English II: 10月 2011

2011年10月31日星期一

Knowing your Death & being a Hedonist

Pleasure seeker

Hedonist = someone who agrues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good, or simply, someone who strives to maximize net pleasure

We were talking about this thought during class together today, whether you want to know the date of your death or not, and why. Apparantly, most students cast out a vote in choosing to know the date of their death, and reason is very simple, because if they know the day of their death they will manage things differently. If they know they only have a year of life left they will try to do everything they desire and experience as many things as they want, basically they will try to fulfill their pleasure to the maximum, like a hedonist. But this question came to my mind as soon as they said out their opinions, "Will there really be a difference in your life if you really know when you will die?"

I mean, you said that you will stop going to school and travel around the world to see more things and enjoy life as you should be enjoying....but...does that mean you are not enjoying your life now? Because I believe in every single one of our life each day we are doing things that we like, often time we may regret after it but the pleasure it brought is what we were seeking at first any way, although it is often times temporary.

I keep on hearing students repeating the fact that they will enjoy life more and spend more time with their family....because they know their time is short. So on the contrary, if we know that we still have 65 years to live...and is...still long, we will not do these things? Does that mean we will not spend more time with our family, friends, and loves one and to learn more and see more ourself and if possible, fulfilling our dreams just because we have more time? Is that what they mean? I really don't understand. Because if you know the important of these things and that you put them in your heart as the number one things that should be done, wouldn't you start doing it now? Wouldn't you still do these things if you know you have another 65 years to live?

Wasting time???

Well you might answer, of course I will still do these things, but I will just manage it and make sure that everything is done efficiently! Oh....so you mean...you know that you are not spending your time efficintly....you mean that you know you are not using your time wisely and that you are....indeed...wasting it? Um...so if you are wasting your time, what big of a difference will it make if you have a longer life? So does that mean you will just...waste more of your time? Um....I guess we all know that we are not always choosing the wisest way to spend our time, because we are wasting it on stuff that are not necesary, stuff that we want...stuff that bring us pleasure...WAIT! Does that mean we are being a hedonist? Um...so we are being a hedonist even though we don't know the numbers of days we have left in this life....so what's the point? To know the end of your life, the end of your journey...why do you want to know? Why bother? I mean, we all know that someday we will die but we just don't know when!

The truth is, if we know when will we die then we will start to wonder and be troubled by all the things you want to do and how to organize it all efficiently. Then how are you going to seek pleasure when you have all these troubles? How can you find true joy when you are just doing these things because you know you don't have much time left? How can you be a hedonist if you know you only have one year of life left? How can you still seek for pleasure if you know you are just doing these things reluctantly? How can you really be happy if you know you are dying...tomorrow??

Do you want some
tips to live longer?

When you know that you only have a year of life left, I believe you will do something differently, not necessary about things that you just said like pleasure seeking or being a hedonist. because I believe that it's a natural tendency for human to have a desire to live on, (we see it from the story of Pi and I mentioned it in my blogpost "Men, Women, Wild"), especially when they are still young. And I am quite confident to say, at least 1/3 of the people who are facing this right now will choose to find a way to live on, while the other 1/3 of the people will start to blame on life and the other 1/3 of the people will start to seek pleasure (reluuctantly) like what other students say. But it depends on what kind of person you are, and to be honesty with you, I don't know what type will I be, but why should I look for trouble? Why should I worry for what I still want to do and what I haven't done? Because I believe, I should be doing these things daily. I should be living each day as the last day of my life, not trying to bring vexation or burden in every decision, but just simply being myself, to do the things that I like and to do the things I know is right. And by doing this, I believe I gain hedonism.

So I won't want to know when will I die, I am not interested at all! ^_^

2011年10月30日星期日

OJ = JC

Orange Juice

Jesus Christ

OJ= Orange Juice, a oraguntan that was once a star in the Pondicherry zoo

JC= Jesus Christ, the Son of God that came to earth to deliver His children from sin

In one of the chapter, there are these formulas that the author gave to the audience as a symbolism:

OJ=cross

JC=cross

so..... OJ = JC ????

Well first off, in order to understand the meaning behind this symbolism, you need to have a background knowledge of who Jesus Christ, the cross, and Orange Juice are connected. So here's the story of Jesus Christ:

Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Because this world that we live in was so evil that everyone deserve death, it is our wages, but God love the world so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus was send to this world as a humble baby, born in a stable and a normal family. He went through what we went through as a human being and He experienced different temptations that we as human being often face. And He pass all these tests and live a perfect and sinless life; He is the only one that can save us from our sin. And He did, He bore the burden of our sin unto His shoulder and He suffer what we should be suffering.

He was crucified, nailed unto the cross. But before this, he went through all these beating and mockery that scorn His body and His heart. The cross that He was nailed unto, was on His shoulder, laying down heavily as He was carrying it up to the mountain where He should be crucified, but we should understand that the sin He was about to carry is way more heavier than the cross. Jesus, the Saviour of our sin, was killed by us. On the cross, He was seen and riducle by the people He wants to save. Jesus, who was perfect and has never experienced sin, had to take what belongs to us, all these filthy and unrighteousness sin, unto Himself. Why? It is simple.

Out of love, for you and me.

It is this simple.

And yes, he die for us, as a sacrificing on the cross.

This is the story of Jesus.

Orange Juice's appearance, in chapter 42, was describe as "a halo of light, as lovely the Virgin Mary", by Pi who was probably mentally ill during that time. And as we go on with the story, we see how the hyena, the most disgusting and needless living creature, quickly deviour the animal on the boat. Starting from the omega-zebra, than to the next, Orange Juice. Next? Orange Juice? Well, it could be Pi too, but Orange Juice stood up and voluntar herself to be the next in line.

She struggle through a fight with the hyena at first, however, she's a fruiteater that knows nothing about killing and she's a female, which is smaller and weaker in size and strength. So at last, she was consume by the hyena with her head fall off. This horrible scene, in Pi's eyes, were described as follow:

Her arms were spread wide open and her short legs were folded together and slightly turned to one side. She looked like a simian Christ on the Cross. Exvept for her head. She was beheaded.

OJ= cross JC=Cross

so... JC=OJ

Yes, Orange Juice sacrifice herself and be the next offering for the hyena. The hyena, which is like our sin, killed Orange Juice. And Orange Juice, die in a position so similar to our Saviour, Jesus Christ, that Pi, a lover of religion, can't refrain himself from associating this to the horrible scene of Jesus Christ dying on the cross.

Although in reality, Orange Juice may not realize that she is "sacrifing for Pi", because she's probably just jumping out as a respond to the hyena's yipping and fighting just to stay alive, but it's done. And in Pi's eye, this is what it is, Orange Juice sacrifice and provide an emotional support to Pi which later on uphold his hope in the face of more horrific tragedy. So to him, Orange Juice = Jesus Christ.

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But there's a follow-up to the story, when Pi was about to give up hope on survivng, Richard Parker appeared between his feet, under the bench. And this added something else to this story, and very likely to the symbolism too. It's unclear yet, what is about to happened, but apparently, there will be something...

Pi: 14 year old boy that love religion

Richard Parker: Just found that he was on the lifeboat too

Hyena: The alpha until the tiger was found

Orange Juice: The "Jesus Christ" that sacrifice herself for Pi

Zebra: Poor creature that was eaten alive

2011年10月25日星期二

Man, Woman, Wild video

In the video of Man, Woman, Wild, we see what life may be like on the ship for three days. If we connect to Pi's situation right now, we can kind of imagine how hard it will be for him. Plus he has to lived with wild, dangerous animals. He already has to face problem on keeping himself from starving and dehydrating, now these animals will just bring more challenge to him on keeping himself alive!

Under the hot burning sun, Pi may get sunstroke like the man in the video, but no one will be there to help him beside himself!
He may face problem such as starvation too. Although he is surrounded by water, but he can't drink it, because it's salt water. How sad is it?
He need foods to survive but as he's finding food for himself, he also need to make sure he won't become the "food" of other animals. Isn't that ironic?
He's just a weak forteen years old boy, how is he going to protect himself when the hyena or the tiger attack him?
The worse of all, Pi's not just physically weakening through starvation and dehydration, he's also weakening spiritually and mentally. Due to the shock and frightening of understanding the real, wild side of an animals and the concept of "The weak are the prey of the strong".
He's exausted and tired and he wants rest, he's so weary to the point that he feels nothing at all, he's not afraid of anything anymore...his senses are numb...

But it seems to be like his natural tendency is motivating him to live on. Although all these things are happeneing so quickly in front of him, and it's so fast that he's not ready to carry it all yet. But still, he realize that he don't want to die. Because for him, the most important thing in the world right now is to live on. This is something really interesting about human beings. Often time when we face challenges and problems we will want to give up, but after all the depression, 90% of people will stand up again and confront all the problems. Because they don't want to give up, they are not reconciled, and they know they don't like this feeling.

Everyone will have this feeling in some point of thier life, even those who had given up and decided to end everything through dealth. Die is an easy thing to think of but a difficult thing to act on. Usually it is those that love themselves that are more likely to come up with this decision. Why? Because they love themself so much that they don't want to see themselves getting wounded by all these problems. They don't like this burden that is pushing down heavily on their shoulders, they want to let it down, they need rest. And it is not until the time that they are almost dying that they finally realize that they don't like dealth, and they don't want to die.

This is not going to be easy...

Although they are not dead yet but it is always until this time for these people to understand the beauty of life. Because having problems and challenges is a special privilege only for those who are alive. If you die, you will have nothing. But often time, it's too late for them to realize this fact. So I am really impressed with Pi, because it's not easy for a forteen years old boy to face these problems alone. There most be so many questions going on in his head this time, such as is my family still alive? Why did this happen to me? Or what should I do next? But despite these facts he came up with the solution "to live on". To be honesty with you, I might be the one who choose to die and end everything because I will be tired to think of what to do. We don't know what will happens next, but this is life, and we can learn something important from these lessons and the beauty of endeavor.

2011年10月24日星期一

Free Quiz!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011年10月16日星期日

The ALPHA

In the animal kingdom, there are the alpha-male, or the dominant male among other females. This position is really important because it shows the power of the male animal in its own society. The alpha-male gives orders and directions, and everybody else follow, in the human kingdom, there is also an "alpha-male." They are the ones who people usually listen to in the group, and this position will show that person's social rank and power to other. Usually the alpha-male are the ones that exude great leadership and confidence, but they may not necessary be "males", females can be the "alpha-male" inside the group too. Here are some examples of my years of observation and examination on the "alpha-male" inside my life's groups.

EXAMPLE ONE:

The most recent and daily group that was form in my life, is my school group, which are my friends and I. This group is made up of friends who I hang out most in the school and even in outside activities, and in this group, there are both girls and boys. And it seems like, in this group, the one that most people listen to is Esther, quite obvious. Because whenever we go out, she is always the one who ask where do you guys want to go, but also the one who answer that question (but in a question form). She's also the one whom we always asked and looked for an opinion in the conversation, and also the one we rely the most on. She exude confidence most of the time and she's not scare to be in her own skin. Not all alpha-males are the same in human kingdom, some alpha-males are proud but some are humble, she's more like the humble one. Although she exude confidence, but she does not express arrogance, I think this is one reason that make her the alpha-male in our group.

EXAMPLE 2:

The second group that I'm going to talk about is my family. I have a faimly of four members, my dad, my mom, my younger sister, and I. And the alpha-male, the one we always ask for opinion and listen to is actually my mom. Although it seems like most of the family is like that too now days, but it is just because mothers are always the one with the most opinions, and fathers are the one with less word to say. But in our family, is not just because of that. My mom is a really stubborn person and she always stands up for what she believes, I didn't mean that this is a bad character or what, it's just that she knows well and have great confidence in what she's saying. Like for example before when we are planning on family trips, she's always the one who research and plans. Then she will tell us places that she found and where she recommands, and if one of us has something to say about it or wants to go somewhere else, she will start telling us the good and bad things to each places, but she will say it in a nice way that we didn't even realize that we are getting deceived. And my dad of course, is the beta. Although my sister is really talkative and have many things to say and she seems like she's the beta, but once my dad compromise, she will too, compromise along, but she probably didn't realize it.

EXAMPLE 3
The third group is my grandparents. Although in most people's case, the alpha-male is definately the children, but in our house, it's actually my mother. My mother has three younger sister and one younger brother, and when problems come, it is my mom whom they mostly ask for help. My grandparents will often call her and talk to her about economic issues and some other problems, and then she start delivering a long sermon to them about her opinion and some ancedotes that happened to her friends as an illustration. She's always the one that my uncle and aunties talk to when they have questions. Probably is because she's the older among the other, or probably she's the one with most things to say, but I think she just have something that make her the "alpha-male" in both of the family. So who say the alpha-male is the most attrative, smart, and kind of the arrogant "guy" in the society? It is not necessary the same in Human kingdom as it is in the animal kingdom, there are obviously more to it and also women, could also be the "alpha" in the society.