Thucydides

I'm reading "The History of the Peloponnesian War" By Thucydides and I find it funny when they compare and contrast Athens with Sparta. Sparta is militant and rigid, slow and steady, yet organized in a way that is structured and functions as a society. Athens is innovative and growing, building an expanding empire and continually taking risks.

Athens claims that innovation and manipulation is part of evolution and they can not be blamed for taking advantage of weaker states because every being wishes to maximize their interests. This is funny, because that claims one can not be held accountable for injustices because it is a natural human compulsion. That seems incorrect. 


There are very happy/healthy countries that conduct themselves in a neutral way and focus on public welfare and communal elevation instead of defense and expansion. For safety's sake, it is understandable that nations need to invest in defense because others pose a threat to them. Wouldn't it make sense if we focused on our own well-being and living good lives instead of power acquisition?


Isn't the desire for power and material wealth a lowly human aspiration? I feel like we should have mentally evolved beyond this by now. 


Obviously that's a stretch, but every notion that is idealistic looks as asinine. Does that mean we should disregard them or hold them in the highest regard and always work towards such goals? I seem to think the ladder. 

Politics of China. Exam 2.

When I'm taking a class and I don't do as well because I don't know unimportant details it becomes frustrating. It seems that if you understand how something as a whole functions and understand what each part contributes the minute details (like which general in the Chinese CCP went to which province in hiding) should not matter, because they aren't relevant. If that General had any other contribution to the overall cause and the province was vital to understanding the bigger picture, OKAY. But that is just  not the case.

In learning and teaching, it seems like the goal should not be to trick the students but to guide them to a more full understanding. If you're learning a subject, isn't it most beneficial when it adds to your overall understanding of life? It would seem so. Obviously some studies require serious attention to detail, but it is alright that others do not.

I'm studying for my Politics of China exam. Interesting enough, yet I just wish I could concentrate more on the basic movement and evolution of the system instead of the spelling of an unimportant background figure. Feel me? 

I also swapped my bed for Malea's MONSTER king with space-age super sensitive pillow top set-up. Life is good.

P.S. Censoring your thoughts is nearly impossible. Try it.

The Secret

Morgan's Mom has always taught her that your world is formed from what you think. There are these people who think that what they conceive as "The Law of Attraction" brings the ideas you think into existence. I don't understand it but they say that's irrelevant, it still exists if I know it or not. I already believe that in what ever way you perceive your world, it sculpts the life you live, but this far passes that. This claims you can absorb and achieve anything you want as long as you will it to be so.

READ HERE

EXPERIMENT. I'm going to try to start censoring thoughts for a week and see what happens.

Heard: Shakespeare

SONNET 12

When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow; 
   And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence
   Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. 

Seen in Dublin, March 18th.

My whole heart.

I've been thinking a lot about love recently and how I've never fallen in the way we're thought to experience it. The notion that it only occurs in fairytale romances as a final pinacle in a series of steps. Having never fallen, I couldn't understand while during my whole trip in Ireland, I felt so deeply entangled in love.

I had the chance to see two of my best friends Aisling and Sarah, and every moment I was with them it felt like this circle of warmth, understanding and love grew.

My other friends are living in this massive, beautiful house right near my old campus and they ended up letting me crash there almost every night.

A large group of boys live there, including an ex boyfriend I met last year. The first few nights I stayed only two of the lads (ha) were around for the weekend. I knew one from the year before but the second was a brother of a friend and this was the first time I met him. Every morning they woke me up with a cup of coffee or we stood around the kitchen table rambling and laughing, I felt as if I was falling in love. I kept thinking of how they were truly some of the best men/friends I've ever met, and that I loved them.

That brings me to my ex (Who might read this, so haaaay boy :D). I hadn't seen him in a year and wasn't sure at all what to expect. From the moment I saw him at the airport to the kiss right before I got in a cab to leave, everything was sweet and simple. There was no mask, no act, and it made me feel beautiful. Every hug, conversation and smile happened in this organic way and it was an experience I don't think I'll ever forget.

It all hit me after leaving in a whirl of half-drunken conflict with my ex, as I sat on the floor in the Dublin airport and began breaking out in tears every few moments. A slideshow of memories streamed through my mind and not sure if I was more happy or sad. It all makes me think maybe I have fallen in love, but not in the way we're sold to understand it, but in a real and truer sense of the word. Please don't miss out on it, it's what gives life purpose and grace. I can't think of anything more beautiful than the feelings those people gave me. I love you more than I could ever explain to you.

You are home.

I'm sitting in the airport. I missed my flight to Chicago about three hours ago and there's only one flight from Chicago to Dublin daily. Thank goodness a sweet as honey security guard and airline attendant helped me. New flight leaves first thing in the morning and I get to camp out in the airport all night, only getting to Dublin 24 hours late. I can deal with that. I have a copy of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and serious time to kill. Let's face change and "problems" with rationality, flexibility, and optimism- or we'll just make them harder to endure.

At first I panicked but my good friend Katie and I had a wonderful conversation that help ed me calm down. Big picture. Always see the big picture and you'll never get lost in the details. Time is a gift and now I have plenty before I get to see some of the loveliest people I've ever known.

I'll let you know how Saint Patrick's Day, Dublin 2011 is when I get there ;)

Survival

It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.

- Charles Darwin

50 years of the Peace Corps.

Thanks JFK.