Loneliness and Happiness

1) Discuss your opinion/reaction of the two quotes that were presented in class yesterday, "No man is an island" (John Donne) and "Hell is other people" (Jean-Paul Sartre).

2) Then, search the internet for 2 additional quotes, one that relates to LONELINESS and one that relates to HAPPINESS. You can either agree or disagree with these quotes. Write an explanation of what the quotes mean to you and how they relate to your outlook on life.


Yesterday, two different quotes were shown to me and I had mixed feelings between both of them. The first quote: "No man is an island," I fully agree with because in the big picture we are all part of mankind. what I do might effect those whom I influence such as family and friends. If there was only you then your life would be a lonely place where you will whither and die due to the lack of support from others. For example, on the minor scale, copying is a thing we have all done before. Say you were exhausted or busy doing something other than work and you neglect the work. The next day you go and ask your friends to copy. If a man was an island, then the friend would not help you and let you get an F. F for failure as if without each other we would all get an F in life. The Next quote: "Hell is other people," i mostly disagree with but in some cases it rings true. In the cases where it is true, the "Other people" are people whom are bad influences such as gang members who are malevolent or enemies in war are hell because they are bent on killing you and everything you stand for. Fortunately, those are the only instances where this quote is correct, but in general the majority of other people cannot be hell because they are just like you and they want to help themselves and you to become a better version of you. 

No one would choose a friendless existence on condition of having all the other things in the world.

- Aristotle

Perfect happiness, I believe, was never intended by the Deity to be the lot of one of his creatures in this world; but that he has very much put in our power the nearness of our approaches to it, is what I have steadfastly believed.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to John Page, Jul. 15, 1763

i agree with both of these quotes. the first I feel means that no one could have everything in the world without a friend at all. they would be lonely and have nobody to share these things with. This relates to me because as much as I want to be rich and have a everything I could ask for, i couldn't be happy without someone who I could share those things with such as friends and a wife. I would rather be unfortunate and happy then affluent and lonely. The second quote I feel means that being fully happy is impossible, but we could make ourselves become as close as possible to it. This relates to me because there will always be doubt in my mind even in the decimal percentages. The thing is that with happiness comes stress of losing it, and that as happy as we can be we could never have "Perfect Happiness."

Klein and Ebert

These articles all comment on the influence of the Internet on a person's loneliness.Klein argued that the Internet is an extension of man's physical and mental capabilities. for example the picture of the "little boy" and his avatar in star wars pretty much re-birthed him into a fully capable version of himself. The man without use of his hands to type or move the avatar, speaks to the computer to converse with his friends without hassle of moving much. At first when i glanced at the picture of the disabled 35 year old I assumed he was a miserable being doomed to his house for the rest of his life but after more analyzing I saw happiness in his eyes. What could bring a man such happiness with such a disadvantage for activity? The Internet.

In Ebert's first blog, clarification towards the effect of Internet on the lonely was the topic. The difference between a hindering Internet as opposed to a helping one would be the motive of usage. when people who utilize the Internet for useless fancies it can deprive one of personal interactions as opposed to virtual. on the other hand, those who are lonely and depressed use the Internet to speak their feelings to those willing to listen. sometimes these users have very few real friends to convey their issues and dilemmas with and maybe don't even want to listen to them. this results in the lonely and depressed people to go on blogs or comment on others to get their issue out for understanding. empathy is what these people look for so they feel not as lonely and to feel as if they are not the only ones in the world dealing with that certain problem. his second blog continues to expand his understanding on why the Internet is so vital to these lonely people.

i use the Internet mostly to socialize with friend via Facebook and to educate myself by searching through facts and news to better prepare myself for the future.

In all i view the Internet as drawing us closer to others. we are all part of one whole and it is our duty to help and connect with other areas of our net... aka Internet. The blogs and forums all create an opportunity for opinions and understanding others lives. 

Finally i do agree with all of these statements because being in love is not one sole reason but a vast assortment of reasons that all lead to a relationship between two people whether it be the smiles, the understanding, the children, the social status, whatever. marriage is a thing that can be caused by many different feelings that will end up in connections between two beings.

Life In A Day Response

This movie was appealing to my values and emotions. The various lives of those across the world dwarf yet idolizes my own. I feel that the purpose of the movie was to explain that no particular day can be "made",but that they happen and by no reason. This movie improved my values by appreciating the things I have and how luck I am to be living with running water, abundant food, and a very comfortable shelter above my head. I've lost my reasoning to appreciate and I've began to take many things I own for granted such as my cell phone (Which I tend to consistantly destroy) and my home (Which in younger grades I would brag about it's size and content). 

Im Back!

          Last week we were learning about dreams and how they are hallucinations of the mind, and how we spend 6 years dreaming. I learned that there are 4 types of dreams: Nightmares, Lucid dreams, Recurring Dreams, and Prophetic Dreams. Nightmares are dreams almost every human have had or will have. they are always unpleasant. they also can be solutions to real life situations you are going through or thinking about. Lucid dreams are dreams where you realize you are dream and do things unrealistic because you are. While having these dreams your brain will start to wake you up because it doesn't like lucid dreams its either conscious or "real" dreams. Recurring dreams are dreams that happen over and over again with not a lot of change in the story. they usually are caused by issues in life that are neglected or ignored. They are usually solutions to these issues. Last but not least, are prophetic dreams. These dreams supposedly depict the future by piecing information together to make an educated guess about the on coming events.
         My dream that i can think of right off the top of my head would be categorized as a recurring dream. It is in fact a nightmare which fits the description of a recurring dream. I was in my old house and everything had a very red  tint to it and suddenly the front door bursts open and a black silhouette with two dogs is standing there and the floor starts to fill up with blood and I have to jump across couches to reach the stairs and go upstairs but then I get attacked by the dogs and I wake up. I almost always have this dream when I watch movies with lots of dogs.

Round 1 Reflection

First off, I would like to say that i enjoyed the debates. Overall, the debates went well. Everyone did their parts and defended their sides even if they didn't agree with it. on the other hand, I don't feel I preformed the same. I was nervous and I stuttered profusely. My strength of the debate was in the conclusion. I tried to leave the question up to the audience to answer. My weaknesses were abundant. I couldn't speak clearly, and I couldn't think of any refute questions. If I could change anything I would change the fact that I had points instead of a fixed dialogue. I am not very talented at speaking off of my mind. I will improve my questioning in the cross examination area next debate. I feel the rubric is fine the way it is. It has all of the different categories generalized.

1)November/December Topic - Resolved: The abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal justice
2)January/February - Resolved: In the United States, juveniles charged with violent felonies ought to be treated as adults in the criminal justice system.

My Values

I have many different values that show from the survey. overall, I agree with the results from the survey. my main two values are to be financially sound and secure, and to have a great love and marriage and friendships in my future. First of all, I agree that I don't want to be always stressing about money and not being able to pay bills. I would rather worry about grades (or jobs later on), and more important matters then money. That would be the first agreement. Next, I want to be happy with someone that makes me feel that way. I like friends being with me and a lover to always be able to turn to and make me smile. Friends and love are important to me because they are both up-lifters. In all, I was not surprised by the description of my values because all of the things that i hold dear and value came up in the description. Finally, my perception of myself matches the survey's perception of my values closely because they both share being financially secure, and having friends and love.

Outliers, chapter 7

Chapter seven in Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell talks about how a plane crashes due to mitigated speech and unfavorable weather. Due to mitigated speech the lives of many were lost and many costly damages resulted. the pilots were stalling and pausing, wasting valuable time. time they needed to use landing the ship and figuring where the runway was. Mitigated speech is a bad habit. It shows you are not aggressive at what you want and that your undecided.
What i learned from chapter seven is that mitigated speech is a bad practice. I learned that speaking clearly and to the point is more effective then just the "ah" and "i guess" way of speech.