Running out of sorts

This is an expression my mom uses every now and then. I don't think it's an actual idiom that people use around here, but my mom uses it nonetheless. I feel it very accurately describes my life from the last post to the present: AAAAHHH!!!!

Just had to clear my system. I'm great now.

Well, of the more random things I have to ponder, Dear Reader, I still have one more reflection from Kuna Island that I still haven't shared! My apologies! Next time, I'll try harder to keep my promises I make online. I will end up writing two posts today, if I can.

ORIGINAL STATEMENT:

"The Village"--When we were in Granada, Nicaragua at the end of the Nica trip, two students rented the movie "The Village" by M. Night Shamalan (sp?) from the front desk of our hostel to play on the television in the lounge. This movie presented me with an interesting idea that I have seen here as well: innocence. Can it be preserved if the community is separated from the rest of the world? In the movie, the community still had some problems. Here, the Kuna say that violence does not exist on their island. This also makes me wonder about rules and laws: how much is too much? And where to personal rights come in? Should the cut-off community listen only to its own rules in order to preserve the innocence, thus negating the rules of the world completely? What about humanity? Although we often have perfect conditions in which to preserve said innocence, would it still survive? It seems to me that our choices and actions would make innocence harder to preserve.

CONTINUATION OF THEME:

First off, any poor unfortunate soul who has not seen M. Night Shamalan's "The Village" needs to go right now to the nearest movie rental and rent it. Seriously. It is a thriller about a village in the middle of the woods, and everybody is afraid to go into the woods. (SPOILER) It becomes apparent that the creatures/monsters that live in the woods and terrify the people are really the elders dressed up in costume. They do this to keep the younger generation from falling back into the world. It's fascinating. I wouldn't ruin it like that, but I need the basis for this post, sorry. Still, go and rent it. I would buy it, but I know intellectual thrillers aren't for everyone.

So, the Kuna and Innocence. This was a purely objective reflection; the only way to continue the discussion would be based on personal perspective rather than facts or statistics. Therefore, the question is simple: If cut off from the "world" and placed in a closed environment, would the Innocence of Humanity survive? I'll make this harder by posing two likely paths of thought: If Humanity is inherently good, then Innocence will survive longer. And: If Humanity is inherently evil, then Innocence will not survive long at all.

I personally feel that every human is a little of both, like the whole ying and yang deal. Perhaps I am indeed an idealist, but I find it impossible to believe that even the hardest criminal in the world lacks a soft spot. It may not be big enough for anyone to reach, but it is there nonetheless.

However, once we have decided whether or not Humanity is inherently good or evil, the next question to ponder is which idea will spread faster, the good, or the evil. If, in our imaginary village, there are 7 'good' people and 1 'evil' person, and we have decided that good spreads faster than evil, then we can likely assume that the 'evil' person will, in some way, be converted after spending his life with the 7 'good'. Now let's flip it: If there are 7 'good' people and 1 'evil' person, and we have decided that evil spreads faster than good, then we can assume that the one evil person will have infected at least more than half of the 7 'good' after having spent his life with them.

More to come: Rules and their influence, and Actions vs. Reactions.

Dinner!

Notes II

ORIGINAL STATEMENT:

Skirts/dresses--I love my sarong, and I use it every day. I still believe that pants are more practical, but I like skirts. Why do women use pants to work? Was it the the women's liberation that started this practice?

CONTINUATION OF THEME:

Truth be told, I can do so much in a skirt that I've always done wearing pants. It depends on the skirt, apparently, but they are really versatile. I can wear a casual skirt, change my shirt/blouse, and the skirt becomes business casual, or even semi-formal. Jeans can never be semi-formal--unless they are in pristine condition.

Perhaps you, Dear Reader, are familiar with the pictures of Rosie the Riveter? From what I've learned in U.S. History classes, the picture of a woman wearing overalls and performing a man's job while retaining her femininity was very appealing to women who were only house-makers up to that point. Once war broke out and the States joined in, the men were off fighting, but there were still many jobs to be done. The only resource available to employers at that time were women, who were strong because they raised households; women, who were strong because they were facing a lonely future until their husbands and brothers and sons came home.

The thing with the Women's Lib is this: the movement started (as they all do) because there was a definite need for change toward women's rights. Before the 40s and 50s, women were primarily devoted to house care. They cleaned. They cooked. They dealt with the children. They mended. They tried to make the husband happy. They tried to keep their kids from getting spoiled. Women had a heavy time of it. However, because of this stereotype, women weren't expected to achieve much else. Once they started working the men's jobs, they had to change their a-line skirts for pairs of overalls. This gave them more freedom.

You know, I really like a-line skirts. I agree with why the movement started. However, I humbly submit my thoughts on feminism today: If the movement started so that women such as I could go into the world and pursue any type of education, job, office, etc. that she wanted and not be told by the society that the said activity was not suited to her gender, then if I, as a woman who believes in choice, plan to be a home-maker in this world of business, I believe I should have that choice. Feminism was not started to control the world, but to create a semblance of equality. Will we ever be "equal" with men? I doubt it. But that doesn't mean it's entirely impossible.

Regardless, I really like skirts. Then I can be a woman who chooses because she has the power to make a choice, and not a woman who chooses because she thinks others have made the choice for her.

Good night, dear friends!

Notes

So, I finally received the journal I wrote in for the Kuna trip, and wow!! I wrote so much. There is a section where I thought up topics I wanted to write about when I got back, but because I had to turn in that journal for a grade, I forgot what the topics were until I received it again and began to look through it. That said, I'll do my best to translate what I think I was thinking at the time... Also, I'll probably post one a day, just so I don't load down the family and friends who want a quick read.

ORIGINAL STATEMENT:

Poverty-- I have seen photos of people who live in houses like the Kuna with the label of "poverty" under the picture. The Kuna--they choose to live this way. This is not poverty. Also, why is it that we believe everyone needs to be as rich as we are? Although we have our riches and our privileges, we need much to maintain them. The Kunas work out of sheer necessity.

CONTINUATION OF THEME:

I believe I've already written about this (and if I say the exact same thing again, I apologize, although this is a point I feel needs to be stressed as much as possible). However, the fact remains: our greed and love of material wealth has very obviously caused the economic downfall that people in the United States are currently experiencing. Some have worked so hard for their futures, only to find it's the present that's falling apart; Others have worked so hard for their present, only to find they have no future. To look at it this way leaves me, Dear Reader, with only one option: our manner of thinking (that is to say, our manner of logic according to fluctuations of less stable factors like the economy and human nature) must have a flaw. Consider: If we believe that we are dealing our lives correctly in the world during this age at this time, then the world should either continue getting better, or should stay the same. If the world becomes worse off while we believe we are dealing our lives correctly, then something must be faulty with the original logic. This is how science class works. Make a hypothesis, experiment, draw a conclusion, and adjust your point of view on possibility. It's also "Cognitive Dissonance" all over again.

I would just like to add that I am not at all against hard work. I think that working hard is a very admirable thing to do, and I wish more people did it. My point is that our balance of work and play is off. If we work to sustain a perfect lifestyle, we may never enjoy our lifestyle to the fullest. The question comes down, not to work itself, but necessity versus greed. If we work out of greed, we will never have enough. If we work out of necessity, we will always have just enough.

This is a lesson I learned from the Kunas I lived with. What an honor to be brought into their world.

NEW JOB!!!!!

Okay, so a good friend pointed out that I really haven't written anything about my summer, so here goes (and my family is sitting down to eat, so I'll expound more later):

I am interning with a local radio station in the downtown area. It's a rock/jam band station, catering to the musical needs of the "invisible generation" or Generation Jones (for those of you who are still confused, "generation Jones" is the wave of children brought up by the "baby-boomers"). It's fun; I'm learning so much about music and many things about live radio!!

My family is waiting for me, so I'll be back after dinner!

Weathering the Weekend

So I'm feeling poetic... I thought the title was pretty darn good!

Wow! What a weekend! We had both my little sister's graduation open house, and my little brother's birthday party--To think that I still remember my sister way back when we were skinny little girls who played 'dolls' with every movable object in sight...Well, it was weird to see her graduate. And then my brother! I feel so old when I think about his age! Can it really have been this long?

Time. What a marvelous enigma to the collective human intelligence. Time has always been an awe-inspiring mystery to me. I wonder at the circle, and how I stand on the shoulders of other's whose 'time' was before my own.

They say that 'Time heals all wounds', that 'Time flies' or that someone has 'Good timing'.

I can't wrap my mind around a force that has existed for a long time, but not forever. Consider: Time has an end. Everyone knows that. Therefore, I reason that it must also have had a beginning. What was there before Time?

So much, yet so little. Time continues to stretch, but what happens after we leave this earth? Our 'time' is over. It's so little.

I'm tempted to post Hamlet's 'To Be or Not To Be' speech here. Okay, click this link, why not?

It's not that I'm feeling morbidly depressed or anything, it's just that I'm...dumbfounded. Hamlet (although he is depressed) has somewhat of a point: Time. What happens after we have served our 'time' here?

I don't know what I think, so I'll definitely come back to this later... However, I digress. I intended to write this post about 'Weathering the Weekend', and how I've found the easiest way to get through an event or occurrence in which I'd rather not participate is to hunker down and just do it. It was like that for me this last weekend. Oh, I have nothing against helping out my siblings, it's just that, well, it was a big hassle to do both in the same weekend. A headache I could have done without. But then again, they've always helped at my 'social gatherings' and whatnot, so I did the best I could to make theirs enjoyable as well.

Hmmm...

I must away.

Good night!

Thought-isms

Let's be honest, you all knew this was coming somewhere. Just like those movies that you pick up from the library or the video store with the weird title that you watch so carefully until you find the title casually thrown out in the dialogue; or one of those books, where you spend half the chapters trying to figure out how it relates to the title at all... This is that post, where you will finally know what it's all about. This is that post, where I begin to make sense.

First things first, though: Happy June!!! My sister's open house for her high school graduation, and my brother's birthday party have coincided on the same weekend. Major headache to both, even though a congratulations are in order...

Also: This post is, in truth, late. I meant to post this yesterday, on the actual first day of June, so as to clarify my "hiding out for a month". I failed. Oh well.

With this in mind, I will now attempt to clarify my views on life, otherwise known as my "thought-isms" (come on, you have to admit that's a little creative...?):

GREEN:

Costa Rica is possibly the 'greenest' place I know. I'm sure it's due mostly to the overabundance of vegetation, the fact that land is spread out, and the 'cities' aren't as densely populated as they are in the States... When I returned here, I was utterly repulsed by eating seafood, pork, chicken... well, meat. As I've regained my bearings, if you will, I have discovered that I really do like salads better. More, that I can eat chicken if I have to, I can eat seafood if I have to, but I honestly would just like some veggies. This has come as a crippling shock to my parents, who can remember back to the time when I used to turn my nose up at simple peas. I still don't like green beans though. Weird.

Also, since being back, I have noticed the ingredients in foods and have started avoiding things with high fructose corn syrup (it gives me a stomachache anyway) and too many preservatives. I have also been trying (when I actually go to purchases) to buy things that were made from recycled materials, or things that were brought into the country by Fair Trade (not Free Trade).

STYLE:

I debated with myself (obviously) about putting in this category, but it seems appropriate, so now I'll explain. My style of dress before I went to Costa Rica normally revolved around jeans and collared shirts. My style of dress after coming back has consisted of hippie skirts, bracelets, glasses (I have very stylish frames, thanks to my Aunt Linda!), tank tops, sandals, and collared shirts. I've even gone through my dresser drawers and filled a large garbage bag with clothes that I no longer use or don't fit me. After the craziness of this coming weekend, I intend to wage the same judgment on my closet, and my two boxes of clothes in the basement. Having lived in almost utter simplicity in Nicaragua, and again in Panama, I really don't need the extra baggage. I took one suitcase on my trip, and one suitcase back. While away, I didn't even use all the clothes that I had brought. So, this tells me that I have been overly excessive in my life.

GOD:

This one was also a huge internal crisis for me. Long story short: God appears in many very unusual and mystifying ways. To define 'God' would be to put him in a box. And as a finite human, that is a very dumb thing to do, as it is obvious my tiny intellect cannot handle such a vast concept. Personally, I think that even if a person did not believe in an omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient being, they would come to believe in one just by being with the people I had the extreme privilege to meet. And not always because the people I met were "Christians", but because they were completely and totally human. This level of interaction, and the honesty (or faults, as it may have been at times) left no doubt in my mind that these people were creations of a God. My favorite prof at Spring Arbor would corroborate my revelation, telling me I was seeing the imago dei, or the image of God in every person I met.

ME:

I'm okay with me now. Of course, many things have happened in the last month to make me okay with me. I have a better grasp of my many attributes and talents, and a better grasp of my faults. They are now a work in progress. I have accepted myself with both my likes/dislikes, my strengths/weaknesses, and my past/present/future, and I fully intend to move forward on this knowledge and self-reflection.

These were my biggest issues. With the help of family and friends, I have put into practice a theory I learned in one of my COM classes: Cognitive Dissonance. It states that where practice and belief come in conflict, either the practice will be changed, or the belief will be changed. Thus I have undergone a sort of transformation.

Perhaps I will touch again on this topic later. But for now, this post is long enough!