0 Zen and the Inquiry of Values

Values are, uhm, valuable. And we value them. I'm sorry I can't just start it.

No one is born with values. You're born a blank sheet and your life is filling that sheet in with whatever design you want your life to be. You decide on those designs by how you are raised, the enviroment you're in, the experiences you experience, the life you learn shapes what you value.

I've learned a lot from reading and from experiencing second hand other people's experiences.

• Flexibility/Adaptability: Because seriously, it is in our nature to change and evolve and if you can't handle it, life will not be fun for you.
• Independence: Same. There's nothing wrong with depending on others. in some cases, you're even required to. However, it's seriously going to hold you back in life if you're always waiting on someone or for someone. The same thing goes for living. You can't just life for someone else.
• Growth: Growth=evolution, innovation, all of those good things that enable our world to continue to change and improve.
• Leadership: Because if everyone's a follower, we're only going to be going round and round in miserable little unimaginiative circles.
• Helpfulness: This goes along with my duty to not be a douchebag rule.
• Knowledge: A lot of my values pertain to advancement. Knowledge is no exception.
• Logic: Being objective is the best way to act most of the time, not matter how subjectively you feel. Can I use subjective in that way? Is that correct?
• Perceptiveness: I believe understand others is how we improve our life. Not understanding is like a recipe for disaster.
• Practicality: This just make sense.
• Nonconformity: Because a world with only the same thing doesn't leave room for black nor white nor the complicated shades of gray and that's just a shame.

0 Zen and the Art of Watching Highways

Zen is defined by wikipedia as being a round-about translation of the word "absorption". I'd agree with that. I feel like zen is the state of taking everything in and just allowing the world to happen. Absorption is actually a good way to put it. When one truly lets things be and takes in the world around them, only then will they have a full understanding. 

I guess absorption is the best way of defining it because of where I find zen myself. Zen for me is when I stop thinking and just take things in. Because of circumstances I cannot control, I usually end up getting rides from others whenever I want to go somewhere. Those drivers are always taking the expressway because why wouldn't they it's convenient and accessible and I leave on the south side so going anywhere is a pain. 

When I'm not sleeping on drives to anywhere, I'm staring out the window at nothing in particular. Those stretches of time when we're flying down the highway are some of the best moments of my week. In the car, I am nearly cut off from the outside world of commitments and homework. I am alone in the silence in my head, only able to reflect. Highways don't have much landscaping, minimizing the visual distractions that would bring my mind out of its neutral state. Watching highways allows me reflect on the world around me. Watching highways allows me to find zen. 

0 Parents

An Open Letter to Parental Units:

Hello. I am sixteen and an only child. These facts are listed here in order to clarify that this if the first and last time my family is having to deal with puberty and teenagedom. So no one has any experience in what's going on in my household right now, nor will anyone ever be able to put this information to use.

I think the biggest thing that parents need to know is that it's not going to be easy, period. Although I've articulated this to my parents before, they seem as if they have yet to get that yes, I understand where they're coming from and yes, ill probably feel the same way when (if) I have kids one day. But no, I'm not going to agree with you now because I'm in the moment and this is not me with my kids. This is me thinking of the current and the present. We're to going to agree and that's that. It's not supposed to be easy so stop punishing me for not making it so.

Also: parenting books are not the end all for advice. What you have to realize is that children doing come in a set amount of favors. There's not only like 10 kinds you might end up with. We are a blend of personalities, morals, and ideals and more. So stop trying to treat me like the cold you've read about in your books. I've read those books too and let me tell you, I'm nothing like Sally NoName so stop trying to be Mrs. Smith. It won't end well for anyone.

Also: your child will not learn just from you. You will not be their only teacher in life. A big part or growing up is learning and discerning truth for yourself and by assuming or manipulating your child into only learning from you, you are actually stunting their mental growth. Stop being surprised when they don't have the same exact morals and beliefs as you. And stop being condescending and believing that they'll come around eventually. When you say things like that, you're only exhibiting the fact that you think that they're being silly or stupid or naive or whatever it is that you think.

Also: your child is not you. Stop expecting them to be.

I could go on but it's getting more rant-y than philosophical and it's a good idea to stop before I fall too far behind.

0 And we all have a duty to our country

So sometimes I don't like people. At all. And people are like that. We don't like people. Though that may stem from personal pet peeves, a lot of it comes from society ignoring its civil duty not to be a douchebag.

Now you may be thinking, "Syd, why do you think you can dictate how someone thinks?" And you're right, I can't. If you want to think evil, dark thoughts, go for it. The issue is when you express your thoughts and in the process hurt someone else. You can think whatever you want as beautiful. You can think whatever as not beautiful. The problem starts when you make someone else feel ugly.

And that's what's wrong with the world a lot of the time these days. People try and succeed at making others feel ugly because they don't exactly meet their idea of beautiful. And that's crap. Utter crap.

Civic duties are duties you have to the world and society around you. That's like waiting your turn at stop signs, moving along quickly in lines, being ready at the airport and the like. This also extends to being polite when being served and actually trying to be a good worker. There are some things that I'm really picky about (don't get me started about gum and food in general) but everyone can agree that it all boils down to not being a jerkface.

A lot of the issues come from people being selfish or rude or impolite. You don't have to care about each other but it's not your job to make life worse. Everything would be better if people just was neutral to each other at the very least.

Now you may also be asking, "Syd, why should I be nice to people?" Well for one, I don't mean nice. I mean decent. And why shouldn't you be decent? You don't know these people, why would you have any emotion towards them? Since you don't have a history with them, then you should be neutral. You should be neutral and try to make lines move as fast as possible. You should be neutral and wait your turn at the stop sign. You should be neutral and not be a douchebag.

A reason people are douchebags is because they're sure that others will be douchebags so they as well be one first. And this logic is flawed. It's a continuous destructive circle that is false. This is like pedaling backwards just to be going somewhere. Really, you should assume they are as be in return. This way, the wheels spin forward.