Vern's Volvo

Vern's car is the car that he has been driving around for twenty years and not the pile of parts ...

As Vern went to Grace's Garage he exchanged various parts of his car for new ones. He exchanged them since the old parts were wanted anymore, he instead wanted new parts. After he rejected the old parts they were no longer his since he didn't want them anymore. These new parts, however, he wanted and used for twenty years. The old parts are no different than garbage which he drags to the curb twice a week. Vern gave up those parts, and with the new parts which Vern acquired he was able to fulfill his vehicular needs for twenty strong years.

Not only did he Vern abandon the old parts, but also, Grace gave them shelter and a home. Grace, not Vern is the owner of the pile of parts. By action of taking them in and housing them for the past twenty years, her service has overridden and original ownership which Vern might have had on the car parts. Since Grace is the owner of the pile of parts, Vern cannot claim ownership to them, even if he would want to.

The pile of old car parts which Grace has been keeping is not Vern's car because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Granted those parts in the dusty backroom could make a car, but they aren't one. Saying that the pile of car parts is a car is like saying a couple of bricks is a wall or some flour and water is bread. Vern's car is the one that is well, actually a car and not a pile of parts. The pile of parts can't drive Vern around, and therefore do not match the definition of a car.

Out with the old and in with the new ...

Nosce Te Ispum

To know one's self is a rather awkward concept to reflect upon. To start things off I know my name, my home, and hopefully my homework for tomorrow. These things however, are very concrete concepts, they are constants, facts, and real. To delve into the more plastic, things such as my favorite band are brought up, granted they are know, but always open to some change and shifting. Now all of this information above would be valuable to write the book of me, but they are nearly the words. The word order and usage of this book is what we end up associating with my traits and personality. In the end to know one's self is to understand how all the concrete and plastic strings of your life weave together to create you. Metaphors aside, "Nosce Te Ispum" is to know how you yourself click, work, and function.

In the discussion of knowing myself, my greatest weakness and also strength would be brought up. To point out your own weakness is an odd thing to do since in life you would have thought that you would have corrected this fault. I mean why would anyone want an imperfect life? My weakness, for lack of a better term it seems, is that I am reserved. Being reserved is an fundamental instinct of nature, it is logical that a organism would take the past of least resistance and risk. Of course as humans, the exception to the laws of nature, we are urged to discover new things in hope of greater happiness. My reserved nature brings comfort with routine, and regularity, but also can hold me back from new experiences. In reference to my earlier blog entry about the definition of a good life being one to action, I shouldn't about whether my break from routine is good or bad, but instead, just do it. As for my greatest strength it would have to be intelligence. This intelligence applies to creativity, seeing as I am good at looking at things from a different angle. At my job I design projects for elementary school students based on the backwards upside down Italian scribbles of Leonardo Da Vinci. I must adapt very complex designs which will contain flaws, into simple projects in order to teach simpler minds how to expand their own minds.

Now that I know what is to know myself what is the big picture? Nosce after all is an imperative construction so what did I learn (that was my task after all). I labeled my greatest strengths and weaknesses, the ranges and domains of my personality and came to a conclusion. Even though I just wrote down what I know about myself, tomorrow I might write a completely different answer. After all, nothing is certain in life due to it constant ebb and flow. Nosce Te Ispum is something that must be repeated and revised in order to stay up to date and accurate. This self reflection must be done every day so that one can continue to know themselves and their place in this world.

One day at the firing range ...

I woke up at six on that Saturday morning and met Joey, Justin, Bailey and the others out at the garage to head out on our trip. We shoveled ourselves into cars and half slept on the way as we stared at the rain drops beading across the car windows. After an hour and a half we had arrived and we stretched and yawned as we got out of the cars. At the shotgun range we met our two instructors, one small, one large. We then walked over to the range, and began the arduous task of carrying all the shells and clays up the muddy hill to the shooting platform. We were given a brief safety lecture, during which I mostly swatting flies, which apparently weren't bothered by the rather dank weather.

We walked over to the shooting platform to get ready to shoot. The instructor asked which of us wanted to go first, and oddly none of us volunteered. We had been looking forward to this trip for weeks, but now that the time had come all of us were a bit trigger shy. We had all fired guns before, but this time it was different. Being either stoic or stupid, I stepped forward, I picked up the gun, and I rose it up. I held the muzzle up there for a couple of seconds waiting to be comfortable, but that moment never came. Finally, I shouted pull, since my arm was getting tired and sort of wanted it to be over. The clay floated across the tree line as I pulled the trigger and heard the thunderous boom. My shoulder whipped back as if I had be struck by Mjöllnir itself, soon my whole body was knocked back as my feet slide backwards on the wet boards. When I fell upon the rear railing, my ears were shot, but I was able to make out the mutterings of the instructor "keep the stock of the gun against your shoulder".

The next time I was up to shoot, you could be certain I kept that stock glued to my shoulder. I said pull, took the shot, and dusted the clay. That day, I went on to becoming half decent at shotgun shooting and enjoyed the rest of the day as the flies went away and my accuracy improved.

The thing I was able to take away from that day wasn't just a really sore shoulder, but the confidence to face problems head on. I learned not avoid them, because if I just backed off an iota they would only kick back at me harder.

How do we figure out whether or not a life has value? When do we make this decision? What is the meaning and purpose of life? Consider the things th

When I first read this question I was completely stumped over what I believed the meaning and purpose of life was. For inspiration I went to see what history's great thinkers thought of life (why reinvent the wheel). Many of them (at least Darwin, Epicurus, Euripides, Socrates, Thoreau, & William Wallace) came to the same conclusion: life is short and we should make the most of it. Life's value is that we never know how much we have left, and are driven to make the best of it. But how do we make the best of it? Many historical figures such as those aforesaid mentioned advocated a life of action. The only problem taking action is that you could be taking the wrong action, after all there is no absolute answer to what you should do with your life. In the book Why Most Things Fail, by Paul Ormerod, the central message to this book was that nine times out of ten things won't work out whether they be evolution or economics. Consequently, whenever you do something, the odds are stacked against your success. But how are we supposed to openly do something when we know failure is imminent?

As I researched what influential people in history thought of the meaning of life, I came across a thought experiment proposed by Professor Daniel Robinson of Oxford University. He proposed that your brain would be put in a vat and it would be stimulated to have dreams so that your life would be played out as you wished. You would "have it your way", but instead of a whopper it be your perfect life. I began to think about what things I would want in my perfect life. The first thing I thought of was money, it may seemed shallow, but in our world money offers both a safety net and trampoline for life. After that, I thought companionship would be nice, going along the same idea that it is always better to watch a movie with someone else. Finally, to rap it all together, I only wanted to have good memories. After all, memories are our most cherished possession and if possible they should be as good as possible.

However, the problem though which I came across when creating my perfect life is that I made for myself achievements, without actions. An achievement is really just icing without the cake. After going through Professor Robinson's experiment I finally realized what those historical figures were talking about. It doesn't matter so much as what you do, so long as you are spending the unknown amount of time you do have on earth. Now most of the time your efforts may not pay off, but when they do you should all the happier that things finally worked. In the end, life is the can be boiled down to the one in ten occurrence of things working out and you achieving what you really wanted, and the journey along the way.

The Idea of a Hero

All cultures have heroes that are told about in their stories and myths, epics and legends. Although heroes generally follow a similar set of characteristics, the exact identity of a hero depends on the culture that they are from. Since all cultures have different ideals and maxims, their heroes, who are these principles personified, also are different.
Beowulf is the first hero in English literature ever written about. Beowulf represents all of the Norse ideals of his time period. He is strong and courageous in battle and gives his life in defense of his homeland. In the viewpoint of the Norse, Beowulf is the perfect hero in their culture of war. Beowulf is idealized in order to act as a role model, and well, hero. Even though he dies in his final struggle against the Dragon, he dies an honorable death and is avenged by one of his fellow warriors, Wiglaf. Wiglaf is an example that even when hope is lost, courage and bravery can win the day just like it did against the Dragon. Wiglaf's actions are inspiring so he too can be called a hero.
Heroes in other stories, also display this reflection of the cultures of their times. Odysseus shows intelligence and patience; Huck Finn shows cleverness and compassion; Luke Skywalker shows inner purity and good judgment. All of these heroes can serve as inspiration.
A culture without heroes could be described as "unhappy" since this culture would in turn have no higher edifice to look up to. Yet, Brecht said that a land with heroes signified weakness and discontent. But without inspiration or a goal to reach for an individual loses much of their motivation to go the extra mile and be more. Heroes are in fact the opposite of what Brecht said, because they show the admirable characteristics of a culture. In modern times instead of Knights or Jedi, we look at the everyday hero: the firemen, doctors, and others who benefit the world around them.