Thoughts on: Young Goodman Brown

"'There,' resumed the sable form, 'are all whom ye have reverenced from youth. Ye deemed them holier than yourselves, and shrank from your own sin, contrasting it with their lives of righteousness and prayerful aspirations heavenward. Yet here are they all in my worshipping assembly. This night it shall be granted you to know their secret deeds: how hoary-bearded elders of the church have whispered wanton words to the young maids of their households; how many a woman, eager for widows' weeds, has given her husband a drink at bedtime and let him sleep his last sleep in her bosom; how beardless youths have made haste to inherit their fathers' wealth; and how fair damsels--blush not, sweet ones--have dug little graves in the garden, and bidden me, the sole guest to an infant's funeral.'"


TRANSLATION (by me :D) "Here's everyone you thought was holy from the time you were young, you idolized them and compared your "sinful" life to their seemingly perfect life. But here they are (on this path of sin) and tonight I can show you what they did to sin in secret: 1. old men having sex with young women, 2. wives killing their husbands, 3. sons killing their fathers in order to gain their money, 4. young women killing their unwanted children." BAAAASICALLY. Don't hold me to it :]


Nathaniel Hawthorne must have been a dreadfully interesting person while he was alive. I have recently spent a good portion of time on one of his short stories, "Young Goodman Brown". It is another one of those stories that is more than a little unsettling because you can see so much of reality in the words. The story is a giant allegory for sin and how - though one may think other wise - once they sin once they fall into a terrible pattern of sin, hypocrisy, and distrust.


Basically Young Goodman Brown (who is the main character) is led down a path by this old man (who symbolizes the devil, by the way) and the old man tries to convince him multiple times to continue down this path (which represents the path of sin, by the way). At first Brown refuses to go further, saying that he wouldn't go there because he didn't want to break his wife's heart... (whose name is ironically Faith) eventually he gives in only to find that everyone he has ever trusted or looked up to is on this path... everyone he thought was flawless had sinned.


That's what the above passage is about.


He then continues to live his life in complete suspicion of everyone around him (because he has seen that they are capable of sin). 


I think that one of the biggest battles we face in life is escaping from this mentality. Those who fall victim to this - being skeptical of everyone around them - are really being blind to what they're doing. They're not protecting themselves from being hurt by the sins of others, they're allowing their souls to be taken over by their own massive sin. This sin, of course, is fixating on the flaws of others to the point where you don't see your own. 


The most important thing about this isn't that other people have flaws. We're human, we all do. What IS important is knowing that YOU have flaws. And what makes that OK is that you try to fix them. As long as you repent and try it will be seen as absolved. 


No body be a pessimist now. 

Thoughts on: CCC!

Chocolate Chip Cookies...

I don't what what makes me so good at making them...

But if you had one of the cookies I make I swear you would never want to eat another cookie besides mine ever.

Thoughts on: Obstacles

I think I would much rather something be incredibly tall than incredibly wide... At least something incredibly tall is reletively easy to get around.

Hmm.

Thoughts on: Sinus Infections

THING THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST #105 (is it 105? or 104? Je ne sais pas)

I'm sorry everyone, but since no one has been able to make a medicine that cures these sorts of things in one day I am going to have to take it upon myself to save the world.

I will apologize in advance for stealing away all the long hours of work that those who have worked towards this pinnacle have put it. Sadly it must be done. 

Thoughts on: Cough Drops

Dear Cough Drops,

Without you I would be totally lost. You soothe me beyond words :]

Thank you <3

Thoughts on: Justin Bieber

Probably THE most precious 15 year old in the world... Am I allowed to say that?

Thoughts on: Boys

My lip really hurts right now, and that's irrelevant but it's right on my lip... so that means it's never going to heal because I'm just going to keep biting it because I bite my lips when I get nervous and I get nervous a lot. There's no reason I get nervous... so I guess I should call it thoughtful... not nervous. I have thoughts, you know.

Anywho. Boys.

As a younger-teenage girl, I used to spend probably about 50% of my time trying to analyze the reactions of the boys around me. I got my heart seriously, or what I thought was seriously, broken for the first time when I was like... 14. I was just SOOOOO in love with him and with him gone I was like... what?

As I have advanced in my years (as much as you can say... considering I'm 17...) I have had drilled into my brain by the lovely voice of my parents that ALL BOYS WANT IS ONE THING (we all know what this one thing is) and "Well, boys are so much less mature than girls... there's no way you can find any boy who actually likes you for you... ever. Until you're like... 50." But what's up with the people around me who have like have the same boyfriend/girlfriend for what seems like eons?

Recently, I've been between two possible causes of my lack of good relationships...

1. It's me. I'm simply incapable of love and that's the way it's meant to be. 
2. It's them. No boy could ever possibly be smart, handsome, witty, interesting, independent and awesome enough to entertain me for more than a few months. (I believe all of this stems from my blatant lack of trust in anyone besides my family, Emily and Katelyn.) 

Or I supposed that there's a third... possibility... That God really does have a plan and Mr. Wonderful will happen.

So I guess I'll just sit back and wait? 

Thoughts on: America

I hate the fact that we're all terrified of our neighbors. I hate that we think everyone is out to get us. I hate our endless ability to turn to "divine right" as an excuse. I hate our attitude towards everyone else in the world, and how that makes everyone else in the world view us. 

I'm not sure who's to blame for all these things. I think it might be the generation that is currently in charge. Not only are they scared of countries besides our own - they're scared of the younger generation that will someday be the operating unit this country.

Maybe I'm biased because I'm a part of the up and coming generation... but I think that's just the change we need.

Either that or the citizens of our country need to start trusting each other and not stabbing each other in the back.

We're all we have, guys... And we've come an awfully long way to let everything Americans have worked for for hundreds of years to be in vain. 

Shape it up. Goodness. 

Thoughts on: Google Chrome

Google Chrome read my mind and put everything I could ever ask for into an internet browser.

Ten reasons I love Google Chrome:

First, it has Google Desktop. You can get these desktop gadget things which are totally cool, tell me when I have e-mails, let me update Twitter really quick, tell me the time in one quick glance, and can do tons of other stuff depending on what you put on them

Second, it has Google Themes. My current theme is these adorable stripes. And I love it. And there are like literally hundreds of themes you can pick from. It makes the internet more fun. 

Third, it has Google Documents, which is like Microsoft Word except like 50 times cooler because it's portable. Like how many times have you gotten to school and been like... UGH I FORGOT TO PRINT OUT THAT PAPER AND NOW I DON'T HAVE IT BECAUSE IT'S SAVED AT HOMEEEE. OK, fear not, you can save documents on your Google and they go everywhere with you. Awesome.

Fourth, it has Google Reader, which puts all the blogs you're subscribed to in one place and tells you when someone posts a new one so you can read them all right there in one window. AH.

Fifth, it has Gmail. Which stole my heart the second I learned it existed because it just makes e-mail look so much more fun, and it has it's on "IM" service right in there. 

Sixth, OK it's GOOGLE. And that fact alone means that it rocks any other search engine out there.

Seventh, it has Google Tabs! On the homepage of your internet there is a selection of 8 tabs and guess what, each of them is a site you visit often! For example, my first tab is Facebook :] All you have to do is click on one of the little tab pictures and it brings you right to the site.

Eighth, downloads happen right in the internet window at the bottom of the page. So your computer doesn't freak out and try to open a new window every time you go to download something. That was a big plus for me because the extra window that came up for downloads made my computer freeze up. Problem solved.

Ninth, it's FAST. Like... it just happens, stuff just happens.

Tenth, you can drag and drop tabs. If you have like 5 tabs open in one window you can click on a tag and move it out of the browser bar and it will OPEN IN AN ENTIRELY NEW WINDOW. Ah. So cool 

Google you're the best. And I love you. I would never use Yahoo of AskJeeves or Bing over you. You are my one true love. Props to those who invented/are still improving Google. 

DOWNLOAD IT. http://www.google.com/chrome

Thoughts on: Human Life (Derivatives and Illness)

Today in Lit class we talked about this short story called "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Though a stiflingly disturbing work of literature, I suppose the if you're looking for something to read you might as well read it. I won't discuss the ending just in case you do chose to :]

What I instead want to mention is how messed up society is. Yes, that was quite the risky jump in logic, but when you read the story you'll understand (http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html). This isn't present day logic... on the surface, but I want to bring to mind that THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. OK? Maybe not this story in particular, but these events took place. Think about it. How would you feel?

Yeah. Now keep reading.

Maybe it's because of the way I was raised or maybe it's because of my faith but I fail to understand the ability of people to completely turn their backs on one of their own and be OK with it.

I admit that at times I have not been the most considerate person in the world, not the best of friends, but I don't consider myself as sadistic as the people in yonder story (^). Reading this story really brought up the issue of human worthlessness.

I am a strong believer that every individual is here for a reason and without that reason they wouldn't be here and THEREFORE everyone who is here is meant to be here and should never be exterminated by any means besides those that are natural and not caused by other humans. This story, as well as many current events, are challenging the way I feel.

The story says that human life is left up to chance. UGH. Annoying and wrong and ugh. Two current issues that bug me most... today:

1. Voluntary Euthanasia - OK... no. If this was instated it says that every person over 65 (I believe) has to attend a meeting/seminar about voluntary euthanasia. (Euthanasia is like the death sentence... sometimes people chose to have it done, sometimes doctors chose these things, sometimes family. All in all, right now it is ILLEGAL.) I have never been to one of these seminars, obviously, but nothing good can be going on there. Suicide is a sin. Call it "voluntary euthanasia" all you want, but another term for it is Physician Assisted Suicide. Hello?. Life is given to us by God and is to be taken by God. Not one's self. Not the Italian Mafia. Not fast food.  Agreed? Yes. Onward. 
2. Abortion - I could write for days and days all the things that are wrong with abortion. If you have sex and get pregnant - bas decision, live with it. If you get raped - I'm sorry, but it happened for a reason. Don't kill babies. Just... don't. 

To wrap it up, this is purely opinion, anyone who doesn't see the sanctity of life and leaves it in the hands of someone else needs a reality check. I feel better letting people know.

2ND! Derivatives... I'm pleasantly surprised. Not so terrible as I expected them to be. AP Calculus you shall not have the best of me!

3RD Illness... OK. So being sick sucks, but America needs to chillax about swine flu. Excuse me, H1N1. 80% of us are GOING to get it. And it's going to be just fine.