We like sportz and we don't care who knows

     I recognize that sports play an important role in many people's lives, and is one of the main parts in many cultures.  However, I don't really view sports that way.  There is no thrill in watching other people play, though personally I do enjoy playing the occasional basketball game.  People follow sports players like movie stars, looking at them as larger than life characters.  However, with a few exceptions, they just do things that not a whole lot of other people can do (no one really follows around like, rocket scientists, but I bet that not a whole lot of people could do that either. 
     When I personally play, its lots of fun. But similar to that no one wants to simply be on the bench and watch, I hate to be even LESS involved and just be on a couch a couple thousand miles away.  Maybe thats just me, but sports don't really influence my life.  I play them when I want, and don't really watch them. 

Letter to CM

Dear Cormac McCarthy,

     Though I have only read one of your works, ‘The Road’, I feel that you have made a good connection between writer and reader.  Words and characters that may not share your views, but you are aware of them.  You can get to know a person from what they say, no matter if they believe it or not.  The contradictions of characters’ opinions may show your argument in one.  After all, a bias is sure to show itself if you simply make up an argument between one that you agree with and another. 

     Anyways, I’m writing this letter just to ask how you really feel.  What’s your take on the topics, and whose side do you personally take?  The characters should hold at least some of what you think to be true, and I’d like to know which character that is. 

           --Eric

The Class's New Direction

     The fact that you ask us what a new direction should be for the class implies that you don’t think our class is in the best direction it could be going in.  So maybe it’s not, but maybe it is.  In grade school, we had a fairly boring class, but there was one thing the teacher did that kept it interesting.  The representative that I talked to today from Marquette University also had been exposed to this kind of method by one of his professors, as he told me. 

     What my grade school teacher did was announce before the class that a particular student had been caught cheating on a test and we had a choice: we could all take a zero as a class, or she could take the zero alone.  We voted, and after the class ended the teacher explained that it was in fact a lie, and that she was not being punished for cheating.  It was simply an experiment to see what we would do. 

     The Marquette professor’s way of doing it was slightly different.  He taught a religion course, but at some point told his students that he came to the conclusion that God did not exist.  For the next three weeks, he held a discussion, and completely turned down and beat any arguments that God existed.  During the fourth week, he revealed it was untrue that he believed that, and that it was done simply to see the reaction. 

     A direction like that would be perfect, keeping everyone alert, and playing devil’s advocate a little more seriously. 

F/S, M/D, M/S, and F/D

     The relationships that we maintain with our family vary between members.  Everyone acts differently around different people, especially concerning family.  Sex and age that are shared means that more can be shared between them.  This being said, the pairs of father and son and mother and daughter are closer than another assortment.  The pairs that cannot relate are more careful around them.  A father cannot relate to his daughters problems, and vise versa.  A mother’s reaction can be bias, basing the daughter’s life off of her own. 

     For example, a boy and girl, siblings, decide to go to a party in a bad neighborhood, by themselves, separately.  A father would allow the boy to go alone, but might be more cautious of the girl going alone.  In his mind, she is more vulnerable for bad things to happen along the way.  He can relate to the boy, and is not worried because he hasn’t had any bad experiences.  The mother might be equally wary of both children, but I personally cannot speak for her because I am not a woman and cannot relate to her situation. 

     The relationships we hold with family are precious, but sometimes we simply cannot relate.  When the age difference is too great, different generations can’t relate.  The situations could be unheard of to the parents, while commonplace for the children.                              

How do we know what we know?

     To us, it seems like a simple enough question, ‘how do we know what we know?’  But how about for the first ever people?  It is a very difficult concept to understand, but I suppose that the first people began to make up “facts” which we simply built upon.  There is no doubt that we know far more than those before us, it is evident through our culture and technology.  Colors, for example.  They could realize that all of these “things” had a certain quality to them, but had no word for it, or way to express it.  The first spoken language was most likely a series of grunts, or noises we would not normally see as a language.    However, it was this way that they could describe these qualities, or colors.

     From then on, it became far more organized, and taught in a way that people could understand.  By pointing to all of these objects which share the same quality, it could be inferred that the noise they made when pointing to these things was describing that quality. 

Our Meaning

Our meaning in life is varied, different for every person.  If you ask my meaning, it will be drastically different from yours, though the two may be interrelated.  Every action, and every reason for every action is predetermined, as well as linked to one another.  When one person’s purpose overlies with another’s, they are destined to meet.  Anyone you have ever met, even for only a minute, has played a very significant role in your life.  Perhaps if you had not said hello to a person in passing, you would have caught your train, on a travel that could have changed your life forever.

Even the smallest actions affect how the rest of your life will be played out.  For that very purpose, everyone has a purpose, to how they affect others.  It may not be evident at the time, which is the reason for no one truly “knowing their purpose”.  Not only does everyone have multiple meanings for their life, but it means that they hold the future in their hands to some extent, of everyone they have ever known.

Modern Day God

     As time goes on, respect for everything seems to slowly disappear.  Even the sacred has become less so in the eyes of modern day society.  Though God is still revered and praised among the world and throughout different cultures, the connection has changed.  Not too long ago, people viewed God with great fear and love.  They lived their entire life devoted to a sole purpose, influenced by Him.

     However, the tradition of old has changed.  Though the belief is still around, the devotion and the action are no longer here.  People used to die for their religion, giving their lives not as an escape but for a purpose.  Their lives were not viewed as given in vain, but as given for the prospect of more life, whether it is others or their own. 

     Traditions are still mainly kept to how they were, but some interpretations are taken differently.  These different interpretations and sub religions no longer lead to nearly as extreme of violent acts.  Before, wars could break out at a basic disagreement.  Now, people can freely make humorous remarks about God without any fear of punishment from society. 

     By far, God is less respected and feared in modern times.  However, people have no limit to their love of God.  They continue to show the world that mankind can continue with all of its purposes, and can live up to the expectations set for them.  The thought of God can continue to influence people, whether for better or worse. 

Candide's Punishment Fits the Crime

     At the beginning of the story, Candide commits an act that, while in modern times would not be a big deal, was huge at the time.  The kiss was the first act to lead to all of his further punishments and the relinquishment of his innocence.  Though Candide was rightfully punished, it was not by a righteous person.  The Baron was therefore also later punished.  Cunegonde was the instigator, the “snake”, if you will, so naturally she too was punished. 

     As the story progresses, it is observed that Candide is in fact not only being punished for the initial action.  When he leaves, his naivety slowly begins to disappear, and he gains knowledge through his experiences.  He is punished not for not knowing enough, but for knowing too much. 

     In this time period, the starting act would have been compared to a modern day affair.  Taking that into account, it is not surprising that what happened occurred. 

Modern Day Socrates?

     There is no public figure in modern times that can be related to Socrates.  Challenging other public figures may seem like it, on talk shows and such.  However, these hosts do not do it for their own enjoyment and for learning, but instead do it mainly for the entertainment of others.  This is the main difference between modern day "philosophers" and Socrates. 
     Socrates taught by example, with followers to observe said methods.  But Socrates most likely would have continued even if there was no audience, for he had no deadline, or money to make by doing this. On the other hand, not many hosts would be willing to do so if not for the incentives of pay and fame.  If they were, the humor would not be shown so blatantly to the observers.
     People who are not publicly known are more likely to have Socrates’ ideals.  I do not know any people like this, and have never met one.  I don't think there is anyone of our time period that I know, though I think there may be someone like that out there, doing it in private, with perhaps very few to no followers.

The Unexamined Life is Still Worth Living

     People always think that no matter what, they can never be truly satisfied or happy.  They must always have something more than they already have.  In the viewpoint of some, life must be always used for a purpose.  But is life which is spent simply living not also life?  Acceptance that life will not always fulfill your wants is important to know.  Why question something that you yourself only have the answer to?  If you cannot think of a purpose for which you live your life, think of the reasons you were given life in the first place. 

     The parents, who had you, were (hopefully) in such a state of happiness as to want to bring another into the world to experience it.  If you can keep looking forward, to try and achieve and find the feelings that they had at one point.  Their views towards life were so great at one point.  You don’t need to question why you are alive, but rather what you will do with your newfound glorious life. 

     Why would anyone need to question their life?  Well, I’m not going to say that it I am completely unable to relate.  Some people have doubts in their life, and are unable to go through anything without having to rely on something.  Life is made, simply for the purpose of living.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with telling yourself that it’s fine, just to be the way you are, and to live the way that you live.  As long as you can be happy in life, how it’s done doesn’t need to be questioned. 

Eulogy

For many years now, Eric Klein has done things interesting, inspiring, legendary even. Now, after an incredible act of bravery and martyrdom, he has passed on. Before his death, even in his short life, Eric was able to meet new people, and forever change their lives. Of the lives he changed, mine was overwhelmingly so. When I began to live life as he did, with passion and with no hatred, I saw the world differently. He really could see the beauty in things, and taught me to do the same.


The last time I saw him, was about an hour before his death. He never said “goodbye”, only “see you later” because he had no intention of having his life shortened. He was expecting something pleasant, and truly appreciated the things that life had to offer him. However, what he put before him, were two other’s lives. He had no hesitancy, when he ran down that alley to his death.

Now, I was not the one to find my good friend, it was the two that he had helped that had called the police. Unfortunately, they had made it too late, and the criminals had already made it off. The older couple told their side of the story: how Eric had dashed in with no hesitancy when a group of young men began to harass the couple. He had bravely told them to back off, though the men clearly had no intentions of doing so. They had reported that when the men told Eric that it was their idea of “fun”, that he had suggested that he took their place instead.

With every recognition of what he was doing, and knowing that he would not have fulfilled any of his own dreams, he stepped in to protect others. Eric Klein is truly a treasured friend of mine, and will surely be in my, as well as others, memories and prayers forever.