Monday, October 22, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Famous Last Words
"Wait a minute, red on yellow..."
"Cut the red wire, it's always the red wire."
"At least I have my back up parachute."
"And then I saw the murderer was-"
"In the flagon with the dragon...."
"Cut the blue wire, it's always the blue wire."
"Don't worry, it'll grow back."
"Uh-oh."
"Don't shoot! I'm unarmed!"
"Don't worry, honey! It runs Vista!"
"Cut the red wire, it's always the red wire."
"At least I have my back up parachute."
"And then I saw the murderer was-"
"In the flagon with the dragon...."
"Cut the blue wire, it's always the blue wire."
"Don't worry, it'll grow back."
"Uh-oh."
"Don't shoot! I'm unarmed!"
"Don't worry, honey! It runs Vista!"
Thursday, October 11, 2007
"...where at least I know I'm free..."
It's funny what we all take for granted.
A home, a school, a family.
Many children of the world aren't blessed enough to even dream of such luxuries.
Yet we overlook, and even scorn our own bed of roses.
I'm a Boy Scout. During our camp outs and meetings, we learn to love and respect America and the freedom that comes with our citizenship. Remember this as I go on to state how disappointed I was during the Pledge of Allegiance yesterday.
The speakers blared on and told us to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I stood and placed my hand over my heart. At the signal of "Ready, begin" I began to recite.
"I pledge allegiance-"
I quickly stopped.
Besides my voice, and the droning of the speaker, the room was silent.
Shocked, I looked around. A girl to the left of me was quickly jotting down some unfinished homework with her other hand limp by her chest. A boy to the right of her silently mouthed the words as his gaze wandered around the classroom. In the back corner, two girls were quietly chatting. A few students behind me were muttering the Pledge under their breath. The boy in front of me had his hands stuffed in his pocket with his shoulders slumped.
I was disgusted.
Don't these kids have any American pride? Don't they know how lucky we are to have our basic rights? Don't they know how free we really are? Why aren't they respecting all the soldiers that have died and are still dying for our country? Can't they remember how united America had to stand after repeated tragedies? Pearl Harbor. The World Trade Center. Is it all meaningless? Have not countless individuals died for our freedom? Can't we just show a little respect and recite a simple paragraph?
But then, my anger was quenched and I was overcome with shame.
For I, too, had fallen silent.
A home, a school, a family.
Many children of the world aren't blessed enough to even dream of such luxuries.
Yet we overlook, and even scorn our own bed of roses.
I'm a Boy Scout. During our camp outs and meetings, we learn to love and respect America and the freedom that comes with our citizenship. Remember this as I go on to state how disappointed I was during the Pledge of Allegiance yesterday.
The speakers blared on and told us to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I stood and placed my hand over my heart. At the signal of "Ready, begin" I began to recite.
"I pledge allegiance-"
I quickly stopped.
Besides my voice, and the droning of the speaker, the room was silent.
Shocked, I looked around. A girl to the left of me was quickly jotting down some unfinished homework with her other hand limp by her chest. A boy to the right of her silently mouthed the words as his gaze wandered around the classroom. In the back corner, two girls were quietly chatting. A few students behind me were muttering the Pledge under their breath. The boy in front of me had his hands stuffed in his pocket with his shoulders slumped.
I was disgusted.
Don't these kids have any American pride? Don't they know how lucky we are to have our basic rights? Don't they know how free we really are? Why aren't they respecting all the soldiers that have died and are still dying for our country? Can't they remember how united America had to stand after repeated tragedies? Pearl Harbor. The World Trade Center. Is it all meaningless? Have not countless individuals died for our freedom? Can't we just show a little respect and recite a simple paragraph?
But then, my anger was quenched and I was overcome with shame.
For I, too, had fallen silent.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Tic-Tacs
One night, after a particularly strong dinner, I went into my room to get my box of Tic-Tacs. I found it laying around the house a couple weeks ago and it became a habit to pop one in my mouth every few days. When I grabbed the small container from off my bookshelf I realized there were only six mints left. Disappointing I thought. But, as I poured one of the tiny mints into my hand, I realized that Tic-Tacs represented so much about our society that I detest.
They hide parts of us that we want no one to see.
Tic-Tacs are nothing more than an object of deceit. They are designed to hide our breath. The very thing that gives us life. What are we ashamed of?
We're ashamed of our problems. Our bad habits. Our strange desires. Our less desirable characteristics. The very things that would be the most beneficial to share, we hide. Why do the Alcoholics remain Anonymous?
Everyday we put on masks of how we want to be seen. We want respect. We want acceptance from those we look up to and admiration from those we look over. Why is it neccessary for us to hide if all we want is high esteem? Are we not good enough as ourselves? What's the point of being respected for someone we're not?
Each of us are perfect on the outside but none of us are who we are on the inside. We're all cookie cut Ken and Barbie dolls who can only see how wonderful everyone else looks and yet how horrible we are.
Even more disturbing is the fact that we can't even trust our family or our friends to accept our problems. We invest our lives in these people and they mean more to us than anything and yet we can't hope that they will be able to confide in our secrets. Will they not accept us for ourselves? What kind of friends do we think they are?
The worst part is that after the Wintergreen Taste fades away, your mouth tastes as bad as ever. We force temporary solutions to solve our eternal problems. It's like trying to change from the outside in. And, at the end of the day, the mask comes off and the only person we aren't able to fool is ourself.
Slowly, I popped the Tic-Tac in my mouth.
They hide parts of us that we want no one to see.
Tic-Tacs are nothing more than an object of deceit. They are designed to hide our breath. The very thing that gives us life. What are we ashamed of?
We're ashamed of our problems. Our bad habits. Our strange desires. Our less desirable characteristics. The very things that would be the most beneficial to share, we hide. Why do the Alcoholics remain Anonymous?
Everyday we put on masks of how we want to be seen. We want respect. We want acceptance from those we look up to and admiration from those we look over. Why is it neccessary for us to hide if all we want is high esteem? Are we not good enough as ourselves? What's the point of being respected for someone we're not?
Each of us are perfect on the outside but none of us are who we are on the inside. We're all cookie cut Ken and Barbie dolls who can only see how wonderful everyone else looks and yet how horrible we are.
Even more disturbing is the fact that we can't even trust our family or our friends to accept our problems. We invest our lives in these people and they mean more to us than anything and yet we can't hope that they will be able to confide in our secrets. Will they not accept us for ourselves? What kind of friends do we think they are?
The worst part is that after the Wintergreen Taste fades away, your mouth tastes as bad as ever. We force temporary solutions to solve our eternal problems. It's like trying to change from the outside in. And, at the end of the day, the mask comes off and the only person we aren't able to fool is ourself.
Slowly, I popped the Tic-Tac in my mouth.
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