Mediocrity

We are always told by parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and family that “you are special”, especially when we are feeling down.  What makes me special is the numerous areas that I am ‘good’ at.

I’m at least above average in art, I can sing well, I can play the piano (but I’m certainly nothing special), and I’m smart, but I stink at sports.  Now when comparing myself to others, (which you may say is bad to do, but stop lying; we all do it) I often find that while they may be better than me in one subject, I can usually “beat” them in another subject, or multiple subjects.

For example, Sample A is somewhat smarter than me, and can play the violin much better than I can play the piano, but I can sing better than him or her, and am also better at art.  It is this balance of attributes that makes us all unique, and to some extent, equal.  Now I will be the first to dispel the delusion that we are all equal: we are not made equal, as shown by a comparison between Albert Einstein and little Johnny Smith down the block.  But though Einstein may be much, much smarter than Johnny, Johnny doesn’t have to be, for example, a Michael Jordan of sports, to stand toe-to-toe in “goodness” with Einstein.  However the assemblage of traits that we all have, and which are different than everyone else’s, does give us a uniqueness that makes someone special.

Now, to the title of my entry.  Out of all of the traits for myself listed above, the one I am “best at” per se, is being smart.  I am a little better than mediocre at art, and am still pretty good at singing, I’d say, but ‘mediocrity’ is certainly a good word to describe my piano skills (and is an overstatement for my athletic prowess), as well as describing a lot of other traits I possess, like my knowledge on Greek Mythology, my ability to code, general knowledge of fashion, etc.  These mediocrities is what makes me who I am–I, and most probably everyone else, can rattle off a list of these things that they are mediocre.  And because there are so many of these things, I think our mediocrities is what truly defines us.  In this way, we are all a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, and it is what makes us special, different, and maybe even “better” than the next person.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Failure.

Failure is such a frustrating thing.

This Should Keep Us All Thinking

I just want to dedicate today’s journal to this really powerful video I saw today.

This Should Keep Us All Thinking

After watching the video:
An increasing amount of people question God nowadays.  This classroom is like a miniature version of our world today.  With everything going on, people question God’s presence in our lives.  I think its interesting that the video pointed to the fact that no one has faith, that the world is “going to Hell”.  While I still have faith in humanity, there can definitely be some changes.  And these changes don’t necessarily have to come with believing in God.  It comes with abiding by the morals of the Bible, and not necessarily believing in Jesus, God, or the Trinity.  You do not become a better person by believing in God, so much as you become a better person by following Jesus’ teachings.

Even if you don’t believe in God, (and I am not comfortable in converting anyone, so let’s not go down that path) it does not mean you have to throw your ideals and morals to the wayside and live a sinful life.  The drive to live a good life, to better yourself, and to help the people around you, should still be there.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Blood Sugar Sex – Not so magical.

The following post is my musings, and therefore, my opinions. It is not meant to call anyone out, or to bash anyone in any way.

After a year of high school, it’s been interesting looking back on how I’ve changed. Most notably, my attitude towards things like sex, drugs, and alcohol have changed–though don’t worry, not too drastically that I would dream of doing any of them. In a high school environment where all of these things are so commonplace, such non-issues, it begins to rub into someone that these things are OK.

For proof, my level of swearing has definitely gone very up. Although swearing is no where as serious as the three things listed above, it’s a “pathway crime”, so to speak, and unchecked, it could lead to these things. Teachers, guidance counselors, and guest speakers always tell kids in schools how peer pressure is such a problem & an overwhelming cause of illegal or immoral behavior. I would laugh and tell the people around me that no one could ever talk me into smoking, or pass it off as a ‘cool thing to do’. While I still think this is true, I now see a much more subliminal form of peer pressure; a much more effective form of peer pressure. In high school, at least in my experience as a freshman, no one comes right up to you and says “Drugs are sweet. Wanna’ try?” or “You’re so lame because you don’t drink. Have a beer with me after school”. However the mere fact of being around these activities, and hearing about it so much by listening to conversations of more “adventurous” kids, I begin to believe they are okay practices.

I think this is where the danger lies. The slow and subconscious acceptance of these behaviors, which ultimately leads to bad decisions, maybe not right off the bat, but by the end of sophomore year, or junior year, or for the more stalwart, senior year.

One has to make a conscious effort to stay away from these things, and recognize the forces at work, to stay on the right track.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Everyone’s flocking to Flock, the social web-browser

I just go this new web browser called Flock, powered by Mozilla.  It’s really nice–it features a side panel that displays all my Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and blog updates, and has the capacity for a lot more, such as YouTube, Flickr, etc.

I recently added a Windows partition to my Mac via BootCamp so I could play Sims 3, and I found that Flock is a nice, simple web browser for my purposes–mainly to pass the time when my Sim is at work or sleeping.

So if you’re looking for something new, check out Flock, at Flock.com.


In other news, I think I wanna try starting a little journal on here.  Hopefully I can get on at least once every two days or so, and just write a little bit.  It won’t be overly personal, as this is the internet, and I do have this URL posted on my Facebook, but it’ll probably be mostly reflection and self-discussions about life.  So if you’re interested, stay tuned.

Blogged with the Flock Browser