Moral Teaching From Smock Signals #17

“How do we forgive our fathers? Maybe in a dream? Do we forgive our fathers for leaving us too often, or forever, when we were little? Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage, or making us nervous because there never seemed to be any rage there at all? Do we forgive our fathers for marrying, or not marrying, our mothers? Or divorcing, or not divorcing, our mothers? And shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness? Shall we forgive them for pushing, or leaning? For shutting doors or speaking through walls? For never speaking, or never being silent? Do we forgive our fathers in our age, or in theirs? Or in their deaths, saying it to them or not saying it. If we forgive our fathers, what is left? (Thomas Builds-the Fire, Smoke Signals)”

Forgiveness is a hard thing to do. It takes an immense person to ask for forgiveness, but will take an even immense person to do the forgiving. We most of the time feel that we shouldn’t give people forgiveness. The reason why is because they’ve already messed up to bad to deserve our forgiveness. We think of forgiveness as a right, which only we can give. We only see how forgiving people affect ourselves. If we concede and forgive a person, that did something horrific to us, then we tend to see ourselves as the weak link. We blame the crack in the foundation on ourselves, because maybe we could have prevented it.

We need to realize that forgiving is not a weakness, nor a right. In the end the only thing at stake when forgiving is the relationships. The relationship with that person and whether or not when you forgive that person, if you still want them to be in your life or let them loose. To know that that chapter in your life ended in a resolution because if it didn’t then you will always know that there is unfinished business and the reader will never know what happened.

The next relationship we need to fix is with ourselves. When we don’t forgive, that hate and the other overwhelming feelings that come with holding a grudge will start to eat away at you. It will consume you from the inside out. Starting with your humanity and well-being. I don’t know about you, but I think once you lose those qualities then you can’t rebuild them. Even if you wanted to, the damage would already be done. Life’s short. Do you really want to be wasting it by holding onto the past and never moving on to a newer and better day?

Forgiveness played a major theme in the movie Smoke Signals. Each character seems to portray the difficulty with forgiving someone who has hurt them greatly or just generally forgiving themselves. The character who has a real struggle with it is Victor. He has struggled with his parents being alcoholics as a young child, his dad being abusive and not always getting the attention he needs and wants. The thing that he struggles with the most is that his father left him and his mother with nothing else left to say.

As Victor becomes older, he becomes a bitter and cold person, without a care in the world who he hurts or not. It doesn’t help that his “friend”, Thomas, is there right beside him, telling him a bunch of mumbo jumbo -that makes no absolute sense to him- reminding him of the faults in his life, what he’ll never be and almost the worst thing, what he has become. What makes it a million times worse is that Thomas reminds him of the person his dad isn’t.

This movie seemed to be relatable to real life. I actually picked this movie because it related to something I’ve gone through in life. I seem to understand where Victor is coming from when he can’t seem to forgive his father. Like Victor, my father walked out of my life. At first I too saw him as a coward, who couldn’t deal with something when it got too hard, and that he took the easy way out. The thing that makes Victor and me different is that I learned quickly after my dad left that I can’t blame him for the way things turn out in my life. I learned that he needs to be a chapter in my life, that while didn’t end well, but ended with my understanding that he probably is sorry for what he did. While I haven’t yet given him forgiveness, but something just as great. Understanding. Understanding that it’s not my fault and that maybe it was for the better.

Understanding is probably the next thing best to forgiveness. If we understand why that person did what they did, then we understand the fundamentals of being human. We learn that not everyone’s perfect, because if everyone was then life would be nothing but a haze. The reason why is because “sometimes it's a good day to die, and sometimes it's a good day to forgive”.

Life Flashes By # 15

"The funny thing about life is the best things in life are the ones we don't remember and take advantage."

A long time ago, in a small town lived a girl. Now everyone in this town would say that she was the luckiest girl in the world. She lived in the biggest house for miles around. Her parents owned a corporate business that accessed them endless money. She always had the newest cars, clothes and electronic devices. She had many friends, that she spent endless times with, since her parents traveled for their company a lot. You would think that her life would be complete, but for her it just wasn't enough sometimes.

For the girl it was just never enough. She always wanted more. She always took things for granted. She never appreciated what it took for her parents to provide her with the lifestyle she always knew. Instead of spending Friday night dinners' with her parents, which her parents made sure they were always home for, she go to the mall or hang out with friends. Instead of going to church with her mom on Sunday morning, as she did as a little girl, she would whine and complain until her mom let her sleep in. The thought in the back of the girl's mind is, if she's done it once, there's no need to do it again.

About a month after the girl had turned 17, she was at home alone on a dark evening. Her parents had wanted to go out for the Friday night dinner with her, but she insisted she wanted to stay home and relax. She looked out the window, and thought about when she was a child and look at the sky with her parents. Thinking about her parents, she wondered where they were. It was almost 11 o'clock at night, and she was starting to get worried about them. Usually they would call to say that they were running late. She never really cared what time they came home, but that night, at that moment, she knew something was wrong.

Finally, at about midnight the phone rang. When she picked up it was the hospital, calling to say that her parents were in a deadly car crash. In that moment, she was in utter shock. She couldn't seem to hear the person on the other end of the line. All she could see was the night sky in front of her. She thought to herself that she would never look at the moon and the stars with them again. She wouldn't get to have weekly Friday night dinner anymore. She wouldn't wake up early on Sunday mornings to go to church. She had all those years to and in that moment she wouldn't ever get a chance to do that with her parents again.

You know the expression "That in life we don't know what we have until it's gone." The truth about that expression is that it's scary true. We go through life in a blink of the eye. Through that time there are so many moments to count, that it's hard to remember them all. The memories we do remember are the ones that stand out. Sometimes that's bad and sometimes that's good.

We could remember the day someone die or the day someone came into our lives. Those are the memories we should hold on tight to. Then there's those memories when we think about the day we got our first cell phone, iPod, or car. While those are okay moments in our lives, there's a wrong reason for remembering them. We think of those memories because something that's materialistic and replaceable was brought into our lives. The reasons behind remembering those memories is the wrong incentive. We should remember who brought those things into our lives, instead of what was brought into our lives.

The reason why is because life's way to quick to not appreciate the simple things in life. Life flashes by like houses on the side of the freeway. Blink and it'll be gone. So, and as cheesy as it sounds, don't take life for granted. The reason why is because one day it's here and the next moment it's gone.

Uniforms #14

"You have got to be original, because if you're like someone else, what do they need you for? (Peters, Bernadette)"

Uniforms. They represent one thing and one thing only, unity. While unity is a great way to bring people together, it stunts the growth of inspiration. The ability to be anyone you want to be. To stand out in a crowd that will always be there, no matter what. When you wear a uniform you start to blend in. Blending into your surroundings is such an animal characteristic. I thought the point of the human species was about becoming a more modernized civilization. For us to survive on our own, but also to grow up in a different environment. Not to hide behind the trees and bushes and buildings. 

We should just leave uniforms to the military. The reason why is because who do we have to hide from? The real people in the world? When you get to be in the real world, there may be a dress code, but not uniforms. As you grow, your clothes start to represent who you are. What you stand for. Who you see yourself as. Not some cookie cutter person, who has no idea what it means to be true to themselves.

All our lives, people tell us that with the right set of mind you can grow up to be anything you dream of. Be a police officer, a doctor, or a teacher, the list is endless. The only thing that we have to figure out before we choose one of these careers is the most important question. Who are we really? 

Are we a leader or a follower? Are we well put together? Do we long for inspiration? Do we see the world in colors or in black and white? Is our mind infinitive or stuck in the present? Are we bold enough to be whoever we want to be? Can there be more to what we are seeing? Is there more to than what I'm seeing?Once we answer some of those questions we start to shape ourselves. With that we shape our personalities and wardrobe. 

School uniforms eventually start to add up in costs. The reason why is because parents have to buy various sets of uniforms. The uniforms have to be appropriate colors, lengths, and brands. This starts to become a great amount of time wasted, on clothes children only wear for only eight hours. Then parents have to buy home clothes so the children don’t rip their school clothes. Considering most families are middle and lower class. This starts to become a daily hassle and a struggle to make sure that their kids have uniforms that don’t look like they came from Goodwill.

I think that when you put on a uniform it gives a wrong impression. It shows children that everyone’s equal. While they may be the case sometimes, it’s not always true. You can put the wolf in a sheep costume, but underneath the wolf is still the wolf. No matter how hard he tries not to be. The uniforms are hiding the true person underneath. Uniforms are causing looks to be deceiving. Children everywhere are going to be in a big shock when they learn that the world they were taught to live in was just a figment of someone’s authority.

In the end uniforms cost money, confusion and eventually the stunt of growth in our imaginations. We should start letting kids express themselves. If they don’t start now then they may never be able to learn whom they really are. Were we not taught to always tell the truth? Then answer this. Why are we hiding the real us underneath these clothes?

The True Halloween Night #13

Be very attentive as you walk the dark night of all Hallows Eve
For if you don’t, you may miss the real event of Halloween night,
Where the dead spirits of the past connect and walk among the living dead.

A Concrete Rose #11

"Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty." (Henri Frederic Amiel)

To overcome something takes a lot of strength. When you overcome an obstacle we've defied a sort of gravity. In the poem "The Concrete Rose" Tupac is trying to say how that even in the worst of situations, that you can break out of the seal and become your own being. No one in life is going to push you to any limit, unless you want them to. It's up to ourselves, and only ourselves, if we want to become something more.

When we're born we start learning right away. We learn right and wrong; up and down; left and right. The most important lesson that we will learn is love and how it makes us grow. The love that we receive from other people is like fertilizer, which helps us grow tall and proud. When there's a lot of love, we feel as if the sky's the limit.

When we're older we learn that love can grow to be just another word. Just another emotion or another person who say it as if they're saying hello. It starts to mean nothing when it's thrown around too often. We start to learn that any one person can simply be nonchalant about that word. When that happens it can tear us down. It moves in on us like a cold, harsh, winter storm, while we have no protection and leaves us bear without any flowers and leaves. It can make us grow weak and brittle. But we do have the choice to move beyond that and to overcome those awful heartaches, and reflect on the positive things in life.

In the poem "The Concrete Rose" I think Tupac is trying to make us understand that no one said life would be easy. It will come with hardships, sadness and major losses, but that's part of life. Through all of that mud and dirt will be a greater life beyond that. Although, it will take a lot of determination from yourself. No one will truly care in a couple of years if you failed or succeeded, but you will and that's what will truly count. To be something more it's up to whether or not you can at least attempt moving on to something more. If you fail, then you learn a lesson of what you can do better next time. The most important lesson to learn from this poem is that the only one person who is going to push you is yourself. If you never push yourself then all you can be is the plain, cracked, boring concrete instead of the tall, vibrant rose.

Once we learn those lessons and realize that they are the hardships that come along with life, then we can grow to bigger and better things. Bask in the knowledge from that simple hardship. Create a stronger relationship with ourselves. Then we can truly stand by ourselves. The reason why is because in life, we must realize that we may be part of this huge world, but it will mean nothing without ourselves being there. Because one person makes the whole difference.