Thankful For A Classmate

I am thankful for Cory Gatlin.

I first met Cory in the 7th grade at the academic center at Morgan Park. There we had many memories as little kids running around a high school. Us students were often loud, obnoxious and annoying but these were the funnest times I have had. Cory and I didn’t socialize together much at Morgan Park and after graduation I definitely thought I would never see this person again.  

When we graduated from Morgan Park, I went here to Whitney Young and Cory to Lindbloom. However, the first day of sophomore year, when I walked into my division room, there he was sitting at a desk. Not only had he transferred into Whitney Young but he was also now in my division. The last person I saw this person, we were walking across the graduation stage in white gowns. I found it crazy that someone from my past (someone I had completely forgot about) was now all of a sudden in my life again.

I had many fun memories at Morgan Park and have been fortunate enough to still have some of the people I made those memories with still with me today. Cory is a constant reminder that nothing is ever over. You may not ever see the last of someone. No matter what, I have realized, parts of my life and the people in my life are reccuring and can pop back up when I least expect it.

It is cool that years later I have friends like Cory, that I thought I may have once lost, still with me.

Alone

I think Siddartha and Chris McCandless both separated themselves from society and people in order to find themselves and their Self. I think that they felt that the only way to find this was through experience and misunderstood that experience must be done alone.

I first saw Into the Wild freshman year in Mr. Locks American Lit class. During that time we had been discussing transcendentalism and read Walden. Throughout the unit I became really interested in the idea of finding “peace in nature” and started to really reflect on some of the statements made about society and its influences on our lives. When we watched the movie,

I really resonated with Chris's mission and was all for what he was doing. I wondered if journeying out alone would really lead to self realization.

When Chris died, I was blindsided. I couldn’t believe that that was how the story ended, that that was the fate of Chris. I really wanted him to find everything that he was looking for and just couldn’t comprehend why it didn’t work out for him. Siddartha, like Chris, was hoping to find some deeper meaning and left behind many people in his doing so. I have rationalized it to myself that we need people in order to find Self or learn about anything. As both Siddartha and Chris argued for, it is through experience that we learn. But I think people and our interactions with them are major contributors to our experiences.

Interactions with people are our experiences. I think Chris and Siddartha misunderstood. Just because you don’t want to be taught by people, doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them.You don’t have to listen to their lessons and be influenced by them in order to have meaningful interactions that contribute to your journey to find Self.

Everyone is connected and separating themselves from everyone lead them both astray. In the end I think both characters realized that sharing happiness, peace enlightenment (etc) is important. Siddhartha's final moment with Govinda and Chris’s realization about happiness both verify the fact that in the end, they both weren’t alone. However, I do wonder if given the opportunity, would either one of them opt to go back in time  and complete their journey any differently?

We Still Haven't Figured This Out Yet!

     There isn't anything to figure out! That's why we haven't figured it out. This meaning, this purpose, this truth that everyone seems to be driving themselves crazy trying to figure out, it doesn't exist. 

     I think it's human nature to need purpose behind everything they do. We get fulfillment from knowing that what we are doing means something and nothing gets done if it not for anything. We want to know about everything. Why are we here? Who am I? We're all just wondering aimlessly looking for answers to questions that doesn't exist. Meaning where there isn't any. 

        I don't think there is one definite truth or meaning. I don't think there is ONE definite anything. I think truth and purpose are all up to the individual person and people get sidetracked looking for something that holds true for everyone. Throughout life we all go through our own personal journeys learning about and experiencing life as we go. But in the end, when it's all said and done, we still don't know anything more than what we started out with. 

        I think we all need to stop trying to figure things out; stop getting distracted. Instead, just live. We are wasting time trying to figure it all out, but maybe we aren't meant to. 

How Do I Know What I Know?

       You know what you know because of the learning and observing you have done since childhood, after you know to believe. Beliefs comes from questions, criticizing that leave you to interpret what you've been taught. In addition to what you've been taught in text books and by parents, everything learned from experience. Once you gain that experience you interpret it and analyze it. 

        You know what you know because it is what you have grown to believe. I think it all starts when you are young. You start off learning and observing from different experiences you have. We take after and learn from our parents, teachers and other influential figures during our childhood development. You learn from your text book that 2+2=4 and that Columbus discovered the Americas. From your parents what is right and wrong. 

         But it is after we have learned that we begin to criticize. It is this that leads us to believing and knowing certain things. We examine our life and the things we've been taught to see if they're accurate and if we agree with them. After you analyze you determine if you want to follow and believe in the things you have been taught. You know what you know because you have been taught it and after a process of examination, come to accepted it as truth and knowledge. 

        The things that are not proven or accepted are rejected. We no longer believe in them. Humans always want to make sense of things they do not know. So we set ourselves out on a quest in order to find the truth. 

        I think that trough learning, experiences and a lot of examining we decide what we think is true and decide to accept as what we know.

The Garden State

I take the garden state  to be the utopian society.  A place in which everything is perfectly perfect, amazingly amazing and happens for the best.

    Candide left the garden state in search for something better. I think that it is part of humans to naturally want something more. we are constantly striving for something bigger and better than what we have. Us, just like Candide, are inclined to always search for more.

In the story El Dorado represented  the utopian society. However, despite the optimal life El Dorado could provide, Candide left because he felt he could gain riches in another place. I think in real life people have the opportunity and chance to live happily and in an utopian/garden state but chose not to. Instead of having everything well and happy they get greedy for a fame, fortune and happiness that suppasses others. Our greed overcomes us and determines our actions. In real life we abandon the garden state because we think we can find something better.

As we discussed in class, the idea of a garden state is subjective . Everyone has their own opinion of what utopia looks like and different ideas on how to achieve this society. Although, I wonder if this utopian/garden state is actually real. How do we know that this (the world we live in now, the way it is) isn't the utopian state and isn't the best of all possible worlds? I question if we are being greedy and fantasizing about a garden state better than the one we live in now. Maybe this (the world and life we live now) is El Dorado and  this is as good as its going to get. By striving for another better world we are leaving our own El Dorado in order to get something better. something better that doesn't actually exist.

Maybe this is the garden state. This is as good as it gets and us as a part of human nature want something more. I don't know if the garden state actually exist but I question rather or that if it did, would be satisfied  with it? would it be enough? or would we leave our El Dorado in search of a better life?

         In the end, Candide did realize his own garden state.  It took a very long time and many unfortunate events, but he got there. I think in real life we need to take a page from the book. We are all Candide in the sense that we'lre always looking for something better. I wonder what it would take (hopefully nothing copared to what Candide went through)  before we realize that we need to tend to our garden and be conetent with what we have.

Candide's Punishments

Candide's punishments do not fit the crime. Maybe it is because this is a satirical novel and Voltaire is being over dramatic to get his point across, but the "punishments " in this book are severe. Punishments in the story are wild and extreme. They are done carelessly and without much thought. Possibly it is because we now live in a society where these are considered cruel,  unusual and against a person’s civil rights that I feel this way. However, I feel that within the the story there is a lot of unnecessary and unjust tragedy, violence and misfortune.

Rather it be direct punishment from the fictional town’s local government or karma that brought on the hardships of these characters, it has been distributed randomly. I think that the punishments given out are being given to the wrong crimes. Character’s such as the Old Lady and those hanged alongside Pangloss, seem to be facing hardships despite having committing any real crime. So far in the story Candide has killed three people and has not been punished for those crimes. However, he received beatings from the Bulgar army for talking a stroll and exercising his free will. I think that the punishments do not fit the crime because so many things are sliding by dealt with and unprosecuted while trivial things and innocent people are being affected.

I think that this says something about how things are dealt with in real life. While In today’s society we arent resulting to running the gauntlet or hanging people for criticizing religion, there tend to be instances when small things can be blown out of proportion and big ones go by undetected.  People should put more thought into not only the punishments they give out, but rather the crimes deserve the level of punishment given.

The Modern Gadfly

The Modern Gadfly is the person who critics and questions certain aspects of life. Socrates made people examine their lives and beliefs. Voltaire mocks and criticized many concepts in Candide. I think that in today's society, everyone has a little gadfly in them.

So many integral components of our lives are drilled into us from day. Often times we’re influenced by our parents and pressured by society to think and behave a certain way. These things are drilled into us starting the day we are born.

Many people probably go along with their lives, but i think that somewhere at some point in time everyone has at least wondered. As we grow older, i believe, we start to question or at least examine some of these concepts. Have we been looking at a cave wall our entire lives? I think the Gadfly in all of us sometimes questions what we know. It goes back to the unexamined life. I think in today’s society, we all to some extent examine life and are all to some extent the “modern gadfly”.

However, sometimes our gadfly moments are short and infrequent. I think sometimes people are very quick to analyze aspects of their lives and just as quickly to dismiss their findings. On the other hand, I think there are few people continue with their investigation and critique of life and alter their beliefs and ideals accordingly.

         I think Stephan Hawking is a prominent modern gadfly. Over the years he has established himself as someone who uses science to contradict many generally accepted phenomena such as religion and the creation of the universe. I think that while everyone is entitled to their own opinion, figures such as Hawking overstep by over critiquing other peoples beliefs. The Gadfly is useful in helping people to make sense of their lives but it becomes a problem when that critique is offense and intolerant. 

           I personally wonder rather the gadfly is good or are we better off without it. I question the intentions of the gadfly. Is it here to help us analyze our lives? Or to poke holes in everything we believe? I think that while there is a little gadfly in all of us, to a certain extent we have to limit the influences it has on our lives and decisions and what we truly believe.

Unexamined Life

Alice Walker wrote in the Color Purple “I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ask. And that in wondering bout the big things and asking bout the big things, you learn about the little ones, almost by accident. But you never know nothing more about the big things than you start out with. The more I wonder, the more I love.” I strongly identify with this quote and as a result agree that an unexamined life isn’t worth living. The examination of life in my opinion leads to revelations in the smaller components of life.

By wondering about or examining life, people can learn more about themselves and who they are. Evaluate their current lives and consider their future. Analyzing leads to purpose and meaning. In today's society, many people live their lives day by day, too consumed with their superficial problems. They are blissfully unaware that they aren’t actually living. I think that it is necessary to examine one’s life to see if it is actually being lived properly and productively.

Examination can also force you to rethink your beliefs and actions. Many times people just go with the flow, but no one ever thinks to question what's going on. Examination and the questioning of certain aspects of one’s life can lead a person to change; or to a stronger and assured confidence. 

              Without the questioning or confidence, I think people will be lost. Living lives that aren't up to their full potential. I don't think anyone will ever fully or successfully examine life or figure it out, but i think that in every one's pursuit to try to do so, they will learn a lot about themselves and the lives they’re living.

ME

My name is Clark Lewis. I was born and raised on the south-side of Chicago, Illinois. I currently live here with my parents and two younger brothers. I am a very easy going and nonchalant person. I am happiest when I am relaxing and socializing with friends. In my free time I like to run (I am apart of the Track and Field team), watch TV and paint my nails and listen to music.

My goals this school year are to first and foremost graduate high school. Secondly, I would like to relax and really enjoy all that my senior year is going to offer me. In past years, my focus has been doing everything possible to make myself look like the ideal college applicant. This year, I aim to socialize more, have more fun and take in everything that will be happening around me. When I leave Whitney Young I want to know that I have experienced all that the school is.

My high school experience was one that taught me a lot about myself, who I am and where I would to go in my life. Whitney Young has challenged me and I feel that because of it I have evolved tremendously over the past years. As I am currently a senior in high school, I am starting the process of applying for college. I feel that I have grown a lot during my high school years and I would like to attend a university that is going to allow and encourage me to continue doing that.