Right

Heyo everyone, this weeks blog is very late, due to technical difficulties and a very very busy week, but it’s about what is right, and how we define it.

During a lunch hour within the last week or two, a discussion arose at the table which I was sitting at. It changed topics several times, but followed the same general gist. To what end is human acts acceptable, and what should the repercussions be? The main topic was about the raising of livestock. A point was brought up that there’s two main paths people raise livestock. People who raise with care and tolerance and patience, and those who do not. Several people vouched that it was clear which was the right way, and which was not. I saw that too. However, if one way was so wrong, why do people do it? Stuck on this question, I detached myself from the conversation to mull it over. I came to the conclusion that there is no definitive definition of right when it comes to moral and ethics beliefs. Everyone has their own opinion of what is right, and this is affected by several factors. One is tradition. If a man grows up watching his father raise cows the way his father did it, it will have a certain level of rightness in his mind. When you factor in life experiences and understandings, each one will alter your opinion of right. Overall, a sense of empathy has been established in a large portion of the population. The respect for living creatures, each other, etc. However, there is still a large portion of people who don’t respect anything or anyone that doesn’t immediately impact themselves. These are the people who litter, pay no attention to mishaps in livestock production, pollute without much conscience thought.

A member of the conversation, a vegetarian, produced the argument that there is no reason we should value the life of any animal over our own, because they think and live the same as us, and that the only reason we assume ourselves to be smarter is because we created the system which defines intelligence. With immense bias on the system, intelligence can be seen to be measured through means such as communication, expansion of thought into realms such as political and economic, and that we set ourselves up to succeed in the food chain. Whilst this is all true, I thought, why do people eat meat? Millions of people don’t, so quite obviously we can sustain quite well without it. What ethic or moral law gives us the right to pray off other species? There is none. The only right we have is the same one given to bears and badgers and hedgehogs and other omnivores by nature. We have evolutionary traits which let us consume and benefit from meat, and yet, we can also survive sufficiently without. When it comes down to it, I think that the big thing which matters comes back to ethics and moral. I personally understand taking the life of another creature as a source of food, you see it all the time in nature. However, what truly matters is the respect of the life of all creatures. To me, respect should be a universal “right”; something untouched by tradition and morals and ethics, unconditionally a part of our way of life.

On the topic of universal rights, I don’t think there’s much, aside from values such as respect. As the golden rule is always repeated in school, treat others the way you want to be treated. But from that, go further. Treat others the way they deserve to be treated. There’s not a lot of exceptions to this, aside the ones set in place by nature herself. And I’m not talking about hierarchies over other creatures. Nature has clearly set the line in which we need to pray off of each, however that’s a lot more philosophy I don’t feel like getting into much more.

With that, this is my last post until the grading. My feelings are quite mixed. Anxiety and nervousness are colliding with excitement and anticipation. Overall, it’ll be an experience. 

Motivation and Fear

Heyo everyone, this weeks blog is going to be a messy one about motivation and fear

I really don’t know how I can convert my thoughts to words on this one, or in this case, my feelings to words. I think the main concept I’m looking at is how your fear can affect your motivation both positively and negatively. In some cases, fear can cause you to run from your goal and hide from it, maybe because you’re afraid of failure, afraid of something personal perhaps. It really hampers your motivation to pull through. However, on the contrary, the same thing can boost your motivation. Your fear of what will happen if you don’t reach your goal may motivate you to get there, your fear of failure may drive you to train harder instead of avoiding it all together.

To me, there’s a very direct connection between your fear and your motivation. I don’t like fear, but it’s ever present. We have to learn how to use it. By learning how to “control” our fear so we can use it to boost are motivation, who knows. It’s still a concept I’m working on. But I’m working on it.

Proficiencies

Heyo everyone, this weeks blog is going to be about differences between people, and using what you’re good at to help others who struggle in that field.

 

In 30-1 math, there’s 11 different units to cover throughout the semester. It’s to no surprise that some people will excel in some units and struggle with some, but more people more or less manage to pull through. My best unit so far was Permutations and Combinations, which was all about patterns. The majority of the class struggled with that unit, yet excelled in the previous one, Trig 1.  During lunch on Wednesday, I was helping someone with their Perms and Coms in exchange for help with the Trig 1, which I did not do very well in. Needless to say, I was good at something he wanted to get better at, and vice versa, so we were able to help each other out.

 

When it comes to Kung Fu, the same thing applies. Some people excels in some categories and some in others. If you’re able to figure out what you need the most help with, you can begin to find someone who may be proficient in that field. Heck, they may need some help with the thing you excel in. Overall, understanding that different people are better at different things will help you go forward in what you want to achieve. 

Mind Games

Hey guys. This weeks blog will be about coping with problems from the past.

For anyone who wasn’t at the meeting, I brought up some personal issues of mine that were a huge part of my past, and had a big part in defining who I am today. For some time, I thought everything had gone away. I was thinking straight, I wasn’t relapsing, it was going good. But lately, things have been slipping. Old problems returning worse then before, etc. It’s been harder the usual to deal with lately, and I don’t know if that’s from the stress, the anxiety, or the fact that I’ve been ignoring it, hoping that if I ignored it long enough it would go away again. Long story cut short, that did not work. At all. It’s been worse then ever. And there’s nights where I don’t know who I am anymore and it scares me. It really does.

There was once a time where I believed that I was indestructible. I know now that I am fragile. But I also have nothing to gain from fearing my own fragility. I’ve tried to embrace my difficulties, I’ve tried to fight them, I’ve tried to conform to them, but nothing seems to work. So that leaves me with the problem. How do I overcome them? I’m not quite sure. Maybe I’ll just ride it out. Maybe it’s time to go back to seeking professional help. But I’m not going to let a little bit of mind games hamper my journey. This is my own journey. And it’s gonna be a good one. It’s not His, and so I won’t let Him live it for me. I’m the master of my own mind.