Within these few weeks, I've been reading The Stranger by Albert Camus, and learning more about the idea of Existentialism. I can see how Existentialists might see Mersault finding his true self throughout the book, as the story progressed.

At the start of the book, Mersault would only focus on things that other people might not care about. He would focus on strangers walking, the sun, or random objects within a room. In a way Mersault was simply existing. But as the story progressed, especially after his decision of killing the Arab, he slowly changed.

In my opinion, Mersault began to change and the idea of having essence within his existence became apparent. After killing the Arab he ended up in jail. Within the jail cell, Mersault began to think about his life more, and what had occurred. Although time seemed to have come and go, his thoughts no longer focused on trivial matters, but more on his life, and the people in it. And Mersault's decision in killing the Arab gave his existence essence, because it led him to the jail cell, where in solitude he began to change and think more about what actually matters. Which is himself and his life in general.

One of the Existentialist Philosophies was that, "individuals are free to choose how to respond to their own painful existence." In a way, Mersault was free to choose how he responded to Maman's death, which can be counted as something that played a major role in his painful existence. After her death, he didn't cry, and he thinks about other things; although his thoughts would wander to memories he have of Maman. He just had more interests in living than in knowing how he feels about the things that are occurring in his life.

At the end of the story, with everything that has happened to Mersault, it shows when he, in a way, exploded in front of the chaplain. He poured his thoughts and feelings out, and that's when it shows how he is a person, because of his previous actions that led him there.

~


The picture I used for this post is another one I took from my travels. Although I forgot where I took this one. (Somewhere in Europe.) But I used it for this post because when others were walking and minding their own business, I was paying attention to those that shouldn't really matter to me. And one of those things were these kids playing around the fountain even though it was kinda raining out. So I took a quick snap of them; total strangers. Thinking back to it, I feel like I was doing something Mersault would do. Or a creepy person taking pictures of random kids. Anyway I should stop taking pictures of strangers in my travels.

From the selections of Walt Whitman's Songs of Myself, I choose to focus on section twenty-six. After reading that section two to three times, I think I finally understand what he's trying to convey through his poetry.

Throughout section twenty-six, there are a lot of juxtapositions. Like for example, on the first line it states, "I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise." Whitman talks about himself a lot within this section, where he would mention things that could be convey as him being a unity of all of these contradicting traits. He says that he's experienced, but is still willing to experience more, and this can be read within lines ten through eleven. Whitman also talks about America and other countries, and how unity is they key. This can be read within the lies six through thirteen.

Overall, Whitman stresses the idea and the importance of unity and, diversity, and rejects society's oppression by accepting a sense of equality for all.  Then he ends it by using parallelism to convey the message that everyone and everything has its own place in Earth.

Oh and the picture above just shows how everything there is different, but it has it's own place, and looking at it all together(unified) it's beautiful.

If anyone would ever ask me, how I came to be who I am today, I would say it's thanks to my mother and my sister. They are the top two people I love in my life, and in an extreme sense, I would die for them. (Hopefully this doesn't sound creepy or cheesy. But if it has to be between the two, hopefully the latter.)

They both have equally shaped me into who I am. My mother is the one person that loves me unconditionally and my sister is the one person that looks up to me, and count on me the most. Although I didn't live with them all my life, with half of my life, or maybe a bit more than that, spent with them, I learned so much. I learned how to appreciate life, and how to always see the best in others no matter what. And although that might not sound like much, but those two key ideas made me become a happier and a more positive person.

My mom will always be my hero, and from her I learned so much. She taught me everything I needed to survive life, and she is my number one supporter in life. She's the strongest person I know, and I am always grateful to God that I have her as my mom. One of the things she would say to me is that, Beverly it all depends on you. And that have affected me so much in making me who I am today. With that line, it taught me that my identity is whatever I decide to make it into. She would always tell me this when I need to make major decisions, or when I'm in doubt. And for that, I'm thankful.

Then there's my little sister who I love to annoy the crap out of from time to time(ok maybe not time to time, but every chance I get honestly). She's four years younger than me, and that sucks because we were never in middle school or high school together, so we couldn't suffer through that together, not even a bit. But anyway, she shaped my identity in that with her innocence, and with her always looking up to me, I strive to become a much better person each day.

So yeah, I can honestly go on and on about them and their effect on me, but that would be just too long. I could write pages about this. No joke. So to cut this short, they both play a huge part in shaping my identity, and the picture above is just the two of them walking, and I took a quick snap of.

From the Socratic Seminar, out of everything we talked about, what struck me the most was when we talked about the issue of good and evil. No matter what we talked about, somehow along the way we would lead back into talking about it. 

We played with the idea that when we're born, we were already born with a set scale of how evil or good we are. And although I don't really agree with it, but I understand where it's coming from. Personally for me, I see good and evil as traits that we acquire through time and experience. How evil or how good we are can change through time. And how it's judged or measured would differ for everyone. Since there's no true definition of the words good and evil. Since everyone has a different understanding and meaning to it. 

So that's what I got from the Socratic Seminar, and the picture I posted is one of the pictures I took in my travels of a street sign artistically vandalized. I like it, and this somewhat shows how something good(street sign shows law and order which is needed with the traffic around, so that's good) could be changed with something evil(it was vandalized, which is most likely against the law, so that's bad). 

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not a truth."

The quote above was said, to be said, by Marcus Aurelius. Why I say it that way is because, how could we be one hundred percent sure he said it? What proof is there? How can we not say this could be a misattributed quote with all the years that have passed? There has been a lot of historical inaccuracies, and with quotes, it happens all the time. Wrong people were said to have said some things.

Just like what the quote states, everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.

Everyone is different, which makes the way they speak different. I remember I used to play this game, called Chinese Whispers(also known as Telephone), where we would be in a line and a sentence would be passed down from one person to the next. But when that sentence reaches the last person, it wasn't the original sentence passed down. This links back to the part of the quote that practically states we should not believe everything we hear. Because along the way, words might have been mixed up. And not to mention that everyone have their own bias. Which makes anything they say, how they want others to hear. And that doesn't make it a fact.

Then the other part of the quote was, everything we see is a perspective, not a truth.

That part of the quote reminded me of the saying, of whether the glass is half full or half empty. Depending on the person, the cup could be either. Which is why, depending on the person, their perspective is also different from others. Which is why how we see things can't be the truth, but it's an interpretation from our perspective. We could see it as a lie, while another person sees it as the truth. It all depends on the person, and his or her perspective.

Hence, I really like the quote said (to have been said) by Marcus Aurelius. It made me think, and it made me agree with what he said.

Which is why I added the picture above from one of my travels, it's just the Arch of Constantine, and it's in Rome. Which is the birth place of Marcus Aurelius, so I thought I'd add it in this blog post.

I remember traveling to Rome, and I couldn't help myself but snap a quick picture of this old man walking. (I hope he didn't notice it.) I saw him, and I thought to myself, one day I will be old and then die. The thought of dying or death in general always scared me. And I never truly knew why, until I searched deep within myself for an answer. And the answer is, I want so much from life that I'm scared I won't get it all within my lifespan. 

Which is why I believe life is a precious gift. It is also why I try to live my life each day, as if it were my last. I try not to do anything I'll regret, and I try to do anything I want, just so I won't regret not doing anything later on. However, it's not about how I see life, but the real question is, what do I want out of my life. To be honest, I want a lot of things out of life. But the most important thing I wish to gain from life, is the sense of fulfillment. What I mean by that, is when I'm on my deathbed, I'll be able to die happy. I want to be successful and happy throughout my life. I want to live my life not in vain, or to be filled with regrets. I'm pretty sure everyone, or at least someone other than me, also feels the same. And I believe I deserve to gain that sense of fulfillment from life, if I live it right. By right I mean, studying hard and live a life my mom can be proud of. That I can be proud of. 

Although I’m just seventeen, I have so many plans for myself. It's just so I can get the most out of life. And now I’m just living life one step at a time, reaching for that sense of fulfillment at the end of my journey.