful nature of showering, taking a walk, or riding shotgun in my brother's car. As ridiculous as that sounds, it is a damn shame. People, myself included, only tend to inquire into the future and reflect on the past. The shower is a preparation for the day to come, the walk is about getting to school on time, and the car ride is fast way to the Chipotle that will satisfy the deprived stomach. Society has become obsessed with the hurried mindset, and there is no room for the present in that limiting frame.

      From the day a person is born, society begins to craft and shape his/her mind to adapt the hurried mindset. I was looking to the future for as long as I can remember. In fact, I had foreseen my life plan since I was six years old. It was to do well in school, graduate elementary school, ace classes in middle school, move on to high school, score insanely well on the ACT's and SAT's, get accepted into an impressive university, graduate with a degree in something worth it, find a job, find a wife, buy a home, raise a family, retire, and die. Sounds fickle, doesn't it? So far, every step of the way, I had looked on to the next step in this grand plan, just as everyone else does in this faulty system. There is no reason why this should continue. This mindset of always looking ahead makes no sense to me, but it is so prevalent in my life and in the lives of others.

      What is so appealing about the future and the past that trumps the necessity of embracing the present? I couldn't tell you even if my life depended on it. That is because the present is much more relevant than the future or past. The past are events that have happened, and there is no reason to be constantly worrying about events that can never be changed. On the other hand, the future is completely unknown. One cannot predict how his life will twist and turn to change the outcome. The best thing someone can do is to live in the moment. The focus should be on riding those twists and turns and actually observing the life that actually matters: the life that you are living right now. The video "Moments" really made that register in my head. I hope that everyone will learn that if you want to see life's best moments, just take the time to look around.