Once upon a time there was a groundbreaking social website known as Facebook. It was a wonderful place where college students could connect. Admission to this unique club was restricted to college students, who had to have a valid student email address to join. In those early days, reaching 100 friends was a milestone and there was no need for Farmville or fake accounts or bullying. However, more recently, I believe, it has hit a new low, along with many other social networking sites and the internet in general.
One of the reasons for my sudden surge of interest in the subject is my wonderful boyfriend, JP, who is a Brit whose lived in the US for the past 12+ years. We've often discussed how our society has moved downward morality-speaking and how our children are all too often the casualties. Bullying in schools has become rampant. Rumors went from word-of-mouth-distribution from person to person, and now can travel at the speed of light, if not faster. One click of the mouse or a touch of an enter key can truly destroy one person's reputation. And, at the end of the day, the only things we have are what we think of ourselves, and more distressing, what others think of us.
As a student of education I found that our schools are not what they once were. They were once a safe haven from the outside, a place where a student could turn when times were tough. Now, however, many have turned into a place of fear, leading to tormented souls, students who turn to homeschooling to avoid harassment, and worst of all, those individuals who feel there is no other option but suicide.
Am I the only one that feels this way? Does anyone else find the irony in the fact that the more 'evolved' electronically and technologically we become as a society, the more soul-less and moral-less we have also become? How about how our careers and relationships can be made or broken by a simple online post, comment, photo-shopped pic, etc? Please feel free to comment. I would love to get opinions from a variety of sources.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
what does the movie Abduction, "Magic Eye" posters, icebergs, and earthquakes have to do with me?
While in this state of 'extended hiatus from the working world' (aka unemployment) I have had plenty of time to gather my thoughts and relax for more hours of the day than I ever thought possible. Not only have I been thinking, but also reading and watching movies. Sometimes you find inspiration in the strangest places, where at first glance they seem completely unrelated but then make perfect sense. Tonight's inspiration was the movie Abduction. For those unfamiliar with the movie, it's basically about this high school kid Nathan (Taylor Lautner) who, through a seemingly benign sociology assignment on missing children, discovers that his family and history is not quite what he thought it was.
This movie not only reminded me of certain aspects that are relevant to my own life, but also to those annoyingly popular "Magic Eye" posters from the '90s. I always hated seeing one of these things because it immediately drew everyone into it, and everyone shouting 'oh i see it!!!' and me pretending to figure it out, but never actually being able to see the damn hidden picture. It wasn't the first time I was unable to see what was right in front of me, the only thing I needed to do was to look a little closer to see the deeper picture.
From the "magic eye" posters I think about how sometimes you can look at something or someone familiar, something you have seen hundreds of times before and just know that something is not quite the same, just the least bit different, but you just can't quite put your finger on it. Then, when someone tells you what it is (so you like my new haircut?) you see it and think to yourself 'how on earth did I miss that'?
Furthermore, it brings me to the expression "just the tip of the iceberg" and the fact that you never quite know what is going on just below the surface just by looking at what is most obvious.
Most people would probably think what this has to do with the movie Abduction and even more so what it has to do with my life. Well, first I would say that's because they don't know me well enough, but then I would add more explanation, after adding one more example of thoughts that arise. I have never been in an earthquake (knock on wood) but I have seen enough of them on television to know what they are all about. The basics of it are that there are these plates under the surface that, when they bump against each other, cause the earth above to shake and break (not to be confused with the pork chop seasoning brand shake and bake). Those living above ground may not have even realized a fault line was just below them until an earthquake hit. Others that know about the fault line are never quite sure when another one will hit. In between the earthquakes, everything seems sturdy. Buildings stay standing and streets are smooth. But then the moment arrives, when everything starts to shake. In that moment, whether the person knows about the fault line or not, no one knows exactly what is going to happen. How long will it last? How much destruction will it cause? Will my house still be in one piece?
Secrets, at least from my experiences, are a lot like fault lines. Those that know the secrets, like those that know the fault lines lying below the surface, are just holding their breath from moment to moment waiting for the moment to come when the earth begins to shake and the fault line makes itself known. For the ones the secrets are being kept from, they are like the people that have no idea there was a fault line until the earthquake occurred. Regardless of whether you are the secret keeper or the one from whom the secret is kept, or the know-er of the fault line or the caught-by-surprise earthquake survivor, one thing is sure: no one is ever the same. A fault line, like a secret, once exposed can never be hidden again.
Where am I going with this? Well, there is a lot more to me than meets the eye. The fault line has been discovered, and can never be re-hidden, but there are still people close to the fault line that are oblivious to it's existence. Like the person who can't quite put their finger on the slight difference in the appearance of a familiar object, I myself have had the experience of feeling as if something, however small, just didn't feel "right". And, in the way that the person responds once hearing what that difference is, I was dumbfounded by the fact that the truth had been staring at me all along, I just never knew it. I never looked further into the picture, never asked what it was that made me different. What differences would have been made to my current situation or even my very personality had I know the fault line was there all along?
This movie not only reminded me of certain aspects that are relevant to my own life, but also to those annoyingly popular "Magic Eye" posters from the '90s. I always hated seeing one of these things because it immediately drew everyone into it, and everyone shouting 'oh i see it!!!' and me pretending to figure it out, but never actually being able to see the damn hidden picture. It wasn't the first time I was unable to see what was right in front of me, the only thing I needed to do was to look a little closer to see the deeper picture.
From the "magic eye" posters I think about how sometimes you can look at something or someone familiar, something you have seen hundreds of times before and just know that something is not quite the same, just the least bit different, but you just can't quite put your finger on it. Then, when someone tells you what it is (so you like my new haircut?) you see it and think to yourself 'how on earth did I miss that'?
Furthermore, it brings me to the expression "just the tip of the iceberg" and the fact that you never quite know what is going on just below the surface just by looking at what is most obvious.
Most people would probably think what this has to do with the movie Abduction and even more so what it has to do with my life. Well, first I would say that's because they don't know me well enough, but then I would add more explanation, after adding one more example of thoughts that arise. I have never been in an earthquake (knock on wood) but I have seen enough of them on television to know what they are all about. The basics of it are that there are these plates under the surface that, when they bump against each other, cause the earth above to shake and break (not to be confused with the pork chop seasoning brand shake and bake). Those living above ground may not have even realized a fault line was just below them until an earthquake hit. Others that know about the fault line are never quite sure when another one will hit. In between the earthquakes, everything seems sturdy. Buildings stay standing and streets are smooth. But then the moment arrives, when everything starts to shake. In that moment, whether the person knows about the fault line or not, no one knows exactly what is going to happen. How long will it last? How much destruction will it cause? Will my house still be in one piece?
Secrets, at least from my experiences, are a lot like fault lines. Those that know the secrets, like those that know the fault lines lying below the surface, are just holding their breath from moment to moment waiting for the moment to come when the earth begins to shake and the fault line makes itself known. For the ones the secrets are being kept from, they are like the people that have no idea there was a fault line until the earthquake occurred. Regardless of whether you are the secret keeper or the one from whom the secret is kept, or the know-er of the fault line or the caught-by-surprise earthquake survivor, one thing is sure: no one is ever the same. A fault line, like a secret, once exposed can never be hidden again.
Where am I going with this? Well, there is a lot more to me than meets the eye. The fault line has been discovered, and can never be re-hidden, but there are still people close to the fault line that are oblivious to it's existence. Like the person who can't quite put their finger on the slight difference in the appearance of a familiar object, I myself have had the experience of feeling as if something, however small, just didn't feel "right". And, in the way that the person responds once hearing what that difference is, I was dumbfounded by the fact that the truth had been staring at me all along, I just never knew it. I never looked further into the picture, never asked what it was that made me different. What differences would have been made to my current situation or even my very personality had I know the fault line was there all along?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
So long 2011....Hello 2012
Tonight is far from my "usual" New Year's Eve. Well, in truth, I haven't had a really interesting or exciting New Year's Eve since we left New Jersey. But this year is quite different. My youngest sister is spending the holiday with her dad back in NJ, and my middle sister, who was supposed to stay here through the weekend, left yesterday with her boyfriend, because, well, we don't exactly all get along. But that's another story entirely. So here it is, 10:30ish EST on New Years Eve, and my mom and I are lounging on the couch in pajamas, flipping through the varying televised celebrations.
There is one bright spot, however, is that thanks to the powers of the internet and Skype, I can talk to the wonderfully amazing man JP that, although he is thousands of miles away, feels like he is right here.
*Note: I started writing this blog New Year's Eve. I intended to add on to it the next day, but haven't so I am posting it as-is.
There is one bright spot, however, is that thanks to the powers of the internet and Skype, I can talk to the wonderfully amazing man JP that, although he is thousands of miles away, feels like he is right here.
*Note: I started writing this blog New Year's Eve. I intended to add on to it the next day, but haven't so I am posting it as-is.
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