Life is...

     So, my last post for this class was "Death is..." Now this one is Life is... Because life and death aren't exactly tangible things, so it's hard to write two 600 word papers about them. When I talked about death, my paper was very positive, so since death is the opposite of life this one should be negative right? WRONG! In my last blog, I stated that death isn't the opposite of life, it's the abscence of it. So, what is life? Life is the most complicated thing, in my opinion, that we will ever go through. It's easy to die, but living takes strength and courage. I'm not trying to abjure the importance of life, it's just that life is difficult to comprehend. We didn't exist, then one day we did and from then on we would exist kind of forever. Our lives can completely change the world. Life is rough, exciting, difficult, and august. Life is a conflagration. It is full of compunction. It is also elated. Considering most of these are antonyms, I realize I probably sond like I am contradicting myself, but honestly, life is complicated. It is nothing but everything at the same time. I could ruminate about life all day, but I would never be able to come up with a trenchant meaning. Life is taken for granted. A lot. But it shouldn't be. Our parents knew, roughly, when we will be born. A cancer patient knows when they have "two weeks to live", but no one actually knows when they will die. When my grandmother got cancer, her doctors told her she had about three months to live. After two months, she started getting better. She went from being quiescent, to being more lively. She was able to walk around and go to church. She believed that you had to do what you wanted to do when you wanted to do it because no one was promised a tomorrow. She was a strong Christian. When she started to get better, she went to church, and she loved to sing and play the piano. We had a Christmas at her house where my cousin, brother, and I put on a very short Christmas play composed mostly of singing, since it was her favorite. It was the most lively she had been since all of the treatment. Who would have thought that just months later she would die? One of the last places she went in her life was to my church. Against doctors orders, she went to my church to see me get baptised. Weeks later, she died. Some could say that if she had not gone all the way from Elizabeth City, North Carolina to Lumberton, North Carolina she might have lived longer. However, I know that, while the drive was hard on her, and she might not have been so worn out if she didn't come, she would have felt like she missed out on something in her life. Her doctors orders were irrelevant at that point because my baptism was indelible for her, and it was something that no one, not even the doctors would take away from her. She would have rather lived just a few more days and been at my baptism than lived another few months, callous from not being able to be there. I think my grandmother understood the clandestine that is life. Life isn't about quantity. It's not about how long or short you live. Life is about what you do with it. Living a long, acrid, tacit life for me, would not be as good as living a short, but exciting and memorable life. Some might find it a platitude to say life is what you make it, but I think that is a perfect quote. I can and have been typing this paper for a few hours on what "Life is", but I will never be able to tell you what YOUR life is. Some lead an indulgent life. We like to refer to them as the "followers". Some constantly quell others or themselves. Some are depressed and nocturnal. Some are active and jubilant. Some live inveterate lives, while others live short lives and die meaningful deaths. Life is the most complicated thing we will ever go through. it has great power and great importance. Life is different for everyone, yet in some ways it's the same. Some live lives that are too short. Others live lives that are too long. If you do it right though, your time will be just right.

Song: It's my life by: Bon Jovi

The Discovery of a Sleeping Traveler

    September 21, 1960 

Dear Diary,

     So..... I am visiting Asia for my Study Abroad. I was in China for five days and didn't get much sleep. Late on the fifth day, I got on a train to Nepal. It is a 2 hour drive from Bejing, China to Kathmandu, Nepal. It was late at night so I decided to sleep for the two hour drive. I was so exhausted from the little sleep I had gotten the past few days, the time difference, and the pain medication that I take for my headaches, that I ended up not only missing the stop in Kathmandu, but I slept for 10 hours until the stop in New Delhi, India! I am currently in New Delhi and it's pretty cool here so I guess.... I will just stay... yeah that's what I'm going to do. I guess it was fate that I fell asleep on the train.

September 22, 1960

Dear Diary,

  

          It's my first full day in India. I am staying in New Delhi. It is the capitol of India and it's very nice here. I visited the Lotus Temple today. People kept talking about something called Indoism. My guess is that it is a political party that most people associate themselves with in this part of India because I think, if I heard correct, someone say that they are Induo. So I'm guessing it's like if someone said I am republican. I am planning on researching it later today. Now, I need to get something to eat.... How about McDonalds? Idk.. I kinda feel like a  burger, but here even McDonalds doesn't have beef! Ugh! I don't understand why they can't just sell beef, if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it! Jeez!

September 23, 1960

Dear Diary,

     I just woke up. Today I will be doing some research on the Indoism thing that I kept hearing about yesterday and then I will go to the Ganges River! I hear it's kind of gross and I shouldn't get into it... but I wonder... why do most people who visit it get into it if it has all kinds of sewage and ashes in it? Doesn't seem smart to me. I think it might have something to do with Indoism though... I'll keep you posted. I will have to take another train to go to the Ganges river.... wish me better luck on this one!

(Still) September 23, 1960

Dear Diary,

     So I researched Indoism... turns out it doesn't exist. The word I kept hearing was Hinduism or Hindu. It is not a political party and it does not just affect this part of India. Infact, many people all over the world have heard of it... who knew? Hinduism is a religion. Which means that apparently instead of being like republicans, they're like Christians, only it's a whole different religion entirely. I guess I will start explaining what I learned by talking about my trip to the Ganges River. First off... yes... I did get on and off the train at the right spots! Woohoo! Acomplishment! Anyway... when I got to the Ganges, I saw what you would expect... that was a lot of people completely bathing themselves in the filthy water. Disguisted at first, I turned to go sit somewhere else. I sat on the steps by a rather old man. He quickly picked up on the fact that I had no clue what was going on. You know... the typical tourist. Here's how our conversation went:

Old guy: Hey son. What's wrong?

Me: How can all these people put themselves and their children into this filth bath.

Old guy: You ever heard of Hinduism?

Me: Funny you should ask... I heard the word yesterday and I looked it up today so... I guess you could say I'm a little naive.

Old guy: Well, to these people, this isn't a 'filth bath'. This is a sacred place.

Me: How is a sewage dump a sacred place?

Old guy: To us, it is not a sewage dump. It is the home to the Hindu goddess Ganga.

Me: So just because one of the goddesses lived here means you have to bathe yourself in it?

Old guy: No, no, no! And to be clear, it's not something we as Hindus are required to do, it's something we want to do.

Me: But why do you want to?

Old guy: We believe that bathing in it purifies us by washing away our sins. It gives us better karma to spread our ashes in here after our death.

Me: Doesn't it seem odd that by bathing in filthy water, you are cleansed?

Old guy: (pondered it a minute then began to laugh) I do see your point. For us, it is more of a mental thing. We are not actually physically being cleansed. We are probably physically getting more dirty like you said, and we know that, but our hearts and our minds are what are being cleansed.

Me: Ok, I can see where you are coming from... so it's sort of like Baptism in the Christian religion.

Old guy: Yes, kind of. The full meaning is different, but in both you are doing it for internal cleansing, not external.

Me: Hmmm... I understand. So earlier you said something about karma... what is that?

Old guy: Karma is most easily thought of as... what goes around comes around. If I am fair to you, then sometime in this life or my next I will be rewarded for it. If I cheat you, then I will surely pay the consequences.

Me: This life or the next? So you believe in Heaven?

Old guy: No, actually, we don't believe in Heaven. We believe in reincarnation.

Me: What?

Old guy: The belief that you live, die, and come back to life as someone or something else based on the deeds you did in your past life.

Me: Got it! I better go so I don't get home too late, but thanks for filling me in on your religion!

Old guy: Anytime!

So, that was my day in a nutshell. I learned a lot about the Ganges, but I forgot to ask him my most important question of all..... why doesn't McDonalds (or any other place for that matter) sell beef??? Where's the beef?!?!?! Oh well... I wonder who I will meet tomorrow!

September 24, 1960

Dear Diary,

     I woke up today and was craving (again!) a beef sausage buscuit like the ones I used to eat back home, so I went to what I thought was a McDonald's, but the sign looked different.  It didnt have an "M", it had a wierd heart with out the tip, but it had the same colors, so I walked in and told the cashier that I was a tourist and was wondering if this was a McDonalds.  She said yes and that the sign was written in sanskrit which is the historical Indo-Aryan language and is a part of Hinduism. Upon hearing the word "Hinduism" I realized there was alot more I still have to learn, but I decided I would research that when I got back to the hotel while eating my sausage biscuit. When I ordered my sausage biscuit and made sure that I said beef, the cashier said that they didn't serve any cow products. What happened next may have been a little uncalled for. I was so mad that nobody serves beef that I began to throw a bit of a hissy fit... "What do you mean you don't sell cow products?!?! I just want a beef sasusage biscuit! Is that too much to ask? You do realize the chicken isn't the only edible meat on the planet don't you??" After a few seconds, the cashier began telling me that the cow is very sacred in hinduism.  The cow's four legs correspond to the four pillars of dharma. To which I responded(now more calmly), "What is dharma?" The cashier said dharma is the divine path that humans are called to follow; in other words the universal balance of life.  Realizing I was holding up the line and had caused a pretty big scene, I thanked her for enlightening me and ordered a chicken biscuit and left so I could go research more on hinduism. 

May 12, 2008

     Dear Diary,

     It's been a while! I was digging through some old boxes, throwing stuff out, putting stuff in boxes to give to my grandchildren, rearranging some shelves, ect. when I saw this. I read the previous five entries and couldn't help but laugh. That was an experience! I was so young and naive. I can't belive I didn't offend all of the people I met there. I said in the first enrty, "I guess it was fate that I fell asleep on the train." That may have been the one intelligent thing I said back then! I'm much older now. I not only have kids, but I have grandkids. after my study abroad I came back to America and I researched Hinduism more. The religion absolutely fascinated me. Now, I am not Hindu, but their ideas like Karma and reincarnation are really interesting to me. For years after my visit to India, I read books on Hinduism, talked to people who were Hindu, and I even went to their temples a few times. When I was 61 I went back to New Delhi. I revisited all of the places I had visited when I was 21, but I had a much bigger appreciation of everything. I went and sat on the steps where I had met that man so many years ago. He was so patient with me. My words could have really offended him, but he didn't get offended at all! As I was sitting there, a young girl came up to me and sat down looking kind of disguisted. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Hey, what's wrong?

Girl: How can all of these people put themselves and their children into such gross water?

Me: Have you ever heard of Hinduism?

.......

I think you know how it went from there... I've learned a lot about Hinduism over the past few years. Now I'm passing you off to my granddaughter. She is 9 and she's learning about India in her class. Maybe she can share some of my adventures from this. Who knows, maybe she will go to India one day. Hopefully she will know more about Hinduism than I did!

Death is....

     I was on facebook last night you know just kind of scrolling through the newsfeed, avoiding homework, chores, ect. when I saw a pictue that my friend had liked. I clicked on it and read a story about a guy in his physics class talking arguing with his teacher about God. I'm pretty sure the story was fake, but there was a quote in it that I really liked. I think many people misconstrue death. This quote explains kind of where my outlook on death is. He said, "Death isn't the opposite of life, it's the absence of it." To explain this theory, he used the potent exaxmple of cold and heat. Heat is an energy. You can create it. Cold is not an energy. You can't create it. It is simply the absence of heat. Death can't happen without life. Life is a thing, we can create it. A person can't die unless they have been born. It is a result of life. Some people allude to death. Some people can't fathom it. In movies, books, paintings, and other creative works, death is almost always captured as a sad sorrowful time. It is rainging outside, everyone is wearing black, sad music is playing, clairvoyant people are trying to console sad mothers with news from their lost loved ones, ect. However, life and youth are usually captured as exciting, eventful, it is a beautiful day in the summer. Everyone is at the pool, wearing bright yellow and orange, fast, lively music is playing, funny, obnoxious teens are pranking each other. However, for me, death isn't this dark, terrible thing. I am extremely religious, so my outlook on death from that perspective is that it's something that we should be excited about because everything on Earth that bothers us, hurts us, makes us sick, ect. will be gone and we will be in the presence of our perfect creator. It will be a perfect, placid place. However, I know that people all have different thoughts on the afterlife and I want this to be a blog post, not a sermon, and I don't want this to be an endemic paper, so I will try to keep it more my overall opinion on death than my religious opinion. Death is certainly unfathomable because our knowledge is very superficial. We have all not existed at a certain time, but in my opinion that isn't how death is. Death is much bigger and more complex than that. Death could be thought of in the litteral tense. You know... when someone stops breathing, their brain doesn't work, their heart doesn't pump blood, ect. Death could be thought of as conclusive, the end all. But I don't think of it that way. I don't think this perspective is disreputable, I just have a different opinion than I believe a lot of people do. I think that death is an adjective. It describes someone. Death is also a state of being. It is a condition. It is very possible to be dead while your heart is pumping blood, and you're breathing, and your brain is working. In the same way, you can be alive when you aren't breathing, your heart isn't pumping blood, and your brain isn't working. What am I talking about??? Here's a story... My friend, Keegan, died this summer. When I say this I mean the way you think of death not the crazy stuff I was just talking about. She crashed into a telephone pole that was protruding from the ground... well I guess all of them do... anyway, she wasn't wearing her seatbelt and flew through the sunroof. So yes, she died, but is that it? This girl who was known to be an exemplary person with high integrity just doesn't exist anymore? Of course not. Actually, she is still alive. She is still influencing people. Her brother, her parents, her step-sisters, her friends, her aunts, uncles, cousins, and everyone else who knew her well are being affected by her daily. Her brother, parents, adn friends think of her every day. She influences a lot of decisions that they make. She has affected many many people with such a tragic death and will continue to. So, even though she isn't alive, she isn't gone either. Famous people like Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and others come to mind when using this example because they too did not die. Their legacy could live on forever. When you think about it, everyone, whether it's Michael Jackson or Keegan Ward, has affected others and when they are gone, the lives of those they have touched will be forever changed. However, like I said earlier, you can also be dead while still living. I think of those who are depressed. So depressed that they talk to no one. Now unlike those who are physically dead, these people are unconnected with the world. Whether their depression is for a pretext or a truely sad, harsh circumstance, they're lives are not the same as a dead or living person. Their loved ones don't really miss them because they are still here, but it's like a vegetable in a human body. It's hard to connect to them on any level. They are affecting those around them, but not in a positive way or in a way that makes people talk about them and remember them. It is as if they aren't here. However, if they died, they would be missed, talked about, remembered, moms would write books, dads would give speeches, ect. But while they are alive, they are more dead. I also believe that sometimes death is more powerful than life. When I say this, the one thing that always comes to mind (besides Christian martyrs) is bully victims. If a person is bullied and there is a news report interviewing them, people say, "How terrible.", "Those bullies should be stopped", or even "Well they are just looking for attention. They are being guile." However, when someone commits suicide like Phoebe Prince or any others, people want to take action. Things like Rachel's Challenge get started. Death brings on things that life never could. Death isn't just an itinerary. It is something that I belive placates all of us in a way life never could. Death is not black and white. Death is... starkly unclear. Death is... the absence of life, not the opposite of it.
FWI: none of this was plagiarism. (sorry couldn't think of another way to fit this in!)


song: If I Die Young by: The Band Perry

TRUST FALL

Truth is.....

Like my status for a TBH, Truth Is, Let's Be Real, ect. These are common posts on facebook, but how truthful are they...infact...what really is truth? "Truth is... you're super sweet and really cool to be around. I love you soo much! We gotta hang soon! ILY!" This was a post from one of my friends onto the facebook page of a girl she told me the day before she didn't like because the girl was contentious. So to who was she telling the truth and how do we know? How and why do we believe anyone? I was born in a small town with not much nearby. My family was very well respected. My mom was known as a very garrulous person. My dad was the pastor of a big chuch there. Often during his sermons, which I considered my thirthy minute respite, he would tell a blithe story on the subject of what he was preaching about. Well obviously... anyway, during the story or at the very end of it my friends would almost always ask me, "Is that a true story?" "Yeah" I would say. But I would think... why would they doubt him? Who would get up there and lie? His job was to be the Bible's exponent. Why did they not automatically acquiesce what he says? Now as I am older, I realize that people do things for selfish reasons.People will be allured to lie or will will lie in order to make people covet their belongings, make someone crestfallen, or even to be lamentable. So how do we know who is lying and who is telling the truth? Whe you say, "Excuse me, do you know where Walnut Street is?" and I say, "Yes, you have to turn on the sinuous Fayettville Road and go about three miles until you see 7th Street, then turn right onto Walnut." How do you know I am not a crazy killer trying to lead you into a death trap? Truth is... you don't. Until you drive down those roads and find the first right on 7th street, you don't know if what I'm saying is accurate. In court, lawyers and witnesses are sworn in to tell the truth. When a witness gets up to profess what happened, they are swear on the Bible to tell "the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help them God." What's to stop a prosecuting witness from lying because they feel the "wastrel" defender deserves a retribution. In the movie A Few Good Men, there is a trial for a man who was killed in his room at a millitary camp. The general had asked two of the guys who were vanguards to kill him, but he has lied to everyone about it. The general was a pretty well respected, sonorous man. Most people probably thought of him as insuperable. However, his life was completely disheveled. At the end of the movie, many people looked at him in an askew manner. Truth is... we have all lied once or twice in our lives. I think trust is a misnomer because it implies you believe the person is telling you the truth and rarely do people tell the full truth especially when questioned. It may even be unintentional. I think faith is a better word because it implies that you don't know they are telling the truth but you believe they have good intentions and are not trying to decieve you. So... truth is... I still have like 30 more words to go and I'm not sure what to talk about... I guess I will explain the first few stories at the beginning of this paper. Truth is... most of that was not the truth. I did grow up in a small town where my family was highly respected, but I was not born there. That post was not from my friend and there was no contntious girl. I'm sure it happened some day somewhere, but not to anyone I know. Now, obviously, I did that on purpose, but what about the writers that do it for personal glory like Stephen Glass? Can we trust what we read, see on t.v., or hear? Probably not, but we hae to make our own decisions on what to think, believe, and be extremely careful about what we say. Truth is... a very simple thing that can become very complicated.



song: Winnie the Pooh's- Trust In Me