Journal Entries Now Too? For Real?

I obviously haven't posted anything in around two months, mostly because I'm busy, but partially because I just haven't been getting all my writing together. So I'll put up some thoughts/experiences that I have in Word documents, but not on the internet.

10/31/13
In honors chemistry today (note that these are honors students in a science class), someone was wearing a paper taped on his shirt that said “Affordable Care Act” – touting it (being a Democrat) as the scariest costume he could think of. Some other kid says, “Is the Affordable Care Act Republican and Obamacare is… Democrat?” Kid in the costume cannot answer this question, and instead starts with, “The Affordable Care Act is a leftist thinking, bordering on socialism, that’s going to destroy this country…” Another girl goes, “I hate you; you’re destroying my future job in the medical field.” Of course, none of them could explain any of their reasoning. I answered the girl’s question that the ACA and Obamacare are the same thing, repressed a very tempting eye roll, and sat down, while everyone had a party/healthcare reform bashing party.

Welcome to Idaho, Moriah.

What really bothers me is that I take the time to LEARN about the world, and about things that are important, and I'm still doing terribly grades-wise. I read non-fiction for fun, guys. But the collegiate system - at least at Boise State - is centered around info regurgitation and busy work - everything I hated about the shallowness of high school. I had such high expectations for higher education (I wonder why) and they've been torn down to say the least. The only classes I have now that I like are Music 100 and Forensics, and I LOVE science and math. So that says something. Why can't there be a place where we THINK about things, and their significance to the world and our own lives? Why is chemistry, a subject that I love, so monotonous and bland instead of really getting into what's so cool about it all? 15 hours of math problems a week = just training us to be robots, rather than conceptual and critical thinkers, and this conversation above shows some of that lack of critical thinking/info gathering. 18-20-SOMETHINGS! STOP ACCEPTING EVERYTHING FOX NEWS/INSERT OTHER BIASED NEWS SOURCE HERE SAYS AT FACE VALUE! GO LEARN ABOUT CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES AND VOTE INFORMED BECAUSE LOCAL POLITICS ARE WHAT MATTER DAMMIT! LEARN FOR THE SAKE OF LEARNING INSTEAD OF FOR THE SAKE OF A SET GPA!

I'm very ready to just scrape by in college and do all of my learning outside of school if this is all it is.

11/01/13

In honors seminar today we watched a video called My Last Days about a kid with cancer who lived his life to the fullest before he went (that’s a really rudimentary summary, but you know, whatever). I was told to write a reflection of what I would do given a limited amount of time to live, so here it is:

I would drop everything and find some way to do nothing but travel and volunteer and be with people. I could join the Peace Corps, or WWOOF, or go on a mission, or train to be a medic and go help people who don’t have access to healthcare. I’d want to learn about other cultures and how to survive in less than industrial ideal conditions, because surviving something as hard as finding water and shelter would make me feel stronger and more connected to others who have to live that every day. I’d help my little siblings with homework, and babysit for free for people who desperately need a date night, and keep people who were also terminal company.

The thing that’s important in thinking about this is that it’s how I should be living every day. Life is so short and so finite; I could be gone at any time.  I don’t want that time to be wasted with Facebook and such when I could be impacting other people’s lives far more than I am at the moment. Happiness comes from selflessness. I control my response to hard times, my attitude, and ultimately my happiness.