To My Parents

During the King Lear unit, we spoke a lot about what we, as children and students, owe our parents, if anything.  In King Lear, Lear's daughters, Regan and Goneril, profess their love to him to gain his land, but later betray him and they feel they don't owe him anything.  But Cordelia, Lear's third daughter, refuses to tell him how much she loves him like her sisters do for she won't spew false words, and Lear banishes her, but, in the end, the King realizes how much she really does love him and what they owe each other.  I feel I owe my parents a lot, but maybe not quite everything.  They are the reason I was born and the reason I have turned out the way I have, for which I am thankful, but, somedays, I wish things had been different in my sheltered upbringing.  Overall though,I love my parents and owe them a lot for all the things they have done for my brother and I over the years.

Control Freak

We discussed the topic of people ruling over or controlling others, and I feel that, in some situations, people do have the right to rule over others.  If there were no rulers, the whole world would fall into utter chaos.  I believe people have the right to be respected when they request others to do something, within reason.  Leaders of countries, along with police and even teachers, have the right to control others to some extent, but not to dictate or abuse their powers.  Without some people controlling others, there would be no order to the world or organization, and our sophisticated cultures would break down.  I believe there needs to be some authoritative figures, but not dictators or complete controllers.  People still have free will, but most people will follow orders anyways out of respect, knowledge of consequences, and wanting to do the right thing for themselves, their community, and their world.

Paradise is Yet to be Lost

     This picture of an angel praying with a pretty flower reminds me of Paradise Lost by John Milton.  This symbol of praying and being devout beside something so elegant as a freshly-opened flower is like Heaven and the Garden of Eden.  In Paradise Lost, it tells of Satan who fell from Heaven and Adam and Eve who fell from the Garden of Eden.  All three were cast from their paradises after making choices with their free will.  I am glad for free will, to allow me to make my own choices.  Although there could be such thing as Fate, I believe we also help to control our destinies and that we have the power to change our future if we try very hard.  As we wrote in class in a free write about Fate and free will, I am starting to notice more events occuring around me that seem to be Fate.  The other day as I was going to meet some friends to go running by Okanagan Lake, my dad convinced me to quickly go over to London Drugs to look at a laptop.  We went in for about five minutes, and then he walked home and I drove down main street and was hit by an elderly lady trying to change lanes without shoulder checking.  This seems to me like something intended by Fate, for whatever reason, as I had already made plans to go running and did not, in the slightest, feel like going to the store, and yet, there I was with a scratched and dented car, talking to two elderly women who had just been going to the car wash.  Some things may happen by mere chance; some things happen because of our choices; others happen because of Fate.