Final Paper on a Good and Meaningful Life

Meaning. I recall that on the first day of the school year, an entire debate arose just over the definition of meaning. No two people had the same definition, but that said something in itself about what meaning is, and that is that it is something different for everybody. With the world telling us so many different things, I think it is best that you ask the people what they think, and come to your own conclusion. I will start with what I initially thought, then go on to other people to finally show what my final conclusion on what makes life meaningful.
10 months ago, I considered the meaningful aspects of my life to be my family, my friends, movies, comics, and my choice of music. Now I realize that this is not only because of the actual closeness of myself to those things, but because much of the world tells me that. Loving your friends and family is a dominant message in every form of the media, in religion, and in folk culture. In fact, to be distant from others and isolate oneself is a trait that is marginal and only stems from great tragedy. Having never experienced great tragedy myself, I obviously associated more with the mainstream message. This is one of the things the media heavily promotes that I truly feel is correct. By that I mean it is something that should be emphasized and made important. My love of comics, movies, and music all stem from my inner self, they are each a reflection of parts of me. These each show that something I considered meaningful was creativity and originality, as each media is about that.
9 months ago we asked other people, peers of ours, what they their thoughts on a good and meaningful life included. Once again, family and friends came up in nearly all interviews. This helped to solidify the place of family and friends in the meaningful life. What was interesting in this was that they all considered things forced onto others, like the media, school, etc, to be meaningless. This could probably be because they were not significant things that they felt were worth the time in the long run, as they left each experience with little gained. A new topic here was wisdom and common sense. I think that this is in fact very important to have and to cherish, because in the course of the last year of my life I have found an increase in the amount of people who show little to no understanding of common sense, such as people who immediately do what they are not supposed to, after they are told not to.
Four months ago we asked our elders, the senior citizens of America, what they thought on a good and meaningful life. My grandma was the interviewee for this, and what she said was revealing about her and her age group. Her answers were the first to include selflessness in a meaningful life. This was something I overlooked, and something I’m sure at least some of my peers must have overlooked but would include on reflection. I think that being selfless is a trait that many people simply lack today. While my grandma did not say that, I think that she would agree to at least a certain degree. There are many people, all ages, that are out for themselves and could care less for what the impact of this is. Take for instance Bernie Madoff, the man who stole 65 billion dollars. While this is an extreme case, many people are very selfish right now. This is due to the slumping economy. However this only serves to further hurt the economy, just as selfishness gets you nowhere in life. This cancels out the marginal media message of the loner, and proves that selflessness leads to gratitude to happiness.
Today I asked a child what she thought a good and meaningful life would include. Asking a child what they thought on a good and meaningful life had been something I had intended to do for quite some time, and in doing so I was able to see how a child would think of life, with today’s influences. I only asked one question. What does she consider a meaningful life. She answered only: A simple life. She went into detail to say that this would just be her, living in an apartment, having a pet. Now, taking into account she is in Fourth Grade and 9 years old, this astonished me. It was so contradictory to everything the media tells people to do. This actually made my day, and upon writing this I realize that in it’s simplicity and purity (since she is just a child after all), this was the best answer because it was automatic and from her heart. The most detail that she went into was saying that if she wanted meaning and to have an impact that recycling was key, saving the planet.
After taking in all of these influences, months of research in the field of meaning (if you wish to call it that), and countless excersizes analyzing the world that I cannot even do justice in this final report, I have come to the conclusion that what makes life meaningful is honesty. This is not coming straight out of left field, for the answer that effected me the most was that of a child, simple and honest. The answers from my peers that were most memorable were those that were not simple things from the media, they were their honest thoughts. A few months ago I decided to be 100% honest with people, tell them what I truly felt and accept what they truly felt with understanding and not harshness. This made me incredibly happy and brought me closer together with a lot of people, as they saw that I was only trying to help them out and tell them the good and bad. I have long held the opinion that meaning is not related to good or bad. While Superman leads a meaningful life, so does Hitler. Both of them went with what they felt was right, and whether those instincts were good or bad is irrelevant. To go with ones heart and do what you think is truly you is very meaningful and shows that people are not cookie cutter results of the media outlets or Biblical teachings. To be honest with yourself and the world is to forsake the opinions of others, and that makes the greatest impact of all and provides the most meaning.

Collapse Assignment #2

If it were up to me, oil would be gone. However, my understanding of the importance of oil is limited. When I think oil, I think of it as fuel for cars, never really looking that deep past the surface. However, oil is crucial to nearly all aspects of American life from a manufacturing standpoint. It is because of this, that I both hate oil and know that without it, we are most likely doomed.

What happens when you run out of food? Well, you can last a while, long enough to go to the grocery store and buy some more. Now, what happens if the grocery store is closed? You go the night without it, it's tough, but you deal. The next morning, it's still closed, so you try to find an alternative store, only to find none. Down the line, you realize the food is all gone and that you have to find a replacement for food. But you don't have the energy to expend towards this, since you are running poorly due to starvation. Then you cannot find an alternative and collapse without your food. Now, read that all again, replacing grocery stores with oil reserves and food with the oil itself. That is America's future. Dependency on any one substance is never a good thing, look at the way that has been dealt with in the past. When America relied on slaves upon foundation, nobody seriously considered the fact that they might get rights one day, and when it did happen the slave owners were in for the shock of their lives and a major adjustment to the way they lived their lives. However, dependency on slaves is nothing in comparison to oil, and manpower is more of a renewable resource than oil.

Another aspect of the current way of life is the ever increasing population. According to "Crude Impact" there were essentially 2,000,000 people on the Earth at any one time over the times\-span of nearly 100,000 years. Then in the year 1800, the population had ballooned out to 1,000,000,000 (1 Billion) people. From that point to today the world population has increased to nearly 7 billion people, which is a number expected to be reached next year. Earlier I used the analogy of a balloon in terms of population growth. Balloons can only stretch to a certain point though before they simply explode. The Earth similarly can only support so many lives before collapsing. This connects to the usage of oil, as with more people on the planet more oil is used. In fact, calorie by calorie, oil is used at a rate ten times that of food, another resource that has shown increase in recent years. With food on the rise, the amount of oil used is also on the rise, therefore bringing about collapse in the near future.

Source Here

However, collapse is not a definitive. I would like to theorize that the strength of the human spirit would pull through in such a situation. People are always trying to be better, do better, and never die. This may very well be the reason that collapse is likely, but it is also what would bring the world through a crisis such as this. Past tragedies such as 9/11 have shown that great tragedies only serve to unite the people to a common cause, and in the event of a collapse, not only the American people, but all countries would find the strength and resolve to persevere. For that reason, I will admit that collapse scares me, but what comes next I have complete faith in.

Collapse Assignment #1

The inhabitants of Easter Island are certainly very interesting. For most of my life, I never gave them a second thought, never even thought about Easter Island Heads further than the fact that they were giant statues of heads that would pop in as a joke in cartoon and movies. However, I really think that the story behind these heads is anything but funny. In fact, the story scares me a little bit, because it seems all too reminiscent of the current state of America. This is mostly bad, but there are bits of good sprinkled in the details. One thing that I find very interesting and quite common in lost civilizations is the need to be the best. Striving to be better has always been something that I personally aspire to, and it is an honorable trait. This can be found at the core of the Easter Island inhabitants. However, the part that takes that honorable ideal and warps it is that they let the strive to be better, to compete against one another, past the logical limitations and stop signs to a point where it was dangerous and caused downfall. This was because the want to be better was corrupted by power. Personally, I think that power is a horrible thing. Not because of what it entitles, but because of the weakness of humankind to succumb to power and become corrupted by it. That is how Easter Island fell, because the people were too weak to realize what the thirst for power was doing to them. This is something in human nature that I have always found to be quite interesting if simply because it is so often repeated. What about human nature makes them succumb to the power they hold instead of continue to strive and try to appropriately use and earn power responsibly?

The Easter Island reading scares me because it i something that can very easily be connected to America. For one, the usage of natural resources for frivolous things such as clothing and jewelry, or for an upgrade of something that needs no upgrade in the first place. The amount of time and money spent in the statues and the pursuit of having the bigger better one is very similar to how companies are always in direct competition with one another to make the better product. I am a strong believer that competition brings out the best in everybody and shows who they truly are, but I feel that the things that a lot of these companies are competing for are hardly worth it in the long run. Think about this. The iPhone 3G was the hottest phone to have, touch screen capabilities, GPS, Internet, games, all that needless stuff for a phone. Now, a year later, the very same phone has gone down hundreds of dollars in price because it has already been replaced. In this state of constant evolution, needless products (Do people seriously need to be able to go online, play games, listen to music, etc. on their phone?) are given the promotion that other needed products could use. Michael Bloomberg is running for a third term in office, something that by no right should he need campaign for. However, he spent millions of dollars for campaigning already. Now imagine if instead of all of this self advertising he had donated this money to the MTA, or to PETA, or to something that could have really used the money. I think New York would find something else to plaster on every billboard in the city. But this needless self promotion is what this country is becoming. Now, isn't that exactly what the Easter Island heads were? And didn't they collapse? THAT is why I am scared for the future of America.

Final Food Assignment

  America has no food culture. In this world of got to have it now and constant societal evolution, the food of America has taken a critical hit. Now the only thing people think of for Americans when it comes to food is either fast food or cheeseburgers. To be associated with fast food chains worldwide is no easy feat, but America did it. The fast food chain is what many base their dietary habits on, which is unstable due to the constant changes and multiple sources present in the fast food industry. But I’m getting ahead of myself here, lets start at the beginning.

            Vvvrrrooom! and Our Daily Bread essentially tell the same story, the humble origins of our food. It was after seeing these that it became apparent that the way food is created is in fact unhealthy and unnatural, and the reason that people are unaware of this is due largely in part to the way the material is showcased. In Vvvrrrooom!, there is an overall feel of joy and youthful optimism, teaching the younger generation where food comes from. What is interesting to note here is that the narrator does not in fact do any work that he is saying is so important. Also worth noting is that there are no animals in the video except a domesticated dog that eats with the family.

            In our Daily Bread, there are tons of animals present in addition to all of the crops being gathered. The crops gathered here are collected in the same way as in Vvvrrrooom!, however additional footage and camera techniques reveal more about the process at hand. In “Our Daily Bread” , the land is being torn apart as a result of all the farming going on. I think that this is a more honest depiction of farm life, as it shows more footage of the events at hand and actually shows people working he land, letting the motions tell the story without narration. Both of these videos show that the process of gathering food, one of the core practices that human society was built upon, is no longer a human practice. The food for people is made by machines and through crop manipulation, making it very inhumane and inhuman.

            The video “Our Daily Bread” also shows the treatment of animals destined to eventually become a burger patty of Kentucky fried meal. These animals are treated horribly, being sent to small cages that restrict movement and comfort. Those that are not fast enough to escape the hands of the workers are taken and killed, not being used for anything except waste. This is cruel and makes the animals miserable, unable to live anything even resembling a quality life. The fact of the matter is that most meat products are gathered in a manner similar to this, if not worse and in filthy conditions. The animals are also genetically altered, so that they contain more desirable meat and that they can be used more widely. This is very unnatural and has a direct effect on our health as a nation. Rising obesity trends can be connected to this, as the amount of McDonalds goes up in America, so does the national weight average and the obesity rates nationwide. 

Source Here

Source Here

This also reflects the prevalence of diabetes worldwide, as shown above.