Human Life: A Cycle?

Like I stated in my last post, human life is definitely not a cycle (at least I don't want it to).  By saying human life is a cycle, it basically try to state we will become zombies(?).  If we say life is a series of cycles, which means an entirely different thing, we are trying to prove that humans are stupid (why would anyone want to do that in the first place...). You might ask why would I make such conclusion. The answer is simple. If life is composed of numerous cycles, then people are making the same mistakes over and over again, which is pretty stupid. However, such "fact" is already known and proven countless times. After Napoleon failed epically by stupidly invade Russia without thinking about her disastrous winters. After some time (a few centuries i guess?? ), this STUPID ( sorry I just need to stress that because this is just way too stupid for a man to do this) Adolf Hitler decided to do the EXACT same mistake....once again lost epically(don't sympathize him please.... please don't...). Simply put mankind seem to have a long history of stupid mistake cycle. There are many other cycles such as emotional ones (high. low. tides ) and others. Therefore, although I do not believe life is a cycle, I do not dispute the fact that life is COMPOSED of cycles.

Natural Cycles

Cycles...hmmm...first thing that comes into mind is probably circles? Right, circles. We all know how ancient Asians love circles...wheel as the most memorable one.  Not to mention there is this weird philosophical idea about life -> death -> rebirth thingamajig  (endless cycle...that is just evil). We can see how nature like this idea (oh my god...this is creepy~~nature THINKS philosophy...) from how leaves grow and fall each year, how we have repeating day and nights(awfully boring stuff) etc. For your information, this kind of life cycle presented in Chinese literature and Buddhism states that you will become that creature if you kill it in your lifetime, such as stepping on a roach means you will be a roach next life (so...if you kill a man you can be man next life!!! Promoting homicide right there!!!) I see some kind of this Chinese cycle thing in Western thinker's work as well (copycats!!!)...In some western literature, writers mention phoenix, some crazy kind of bird that burns itself(suicide? maybe not....it sounds more like emo?? like desire to inflict self-harm or something like that, sigh*, why does Westerners always come up with those mentally ill stories...) and then rebirth from its burnt ashes (oh my god~~ now zombies?!) As mentioned above in the creepy bird story, we know that this cycle of death and rebirth is disturbing. Just imagine...if you stab someone and kill him, bury him and the next day he comes back alive, so you need to stab him again....ok....i must stop here before I drive myself mad...

A Realistic View of Life

People change as time change. Their view of the world gets more and more constricted to known facts. Soon, people's sentimental sense grows duller as time pass by. In the aging process, the creative ideas held when one is a kid no longer stays. However, I realize I am an exception from the popular trend. In fact, I depart more from reality as grow older. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a firefighter driving a yellow small car (taxi??) Now, I think that I am going to boost into one of those rich people just by finding some cancer cure. Theoretical speaking, my dream now is actually less realistic. I grew an increasingly optimistic view as I grow up, but apparently, in order to be realistic, the only way is to be pessemistic. After learning the complexity of the world, like I said earlier,  means you start to lose happiness and become pessemistic.

Comparing Characters

They are different in physical means such as but not limited to, a) height b) audiblity c) width d) annoyance. They are all the same in terms of they are all soldiers. However, Henry's relation with each of them is a unique one. Let me express this in a more commonly used way (couple mode- please overlook the homosexuality in this argument) . Henry and Jim is a couple that loves each other, but then Jim sadly passes away (star-crossed lovers right there!!! ) Henry and wilson is more like a couple that fought and broke up, and they later make up, as friends not couples anymore. As for the relationship with the tattered man, it is a not very happy one. There is this one sided admiration (tattered man to henry). However, Henry doesnt reply with love so this relationship is sad. Jim is kind of the same as Henry, kind of scared of the war. Wilson is much braver. And the tattered man is just a side-kick that doest nothing but talking jubbrish. Wilson a dude that was henry's ex, is truly interesting. He was an arrogant and loud dude (probably why they broke up). However, after the battle, he became much more humble and made up with henry.

Henry’s Relationships

Henry was pretty close with Jim Conklin. He even asked Jim Conklin awkwardly private questions like " will you run if others run?" which could possibly get him in trouble. ..  He knows Jin Conklin from his regiment. As for wilson, he is another random guy that trusted henry...or something like that. He gave him his last letter to his family. However, i think wilson and henry got into a fight or something and they dont see each other that well anymore because wilson later asked henry to return the letter. As for that annoymous and wierd tattered man, he is a stalker i guess. There is this one sided proposal, sticking around with henry even though henry doesnt like him. They all symbolize some sort of stage for henry. First, jim conklin represent death by war. Then wilson represents bro-man-ship (quoted from danny). And then there is the tattered man representing "extraordinary" care. My question for all to henry is " Are you guys having some sort of romance in your relationship??"

Conscience

Conscience, according to dictionary.com, is the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action. I call it the angel that pops on ur right shoulder. When one is filled with guilt, the pain stays in his heart and takes a long time in order for it to go away. When filled with this kind of emotion, one do everyday things in a much more negative way. One can easily lose temper, get into fights, or burst out in tears. When one let guilt take over his heart, he feels as if the whole world's happiness is gone. Nothing seems to be pleasing anymore. And when negative emotions finally finds their way through ur emotional defense, (for reference, please read my Dark Side) everything that built one's world up will crumble into dust. This is a very sad experience. For Henry Fleming, he was struggling with his angel, who tell him to go back, take a gun, and start shooting. However, his devil convinces him to stay away from the battlefront for his own sake, even when it is the wrong thing to do.

The Dark Side

Dark Romanticism is a form of literature that shows the true nature of dark emotions. Horror, jealousy, anger and other negative emotions caused by fraud, treachery, betrayal. Those form of dark emotions, especially anger, can easily overpower reason. I believe one should live by reason and logical understanding of others until few days ago. I believed emotions should always be left aside, which is what rationalists believe. However, what is scary about dark emotions are, unlike other emotions, stronger than reason. It is almost impossible to use reason when emotions occupy one's mind, not to mention the rage cannot be subdued by reason at all. Rage holds you by your throat, and put his knife on your heart. The dis-harmony from negative emotions together composes heavy metal rock. It makes you go high and leaves you with only the unstoppable destructive intentions. It is not something that can be controlled rationally. The sound only grows louder and more violent, until your last mental defense gives in and allows pure rage to fully take over. The next thing you know, you've sabotaged everything you once hold dear. When things happen and dark emotions sprouts, it only accumulates and eventually, turn into a huge nuclear bomb that make one's life turn into nothing but dust. Whats worse is, unlike love or other positive emotions, this kind of emotions lasts for eternity, like how the radiation of nuclear bomb lingers around the area and makes it barren. It sabotages friendship, love, and anything that is positive. Anger, selfishness, jealousy arouses then take up those empty space. One lose the light in their life and will hold negative emotions only when they remember the tragic events that happened. Dark emotion doesn't decay, nor does it go way. Everything that one could hold dear before this happens could all be blinded and lost focus in a flash. Its like how close friends got in a dispute and their tension increases overtime. The surge of negative emotions can obscure them for getting back together, and in fact, unless they resonant by a tiny chance, might never see each other like they used to. It is close to impossible to recover from dark emotions. One can only fill the crack up with some other junk emotions, but the crack always stays. A good example of this would be Roger Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter. When he saw what he hold dear before was forcefully taken way, he lost his reason, even when he is an eminent scholar. The dark emotions turned from simple hatred into a unstoppable desire for revenge. Think about it, 7 years! He had been fighting off this dark emotion for 7 years and yet it only grow like a snowball rolling off the side of mountain. Have you watched The Mist, where selfishness and horror sprouts in people's soul? Where they start to lose reason and focus merely on their own survival? Where they start to believe in anything that may seem ridiculous to a normal man? Where they abadon friendship, trust, love and all that? That is what happens when dark emotions sprout. Of course, that is definitely an exaggeration. Although dark emotions doesnt go away, the side effects that happen with it does, and pain will be relieved over time.  However, like I said earlier, this never leaves one's soul, the scar is always there.

Transcendal

Emerson was a classic transcendalist. He was "educating" the public and such (which is basically wasting his precious lifetime to a absurd and not very convincing cause...) To be a transcendalist, you believe that the only way to understand God is to penetrate through the physical world and then transcends to the spiritual world. Basically, all we percieve in the physical world, catastrophe's and all that stuff is from God. Nature stuff equals to God stuff, so got to understand that kind of stuff first before understanding God. This idea is kind of a mix of the two big beliefs: Rationalism and Romanticism. It basically is romanticism but also promoting the extreme opposite -rationalism at the same time. Before penetration of the physical world, one must understand it, and that requires reason. One of the most elite rationalist is Benjamin Franklin, a fat guy that invent all kind of stuff. But he stops here. He doesnt stare at the nature any longer than he needs to in order to do all his reason. But for a transcendalist, they have a second part. After that reasoning thing, the romanticism part comes in. Everything after that follows intuition and all sorts of emotions. Personally I believe rationalist above all so, transcendalism isnt very appealing to me after knowing it runs on emotions and other non-reason cause.

Romantic Values

The main romantic value is the feelings. Romantists favor feeling and intuition over reason, which is an awfully stupid idea. This send all American minds flying out of Earth, out of Solar system, and most likely out of Milky Way Galaxy. This stupid feeling based idea let Americans lose the tenuous touch with reality. Taiwan, as an island country, is a black hole of culture. Its like a mini-sized United States. We absorb other cultures (mainly Western up-to-no-good people) and merge it with ours to create what everyone sees now. Therefore, our pragmatic traditions and American romanticism merge into the wierdest combination ever. We use intuition for everything that is not math and chinese. Like I stressed earlier, the very existence of "romanticism" is stupid. Who would prefer feeling over reason?? Reason is the way to deal with things with best interest. Intuition should only be used by females ( I know its stereotype but its accurate!!). Relying on feelings will only cause one's destruction. There has never been anyone that is successful by mere intuition. Therefore, we should only do things by reason!!!!

The American Romantic Hero

American Romantic Heroes are those that live in wilderness and persevere in keeping his last bit of civilized nature. Heroes of our time is those with super powers (Batman is an exception). They fight to protect the public from crazy, insane, and rather stupid "evil" plans. On the contrary, those villians were depicted in a disgusting form (which pro antagonists should really be looking normal to hide within the innocents). Those heroes do stuff like stopping a nuclear bomb from exploding or any stuff like that. Unlike American Romantic Heroes, many heroes of modern times all work under alter egos, and many times, the public were ungrateful of those heroes, condemning them for doing a bad job or did not come out and help. The public were depicted to see those heroic acts as a responsiblity rather than a favor. A modern hero isnt any better off when he is in the normal persona. However, what American Romantic Heroes share with modern heroes is that they all try to make our world a better place.

Freedom and Equality

Those words does not fit into their ideals. Americans always said they support equality and freedom. And yet, they discriminate against all non-Americans. Had you not heard about how American troops and interogators tortured the Iraqi suspects? Were you not aware about the prolific motives of Americans joining of modern wars? Can you not see how Americans have their arrogant and "race-o-centric" feelings? How can you say this is equality? How can you say this is freedom? This Freedom and Equality only happens in within United States, where all are Americans. This can not be said as equality or freedom. Do you remember how US arrest some preeminent Taiwanese CEO without a legal trial? They invited those CEOs to US to explain the cause of the price drops and such, and yet arrested them and blamed them for intervening free market. Can you call this fair? justified? free? equal? This is ridiculous!! (the awesome tone of You-Know-Who in our school~~) To me, those stuff are awfully important, yet so far, there is no society that provide this entirely~~~ As mentioned earlier, there is no society that can provide this just yet, so I really can't cherish it yet, but I promise, if I do have the chance to have this, I will cherish it with my dearest care!!!

The American Ideal

That quote cannot be better in demonstrating the American Ideal. That arrogant, egocentric race, which once believe they are the best and do all sorts of stuff that is ridiculously arrogant. That is totally different from OUR, or "Taiwanese" Ideals. We stubbornly adhere to our idea of independence. Many Taiwanese showed strong feelings for our nation. The national indentity has been rooted deep into us and became part of our ideal. Not to mention that we got an extremist in our class (don't kill me if you saw this... you know who you are ). Over that specific issue of identity, Americans and we Taiwanese share a similiar ideal.  Protect our individuality from all that may threaten it. However, on many other issues, our ideal part way from those of Americans. We believe in modesty on contrast of American's arrogancy. We believe in frugality instead of luxury. Although many of our ideals differ, there is one thing that we share and deeply rooted into our culture, and that is national identity. Simply, when one denies our country, Americans or Taiwanese alike, will stand up for our honor and destroy that threat to our name, in just about any means possible.