Sandles All Year Round

Fate vs. Free Will

2008-09-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

In Oedipus the king, his fate is to kill his father and marry his mother. However, today's world is not ancient Greece by Sophocles. Unless you're superstitious, or crazy, you probably won't run into a blind profet who tells you your fate, and if you do, well, they have places for those kinds of people.

Today's world is full of varying opinions of how your life is decided. Some still believe in the ancient Grecian 'fate'. Where fate is known by those who know how to find these things out (such as blind men {who always see} or profets), this fate is pre-existing and unchangeable, but for most of the western world, we believe we have control of our lives. We believe that everything that happens to us is a reaction to our previous action. For example, assuming one graduates from high school, their grades from those four years determine what kind of schooling in college they can or cannot do.

Others in the modern world, such as those who have a strong belief in God, may believe that their destiny is 'predetermined'. They may believe that their God has chosen their path in life prior to them being alive. This is rather close to the Grecian belief except these religious people don't have a blind profet or an oricle to tell them what their God has decided.

Personally, I believe in a variation of the western 'cause and effect' or 'action-reaction' belief. As described before, I believe that the actions you chose cause the reaction that will happen later. My personal spin on this belief is I believe your fate is to do those 'causes' or 'actions' which determine the reactions. I believe that once you have fulfilled your fate to do the first action, you may chose to do whatever you want with what is left. For example, if you are born poor that is your fate, you will go to a public school and grow up the way you are destined to, but once you get out of these years you are made to live where ever you have to, then you go out on your own, without guidence from neither parents nor God or destiny, to complete your life with everything you have.

I realize that this is a confusing theory on life, but it is my own. I'm not sure if anyone shares this theory or if I just made it up in my own head, but this is what I believe and I'm stickin' to it.

this i believe - take 2

2008-09-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

I believe in a big hug. A welcoming hug. One that says 'I'm glad to be with you'. I believe in telling someone how much they are appreciated to be there, on the earth, in your presence, alive.

I have a friend who went away to a rehab center for many months for drug usage. When he came back and I saw him he said to me, "it's so good to see you. I've missed everyone so much," and he said this with a big hug that repeated everything he said.

That day I watched him say these words of happiness to everyone he knew and when each person left he said, "it's been so good to be with you. I hope to see you again," and gave them another grateful hug. I thought this was a little silly when he did this ten times, but when I got up to say my goodbyes, he stood up with open arms and said, "it's been so good to be with you. Can't wait to see you again," and gave me another wonderful hug, I felt like he cared that I got home without a single misquito bite on my arms.

In my expierence, hugs are best given by those who have nothing else to give. Like my friend out of rehab but also from homeless people. I served food at a homeless shelter one evening with my girl scout troop. All the people were extremely grateful that we were there and willing to help them. After dinner there was a comedian who stood up and made jokes and while he was talking several of the people living in the shelter came up to us and gave us hugs and thanked us. They told us that if they could they would give us a gift but since they had nothing in the world but their arms they would give us a hug.

I believe that at the end of the day, everyone should feel special and that's why I believe in giving those hugs, both to people I know and don't know, that show I care, even if I don't say his speech with it.

Battle Royale

2008-08-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

The character in the story most definitely represents the black man's struggle in America. The force acting against him in the story is mostly the white man, who is constantly trying to humiliate the blacks for their own entertainment.
The hooker performing sybolizes America. Cardinal rule number 2, when an author create a detailed image it is important and highly symbolic, proves that the exteremly descriptive paragraph the author wrote about this girl means she is some sort of symbol. He says that she has red lips, white hair, and blue eyes; red, white, and blue are the American colors. Ellison explains the "capital V" on her body, which usually stands for Victory and in case the reader didn't understand the symbol from all these hints, he says "the small American flag tattooed upon her belly".
Unfortunitly, this girl, who represents America, is being exploited in this large group of rich white men. They are ogling her and touching her inappropriatly and they make her stay when she wants to leave.
When the black men see this, they are appalled at the way these white men abuse their power to 'America' but they cannot do anything because they are surrounded by the 'white culture'.

A Very Old Man With Emormous Wings

2008-08-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

Possibly an extremely wrong interpretation:

When I read this story I thought he was just a man with wings. Like the girl who got changed into a spider. After re-reading the story I decided he was an angel. My thought is that he got cast out of heaven and after wondering the sea for many years, which caused him to age and have parasites in his wings, he came into the town to find refuge, but he was captured. He really didn't want to be held in the chicken coop and resented the people for treating him so terribly so he didn't talk or move, but he had nothing against the child, so he treated him well and became a part of him (they got sick at the same time). When the child was back to normal, the angel had had time to heal from his long travels and to regain strength, he flew away from the town.

I believe

2008-08-20T08:34:00.001-07:00

I believe in a big hug. A welcoming hug. One that says 'I'm glad to be with you'. I believe in telling someone how much they are appreciated to be there.
I have a friend who went away to a rehab center for many months for drug usage. When he came back and I saw him he said to me, "it's so good to see you. I've missed everyone so much," and he said this with a big hug that repeated everything he said.

That day I watched him do that to everyone he knew and when they left he said, "it's been so good to be with you. I hope to see you again," and gave them another grateful hug. I thought this was a little silly when he did this ten times, but when I got up to say my goodbyes, he stood up with open arms and said, "it's been so good to be with you. Can't wait to see you again," and gave me another wonderful hug, I felt like he cared that I got home without a single misquito bite on my arms.

I believe that at the end of the day, everyone should feel special and that's why I believe in giving those hugs, both to people I know and don't know, that show I care, even if I don't say his speech with it.

Cathedral

2008-08-20T07:45:00.001-07:00

The irony that shapes the story "Cathedral" is that the main character has almost a hatred for the blind in the beginning of the story, but towards the end he becomes blind himself. This happens only after he realizes the blind man, Robert, can and, does, do everything that he, and other seeing men, can, and do, do. When he becomes blind, in the end of the story, Robert tells him not to be, by opening his eyes, and he does not feel right opening them and becoming a seeing man again. "But I had my eyes closed. I thought I'd keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do."

Another piece of irony in the story is that the main character is constantly describing the way things look, "She picked up a potato. I saw it hit the floor and roll under the stove," and he uses no other type of sensory descriptions until the end. "His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper." When he says this he is describing the feeling and not the visual and he is understanding that seeing is not the only way to view the world.