words of wisdom

I heard this the other day, and I'd like to share it with all of you, because it is kind of inspiring.

"Pleasure turns to the pain, / Of the lessons learned from the strain, / Of the questions burned in my brain, / About whether to love is humane / In its touch. / These thoughts are like salmon / Swimming upstream / In the tears of your deceit, / Fighting the current hurt / That kills more than is created / By the chaos of our intertwined emotions: / Chaotic because the anchor / Of Eros' arrow has been plucked from the vessel / Of my undying infatuation. / Separation not as simple as the distance between us, / My mind no longer possessed / By the demons / That had been the overseers / Of my enslavement to your lies. / The seeds of these lies, / Rooted so deeply / They have cracked the foundation / Of what we once shared, / Allowing the faith in us I had sealed inside / To gush out like a river, / Ripping the image of our future together / From my thoughts / As violently and as brutally / As if it were a child being taken / From his mother's arms. / I'm left surrounded in darkness, / But I refuse to be swallowed by it, / My loneliness like the night air. / Invisible to the eye, oblivious to the touch, / In its cold uncomfortableness. / Yet if I could do it all over again, / I'd do it in the same skin I'm in. / To lay down and let love die, / Just stay down and let love lie: / No, no, not I. / I'll stay 'round and let love fly, / Even though I have seen its darkest form, deceit. / Nothing else could taste this warm / Or feel this sweet."

Frankenstein: Target of human vices

Unfortunately, we are nearing the conclusion of novel Frankenstein we have been reading in AP English. It is true that every novel has its own life lesson to offer to its readers, and Frankenstein is no different. Mary Shelley’s original intent in composing Frankenstein was to create a modern horror story that highlights the romantic period. But it also targets the greatness as well as the vices that reside within every human being.

The basic instinct of every human, of living organism in fact, is to find a mate and reproduce. But in society, this simple fact of living must be backed with compassion. And if one cannot come to possess this compassion from another organism, it would seem that one would begin to crave it more than anything. This is exemplified when the beast exclaims that food and rest will no longer be required in pursuit of revenge on his creator, upon witnessing Victor rip his unborn companion to pieces. The beast craved this compassion so ardently, that it festered into an obsession. It can be argued that once a person/beast becomes obsessed with attaining a certain thing, unmentionable deeds can be committed in blind pursuit of this often unattainable goal, which is another human vice Mary Shelley intends to target. Examples of obsession are seen twice, both in Victor and in his creation. Victor worked feverishly, while his health suffered, to reach his goal of creation, only to look upon it with horror once it had been achieved. The beast then goes on to live his life being despised by the human race, even though his first thought of the species was compassion. But he becomes so lonely and obsessed with acquiring a companion that he would destroy all that his creator loves just to be able to have it. This is the basic idea of obsession that has the potential to bore itself inside all people if given the opportunity.

my start equals my future

The great Chinese philosopher Confucius once said that “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life”. In order for this to be possible, career must align perfectly with personality.

I come from a hard-working family; my father is a mechanic/fabricator, which is where my complete and utter exuberance for the field came to be. I had watched him with great admiration since I was very young, which had a great influence on my personality. Watching attentively to every little thing he did, I developed a fascination to learn. This world is so big and has so many different things to learn, how could you not look upon it with reverence? Specifically, I loved to do anything in which I could work with my hands, and it seems that through the course of my young years it has rooted into somewhat of an obsession, which has benefitted me greatly in obtaining the skills of the trade. Finally, I developed a keen vision of how things are put together, how they move, and so on and so forth.

In choosing my career it was essential that all of my personality and skills be satisfied. That is why I decided to become a Mechanical Engineer: a field of work that will allow me to work with my hands on a daily basis, develop new ideas, and challenge my mind in such a way that will guarantee continuous opportunities for learning. The high school classes I have taken that have to do with this field (i.e. Calculus, welding technology) have confirmed this decision and allow me to wake up every day, excited about my future.