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.

I Had a Great Fall

I got on my bike, my mind prepared for the task at hand, my fingers clenched around the handlebars, my teeth clenched, my body totally ready. I was ready to peddle my bike; I had to make it over the ramp; I had to get to the other side. My task, getting over the ramp, seemed simple enough. I had to get up the ramp, over the top, down the side, and back to the ground, safely in one piece. I began the to pedal my bike over to the ramp. Simple enough...right? As I climbed further up the ramp and as I began to reach the top I began to become scared as I began to fall. My fall was terrible in appearance, yet the pain was little. On my hand, blood I saw spreading. Why did I feel no pain? I began to walk inside, and walked, and tripped, and found, and spoke to, my mom. Her view of my wound and her awe at the grotesqueness and my lack of panic, moved her to slowly but surely clean and bandage my wound, patting me on the back for my bravery.

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.

Three Books I would like to Read

I would like to read 19 Minutes, because Natasha and others have recommended this book to me and I heard it was really well written. I would also like to read The Red Tent, recommended to me by Ms. Weygandt, about Joseph's sister who was little mentioned in the Bible. Lastly, I want to read Among the Hidden, also recommended to me by Ms. Weygandt. I trust her recommendations because she has recommended me some very good books to read in the past.

My Independent Reading This Quarter

This quarter, I have established a regular habit of reading. I read every night now before I go to bed, even if it is just by Bible reading. I have had a few issues with keeping up with my reading earlier in the quarter, but now I am doing really good with it. I honestly probably wouldn't be reading 150 minutes a week if I didn't think I needed to do it just for the grade. Life right now is just so busy I don't always have that much time to read. I have a relatively balanced reading diet, some frill reads, along with some mroe serious reads, like Inexcusable. Reading this quarter has really been hard to squeeze in, but I think over the long run, I have learned how to make and keep some good habits that will stick with me for a long time.

Getting in my required number of books was hard. I read some really good books, but then my reading became kind of stagnant and boring for a while. I just need to be sure to stay in the swing of reading every day and finding good books to read that keep me thinking and entertained at the same time.

Socratic Seminar Reflection

The Socratic Seminars we took part in during class proved to be a very interesting and enlightening way to explore ideas and pick each other's minds on topics from Brave New World. In the seminars, my group and I spoke about the differing viewpoints of John the Savage and Mustapha Mond. I also spoke about John's use of Shakespearean quotes in his speech when he is talking to people in the "civilized world."

While preparing for the seminars, I was pleased to find in myself the ability to look at a text and actually interpret a deeper meaning than the impression given on the surface. I was proud of myself that I was actually able to exercise that extra level of critical thinking in a practical manner by taking notes and pondering ideas Huxley presented, for example, the differing viewpoints of Mond and John on the topic of having something more to believe in than just emotion.

I encountered many new and intriguing points of view from my peers during the seminars. For example, my peers pointed out how the words of Shakespeare could have been chosen by Huxley because Shakespearean literature is so timeless and appeals to every human emotion in the most simple, yet at the same time complex, ways. Therefore, John could have been quoting Shakespeare in times of trouble not only for comfort of tradition (my original viewpoint) but because he understood some surface meaning in the words of Shakespeare.

In participating in the seminars, I discovered that I am naturally inclined to initiate conversation with people, and ask lots of questions. I most enjoyed being able to talk to my peers in a smaller group without fear of interruption and hearing the views of some I don't normally have the opportunity to talk to.

The Socratic seminar was very challenging. I was really nervous about it, because I was afraid I would either monopolize the conversation or not speak at all. However, they went really well, I think we all did a great job in my group. The most difficult part for me in the seminar was being sure to pause and give others in my group time to speak and really hearing their ideas. Once I was able to open myself up and listen to the things everyone said, I really felt enlightened on the subjects we spoke about. It was quite interesting to discuss the ideas in "Brave New World" with my peers instead of the usual style of debate. If I had a do-over of the seminar, I would devote more time to listening to my peers and their ideas.

Pink's Purpose

Pink's sarcastic, grim observation of the shift in lifestyle in America, combined with his observation of the shift in thinking of Americans, aims to show our change of mindset and how we are taking our abundance for granted, possibly giving us cause to change. Staples is "a 20,000 square foot box selling 7,500 different school and office supplies." Pink is using this example of something we see every day to show us the massive nature of how we as a people seem to need a thousand different choices when over half of them do the exact same thing. He is bringing to light the fact that our forgetfulness of our abundance has led to a change in mindset. We have gone from I need this to survive, to I want this because I like it. When we can't store things, we just throw them away. Pink's frank statement of this visible fact shows the obvious American wasteful attitude and his effort to bring to light this change of mindset. Americans need to buy things we need, so therefore we won't have more stuff than space. We are drowning in our waste of our abundant resources, and Pink uses tactful sarcastic humor and straightforwardness to make us aware of our current state.