This I Believe

I strongly believe in being my own individual. I like to dress how I want to dress, and I try not to fit in with everyone else. Even if I may have the same bits of clothing as other individuals, I try to put them together in my own unique way. On the first day of school I was a little worried to dress “out there” before meeting my classmates. I remember wearing the same shirt as this girl in my class, yet I was glad to have mine be a little bit different from hers. Even though we had the same prints on our shirts, I had cut the neck of my shirt to fit differently from hers. I also realized that I had put my outfit together differently from how her outfit was. I like to stand out in a crowd, not just with the clothes I wear, but how I look.

Juan had posted this comment on one of my responses to David Banach’s lecture: “you mention that if people do not like what your wear, then ‘it's too bad for them’. This shows that you have personality and you are not trying to be somebody else in order to fit in.”

(Juan S.) I can admit that there are times where I want to dress a certain way for certain individuals, yet I learned a long time ago to dress for myself. I do not believe in dressing or acting like everybody else to try and fit in. I really like this quote Juan said about me, because he extracted it from my text without it even being there to begin with. I wrote about the way I dress, and Juan took it to the next level, talking about my personality.


I know we are supposed to use “sprinkling”, but I really like this whole quote:

“Our freedom is, thus, a freedom of synthesis. It is the freedom to pull ourselves together into the type of coherent whole that we will ourselves to be. Even if the raw materials from which we construct ourselves are determined (just a the materials of the artist are determined), what we make ourselves out of these materials is up to us alone (just as what the artist makes of her subject is up to her alone.)"

David Banach compares us to artists and discusses us as individuals like a big piece of artwork. I can relate to this example because I am a painter, and I often work off of pictures. Yet I take pictures and do my own version of the painting, using different colors and ways of painting what I see to make it mine. Banach was talking about how we take things that we see in the world, yet we make them into ourselves.

One day my mom told me that there are only three or four plots to a book, so I decided to look up this quote: “there are only three or four ‘simple plots’ according to most books”. I read a lot of books, and realize sometimes that I have read similar plots even though the books are by completely different authors. This quote seems similar to how Mr. Banach feels that we can take related resources, and make them into ourselves. Though people have many more variations than books do, I still feel like there are certain building blocks that people may work off of to create themselves.

I believe, in being myself. Some people are scared to be themselves, and hide behind personalities that they have created. I do not understand why some individuals put up a “front” for what they really are. A ‘front’ is to “put on a fake or false personality; not keeping it real.” Say as a make-believe scenario, that there is a boy who is constantly putting up an act to impress a girl. Yet the whole time he is putting on this act, (if the girl falls in love with him,) his goal has not really been achieved. The guy has not won, because the girl has fallen for the act of the guy, not who he really is.

I feel like it is wrong when guys think of girls as objects. I read a book by Nora Roberts where these two characters were saying how it was their right to use girls how they wanted to, and since it was a murder mystery the guys felt like they were allowed to dispose of the women once they were done with them. I believe that we are all humans, and that no one should feel like they can use and then cast away (kill) anyone else. Just like the quote from Mr. Banach’s lecture, “Can I choose to be a murder, a thief, or an exploiter of humanity?” I believe that it is wrong to take someone else’s life away from them, before the person is done with their life. In class I connected this quote to One Flew Over A Cuckoo’s Nest and an example with the main character: Randle McMurphy. At first Randle McMurphy was a very lively individual, with his own unique personality. Towards the end of the movie the doctors took him to another floor, and did some brain surgery on him. McMurphy comes back, as a walking vegetable. This scene was very disturbing, and in my opinion wrong, because they took away his personality and eventually his life without his permission. I found that to be unjustifiable.

I believe that everyone has the opportunity to make their own decisions, and that no one else can make those decisions for you. I also feel like everyone is accountable for their actions, and that they should take responsibility for those actions. Something that I really agree with David Banach on is that “we [all] attempt to deceive ourselves and act as if we weren't free, as if we were really determined by our nature, our body, or the expectations of other people." Some people let others make the decisions for them, while some are also too weak or scared to make the decisions for themselves. It's like those cliques that have one leader, and the rest of the people follow the leader without questioning anything that the leader is saying. Even though I do not feel this way, some people may feel safer having someone tell them step by step what to do in their lives. Yet life does not come with an instruction booklet, and people have to learn for themselves how to live.

I believe there is more to being a teenager than doing drugs and drinking. I don’t really agree with getting drunk to be wasted, or so high you can’t function. I like being in control of my body, and would not like some other force to be controlling me instead. One of my friends once said to me something along the lines of “you don’t smoke? What do you do with your life? Oh my God you’re an Angel!” My friend was so surprised, which I found a good example of how teenagers can be today. I feel like it is pathetic how dependent on drugs some kids are. How trashed they get just because it’s “cool”. I think it’s sad how some friendships are made where kids are just using other kids for drugs and alcohol.

I believe that it is bad to try and possess another individual, and that “if I attempt to enslave others or use them as objects, I make myself a slave and an object”, that “the person who uses other people as objects to satisfy his desires makes himself an object” and that “the manipulator, who attempts to buy and sell other people for his own ends, finds that he has sold his soul as well by seeing himself merely as his desires.” To summarize this quote, and connect it to a quote that I really like there is this quote: “Then you will find your servant is your master” (Wrapped Around Your Finger, By The Police) I like this idea that if a person holds someone else as a servant, they will find the servant to be their master. If you try to control another individual, you may find the roles to be reversed, and that they end up controlling you instead of the other way round.

While David Banach feels like we are alone, and that “no one else can feel what we feel, and we cannot feel what is going on in anyone else’s minds”, I believe that there are times where we can share each other’s thoughts. Sometimes, you really can hear and think someone else’s thoughts. It just depends who the person is and the relationship that you have with them. For example, I am very close to my best friend Yasmin J. We have known each other since sixth grade, and can in a way share each other’s thoughts. We cannot have a conversation without echoing each other at least once. We have such a strong connection, that we can be talking about one topic, and then I could say something like “eww” and Yasmin would be like “what, are you talking about (insert name here)?” She knows my thoughts, without me having to say them sometimes.

There is the ongoing debate whether “existence precedes essence” (“We exist first and determine our essence by means of choice.” We exist and determine how we are after), or if “essence precedes existence” (our spirit comes before we exist.) These concepts remind me of the lyrics “how many years can a mountain exist, before it's washed to the sea? Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist, before they're allowed to be free?” (Blowin’ In The Wind, by Bob Dylan) How many years can the idea of a person exist, after they are gone? This reminds me of how famous artists are known so many years after they have passed away. I believe that we are born, and we create ourselves how we are going to be. I do not find it possible for us to be born and already have some magical force directing our lives.

To come to a closure, I’d just like to say not to fall into the cookie cutter mold, but to try and be as unique as you possibly can. Yet if that is not possible, just try to be yourself.


References:
-David Banach’s lecture
-For the book quote: http://www.tameri.com/write/plotnstory.html
-Definition of “Front”: Urbandictionary.com
-The Lyrics to Wrapped Around Your Finger, by The Police: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/sting+&+police/wrapped+around+your+finger_20132153.html
-Existence precedes essence: http://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/sartre.html
-Blowin’ In The Wind, by Bob Dylan: http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/blowin-wind