The American Dream

When emigrants came to America, they all talked about the American dream. Having money in your pocket, a nice coat on your back and a house on the corner with your family living happily inside of it. They’d talk bout the homes with the white picket fence and the wonderful families they were working for back home. Taking their kids up to a nearby lake for a weekend vacation. And when they were coming over that was al a possibility, maybe a long shot, but they had a chance. Work hard on a ranch, or building a railroad to make your stake and settle down. Millions of people bought into the American dream and a few of them actually found it. Nowadays people buy into that very same dream, but they have no chance of actually getting it. Because that white fence is painted jet black and the lake is covered in oil. That house is in the city and their jobs are as bad if not worse then what the original dreamers had. The American dream still exists, although the American reality is much worse than that dream.

Please comment and tell me what you think at harpestey@yahoo.com

Love

Love is something everyone experiences, or at least everyone wants to. Most people see it at one point in their lives, but not all can follow up on it. Most get what, or who, they love even if it’s just for a shot period of time. People know when they love someone; the generic signs are all there. Falling asleep with them in your head, being a great mood after talking to them, rounding every street corner just hoping they’re there. But beyond that who’s to say if I love someone or not? Because of my age I cant know what that is? Well I may not know what your definition of love is, but I know mine. I’ve talked to different people who say there in love. Every time the describe it, its completely different. Whether it’s a pain in your chest whenever they’re not with them, or being annoyed by the little things they do, and loving every single second of it. See I’ve realized that asking the question “what is love” doesn’t have one real answer. Because there is no one thing called love. The real question should be, what is your love. Everyone’s is different. So telling someone they don’t know what love is, is a load of shit because they very well may know exactly what their love is, just not yours. Love isn’t a thing its something you feel, and you can’t put on universal definition on something you feel, its different for everyone.

Any thoughts on this post? Tell me at harpestey@yahoo.com

Death

Lately I’ve talked a lot about life, different aspects of it and sometimes how to live it. But one thing I never mentioned before is death. Now I just want to raise the question, why do people fear death? Honestly why are we so afraid of dying? Is it because we stop living? Because we don’t get any warning to tie up those infamous loose ends? Is it because we just stop living without that dramatic death we all dream of? Or is it simply because we have no way of knowing what’s on the other side? Just the fact that something either incredible or terrible awaits us on the other side, but there’s no way for us to know what to expect. So naturally we expect the worst and fear death more than anything. But who’s to say that the Christian heaven isn’t ALL that waits for us? Or what if its something even grander, something so great the human mind cant even fathom how truly fantastic it is why cant we be excited for death without being labeled suicidal? Or maybe were looking at this all-wrong. Have you ever considered that this world is another world’s hell? And death is simply a sweet escape? No matter which of these ideas is true, Peter Pan described it best when he said, “Death, will be an awfully big adventure”

Any thoughts on this post? Tell me about it at harpestey@yahoo.com

Speech

Have you ever stopped to think about how incredible speaking is? The fact that I can think a word, and then say it without anything in between is incredible. Just read this out loud and think about the shape of your mouth for each syllable. Its incredible that you can just make audible sound without thinking it through piece by piece. Try to just take the word apple. Without making noise think of how you would form your mouth to make these sounds. Don’t actually form your mouth though. It probably took you a few seconds to do that and yet you can say apple in less than one. Likewise writing is the same way. Just thinking a letter or an entire word to write is enough. I don’t need to think about crossing my Ts or dotting my Is. I just do it. These two things are, in my own opinion, the most incredible advance mankind has made bar none.

Learning

When I was a little kid I sat in class learning because I thought it was fun. The topics were fun the way I learned was fun. Throughout junior high it slowly shifted from learning for fun to learning for college and beyond. It became all about grades and less about fun. Which is exactly y how it should be. Learning for college is how you get into an Ivey league school or the school of your dreams. Learning for fun is how I learned every Springsteen record in chronological order. Learning for grades and college is how I learned to factor a trinomial. Now you tell me which is more likely to get me into Stanford. Admittedly learning for learning’s sake is how it should be done, however the world has turned to a point where that just isn’t good enough. You cant get by on just what you want to learn you have to follow by what other people want you to learn. It’s the only way to get by. Because if you’re defiant the modern day big brother we call education is going to catch up to you and force you to learn everything. No matter how much you don’t want to.

Regret

Regret is a funny thing. It can make you do something you would otherwise regret, or it can keep you up at night months after the regretful even happens Odds are though, you’re the only one still worrying about it. The only one who still hurts every time the subject is brought up or even crosses your mind. And you can’t move on or fix the situation until you forgive yourself for whatever you did, and most of the time that’s the hardest thing to do bar none. The road to self-forgiveness isn’t easy though. You have to accept what you’ve done and understand that it wasn’t life changing or that relevant to your everyday life. Odds are the only reason you felt guilty in the first place is because you built your hopes up so high that when you wound up failing you had no choice but to only take away that you are a failure. But the great thing about regret is that you don’t need someone’s approval or forgiveness, only your own. And without that you’ll end up regretting everything you attempt to accomplish. With it though, you wont regret a thing.

Guest Post from Becca

Love is the scariest thing to deal with. I know, I’m a 16-year-old girl, of course I think I love anyone that can come into my life and make me feel special. Well, to be honest, before I figured out that I might love someone I thought everyone that was below the age of 20 and said they were/are in love was full of shit. The worst thing about it is laying out all your feelings is getting the “oh ok” reply. It’s one thing to pour your heart out to someone who you haven’t talked to in a month – but another to get a response that you’re not satisfied with. Being in love (or at least considering it) isn’t something I’m used to or something I’ll ever get used to. It’s like I’ve got all these feelings…and I have no idea what to do with them, especially when the feelings aren’t 100% returned. Don’t get me wrong, this kid definitely likes me – but not to the extreme level where my feelings are. At the same time, I don’t necessarily know that. And that’s ok, just not the easiest part of this. Actually I almost passed out when I told him how I feel. It takes some serious courage to admit to someone that practically hates you that you’re in love with them – especially in the situation that I’m in. I think the thing that will always scare me is the fact that (yes this will sound cliché) he’s got all of me. There isn’t one thing I haven’t told him. He could pretty much break me in one second if he really wanted to. Luckily, he’s not that type of person. Yeah, this goes against all of my morals to depend on a guy as much as I am now. Actually, most of this whole thing goes against my morals (including writing about love). But sometimes a girl like me needs a little moral breaking every once in a while. I always used to think love was something that people depended on so they had a rational reason to feel the way they do about someone. I was never really into stuff like that. I always sorta thought people felt the way they did and that was that. Now I guess I could see how it would help rationalize people’s feelings. It doesn’t help much though, love is probably the most irrational thing I can think of besides sex… and that’s not something I have ANY experience in. I’m not really into talking about love. I actually really hate that I might feel it for someone. I don’t think it’s something that someone my age should have to deal with. But I guess things always happen for a reason. And so it goes …

-Becca