Alone

    When I was seven, I moved from Chicago to Florida. I lived in three different cities; Orlando, Jacksonville and Key West. I lived in Key West for about 6 months. It was really beautiful there, but the 6 months I spent in Key West were loneliest of my life.
     I entered the 3rd grade at St. Adams Elementary, in the middle of the year. I remember walking into class the first day and really hating the looks that my new classmates were giving me. The first few weeks weren't so bad. I didn't have any friends but it could have been worse. 
     One day, about a month into school, I had dropped my pencil on the floor on accident. I was about to pick it up when I saw a boy walking towards it. I thought he was going to pick it up, but he purposely stepped on it, then looked me in the eyes and told me I should have never come to 'his' school. What nine year old says things like that? He was obviously psychotic. From that day on he continued to bully me and made sure I had no friends.
     After he started bullying me, some other girl started spreading a rumor that I was really poor. She actually created a long back story as to how I ended up in such poverty. Looking back on it, I'm actually quite impressed as to how much detail she put in the story and I'm flattered that she would spend so long thinking about me.
     Needless to say, I was pretty depressed when I lived there. I felt like I would be put down my entire life, which is pretty ridiculous for a 3rd grader to say. After I told my mother how unhappy I was we moved back to Chicago, and so ended the lowest point in my life.

I Know This Means Somthing

   The holiday season is an especially good time to have this blog. That time of year where you and your family gather around a giant turkey and stuff yourselves silly to celebrate the roof over your heads. We forgive that really offensive thing our uncle said last Christmas. We ignore the fact that our crazy cousins, who live in the Bible belt, still refuse to condone gay marriage. The holidays remind me just how important family is to me. I know it means something to have a blood connection to a group of people. Family is this big group of people that you might not like, but are required to love because you know they are the people who will be there for you.
  I think life is more than just family though. Life is about interacting with other people. It's about agreeing and disagreeing with others. It's about laughing and helping others. I know it means something to have a connection with a friend over a favorite song or show. Friends are people who bring out the best in you. They are the ones you go to when you can't exactly tell your mother something for fear of being grounded. In some ways they are your family. They are more people to share experiences with.  Life is sharing with other people, and if you don't, what's the point?

First Quater Philosphy

       I have thoroughly enjoyed the first couple weeks in Philosophy. I have been forced to rethink a lot of my ideals that I have previously thought to be set in stone. Listening to other people's points of view allow me to strengthen my own points. However, I think a lot of people don't get heard as much as others. Part of that being because they aren't as confident when speaking, but its also due to other people's tendency to dominate the conversation.
         I like the books we've read but I'm not a big fan of group work. I like it a lot better when we can discuss the book as a class. I like being able to discuss philosophical ideas in a big group, because having more ideas in the conversation makes it a lot easier to wrap you head around the idea. Other than that, I've really liked the first quarter and I look forward to the second.

Voltaire and Camus; Election 2012

    Voltaire would vote for Obama. He really hated that whole idea of royalty being super rich, so I think he would like the idea of the top 1% of income earners paying some extra taxes. In Candide, Voltaire made some statements about how the clergy would preach the word of God, but they wouldn't help the poor. He believed in helping the less fortunate. He would support a big government that created programs to help the poor.
     Voltaire also believed in electing people based on merit. I don't really think I can speak for what he believes is a qualified person. Maybe he would think Obama more qualified because he has already had 4 years of experience as president and all. But perhaps he would have been upset at how Obama handled the past four years and would look for a change in leadership. Even if that were so, he still wouldn't vote for Romney. I could see him voting for the green party.
    Camus wouldn't vote, because it doesn't matter who wins. Or he would revolt. He would stage an overthrow of the government. Then he would become the the president. He would insist on a laissez-faire government and tell people they could do what ever they want.

The Meaning of My Life

    I don't consider myself a woman of faith, so some people will question my will to live. After all, if you are not living and doing good for the sake of a greater power, what's the point?
    But I find meaning in my life. I find meaning in the fact that I can find happiness in the things I enjoy. Even though I don't believe in life after death, I don't feel that is a reason to believe that life is pointless. I think its more of a reason to assign meaning to our lives. This is life is all I have, so I need to make it the best I can.
    I find meaning in the fact that I can affect other people. I make people laugh, or cry. I can share important moments with other people, and I can help other people through tough times. Sharing my life with others makes me feel like I am apart of something bigger than myself.
   At the end of his adventures, Candide concluded that life was about cultivating your own garden. I couldn't agree more. I believe that life is about finding what makes you happy and sharing that happiness with other people. Maybe my life won't matter to people 100 years from now, or in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn't matter to me. If in my life, I succeed in making myself and others happy, then I lived a meaningful life.

   

Candide's Punishment; Does it fit the Crime?

     I really didn't know how to answer this question. So, I decided to start with thinking about the first time it seemed that Candide was being punished; when he got thrown out of the castle. He was cast out onto the streets and, in his naivety, was tricked into joining the army where he was beaten.
     But what was the crime? Well, there may have been some less than gentlemanly actions in his run- in with Cunegonde. One of the seven deadly sins! There could be a argument to be made saying that a whipping is a fair punishment for lust. But it seems a little harsh to me. Maybe the crime was not his rendezvous with Cunegonde. Maybe his crime was being so innocent.
     Candide had no knowledge of the outside world for his entire life. People suffered not too far from Candide's best of all possible worlds. And he didn't question it. A person can only be a child for so long right? And if that's true, then is it not fair that he should be punished for allowing it?
      On the other hand, Candide really had no reason to question his best of all possible worlds. It was beautiful. He can't be blamed for not being able to fathom something that was never presented as a possibility. Candide didn't commit a crime, but a person can only be a child for so long. He was forced into a harsh reality, with famine, poverty, and crime.

How do I know what I know?

How do I know what I know?
What do I even know?
        I know that people should be tolerant of other people. I'm sort of a hypocrite because I often become aggravated with people quickly, but that's usually because they are intolerant. Personal experience has lead me to believe that a disagreement between two people isn't exactly grounds to start World War III.
         I have disagreed with people in my life, but that didn't make them my enemy. If they became my enemy it was because the did not respect my viewpoint. If they became my enemy it was because I told them what I know, and they disregarded it.
       Usually a debate between two people will not result in agreement. In a debate, you are exposed to a different point of view, and maybe you even realize holes in your own beliefs. If you enter an argument with the intention of changing someone's mind, your not going to get anywhere. If you try to force your beliefs on someone, your just going to make people angry.
       People know what they know because they have experienced it. But people experience different things, and people interpret things differently. I know that what I know is different from the next guy. So I have to be tolerant, or else I would hate everybody.

The Unexamined life is not worth living?

        Socrates believed that the unexamined life was not worth living. I have come to understand that Socrates was a pretty intelligent man, but I don't agree. I think that life is really about doing what you can to be happy, and I'm sure that philosophizing made Socrates one happy camper. But what if 'examining your life' isn't what makes you happy?
        Socrates knew that there are risks when studying philosophy. Sometimes the truth is scary. Sometimes the truth is painful. Maybe philosophy isn't everyone's cup of tea. And what's wrong with that? They could suffer from stupidity, but if they are happy why would anyone else have the right to say that their life is 'unworthy' of living.
         I might even argue a step further that is someone is to over examine their life, they wouldn't be living their life to its full potential. What if all you do is sit around and think about your ideals? Its all fun and good that you have that sorted out, but what about actually living?
         Personally, I believe that I should take time to think about very complex questions. I believe that I should participate is debates and politics, but only because those things happen to interest me. And if they didn't, I wouldn't take the time think about them.
        The person that I can have these philosophical debates with is my mother. She is the modern day Socrates. Mostly because she seems to question everything I do. She makes me rethink everything that I believed I had a firm platform on. She doesn't really provide me with any answers, or at the very least her beliefs because wants me to come to my own conclusions. Its actually really frustrating. I'm pretty sure she philosophizes for fun. She also may or may not have forced me to taking Honors Philosophy.

Eulogy

Kennedy Baldwin!
           What can we say about Kennedy Baldwin?
            Can we say that she accomplished much? Can we say that she did all the things that her mother said she outta? Can we say that one thing defined her? No, in fact we can't.
           There were so many things that she felt she should be able to identify with. She was half African American, and half Puertorican. But she never felt as though this connected her to anybody.
            She was an athlete. But she usually did her best to avoid competition, because she hated being at odds with another person.
            And though she tried to be very social, she actually would prefer to be at home than at a party.
            But I believe that things things allowed her to be the carefree person that she was. She did not pass judge books by their covers, she did not demand peoples attention, and she tried to keep a positive attitude about most things. Most of the time, she just wanted to laugh.
             Every summer, she went to a camp. It was in the middle of nowhere, really (Missouri). And it was the most important place in the world to her. The people she met became her family. And though she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do with her life, she knew that she would work there as a counselor. This was the only goal she was willing to do anything to accomplish. Yes of course family, friends, and college were very important. But in the end, this was what she knew would make her happy (even though her mother had a very set plan of her becoming a doctor).
              And so we mourn her death, but also we might be slightly jealous. That in just 16 short years, she managed to find the place on earth where she was happiest. The place where she was not insecure. The place where she was always laughing.