Oh, Sweet Number Five

       It has come down to the end of the year, and I find myself in danger of not graduating. I'll take the first moments of this entry to talk a little bit about that.
       If I'm being entirely honest here, it's terrifying. I find myself feeling let down, but not by anybody else; only by myself. That might be the worst feeling in the world. I've put so much work into this, and now, here I am at the end of my high school career, struggling to pass. I've truly been careless. I could go into detail about why I got so careless, but that story is one that might end sadly for all parties involved, so I will not delve into that aspect of my reasoning. All that I can say is that I'd rather be let down than be a let down. I will not falter, and I sure as hell will not fail.
       On the topic of what this blog is actually supposed to be about; I have no update on individual reading. Walden is done and I have no book to speak of. I suppose I could talk about my next reading venture..
       In class this week, we started reading the first Canto of The Inferno. I am going to buy a copy of The Divine Comedy for my own personal reading. I love it. That being said, let's move on.

       On the week that this blog was originally supposed to be done in, we were discussing Taoism. This is an intriguing spirituality. I connected with it in a lot of ways, but it seemed to focused on hierarchy to me, and I didn't like that too much. The gist of it is great. It's a peaceful idealism that I truly think more people in this world could take a lesson from. I do not, however, place myself in the label of "Taoist".
        It's getting late and more posts must be made. I will make it through. I will not let myself down, and I will not let everybody else down either.

All Is Said and Done

       This semester has been incredible. One of the most stressful of my life, as a direct result of my past habits, but now it's almost over. I will reflect for a minute on World Literature in specific.
       I think that my favorite thing about this class was that I was introduced to even more great writers. I love classic literature, but now I have a greater understanding of the really old works, and not just those of my own country. My favorite book that we've read is the one we are reading at this moment: The Inferno. It appeals to my strange personality with it's dark atmosphere. My writing tends to take on a similar feeling. It's fantastic. The way it's written is genius as well.
       On a similar note, I must say that if there is one piece of literature that I didn't like very much it was the Aeneid. I didn't like the fact that it was a contracted work that was built to compete with the Iliad. I actually stopped reading it and just skimmed what I needed to for the homework. I thought it sucked.
       Now.. A class activity that I enjoyed a lot is one that I'm doing right now. This blogging has made the class fun. I get to type out my opinions. Writing, or in this case, typing, is slower than speaking, and that simply means that ideas must be thought out more as you go. It leaves room for elaboration and I take great pleasure in going into detail about my opinion for others to see. I love attention more than some might think.
       With this blogging, I have learned something valuable. If I take anything from this class into the rest of my life, it will be that ideas can't be kept inside. This blogging and our class discussion have allowed me to climb even further into the center of attention with my opinions. I don't view this as a bad thing. I think it will make me a better leader and I am thankful for that.
        I wouldn't change a thing about this class. It's as my grandpa always said to me about motorcycles (but I guess it pertains here too): "If the shit works; don't fix it". I truly believe that this class has been among my favorites of my high school career. A career that is now just days from being over.
        I would like to thank my English teacher for giving me the chance to learn these important things.

        It's about time that I planted my roots in the world and stretched my branches into the clouds. This world is going to be mine.

In Conclusion (Walden)

       I'll be blunt: Walden is officially my favorite book ever written. I've never had a piece of literature inspire me as it did, and I have never seen such fantastic writing in any other work I have ever read. Henry David Thoreau is a genius, and is, hands down, my favorite writer. This post is in conclusion to my reading of the book, and I will try to be detailed in my review of it.
       The only main character in Walden was Henry Thoreau himself. It's something of an autobiography. Of course, he goes into some detail about general groups of people throughout the book. These include farmers, citizens of the area and the broad spectrum of people that blindly follow social norms and do not search for enlightenment. Aside from those people, Thoreau is the only main character. I thought that was nice. Usually, the "I" or first person is omitted in literature, but it was a nice change to read about what life was actually like in the 1850's.
       To summarize the plot, it does not suffice to simply say that it's about a man who journeyed to the woods for two years and two months. It isn't so simple. Thoreau seemed fed up with the mundane norms of civilization. He began by elaborating upon his opinions of humanity in general, and used some quotes that changed my way of seeing things (as I'm sure I mentioned in a previous post). After explaining his opinions, he wrote about the way he moved to a cabin that he built by himself using only as much money as an average man of his time would earn in a week or month. In this place, he was rather solitary and lived off the work of his own hands. The book goes into great detail about the the things he learned before he returned to civilization as an enlightened being of sorts. Overall, it was incredibly interesting and insightful and inspiring.

       The significance of the things he writes are undeniable. Though they were written in the early 1850's, they are still relevant. On a social level, this shines through most brilliantly. The first chapter is still the most inspirational to me in that it describes society very honestly. The chapter is called "Economy". It goes into detail about how people are forced to live certain ways. As he said, a man who was raised by wolves and came into the world to look for work would have more options than a man who inherits a farm and equipment. It almost preaches about the importance of choice in the work-life of a man. It goes further into detail about the way people seem to judge others by social class and income. A valuable quote from this chapter is as follows:

"Often times, if an accident happens involving a man's legs, it can be mended.

Yet, if a similar accident were to happen involving the legs of his pantaloons,

there would be no fixing it. For he looks not at what it truly respectable, 

but at what is respected." 

The quote is a great example of how the book seems to focus on the nature of man just as much as how Thoreau attempted to deviate from it. 

       If I were asked to rate this book on a scale of 1 to 5 I would certainly give it a 6. No book has ever been so inspiring or honest in my not-so-humble opinion. I would certainly recommend this book to anybody and everybody who is looking for some food for thought. It's simply the best piece of society-based literature ever conceived. 

Go and buy Walden.

The Human Condition

      I'll keep this short and start this blog post by saying that society is a really terrible place. I have come to realize this through my own experiences and Walden has given me a point of reference. This post is going to go briefly into my views on the ills of society and the imperfections of man-kind, as well as include a short summary of the work we have recently been doing in World Literature class.
       Walden is a book that shows me that the world has always been a place of less-than-fair judgment and money-driven ignorance. I am still in the chapter called "Economy", and this chapter is still a shining truth in a world of, for lack of a better word, bullshit. I never thought I would find a book that represents my ideas so well. It's something outside my own head that I can connect with and that's meaningful to me.
       As I said, I plan to keep this short, so enough about Walden. I'm actually more excited about my class work. Roman literature has always been interesting to me. I enjoy studying old things and hearing ancient stories. I relate to them, because there's something inside of me that connects with all the conflict.
       That conflict which lives in all of us is similar to many of these epics. In the poems, there are several things going on at once. We see the emotions of the characters and the struggle they face in search of an ultimate goal. That's something that everybody deals with in their own way. I also find it interesting to point out that these stories never start at the beginning. It's always a recount of recent events. This can be tied to my previous statement concerning the relation to our own problems in that we never look all the way back to the beginning when we thing of the things we battle in our lives. When we think of things; when we really look back on our lives; we don't start at the beginning. We begin at the start of the problems that are relevant at that particular moment.
       Enough of my chatter. Tune in next time, boys and girls. I'm sure there are some more thoughts floating around my head that somebody might find interesting. In the meantime, enjoy the picture on the other side of this link!

     

ZEITGEIST: THE MOVIE

Every person in the world should be forced to watch this. Open your eyes folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTbIu8Zeqp0

Please, do not ignore this. Very little has ever been as important as spreading this film to every person it can be spread to. Get on it!

The End And The Beginning

       In this blog, I will conclude my thoughts on The Hobbit and begin to delve into my opinions concerning Walden. I'm incredibly happy that I took the time to read both, and I feel as though my thoughts recently have been very much inspired by them.
       On the topic of The Hobbit: I am very pleased to say that I absolutely loved it. The themes of the story are almost prophetic if looked at from a certain perspective. It is easy to discover ideas within the story that are representative of the world we currently live in, or at the very least, parts of it. Allow me to elaborate on this idea as best as I can.
       The story takes place in a world much like ours. Regions are separated and several races exist (not always harmoniously). The Hobbits are rather shy and reserved. They enjoy their beer and food and pipe weed and don't generally go on too many adventures. The coming of Gandalf in the first chapter is symbolic of the call to adventure that we all face at some point. In saying that, I mean that people always have a conflict that we must face in our lives, and that call to adventure is nothing more than the start of something larger. After this first visit, Bilbo Baggins needs some convincing, as we all do before taking a risk. He ends up going out on this adventure and facing all the hardships that can be thrown at him by the world he lives in. He must fight for his life against forces of evil with the intent to inhibit him and his company from reaching their ultimate goal: The capture of the Dwarven city that was taken over by the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent.  My opinion is that we all have dragons to fight in our lives. We need our friends, our band of dwarves to stand at our backs and fight with us. We are all corrupted by our personal rings. Things that we received, perhaps by unfortunate mistake, and must deal with for the rest of our lives as we struggle with addiction, love, loneliness and obsession. In that sense, The Hobbit is a book containing many symbolic clues about the nature of human beings.
       Now, I said in my opening paragraph that I found The Hobbit to be prophetic. I will explain why I got this vibe from the story. Hear me out on this. The idea that everything is always going to be okay is a blatantly ignorant notion. Nothing ever remains as happy or easy as we want them to. Life in the shire was an obvious representative of this. Bilbo's live could not simply stay the same, because nothing ever does. There is always a corrupt force such as Smaug or, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sauron. Bilbo embarks on his journey with expectations that he will not be too badly injured by the world around him. He expects that he will not be corrupted and forever changed as we all are in our lives. The ring is just wealth.Wealth is an idea created only for the mass control of entire populations. In the book, it was introduced by Golem and quickly became a sickness. Wealth, just as the ring did, corrupts people and rots us from the cores of our being to the surface and manifests it's self in expensive clothes to show our social class and monetary status.
       In the end, there is always a battle. That battle is also the start of something new. Smaug stole everything. He took all the wealth and he took all the land. Just as our governments do to us on a daily basis. In the end, it was imperative that he was overthrown. The company of 14, though small, had to fight something much bigger than themselves as individuals. They did so in the name of an idea, and a very righteous idea. This is what we must do. Overthrow and take what belongs to us.
       Those are ideas that I will not be shaken from and will not apologize for. Forgive me if you found them offensive, or rather, stop reading my blog if you found them offensive. I see not one logical reason to give a solitary damn about opinions spawned from uninformed thoughts. If your intelligence is questionable, your time is wasted in reading intelligent thought.
 

       On to Walden! This book is everything I ever dreamed it would be. Henry David Thoreau is a genius. I have never loved a book like I love this one. I'm sure that if my house caught on fire tonight, I would make it a priority to save my copy before diving from my window. Thus, I will make my insights known.
       The first chapter is "Economy". It tells of the ills of society as they relate to money and social class. In our modern world, people judge the character of an individual and anchor their opinions of him or her in the clothes worn or car driven. About 20 pages into the book, you can find a quote that will stick with me for the remaining years of my life:

Often, if an accident happens to a man's legs, it can be fixed; but if a similar accident happens to the legs of his pantaloons, there is no helping it, for he considers not what is truly respectable, but what is respected.

Just A Short Update!

       Hey there! It's been a long while since I posted on this blog. For that, I apologize. I have been busy and under a lot of stress in these past few weeks, and it has taken it's toll on my patience. Despite that, I am back now, and more inspired than I have ever been. Life is well, and with luck, it will continue to improve.
        Things you all can expect in the next couple weeks:
         I will be back on the blog, posting on several different subjects. I will do a post to finish The Hobbit, and move on to Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. I will post on the subject of music and creative works of that sort. I would also like to express political opinion if at all possible. I plan to jump right back into this blog and give the readers I have something to read every week.
         Thank you for taking the time to read this little update. I encourage you all to comment on my posts so that we may start conversations on what topics I choose to express my opinions on! If you enjoy my post, feel free to share them and earn me some more readers. Smile often!