What a Tangled Web We Weave

The article Learning to Lie on New York News and Features makes some really compelling points in research about reasons why kids are drawn to lying, and examples that they are actually following to develop these habits.

The article goes over the basic childhood time line of lying. The child starts out young, and avoids punishment by lying about their actions, then it progresses to white-lies, which the article points out were actually initiated through parent's examples and encouragement. When a parent tells a child to put on a happy face and act like they love a present at Christmas that they really hate, that is lying. Yes, the lie may make someone feel better, but it is still a lie.

When parents encourage children to lie, they are setting them up for a life of dishonesty. The question that must be answered is: where does the line need to be drawn? Obviously we don't want kids getting gifts and screaming their outrage and hate over them, but at the same time, we don't want them lying about bigger things, like matters of safety and morality.

So the question posed by the article is: Where do children get hooked on lying? Well, lying is a stage that most children go through at some point in childhood, but they usually grow out of it through socialization. However, if they find lying works for them, or that they see others around them doing it, and succeeding, they will continue. Telling a telemarketer you don't speak English is lying. Cheating on taxes is lying. Lying is lying, plain and simple. Don't try to sugar coat something that is plain and simple as day. Children learn by example, and while things aren't always the parents fault, there is the possibility that detrimental behaviors learned by children didn't just pop out of nowhere, they started closer to home than we may think.

Why Do We Find Joy in Pain?

We have all seen America's Funniest Videos or watched funny videos of people doing stupid things, and ending up hurting themselves, sometimes very seriously. The very sentence I just wrote conveys my point exactly. We find these videos funny. Why?

In this video, "Scarlet Takes a Tumble," we see a woman, who decides to climb up onto a structurally unsound table, and proceed to dance and move her body in motions that do not equally distribute her weight along all support structures of the table. Scarlet proceeds to dance, proceeds to sing, proceeds to fall, as the table flies out from under her when she unfortunately walks too far forward, thereby unevenly distributing her weight to the front part of the table, causing said tumble.

Just while typing this description of this video, I am struggling to contain my laughter. But why? Why do we laugh at the pain of others? Why does the pain of others seem to amuse us to no end? When we see others, such as Scarlet, in unfortunate situations of unexpected pain and trauma, a number of things go through our minds. First off, humans have the innate, and not always becoming trait of finding cruel humor amusing. Secondly, and primarily, we have the urge to laugh at others pain because when we see someone else in an unfortunate situation, we have the "funny feeling" of relief that we are not in that situation. We are looking at Scarlet take her "tumble" and we say to ourselves "Wow... Glad that wasn't me." We then proceed to laugh because we know that she is alright, or the video wouldn't be online, and also because we have something that we are able to look at and be grateful we aren't in that persons shoes.

Are we becoming tweeting Twits?

How reliant have we as humans become on the use of technology for the everyday acts of communications? As shown in Mashable's article, "Twitter's official tweet button has arived,"referenced on CNN.com, twitter has come up with yet another way for users to tweet, keep track of other's tweets, forward tweets, and follow tweets, and just about any other action that uses the word tweet. Have we gone too far? Is the urge to be able to communicate with others 24/7 overtaking our lives?

Twitter's new button lets users keep track of how many "retweets" (reposts) they get on their own posts, and also lets other users "retweet" something that someone else has posted easily and with the push of a button. Am I the only one who is taken aback by this statement? Have we stooped to the point of being too lazy to type out our own responses? Going deeper, what ever happened to writing?

These questions may seem old fashioned and weird, but let me be the first to say, I love facebook. I am on that website more than the average person, and even the average person is on it more than necessary. I am just asking the questions to make us think. We as individuals and as a society must get out of our computer chairs and do something. If we let the lazy attitude that society has adopted start to overtake our lives, we will soon be sitting in the middle of a crumbling world.

Mashable's article illustrates just one of the many ways our society, already amazingly blessed with everything we have, is becoming more and more dependent on technology and more accustomed to instant gratification. This doesn't mean we should all throw our computers out on the sidewalk and only ever communicate through handwritten letters ever again. This does mean, however, that we need to take a step back and reevaluate where the line should be drawn between convenience, and laziness.

Are We Happy Plastic People?

The first line of the chorus of the song "Stained Glass Masquerade" by Casting Crowns asks the question that many of us wonder about our peers. And if we are not asking that question, maybe should we?

Popular culture and entertainment is abuzz with shows, movies, and literature telling us to look into ourselves and let our true personalities show, get help with issues we are dealing with, and to look at others with the idea that don't know everything that may be going on in their lives. But, when I look around our schools and communities today, nobody seems to be taking that message to heart. Why?

At first glance, the song "Stained Glass Masquerade" seems to be a contemporary Christian song telling listeners to look down and see if they are hiding themselves from God and other Christians who can help them deal with their problems. When looked at from a broader perspective, we see the song telling listeners, Christian or not, to realize that the people around us have open hearts and minds to hear our problems, and help us get through them. So that "maybe then we close the curtain, on this stained glass masquerade."

If there are so many different sources like "Stained Glass Masquerade" telling listeners they are not alone in their struggles, and encouraging them to let God and others help them through their problems, why do we still see suicides, murders, and depression resulting from unresolved issues? Why is society still filled with people who think they need to huddle under a blanket and put on the facade of happiness for the whole world to believe, or see through?

The answer to this question can be very simple, and for some, very complex. In my personal views and experiences, I know that life is easier, for me, by letting my peers and close confidants know my issues and being open to their help for me. More importantly however, for me personally, is the confidence in my faith and willingness to turn my problems over to God. For those who do not believe Christianity, to each his own. Just know that life is always easier when we share our burdens with those we trust, and take off our masks, to show the world who we truly are. And if you are still not convinced of this reader, I ask you the simple question, what do you have to loose?

"And if the invitation's open,
To every heart that has been broken,
Maybe then we close the curtain,
On this Stained Glass Masquerade."

-Casting Crowns

Shall we cover, or Correct?

Bad breath is a nightmare, a menace, a plague that frequently strikes down some of the best and brightest of all generations. This daily strip of Zits illustrates this problem that many of us come across at the most inconvenient times. "Oh no, I have bad breath... Lets get a mint... Oh no, now my bad breath is minty!" Trying to cover up issues doesn't solve any problems. The only product that results from covering up a issue is this: a covered up issue.

Looking at the strip of Zits on the surface I see an average teenager, confronted with the common problem of bad breath, and like any other human being would do, he tries to drown his bad breath with the more strong scent of mint. Sadly however, Jeremy (this "he" I have been speaking of) realizes that all swallowing a whole box of mints got him was minty smelling bad breath. The simple conclusion one can draw from this comic strip is this: Mints don't fix bad breath. Brush your teeth.

Little do readers realize, the conclusion drawn from that one situation can not only (and most definitely should be) applied to cases of bad breath, it is the extremely simple solution to some of the most major problems humans face as individuals, and a society as a whole. Compare the situation shown in this strip of Zits to life. Any problem we attempt to cover up with lies, or quick fixes, may seem "fixed," but underneath is never truly solved.

The decision is left up to the individual of course, but I know that a clean mouth is happy mouth and (all humor aside) living a clean life and showing everyone I encounter who I truly am is better and more fruitful than leading a sham of a life in a bucket of stink with a nice little bow on top. So the choice is yours: Shall we cover, or Correct?