Business to Take Care of

   No matter who you are, or what you accomplish, you will always have unfinished business. You will always have regrets, you will always leave unfinished goals. Every task can be done better, every goal achieved in an easier, more efficient way. A life of no regrets or unfinished goals is a mediocre one; these imperfections are what allow us to see our faults and improve on them.
   For me personally, there are many things I have left unfinished, many things I would have like to achieved, many goals I did not reach. But that is not to say that I have not accomplished any of my goals. There are just as many things I am proud to say I have completed while still in high school; there are many goals that I did not expect to reach.
   In the time left--which is no longer two months because this blog is late--I can see my list of tasks and goals shrinking; I have to be much more selective with what I put my time into. There is not enough time to do everything, so I must prioritize and work on solely the most important work. Looking back, there are many things I would have liked to complete, and goals I would have liked to reach. Most of these things are not exactly things I did not complete, but instead things that I completed late. If I could start over, I would get things done earlier, not putting everything off way past it's due date.
   As for the future, I have many goals and aspirations. There are so many things I would like to accomplish. The road ahead is exciting, and I won't soon make the same mistakes I made in high school. I know I'm ready for life after high school for many reasons: college life will fill my time with exciting, interesting, and career relevant assignments; the real world will give me responsibilities, allowing me to be independent and self-supportive; and I will have the time and leisure to be able to decide what I do when, allowing me to better budget and schedule my time to what works best for me.
   So although there are many things I have yet to accomplish, and many things I have accomplished just a bit too late, I can honestly say I am proud of my successes in high school, I have learned from the mistakes and failures in the past four years, and I am ready for what the world has to offer in the future. 

Wise Men Among Us

     Wisdom means many things to different people. It can mean book smarts, street smarts, and everything in between. However wisdom means only one thing. What makes a person wise is more than what may appear.  Good grades and college degrees do not make a person wise. They may imply wisdom, but such a conclusion is the result of a misleading understanding of what wisdom really is.
     Wisdom is not success; it is not an elevated mental ability. Wisdom is something that anyone can have, at almost any age. Wisdom is a reflection of maturity; wise people are psychologically very mature. This is not to say that all wise people are old, or that mature people are always wise. Wisdom is gained through experiences, but those experiences alone give you no wisdom. It's only when you take the time to think critically about those experiences, and exercise your brain in every way possible that you gain any wisdom. Because, wisdom is not experience; wisdom is not intelligence; wisdom is understanding. Wisdom is an understanding of one's self, others, and the world around them. It is a heightened awareness of how the world works in a philosophical way rather than a political or economic manner. Wisdom is using your brain continuously. Wisdom is using your brain to its full potential. Wisdom is more than knowing facts or recalling information. Wisdom is understanding and comprehension of more than facts and previously stated information. Wisdom is gaining a deeper and more powerful type of knowledge through exercising your brain and continuing to create new thoughts and ideas, developing those thoughts, and further progressing ideas and understandings.
      At the risk of sounding self-centered, I like to think I am a fairly wise person. I admit I'm not a philosopher or a playwright. I'm not a mathematician or a physicist. But what gives me some wisdom is the amount of time I spend thinking: thinking about my own life experiences, thinking about events in the world, thinking about anything and everything I encounter. I am still at a young age, so I wouldn't go as far to say that I am a wise person, but I would say that I have done well with the time I've had so far. Compared to most of the other young adults that surround me, I can spot only a few that share my characteristic of analyzing and over-analyzing daily situations and philosophical ideas. There are a handful of wise people in today's society. Present day philosophers and thinkers are few and far between, and this irritates me because everyone has the potential to be wise, and so few people seem to take advantage of such potential. We can all be wise. We are all wise. That's what makes us human. Most of us just need to see our potential.

Apples to Apples

     Jobs vary from the seemingly insignificant tasks to the crucially vital necessities. But how do we determine where on the scale an occupation falls? What makes one job more or less important than another? Where do our respective occupations fall on the number line of job significance? It is difficult to pinpoint where one job would be compared to all of the others. There isn't a single order of importance; there isn't the most and least important with a line of others in the middle. It's comparing apples to oranges. You can't say a doctor is more or less important than a teacher because doing so is paradoxical. The teacher can't be more important because the doctor is saving peoples' lives, the teacher is just providing information. Yet one can argue that without teachers, would there even be any doctors? So which one is it? Is it the person who saves people that would otherwise die today? Or is it the person who teaches the doctors who will save people tomorrow? Is the present more important to preserve the future? Or is planning for the future and ignoring the present a better option? Who's life is more valuable? Mine or my future child's? The decision cannot be made, each option is contradictory. So the importance of jobs is not a scale, it cannot be measured in numbers or figures; it is more of a matter of how and why each job is important. What makes each job important is the only thing we can determine, and in my opinion, there are two categories a job can fall into.
       Jobs can be progressive, innovative, making life easier for humans. These include most jobs: doctors, scientists, engineers, lawyers and politicians, as well as waiters, clerks, garbage men and the often-looked-down-upon task of pumping gas. Whether they are glorious and pay huge salaries, or they are demeaning and pay minimum wage, these are the jobs that make life easier. These are important to society, because they advance society and keep it going at the fastest speed possible.
      There are a few jobs that don't make tasks in life easier, but make life more worth living. These are the arts: music, painting, photography, film, tv, culinary arts, video games, drawings, pictures, color, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings. These are the things that make life so beautiful. They put meaning into life, and join us together as an intelligent, caring community of people. Without the arts, life would be very bitter, dull, and depressing. But without the jobs that make life easier, how could we go on to make the arts? Neither are better or more important than the other, because they are both essential to the future of the human race. The make-life-easy jobs invent, discover, and innovate. They continue to advance the world so that we will make it to tomorrow, and that we will not have to fight to survive. The arts ensure that future is one that's worth living in.

Love is...

Well, love, of course is ____complex­­­____ and ___confusing___, with a little of ___emotion___ mixed in. Love cannot be seen, smelt, heard, or tasted. It can only be felt.

Love is often described as indescribable. That’s not much of a description, but I think it says a lot about the mysteriousness and power of love. Poets and great literary minds alike have tried to describe love forever. Love is something everyone knows, but no one can quite describe into words exactly what it is. It’s something everyone can recognize when they see it, but cannot explain it to a foreign being incapable of such emotions. We can only understand it because it's engraved in our instincts and nature. It's not something that you can explain or define as a single element. It is a spectrum of emotion, far more complex and mysterious than words can describe; yet here I am, assigned to somehow describe what love is, how it works, and where to find it; I must explain the unexplainable and find words for something that there are no words for, like describing colors to a blind man. 

             You don’t find love. Love finds you. It is not a place, it cannot be found. It can only brought out from within each person. It comes out when it decides to, it emerges only when welcome, when the environment is just right to nurture such complex emotions. Love's only habit is being unpredictable. Sometimes it seems so elusive and distant, yet at the strangest of times, it is suddenly so within reach, so tangible and fulfilling. Those who are filled with love everyday can within minutes be completely drained of it. Alternately, someone who lacks love, someone filled with hatred and disgust can be completely changed in an instant, love being the primary force responsible for the turnaround.
             One can't have too much love, be loved too much, or ever want to rid themselves of it. If such situations appear to occur, then the emotional factor is most likely not love, but something different: admiration, jealousy, lust, obsession. Love is so powerful and so single purposed; it's so mysterious and misunderstood. It's impossible to explain, impossible to describe. Attempting to put love into words is, again, harder than explaining to a blind man the difference between yellow and red.

RISK: The Game of World Domination

I don’t take many risks in my life, or at least, I don’t see them as risks. I always want to take a risk over playing it safe, because even if the decision turns out to be foolish, I can always say I learned something out of it. I can always say I grew as a person and that I’m better off for the experience no matter what the circumstances. So I take many risks, but don’t necessarily view them as such. I see it more as taking advantage of every opportunity. It’s not a risk if every outcome is positive; some are just more positive than others. No matter the outcome, it’s always better to have the experience, the knowledge, and the pride that results when you take risks.

I may have written about this a few times before, but this experience in my life was very significant, and it helped me to grow and learn in many ways. Junior year, I took three AP classes. At the time it didn’t seem like much of a risk. As time went on, I realized how risky this decision actually was. The possibility of failure came into my life for the first time, and the consequences of this were, to me, unimaginable. It quickly became a learning experience, teaching me how much work would be involved in life, and how much effort was needed for specific tasks. That whole year was one big risk, one that went from good to bad to good. It started out happy and exciting. A challenging curriculum, exciting new material, and the opportunity to think critically and go further in depth was great. Then the work started to pile up and I learned what a risk I had taken. I refused to give up though, and constantly turned my experiences into learning experiences, eventually making up all the work. That year ended on a better note, receiving three out of five on all three AP exams. I was very proud of myself and the risk I had taken, not because I had ultimately succeeded in the end, but because I had learned so much and had grown so much and I had matured so much because of the experiences I had.

Other than this occasion I can’t recall any real risky things I have done. Maybe it’s because of my view on risks, maybe it’s because I tend to play it safe more than I realize. I’ve never put much thought into how many risks I take and how many situations I take the safe road. It’s something I want to think about more, realize risky situations when they happen, and see what I would do. It’s risky to think so critically about yourself, because you might find something you don’t like. But I think that’s a good thing. If you never find your flaws, you can never hope to fix them. 

The Union's Current State

Citizens of the United States, the country is in the midst of an economic, defensive, environmental, and political setback requiring years of work and dedication to resolve the issues this country faces. There are no one step answers to any of these problems. I’m not going to tell you there is. I’m not going to say that my ideas are going to fix everything right away. Because that’s not possible, and I’m not going to chase after a get-rich-quick method of governing this country.

The issues we face today are difficult ones, and with hard work and effort, in time, we can get back the exceptional America that once was. The economy is not going to rebound completely with a bailout. That might help, but we need to do all we can to better the state of our economy. We need to stop waiting around for someone else to fix it for us, or wait until someone tries to and fails so we can tell everyone that they messed up. I agree with a tax raise on the wealthy. The highest levels of the upper class have more money than they could ever spend, while people in the middle class struggle to keep their homes. That doesn’t imply that we are going to take the money from the rich to help out less successful individuals. I also want to cut spending on many programs, including the ongoing war in the Middle East. We are causing our own problems over there, and the more we involve ourselves, the more we become the enemy. The more we fight, the more we are bring fought. We are our own worst enemy when it comes to foreign affairs because we say we are helping people, but were just pissing other people off. The UN told us to stay out of Iraq, but we didn’t listen. Look where that led us. Yes, we have taken out Osama Bin Laden, but there is always going to be someone to take his place. We can never completely stop Al Qaeda, but we can at least stop making them angry at us.

The environment is continually getting worse with each passing day, and we the people have a responsibility to care for it. The move away from fossil fuels is slow but constant; miles per gallon of the average car continue to rise. Again, the adaptation to alternative energy sources will not be a quick one. It is a process that will take many years to complete. But with continued progress, the environment will get better, the energy crisis will subside, and the American people will be the ones to make it happen through advancement in technology and innovative new ideas.

We can make a better America, let’s do it together.

All Down the Drain

There is air, water, land, plants, and animals. The air is dirty, the water is polluted, the land is drained of resources, the plants are few and far between, and the animals are mutated. If these all have to be in balance, then the entire scale seems to have gone down the toilet. The air needs the plants to have high oxygen content. The plants need water to grow so they can provide oxygen for the air. The animals also need the water so they can grow, and also so that there is plants to eat. The land needs to be rich and fertile so the plants can grow, so the plants can make oxygen and provide food for the animals. Unfortunately, humans are supposed to fit into the animal category, yet we have separated ourselves from the entire system. We pollute the water, the air, deplete the land, cut down the plants and push animals toward extinction through overhunting, overfishing, and hazardous conditions on land, air, or sea. We ruin the land, air, sea, and plants, leaving nothing for the animals. But we are the animals. We may not think we are, but what were taking from the animals, were actually ruining for ourselves. The environment and balance of nature hasn’t seemed to be of much concern to anyone until recent years. But even now with better fuel efficient cars, greener production and trade, and cleaner energy sources, it doesn’t seem like were doing nearly enough. We have already caused so much damage, most of which we cannot undo. Our efforts to stop our trail of destruction have only made our path a bit smaller. We are still ruining the world we live in. The environment can only take so much more until it will eventually collapse in on itself. Each aspect of nature supports the other. Once one is taken out, all others will fall.

            The only reason that the aspects of nature are still in balance, is because the environment is incredibly resilient. No matter what we throw at it, nature can somehow bounce back to a stable state. In today’s conditions however, I don’t think the environment can take much more. We’re moving at an exponentially faster rate than we were even a few years ago. We expand and grow and create more and more waste, without giving nature any time to catch up. Even though we are trying to slow down, we’re till leaving the environment in the dust. We do just enough to keep people happy, because that’s all we’re focused on. People complain about the environment being in a poor state because it is affecting their lives. We do just enough to make it not our problem. We keep people happy, not animals, or plants, but people. And we will continue to keep people first until the balance of nature completely collapses and threatens to bring people down with it. But by then, it will be too late to save the environment, and therefore too late to save people, because the balance of nature will be forever lost.

Not Where, But When?

If I could travel to any time period it would be to before the discovery of America. I would want to live with the Mayans and learn all about their mysterious culture. They were light-years beyond their time, and yet somehow mysteriously disappeared. They had bizarre sacrificial ceremonies, enormous pyramids, and an advanced calendar system that was shockingly accurate. They are one of the only civilizations that we all know about, yet know nothing about them. We know some of what they have done, but we know so little about how they actually lived, and how they actually accomplished these magnificent feats of construction, invention, and massive ceremonies. Other time periods were interesting yes, but that’s also the reason why they are not interesting. We already know they were interesting times. We have no recorded history of the Mayans. They disappeared in a flash. They simply vanished with no warning. We don’t know if their time period was interesting or boring, or anything about what it was like. We know they had sporting events, but we don’t know exactly how they were played, when they were played, how important they were, if they had any meaning, if it was just a way to pass the time, if it was a large part of their society, or anything about the sport. That is just a sport. There is so much more to a society than just a sport. Imagine how much we could learn form such an advanced society.

            The Mayans can also teach us so much about the colonization by the Spanish. Most of what we are taught in school regarding the discovery of America is very pleasant information. What really happened was quite gruesome and gory. The Mayans fought the Spanish harder than any other civilization. They had no capital city, so the Spanish had no central target to take out. Instead, every city fought tirelessly against the Spanish. They refused to surrender. Their culture is so unique and interesting, that no other time period compares.

            Specifically with the 2012 predictions lately, it would be interesting what the Mayans would say about it. Would they say “We just decided to stop making calendars”? Would they say “Yea you guys are screwed”? Or would they have no idea what were talking about? We assume the Mayans had this elaborate idea about the end of the world, and had accurate predictions about the exact time of when it would occur. But is any of this true? Is anything we know about the Mayans true? How much of what we know is accurate? How accurate is the information we know?

            Are the Mayans that much different from every other culture? Were they so advanced? Or is it just the mystery of their culture that makes us want to believe that they were advanced? Maybe they were much more primitive, but because of the lack of information, we fill in the pieces with interesting, plausible information to make the Mayans seem so much more amazing.

Life Sentence for Everyone

If I devised a prison system, it wouldn’t be ideal, mainly because it would be considerably more expensive than our current system. However, I think it would be more effective at not only punishing criminals, but also changing them into better people. Not by forcing them to change, but by exposing them to the consequences of their actions, and keeping them until they realize how their actions and way of life is negatively affecting themselves and those around them. It would be similar to how the scared straight program works. Instead of punishing juvenile delinquents, they are shown what outcomes can come from their actions. In the prison system, prisoners would be shown the effects their actions have already had. Murderers would not be murdered. This prison system isn’t about punishment but about redemption. Instead of telling prisoners they’re bad and they need to be locked up, it tells prisoners they’re good, and they need to see why what they have done is wrong. They need to understand the impact of their crimes and truly regret them. Murderers will be shown the entire funeral service and grieving family. Relatives, friends and anyone who knew the victim would be allowed—while supervised—to share their thoughts with the murderer. Then murderers would need to be shown what it is like to have a relative or close friend taken from them. They would be shown what it is like to lose someone. There would be less prison guards and more psychologists, working to change how criminals view crimes. Rather than seeing how their crime would benefit the criminal, they have to learn how their crime is hurting so many more people. They are taught a lesson in morality. In my prison, there are no sentences. You are not put in prison for a set amount of time. Everyone goes in and doesn’t leave until they are deemed fit for society. Some may spend the rest of their live in jail. Others, would learn their lesson, maybe after a few years, how their actions were bad. Once they accept responsibility for their actions, are sorry for what they have done, and all of this is confirmed by a psychologist, they can gain their freedom. Young kids making stupid mistakes would get out earlier, to be productive aspects of society; the most evil and cruel criminals would spend much more time. If they can’t see what they did was wrong, their jail time did nothing but anger them. Once they get out, they aren’t going to be any better. They are just going to go right back to their old ways. In my prison, people wouldn’t be able to just serve their time. They would have to prove that they can abide by the laws. Everyone is trusted to follow the laws until they break them. Then they have to prove that they can be law abiding citizens, and that their crime was an exception to their usual behavior, and not routine, nor will they be repeated.

Wildcard Topic Results in Nonsense Blog

Wild Card! This reminds me of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. I think I’m just going to write every thought that pops into my head in the order they do so. I have to pee. I’ll be right back…..ok I’m back. So..what to write, what to write, what to write? Hey if I just think that over and over I’ll finish. But I don’t think I’ll get an A on it. Hmmm… This is weird because I think of something and then write it down and then think it again as I write it. Does that mean I can write everything twice? But then I’ll think it again. Could I just write one word over and over because I’m thinking it over and over? No, that would get me a bad grade too. I have to stop thinking of shortcuts. There aint no rest for the wicked, money don’t grow on trees. Oh sorry I’m listening to music and I had a break of thought. This is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Damn wild card topic. Why do you have to be so generic? I wonder what we’re doing in school tomorrow. Oh I hope I don’t get stuck in Rob’s volleyball team again. It was much more fun with the other senior team. Only 220 words. Great I’m almost halfway there. (that was sarcastic) this is taking much longer than the other blogs. What does that say about how active my brain is? I think I just insulted myself. I just have to hit that 500^th word and I’m done. Even if it’s in the middle of a sentence. My feet are cold. Where are my socks? I thought I just took them off. Oh here they are. My feet are still cold. Isn’t Kevin supposed to be in bed by now? It’s like 9:00. well, almost. 314 words now. I think I’m going to be checking that quite a lot. 328 words now. 331. ok stop checking that. As it turns out, I have few short thoughts. I think it’s because I have to write them down, I can’t continue thoughts because I’m writing down other ones. I’m learning a lot about the inner working of my brain with this blog. It sure turned around compared to the beginning bit. That was just nonsense and rambling. I think my thoughts are getting slightly more intelligent. No, they’re flowing together more. They have more continuity. 412 words. It’s ironic that I would abruptly halt thoughts after writing the word continuity. I find that to be quite funny. Apparently I’m quite easily entertained. I want to check the word count, but I know I shouldn’t. I know I’m not there yet because I can see 412 and I’m not that much further. What kind of food do we have? I’m hungry. I hope we have some of those brownies left. Ok word count now. 490 oh so close. Well I’m going to get something to eat and I should be over 500 words now.

Where in the World?

I want this. Unlimited money and three months to travel wherever I want, experience a plethora of different cultures and ways of living, trying new and exotic foods, meet fascinating people, learn all about the people, cultures, and societies we share this world with. I would go to 6 or 7 different places. I would go to the United Kingdom for 2 weeks. I would go to Brazil for 2 weeks, I would go to Africa for 2 weeks, I would go to Australia for 2 weeks, I would go to China for 2 weeks, I would go to Germany for 2 weeks, and finally end up in several countries across the Middle East for another 2 weeks. I know I’m going over the time a bit, but I’m across the Atlantic Ocean by now, and you can’t stop me. If I could go to more place I would, but I;m already over the time limit. I would try to stretch it out across the whole globe, to all different cultures and societies. From the rainforests of Brazil, to the deserts of Africa; from the vast plains of Australia, to the mountains of China; see the rough history that once separated the UK and Germany in brutal war; and end it in the Middle East that has long been the center of war and controversy. Each location has its own geographical and cultural differences and unique traits. And within each location, there are even more unique levels of sub-culture. This is where the 2 weeks in each is important. You see, at each location, I would spend the first week with the unlimited money as a tourist, stay in the finest hotels, eat at the best restaurants, see the sights, and see the finest of everything each has to offer. The second week, I would spend little to no money. I would live on the street if I had to, or with locals. This week would be more exciting and interesting than the first. The second week is much more of a learning experience. I would see how the average person there would live every day. Learn their foods, their routines, their daily activities, their fun, how they live their lives. These people could show me more in one day than unlimited money could show me in even twelve months. I would learn all about the vastly different cultures of vastly different places, most of which I currently know little to nothing about. Everyone should be able to do this at least once in their lives. War would not exist. We as people would be far more united as a common species of one planet rather than individual countries of individual lands and seas. However people may not use it as intended, most likely spending all their money in one place, staying in the nicest hotel, ordering room service and rarely leaving the room. But people should be able to more easily experience other cultures, religions, races, ways of living, foods, and societies. There would be far less judgment in the world.

Comfort Food

What is comfort food? There’s so many things that can bring us comfort: a hug from a family member, a warm blanket in the cold, a familiar face in a crowd of strangers, a home. But why food? How does food bring us comfort? It can bring back childhood memories, give us a literal as well as psychological warm feeling, happy thoughts of a loved one that has passed on, a feeling of being home. So food can give us very similar thoughts and feeling of comfort that other things do. And comfort food can be anything; it can be any food, and snack, any appetizer, any dessert. Comfort foods are different for each and every person, and each food for a different reason. I like pizza; I like cake; I like cereal and milk; I like steak; I like sandwiches; I like iced tea. But what is comfort for me is not comfort food because it gives me memories, or because it’s my favorite food. The foods that give me comfort, that make me feel good, are fresh fruits. On the contrary, foods that give me no comfort are quite interestingly the foods that are comfort food for many other people, this food being fast food and junk food. These foods give me no comfort, but instead make me feel almost sick, and physically less healthy. A juicy apple on the other hand, is my comfort food because after eating an apple, I feel like I can take on the world. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and in my opinion, that make a lot of sense. Fruit is what makes me comfortable, it makes me feel healthy. Grabbing an apple in the morning kicks my day off on the right foot. An apple rejuvenates me after a long run. Strawberries and bananas are a great dessert, ending my day with more comfort food. It’s interesting that most people’s comfort food is chocolate or candy or junk food, mostly foods you should limit in your diet. Strangely I can’t eat more than a little of these foods without starting to feel sick. If I eat too much sugar, I feel sick to my stomach; too much chocolate, I get nauseous; too much junk food, I begin to feel tired and lazy. It’s strange how these foods can have such a strong impact, seemingly being so minor. And when I eat fruit, I feel clean, healthy, and ready to take on the day. Comfort food is not something to make me feel ok when I’m sad or lonely, it’s something to get me going, to get me up and out, to motivate me to live. Comfort food is a strange concept to me. Mainly because it does not have the same meaning to me that it does to most other people. Comfort food is not a tub of ice cream and a spoon, it’s an apple, an orange, a banana, or a grapefruit. Fruits are my comfort food.

Deep Questions

How can people be so oblivious to their own actions? Why has society become so self-centered and selfish? What happened to looking out for one another? What happened to treat other the way you want to be treated? What happened to being human? Aren’t humans supposed to be pack animals? Aren’t we supposed to work together as a society? Isn’t that what being human is all about? Why is everyone so concerned with trivial problems in their own lives? Why are they so focused on how they look, what other people think of them, how popular they are, how much money they make, how much money it looks like they make, how much money other people make, how cool they are, how many friends they have, how much alcohol they can drink, and how many parties they attend? Why is the cast of the Jersey Shore so popular? Why are those people idolized? When did these traits and behaviors become acceptable? Why doesn’t anyone care about anyone but themselves anymore? Am I the only one that thinks this way? Are there still some kind-hearted young individuals out there somewhere? Or has everyone become ignorant, uncivilized, selfish creatures with either an inability or a refusal to learn anything outside what they currently know, a blatant disregard for the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of others, that assume they know everything they need to know from what they have encountered from their experiences, their view, and their thoughts? Why does no one realize how bad our youth is? Have children, teens, and young adults always been this way? Is this a more recent trend? Will it ever change? Will it change for the better or worse? Why is there such a lack of culture or sophistication? Who is to blame? Is it really the fault of the children? Are they just following what they see? Is the whole world as evil as it appears? Am I wrong? Am I the one that is unusual and different? Is my way of thinking the wrong one? Is either way of thinking better or worse than the other? Does anyone else think about this? Does anyone else at least share my thoughts, but not necessarily my opinions? Do I think too much? Do I look too deeply into things? Or have I just escaped the trap of ignorance and undeserving pride that has befell my many classmates? Am I as smart as I think I am? Am I misinformed? Do I have a false sense of pride in my own opinions and life choices? How do I know? How can I determine what is right and wrong? If what is true and fact is merely what the majority agrees on then aren’t I the minority? Doesn’t that make my thoughts wrong? But my thoughts are based on what everyone agrees it means to be human, so I can’t be wrong right? Can I be right and wrong at the same time? Is everyone being hypocritical? They know what is right, but why do they still do wrong? Is it just human nature to conform? Is it really that hard to avoid peer-pressure and choose the right path? Am I ignorant to the full power that peer-pressure truly can possess? Why can’t I get away from the degradation of civilized society? Why do I somehow not share the same mindset that everyone around me seems to have?