Understanding of oneself is one of the most essential elements to a content and successful life. It is next to impossible to interact with others harmoniously if we do not have self-knowledge. Self-knowledge can actually help to understand why others act the way they do, by drawing comparisons to ourselves, and understand how to react to their actions. Self-knowledge also allows us to reflect upon past events and comprehend the personal factors that affected their outcomes. With this awareness we can improve our actions in the future and strengthen our foresight. Without self-knowledge our past would be a disconnected series of events which would have no meaning for the present or the future.
So what is self-knowledge? Self-knowledge means comprehending our motivations in actions initiated by us and our processing of actions that happen to us. It is not just an understanding of our desires, nor is it just an understanding of our view of the outside world. It is a mix of the two. After all our life is a complex composition of many different factors which each play a role in determining who we are and what happens to us. Self-knowledge is to be able to break down each decision that we make and be able to trace that back to our processing of the conditions of our environment and what we desire our environment to be. What are we attempting to accomplish by acting the way we do? How do we believe that acting a certain way will accomplish that goal? It is a very cognitive and intellectual skill which is why many times people avoid trying to analyze themselves or just can’t even do it.
One of the hardest, but most important aspects to self-knowledge is the ability to rise above our bias to deny our weaknesses and responsibilities and take a straightforward look within ourselves. To believe that you understand yourself while denying some of your own faults and mistakes is not self-knowledge at all. We are required to admit our shortcomings and their significance in our lives. No one is perfect. In fact, we are quite far from it. We must identify these problems and be able to easily spot them even when they affect our view of the past.
Though some aspects may be difficult, I believe the benefits of self-knowledge are very clear. Knowledge of ourselves allows us to recognize how our perceptions and desires affect our conclusions. We are also able to see how the strength of the emotions tied to those conclusions affects our following actions. Understanding why we act the way we do to problems allows us to deal with our difficulties clearly and directly so that our conflicts may be resolved in the fastest and most beneficial manner. Like in the case of an argument with a friend over the decision to drop a class, recognizing that the real reason we are angry is because he or she did not consult us first before dropping allows us to handle the conflict much better. Later, when similar problems arise we are able to deal with the issues efficiently and head on from the start. We are also able to predict when a conflict will occur and either avoid the situation that will cause the problem or be prepared to deal with the problem when it comes so that we can reduce its magnitude. This is the definition of foresight, to predict future conflicts and prevent or reduce them.
I mentioned before how self-knowledge helps us to understand others. What occurs in interacting with others is that self-knowledge enhances our ability to understand their perceptions from their responses. Then, like dealing with our own problems we can directly assess the actual issue from a much greater understanding than just its face value.
I have many weaknesses; I’ll go right ahead and admit it. However, I have found a way to link nearly all of these shortcomings into one central idea. I struggle with maintaining a level and objective perspective. Impatience, impulsiveness, and becoming overly fixated are all products of an insufficient perspective. With impatience I fail to realize that the problem at hand is not significant enough in the long run to warrant my complaints and objections. I am focused only on the present which causes even brief events to appear long lived. Impulsiveness is caused by a rash assumption that whatever problem is occurring in the present must be eliminated. Unable to realize that life is not an emergency, thank you Mr. Roy and Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, I am easily convinced that I must decide now with whatever I may know in the moment. The product of inadequate perspective that I suffer from the most, yet is a part of one of my greatest strengths, is my habit of becoming overly fixated on an event. What did I do wrong, how did that affect the outcome of the event, and what could I have done so that things would have turned out differently? It becomes a vicious cycle of repeatedly beating myself up for events that have already occurred and that I have no control over. I lose sight of the reality that what has been done is over and the only thing that I can do is to learn from it and move on. And many times I try to learn too much from one event causing me to over analyze every little detail.
Maintaining a level perspective is a problem that nearly everyone my age deals with. Compared to the majority of the world we, as teenagers, have experienced very little. Therefore, the events that we can recall appear to have a much greater significance than they will have later on in our lives. The only way to really enhance perspective is to experience more. This is what makes dealing with my shortcoming so difficult. However, I’m not completely powerless. Experience is our recollection of past situations and events, our reactions to them, and their outcomes. Thus by reflecting more upon the past and realizing its significance to today I am able to improve my perspective. Of course I have to be careful not to reflect too much, which is many times the case. I attempt to take myself out of the specific situation that I am in and look upon the state of affairs alongside the events of the past with as much of an unbiased perspective that I can achieve. Hopefully with this strategy I am learning the most from my mistakes and getting closer to the mature, wise young adult that I aspire to be.
Through this discussion of my greatest weakness it has probably become clear what I believe my greatest strength to be. I am a very pensive and introspective person. I spend a great deal of my time reflecting upon myself. I meditate on the past, attempting to learn all that I can so that I do not make the same mistakes twice, though I have never successfully accomplished that. I also consider what it is that I am really trying for in the present and how I am either helping or hurting my cause. Many times I find that my desire for some goal actually gets in my way of successfully achieving that goal. It has become apparent to me that while one should understand what they really want, it is a relaxed and easy-going attitude that obtains that objective. I have spent and continue to spend my time in thought trying to find that balance between the extremes that will help me to ultimately succeed. I look for the middle ground between fixation and inattention. Like the Greeks I am searching for the golden mean of human behavior.
I can actually recall the catalyst that allowed me to intellectualize this idea that our lives are a search for moderation. It was my sophomore year English class. I have come to believe that class has made one of the most significant impacts on my view of myself and my environment. What distinguished that class from all the other English classes, or any other subject for that matter, was its focus not on what the novels said or what they were meant to teach or could teach, but what I, as an individual, could learn from them. I began to see the rest of my life in a similar way. It does not matter what an event or book or anything else is intended to say or achieve. In the long run it is that item’s impact on our ways of thinking about ourselves and others that is truly significant. I started to focus on myself and why I was acting the way I was, how was I helping or hurting myself. Essentially, I began the search for self-knowledge. Sure, I would have begun that search eventually even without that class, but it was the time that I did and how I did that has left a lasting impact on who I am today. It is quite possible that the intellectual environment which stimulated me to initiate this search is what caused my greatest strength to be one of an intellectual nature. I am also very thankful that I have been able to learn what I have before the end of high school.
Clearly self-knowledge is not an easily acquired attribute. In fact, many times after thinking of ourselves in one way we discover that in reality we are motivated by things entirely different. We are constantly biased in confirmation of beliefs. I think this is one of the hardest elements of self-knowledge, detangling reality from perception. In searching for our weaknesses, we don’t want to find or acknowledge that shortcoming. It is partially because in recognizing that weakness we are also admitting our own hypocrisy. I have found, at least for myself, the qualities that we most vehemently dislike in others are the qualities we most detest in ourselves. In admitting that I suffer from an inability to utilize a wide perspective, someone may point out that is what I criticize the most about other people. And yes, I admit it, it’s true. There are times when I cannot stand short mindedness, and yet I am guilty of it too. There is something we all have that causes us to want to avoid owning up to our mistakes, but how else are we going to learn? We must be able to identify our weaknesses so that we can improve them.
It is also usually difficult to write about our strengths. We have been taught and have learned that we should not brag or attempt to make our strengths any more apparent than they are. However, many times we fail to realize that this does not mean that we should not recognize where our strengths lie. We are shy to admit that we have exceptional abilities in some area whether it’s socially, academically, or athletically. But if we cannot recognize these skills, how do we know what we want to do with our lives and what we can be successful in? We feel as though it is not socially acceptable to acknowledge our talents. What we must be able to do is to recognize when it is appropriate and when it is not. As with many things in life there is a time for it and a time for its absence.
In reality, however, identifying my greatest weakness and strength for this task was not difficult for me. No, it’s not because I believe I’m just smart or that I did not really think into this question. The reason this task was easier for me than it could have been is because I already have spent countless hours analyzing myself and identifying my best and worse traits. That is the nature of my strength. But now you may wonder if I believe this particular task was worthwhile. Actually, it has been more valuable than I can express. While I can identify my strengths and weaknesses it is still far more difficult to express these in terms that allow others to see them from my own perspective.
Expressing our thoughts on paper is absolutely necessary in understanding ourselves. It allows us to first to experience the benefits of vocalization of one’s thoughts which gives us a sense of relief and relaxation. Then the writing allows us to look back on those thoughts. Being able to review our own thinking is one of the most interesting and amazing things we can do. We can be amazed how capable our minds are and how powerful our thoughts can be. We can also see where our thoughts become illogical and unreasonable. This then allows us to gain a wider and more objective perspective. Writing is the easiest way to enlarge our self-knowledge. Finally, expression of our thoughts in writing allows others to see what’s going on within our conscious and sometimes even be able to read into our subconscious. They are then able to understand us to a deeper level and even help us to understand ourselves more. One should not underestimate the power of writing. I say this even as a person who considers himself a math and science person and plans on going to a technical school. I am just very thankful for this opportunity, even if I may not seem so enthusiastic at times, to realize the value of expression.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
My Grandfather's Wisdom
“The most important thing to make it through marriage is a sense of humor.” This was my grandmother’s advice. It was her expression of what my grandfather, who had recently passed away, would have said. This advice has somehow stuck with me as a defined moment. No, I’m not married; nor do I plan on getting married any time soon. This advice was actually given to my sister at her wedding reception this past summer. Funny that the best advice someone has given me, or at least that I can remember, doesn’t even literally apply to my own situation. However, these words were not just advice to my sister, but the way of life for my grandfather. It is my grandfather’s philosophy, as described by my grandmother in her short yet meaningful advice, which has truly impacted me.
As I realized in the moments after my grandmother’s speech, facing life with a sense of humor is a much wiser philosophy than one may realize. Not only must one be able to accept their mistakes in stride and even be able to laugh at him or herself, but one must also maintain a level perspective that does not allow him or her to be swept up in temporary crisis. In addition, a sense of humor creates a positive outlook on life. The value of a positive attitude is much greater than many believe. A positive attitude can take an entire day and completely reverse the way you recall its events. Even before the night was over I saw the application of my grandmother’s valuable words.
I could handle being a groomsman and helping to prepare the elements of the wedding. The one thing I wasn’t ready for, the dancing. Before I moved to Connecticut I had never danced accept in my ballroom dancing classes. Moving to a new school in tenth grade, I had to learn to build up a confidence to make a fool of myself at sweet sixteens. I had applied my grandfather’s philosophy and it had paid off. Now, however, I was faced against the same demon. I could dance to your usual hip hop garbage, but when you bring a live band playing old hits it creates a whole new skill, or at least that’s what I thought. As the formal dance between the bride and groom ended I was realized I would have go out on the dance floor and attempt to dance. In that moment my grandmother’s words came through my mind. Why not make a fool of myself and just get out there and dance? You might as well just have fun.
The first song began and immediately I grabbed my cousin (a girl) sitting beside me and said to her sister, “don’t worry you’re next.” Before I could think enough to become self conscious I was dancing beside everyone else. As I looked around I realized there wasn’t any secret to dancing to this music that everyone else knew except for me. I hadn’t missed out on some key instruction that said how one should dance to the music at a reception. Everyone was just as clueless as I was. My confidence grew. As the night ran on I danced to nearly every song, when I wasn’t trying to stop my cousins’ antisocial retreats from the dance floor. I was enjoying myself tremendously. In fact, I was much happier than my cousins. While they were concerned with how they looked, I was laughing at my horrible skills and enjoying the band’s amazing sound.
For the rest of the night my confidence was very strong. I started a Congo line that eventually engulfed the entire wedding reception. One may have also seen me sitting on a couch with my cousins (both girls) on each side and my arms around them. By the end of the night I felt as though I had gotten every bit of enjoyment out of the reception as I possibly could have. This overflow of happiness could all be traced back to that philosophy of facing life with a sense of humor.
Unfortunately, sometimes I don’t always follow my grandfather’s example. These situations are sadly quite common. One key event that comes to mind is the Robber Barons project. This project, a part of my AP history course, was an economic simulation of the early 1900’s. The key element of the project was competitiveness, an atmosphere which drains one’s sense of humor. For me, the effect was even worse. As one will encounter innumerable times, the group I was in made a major mistake. We fell prisoner to the monopolist we had tried to avoid the most, J.P. Morgan. Our deal with Morgan signed away more steel, we were Andrew Carnegie, than anyone could reasonably need in the simulation for a loan that was so risky our group couldn’t safely use the money.
I regrettably do not deal well with being taken advantage of. When this condition is coupled with teasing… it does not end well, as anyone in that class can recall. During the review of our steel business I took the criticisms quite personally, especially those that although mocked our decisions were intended to be humorous. Instead of letting the comments pass by and laughing at them myself or at least seeing them as just mistakes, I let the commentary build to my frustration. At that moment I saw each of the remarks as a personal attack, a ridicule of my failure. My reaction to all of the aggravation was not one of my proudest moments. I responded to the mockery with an exclamation that quieted the room so fast that from that instant I knew I was in trouble.
It took a long time to recover from that disaster. If only I had retained my sense of humor during that project the next few weeks would have been much different. Once I lost my sense of humor I lost my perspective. Without perspective one becomes swept up in the events of the present and is unable to see how foolish some of his or her decisions and assumptions are.
From experience, a sense of humor is vital to an enjoyable life. What you do and what happens to you does not matter as much as how you react to those happenings. I am thankful that I have grandparents who are able to pass on this wisdom so that I may apply this philosophy to my own life much earlier. On the other hand, I will never perfectly achieve this way of life. However, knowing and experiencing another attitude towards life is instrumental in understanding one’s current way of life and its effect on one’s happiness and interpersonal relations. Then maybe someday after I learn it the hard way, as everyone must, I will be able to see that all I really needed was to face life with a sense of humor.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Got Potential?
What gives life meaning? At some point in our lives we are faced with the question. Sadly many times it comes late in life when it’s impossible to change much of our experiences. Then the realization that we lived our life without an answer to this dilemma can bring feelings of regret and despair. It is tragic for one to decide that he is unhappy with how he lived his life after the fact. Therefore this is a question best considered now while we still can decide the way we want to live our lives, at least to a certain degree. This is not suggesting that anyone should reach a definite answer; in fact this question is best left with some degree of uncertainty. On the other hand, we should try to discover the way we wish to face the future so that at least later on when we reflect upon the past we can say we made the best decisions according to our former knowledge and wisdom.
Facing life with a philosophy that you will act to the best of your ability and learn from the times you fail should eliminate regret upon reflection. Key word in that sentence is should. Saying it should does not in the least bit suggest that it will not. We will always find regrets about our past. After all, hindsight’s a (I think I can say it here) bitch. I highly doubt that anyone has lived without feeling some touch of regret. However, knowing that you did the best that you could have at the time at least reduces the chance for regret. There’s no need to blame yourself for acting on the best of your knowledge; how could you expect any better? Regret is an emotion that should be avoided as much as possible. It is one of the most useless emotions we can feel. We wish we did not act the way we did, but can we do anything about it? You can learn from the experience, but that does not mean you have to hold it against yourself for making the wrong decision before. It is with this philosophy that I face the question of life’s value and purpose.
So I guess I should answer the question I posed before: How do we asses a life’s value? I believe a life’s significance is in its potential. It is a potential to inspire, to support other people, to love and be loved, to teach, to do good in someone’s point of view. Now this applies to those who are young, middle aged, old, and dead. Abraham Lincoln is dead, but he still has a potential to inspire. The story of his life and the ideals that he stood for continue to influence people today. Authors are still writing new books about the famous president sharing lessons learned by and from Lincoln. A 93 year old woman lying on her death bed without any surviving friends or family also has potential. There is a chance that she may share a lesson learned from her life with a nurse, or possibly her circumstance may inspire someone to start a program to help older people in her situation. The woman may not even fulfill that possibility, but that does not mean that the chance does not exist. Even the life of a 3 time convicted murder has value. That convict may give psychologists insight into a murderer’s mind and help them to discover ways to rehabilitate other prisoners. The absolute scum of the earth may never have any positive effect on the future, but his potential for a positive impact, however small it may be, gives his life value. It is impossible to asses the total potential of anyone, and therefore I believe that it is clear there is some potential in anyone.
A very different idea to many people is what gives their own life value. Many times this decision is based solely off of what has been done and not the idea of potential. For a majority, especially upon reflection of past events, the value of their life is assessed by the level of satisfaction they feel with how they lived it. In fact when I first read this question this is the answer I came up with. However, while satisfaction is very important, this satisfaction should come with the effect of their actions not the actions themselves. We should be satisfied with our potential and our former actions’ potential, not just our former accomplishments.
I believe the idea of potential is vitally important in life’s value because it concerns a positive impact on the future. What someone did in the past has no importance if it does not have an effect on the future. However, I do not believe that anyone can argue anything has absolutely no value on the future. There is always a way to argue some later effect of an action or decision.
What potential also implies is that just because someone did something of a greater magnitude does not make them more valuable than someone who performed an act of a lesser scale. A billionaire can donate her fortune to helping AIDS affected countries while a poor man may spend his Sundays playing basketball with inner-city children. Both people have inspired and changed lives. Life takes on a higher and higher value as we achieve a greater and greater amount of our potential. Therefore it does not matter just how much we do, but how much we do of what we can.
Our own interpretation of what gives a life value is determined late in childhood in what Piaget would call the Concrete Stage of Intellectual Development. This is when a child becomes aware of the thoughts and feeling of others. Like when Lizabeth suddenly sees that, “The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility” (Collier 638), we start to understand that everyone around us is just as real as we know ourselves to be. Initially we may not be aware of this assessment of value. In fact, one only becomes aware of this assessment through introspective thought and reflection. This is another reason why we must consider these questions of life’s value and meaning now.
Reaching our potential is what gives life meaning. The desire which leads to future happiness and feelings of fulfillment is the desire to experience all that we can and through this get closer and closer to our potential. I have said that the meaning of life is love. However, love is not as much the meaning of life as the motivator for giving meaning to life. A love for other people, other cultures, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and fulfillment drives us to search for new experiences and make a positive impact on the future. Love can be a very broad emotional descriptor that essentially expresses the feeling of some form of desire. Perhaps desire is a much clearer word to use than love. Without desire there is no action, there is no satisfaction. Desire drives us to cause change and therefore find meaning in our own lives.
Despite this assessment of life’s meaning many people still create a lists of things they must do in order to be satisfied with their life. I must admit that I am somewhat guilty of this too. However, I attempt to take these goals and turn them into desires that require a constant fulfillment throughout life. In this way these goals do not require me to live a long life in order to complete them. My life could end now and I could say that I have achieved these goals. These goals require a constant effort that may change forms throughout my experiences but still remain ambitions all the way through life.
My first goal is to love and be loved. This goal combines many different elements. As a part of this I want to feel the entire emotional spectrum. I want to know what it feels like to lose and what it feels like to gain. I want to experience what it feels like to give and what it feels like to take. I only have one life to live; I want to say that I felt all I could at the end of it. I enjoy feeling a sense of belonging and camaraderie among my peers and even those who are older and younger than I am. I also cherish the feelings of affection and attachment that one feels in an emotional relationship. When I am older I want to care for my children and see that they appreciate what I have done for them. Later when my children have children I want a similar feeling. I also want to love those that I do not understand. This is probably the most challenging aspect of this goal. Many times it is difficult to identify with those that come from a different background and therefore think very differently than me. However, I am learning to appreciate them as much as I do those that I can agree with. I may never achieve a level of care and appreciation for those I do not agree with that is equal my level of care and appreciation for those that I do agree with but I want to make those levels as equal as possible. This is important to me because feeling at peace with others greatly contributes to my own happiness. When I am not at ease with other people, I am not at ease with myself. To love and be loved benefits humanity in the same way. Love between people of differences promotes understanding and peace. Love between friends, family, and spouses promotes unity. Unity allows our actions to work with each other rather than against one another. Unity also gives support to those who are weak and helps those in times of need.
My second goal is to positively affect those younger than me. Currently I achieve this through helping freshmen adjust to a new school with Link Crew. Later when I am in college I may achieve this through giving advice to high school students looking towards college. This goal is broad enough that whatever course I later take in life, whether it’s having kids, adopting, or maybe neither, I can still fulfill it. Helping my kids learn how to live in the world and later passing on my knowledge from life to them will impact their lives. I can affect my grandchildren by offering them a different place from home that they can visit and telling them my wonderful long drawn out stories. Personally this offers me a feeling of satisfaction knowing that I am impacting another life and working on my potential. Telling someone something I have learned and knowing they are listening gives me a feeling of purpose and assures me that my life has meaning. As for humanity, I am spreading knowledge and wisdom that will allow younger generations to learn from my own mistakes. In addition, I am promoting a lifestyle which I believe is beneficial to the quality of life. Wisdom is a very powerful tool. If I can help pass this on to someone else I help them to face the world with an understanding that I did not have at that point in my life. They are then able to live an even more productive and fulfilling life.
Another goal of my life is to aid those less fortunate. This can be anything from donating money to building houses with Habitat for Humanity to teaching someone a valuable lesson that I have learned that they have not yet realized. This goal is the most consistent throughout life compared to my other four goals. I work towards this aim with more than just the usual acts that come to mind (i.e. soup kitchens, donations, food drives, and blood donation). Just talking to people and passing on my wisdom and knowledge helps those who have not had the opportunity to experience what I have experienced and take away from it what I have. In addition, offering a different perspective on a conflict helps someone caught in a dilemma. Listening to someone who has something to say and feels as though they are never heard is also a part of this ambition. From these acts I gain a similar personal satisfaction that I get from affecting those younger than me. I know that I have made an impact on someone else’s life and that without me the condition of at least that one person would be different. This knowledge contributes to my feeling of purpose. The most obvious part of this goal is its benefit to humanity. This ambition betters the condition of others and possibly inspires others to do the same. People are heard, cared for, and taught.
In addition, I want to gain a greater understanding of life and its elements. This encompasses anything from an understanding of the laws of physics and mathematics to less concrete ideas like how to interact with others. Many of the lessons I learn in school fascinate me. I feel satisfied knowing I understand something new, especially when I can use this knowledge to teach others. I also enjoy being able to interact with others more harmoniously. This training not only comes from the academic side of school, but from the social aspect of school, sports, Boy Scouts, friendships, and nature. Every part of life offers some lesson if we are willing to listen. I want to become in tune with these lessons and take as much from what I have done as I can. The next time I am faced with the dilemma of how honest to be with someone when they come to me asking about a personal flaw I want to react in a way that is better for both me and the other person than the last time I was faced with the dilemma. The ability to have more harmonious interactions with others and the ability to pass on knowledge to others both benefit humanity. To quote myself just now, “a more informed citizen makes for a better republic (sounds like a founding father does it not?).” If I can learn more I will be able to spread that knowledge to many other people and improve their quality of life.
My final goal is to achieve a feeling of success in my own efforts. Note the phrase “a feeling of.” I included that phrase because success can change its meaning easily. What is more important to me is that I feel competent and able at least in some efforts. For me success is measured in improvement. So I may not be the best runner in the world, but I have improved and in that way I feel success. And surely there is a feeling of success in the grades that I earn. I also feel a good deal of success in the friendships I have made. I have moved over 550 miles and yet I have friends here that I am much closer with than I was with friends in Cleveland. Later this feeling of success may come from my job and my relationship. If I find someone whom I can live with harmoniously, who cares for me because of who I am, and enjoys my company, I will certainly feel success. As an older person this feeling of success may come from knowing I raised my children to be smart, pensive, and hard working. I gain personally with a high self esteem and feeling of self worth. These qualities allow me to be outgoing and hardworking. Humanity benefits from this goal because as I feel success I am motivated to continue my actions. As I feel success from helping others, teaching those younger than me, and passing on knowledge, I am more likely to continue these actions. In addition, positive, outgoing people tend to have a positive effect on the mood and outlook of those around them.
So now I have probably bored you to death. 2,795 words is a lot of writing (I REALLY apologize on this one). However, for some reason I did not feel like I could end this blog without a conclusion. So here it is. Look for the potential in your life and the potential in others. Try every day to realize the value of the lives of the people around you. But most importantly ask these questions about life’s value and meaning of yourself. As I said, these questions are best considered now while you have the time to asses who you are and make a change.
Facing life with a philosophy that you will act to the best of your ability and learn from the times you fail should eliminate regret upon reflection. Key word in that sentence is should. Saying it should does not in the least bit suggest that it will not. We will always find regrets about our past. After all, hindsight’s a (I think I can say it here) bitch. I highly doubt that anyone has lived without feeling some touch of regret. However, knowing that you did the best that you could have at the time at least reduces the chance for regret. There’s no need to blame yourself for acting on the best of your knowledge; how could you expect any better? Regret is an emotion that should be avoided as much as possible. It is one of the most useless emotions we can feel. We wish we did not act the way we did, but can we do anything about it? You can learn from the experience, but that does not mean you have to hold it against yourself for making the wrong decision before. It is with this philosophy that I face the question of life’s value and purpose.
So I guess I should answer the question I posed before: How do we asses a life’s value? I believe a life’s significance is in its potential. It is a potential to inspire, to support other people, to love and be loved, to teach, to do good in someone’s point of view. Now this applies to those who are young, middle aged, old, and dead. Abraham Lincoln is dead, but he still has a potential to inspire. The story of his life and the ideals that he stood for continue to influence people today. Authors are still writing new books about the famous president sharing lessons learned by and from Lincoln. A 93 year old woman lying on her death bed without any surviving friends or family also has potential. There is a chance that she may share a lesson learned from her life with a nurse, or possibly her circumstance may inspire someone to start a program to help older people in her situation. The woman may not even fulfill that possibility, but that does not mean that the chance does not exist. Even the life of a 3 time convicted murder has value. That convict may give psychologists insight into a murderer’s mind and help them to discover ways to rehabilitate other prisoners. The absolute scum of the earth may never have any positive effect on the future, but his potential for a positive impact, however small it may be, gives his life value. It is impossible to asses the total potential of anyone, and therefore I believe that it is clear there is some potential in anyone.
A very different idea to many people is what gives their own life value. Many times this decision is based solely off of what has been done and not the idea of potential. For a majority, especially upon reflection of past events, the value of their life is assessed by the level of satisfaction they feel with how they lived it. In fact when I first read this question this is the answer I came up with. However, while satisfaction is very important, this satisfaction should come with the effect of their actions not the actions themselves. We should be satisfied with our potential and our former actions’ potential, not just our former accomplishments.
I believe the idea of potential is vitally important in life’s value because it concerns a positive impact on the future. What someone did in the past has no importance if it does not have an effect on the future. However, I do not believe that anyone can argue anything has absolutely no value on the future. There is always a way to argue some later effect of an action or decision.
What potential also implies is that just because someone did something of a greater magnitude does not make them more valuable than someone who performed an act of a lesser scale. A billionaire can donate her fortune to helping AIDS affected countries while a poor man may spend his Sundays playing basketball with inner-city children. Both people have inspired and changed lives. Life takes on a higher and higher value as we achieve a greater and greater amount of our potential. Therefore it does not matter just how much we do, but how much we do of what we can.
Our own interpretation of what gives a life value is determined late in childhood in what Piaget would call the Concrete Stage of Intellectual Development. This is when a child becomes aware of the thoughts and feeling of others. Like when Lizabeth suddenly sees that, “The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility” (Collier 638), we start to understand that everyone around us is just as real as we know ourselves to be. Initially we may not be aware of this assessment of value. In fact, one only becomes aware of this assessment through introspective thought and reflection. This is another reason why we must consider these questions of life’s value and meaning now.
Reaching our potential is what gives life meaning. The desire which leads to future happiness and feelings of fulfillment is the desire to experience all that we can and through this get closer and closer to our potential. I have said that the meaning of life is love. However, love is not as much the meaning of life as the motivator for giving meaning to life. A love for other people, other cultures, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and fulfillment drives us to search for new experiences and make a positive impact on the future. Love can be a very broad emotional descriptor that essentially expresses the feeling of some form of desire. Perhaps desire is a much clearer word to use than love. Without desire there is no action, there is no satisfaction. Desire drives us to cause change and therefore find meaning in our own lives.
Despite this assessment of life’s meaning many people still create a lists of things they must do in order to be satisfied with their life. I must admit that I am somewhat guilty of this too. However, I attempt to take these goals and turn them into desires that require a constant fulfillment throughout life. In this way these goals do not require me to live a long life in order to complete them. My life could end now and I could say that I have achieved these goals. These goals require a constant effort that may change forms throughout my experiences but still remain ambitions all the way through life.
My first goal is to love and be loved. This goal combines many different elements. As a part of this I want to feel the entire emotional spectrum. I want to know what it feels like to lose and what it feels like to gain. I want to experience what it feels like to give and what it feels like to take. I only have one life to live; I want to say that I felt all I could at the end of it. I enjoy feeling a sense of belonging and camaraderie among my peers and even those who are older and younger than I am. I also cherish the feelings of affection and attachment that one feels in an emotional relationship. When I am older I want to care for my children and see that they appreciate what I have done for them. Later when my children have children I want a similar feeling. I also want to love those that I do not understand. This is probably the most challenging aspect of this goal. Many times it is difficult to identify with those that come from a different background and therefore think very differently than me. However, I am learning to appreciate them as much as I do those that I can agree with. I may never achieve a level of care and appreciation for those I do not agree with that is equal my level of care and appreciation for those that I do agree with but I want to make those levels as equal as possible. This is important to me because feeling at peace with others greatly contributes to my own happiness. When I am not at ease with other people, I am not at ease with myself. To love and be loved benefits humanity in the same way. Love between people of differences promotes understanding and peace. Love between friends, family, and spouses promotes unity. Unity allows our actions to work with each other rather than against one another. Unity also gives support to those who are weak and helps those in times of need.
My second goal is to positively affect those younger than me. Currently I achieve this through helping freshmen adjust to a new school with Link Crew. Later when I am in college I may achieve this through giving advice to high school students looking towards college. This goal is broad enough that whatever course I later take in life, whether it’s having kids, adopting, or maybe neither, I can still fulfill it. Helping my kids learn how to live in the world and later passing on my knowledge from life to them will impact their lives. I can affect my grandchildren by offering them a different place from home that they can visit and telling them my wonderful long drawn out stories. Personally this offers me a feeling of satisfaction knowing that I am impacting another life and working on my potential. Telling someone something I have learned and knowing they are listening gives me a feeling of purpose and assures me that my life has meaning. As for humanity, I am spreading knowledge and wisdom that will allow younger generations to learn from my own mistakes. In addition, I am promoting a lifestyle which I believe is beneficial to the quality of life. Wisdom is a very powerful tool. If I can help pass this on to someone else I help them to face the world with an understanding that I did not have at that point in my life. They are then able to live an even more productive and fulfilling life.
Another goal of my life is to aid those less fortunate. This can be anything from donating money to building houses with Habitat for Humanity to teaching someone a valuable lesson that I have learned that they have not yet realized. This goal is the most consistent throughout life compared to my other four goals. I work towards this aim with more than just the usual acts that come to mind (i.e. soup kitchens, donations, food drives, and blood donation). Just talking to people and passing on my wisdom and knowledge helps those who have not had the opportunity to experience what I have experienced and take away from it what I have. In addition, offering a different perspective on a conflict helps someone caught in a dilemma. Listening to someone who has something to say and feels as though they are never heard is also a part of this ambition. From these acts I gain a similar personal satisfaction that I get from affecting those younger than me. I know that I have made an impact on someone else’s life and that without me the condition of at least that one person would be different. This knowledge contributes to my feeling of purpose. The most obvious part of this goal is its benefit to humanity. This ambition betters the condition of others and possibly inspires others to do the same. People are heard, cared for, and taught.
In addition, I want to gain a greater understanding of life and its elements. This encompasses anything from an understanding of the laws of physics and mathematics to less concrete ideas like how to interact with others. Many of the lessons I learn in school fascinate me. I feel satisfied knowing I understand something new, especially when I can use this knowledge to teach others. I also enjoy being able to interact with others more harmoniously. This training not only comes from the academic side of school, but from the social aspect of school, sports, Boy Scouts, friendships, and nature. Every part of life offers some lesson if we are willing to listen. I want to become in tune with these lessons and take as much from what I have done as I can. The next time I am faced with the dilemma of how honest to be with someone when they come to me asking about a personal flaw I want to react in a way that is better for both me and the other person than the last time I was faced with the dilemma. The ability to have more harmonious interactions with others and the ability to pass on knowledge to others both benefit humanity. To quote myself just now, “a more informed citizen makes for a better republic (sounds like a founding father does it not?).” If I can learn more I will be able to spread that knowledge to many other people and improve their quality of life.
My final goal is to achieve a feeling of success in my own efforts. Note the phrase “a feeling of.” I included that phrase because success can change its meaning easily. What is more important to me is that I feel competent and able at least in some efforts. For me success is measured in improvement. So I may not be the best runner in the world, but I have improved and in that way I feel success. And surely there is a feeling of success in the grades that I earn. I also feel a good deal of success in the friendships I have made. I have moved over 550 miles and yet I have friends here that I am much closer with than I was with friends in Cleveland. Later this feeling of success may come from my job and my relationship. If I find someone whom I can live with harmoniously, who cares for me because of who I am, and enjoys my company, I will certainly feel success. As an older person this feeling of success may come from knowing I raised my children to be smart, pensive, and hard working. I gain personally with a high self esteem and feeling of self worth. These qualities allow me to be outgoing and hardworking. Humanity benefits from this goal because as I feel success I am motivated to continue my actions. As I feel success from helping others, teaching those younger than me, and passing on knowledge, I am more likely to continue these actions. In addition, positive, outgoing people tend to have a positive effect on the mood and outlook of those around them.
So now I have probably bored you to death. 2,795 words is a lot of writing (I REALLY apologize on this one). However, for some reason I did not feel like I could end this blog without a conclusion. So here it is. Look for the potential in your life and the potential in others. Try every day to realize the value of the lives of the people around you. But most importantly ask these questions about life’s value and meaning of yourself. As I said, these questions are best considered now while you have the time to asses who you are and make a change.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
What's up with that Change Stuff?
Constant change can be one of the hardest elements of life to accept. In times of happiness and success it is the thing we fear and detest the most. In periods of self doubt and failure it offers a hope that allows us to persevere. Without change we would not fear falling; however, without it we could never climb higher.
Life is about the experience not actually about achieving the goals we set. The goals we create are our way of occupying ourselves and allowing us to feel as though we have accomplished something and made an impact. In reality we are all just searching for a way to avoid idleness. Change is the key factor in preventing monotony. It creates the obstacles which we spend much of our time working against and developing our character. For whatever losses we may suffer we are offered opportunities to gain success. This idea affords us hope and allows us to have faith, not in consistency but in a concept that whatever may happen it will lead to an even greater good.
What gives many people a sense of purpose is the attempt to experience all that they can. We find a feeling of fulfillment in understanding new people, learning new skills, seeing new places, and feeling new emotions. The effort to control one’s experiences leads to stress caused by the endeavor to control and ignorance caused by the unchanging surroundings. In this way change is essential to our feeling of fulfillment.
Unfortunately, change’s true role in our lives is often misinterpreted and misrepresented. People have spent much of their lives resisting change without ever realizing that this quality is what we require for a fulfilling life, a life that leaves us with a feeling of action and accomplishment. Tragically, many times it is close to the end of a person’s life when he realizes that his efforts to reverse change have been futile and have actually prevented his moving on towards greater happiness. What may occur even more often, yet is possibly worse, is when one never realizes change’s positive role in life.
The evolution of man’s concept of change is conveyed through Gilgamesh’s story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is introduced as the all powerful ruler of Uruk, two thirds god and one third man. His power is lustful and absolute. “A goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms…His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of the noble (62).” Gilgamesh treasures this power and supremacy over mankind. This love for power starts Gilgamesh’s search for immortality. While he actively pursues risk and danger to his own life, his fear of death is still very alive. He suppresses this fear with his constant victories and manifestations of power which seem to convey a sense of unbeatable never-ending strength. “…Gilgamesh who seized and killed the Bull of Heaven, who killed the watchman of the cedar forest, who overthrew Humbaba that lived in the forest, and killed the lions in the passes of the mountain…(101).”
Despite his victory against Humbaba, Gilgamesh suffers a terrible loss, Enkidu, his lover and companion in battle Gilgamesh’s reaction to Enkidu’s death clearly shows the next step in the evolution of our feelings towards change, resistance. Just like the prophecy of his life, “The father of the gods has given you kingship, such is your destiny, everlasting life is not your destiny (70),” Gilgamesh rejects death as an inevitable step in life. “How can I rest, how can I be at peace? Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will go as best I can to find Utnapishtim whom they call the Faraway, for he has entered the assembly of the gods (97).” Gilgamesh believes that if he can find Utnapishtim, he can learn the path to immortality and avoid facing the fear of death which has realized with the loss of Enkidu.
Utnapishtim’s lesson for Gilgamesh brings Gilgamesh to the final stage of our feelings towards change, acceptance. Utnapishtim has experienced the ability to avoid change and live a life of complete consistency. From this he has learned how undesirable idleness is. His reply to Gilgamesh’s desire for immortality is a lesson of his own suffering due to that very same quality. He states, “There is no permanence (106).” Utnapishtim’s lesson is very similar to the prophecy of Gilgamesh’s life which I mentioned before. As humans we have given up immortality, but in its place we have acquired the ability to gain and to lose, to love and to hate, to do good and to do evil, and achieve many more things. The prophecy states, “He has given you power to bind and to loose, to be the darkness and the light of mankind (70).” Utnapishtim longs to have this ability again and is, in fact, jealous of Gilgamesh. Ultimately Gilgamesh realizes that what makes life worthwhile is not avoiding its end for as long as possible, but knowing that you made the best of the time that you had.
Enkidu undergoes a similar development. The harlot changes Enkidu from a wild beast ignorant of mankind and the idea of mortality to a man who wears clothes to cover his naked body and searches for immortality. However, Enkidu does not come to the stage of resistance until after he realizes he is dieing. This is when the change has shown its negative effects. Enkidu is going to die and leave his lover behind. He laments the change. “When he had cursed the Trapper to his heart’s content he turned on the harlot (90).” However, when Shamash, the sun and god of wisdom, explains to Enkidu that the change caused by the harlot allowed him to gain his companion Gilgamesh and be known throughout the land as a hero, Enkidu reverses his curses on the harlot. Enkidu is enlightened to the positive side of change. With this appreciation he is able to see the success of his life and find meaning in it.
My own life experiences also help to give incite into change’s purpose in our lives. The greatest change of my life has been moving. Greatest, as used in the previous sentence, can mean both the largest and the most positive. Moving took me out of all that I had known for 12 years, which encompassed almost all that I could remember. When I finally realized that I was really being removed from this environment which I had become so adjusted to I was upset. The last few nights in Pepper Pike were very tough. However, as time progressed in Woodbridge, CT I realized how positive the change really was.
I have gained many more friends than I originally had in Pepper Pike. I have also learned a great deal about myself and about understanding other people since I moved. I would like to think that my purpose is to become the best person that I can. If one breaks down what being the best person one can means one realizes it is understanding more types of people, appreciating more ways of life, acquiring new points of views, and strengthening the ability of one’s foresight. How did I get up every morning knowing that everything had changed? I had a hope that tomorrow would be a brighter day. As it turns out, I don’t think I was too wrong in that belief.
Life is about the experience not actually about achieving the goals we set. The goals we create are our way of occupying ourselves and allowing us to feel as though we have accomplished something and made an impact. In reality we are all just searching for a way to avoid idleness. Change is the key factor in preventing monotony. It creates the obstacles which we spend much of our time working against and developing our character. For whatever losses we may suffer we are offered opportunities to gain success. This idea affords us hope and allows us to have faith, not in consistency but in a concept that whatever may happen it will lead to an even greater good.
What gives many people a sense of purpose is the attempt to experience all that they can. We find a feeling of fulfillment in understanding new people, learning new skills, seeing new places, and feeling new emotions. The effort to control one’s experiences leads to stress caused by the endeavor to control and ignorance caused by the unchanging surroundings. In this way change is essential to our feeling of fulfillment.
Unfortunately, change’s true role in our lives is often misinterpreted and misrepresented. People have spent much of their lives resisting change without ever realizing that this quality is what we require for a fulfilling life, a life that leaves us with a feeling of action and accomplishment. Tragically, many times it is close to the end of a person’s life when he realizes that his efforts to reverse change have been futile and have actually prevented his moving on towards greater happiness. What may occur even more often, yet is possibly worse, is when one never realizes change’s positive role in life.
The evolution of man’s concept of change is conveyed through Gilgamesh’s story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is introduced as the all powerful ruler of Uruk, two thirds god and one third man. His power is lustful and absolute. “A goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms…His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of the noble (62).” Gilgamesh treasures this power and supremacy over mankind. This love for power starts Gilgamesh’s search for immortality. While he actively pursues risk and danger to his own life, his fear of death is still very alive. He suppresses this fear with his constant victories and manifestations of power which seem to convey a sense of unbeatable never-ending strength. “…Gilgamesh who seized and killed the Bull of Heaven, who killed the watchman of the cedar forest, who overthrew Humbaba that lived in the forest, and killed the lions in the passes of the mountain…(101).”
Despite his victory against Humbaba, Gilgamesh suffers a terrible loss, Enkidu, his lover and companion in battle Gilgamesh’s reaction to Enkidu’s death clearly shows the next step in the evolution of our feelings towards change, resistance. Just like the prophecy of his life, “The father of the gods has given you kingship, such is your destiny, everlasting life is not your destiny (70),” Gilgamesh rejects death as an inevitable step in life. “How can I rest, how can I be at peace? Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will go as best I can to find Utnapishtim whom they call the Faraway, for he has entered the assembly of the gods (97).” Gilgamesh believes that if he can find Utnapishtim, he can learn the path to immortality and avoid facing the fear of death which has realized with the loss of Enkidu.
Utnapishtim’s lesson for Gilgamesh brings Gilgamesh to the final stage of our feelings towards change, acceptance. Utnapishtim has experienced the ability to avoid change and live a life of complete consistency. From this he has learned how undesirable idleness is. His reply to Gilgamesh’s desire for immortality is a lesson of his own suffering due to that very same quality. He states, “There is no permanence (106).” Utnapishtim’s lesson is very similar to the prophecy of Gilgamesh’s life which I mentioned before. As humans we have given up immortality, but in its place we have acquired the ability to gain and to lose, to love and to hate, to do good and to do evil, and achieve many more things. The prophecy states, “He has given you power to bind and to loose, to be the darkness and the light of mankind (70).” Utnapishtim longs to have this ability again and is, in fact, jealous of Gilgamesh. Ultimately Gilgamesh realizes that what makes life worthwhile is not avoiding its end for as long as possible, but knowing that you made the best of the time that you had.
Enkidu undergoes a similar development. The harlot changes Enkidu from a wild beast ignorant of mankind and the idea of mortality to a man who wears clothes to cover his naked body and searches for immortality. However, Enkidu does not come to the stage of resistance until after he realizes he is dieing. This is when the change has shown its negative effects. Enkidu is going to die and leave his lover behind. He laments the change. “When he had cursed the Trapper to his heart’s content he turned on the harlot (90).” However, when Shamash, the sun and god of wisdom, explains to Enkidu that the change caused by the harlot allowed him to gain his companion Gilgamesh and be known throughout the land as a hero, Enkidu reverses his curses on the harlot. Enkidu is enlightened to the positive side of change. With this appreciation he is able to see the success of his life and find meaning in it.
My own life experiences also help to give incite into change’s purpose in our lives. The greatest change of my life has been moving. Greatest, as used in the previous sentence, can mean both the largest and the most positive. Moving took me out of all that I had known for 12 years, which encompassed almost all that I could remember. When I finally realized that I was really being removed from this environment which I had become so adjusted to I was upset. The last few nights in Pepper Pike were very tough. However, as time progressed in Woodbridge, CT I realized how positive the change really was.
I have gained many more friends than I originally had in Pepper Pike. I have also learned a great deal about myself and about understanding other people since I moved. I would like to think that my purpose is to become the best person that I can. If one breaks down what being the best person one can means one realizes it is understanding more types of people, appreciating more ways of life, acquiring new points of views, and strengthening the ability of one’s foresight. How did I get up every morning knowing that everything had changed? I had a hope that tomorrow would be a brighter day. As it turns out, I don’t think I was too wrong in that belief.
Monday, September 17, 2007
So What's up with Those Hero People?
The idea of a hero has existed since the beginning of literature with its start in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Akkadian poem Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk, two thirds god and one third man. Gilgamesh represents the original definition of a hero. That hero is a descendant of the gods with some inhuman quality that allows him to conquer the strange and symbolic obstacles that he is faced with.
Since the Greek Epics and Myths the character of the hero has evolved. One can see this hero like Indiana Jones running through thousands of poisoned darts, escaping a rolling rock larger than an SUV, and finally keeping ahead of an entire tribe trained in the arts of war. However, in the modern role of a hero even someone like Holden Caulfield, a 17 year old 4 time high school drop out, can be labeled as hero. With such a broad range of characters labeled as heroes one wonders, what do any of these characters have in common?
A modern hero’s story usually follows one of two paths. However, in both the hero is faced with weakness, abandonment, or any other form of adversity which would require a unique sense of personal strength to conquer. Here is where the heroes split. Some of these characters retain their sense of courage, dignity, and individuality throughout the struggle. These heroes are able to conquer many obstacles that at first seem insurmountable, but as these difficulties are finally dealt with the heroes demonstrate the strength of perseverance. Many of these characters survive the conflict to become wiser and stronger than they were before, but this is not a requirement. There are a great number of heroes who die for their ideals such as Russell Casse, the Vietnam veteran pilot and father who destroys the Mother Ship in Independence Day (sure I could have come up with a better example, but who does not love that guy or that movie?).
The other grouping of heroes may fail in the face of the adversity, but only temporarily. Along the struggle they may lose their dignity or their individuality. However, as their story progresses they come back after some life changing event or a sudden moment of realization with a renewed sense of strength and courage that allows them to fight back against the adversity which struck them down. After this they must retain their perseverance and gain ground on improving their life or the lives of others.
So far I have eluded the question which I posed earlier, what do these heroes have in common? Well enough of being a politician. All of these heroes stand for some ideal or some trait that is revered and respected by their culture. For Holden Caulfield, mentioned earlier, it is a search for understanding of the adult world. He is attempting to adjust to the lack of innocence that was present in childhood as many of us have started to and will. Holden never abandons this search and by the end of J.D. Salinger’s novel he is optimistic about the future. He appears to have learned a great deal from the previous Holiday season and is wiser from the experience.
Russell Casse, also mentioned above, stands for self-sacrifice in order to protect his family and prove to his son that he is a hero. His son believed that he was a terrible father and a drunk who could never succeed. However, in his sudden decision to fly directly into the main weapon of the ship he demonstrates a dedication that no other person in the movie exemplifies. The destruction of the mother ship defeats the aliens and the world regains its independence.
Oh and don’t let me forget Indiana Jones. He puts himself in harms way and never allows any obstacle to cause him to back down so that he attain historic artifacts. Jones states that his purpose in doing this is to put these articles where they belong, in a museum. He is fighting for the preservation of ancient cultures and their remnants against a growing indifference of society for knowledge of the past when money is involved.
The specific actions of a hero are hard to define outside of my own culture. However, there appears to be one characteristic shared by every hero I have encountered, self sacrifice. It may not be the entirety of his or her fight against adversity, but giving oneself up to a cause demonstrates a dedication to one’s principles that no other action can achieve.
Now there is also the question of gender in being a hero. If you notice my previous examples are all men. So why aren’t there women? This is not because there is no such thing as a heroine. The lack of women as heroines in literature has much to do with our culture. It has not been until recently in the history of literature that women have been able to take on the hero persona. And because women’s place as heroes depends on culture there are many cultures in which women cannot be heroes.
In our own culture and its influences men have commonly been held as the dominant figures that stand for bravery, courage, and strength. Women, on the other hand, have been the child raisers among other less revered occupations. With this characterization it is only natural that only men will take on the hero qualities. However, within the last century women’s rights and place in our culture and in many other cultures have advanced greatly. Now the women who fought against the gender stereotypes and prejudices like Susan B. Anthony are even more heroic than some of the heroes of the past.
The actual purpose of a hero is also a very interesting topic. As Berthold Brecht stated, "Unhappy the land that needs heroes." This idea is also considered in a book I read this summer, Walden Two. Walden Two is B.F. Skinner’s explanation of a how to create a perfect society from his own experiments and theories as well as research and concepts of others. In this novel Frazier, a creator of the Utopian Walden Two community, acts as Skinner’s voice. In an intense discussion with Burris and Castle, a strong skeptic of Utopian societies, Frazier explains his view of the purpose of a hero. The first function is to “supplement a faulty science (Skinner 221).” The hero stands “for a principle or given state of affairs” that in a world without science can only be achieved with his intuition and dedication (Skinner 221). The hero’s second function is “to rally support, to accumulate power (Skinner 222.)” After being questioned by Burris on the emulation of a hero Skinner comments, “We value skill and strength. But we don’t value, and we certainly don’t emphasize, personal triumph. That’s not only unnecessary in a cooperative culture, it’s dangerous (Skinner 222).” Some people may become so obsessed with a certain individual that they are unable to see their own strengths and abilities for their true value because they only focus on the strengths of their hero. A third purpose of a hero is to “misrepresent history… [The historian] uses [the hero] because he has no scientific vocabulary or technique for dealing with the real facts of history…He can’t talk about them, and so he talks about heroes (Skinner 222).”
Skinner is completely against the idea of any specific emulation or worshiping, and to some degree I would agree. It seems unnecessary that one should become obsessed with one figure of history our present time. In fact, as Skinner would state, it is a waste of energy and focus. However, what purpose heroes do serve is to teach courage, bravery, and other positive attributes to those that do not benefit from the perfectly controlled learning environment of Walden Two. In addition, heroes help people gain a basic understanding of historical events when a thorough understanding is not achievable.
It is impossible in the present day to sufficiently expose the entire population of the World to the lessons learned by past generations and the present without the use of heroes. Granted, there is a possibility for over fixation; however, I believe it is much more beneficial to allow this to occur than to insufficiently educate the world the basic essentials of survival and peaceful coexistence. There is also a given that there will be heroes who spread ideas of hatred and intolerance. This predicament, the problem of obsession, and the need for heroes altogether will only be eliminated if we ever achieve a controlled society that allows us to escape this flawed science and that performs the purpose that these heroes presently serve. Until that day, should it ever come, mankind will continue to look towards the outstanding characters in history and literature for hope and inspiration.
PS sorry about the length.....
Since the Greek Epics and Myths the character of the hero has evolved. One can see this hero like Indiana Jones running through thousands of poisoned darts, escaping a rolling rock larger than an SUV, and finally keeping ahead of an entire tribe trained in the arts of war. However, in the modern role of a hero even someone like Holden Caulfield, a 17 year old 4 time high school drop out, can be labeled as hero. With such a broad range of characters labeled as heroes one wonders, what do any of these characters have in common?
A modern hero’s story usually follows one of two paths. However, in both the hero is faced with weakness, abandonment, or any other form of adversity which would require a unique sense of personal strength to conquer. Here is where the heroes split. Some of these characters retain their sense of courage, dignity, and individuality throughout the struggle. These heroes are able to conquer many obstacles that at first seem insurmountable, but as these difficulties are finally dealt with the heroes demonstrate the strength of perseverance. Many of these characters survive the conflict to become wiser and stronger than they were before, but this is not a requirement. There are a great number of heroes who die for their ideals such as Russell Casse, the Vietnam veteran pilot and father who destroys the Mother Ship in Independence Day (sure I could have come up with a better example, but who does not love that guy or that movie?).
The other grouping of heroes may fail in the face of the adversity, but only temporarily. Along the struggle they may lose their dignity or their individuality. However, as their story progresses they come back after some life changing event or a sudden moment of realization with a renewed sense of strength and courage that allows them to fight back against the adversity which struck them down. After this they must retain their perseverance and gain ground on improving their life or the lives of others.
So far I have eluded the question which I posed earlier, what do these heroes have in common? Well enough of being a politician. All of these heroes stand for some ideal or some trait that is revered and respected by their culture. For Holden Caulfield, mentioned earlier, it is a search for understanding of the adult world. He is attempting to adjust to the lack of innocence that was present in childhood as many of us have started to and will. Holden never abandons this search and by the end of J.D. Salinger’s novel he is optimistic about the future. He appears to have learned a great deal from the previous Holiday season and is wiser from the experience.
Russell Casse, also mentioned above, stands for self-sacrifice in order to protect his family and prove to his son that he is a hero. His son believed that he was a terrible father and a drunk who could never succeed. However, in his sudden decision to fly directly into the main weapon of the ship he demonstrates a dedication that no other person in the movie exemplifies. The destruction of the mother ship defeats the aliens and the world regains its independence.
Oh and don’t let me forget Indiana Jones. He puts himself in harms way and never allows any obstacle to cause him to back down so that he attain historic artifacts. Jones states that his purpose in doing this is to put these articles where they belong, in a museum. He is fighting for the preservation of ancient cultures and their remnants against a growing indifference of society for knowledge of the past when money is involved.
The specific actions of a hero are hard to define outside of my own culture. However, there appears to be one characteristic shared by every hero I have encountered, self sacrifice. It may not be the entirety of his or her fight against adversity, but giving oneself up to a cause demonstrates a dedication to one’s principles that no other action can achieve.
Now there is also the question of gender in being a hero. If you notice my previous examples are all men. So why aren’t there women? This is not because there is no such thing as a heroine. The lack of women as heroines in literature has much to do with our culture. It has not been until recently in the history of literature that women have been able to take on the hero persona. And because women’s place as heroes depends on culture there are many cultures in which women cannot be heroes.
In our own culture and its influences men have commonly been held as the dominant figures that stand for bravery, courage, and strength. Women, on the other hand, have been the child raisers among other less revered occupations. With this characterization it is only natural that only men will take on the hero qualities. However, within the last century women’s rights and place in our culture and in many other cultures have advanced greatly. Now the women who fought against the gender stereotypes and prejudices like Susan B. Anthony are even more heroic than some of the heroes of the past.
The actual purpose of a hero is also a very interesting topic. As Berthold Brecht stated, "Unhappy the land that needs heroes." This idea is also considered in a book I read this summer, Walden Two. Walden Two is B.F. Skinner’s explanation of a how to create a perfect society from his own experiments and theories as well as research and concepts of others. In this novel Frazier, a creator of the Utopian Walden Two community, acts as Skinner’s voice. In an intense discussion with Burris and Castle, a strong skeptic of Utopian societies, Frazier explains his view of the purpose of a hero. The first function is to “supplement a faulty science (Skinner 221).” The hero stands “for a principle or given state of affairs” that in a world without science can only be achieved with his intuition and dedication (Skinner 221). The hero’s second function is “to rally support, to accumulate power (Skinner 222.)” After being questioned by Burris on the emulation of a hero Skinner comments, “We value skill and strength. But we don’t value, and we certainly don’t emphasize, personal triumph. That’s not only unnecessary in a cooperative culture, it’s dangerous (Skinner 222).” Some people may become so obsessed with a certain individual that they are unable to see their own strengths and abilities for their true value because they only focus on the strengths of their hero. A third purpose of a hero is to “misrepresent history… [The historian] uses [the hero] because he has no scientific vocabulary or technique for dealing with the real facts of history…He can’t talk about them, and so he talks about heroes (Skinner 222).”
Skinner is completely against the idea of any specific emulation or worshiping, and to some degree I would agree. It seems unnecessary that one should become obsessed with one figure of history our present time. In fact, as Skinner would state, it is a waste of energy and focus. However, what purpose heroes do serve is to teach courage, bravery, and other positive attributes to those that do not benefit from the perfectly controlled learning environment of Walden Two. In addition, heroes help people gain a basic understanding of historical events when a thorough understanding is not achievable.
It is impossible in the present day to sufficiently expose the entire population of the World to the lessons learned by past generations and the present without the use of heroes. Granted, there is a possibility for over fixation; however, I believe it is much more beneficial to allow this to occur than to insufficiently educate the world the basic essentials of survival and peaceful coexistence. There is also a given that there will be heroes who spread ideas of hatred and intolerance. This predicament, the problem of obsession, and the need for heroes altogether will only be eliminated if we ever achieve a controlled society that allows us to escape this flawed science and that performs the purpose that these heroes presently serve. Until that day, should it ever come, mankind will continue to look towards the outstanding characters in history and literature for hope and inspiration.
PS sorry about the length.....
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