Strangers to Our Own Society

Throughout the course of reading the Stranger, it has become apparent that our society has strong "cultural norms". These can be from the one that one looks, to the way that one handles situations. Mersault handled situations different than everyone else, and people never really knew how to handle him. At his mothers funeral, he didn't cry. He didn't seem like he was distraught and that was absurd to others. He wasn't inside the normal "box" so he seemed weird to everyone. Just like in our society today, people with special needs stand out like a sore thumb. They're different than the rest of us, mostly because of the way that the rest of us treat them. Students with disabilities can be just as functioning as everyone else, and they may not have any social problems so they do actually fit in, until we discriminate them. Throughout the course of this year, I got to intern in several different classrooms with many different types of children. I got to see how different children learn, and how beautifully unique each child is. I understand that we have to treat some humans different to fit their needs, however I think we need to cut back on our "social norms" and begin to broaden the spectrum.

"Sometimes your Worst Enemy is yourself"

Throughout the women in literature unit, there was a re-occurring theme of knowing oneself. All of the women in this literature unit had to make choices and decisions that required a lot of contemplating and thinking. All of these characters, such as Edna and Nora had to make decisions that effect the rest of their lives. Often, they hesitated because they thought too much about it. They let their inner thoughts and fears get to the best of them. However, in the end the women chose to do what they thought would be the best for them, regardless of what society believes is right. We all go through this day by day and we fight the power of society and we fight the demons that lie within us. Often, we can give advice to others, but when the same situation occurs to us, we have a hard time taking our own advice. I think that we all need to find a little bit of Nora and Edna within ourselves and stand up to what society is trying to get unto conform to. Seeing girls like Jennifer Aniston and Demi Lavato fight back to society on what women/girls should look, compared to what "society" thinks they should look like. I think more women need topay attention to what is going on in society and teach the hong girls that they are good enough. 

Who Run the World? Girls!

Recently, I was watching tv and a commercial came on...in the background of this commercial, Beyoncè's "Girls Run The World" song was playing. As nerdy as it sounds, I immediately starting thinking about English class and how far our society has come in accepting women. And not even just women, people of all colors, races and sexualities.
Reading A Thousand Splendid Suns was one of those rare occurrences when a book really speaks to you. It put life in perspective for me about how thankful I should be. Girls my age over there can't walk around and leave the house without a man, they get set up for marriage, and the constantly have to wear something to cover their face. Over in America, we're freaking out about who is gonna take who to prom, let alone marry them. We're lucky when we get to leave our houses to go out with our friends and not worry, and we are so lucky to have the freedom of expression. America clearly still has a lot to work on, however we also have to be thankful for how far we have come. I think that Mariam above everyone else, showed us the power of being a girl. She was a strong women who did what she needed to do, and though the outcome was not a positive one, it proved a point. I tried to put myself in Laila and Mariam's shoes, and I like to fool myself into believing that I would be able to be as strong as they are. Those women were the models and heroes that little girls look up to, the ones I wished I looked up to when I was younger and the ones I want my daughter to look up to. Girls like Beyoncé are great, and they sing about powerful women, but there is a huge difference between being a powerful women and singing about them. A Thousand Splendid Suns helped me realize this; and for that I couldn't be more thankful.

Maybe this is what all Taylor's songs are about...

When we were reading "A Doll's House" I couldn't help but think to myself "am I the type of girl that is going to rely on a guy the rest of her life?".  No. If there was anything that "A Doll's House" taught me was that a women can take a stand on her on as long as she believes in herself. When Nora was faced with the decision to stay with a man she truly did not love, or go out into the world and find herself, she went out to find herself. I think that Nora made a decision that was advanced for her time period, but she started a movement for girls all over the world. How can you be happy in a relationship if you haven't  yet found yourself? Wouldn't it be hard to be something with someone else when you alone don't know who you are? Maybe "A Doll's House" was before it's time, or maybe it really started the foundation for everything we as girls today now know. Growing up we're listening to these songs by artist like Taylor Swift (my favorite, hence the name of the blog) about how boys can break your heart and tear you down but it's up to you how you handle it. At the end of the day, you are the only person who can control your happiness. Recently, Disney released a new movie called "Frozen". In this movie, the princess gets betrayed by her so called prince. Unlike Nora, Princess Anna's lover didn't love her. But for Princess Anna, this seemed to work out for her. She found herself before she found the man she really loved. I think that this is an amazing thing for little girls to look up to. Because lately in my own life, I've began to realize that you are the only person that can control your happiness. And until you begin to become happy with yourself, you won't be happy with anyone else. Maybe it sounds cliche, but I believe it's true. We as women have the ability to stand on our own feet and control our own destiny without the help of any man. Because maybe, just maybe, fairy tales and happy endings aren't always about finding a prince, maybe they're about finding yourself. As Taylor once said, "you have to look in the mirror and realize that you're living your life for yourself, not for other people". 

The so Called "Melting Pot"

"The Challenge of Cultural Relativism" by James Rachels reminds me a lot of the saying "we agree to disagree". Throughout the article Rachels made strong points about the different beliefs and morals throughout different cultures in the world. Like he said, there is no right or wrong in our world. Everybody has their own reasoning as to why they act they way they do, or why they do what they do. I personally found the example about eating the cows striking. Rachels tells us to think about a culture where they don't eat cows even though they may be starving. He says this is because they believe that humans get reincarnate into the body's of animals. So for them, they could be eating someone else's grandmother which makes everything sound perfectly logical, after all I wouldn't want anyone to be eating my nana. This article greatly relates to Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Throughout the story, Christians came in and tried to present to  the natives about their religion. Rather, they tried to FORCE their religion onto them which I feel was the most unjust way to do it. But then again, there was those Christians who came and tried to teach the natives about the religion, rather than forcing it upon them. This approach seemed to be better, and I think that this is what we need to do in our own world. We need to teach others, not force them. I agree with Rachels statement that there is never a right or wrong answer to some things. I think that everybody is entitled to their own beliefs especially here in America where we are the so called "melting pot" of different cultures. Rachels made a statement that some cultures believe that the world is still flat, but that belief is outdated and can be proven wrong because of science. Science is a crazy, amazing thing that somehow can prove answers to questions that people have been asking for as long as humans have been around. But somethings science will never be able to prove, maybe because simply there doesn't need to be an answer. Like why is the sky blue? Who knows, but then again who really needs to know? As humans we are born with this thirst for knowledge and to understand the unknown. But we also believe in something greater than ourselves. For most cultures, this is a God figure. For some people, this is science and only science. They won't believe in something until there is a proven reason as to why something had to happen. But like Rachels said, there's never a right or wrong answer. We can try all we want to change other people's beliefs, but like we saw in Things Fall Apart, that doesn't always go over well. Faith and beliefs, and morals and customs all come in different ways and sure, it's in our nature to question how or why, but we cannot judge. Like this time of year people are fighting over wither they should be called "Christmas trees" or "holiday trees". I personally think that this is ridiculous. I went to catholic school for ten years and was raised to say Merry Christmas and I personally do not think that there is any harm in saying that to someone. If you know that someone is Jewish and doesn't celebrate Christmas then saying "Happy Holidays" is perfectly acceptable but if you don't know the person and you say "merry Christmas" I do not believe that there is any harm in that and that person should not feel violated, because your trying to spread holiday cheer. This holiday season is supposed to be a season of joy and people need to learn how to respect and honor that. We all need to realize that we live in a culturally diverse world and if we do not learn how to accept and embrace other cultures then its not going to be peaceful.  We don't always understand why they believe what they do, but maybe that's because we don't try and learn about it. As humans I think we all need to take a step back and stop comparing ourselves so much, and rather learn about each other and fix the things about ourselves that truly need fixing. 

Our choices are our Fate

We've all heard the saying "What's meant to be will be" right? Fate is a funny thing. There are people out there that have this strong desire to believe in something more. They think that everything that happens is supposed to happen the way it does. But then, there are those people out there that think we make our own fate. That every decision they make has an impact because they chose to make that decision. For me, I believe that there is something greater than ourselves. I think that God has a plan for us before we are even aware of what that plan is. I think that God gives us our parents because they help shape us into the people that we become. Every decision they make regarding us helps decide the rest of our lives. Just like Oedipus' parents decision affected his life, our parents decisions affect our life. When Oedipus' parents found out his destiny, they tried to do everything in their power to make sure their baby didn't actually kill his father and marry his mother, but because of this he actually did. Fate plays a funny role in our lives. We all like to think that we can make our own path and do what pleases us, but sometimes it's hard to not think that everything that happens to you happens for a reason. Some people in our lives come and cross our path momentarily and some people stay with us for a long time. Every decision you make, and every person you meet, changes your life forever; and it's hard to not believe that this is all fate. Oedipus showed us that we cannot avoid our fate. He showed us, no matter what we do, what is supposed to happen will. Even though time has changed since the story of Oedipus, the thought of fate never go away. Everyone always questions the unknown but one thing remains forever: our fate is who we are meant to be, and there is no way to escape that.

Our Real Heroes

What truly makes a hero? Is it like the heroes we read about in Beowulf who were strong, and greater than the average man? Or are heroes the kind of people we see everyday, the ones that will go out of their way to make someone else's day, or even life better? I think that in our society we have all sorts of beliefs on who are heroes truly are. On days like today, Halloween, we see all the little boys that are dressed up as their favorite superheroes because they truly believe one day they can become like them. These superheroes are the ones like in Beowulf that posse a quality that normal people cannot obtain. I think in society we always like to idolize those types heroes because that's the way humans have always been. It's fun to be able to believe in something greater than the truth. But I also think that we have moments in our society that make us feel like everybody in our lives is a hero. Our nation has come together to praise our heroes on several occasions. These heroes are the people we see everyday; our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, neighbors, etc. We praised our cops, and firefighters and all forces when things like 911 and the Sandy Hook shooting happen. Traumatic times like that when some people have to risk their life for the safety of others help us realize who are heroes truly are. Our heroes should be those sitting and fighting wars for us right now, so that we can keep our freedom and everything we take advantage of.  I think that back in the time of Beowulf it was okay for heroes to be boastful and egotistical. If they weren't like that, than nobody would realize their true greatness. But in today's society, word can spread so fast and there are so many ways to access it, that it is seen as rude if someone boasts the way that Beowulf did. No matter what our society says, we would never want a hero that thinks he is better than everybody else. Today, we want heroes that we can relate to. We aspire to be these people, these are the people that children want to grow up and become. I think today's society verses the society in Beowulf help play a big role in why most of us as readers did not enjoy the story. Heroes like Beowulf are not relatable. We do not get the triumphant feeling of growing with the hero, therefore we don't feel attached to the hero. Bob Riley once said, "Hard times don't create heroes. It is during the hard times when the hero within us is revealed." and I think this proves my point that we don't really want a hero with super natural powers, we want a hero who starts like the rest of us and makes himself seem super natural.