Arguably the preferred item at the park, the merry-go-round. Decisions that symbolize the merry-go-round are those that lead to a life of complacency. Don't take me wrong, it's fun and perhaps the most appealing, with its bright colors and creative seats. But these would be the decisions that have absolutely no risk and lead to a comfortable life, and even though you may be happy and think you are getting somewhere, your life is just running in circles, cycles of sameness, no growth, always staying a set distance from the ground. The easy way out.
We are all innocent, always. Our innocence is our source of knowledge. The more we know, our innocence becomes a more valuable source, thus improving the quality of our knowledge. These two contradicting aspects of life work hand in hand, they harmonize. As children, our innocence is intact but life experiences eventually begin to tap into it to fulfill us with knowledge. At some point, we think we have it all sussed out, and forget about our innocence. We then proceed through life, looking for knowledge in every place imaginable but often forget to return to our innocence.
Decision making is much like like a walk in the park. The decision itself should be like the ideal day at the park, a crisp and sunny day with an occasional cool breeze that has one purpose only, to sooth the soul. As you stroll along the park you see your traditional playground items, teeter totter, slide, and swing set. Each of these represents a process of making decisions.
At first you start with the teeter-totter. Right off the bat you have a problem, it requires two to make the darn thing work. Decisions should be ours, something we own and are proud to have ownership of. When you base a decision on others, you're not thinking for yourself and won't ever attain the things you aspire. In your mind everything is up and down and back and forth.
Well, that didn't go so well so you move on to the slide. A little more courage now, you alone have climbed a ladder and are about to descend. But this decision has little risk. It's a sure ride to the bottom and the thrill is rather short lived. Also, once you reach the bottom, climbing back up the slide itself is hardly a task. These are decisions you make, but take back after you caught a glimpse of the result. You owned them at one point, but since the result didn't fulfill you enough, you cheated the system and reeled it back.
Finally, you manage the courage to approach the king of the park, the swing set. The momentum you build as you start swinging is the calculation of the decision you are about to take. Once you are at full throttle and at the peak of your swing, when every sensation is pooled in your navel, you make your decision, you let go. Anything can happen in mid-air, but it's how you stick that landing that matters most. That will exemplify the result of your decision.
Once on the ground, there is an empty swing. You can either hop back on and decide for yourself once again, or allow someone else to feel the thrill of life for you.
Since I only caught half of the film, I would assume only half a blog is required. But in reality and in order to cover lost ground, I probably need a blog with twice the punch than the blog I would have written if I would have seen the entire show. Wow, I just made a competition with myself out of the assignment for this blog.
Competition, an underlying theme of half of the movie I watched. The competitive nature and inner workings of major networks was revealed in this movie. After an 8 to 5 most people go home and just watch, channel after channel, without acknowledging the intensely competitive 8 to 5's or perhaps the 24/7's that were carried out to put every alluring image on the screen. The scale of competition that goes on in these organizations makes me wonder how people, such as Diana, can live day to day with their competitive panic button on autopilot. But it's out there, and for the business, it takes people like that to surface to the top.
Our world is a contradiction that we should strive to harmonize but not resolve. Resolution puts an end while harmony is perpetual . The universe favors pairs, and they tend to contradict, night and day, electron and proton, man and woman. Without contradiction, these elements would cease the existence of the world we know, and because of their harmonization, we are given reasons to live.
More and more college degrees are becoming something like a glorified high school diploma. A lot of people have them, acquiring them only requires going through the motions, and they aren’t quite prestigious enough to attain the jobs we were once told required them. The education market has been flooded and basic economics have kicked in. Abundance tends to decrease quality. College graduate literacy is on the decline and the number of unemployed graduates has recently reached record highs.
Many of these graduates have been dubbed “boomerang kids.” Research shows that 40 percent of 2008 college graduates moved back in with mom and dad. The trainings wheels never completely shed off. Which makes me wonder, how much better is a college degree than a high school diploma? Obviously there are some specialized degrees, but those are often times a requirement for further schooling.
A solution comes to mind, drop the idea that school equals education. Education deals more with critical thinking, which cannot be taught, but it also cannot be learned if it is never exposed as an option. Critical thinking is more of a choice, but it has been made an unconventional choice. Not making the choice to think critically leads to misinterpretation of information, regardless of its source. Thinking critically is what allows individuals to develop, opposed to falling into a stagnant pool of collective minds. How critical can critical thinking be when all it takes is looking within for answers? It’s a sure source, and it’s unique for all of us.
It was a bleak time for a city divided by the struggle between communism and democracy when President John F.Kennedy delivered what arguably became his best speech to a crowd of over a million West Berliners on June 26, 1963. In the midst of the Cold War, Kennedy’s address spread hope among the Germans and built unity among American Allies. However, his infamous speech would be remembered for something far sweeter than its efforts to emphasize the failures of communism.
The highlight of his speech, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” an attempt to say, “I am a Berliner,” to most Germans translates to “I am a jelly donut.” To Kennedy’s credit, this almost epic language blunder was soothed by an approving roar from the crowd. He proceeded to thank his interpreter for translating his German and light was made of his remark. But on this global stage, the spotlight caught glimpse of something other than the U.S. underlining its support for West Germany. It shined light on the malnourished condition of multilingualism in the U.S. Had Kennedy been a known fluent German speaker, his patriotic German rhetoric would not have been associated with German dessert.
Despite being spotlighted in the 1960’s this lack of linguistic development remains an issue today. Being the melting pot that it is, the U.S. has somehow forgotten about the diversity of ingredients in its brewing stew and remains as a monolingual capital of the world. In 2000 the U.S. Census Bureau reported data on 30 different languages that were spoken throughout U.S. homes. This rich and varied list includes such languages as Arabic, Russian, Chinese, and Italian. All of which are spoken by half a million or more Americans. The 2010 U.S. Census is likely to further increase and vary languages spoken throughout the nation. In spite of this wide-ranging collection of languages, the U.S. holds a 9 percent bilingual rate compared with the rest of the world's 52 percent.
Perhaps geographical isolation puts the U.S. at a disadvantage when compared to the rest of the world. Other regions of the world tend to have nations with multiple international borders and consequently, more diversity in languages. Vast oceans separate the U.S. from any other country on either of its coasts. To the credit of the U.S., southern folks do tend to speak more Spanish due to Mexican influences but that quickly fades the further north you go. The same applies to Florida due to its proximity to the Caribbean.However, the geography has not prevented the U.S. from influencing every corner of the world, geographically secluded and all. Communication is not a one way process.
While the U.S. has been clenching down its jaw on English, the rest of the world has expanded its linguistic palate. In many countries people aren’t considered fully educated unless they speak two or more languages. Many times the second language they learn is English. Reasonable, considering English does dominate the business world. And that’s just it. While the rest of the world is making an effort to speak English, the U.S. has managed to get by with putting the melting pot on the back burner.
Well, the world will not always cater to the U.S. Besides, we have an abundance to work with. It’s time to fire up the goods in the pot. They have brewed long enough and our tongues are in dire need of nourishment.
Pondering through the produce section at Sun Mart it dawned on my how small and wealthy we are. I saw just about every kind of vegetable and fruit a man could ask for. Many of these goods come from distant lands. Then I thought, wow, this is just one section, at one store, in one town, in one county, in one state, in one country. All these riches, at our fingertips throughout the entire country. On a global scale, we have it pretty damn good. Then my mind pictured some jungle somewhere where some of this produce originated. The image in my mind sharply zoomed out from a birds eye view, I saw earth in outer space and then the concept of infinity struck me. On the grand scheme of things, Earth is just a flicker in our solar system, a pebble spinning madly around a ball of fire, in some galaxy. We are tiny.
I was recently made aware of an application on some phones that allow you to snap a picture of bar codes and it will pull up the product on your phone with price listings, or something along those lines. At a blooming 21 years of age, I remember a time when anyone who had those jumbo bag phones in their car thought they held a special place on the socioeconomic ladder. Having internet at home had the same effect. Of course, back then it was dial-up and when that irking dial-up sound resonated through the house, it was okay, because it was the sound of something new.
This was all roughly 10 years ago. It's only a matter of time before the latest technology we have now goes old school and becomes outdated.The bar code trick is hard to top, but before long it will be forgotten. A guy can't help but wonder, what's next? What do all these technology developing gurus have in store for the world? Incorporating every type of medium into a cell phone clearly wasn't enough. The thing is, people are spoiled now, they expect these dazzling concepts on their mobile devices. So, they'll keep it coming, abundance on top of excess.
Euphemisms are destroying the communication process. These destructive agents have taken the concept of a synonym a little too far. They are gradually turning the rhetoric of all those who engage in verbal communication into a lousy, hey mom look at me I still need my training wheels, lackadaisical, I am walking on shattered glass and am afraid to step on your feet, way of communication.
Darn, frick, and heck. Three well known destructive agents. All these terms imply the same thing as their original counterparts. How can they possibly be more acceptable, when clearly the intention to swear is there? The worst of the three is “frick.” Replacing F-bombs with frick is like settling with watching someone else throw a paper airplane after you had been promised to fly first class in a real plane. Say the word, or don’t say it at all. But euphemisms don’t just linger around swearing vocabulary.
For example, how many times have you sat at a dinner table and heard someone say, “If you pass me the peas that would be great.” Probably not very many because people are more likely to ask for dressing. Let’s try again, “If you pass me the dressing that would be great.” What ever happened to being forward, you know like, “Can you hand me the dressing please.” This euphemism business is closely linked to a theory that I embrace and that deals with the emasculation of men in our society (save that for another day). Don’t take me wrong, being polite is awesome. But talking like you are scared to talk is different business.
A subordinate clause—also called a dependent clause—will begin with at subordinate conjuction or a relative pronoun and will contain both a subject and a verb. Also, if a verb follows to, it is called an infinitive phrase and is not the main verb. You will find the main verb either before or after the infinitive phrase.
Well, what that means is beyond me and fortunately most of us can get by without having to understand it. It does however give a glimpse on how complex English is. Not only complex, but also vast. The average language has about 50,000 words in its vocabulary compared to English at around a million. Regardless, people across the world are taking the initiative to learn English. In fact in many countries people aren’t considered fully educated unless they speak two or more languages. And it makes sense, considering the globalization that is taking place.
Except, being the melting pot that it is, the U.S. somehow forgot about its brewing stew and remains as a monolingual capital of the world. Why? Perhaps the geography of the land and a little arrogance. Vast oceans separate the U.S. from any other country on either of its coasts. Southern folks do tend to speak more Spanish due to Mexican influences but that quickly fades the further north you go and the same applies to Florida due to its proximity to the Caribbean. To the north, well Canada is just nice and quiet, but right above us, so we should just do all we can to keep them nice and quiet. (Last week’s Olympic hockey game is a good example.) As far as the arrogance goes, yeah, English dominates the business world. So why not just kick it back while the rest of the world learns it. Well, that worked for a while, but times are changing and doing so at phenomenal speeds. The goods in the melting pot have brewed long enough. It’s time to start dishing them out and nourish our culture a bit more. ¿No creen?
While fixing breakfast this morning I caught the end of a show on Animal Planet. It was touching really, a lioness had lost track of her cub and they had finally found one another, something you would see in the Lion King, except this was real. The aww inspiring music began to kick in as the conclusion to the show began to blend in with the credits. Naturally, my mind began to wander about life in the wild and the many things it entails, especially in the savannas. But then the mood was abruptly altered when the music was cut off and the preview to the next show began to animate the screen. The next show: Me or the Dog. Me or the dog? Yeah it’s just the title to a show but the thing is, I just know this scenario has played out more than once, somewhere at some point, and the dog won. Whoever played “me” in this role, my thoughts go out to ya, that’s rough…really really rough.
