Anthem Chapters 11-12

"The word which will not die, should we all perish in battle. The world which can never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and the meaning and the glory. The sacred word: EGO"

I didn't think the sacred word would be ego. I thought it was simply "I". I think "I" is more important than "ego". "Ego" is not an every day word. I rarely hear it, but I use the word "I" hundreds of times a day. Even in this post I've said "I" six times already. It is more important for Equality to learn the word for a singular person. Throughout the novel he is trying to become his own person, to distance himself from the whole. "I" is the most important word he can learn.

Two Ayn Rand Quotes

"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality"

I can relate to this quote right now as a senior in high school. I spent the first few months of this school year basically in denial/disbelief that I have to go to college next year, and to go to college I need to apply. I put it off as much as I could because I didn't want to admit to myself that I have to leave Bishop Kearney, on of the only two school I've ever attended and the school I've gotten use to in the last six years, in a few short months. Because I avoided applying for colleges as long as I could, I spent Thanksgiving break panicking about getting my application in by one of my top college's deadlines. I would have saved myself a lot of stress if I started the process at the beginning of the year.

"Never think of pain or danger or enemies a moment longer than is necessary to fight them."

This quote is basically saying not to dwell on the bad things in life, always move forward. I agree with this immensely. My mentality is to forget the past and live for the future. Don't let anything bring you down, especially people (I hate people). When something bad happens to you, move on. When someone makes you angry, be angry for a little while and then let it go. Don't let outside forces decide whether you are going to be happy or not. If you choose to brush things off and be happy, you will be happy. Only I have the power to control my emotions.

Ayn Rand Quote

Ayn Rand is saying in this quote that people spend their whole lives searching for happiness but never truly find it because most people are tricked by society's definition of happiness. I agree with this quote. It is hard to tell the difference between what I want to do or what society wants me to do. I think I want to be a nurse for the rest of my life, but is that really my dream? How does anyone actually know what they want to spend their life doing? I think I want to go to college for nursing, I think I will be happy pursuing this career, but I honestly have no idea. My judgment is too clouded by society.

Power (Finally Writing About Harry Potter)

I very much do not want to write about power. However, I have nothing else to write about so....
As most blog prompts do, this one makes me think of Harry Potter. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we learn much more about Albus Dumbledore than we ever knew. As a teenager, Dumbledore was power hungry. He and Grindelwald had plans to become the most power wizards of all time through acquiring the three deathly hallows. After he, Grindelwald and Aberforth, Albus's brother, killed their sister, Albus changed. He saw his mistakes, and he became a truly good man and an incredible wizard. From then on, he was encouraged by the wizarding community to take office. He was asked multiple times to be the Minister, but he turned the position down every time. Dumbledore knew his limits, he knew that he could not handle power. Power makes him do crazy things. Most people struggle to gain more power, but Dumbledore struggled to resist power.

First Quarter of the Rest of Our Lives

Senior year sucks. (Yes, that is my first sentence, thank you for the snicker) I knew I would be overwhelmed with college things, but I didn't know teachers were going to drown us in homework too. Last year I got all of my homework done in school, I rarely had to do anything at home other than study. This year I haven't gone a day without doing homework at home in at least a month. Once the homework for that day is done, there are college essays to write. I am very terrified excited for college, but right now it seems like high school will never end. I know that once it's over it will seem like it went by way to fast.  Here is a picture that pretty much sums up this year so far

 

Fictional Characters Gone Wild

In William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, the protagonists go through a change that the society at the time did not approve of. As a young girl, Juliet was not expected to be her own person. She was supposed to be obedient to her father until she was married, and then be obedient to her husband. Juliet was already promised to Paris when she fell in love with Romeo. They were not officially engaged, but he had his mind set on marrying her, and her parents had their minds set on them getting married. There was nothing she could do to stop it. When she met Romeo and fell in love with him, she broke the standards of society. She refused to marry Paris, going against her parents. She and Romeo wanted to get married and spend their lives together. They got married in secret, going against their family's wishes. Romeo was too young to be married at the time, therefore he also broke the standards of society.

Inanimate Objects

Authors use specific inanimate objects as symbols to move the plot along. In Lord of the Flies, he conch shell is not just a shell. It symbolizes democracy and power. Whoever holds the conch shell is supposed to be the leader. Since Ralph is the one that found the shell and called all the boys together, he was given the title of leader. Also in Lord of the Flies, Piggy’s glasses are a symbol of wisdom. Piggy is logical and intelligent, when Jack’s hunters break the glasses; it symbolizes a loss of common sense and knowledge.

In Khaled Hossieni’s The Kite Runner, the kite starts off as being a symbol of friendship. Amir and Hassan flew kites together in competitions and for fun. They feel very close when working together to keep their kite up and knock others down. As the novel progresses, the kite becomes a daunting symbol to Amir. By the end, however, kites become a symbol of friendship again. 

And the Mountains Echoed

I started reading And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. I chose this book because I love his two other books, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I’ve only read the first 20 or so pages so far. I almost never like the beginning of books. All that is in the first few chapters of most books are a description of the characters and setting. I like that Hosseini started this novel with a story. It’s different than most books in that way. After the story, however, he jumps into characters and setting descriptions. Right now I find the book pretty boring, but I’m sure that will change. 

Judging Blog

People are constantly being judged for being different. Everyone judges whether they mean to or not. There always have been and always will be racial stereotypes. I admit to jumping to conclusions about a person based on their skin color or general appearance.  It isn’t just a racial thing; it can be because of gender or appearance. The way someone dresses determines how people will judge them.

I have seen people being judge based on their race, but I have also seen people judge themselves on their race. I’ve seen people at school “act black” around black people, but “act white” around white people. I’ve joked about stereotypes plenty of times. The only way for people to stop judging each other is for the stereotypes to end. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that stereotypes will ever die, and people judging each other will ever end.