What's on My Mind?

There are some things I just can't stand. I hate rules, our government, wars, the LRA, people who are mean to animals, and just mean people in general. I just don't understand what drives someone to be cruel. Everywhere I turn there's someone complaining about something or picking on someone or just being hateful in general. Why is there so much focus on negative things? It's just as easy to talk about something you like as it is to complain about something you hate. I think if everyone made an effort to have a positive mindset the world would be a much better place. People focus too much on what they don't like about someone or something. I wonder what would happen if people were forced to find a common ground with everyone. Maybe we would realize we're not so different from our enemies. We could learn so much more if we didn't judge people by their differences. Every time you learn something, it's because you were exposed to something different and new. If we were always open to change we would probably be a lot smarter. Something I've never understood is why some people are so threatened by the unfamiliar. I understand that things unknown can be scary; but who wants to live a life of sameness. I don't believe in heaven or hell or even God for that matter. I think when we die that's it. My belief is that we each only get one life, so why not live it as our own. Our time on earth is limited. Maybe some people are content with living a simple life of conformity, and that's ok too. What's not is when the mass of conformists force their way of living on those who choose to be different. Everyone views the world from their own point of view. Whether we like it or not we'll never be able to have another perspective. This being true, I don't see how we could ever have just one way of living; or two ways of living, or a hundred. There's a way of living for every living creature. We can't possibly successfully class off the world into a number of groups and force them to live uniformly under a government.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Writing Territories

If a piece of writing has the power to change my mind and make me think, I would consider my time reading it, time well spent. I have always enjoyed reading essays and short stories with lots of hidden meaning and perspective on life. I'm curious about the ways other people view the world and I think literature is a great way to understand other views. Magazines, like Time, Discovery, Rolling Stone, and National Geographic are full of interesting pieces of writing. I like to read about whats going on in our world and the new ideas and inventions we're coming up with. Rolling Stone is my favorite magazine because the writing in it is so beautiful. Every article is written with such passion and perfection. It's content particularly appeals to me as well; not so much the music stuff, but the politics. Most days, most newspapers bore me. I don't like to read news because I feel like I've already heard it all so many times. Some articles, however, catch my eye and draw me in. One newspaper I love to read is the Onion. I enjoy reading things that aren't always so heavy and devastating like the news.  Besides books, or possibly even along with them, my favorite form of writing is poetry. No matter if I'm writing my own or reading someone else's, I absolutely love poetry. My absolute favorite poet is actually a 5-way tie between Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, Sean Daley (Slug of Atmosphere), Maya Angelou, and my cousin Nikki.