Monday, January 7, 2013
The Words That Speak To Us
After reading through the quotes on pp. 20-23 in your books and identifying two that speak to you, please explain why in the post below. Tell us what each quote is and answer the following questions: what do you think of when you read the quote? Does it remind you of someone in your life? Does it remind you of a particular time? Does the quote support ideas or values you believe in? Why? Please identify the quote by its number (so you don't have to write the whole quote out) and please respond in 7-10 thoughtful sentences. Thanks so much and looking forward to reading.
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One quote that spoke to me was number 29. It is saying that it is better to do your own work poorly rather than to cheat and to well. I think this quote is something that people need to remember. Success is embedded in our minds causing people to do anything to succeed even cheat. Failing in originality leaves room for improvement. If you do well cheating then you will always have to cheat to maintain that standard, where if you do your own work and fail you leave room for improvement. I think it is hard for people to accept failure, therefor they go on to cheat to succeed. However it is important to accept failure because it creates a starting block.
ReplyDeleteThe second quote that I chose is number 24. I agree with this quote. A small thing such as a "Hello" or a smile can make someone's day. People often forget how great those small gestures make others feel. Doing any of the things listed in the quote will truly make someone's day. I know there are days when I have been feeling down and then someone will come over and say hello and it can change my day. These small acts of kindness seem like nothing, but can go a long way.
The first quote that stuck out at me was quote number 4. From what I've gathered the quote basically names a bunch of "good" qualities and things that you should be, as well as suggesting that if there is a problem, or issue, that you should change. I feel that this is a very good way to go through life and it builds upon one of my values. This value is honesty. A big part of being honest, is being able to be honest with yourself when there is a problem, or issue. The quote also names some qualities that I think are very good such as being responsible, intelligent, reasonable, and attentive.
ReplyDeleteThe second quote that I noticed was number 23. This quote suggests that we focus on particular days and times that we feel are special, when we should appreciate every moment. I can honestly say that I'm guilty of this. I tend to care more about holidays and days that I'm not in school, when I should be taking notice of the small things that occur everyday. This quote also makes me think about how not always knowing what's going to happen is occasionally a good thing because it helps to keep life interesting, but it also aids in making the "regular things" that occur during the day more special.
Quote number 4 really stood out to me because it is almost an exact list of the standards I try to live my life to. I'm certainly not perfect at it, but I always have tried to be attentive, intelligent, reasonable, responsible, and loving to every situation I find myself in. I also like the idea that you can improve yourself if necessary.
ReplyDeleteQuote number 24 also struck me as important. I cannot even begin to describe how many times simple hellos or hi's have made my days. In fact, I used to count the number I received, and often told myself if I got more than three greetings my day was, in fact, a good day. All in all, I agree that small acts of kindness like greetings and kind words can make a great deal of difference and are to be treasured.
Quote number 15 was the first quote that spoke to me. It says that love and true friendship are ways of mattering to the word that would otherwise be selfish and lonely. When I read the quote, I think of both my friends and the people that are close to me, and I feel a sense of belonging in the world. Although I do not think of a particular time when I read the quote, I believe it supports my values of love and companionship. Without these values, the world feels like a more barren place.
ReplyDeleteAnother quote that stood out to me was quote number 21. It is about the epiphany that the author makes about feeling at peace and learning to enjoy the present moment despite the seemingly futileness of living. I feel that it is true that the most important thing in life is to just enjoy it, even though our individual lives may not be important to the big picture. Being happy with the gift of life is something that I strive to be. It is my main value and is above all my other values, because without being able to enjoy life, life could definitely feel like a cruel joke of fate.
1. Quote number 5 reminds me of a discussion I had with a close friend of mine pertaining to the subjectivity of selflessness and such trivial instincts of human nature. We are all by definition selfish as we know nothing but ourselves and what we perceive of the world, so it is natural that as a response we choose the decision that will make us the most comfortable. Even when this is a decision to help others, we are choosing such a decision to make ourselves feel good about ourselves BECAUSE we helped others. This person in general helped me progress as a person and understand my own core values. One of which is the fact that while kindness is certainly lovely, true kindness is almost never absolute and all encompassing, there is a selfish aspect as well. Instinctively, no one is selfless
ReplyDelete2. Quote number 10 reminds me of an essay by Virginia Woolf describing how the only things that are real are the things we see before our eyes as they are. (a dark spot is just a dark spot) We attach judgements to things by nature to be able to identify friend or foe. I believe in being honest, even when it is difficult, and the only thing that is truly honest is what is being perceived through ones own senses, suspending all preconceived judgements on the topic at hand.
I'd like to add that none of these quotes spoke to me; I haven't talked to sheets of paper since grade school, dummies.
DeleteQuote number six stood out to me. Perhaps it is because we are learning about the Industrial Revolution in US History, that I find this quote mind-boggling, fascinating, and just down right true all at the same time. I find this so historically accurate because, throughout my years, I have always heard about the worn out story of a man or woman achieving something great; something that was thought impossible by everyone else; something that has changed the world in thousands of ways for good. It overwhelms me in a humbling way how people defied the odds to accomplish things that had never been done before. For example, I wonder how many people scoffed at all of Edison's ideas! Now, I am sitting at my kitchen table, while it is dark outside, working. That could only be possible with the invention of the lightbulb. Silly or seemingly impossible things can open doors to many possibilities.
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ReplyDelete1. Quote number 4 reached out to me the most because it contained values and traits that are necessary to everybody's lives. Ever since I was little, I was taught by parents and teachers to have these traits. I was taught these because I was told that I would succeed in life and with my peers if I held and used these values. So, although the quote doesn't remind me of a particular instance or moment, it reminds me of how I should act in my everyday routine and how I should treat others. You must be attentive, to be aware of your surroundings and never to miss a moment of your life. Be intelligent, to choose the right decisions and actions that will you improve your lifestyle. You should be reasonable to accept other people's ideas and beliefs because it will help you learn. You should take responsibility because if you are not responsible, you are not being honest. The most important to me is to love. I feel that acceptance tags along with the value of love as well. I believe that it is necessary for people to love and accept others in their lifestyles because sometimes it can be hard to accept yourself if you do not accept others.
ReplyDelete2. In quote 23, Leo Buscaglia tells us that we cannot be distracted from a moment of our lives because it is such a gift. This quote reminds me of the quote in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when actor Matthew Broderick says, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Every time I hear this notable quote, I think about my life. I think about how short it is to waste it on such silly things and stupid distractions. Buscaglia says that the "clock and calendar blind us to the fact that each moment is a miracle and mystery." Clocks and calendars are associated with time, so I believe that he is saying that we must not allow time to to take us away from the miracle of life. It sounds corny, but I believe every word. This quote also reminds me of the first quote I chose and the part about being attentive. Like I said, I feel you must be attentive to the community around you so you don't miss a beat of what is going on your life.
Quote number 6 spoke to me. The quote affirms the importance of experimentation and trying new things. This quote reminds me of the many inventions that were stumbled upon by accident, such as Teflon and penicillin. I believe that unfamiliar endeavors potentially have great benefits. This quote also shows that you don’t have to be serious all the time to get things done.
ReplyDeleteAnother quote that I noticed was quote number 26. In my own life, things that only have a small impact on my life often bother me. This quote tells me that I should learn to relax and not get worked up about insignificant things. It says I should instead be flexible and accept that sometimes, bad things happen, but there’s always a silver lining.
Quote 22 speaks to the idea that all we have is our perception. No matter how open-minded we are or how many angles we approach something from, we see the world through one pair of eyes. Our experiences and interactions define how we base judgments and view situations. What we believe to be “honest” or the “truth” is defined by our perception. We spent a lot of time in class discussing decisions. Specifically, making the “right” decision. Right, wrong, and all the grey areas in between have different severities and importance based on how we think.
ReplyDeleteI found Quote 11, a bible verse from Matthew, to be comforting. So often I find myself worrying about simple things that took place in the past or have yet to happen in the future. This worry pulls me out of the present moment and causes me to stress about the future. Why worry about tomorrow when today is trouble enough? This question that summarizes the end of the verse is an interesting way to look at worry. If I have to worry at all, why not focus on what I have control over; the present moment. Also, from a Christian perspective, the idea that God is taking care of me lessens a load of worry. Whether you believe in a greater power or not, I find it comforting to believe that I am being cared for in a general sense.
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ReplyDeleteQuote 21 stood out to me as to reminding me how insignificant one individual human is to the universe.Once we die, the world carries on as if we had never existed. But knowing that even though our death in the future would have little or no effect on anything at all, we do have the present moment and that is what really matters to an individual.
ReplyDeleteQuote 29 stood out to me. The quote emphasized originality and individuality. To me, being originial is important because it means that you are trying something new and fresh. But to succeed at something you had to imitate does not make you the one that succeeds. I would rather fail at something I tried as an original than to succeed in something that was an imitation.
The first quote that jumped out at me was #6. This quote jumps out at me because in my mind it is saying that you can't have success without some failures. Whenever I see something like this I think Thomas Edison and how he always said he didn't fail at creating the lightbulb all the times before it worked but he learned that many ways NOT to make a lightbulb. When I was a baby, my parents created a bedtime prayer for that we've been saying ever since. And one of the lines is: celebrate our successes and learn from our failures. I believe that you cannot have successes without some failures and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteThe second quote to jump out at me was #29. To me this means that it's better to have your own ideas even if they're not so great then to have some fabulous ideas that you just ripped off of someone else. This kind of goes back to the cheating conversation we had in class the other day. This quote also hits me close to home because I really care about trying to keep life as fair as possible and that's not possible when people are willing to "imitate" just to succeed instead of trying to be original. I may not be the best student in one class, but that doesn't mean I'm going to take someone else's work just so I can do well. I'm going to do my own original work and do his best I can.
Quote number 22:
ReplyDelete"We do not see the world as it is. Rather we see the world as we are."
I take this quote to mean that no matter the evil that may inhabit the world, we have control over how we perceive it. Every person looks at this world through a different lens. Who we are determines how we look into that lens. At one point the glass looked to be half-full, and lately it’s looked just slightly empty. The world hasn’t changed. The same good and evil exists. But I am different. I’ve gone through things have shifted my perspective. And what would have looked like a world full of opportunities and so much to offer, becomes one full of injustice. How we perceive the world depends on what we have experienced in our life time which in turn makes up who we are.
Quote number one:
“Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from the little things”
While peace can mean the lack of war or violence, it is also can refer to peace within yourself. I find this quote to mean that with courage you can create that peacefulness and content within yourself. Without courage, you’re always caught up in the everyday things, in your comfort-zone. Once you travel outside your comfort zone, you’re suddenly overcome with bliss as a result of your triumph. Little things are of course important to cherish, but one shouldn’t aspire to rely on those things found in their comfort-zone to fulfill their lives.
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ReplyDeleteQuote 21 spoke to me because one thing I often try and keep in mind is how small I am in the world. It might sound negative, but it's true. Often people are blinded by themselves and this idea that their life is the center of everything. We are apart of an entire world of people who are constantly thinking of themselves. Instead, we should think of the world around us. We should push our mind beyond its limit. Live in such a way that maybe you will be remembered.
ReplyDeleteQuote 28, although short, really spoke to the idea that if something sticks out, that it must be altered to fit the "ideal". This is the case in our society today. If people are different, we want to modify them into something we are used to, or understand. Anything we don't understand we automatically want to change into something we do. There is a certain status quo that people live by. If something doesn't fit it, people will want to make it like everything else, because that is what they can make sense of. Simply put: many don't try and understand anything outside their comfort zone.
Quote seven:
ReplyDeleteThis quote really stood out to me, because it embodies something that I personally have a hard time doing. The quote suggests that, in conflict, someone needs to be the bigger man and decide not to retaliate. This directly relates to a movie that we recently watched in Tom Pearce's class called Ragtime. In this movie, an actor playing Booker T. Washington says something along the lines of even if someone does wrong to you, retaliation by you will just lead to more retaliation by them. Washington then goes on to say, that the only way to end this cycle is to not fight back and win your opposition over by being respectful and mature. This is something that I have a hard time when I used to get into fights with my brother. If he does something to me I always want to get a shot back at him. This normally only results in more physical pain for the both of us, than if one of us had been mature enough to walk away.
Quote 23:
This quote talks about living in the present moment and not allow the clock or the calendar to blind us. I often find myself counting down the days remaining until break or checking a clock in class to see how much longer I have. This quote talks about the miracle and mystery of life and cherishing every moment of that. I think that it is very important to live in the present, because if you don't then you won't remember all of the good times that you have. I am reminded this every time I am around my relatives and they are reminiscing of their childhood memories. This is motivation for me to live in the moment and make sure that I live a memorable life and don't have regrets.
My favorite quote, number 9, brings to light an idea/theory that I've thought about before: The concept that humans are constantly trying to help each other survive, and that beneath every one of our individual actions and motives, no matter how contingent they seem on self-progression, lies the mutual goal of the progression of the human race. Furthermore, mankind's progression (and in part, survival) relies on the coexistence of all people working towards progression in different aspects of our lives as humans. If there is a failure of progression in one subject area, then that failure disturbs the entire process. Unfortunately, as humans, we are constantly attacking each other on the basis of differing opinions and social statuses. If we all came to the realization that despite cultural, governmental, or religious differences, we all share the same motive – the progression and survival of mankind – then we could end all this mindless conflict and work together as humans, rather than fight each other as enemies.
ReplyDeleteI really liked quote 23. It allows us to realize that through intuition and creativity we can find beauty in instances that we've usually constricted by time and compressed by the weight of the cookie-cutter lives that we lead every day. The greatest victory is when you have the ability to submit your mind to your senses, and have an intense emotional reaction to what is and isn't happening around you. It's healthy to allow yourself step into another dimension while remaining in the same space. After all, we try so hard as humans to be amazing that we end up disregarding the complexity of what we misconceive to be simplicity. For example, we talk to other humans every day, but it's rare that we stop and think about the complexity and oddity of sending messages to each other making sounds from our mouths.
Robz23 is Robert Alexander
ReplyDeleteMy favorite quote, and the quote that spoke the most to me was quote number 23, "We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery." This quote really spoke to me because it made me want to slow life down. There are things I wish I could speed to and through, but still I want to stop and enjoy things, such as how good I have it made and how my biggest worries are somebody else's smallest worries. This quote tells you to slow down your life and enjoy what is going on around you.
ReplyDeleteMy second favorite quote listed was "See everything. Overlook a great deal. Improve a little." This quote relates to me in many ways and many previous situations. This quote demonstrates how humans tend to believe what they think first, assumptions. Every person in this world has made an assumption. Imagine you and a friend are taking a chemistry test, and he has had a notoriously bad time with chemistry. Amazingly he comes out with a 96 and you are stuck with an 83. What would most people do? Make an assumption, an assumption that he didn't do it on his own or it was a fluke. If you lived life according to this quote you would think "wow! you must have studied extremely hard!" Assumptions curse ourselves into believing the easiest thing to absorb. Decisions are much more accurate and solid without them, and hey, you might grow a little.