Proud Blonde!

My definition of social justice is to help the world grow humanely through encouraging my personal growth and helping others to act justly. I have been taught by my family and friends of three main respects: to respect the law, to respect God, and to respect myself. I have had to find the balance on my own, and found I can’t be any more loyal to one of these than another because they are all connected. It is the three connected respects that allow me to serve my definition of social justice. An imbalance of loyalty to these three main respects and I would not be able to fully devote myself to growing personally, help the world grow, or help others. I will help the world grow in social justice by encouraging my own self growth alongside leading others to grow with the world.

As a young lady still in high school, I may not be taken as seriously as an adult in my visions and ideas for a world society, but I will not give up. A world of love and prosperity are in my dreams, and as I grow into an adult I will encourage these positive attitudes everywhere I go. I will be an important part of my future on earth, and no matter who tells me I can or can’t, my life and growth is in my own hands. My growth is not only important to me, but the social justice and Catholicism values in this world depend upon it. I have grown into a young leader in my school and community in my young age, this leadership will allow me to be the change this world needs. In my school I am also the incoming student council president which will only further develop my leadership skills. I can lead others around me to embrace a loving and prosperous world through acceptance of social justice. I will continue to develop my leadership skills in high school and into my adulthood. I will be a leader in this world, but I will also develop other skills of mine that will help the world become a better place by bettering the friends and family around me. Other skills like my people-orientation and compassion help me understand what others need to hear and feel to know they can make a difference in this world too. And there are skills I have yet to develop that will also aid in my quest to educate and encourage my friends and family to embrace social justice and Catholic values. I will not have a satisfactory mark on my report card to life because I will never stop growing in spirit or love.

The most effective way to encourage the growth of others around me is not by preaching or lecturing, but leading by example as just another 17 year old girl. I may not yet be the example the world is about to follow, but I will grow showing others how to act as a Catholic in today’s world. My leadership skills I have developed as a young lady will help me to accomplish this, and maybe one day the world will use me as an example. I will strive to lead Catholics and non-Catholics as well as Mother Teresa or Pope John Paul II, but recognize that most people will not be able to survive that kind of life. I want my family and friends to realize they can still live their regular lives with an understanding of Catholicism and social justice. The most influential leaders can be just another person who wants to see change for the better, like Mohandas Gandhi who was born poor and died poor. I may never be a Nun or Sister, but I want others to recognize that I am on Earth to make a difference. I have very close friends and family who are not Catholic, but have come to understand Catholics better than just those who attend church on Sundays and pray to God. They aren’t going to convert to Catholicism tomorrow, but if they can understand the importance social justice and respect, they will understand what it means to be a socially just Catholic. This is the first step to world-wide social justice, now it is up to them to carry on the understanding I have hopefully given them and pass it on to others.

Pay It Forward is a movie I watched recently that shows exactly the kind of difference that I am able to make in this world as just one person. The steps to encouraging social justice growth in today’s Catholic and non-Catholic world may start with me, but it is those I encourage to grow with me who need to carry on this growth. It is up to these friends and family of mine to pay it forward to others they know. The only way for the entire world to feel the impact of growing social justice is to encourage it world-wide. Not everyone will embrace this growth and development like I have vowed to do, but if even one or two of those I impact and those they impact pay it forward, there is no telling how big this could get. We could end war, poverty, abuse, and the list goes on, should enough of us embrace social justice and Catholic values. I want every citizen of the world to understand and appreciate the importance of social justice and how we can all live justly and Catholically without having to be a saint or priest, or even Catholic. I am clearly not the first person to envision this chain; I am only one of the payers trying to make sure that more people hear the call to develop social justice and Catholicism. The world growth in social justice is the key to the development of the world in peace. Once the world can understand how important it is for social justice to play a role in every worldly decision, I will feel like I paid it forward enough to make this world a better place.

Learning to live within social justice and Catholic values will lead to the peaceful and loving world I want for myself and future generations. It is not becoming a perfect catholic or never breaking the rules that I see as the path to my ideal world, but that of each and every one of us humans being the best we can be. I will work towards being the role model of my vision. I will “do unto others as I would have others do unto me” but I will also go above and beyond these expectations. I will show the world that we cannot satisfy ourselves with the bare minimum requirements of a successful and fulfilled life, that we need to be above and beyond to make this world and our lives the best they can possibly be. I will not stop growing, and I want to make an impact on the world before I leave, I want the world to remember me for striving for above the bar and encouraging the rest of the world to follow my example.

Conformity today has reached from all ends of the earth, from newborn babies to 95 year-old grandparents. Teenagers are the typical victims of conformity, but what about adults doing everything to get a raise in order to own a house just like Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey? Or children in sports having their parents yell at them to be as good as Alex Rodriguez or Wayne Gretzky? Well here is a news flash to the world from me… The only common trait of all humans is their different talents and traits.  Reserving the right to express these individualities, without fear or punishment, is our responsibility to one another. I was put on this earth for a reason that no one else has, a reason that I’m going to fight to find. I don’t want to waste my time with people who are here to be someone they aren’t. The purpose of human beings on Earth is to take advantage of the gifts and talents God has given us to make our world a better place for ourselves and others.

The best movies and literatures are based on the choices of individuals on how to use their unique talents and traits. Characters like Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth or Bernard in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World are the people I don’t want to have to deal with in my life. They are greedy and self-centered in their quests to be someone they are not meant to be. Macbeth became King of Scotland, and did a horrible job as king. Bernard brought John and Linda back from the Savage Reservation and was a lousy host. Neither man ever understood nor cared about the harm they were doing to others, only caring about improving their self positions. Macbeth never deserved to be king because he used his talent of loyalty to his wife and to power to murder.  He murdered to be king, he murdered to stay king, and trusted witches with his life, as well as those lives around him. Yet this king never seriously thought that maybe someone would want to murder him, somebody like Malcolm or Macduff. Bernard used his talent of persuasion to persuade the World Leaders to allow him to  bring Linda and John to Brave New World. When he received the green light, he used John and Linda to play “meet and greet” with his childhood heroes and increase his rankings. Bernard didn’t care when Linda over-dosed on soma, he still had John to draw the attention to Bernard. Bernard never recognized Linda and John’s rights as human beings. Macbeth and Bernard only cared about advancing themselves further, no matter what it might cost for those around them. I could never act like Bernard or Macbeth because my conscience puts other’s feelings in higher ranking than my own personal wealth. The honest and sincere men, Macduff in Macbeth and John the Savage in Brave New World, are the characters I enjoy reading about because they use their talents for the betterment of others. Macduff used his talents of insight to realize Macbeth unrightfully became king and talents of a warrior to act upon this insight. Maduff fled to England to meet Malcolm to help him regain control of Scotland and over-throw Macbeth’s kingdom. Macduff wanted what was best for Scotland, and he knew Malcolm would be a better king than Macbeth. John the Savage’s overwhelming integrity is his unique talent. He knew that what was happening in Brave New World was wrong and sinful, and he did try to warn the people there but no one would listen. He tried to talk to Lenina, he threw soma rations out the window so he could get the Brave New World populations attention, and when nothing worked, he killed himself to get away from the evilness of Brave New World. I will always take on tasks with the best of my ability and will make sure no one gets in my way, just like Macduff, but I will also recognize defeat when it hits me, and I will be ready to act like John. Loyalty, persuasion, insight, and integrity can make a more peaceful world, or a more heinous world, and the beholder of these talents makes that choice to help others or help themselves.

If I was to be any character from Macbeth or Brave New World in their respective settings, I would have been Lady Macduff in Macbeth and John the Savage in Brave New World. I would be either of these two characters because they are the characters with the personality closest to mine, compassionate and understanding. As Lady Macduff, I would have loved my home and family like she did, always staying honest to myself while maintaining a happy household safe from sin . I would have been very concerned when my husband fled to England, committing treason, but never told my son. I would protect my son and everyone else in my house from the terrifying truth, and kept my husbands secrets to myself. I would not want anyone else to have knowledge of my husband’s secret treachery should anything happen. I would have understood why my husband had left to England, but I would also want updated on his condition, letters to home like Lady Macbeth received from Macbeth on the battlefield. When I would have found out that I had been the target of murderers, I would have defended my husband, just like Lady Macduff did. My moral conscience would have made me defend my husband in my last minutes before death, in front of my son, because I knew what he was doing  was what was best for Scotland. I would have been brave in the face of the murderers, even when I knew I would never escape their grasp. I would have been devastated when I seen my son murdered, and I would have taken my own life before they could take it from me, as a last act of bravery and loyalty to my husband and family. With my home burning to the ground around me, I would stay with it, just like a ship captain stays with his boat until everyone gets off. Lady Macduff and I would have acted the same way throughout her demise because our consciences are so similar, we would have acted similar in the face of defeat. As John the Savage in Brave new World I would have done my very best to convince the people raised in bottles that there was so much more to life. That the way they were living was going to have them banished to hell and that they must repent to God to have their sins forgiven. I would have taken rash actions like throwing their one beloved drug, soma, out the window to get their attention. The way things were going for John, it was understandable that he took such drastic measures to be heard. I would have also done my best to get their attention, to try to reason with them that their was a better world out there, that their was a life after death they could get to, but only if they would repent. When even this did not work, with still no one listening to him, other than Bernard and Helmholtz who were still confused, I would have been beyond desperate. I was not surprised when John hung himself, because I knew that if it were me in that situation, I would not have wanted to live either. I would have felt so helpless when no one would listen to me, like my life goal was to do my best to reveal God and the real meaning of life to these people, and I had failed desperately. I would have chosen to take my own life as well, because I would be so full of guilt for these people’s sins, I would have attempted to make my last impression drastic, just like Jesus. I related very closely to Lady Macduff and John the Savage, and these connections made the entertainment so much more thrilling.

The struggles for power, fame, and acceptance in today’s society are strikingly similar to those of Brave New World and Macbeth. During Barack Obama’s presidential run, I found myself relating his struggle to over-come his skin tone so much like John the Savage and Linda trying to over-come the stares from people in Brave New World who were not used to seeing over-weight or dirty people. Simple variations in appearance have caused up-roars in today’s society. Brittany Spears not wearing underwear to an event and the press went wild. What would the media do today if we were to find a new race of people with purple skin? If underwear can set them off, it wouldn’t take much. Also, power struggles between nations like the United States and the Middle East resemble very closely the conflict between Malcolm’s English army and Macbeth’s very weak Scottish army. When something goes wrong, like September 11th or the treason of an entire country’s upper classes, political turmoil is going to set in. The person in charge always ends up taking a couple shots, like George Bush or Macbeth, when middlemen like Ross or Bush’s Senate and House of Representatives probably had a few words that caused extra turmoil against their leader which makes the middlemen look better. The fight Lady Macbeth had with her conscience while Macbeth did not seem upset about his work, I find interesting because I can relate it so well to the modern day murderer or serial killer. Jealousy, power, money, fame, and love, all the above could cause an otherwise innocent person to murder. The difference between a murderer like Lady Macbeth and a serial killer like Macbeth is their conscience. Prisons today are full of programs for criminals who want to repent and do more with their lives because their conscience has made them do so. Maximum security prisons are full of criminals who would murder again if they ever got out, who have no conscience restricting them from committing such an evil act again. Lady Macbeth would have been a part of the forgiveness, move-on-with-my-life programs, but Macbeth would have been in the maximum security prison just itching to get out again to kill. Books and plays from hundreds of years ago, movies of today, and entertainment a thousand years from now will always be based on the human desire to fit in and find peace of mind because that is the key to understanding life in this world. Brave New World and Macbeth characters are all based on the ways humans can try to find this peace of mind while maintaining a comfort level in our society that has become integrated into our minds. The best entertainment is the kind of entertainment that everyone can relate to because they have all felt the same emotions or seen the same emotions displayed in their lives.

The world will always have two kinds of people, ones that use their talents to make life better and more purposeful for themselves and others, and there will be the kind of people who only want to improve their lives. God has put us all on this earth for individual reasons with individual talents to portray to the world. When characters in books and plays are considered the “bad guys” I cannot help but think of how many other people in the world act the same way, and are not punished for it. Our world today has created a sense of conformity that rewires our brains to accept evil because it made good for one person. Our society underestimates the power of God, not ever realizing how we may be punished in the end. I will do my best to become who God wants me to be, not who others believe I should be. The conformity of today’s society weighs very heavy on my mind, but I will do my best to shake it off.

The only true and honest men in the play Macbeth are the ones who died or became hated traitors because of Macbeth. Macbeth himself was always loved by the people because he did manage to save them all from Norway, Cawdor, and Macdonwald, but he was also the reason for the biggest civil war in Scotland (in the play). He killed the man who was a much better king than Macbeth himself, framed innocent men, killed his closest friend, and betrayed the whole country. Duncan was killed by Macbeth because “witches” told Macbeth it was fate, and when he fulfilled this prophecy, Macbeth because the “greedy swine” the witches also spoke of. Macbeth became very jealous of another innocent man, Banquo, who the witches said would have kings. Macbeth thought that he, and only he, deserved the title of king for the time being, and was suspicious of Banquo and his son Fleance, so he attempted to have them both killed. Though he did not manage to have Fleance killed, Banquo was no longer to be worried about, so Macbeth had the murderers killed. When this was finished, Macbeth began to inquire about Macduff and Malcolm, who were conspiring to have Macbeth killed. I personally hope that they do kill Macbeth because he does not deserve any kind of title, he is a traitor to the county he is king of. I hope they take Lady Macbeth too, spare her the pain!

Dear Diary,

Tonight was an embarrassment, a disgrace, and an awful portrayal of the man Macbeth is as a King, and I, a woman, as his Queen. In front of all our guests tonight at dinner, Macbeth began again to see visions, though much more vivid than his vision of the dagger when we killed Duncan. I attempted to calm my husband and the guests, but neither would respond, so I had no choice but to ask our guests to leave our castle. It was improper for me to ask them to leave and not being able to calm my husband, but what if Macbeth had muttered something about killing Duncan? It would be known that not the chamberlains or Duncan’s sons were traitors, but Scotland’s newest king! I would lose all respect as a woman in Scotland, and my husband would no doubt be hung. What am I going to do about these visions of my husband’s? I must not confide in another person in all of Scotland, but it is so hard to bear the wieight of it all! I only wish I could find some means of calming his wreckless mind, it seems as though any evil spirits I called upon myself have found a much nicer home in my delicate husband. Earlier today he also confided in me that he had more evil plans, too evil to even tell me, his loyal wife. Could that be the cause of his visions? And what about Macduff’s disloyalty exposed by Macbeth’s servant he gifted to Macduff? This royalty thing is cause for major stress! I hope it ceases soon, I can’t take much more!

The most memorable scene from Act 2 for me was when Macbeth and Lennox discovered the chamberlains. When Macbeth seen them covered in blood with bloody daggers, he acted as the noble, loyal Macbeth would have acted. He did not say a word or stop to think, just pulled Lennox’s sword and killed the chamberlains on the spot. He immediately put more attention on himself when he announced that he had killed the chamberlains, but the attention made him look less guilty.

This act of “loyalty” of Macbeth towards Duncan was the most important act of loyalty by Macbeth. Macbeth may have defeated Norway, unseamed Macdonwald from naves to chaps, and captured Cawdor, but killing the chamberlains made this hero a god of war and loyalty. Macbeth did not stop to think, only to act out of a confused loyalty to his deceased King. Macbeth was confused and did what naturally came to him, to act without thought, but this act actually made him look less guilty and turned out for the better for him and Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is most successful when he thinks the least, and by killing Duncan’s chamberlains, his heroism, and more importantly, his innocence, appears carved in stone.

Mystery, deceit, lies, and corruption take center stage in the play Macbeth, with the controversial witches, conspiracy for murder, and swinish men. It is now common knowledge that the human mindset only seeks for more and is never truly satisfied, though the only ones who understood this in the time of Macbeth were the “witches.” It was these witches who also understood that no matter what healthy and positive things men did, like winning wars for a country’s freedom, there would always be consequences, like deaths of hundreds of soldiers who had families and friends who would greatly miss them. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”

From Lady Macbeth to the Thane of Cawdor, every character introduced in Act 1 has had a kneiving and 2-faced scene in which they are idealistic and evil. The opening scene of war between Norway and Scotland, as well as civil war of Scotland and her traitors Macdonwald and Cawdor, backed up this theory as well as the witches’ predictions. Macbeth was a great example of a war hero, a man who didn’t say a word or make a single face when he slaughtered dozens of men, right up to the very man the entire country wanted killed. To me this man is no better than a murderer, someone who can walk so calmly and unaffected through this kind of gruesome battle. Not only Macbeth can be so bipolar, but his wife, Lady Macbeth, who appears so innocent and beautiful, can plot such a horrible crime as committing the murder of King Duncan the same night she gracefully dances and hosts him in her home. Banquo does not escape this dreadful disease that seems to have claimed every member of Macbeth. Banquo fights, rides, and walks alongside Macbeth, every step of Macbeth’s trek to heroism but does not receive the same kind of reward, not even from the witches. Banquo begs the witches to tell him about his future after he hears that Macbeth will become king, but Banquo only gets riddles and in those riddles, nothing more than his sons becoming king. Banquo takes on jealously, just like any other human being would do. The thought that one of his sons must kill Macbeth has to have run through his mind. This book is full of betrayal, murder, and power… the makings of any best selling play, book, and movie.

I can already understand, even at my age, some of the motives for this treachery. Power is the most sought ideal, while jealousy is the most powerful of emotions. In high school, girls are always jealous of one another, whether it be their hair, clothes, or most often, their boyfriend, and this is almost always the cause of girls betrayal, hatred, and disrespect. For guys in high school, it may not be the hair or clothes, but it is the power. If they are the most popular guy in high school, they have the ultimate power over everyone else in the school, because everyone wants to be them. Testoserome and adrenaline are never a good combination. I am happy with where I am in my life, with supportive and loving friends and family to get me though the hardest times. These friends and family will never turn on me for anything, and for that I will be forever grateful. Macbeth may have had it all at one time in history, but it also made him a marked man. I am ok with where I am, I have everything I need in relationships, not material goods.

A citizen’s loyalty and responsibility is always to their family first and foremost. I have grown up with this motto and I believe every word of it. My sister, brother, mom and dad are the most important people in my life and my home life is the most important thing to me in the world. I believe in the love and support they give me as well as the direction that comes from their guidance and experience. My extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents have also helped in my up-bringing. They have made me feel a part of my family, someone that really fits in somewhere in this world, no matter what happens. During the hardest times in my life, like losing grandparents and other family members, it is my family that pulled me through it. They were strong when I was weak, and I have never felt stronger than when I was strong for them, helping them cope too. No matter what happens, I know I will be perfectly fine in the long run, so long as I have my family.

It takes someone with determination, self-respect, and a willing attitude to fightback when it feels like the whole world is against you. Someone with a personality that can brush off the harsh comments and continue on their path through life, no matter how tough it gets, will earn respect and admiration. Learning from mistakes of others as well as their own, pushing forward through the controversy of every day universal disputes, and never letting anyone tell them what they can or can’t do. The role models of today’s world should not have to be adults or famous figures, they should be the teenagers,the ones who are degraded and forced onto paths they would not or do not chose for themselves.

I am not saying that teenagers are the only ones who are pushed in ways that are unfair or the only ones who deserve to be recognized as role models, but they are the most underestimated and underutilized assets to today’s society. I had the experience of a lifetime this past summer to go to a student leadership conference, a gathering of teenagers who are tomorrow’s leaders, but should also be today’s. At this conference, I met some of the most inspiring people in my life, and they are teenagers. I have never met people so secure about themselves and so willing to be themselves with complete strangers. Most adults today are mere shadows of their bosses or parents on TV shows. If the world could take advantage of this, the adaptation of some teenagers to the media, we could drastically diminish some of today’s biggest problems, like drug and alcohol abuse as well as physical and mental disorders. Teenagers at the conference spoke to me in words louder and clearer than any politicians’ or parents’ voices. No, we can’t claim to have all the answers, but we see the world from a much less biased point of view than most adults. Teens that have adjusted to the projected, impossible perfection are the ideal role models, because they know what they are ’supposed’ to be, but go against it all. Role models should not be classified as older generations, because these teens I met are exactly who I want to be. They are the most real people I have ever met, they are not computer generated or a sculpture of their parents and teachers.

So adults have the years of experience and the “we’ve all been there before” attitude, but do they really understand what we are going through? Their generation matured with the “ten miles to school, barefoot, in the snow, uphill, both ways”mentality, and can’t understand why teenagers today think they are any different. Well the honest truth is, we are very different. We are judged if we don’t have brand new cars at 16 or brand name shoes on our feet. Our relations to one another, our views on the world, and even our families are stressed, in large part thanks to today’s media. As a teenage girl, I know the complications of trying to ‘fit in’ while our dream bodies are computer generated and altered, and this doesn’t just happen to girls. Teenagers are not only going through adolescence, but today we are also going through a war with ourselves and media. The images we are exposed to every minute of every day are the cause of teenagers’ insecurities. Got to have clothing, bodies, and electronics are all pushing us toward becoming someone we are not. These insecurities are the reason adults choose to hang our opinions with less and less weighted importance, but when teens get past these insecurities, that is when our opinions are heavier than any politician promise with video proof. Teenagers who have become their own person, who have over-come the obstacles that our parents and grandparents never faced, are the inspirations to me. These teens are indestructible in their spirit and are the most inspirational people on the planet.

I have been blessed into a happy home with loving parents and siblings, and I am grateful for that every day, but as a teen, I also feel like sometimes I am nothing but a burden to them. I feel like sometimes I am invisible and other times I feel like I stick out of my family like the ugly duckling. I go to school, play sports, and participate in school activities, all costing money. My parents groan when they see permission slips and school fees, telling me when something big rolls around I am going to have to help pay. So when the oppurtunity to go to Europe came, of course I got a job and started saving. But with work, school, homework, and friends, my home life is stressed. I try to stay on top of my homework, but my parents yell at me to clean my room. I work so I can help pay to go to Europe, and my dad tells me to fill up the car with gas. I study for my tests, but only after mom makes me do the laundry and vacuum the carpets. All these responsibilities are hard to keep up with, and I understand my parents also have responsibilities, but do they know how much stress we are also under as teens? I am not saying we have more stress, but we do have our own stresses and their demands only make it worse. Teenage rebellion is because our parents don’t always notice our extra work, the cleaned kitchen or washed floors, between our efforts to tell them we are independant. Teens are amazing jugglers, we take what we can, but it can get to be more than we bargained for. All we ask is for time for ourselves every now and then, we give it to our parents and other elders.

No matter what age we are in life, we always see our generation as the most difficult. So today we live and work in safer buildings than twenty years ago, but we also have increased chances of terrorism than we did twenty years ago. Fifty years ago we didn’t have the colour TVs and internet, but fifty years ago we didn’t have media influencing our body shapes, clothing, and popularity. Every generation has a new excuse as to why they are the hardest done by of all the generations, and I do believe teenagers have considerable amounts of stress and confusion in their lives. Though most don’t deny that, trying to prove they are the most stressed group is not easy. Teens will always be the most difficult because they do believe they are always right, but they are not as biased as many adults, and some are more themselves than some adults. Teens are a crucial part of society, and do have many good ideas that should be taken seriously, but in reality their misunderstanding and underestimation will never be cleared up. But if you had moments of realization of the troubles of teens in the post, we are known as the best complainers.

Leonard Cohen had a prominent religious view when he wrote I Have Not Lingered in European Monasteries; he is putting front and foremost the battle between stoics and epicureans. Throughout the first 4 stanzas of the poem, Cohen is focused on proclaiming what he does not do in his life, the life of an epicurean. These first 4 stanzas are what Cohen sees as the waste of time that stoics spend on religion and God. In the last stanza of Cohen’s poem, he admits what he does in the epicurean life he follows, and he is not ashamed of it. Leonard Cohen is obviously a strict epicurean, and his poem I Have Not Lingered in European Monasteries, is evidence of that.

I personally disagree with what Cohen says in this poem, as I try to find a balance between the epicurean and stoic virtues. I do not claim to be completely selfless and do everything in the name of God, but I do go to church and pray every night. I ask for God to help me to find my path in life, and I try not to take the easy paths or get tricked into the paths of the devil. I enjoy personal indulgences like gifts on my birthday and Christmas rather than donations to the food bank, but I also try to donate, like the shoeboxes to India. I do believe in Heaven and Jesus, and I do my best to earn my spot in Heaven, but it is a good thing that God is so forgiving and accepting. Cohen does not believe in doing well on earth, other than for himself. He lives to satisfy his every need and make his life as easy and enjoyable as possible, without thought of the others in the world who are not as lucky as him. Especially at a time like Christmas, I feel very guilty for the way I live, in a comfortable house, good family and friends, and more money than some can ever dream of, but Cohen would never think of this because of his epicurean, or Scrooge, attitude. Everyone sees “good” and “bad” differently, but I will do my best to be a “good” or holy stoic, because to me that is the way life should be lived, with love and fear of God.

Epicureanism and Stoicism will always be a part of human society, and no one will overcome the other. God created us all differently, given us different and independent minds that can believe whatever we choose. Cohen’s poem is one of the minds that chose to not believe in the Holy Spirit and live on earth and earth only. My personal mindset has always been to live as a servant of God, fulfilling the reasons and roles I was put on earth for, though at times it gets difficult. I am not saying that I will get into Heaven before Cohen, that is not my decision, but I do believe in the words of the Bible. I will hope to one day follow the path of my grandparents and other family and friends before me into the grace of God.

D.G. Jones wrote the poem Pastoral with a very clear mindset. He was not trying to make up a fantasy with fairies and happily-ever-afters. Jones knew that this poem was going to be controversial and have deeper meaning than a Disney or Pixar plot. Habitat destruction, through pollution and humans claiming lands that are needed for the world’s ecosystems, is a very controversial topic today, and when Jones wrote this poem, he knew exactly what he was getting into. Pastoral appreciates the miracle of the balance of nature, as well as the imbalance humans are causing, and D.G. Jones wrote this poem to emphasis this miracle that can never be fixed once ruined.

Pastoral is every environmentalist’s dream poem, it shows the strength of nature yet also the instability of the beauty it possesses. Every well-written poem or story has conflict that keeps the reader interested, in this poem, earth, water, and fire are the conflict. They’re the controversy that keeps the reader entertained from start to finish. With pollution and environment destruction posing a huge threat in today’s society, this poem hits home for the people trying to maintain the earth’s environment and stability.The jet that is introduced at the end of the poem shows how tiny one thing can look in the perfection of nature, but with the readers better understanding of the jet, he or she knows how damaging it is. The sound pollution from the engines and air pollution from the burning fuel are some of the major environmental problems associated with the jet. D.G. Jones captured his audience from the very beginning by spinning major problems in society into an understandable poem that can be related to a moment in everyone’s past.

I have a million emotions, from mad to guilty, running through me as I read this poem. I feel guilty for my impact on the environment, I feel angry for human’s inventions that cause destruction, and I feel sad for the animals that are the ones feeling the affects we are having. The destruction of the environment is not just the cause of one person but of the world as a whole, and saving the world may have to start back at one person at a time, just like the destruction started. I want to start recycling more, buying more environmentally friendly products, rallying against habitat destruction and pollution, I want to make my impact in society, not on the earth. The earth will always be here, but it is ours to ruin or take care of.