Candide's Punishments

     Was Candide deserving of the brutal things that were done to him?  My first instinct is to say, of course not, nobody deserves the skin coming off ones body...lets be real.  And obviously Voltaire was going for satirical, blown out of proportion, worst case senarios here but if we are talking literally, nobody wants that to happen to anyone.  It is just so sad, not to mention gruesome. 

     But on the other hand, what if this shocking punishment is what it took to snap Candide into the reality of the world?  Was he too sheltered?  Would he have been ignorant without a life-changer like this? Having read more of the book, and observing that he still is trying to cling to a part of Pangloss' philosophy means that this event didn't change his thinking drastically.  But then again it seems as though he goes through multiple tragedies everyday after leaving his home, so...

     Then we could look at it from a different angle.  Were the people whipping him in the right to be doing so?  I'm sure that if we were living in the novel, that group would have some really justifiable reasons to do so, some would be so convinced that this is what needed to be done.  So do they deserve to stand up for what they believe in, as violent as that makes it?  I guess I'm keeping in mind the time period and everything...

     Me, being the compassionate person that I am, was happy when someone came to Candide's rescue.  But I am open to debating over the issue simply because currently in the novel I think Candide is a little too dumb and he needs to be shook; it's time for him to get out of bed.

Modern Day Socrates

Ok so my dad is the modern day Socrates...he may be a closet Socrates but none the less. HES MY SOCRATES ANYWAY.  You know, always testing and questioning what I believe...

The pops has had quite a long journey to figure out what he truly believes in and I don't think he will ever stop asking questions.  He was very confused as a young lad and had to discover many things to find out what is really important to him. 

Now, whenever he has an important decision to make, he uses his own form of the scientific method...but lets call his the "salesman for God" method. Let me explain...

He would first consult God, because after many life experiences and not to mention his faith, God has proved Himself to be real in his own life.  Then after a prayer sesh, he would go about the decision making process much like a salesperson might.  He often shares his tactics with me, and they are quite helpful indeed.

As of late,  he has been trying this thing where he models himself off the Christian teaching of evangelism.  This requires him to maybe step out of his comfort zone and reach out to somebody in the work place...

But the tricky thing when the whole religion thing comes into play is that you can't just start asking people why they believe what they do and then proceed to say no, actually my religion is correct.  One has to start with a personal testimony, as my dad says, just to present the different idea of Christian beliefs so the person feels comfortable. So he knows what he believes and can share that with anyone, but at the same time respects and knows how it is questioning religion or a god in general.

He really gets my mind churning when he poses questions or occasionally will give me the inspirational book to read, it makes me wonder about the deep questions of purpose in my life...so he is my Socrates.

The Unexamined Life Not Worth Living?

Ah, good old Socrates.  He always knew what he was talking about. He was the founding father of Philosophy for a reason people. 

Now when I first read the quote, I knew it sounded really familiar.  It sounded good in my ears and it read well on the page to me.  It was like a phrase that unlocked this door to a great memory of my childhood or something...I can't exactly put my finger on what that was but I smiled when it was referred to in class.  I even got that fill in the blank question right on our first quiz...

And for the record, I totally agree with the man.  We need to have an ongoing thought process about what we're all doing with our lives.  We should be examining, if you will, what we want.  Our wants are always changing and sometimes I gotta do whats right for me and only me.  I think when we take time to question things and dig deeper into reasoning why we do what we do, we do find more happiness eventually.  But believe me, sometimes the more you think about stuff, the more depressing it can get (like thinking about the boyfriend and I not going to the same school, I've been doing a lot of that lately..frowny face) but I also believe that you can tune your thoughts to the positive side and improve the situation, or at least get through it.

I actually stayed up at my camp (YMCA Camp PInewood..home away from home) for a whole extra week just because I desperately needed some me-time at the end of the summer.  After not having 5 minutes to yourself for a month because of constantly having to be with campers is exhausting...so anyway I chilled at camp when like only me and a few other year round staff were there and I thought.  That's what I did.  I thought about the summer and at first it was too much to handle.  It was so sad thinking about the mistakes I had made and what kind of person that made me.  But that time gave me the opportunity to sort things out and really reflect upon some of the shit I had been keeping at the back of my mind. 

So it was cool to have the quote directly relate to something that just happened... :)
Just don't stress yourself out when thinking about your life, because there are always gonna be questions that you'll never be able to answer.

Euology

God we're gonna miss her...that Nicole Middleton, whatta girl.

She passed last Friday from falling off of a rooftop at around midnight thirty.  Lets just say that party ended in a bang. But it was the police who came a bangin to break up the party, most of the teenagers had no idea Nicole had fallen, their red cups still in hand.  Rumor is she was pushed.


Now lets touch on her short life, shall we?  She was a cute little kid, dealing with her parents divorce at a young age but keeping a smile on her face.  Playing dress up and going to day care where she hated her daily swimming lessons.  Playing tricks on her parents, like pretending to run away, for example, while leaving a note and hiding behind the couch.  Her favorite month was October because it was her birthday month and she absolutely loved hosting her annual Halloween dress-up birthday parties where bobbing for apples was tradition. She wasn't challenged at her small ass Catholic grade school but enjoyed the games of kickball at lunch and occasionally alter serving.  She dealt with crazy stomach problems and had surgery on her ear but after that has been blessed with good health.  High school was the best time of her life.  She enjoyed the company of her friends, played volleyball, was a member of clubs and what not, but no matter what season, you could always find her on the stage.  She grew up fast and drew from her life experiences of crazy boyfriends, friends with problems, money issues, just being a teenager in the city... and put these into her characters.  She struggled with her acting dreams but she'll now always be on the big screens of our hearts.

Aw.

 Nicole was an athlete, and won many intramural tournaments. She is also a published writer. Her favorite style was either poetry or short narratives...writing made her incredibly happy and now that she is gone she wanted all of her journals to be read by family and friends. OH AND MOST IMPORTANTLY SHE WAS AN HONOR ROLL STUDENT AT WHITNEY M. YOUNG.  Not Whitney. Not Young. WHITNEY M. YOUNG.

...just to clarify.

Anyway, Nicole was such a loving person, probably had the biggest heart and best smile outta anyone I know.  She wants to be remembered by her mix cds that she loved to pass out, her great camp care packages, and that raspy smokers voice that we all love.  Every time one of her friends sit down at a lunch table and go, "I have so much food in front of me," they can think about how if Nicole was next to them, they'd only have about half of their packed lunch left for the rest would already be in her tummy...and then they will be missing her and her charming mooching qualities.

She will be dearly missed.