1. Lying to yourself gets you nowhere.
2. Good character comes from good intentions.
3. Being right is never as important as doing the right thing.
4. Always give without the expectation of receiving.
Brain Storm
17 And Up
I think these are the most important things I learned in high school
New Years Resolution, 2012
1. Become more critical of myself and less judgmental of others.
2. Call my mom while I’m at college.
Uchicago essay
A mother buys her 5-year-old son, Socrates, an assorted set of Play-Doh from the local toy
store. One week later, Socrates enters the room of his teenage brother with an interesting
proposition.
“I CAN MAKE ANYTHING!” Socrates announces.
“Really now? Prove it.” Glaucon replies skeptically.
“Alright, ask me to make somethin’.”
“Um…how ‘bout a stapler.”
“You got it!”
Socrates scurries back to his room to take up his brother’s challenge and three
hours later, he returns triumphantly.
“Here ya go, a brand new stapler!”
A grin of accomplishment spreads across his face as he proudly raises his new
creation. Annoyed, Glaucon snatches up the misshapen mass into his hands and studies it.
“That’s not a stapler. It’s just Play-Doh…”
“Noooo, it’s definitely a stapler.”
“No. It’s Play-Doh…”
The sequence of “No’s and Noooo’s” persists until Socrates finally makes his own
demand.
“Fine. How ‘bout YOU show me a stapler then.”
Glaucon reaches into his drawer and pulls out his pocket stapler.
“Here. Look.”
Socrates takes the stapler into his hands and examines it carefully, upon which he
confidently declares,
“This is not a stapler!” (Nor was it a pipe for that matter.)
“What are you talking about? Here, look…it staples.”
Glaucon hands his brother the paper which he had just stapled.
“So?”
“So it’s a stapler…”
“It’s too small!” Socrates declares, “plus mine looks more like a stapler. Yours is all
funky and stuff.”
“What are you talking about? This IS a stapler. Your Play-Doh can’t look more like a
stapler than an actual stapler,” Glaucon replies matter-of-factly.
“Noooo, some guy made that thing just like I made mine!”
“Yeah, but—
“It’s not like that one’s the first one ever! You’re just jealous ‘cause my stapler’s
better!”
Socrates storms out of the room with his nose held high, marching away with what he is
convinced to be the pioneering stapler of all stapler-ness.
Following the argument, Glaucon sits at his desk a while, contemplating what his
brother had said moments ago. Maybe he’s got a point, Glaucon thinks. He picks up his
stapler and examines it, fingering the plastic casing, then opening it to examine its inner
functions.
“What makes a stapler a stapler?” he inquires aloud.
For while what in front of him was most certainly a stapler, his brother’s words had
an odd air of truth to them. There was no certainty in the statement “This is a stapler”—only
a mere association between the word “stapler” and the general characteristics of paperbinding
contraction. Thus, Glaucon began to question. He wondered, who invented the first
stapler? Could there ever be a first stapler? Or was any physical stapler just a manifestation
of the original idea of a stapler? As he continued to think, Glaucon realized that Socrates’
Play-Doh stapler had more in common with his handy pocket stapler than he had originally
thought. For both Socrates and the industrial designer had simply molded staplers based
on their own conceptions of “staplerness”
They’re all just copies, Glaucon thinks, manifestations of the essence of stapler-ness.
Growing more and more tired, Glaucon finally places his “stapler” back into the drawer and
falls asleep.
That night, Glaucon has a dream, and in it, both he and Socrates are years older, sitting in a
stone building, and engaged in dialogue. In the exchange, Socrates is explaining the human
condition: how we are somehow trapped in a metaphorical cave and unable to escape—
unable to see the sun. Looking to his side, Glaucon notices another person sitting with them.
He is a younger man, eager, listening, and vigorously scribbling down notes.
“Who is this man?” Glaucon asks.
“Oh, that is my pupil, Plato. He will be taking notes on our discussion today.”
The Dalai Lama’s 18 Rules For Living
At the start of the new millennium the Dalai Lama apparently issued eighteen rules for living. Since word travels slowly in the digital age these have only just reached me. Here they are.
Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
Follow the three Rs:
Respect for self
Respect for others
Responsibility for all your actions.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
Spend some time alone every day.
Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
Be gentle with the earth.
Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
“I thought menopause was a pokemon.”
Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?
For one who learns with no urgency nor intention of application falls to the point of pure mediocrity.
The idea of learning has become stale in the eyes of us adolescents. Schooling has mutilated the institution of knowledge from its previous state of unbounded curiosity to its current state as a chore. That is not to say that we must certainly forget its true form.
“Constant perseverance” is the idea of keeping the drive. Having the thirst for knowledge - voraciously consuming every opportunity given to the individual. The drive is essentially the “quantitative” element of learning. Without it, no amount of knowledge gained would be worth mentioning.
“Application” is essentially as is shown. Knowledge is only as good as how it is used, correct? Whether the application be for the furthering of one’s career in academia or so on the morals and principles of the individual, “application” is essential and the essence of learning itself. For this it is the “qualitative element.” No matter the amount of knowledge obtained, that which lacks substance to one’s essence is essentially useless.
Learn with a drive. Learn to apply.
Maybe
The best way to live life is to be accepting of the world as it is.
Nei Gu Wai Hua my dad tells me. Inner firmness outer melting. It means to keep your principles firm, but adapt to your environment - to keep your foundations strong while opening your mind to new ideas. To learn how to understand others and become one with their existence - with the world’s existence. I mean, I believe most of all, people want to be understood.
Thoughts
When I ask a question, what is it that goes on in my mind? If I am genuinely oblivious to a matter of fact, then my mind should be blank. If I am asking for an opinion my mind should have no expectations. If I am seeking further truth, I should rid myself of my preconceptions.
If I am asking a question, I should be willing to accept an answer.
If Admissions Are
Looking for tiger kids with the 12 AP’s they didn’t want to take. If they are looking for the kids who joined the badminton “varsity” team, slapped on a couple hundred hours of bullshit community service, and “played” a musical instrument for 12 years for the sake of that ridiculous piece of paper they have in their hands, then Fuck College.
Why should I respect an institution that doesn’t value the will to learn above all else?
I mean wasn’t that the fucking point?
Wasn’t the point to broaden our horizons? To give the opportunity of growth to those who sought after it?
That’s what it was for. Not for that fucking company job. Not for the Name. Not for that 100k+ annual paycheck but for that thing called Knowledge. About the world. About you. About what you believe. About what you think. About life beyond this superficial skin that has wrapped around our very minds. Maybe it’s just me. But
That’s what I thought it was about.
Knowledge.
If however I am not the person who belongs to that higher class of intelligence, then it is my fault. Either way, I will belong where I ought to belong.
