Critical Reading, Math, Writing...Sanity?

Well, it has been quite some time since my last post. Almost a year, it seems.
I have to be honest and admit that I forgot about this blog even after I had started with such a vivid picture of its evolution and growth in my head. But as we all know, these days it's more than easy to get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of daily life. I've been thinking for a while about what topic, if I started this again, I would start with. I didn't want to be too dark, too deep, too overwhelming right off the bat.. so I though I would focus on the exact reason why this blog halted in the first place: 21st century student life.

I chose to restrict the topic to students because I myself cannot qualify adult life and therefore I cannot write a true-to-life introduction or prompt for the discussion.

It is my opinion that these days, teens are expected more and more to be, in a way, "perfect". That is not to say that society wants us all to be able to sing opera while doing gymnastics and revolutionizing the free world with our individual terms in the White House... but both the academic and extracurricular lives of students seem to become more competitive and more intensive with every year. With what goal in mind? College. It's all about college. Get into college and you're golden, it seems, because post-secondary education is the key to a good starting salary, they say. Do I disagree? No. I agree that college is important and that practicality and career planning are important. But there's more to it than that. Heck, I'm excited for college personally, but not for the application process. I believe that the process of getting in often overshadows college's true importance. I believe that college is a chance to explore the world to an extent unknown to high school students. Out on your own, you're being independent for maybe the first time in your life. Here you are in this huge, new place, filled with people that don't necessarily think, talk, look, believe, eat, or live like you. They don't know what it's like where you're from. They don't know life on your side of the fence...but here you are all the same, presented with the chance to really learn from those around you. What's more, you have options galore for what you want to study. College is not just a time to explore a career.. but a time to explore something you know won't be your career. It's a time to say, well hey I've always been interested in this but I don't know much about it... so I guess I'll find out now? Always wanted to see what it takes to be a playwright? Take a playwriting course. The world really is your oyster. Intimidating? Yes. Scary? Yes. But absolutely worth it? Yes.

Maybe it's for those reasons that everyone has a "dream school" and puts so much weight on the college process. I know it is for me. It's a "if I don't get in, I might not be as happy at another school." But I often think statistics take place of standards in the eyes of many incoming freshman. I'm generalizing, of course, but I don't know how many times I've heard the words "2nd Tier School" or "Ivy League" or "one of the New Ivies" or "Divison III." I admit that yes, these phrases have affected a part of the process for me. If you don't get into a good school, how will that affect your career? Will you be happy at any other place? But there's the buzz word.. "good". Define good school. How do we define it these days? By how the glove fits? Or is it a question of how good the glove looks. If you don't get in, will you disappointed because that truly was the perfect place for you or because all your other schools weren't as "good." As a result, many students seem to drive themselves to the point of being burnt out because they want to create a safety net for themselves... a transcript that'll make any college want them. But is it worth it? Is this healthy? I don't think so. I don't mean to deride hard work. I think it's all very important.. but when do we cross the line? When does a lot become too much? When does our defintion of "good school" start to become skewed?

It may be a little incoherent and rambley... what have you...but there it is, the prompt.
Opinions?

Forgiveness

I've decided that our first topic is forgiveness: when is something unforgiveable?

I had been browsing through a book entitled Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC by Frederick Buechner. It's a book geared toward Christians but I think this passenger is true of forgiveness regardless of your religion:

"When somebody you've wronged forgives you, you're spared the dull and self-diminishing throb of a guilty conscience.
When you forgive somebody who has wronged you, you're spared the dismal corrosion of bitterness and wounded pride.
For both parties, forgiveness means the freedom again to be at peace inside their own skins and to be glad in each other's presence."

So, I will use this as a springboard for our discussion. Although forgiveness produces a mutual feeling of "rightness" within the relationship again, is there ever a when something is simply unforgiveable? For example, should you forgive someone who is a repeat offender or someone who's made a terrible error such as murder?

I think that nothing is unforgiveable per se, but that there are things that are extremely extremely hard to forgive. That is to say, I don't think that people should forgive some actions but it is not impossible to do so. For example, I would not forgive someone for genocide.

Your thoughts?
I realize that this topic is rather simple, but I wanted to start out that way.

The Symposium

This blog was created today, August 19, 2006, in order to provide online bloggers with a symposium in which they can collectively share their thoughts and opinions on a number of different topics.

We live in a world where we often don't listen to each other. By closing doors and shutting others out, we inhibit ourselves from ever improving our behavior or learning about different points of view. We also live in a world strewn with terror, poverty, and disease. If we could all just stop a minute, take a break from the hustle and bustle of the demanding 21st century office and the pressuring atmosphere of high school or college, and sit together to discuss our struggling world, our opinions about it, and how we can take action to fix it, there would be a definite hope.

Well, you say, what about all those politicians and activists that are already making noise? Can't we just leave it to them?
No. We can't. You see, these activists are few and far between relative to the population of the earth. While they have some power, quite frankly, they will never have enough. Unless...You and I, average persons, decide to take initiative ourselves. The more people who stand up and decide to get involved in this rapidly changing world, the more we can accomplish. We can discontinue the "Age of Apathy" as I have dubbed it.

So, I invite you to join my symposium. What's your philosophy?

I only ask that you follow a few rules of conduct,
otherwise I will be forced to exclude your comments from discussions.

1. Respect. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I ask that however disgusting and wrong you find someone's point of view to be that you nonetheless treat them with respect and allow them their space on this blog.
2. No language. Please refrain from using slander. No curse words, racial slurs, etc. It is only acceptable to type a curse word when you are discussing that curse word, not using it.
3. No harassment of any kind. If someone on this blog discriminates against other bloggers due to sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, gender, economic situation, age, etc. and chooses to dehumanize others and destroy diversity, he or she will not be tolerated and will be banned from the forum.

I would say that people with these opinions would not be allowed in discussions to begin with, but then I would be violating number 1 in RoC. So, I go into this blog with concern and caution but I trust you all to act with civility.

I leave you with two quotes that helped inspire me to set this up:

"Problems are not going to get solved until we sit down with somebody else and really listen to their stories, so we can get to understand each other rather than blowing each other up. The more we put labels on people, the more we're destined not to know them. When you really know somebody else's story, you can't hate them anymore. It's a wonderful tool for peace."
Nancy Duncan

"Science tells us how to heal and how to kill; it reduces the death rate in retail and then kills us wholesale in war; but only wisdom- desire coordinated in the light of all experience- can tell us when to heal and when to kill. To observe processes and to construct means is science; to criticize and coordinate ends is philosophy: and because in these days our means and instruments have multiplied beyound our interpretation and synthesis of ideals and ends, our life is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. For a fact is nothing except in relation to desire; it is not complete except in relation to a purpose and a whole. Science without philosophy, facts without perspective and valuation, cannot save us from havoc and despair. Science gives us knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom."
Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy