Late night entry
It's that late so it must be one of those painfully thoughtful nights induced by god-knows-what. I've learned to appreciate such times. During these times I get to really think about important things.
I think that if there were one piece of advice I could give to anyone, it would be to get to know yourself and to be who you are, not what you think you should be. Alright, that's two things, and the second sounds confusing. I mean "Be yourself."
But the first suggestion isn't necessarily that easy. Maybe if you are a simple person, knowing yourself is simple. But what if you are complex? What if your mind plays tricks on you, making you think of things that you don't want to think about just because they are repulsive thoughts? What if you can't decide on why you want to do certain things?
People used to have coming-of-age ceremonies when they were in their early teens. Actually they still do. Most Jews get their bar/batmitzvas when they turn thirteen, and Mexicans still have quincinieras. But back in the day, these things were taken way more seriously, as in "Hey, you're thirteen, now make us some grandkids before we die from cholera." I think that most "adults" today do not deserve the title. Kids look to adults to learn about the world, yet so many adults are in constant battle with reality. I don't know whether it would be very good or very bad to tell a child that most adults are full of bullshit.
What is an "adult" anyway? Does it just mean that you know how to survive in the world without your parents? Well that's too easy. It should be more rigorous. You should be able to survive without killing other people. You should survive without even hurting other people. You should survive and benefit others! That means you need to know enough about the world that you don't destroy it. I like this definition because it means people driving hummers are kids. That feels right.
Anyway, that's all an aside. My feeling right now is a general sadness about all the awesome things I've done that I will probably never have a chance to do again. I guess that's called nostalgia. And it's part of growing up. Hey, I have to support myself now, and I can't yet afford to take months of vacation each year with the goals I've given myself, but I plan on being able to. I don't like growing up.
I realize now why I'm so resistant to talking vacations: I'm afraid that if I take time off work and have a great time, it will make my time at work miserable. Well that's not true and it's unfair.
I wonder how peoples attitudes will be affected if Obama wins and maintains a lot of integrity. Because I think that my generation lacks a lot of integrity, and a lot of our decisions are selfish ones. To those of you who think all willful actions are selfish, I mean that a lot of our decisions don't reflect a caring for others. So if we have a leader that acts with integrity and talks to us like we are adults, will his example trickle down? I sure hope so.
Well it feels better to get these thoughts down on cyber-paper. I wonder if I'll ever come back and read this... I wonder what I will think of it. Writing is strange -- it's like sending a message to your future self. I don't want to embarrass myself, and it's annoying that I'm using a Mac and I can't right-click when the computer tells me I've misspelled a word. How do I fix the misspelled word without a suggested correction? My biggest fear is that I'll read it and think I'm stupid.
I think that if there were one piece of advice I could give to anyone, it would be to get to know yourself and to be who you are, not what you think you should be. Alright, that's two things, and the second sounds confusing. I mean "Be yourself."
But the first suggestion isn't necessarily that easy. Maybe if you are a simple person, knowing yourself is simple. But what if you are complex? What if your mind plays tricks on you, making you think of things that you don't want to think about just because they are repulsive thoughts? What if you can't decide on why you want to do certain things?
People used to have coming-of-age ceremonies when they were in their early teens. Actually they still do. Most Jews get their bar/batmitzvas when they turn thirteen, and Mexicans still have quincinieras. But back in the day, these things were taken way more seriously, as in "Hey, you're thirteen, now make us some grandkids before we die from cholera." I think that most "adults" today do not deserve the title. Kids look to adults to learn about the world, yet so many adults are in constant battle with reality. I don't know whether it would be very good or very bad to tell a child that most adults are full of bullshit.
What is an "adult" anyway? Does it just mean that you know how to survive in the world without your parents? Well that's too easy. It should be more rigorous. You should be able to survive without killing other people. You should survive without even hurting other people. You should survive and benefit others! That means you need to know enough about the world that you don't destroy it. I like this definition because it means people driving hummers are kids. That feels right.
Anyway, that's all an aside. My feeling right now is a general sadness about all the awesome things I've done that I will probably never have a chance to do again. I guess that's called nostalgia. And it's part of growing up. Hey, I have to support myself now, and I can't yet afford to take months of vacation each year with the goals I've given myself, but I plan on being able to. I don't like growing up.
I realize now why I'm so resistant to talking vacations: I'm afraid that if I take time off work and have a great time, it will make my time at work miserable. Well that's not true and it's unfair.
I wonder how peoples attitudes will be affected if Obama wins and maintains a lot of integrity. Because I think that my generation lacks a lot of integrity, and a lot of our decisions are selfish ones. To those of you who think all willful actions are selfish, I mean that a lot of our decisions don't reflect a caring for others. So if we have a leader that acts with integrity and talks to us like we are adults, will his example trickle down? I sure hope so.
Well it feels better to get these thoughts down on cyber-paper. I wonder if I'll ever come back and read this... I wonder what I will think of it. Writing is strange -- it's like sending a message to your future self. I don't want to embarrass myself, and it's annoying that I'm using a Mac and I can't right-click when the computer tells me I've misspelled a word. How do I fix the misspelled word without a suggested correction? My biggest fear is that I'll read it and think I'm stupid.