Rebelling, I feel, is a necessary part of growing up. Rebelling is such a general term though. When I say we should all rebel, I don’t immediately think about going out every night to drink and party. Everyone has their own boundaries, and we should rebel to our own limits. If you’re born n’ raised in a religious suburb, your tolerance for ‘crazy’ may be slightly lower than a born-and-raised New Yorker like myself.
To me, the term rebelling just means a way of going ‘against the system’, whether the system is the authority in your life, social norms etc. To learn who-we-are, we need to see where our moral beliefs and stance is. For example, do you think it is ok to be gay, or not? Going against the ‘system’ is also good just to, maybe, see how you deal with things you don’t believe in, whether that’s thinking it’s not fair to have to say ‘please’ or having a curfew before midnight. Part of getting our feet stabilized on the ground is learning how to fall. Like the saying “Forward two steps, back one step”, life isn’t always going to be up, so we need to fall a few times and see which way we can pick ourselves back up.
The thing about rebelling though is that it can have major consequences. While going against the ‘system’, we find that we like it too much and take it from experimental zone to a more permanent place in your life. For example, though I don’t want to take drugs, I understand if maybe you try it out. Well, maybe not understand, but I probably won’t blow up on you and give you an intervention. I think if we don’t try something ‘bad’, we will never understand ourselves that they are bad or disgusting. All we will know is what everyone else thinks, which to most people isn’t good enough. When this one-time thing though becomes permanent, that’s where the problem begins.
Why would so many people rebel though, if it does come with a high risk? Besides my opinion of it being necessary, the honest answer I have is that rebelling can be fun. Since I am a bit grounded, rebelling to me is not too huge, but I still remember the time I openly chewed gum in class and put my legs on the table. Wild, huh? Though it sounds stupid, a small moment of rebellion like this leads to a huge feeling of satisfaction that for many people is enough. Ok, I tried it out, I’m cool now. Rebelling is definitely something to avoid if you tend to maximize problems, but small moments of breaking the rules teach you who you are and what you can do (without hopefully getting in too much trouble...)
Showing posts with label acceptance vs. intolerance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acceptance vs. intolerance. Show all posts
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
Picture Book, 3rd draft
pg.1: I woke up today not feeling like myself. I reached up to pat my head, thinking that maybe my favorite pink bow had fallen off while I was sleeping...it was still there.
pg.2: I pushed my covers down, stepped out of bed, and walked toward my mirror. I gasped. I was a green, hairy, slimy, fat, gross monster! I touched my hair and felt worms. I poked my stomach, and green slime oozed on my finger. I opened my mouth, and out came bug juice. “AHHHHH!”
pg.3: When my friends came over, like they usually do on Saturdays, they rang the doorbell and I peeked out of the mail slot. Ava and Julie looked down and smiled at me. I opened the door, and then after they were inside slammed it shut. Luckily, no-one but Ava and Julie were outside to see me. “What’s wrong?” Ava asked. I shushed them and pulled them up the stairs to my room.
pg.4: “I woke up today,” I gulped, “A MONSTER!” They looked at each other, then replied “No silly! You’re not a monster! You’re pretty! Now can we go back outside to play house? You can be the mommy this time!” “Are you crazy! I can’t go outside looking like this! I am ugly and fat and green and slimy! Can’t you see?” “What are you talking about? You look completely normal!”
pg.5: After Ava and Julie left early, since they were bored with me stuck inside, my mom asked if I wanted to go out for pizza, or maybe ice-cream. Yikes! I thought. I can’t have all my friends seeing me like this! They will laugh at me! “No thanks mommy. Let’s just stay home tonight.”
pg.6: On Sunday, instead of playing with my friends like I usually do on Sundays, I was sitting on my couch, waiting for them. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. They never came!
pg.7: I was looking out the window when I saw Ava and Julie walking straight towards my house, ice-creams in hand, laughing in the sun. Finally! But then...they walked past my door to go a few houses down to Julie’s house. I jumped up and through the mail slot called out to them. “Guys! Why didn’t you come over?” “Um, well, yesterday all you did was sulk around your room. Today we kind of wanted to go outside to have fun! You aren’t a monster, and we don’t know how many more times we have to say it!” Then they walked away. Tears started coming to my eyes, and my face grew hot and red.
pg.8: I stormed back up to my room to the mirror. “HEY! Everyone says I look normal, so they must be right! Stop lying to me about who I am! I am not a monster! I know if I went outside, no-one would look at me strange. Go away!”
pg.9: And just like that, the monster slowly became me again.
MAYBE: pg.10: When I woke up the next day, feeling totally normal, bow still on my head, I walked towards my mirror. There was a girl standing there, with plain black hair, pale skin, and only a tongue in her mouth. (OR just show image)
pg.10 (IMAGE):- Annie’s back (mostly dominant part of page), then front in mirror (smiling) and have room colorful and happy, with girl with messy black hair, petite, skirt, etc with a pink bow on her head
pg.11: It was me OR/AND I was back
pg.2: I pushed my covers down, stepped out of bed, and walked toward my mirror. I gasped. I was a green, hairy, slimy, fat, gross monster! I touched my hair and felt worms. I poked my stomach, and green slime oozed on my finger. I opened my mouth, and out came bug juice. “AHHHHH!”
pg.3: When my friends came over, like they usually do on Saturdays, they rang the doorbell and I peeked out of the mail slot. Ava and Julie looked down and smiled at me. I opened the door, and then after they were inside slammed it shut. Luckily, no-one but Ava and Julie were outside to see me. “What’s wrong?” Ava asked. I shushed them and pulled them up the stairs to my room.
pg.4: “I woke up today,” I gulped, “A MONSTER!” They looked at each other, then replied “No silly! You’re not a monster! You’re pretty! Now can we go back outside to play house? You can be the mommy this time!” “Are you crazy! I can’t go outside looking like this! I am ugly and fat and green and slimy! Can’t you see?” “What are you talking about? You look completely normal!”
pg.5: After Ava and Julie left early, since they were bored with me stuck inside, my mom asked if I wanted to go out for pizza, or maybe ice-cream. Yikes! I thought. I can’t have all my friends seeing me like this! They will laugh at me! “No thanks mommy. Let’s just stay home tonight.”
pg.6: On Sunday, instead of playing with my friends like I usually do on Sundays, I was sitting on my couch, waiting for them. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. They never came!
pg.7: I was looking out the window when I saw Ava and Julie walking straight towards my house, ice-creams in hand, laughing in the sun. Finally! But then...they walked past my door to go a few houses down to Julie’s house. I jumped up and through the mail slot called out to them. “Guys! Why didn’t you come over?” “Um, well, yesterday all you did was sulk around your room. Today we kind of wanted to go outside to have fun! You aren’t a monster, and we don’t know how many more times we have to say it!” Then they walked away. Tears started coming to my eyes, and my face grew hot and red.
pg.8: I stormed back up to my room to the mirror. “HEY! Everyone says I look normal, so they must be right! Stop lying to me about who I am! I am not a monster! I know if I went outside, no-one would look at me strange. Go away!”
pg.9: And just like that, the monster slowly became me again.
MAYBE: pg.10: When I woke up the next day, feeling totally normal, bow still on my head, I walked towards my mirror. There was a girl standing there, with plain black hair, pale skin, and only a tongue in her mouth. (OR just show image)
pg.10 (IMAGE):- Annie’s back (mostly dominant part of page), then front in mirror (smiling) and have room colorful and happy, with girl with messy black hair, petite, skirt, etc with a pink bow on her head
pg.11: It was me OR/AND I was back
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Topic #2: Sexism
‘Sexism is the cultural assumption that men are superior to women and deserve preference and power over them.’ Yes that’s right folks, sexism is when men think they are better than women. Not wasting any time, can’t women think they are better than men? I mean, kids, let’s not forget that rhyme that goes ‘girls go to college to get more knowledge, boys go to jupiter to get stup-id-er’. That definitely shows some superiority against boys, saying we are smart and they are stupid. It seems as if people are thinking too loosely now a days of discriminating, based on sex or anything. Last year, my english teacher loosely shouted ‘racist’ at the most random of times, and when a teacher called on people from only the left side for some questions, for example, we students joked around and called that teacher ‘side-ist’.
People are thinking, as we are getting farther and farther from the Civil Rights movement, that it is ok to revert to our old ways of ‘I am better than you because of blah.’ As I said, we are joking, but what happens when someone takes it that extra step, 'till it isn’t joking and we are all fighting to defend who we were born to be?! I don’t find discriminating funny, but we have to admit we all think we are better than someone whether it’s what our grades are or how thin we can be. The thing is, society made us feel superior, since all the latest gossip is on power struggles between celebrities. Yet if we are so past that 'era' of letting media and others control us, why can’t we put an end to it? We all are ashamed of racism and sexism in the past, but how come now one seems to find it a problem now-a-days? In my article, it mentions that women still make around 77 cents to the male dollar, and that the ‘top 4’ jobs that women are is a nurse, teacher, etc.
It seems as if America is forgetting it's roots, and living life as one big power struggle. Not only are men sexist against women, but some women are scared to get a higher power in their job, in fear that since they are a women, people will think they are a bossy bitch (as mentioned in my annotated article). Is sexism all a man’s fault? I mean, that’s a big weight to put on people, much less men’s shoulders. Tradition is hard to break, and though discriminating against someone because of the body parts they may or may not have is wrong, people aren’t easy adjusters, and we can’t simply expect everyone to ‘get used’ to women being in power. As time goes on, though, we should expect to see improvement, which the article I read talked about, and said ‘We’ve come a long way, baby. But there’s still a long way to go’ (this article was written in March 2010).
sources:
Mankiller, Wilma, and others. "Sexism." The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History. Dec. 1 1998: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 27 Nov 2010
Bennett, Jessica, Jesse Ellison, and Sarah Ball. "Are We There Yet?." Newsweek Vol. 155, No. 13. 29 Mar 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 27 Nov 2010.
People are thinking, as we are getting farther and farther from the Civil Rights movement, that it is ok to revert to our old ways of ‘I am better than you because of blah.’ As I said, we are joking, but what happens when someone takes it that extra step, 'till it isn’t joking and we are all fighting to defend who we were born to be?! I don’t find discriminating funny, but we have to admit we all think we are better than someone whether it’s what our grades are or how thin we can be. The thing is, society made us feel superior, since all the latest gossip is on power struggles between celebrities. Yet if we are so past that 'era' of letting media and others control us, why can’t we put an end to it? We all are ashamed of racism and sexism in the past, but how come now one seems to find it a problem now-a-days? In my article, it mentions that women still make around 77 cents to the male dollar, and that the ‘top 4’ jobs that women are is a nurse, teacher, etc.
It seems as if America is forgetting it's roots, and living life as one big power struggle. Not only are men sexist against women, but some women are scared to get a higher power in their job, in fear that since they are a women, people will think they are a bossy bitch (as mentioned in my annotated article). Is sexism all a man’s fault? I mean, that’s a big weight to put on people, much less men’s shoulders. Tradition is hard to break, and though discriminating against someone because of the body parts they may or may not have is wrong, people aren’t easy adjusters, and we can’t simply expect everyone to ‘get used’ to women being in power. As time goes on, though, we should expect to see improvement, which the article I read talked about, and said ‘We’ve come a long way, baby. But there’s still a long way to go’ (this article was written in March 2010).
sources:
Mankiller, Wilma, and others. "Sexism." The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History. Dec. 1 1998: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 27 Nov 2010
Bennett, Jessica, Jesse Ellison, and Sarah Ball. "Are We There Yet?." Newsweek Vol. 155, No. 13. 29 Mar 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 27 Nov 2010.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Social Awareness Project #5: Respond to a Song
In the song 'One Tribe' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IisSJsSaA0o) by the Black Eyed Peas, the main message is that the world needs to come together and be united. Another part of this song is acceptance vs. intolerance. ‘If I had an enemy then my enemy’s gonna try an’ come and kill me ‘cuz I’m his enemy’. That line is so sad, that just because we put the label of ‘enemy’ on someone that we may not agree with, we have to kill them! We can’t tolerate things not going our way, so we use violence to ensure that they do. In this song, it makes it sound so easy to just treat everyone as equal and never cause any harm. The song says, and I quote, “Let’s cast amnesia, forget about all that evil.” Not to be a downer, but I don’t think any drug could erase the existence of hatred and using violence as a way to solve our problems. In a way, even if we ‘forget’ (using amnesia) evil, evil in sense is in our nature. From as long as the earth has existed, people or even animals have fought to get what they want, possibly resorting to violence to get there. Is this song too hopeful, or is it just what the world needs to finally get the message that we should at least make a small effort to become ‘one’?
I am really not sure. Like the song Imagine, the ideas for a world of peace now seem so far off, but like John Lennon said ‘I’m not the only one’ (who thinks peace can be made). In a sense, if we don’t think or believe peace can come, it won’t, but even if we get influenced in the slightest sense by a song maybe we can make small steps. Peace obviously is a huge thing, so even though this song is suggesting we change immediately and forget everything, the reality is that it is showing us a path of small steps toward one day hopefully achieving that goal.
Another part of the song that stood out to me is when it says “Forget about all that evil, that evil that they feed ya.” Do we really get fed evil? I suppose in a sense the media feeds us evil -- gossip, rumors, influences etc. It sort of ‘feeds’ us in the sense that sometimes people are satisfied that other people are below them or struggling. Could we ever stop that ‘evil’ from being broadcasted? Is it good to be satisfied off of someone else’s hardships? Don’t know if I could answer that...
Basically, One Tribe is about how wrong our world is, and how it should be easy to move on from that evil, but since we live in this messed up world where we get fed evil, we can’t. Honestly, I think it’s easier to sing about curing evil then to do it, but maybe this song can nudge us a bit in the right direction.
I am really not sure. Like the song Imagine, the ideas for a world of peace now seem so far off, but like John Lennon said ‘I’m not the only one’ (who thinks peace can be made). In a sense, if we don’t think or believe peace can come, it won’t, but even if we get influenced in the slightest sense by a song maybe we can make small steps. Peace obviously is a huge thing, so even though this song is suggesting we change immediately and forget everything, the reality is that it is showing us a path of small steps toward one day hopefully achieving that goal.
Another part of the song that stood out to me is when it says “Forget about all that evil, that evil that they feed ya.” Do we really get fed evil? I suppose in a sense the media feeds us evil -- gossip, rumors, influences etc. It sort of ‘feeds’ us in the sense that sometimes people are satisfied that other people are below them or struggling. Could we ever stop that ‘evil’ from being broadcasted? Is it good to be satisfied off of someone else’s hardships? Don’t know if I could answer that...
Basically, One Tribe is about how wrong our world is, and how it should be easy to move on from that evil, but since we live in this messed up world where we get fed evil, we can’t. Honestly, I think it’s easier to sing about curing evil then to do it, but maybe this song can nudge us a bit in the right direction.
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