Life in Color

            This week, Ms. Valentino showed us an awesome piece of poetry(Check it out, I posted it on the left). The poem was about how through the use of technology we lose the ability to connect with one another and I totally agree. There is something special about communicating with people face to face. You really get to connect with people as you can see them for what they really are and not just what you want them to see.

 What I mean is that when people post online, they only tell you what they want you to hear. They will post about their A in Calculus but won't mention their C in Chemistry. They are always aware of their digital footprint as they watch what they say as colleges, employers and the rest of the world is watching. As a result, they don't say what they truly mean and don't let their personality shine. My friends often use swear words for emphasis and they kind of allow me to see how frustrated or angry they are, but online, their english is impeccable and it sounds like their mothers washed the swear words out of their mouths with soap. They are almost completely different people online then the friends that I have come to love.

However, most importantly, there is also an emotional connection that you miss out on online. I believe that people can only truly connect in person. When talking, the way you convey your message is almost as important as your message itself. In person, I can hear the change in your tone, see you get excited and animated and am able to see things from your point of view. This is the reason why Presidential debates or any other debates are conducted in person and not over Skype. As humans, we pick up on things such as body language and tone and these are best observed in person. It is quite hard to explain but you just feel connected to people when you are in the same room.  This week, a former Troy High Grad was in a car accident and is still in critical condition, and so after the football game, there was a candlelight vigil to pray for her. In that silence, everybody there just connected. It didn't matter that I was a Hindu and most of the people were Christian. Everybody there felt the same thing and just prayed.
Another example of this is in music. I find that in the acoustic version of songs you can truly feel what the artist is feeling. So below I included two video clips of OneRepublic's Song "Life in Color," which truly fits the theme of this blog. One is the acoustic clip taken in London and the other is taken of their album. If you listen to them, you can really feel the emotion in the acoustic clip and it sounds totally different from the studio produced version.

I hope that less emphasis is put on social networking and people realize how much better it is to interact with people in person. I don't want to be your facebook friend; I want to be your friend where it truly matters: in the real world.

It's Give and Take

       Freedom is at the heart of our civilization. It is the ideal that our country has strived for. When looking at the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Sentiments, we can see that both Jefferson and Stanton were truly oppressed. However, sometimes I find that people kinda go overboard with the whole freedom sentiment and start attacking others for taking away their "freedoms." It's easy to become very passionate after reading such a powerful document but sometimes it goes too far. People often feel that their rights are being violated for very trivial things and I don't get it. They view themselves as the victim when it really doesn't harm them in anyway and in fact may be beneficial. For example, Some people protest against the screening policies of the TSA but the TSA protects us. My mom is "randomly" screened almost every time but it is for the Common Good and to protect the United States. I find it annoying that I must be checked at security checkpoints( although their scanners are pretty cool), but I don't view it as the government violating my rights as they are just trying to protect us. Sometimes, somethings are more important than an individual's freedom. The U.S. Government has our best interests in mind and sometimes we have to give things up in order to reap the rewards.

Bad Reputation= Bad Life

          In "The Crucible," most of the characters are concerned about their reputation. From Reverend Parris's trying to dissociate himself from Abigail to John Proctor's struggling to keep his "name," the motif of reputation and an individual's name. With the invention of the internet, everything becomes permanent and public. A Google search can tell you all you need to know. Nowadays, you can't just pull an Abigail and leave town as your reputation will follow you. Another reason why Reputation is so important is because everything is now connected. Its like one of those DirectTV commercials where one thing can cause a series of things that can cause another totally different thing to happen. Your Reputation is not just part of your social life. It can cause you to lose a lot of money and lose out on many opportunities. If you have a bad reputation with your credit card company, you will have a low credit score and won't be able to get loans or will be charged more. If you have a bad legal reputation, you won't be able to get some jobs. and the list goes on and on. Don't lose out on jobs, and Don't pay more for everything. Get rid of your bad Reputation.

Are Some Punishments too final?

             In "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, Governor Danforth calls witchcraft an "invisible crime," in which Salem must rely on witnesses to present the evidence. However, this literally places the accused's life in the hands of the witness, who we can guess is not too fond of the accused. I don't understand how we can place the life of a human being in the hands of other humans who can be so cruel and mean. Fore example, Abigail blames Tituba and calls her witch without hesitation in order to save her own skin while Putnam causes Rebecca Nurse to be hanged simply for more land. The Death Penalty is final. If you lock someone in jail, you can set them free but you can't bring the dead back to life. I understand that now we have supposedly impartial juries but how are we to know that they are making the right decision? In Controversial cases like the Casey Anthony trial and the trial of George Zimmerman, we are still not in agreement as to what the correct decision was. Before someone is condemned to die, we must be sure that are completely guilty, but we can never be sure. How terrible would it be to die like John Proctor, a man who was seen as totally guilty yet was completely innocent.  The Death Penalty is too much power for humans to wield. We are not gods to say who lives or dies.