January 2013

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart had many important lessons to teach, but to me one stood out from the others, as it is very relevant to modern times.  Okonkwo's inability to respond effectively to the changing world around him led to his downfall, as he had made his entire world revolve around being the greatest Igbo.  Not that he is to be blamed for this, but others were able to survive - many embraced Christianity, and even those who did not still appreciated some of the white man's practices; the trading post, for example.

The inability to change is something that has caused a lot of problems for humanity worldwide.  It can be seen in the revolutions in the Arab world, where rebel groups overthrew their conservative (usually dictatorial) governments, as the government was unwilling to give in to change.  It can also be seen in our own government, where the two parties stand by their ideologies no matter what, and nothing gets done as a result.  The fact that we continue to use fossil fuels without making major efforts to incorporate renewable fuels into our energy supply is also a sign of our inability to change.  Certainly, the incompetence of our government and its inability to update our infrastructure could lead to our downfall.
I think the use of a party system is a big mistake, and serves no use but to divide Americans on many important issues.  The labels of conservative or liberal are especially silly when applied to individual persons, as in order to truly be a liberal one must support all the liberal ideologies, and the same applies to conservatives.  One can be a democrat and be anti-abortion, or one can be a republican who supports gun control.  It would be much better if politicians were simply elected based on what they stood for, and if legislature were voted on based on what it would do, not because it was written by a republican or democrat.  Sooner or later, something is going to have to give.

11/30

I found the ideas of Existensionalism interesting.  I learned about it in AP European history my sophomore year, along with Romanticism and several other philosophical points of view.  The ideas and questions presented by existensionalism are timeless and transcend different cultures.  The questions themselves can be interpreted in many different ways, I specifically remember the questions "What are we waiting for?" and "Where are we headed?" as standing out.
People have different answers to these questions, and there are many correct answers.  For me, there are several interpretations for the first question: What am I waiting for to happen?  What are we, as humanity, waiting for?  Why are we slow to action and wanting our problems to be solved for us? 
Personally, I'm not waiting for anything - I'm focused on the present, and how I can use it to enjoy both the present and future.  I believe that most people sit around complaining about their problems, rather than taking action to solve them - this applies to most any problem in life.  People want to have things taken care of by others.
As for the other question, it can be viewed in several different ways.  It can be asking where we are headed as individuals - I am heading to college and to a job - or it can ask where we are headed as a species - to a bright or dismal future, depending on our actions to solve our problems now.  So perhaps if we continue waiting for changes to be made - saying "Oh, someone needs to improve our nation's infrastructure" instead of being that person who pushes the changes to be made, then the future of decay is ours.  But if we do what is necessary, we can push onwards and achieve things once thought impossible.