Journal 5-Perfection

1.  Perfection is what everyone wants to achieve, in one way or another.  But what is it exactly?  The dictionary defines it as "the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects."  I'd define it as being as good as it is possible to be, where one can't get any better.  My philosophy is that nobody is perfect, or even close to perfect, because humans just aren't capable of being good in absolutely everything.  I think that even the best person in the world in a particular area isn't perfect if it's possible for them to get even a tiny bit better, which they always can.  If someone was completely perfect at something, they'd revolutionize their entire field and essentially make that thing useless, as no one could ever do any better.  I think it can be a good thing that nobody's perfect, because it allows humans to have a reason to continue to strive to keep getting better.

2.  In Tuesdays with Morrie, one philosophy of perfection was shown when Morrie said, "We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks-we're so involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going.  So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all?  Is this all I want?  Is something missing?"  This quote means that perfection is something that has to be thought about, because one has to think about whether they are missing anything and then perfect that in their lives.  It shows perfection doesn't come from just making money or having a successful career, but that it comes from other things in life.  The things that Morrie probably thought would be closer to perfection would be things like being able to love others, to forgive, and to be able to really think about things.  Another example of this philosophy was shown when Morrie said, "  I always wished I had done more with my work; I wished I had written more books.  I used to beat myself up over it.  Now I see that never did any good.  Make peace.  You need to make peace with yourself and everyone around you."  This shows that Morrie used to want to write more books and expand his career, because, like most people, he thought it would improve his life and make it more perfect.  Later in life, however, he realized those weren't all that important to a better life, so instead he concentrated on things like forgiveness and love.  The quote shows that perfection is more about making peace with the world and finding oneself than making tons of money or writing tons of books. 

3. I mostly agree with these quotes, because I think that Morrie is right that making peace with the world is an important step towards the perfect life.  However, I think that doing things like writing books is more important than Morrie does, because books can help people learn and think about things many years after the author's death, so they're  important to being the best one can be.  (I think being the best one can be is basically the same thing as being perfect, because it wouldn't be humanly possible for them to improve.)  For the most part, though, I think love, forgiveness, and making peace with the world are some of the most important things to consider while trying to achieve perfection.  I still think that excelling in a particular subject is important to perfection, however.  The book has made me rethink perfection, because before I just thought of it as being flawless in a certain area, but now I'm also thinking of it as just being the best one can be.  

4. My open-ended question is "What do think perfection is, and do you think it's possible to achieve?"

I think that perfection is being as good as is humanly possible, and being able to say there is nothing in your life you'd really want to change or improve.  I don't think it's possible to completely achieve, because as humans, we always have something that could be just a little bit better.  

Journal 4- Common/average

 1.Common and average seem to be often used terms, but what do they mean exactly?  The dictionary defines them as occurring, found, or done often and an amount, standard, level, or rate regarded as usual or ordinary, respectively.  I’d define common as being something that is often seen and occurs frequently, and average as being normal.  My philosophy is that some people go out of their way to be considered common or average, as they want to fit in and be “normal.”  I think that everyone has a different definition of “normal,” so nobody can agree on exactly what it is.

2. One philosophy about common or average was shown in “Tuesdays with Morrie,” when Morrie said, “Here’s what I mean by building your own little subculture… the big things, how we think, what we value-those you must choose yourself.”  This means that Morrie thinks everyone should try and build their own culture and not blindly follow someone else just to be average.  Morrie has never been common, as he has valued love far more than most people, and it has made him the person he was.  Another philosophy is shown when Morrie said, “Well, I have to look at life uniquely now.  Let’s face it, I can’t go shopping, I can’t take care of the bank accounts, I can’t take out the garbage.  But I can sit here with my dwindling days and look at what I think is important in life.”  Morrie is no longer thinking about being common or average, and he is instead focusing on doing what he does best.  Morrie doesn’t value trying to be average, he just does what he thinks his right.  

3.I would agree with these philosophies, because I think people spend too much time worrying about how they’re different from everyone else, and like Morrie said, that everyone could live more interesting lives if they developed their own philosophies.  Everyone is so influenced by marketing and the media that they start to think that they have to be like everyone else.  This book hasn’t really made me change my opinions, however, because I basically thought that the whole time.

4.My open ended question is “How important do you think it is to be common or average?”

Personally I think that it isn’t very important, because it doesn’t really mean very much.  I think life can be enjoyed more if one isn’t constantly worrying about being normal.  

Journal 3-Success

1.  Different people have different views and definitions of success, as there is no one clear definition.  The dictionary defines it as " the attainment of popularity or profit."  I would personally define it as having made a positive impact on people around you and the world, as well as having personal fame or wealth.  My philosophy is that success can be reached in a large number of ways, and almost anyone can reach it, because I think anyone with a positive impact can be considered a success.  People who start or own huge corporations are also successes, of course, but I think they are a very different kind of successful.  

2.  In Tuesdays with Morrie, a philosophy of success was shown when he said "Wherever I went in my life, I met people wanting to gobble up something new.  Gobble up a new car.  Gobble up a new piece of property.  Gobble up the latest toy.  And then they wanted to tell you about it.  'Guess what I got? Guess what I got?' You know how I interpreted that?  These people were so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes."  This quote means that success is not about wealth or prosperity, but rather that it is simply about having a love-filled life.  Morrie would, by that definition, be considered extremely successful, because he was loved by so many people and he changed so many lives.  He was never interesting in material goods, which, according to Morrie, mean nothing to success or to life.  Another interesting idea was when Morrie said "Do the kind of things that come from the heart.  When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things.  On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back."  This means that a truly successful person has no desire for expensive things, and also that they wouldn't be envious or jealous of anything that anyone else has.  It also means that success comes from doing things that will help other people and make everyone's lives more enjoyable, not from exterior things like money or possessions.  

3.  I would agree with Morrie's philosophies, because anyone can inherit or buy a whole bunch of frivolous possessions, so that doesn't necessarily mean they are successful, it just means they're rich.  Someone who works hard to bring love to the world and who is kind to all those around, however, is successful because they've made the right decisions and have made many people's lives more enjoyable.  A CEO of a huge corporation may not be more successful than a normal citizen, for example, if the CEO just raises his pay and takes as much money from his company as he can while the citizen works hard to give their family a better life.   Tuesdays with Morrie has made me rethink what success really is, because like Morrie said, the media has conditioned us to think of riches with success.  I think the book has changed my view of success, as well as many other things. 

4. My open-ended question is "What do you think of when you think of success?"

When I think of success, I think of a variety of things, including people who've thought of innovative ways to improve the world's conditions, such as solar panels, but also people who have helped their communities become better places to live, and who have helped even their family and friends to get through life.  I don't so much think of people who got rich playing the stock market, because these people just got lucky, but didn't necessarily do much other than buy themselves a private airplane.  

Journal 2: Self Pity

1. The dictionary defines self-pity as "excessive, self-absorbed unhappiness over one's own troubles."  I would define it as feeling unhappy and sad for one's own situation, often to the point of being unreasonable.  My philosophy on it is that it can stop people from getting things done in life and it is a distraction.  I think people often miss opportunities because they are too busy feeling bad for themselves.  A slight amount of self-pity is inevitable, but I would say it should generally be avoided, as it gets nothing done and has no benefits, except to make one feel better.

2. There are several instances in Tuesdays with Morrie that illustrate a philosophy on self-pity.  One was shown in the paragraph, "I thought about all the people I knew who spent many of their waking hours feeling sorry for themselves. How useful it would be to put a daily limit on self-pity.  Just a few tearful minutes, then on with the day.  And if Morrie could do it, with such a horrible disease..."  This example shows that it's hard to resist self-pity, but that the world would be much more productive if it could just restrain the emotion most of the time.  Morrie is able to cry for just a few minutes a day, because he is able to see the positive side of everything, and he has been able to accomplish so much even in his current condition, because he can limit his self-pity.  

Another philosophy of self pity was shown when Morrie said "Sometimes, in the mornings, that's when I mourn.  I feel around my body, I move my fingers and my hands-whatever I can still move- and I mourn what I've lost.  I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I'm dying.  But then I stop mourning.  I give myself a good cry if I need it.  But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life."  Morrie is only concentrating on the good things in his life, even though he has so many things he could mourn about all day.  This means that life is a lot easier and better if one doesn't allow oneself to mope, but rather to think positively about their life.  Morrie is a great example of this because he knows it won't help to cry, so he limits how long he mourns and focuses on good things in life, such as when Mitch visits.  Even knowing he is going to die soon, he controls his self-pity and is able to accomplish much more.  

3.  I would definitely agree with these philosophies, because I think that one is able to accomplish much more if they limit their self-pity.  Sometimes things are unavoidable, and it's no good spending time feeling bad for oneself.  Although some self-pity is just part of being human, too much is definitely a bad thing.  If Morrie spent all day feeling bad for himself, he would have gotten much less time to think about more interesting things and do the enjoyable things he was still capable of.  I feel that humans in general (including myself) spend far too much time feeling self-pity, and if people thought and acted more like Morrie, the world could be a much nicer place.  This book has really made me think about how we spend so much time feeling sorry for ourselves.  I'd never thought about it before, but now I've started thinking about how self-pity affects our lives, and how it can restrict what we end up accomplishing.  After reading this, I realized that it plays a major part in many people's lives, and that it affects people's accomplishments and relationships.  

4.  The open ended question I've come up with is "How much self-pity do you is ok for someone to have and still be as productive as possible?"

Personally, I think self-pity should be limited to a few minutes a day, and it certainly shouldn't be a major part of anyone's life, as I think it's mainly a distraction.  For someone with a lot of hardships, a little more might be understandable, but I think they better be able to leave their situation if, like Morrie, they focused on the positive things of their life.  

Journal 1-Dependancy

1.  There is much dependancy in the world.  Everyone and everything depends on one another for many things.  But what it is exactly?  I would say that dependency is needing a person or thing to carry out one's life in a normal fashion.  My philosophy is that everyone is extremely dependent on almost everything else in the world.  When we are children, we depend on our parents to provide for our needs, to make sure we are successful, and to provide support.  When we become adults, we are more independent, but we still need friends and family to provide compassion, and when we grow old, we once again rely on other people to help care for us.  On a less obvious level, however, we depend on farmers to grow food for us, medical professionals to care for our health, the government to maintain a stable environment, and an uncountable number of other things.  I think that almost as important, though, are the dependencies between people, such as relying on someone else to provide advice, aid, or compassion in tough times, and it is this kind of dependencies that appear in Tuesdays with Morrie.

2.  There are several parts in the book that illustrate philosophies about dependancy.  Morrie thought of it, not as something to be ashamed of, but just something to accept and treat as the way it has to be.  He wasn't embarrassed to have someone, even one of his colleagues, help him use the bathroom, even though it was a sign of his ever increasing dependency.  He knew he was very dependent and relied on other people to help him, but for him it was just something to accept, and it became another part of daily life for him.  Another part of the book with a philosophy about dependency was when Morrie said "Because it's the ultimate sign of dependency.  Someone wiping your bottom.  But I'm working on it.  I'm trying to enjoy the process."  This means that he thinks that dependency is just a phase of life, and it should be enjoyed like any other aspect.  This is unusual, because dependency is usually thought of as something undesirable, but Morrie is trying to enjoy it and appreciate the things he doesn't have to do, such as taking out the garbage.  Morrie has a very optimistic view of dependency, and he is trying to appreciate and adjust to it.

3.  I do agree with the philosophies the examples are giving.  I think that it should be something that should just be accepted when it has to be, because it's the only option available, and it's a lot easier to get things done and to live life when one is accepting the things they can't change back to how they used to be.  I think that dependency should be enjoyed as much as possible simply because it will make life more enjoyable for the dependent person, and it will make the rest of their life more worthwhile.  I think that it is tough to see the bright side as Morrie does, but dependency is not necessarily something to be  ashamed of if one doesn't have a choice.  The book has made me think about how many people are dependent on something in some way, and it's also caused me to think about how people react to it.  I hadn't thought about it before, but now I realize how dependency can change people's lives and even what that person is like.

4.  A question that I've come up with is, "Who and what are you dependent on in your life, and what do you think of being dependent on other people or things?"

I am dependent on my parents for food, clothing, and shelter; my friends and family for friendship and compassion; and civilization as a whole for education, laws, and resources.  I think that dependencies are just part of being human, and they're unavoidable, and therefore should just be treated as a part of life.  

Anti-spamming system is dumb

Wow, this website has already somehow decided this is a spam blog and decided to give me a whole bunch of annoying error messages for no apparent reason, after just two days. I just love computers. (I'm sarcastic, if you didn't pick up on that.)

Introduction post!

Hi everybody! This is my first blog on this website. I wonder how much of the data sent is recorded and saved by Google. My guess would be all of it. I think we're safe though, because Google has so much data they can't use it all. Computers are great in theory, but only when they work, which is very rarely. It was a lot more convenient to set up the blog since I already had a gMail™ account.