Journal Entry #7

“Character is who you are when no one is watching.” – Bill Hybels

I mostly agree with Bill Hybels. I agree that when no one is watching, our true character shows. We all have two faces, even though we don’t admit it, and we all have secrets that we just don’t share with other people. Those secrets are also part of the factors that define our character and who we are. Our identity is not what is seen by others; our identity is who we truly are and how we react in different situations.

However, I also think that part of our character is defined by those around us. Though we don’t feel it physically, anyone that we interact with can change our character and worldview. Our parents shape our characters when we are young: they shape our views on right and wrong and our interests, as well as our accessibility to the world. “Bad” parents may lead a child into smoking, while a “good” parent may lead a child into becoming the next prodigy. Others also influence our character.

To sum up, I would say that when no one is watching, the true side of our character is shown, but the true side of our character can also be directly or indirectly influenced by those around us.

Journal Entry #6 (Project Reflection)

Note to other followers besides Mr. Dutton (teacher): You may ignore this as it has nothing to do with you.

Reflection on project (Polytheism/Spiritism)

1. Experience
   This experience was pretty interesting to me, as I got to learn about religions I never touched before, such as Pantheism and Polytheism, as well as Spiritism. I never knew that Spiritism was related to Chinese myths, as Chinese people always believed in calming the spirits, etc., but I didn’t know it was called Spiritism. I also liked this experience because I got to see other religions at a neutral perspective and compare it to Christianity and see what makes Christianity so real and true and the others fake and half-true.
2. Share of workload
   To be honest, I did do most of the project in terms of workload, such as writing the script and putting everything together and editing the PowerPoint (as well as buying the snacks), but I was pleased with my group because they did their part of the project and all I had to do was proofread their information. I also gave them the freedom to add pictures and design it, a task I would normally do by myself even in a group project.
3. What you learned
   I learned a lot about Polytheism and Spiritism and what it actually is. Before, I thought Polytheism was purely Hinduism, but now I learned that there are actually thousands of Polytheist and Spiritist branches, which includes mythology, a subject I always liked reading as fiction. I now know that there are many people that believe in what seems to be absurd, and that other religions seem absurd from each religious perspective, which explains why Christians say everything else is false and Buddhists say Christians are lying.
4. Differently next time?
   I don’t think that I would do anything differently next time (until I get my rubric), because I loved how our group coordinated well and also how our ideas had driven the class into listening and answering questions. I might add more fun and interaction next time to involve the whole class, not just half that are listening and 7 more that are participating.

Journal Entry #5

“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.”

– Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

Note: If you don’t want to read a lengthy and boring story, skip most of the first paragraph. Also, this entry is kind of long, but please read it and bear with me.

This quote greatly relates to me and sparks thoughts as well as emotions inside of me. I totally agree with Miller’s quote. As a so-called “Asian” student, I suffer great pressure from my parents to get straight A’s and to excel at music, both of which I have accomplished with almost no praise or encouragement (only a few rewards occasionally, not that I’m not grateful) in return. Even though I am thankful for my parent’s push, I do feel greatly pressured. Once upon a time… well, one day, I received a B on a test. I was immediately afraid and almost wanted to cry because I didn’t know how to face my parents when I got home. I received a lengthy lecture from my father and a harsh scolding from my mother, both of which I felt were deserved. However, did I really deserve the scoldings? Should I live up to my parents’ expectations all the time? My father, a strong Christian who is more lenient on me, believes that if he didn’t achieve straight A’s in his younger years, there’s no reason for me to do so too. However, I still received a lecture just so that I would remember not to leave the test early next time and million-check my answers (even if I didn’t know how to do the question).

This pressure all adds up, and many “Asians” end up committing suicide or harming themselves/their parents to escape this prison of expectation. If the whole world were all straight-A students, it would be pretty boring. Everyone would be equally smart/dumb and there would be no innovation or meaning to life.

Are we all A-students? Do we all have the potential to achieve straight A’s? I believe not. Instead of molding others into what you want them to be, I think that we should stop expecting another person to be a robot and see them for who they truly are. For example, if LeBron James were molded into a piano prodigy, we won’t see him as the NBA star he is today. But, he might have been a basketball star in his piano years (Note: this is an example story, not real-life facts), and we would have never seen that because we expected him to be a piano performer.

This also applies to situations other than grades and academics. In the context of schools, students become friends with the person that is more trendy and “cool”. However, I believe that the not-so-cool outcasts also may be very nice and friendly; it’s just that no one accepts them or even takes the time to glance over them because they are so obsessed with this mold of trends. If we don’t fill into the social trends and molds, we may become outcasts. But I don’t think that the social trends and molds defines who we really are; our actions and interests are the factors that show who we really are to the world.

Okay, we can be who we want to be. But can we accept other people with different traits and talents? We actually can! Even if two people have opposite opinions and interests, they should share those interests with each other, collaborating so that they both will come to a common interest (or not) and begin to have fun together (or debate nicely, if they have opposite opinions).

As a student, I do not have enough social status to advise those above me, but being myself and a human being like everyone else, I advise all people of all ages: Do not be what the world wants you to be. Be who you really are, and find that interest that sparks your joy, and share it with other people, no matter who they are or where they’re from. If we all follow this moral and belief, the world will become a friendly and cozy place without harsh conflict and the isolation that causes grief and loneliness; we will never be alone.

Journal Entry #4 (extra)

Are typhoons actually beneficial?

Mark 13:8: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.”

Why do we pray for Typhoon 8’s? Why do we pray for a natural disaster that prevents us from going to school? These disasters only delay the inevitable; we still have to go to school tomorrow. This post is meant for those who pray for typhoons and heavy rain so that they don’t have to go to work or school.

I think that it when we pray for the typhoons to come and stop school, our core morals and ethics are twisted. Imagine if you were in Indonesia. Would you pray for a tsunami so that you didn’t have to go to school? There are many that do not even have the opportunity to go to school, and yet our first world students pray for disasters that stop such an amazing gift. When the disasters come, you can do nothing but stay at home, isolated from the world. Yes, you may want more time to do your homework and chat on Facebook. But is that really a positive learning attitude?

Typhoons and natural disasters are the beginning of birth pains. Mark tells us that when we experience natural disasters, it’s only the beginning. Evidently, it isn’t beneficial at all to pray selfishly for a day off and receive disasters and chaos in return.

Even though I’ve only touched on the aspect of natural disasters and delaying the inevitable, I hope that those who read this will know that praying for typhoons and heavy rain is not as good as it may seem; it may end up far worse than what they prayed for.

Journal Entry #3 (extra)

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.”

– Aristotle

I agree with Aristotle again and again. Even though we think killing and defeating your enemies and starring as the hero of the day is very mighty and valiant, conquering and controlling our own desires is much harder. I suffer from the desires of food. Whenever there is food before me, I always want to eat it, at the very least smell/lick it. I always look for snacks whenever I can, and when I run out of money to buy snacks, I feel slightly disappointed. I appreciate all kinds of healthy and non-healthy foods, as long as it’s good-tasting food (with no ginger or onions), but even the healthiest food will exert energy, calories, and fat when my body absorbs all this matter. I can easily take a knife and stab my worst enemy, but when it comes to food, who can I stab to overcome it? My own desires. With enough will, anyone can overtake desire.

But, many people still say, “Isn’t it great that I am free? Why do I need control?” Proverbs 25:28 answers it for us: “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.” If we do not control ourselves, we will be a broken dam, a crumbling fortress, a tumbling wall of Jericho.

Therefore, we need to control ourselves, because if we have the willpower to overcome our greatest desires, how can the strength of our meager enemies compare to our renewed power?

Journal Entry #2

Are ethics and morals interconnected? Why or why not? Give examples/illustrations to back up your argument.

I think that the two are interconnected. In my personal opinion, ethics is more like the right and wrong of your attitude, while morals is the right and wrong of your actions. They both come from your perception of the world (a.k.a. “worldview), and how you interpret rules and laws. They also are formed from experience and emotions. For examples, if you had “bad ethics” you might slack off in work and fail a test, which will spark guilt and cause the conclusion that slacking off is “bad” morally. “Good” and “bad” aren’t the best adjectives to use here, but they do help visualize what I want to say.

However, I feel like ethics and morals do differ in some “gray areas”. Allow me to illustrate a scenario. You have excellent work ethics and you are a hard worker, working with a very positive attitude. However, you are drafted and your intellect allow you to quickly rise up ranks and you are sent to kill a “terrorist”. You do not know anything about this “terrorist”, but since you have such great ethics, you follow your orders and shoot him to death. Later, you find that the so-called “terrorist” was actually a leader of protests against your leader. The sudden drop in “danger ranks” cause guilt in you, and you start to feel that killing is morally wrong. However, your ethics of a good worker force you to follow orders, and you are stuck with tons and tons of internal conflict.

I feel like ethics and morals depend on each other, and one causes the other in any scenario, but ethics are more of your attitude and the way you look at things, while morals are the way you feel about different events in which you determine what you did was “right” or “wrong”. To answer the question, ethics and morals are interconnected, but not the same thing.

Journal Entry #1

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all”

– Aristotle

I agree with Aristotle in the deeper dimension. On the surface, it seems that educating the mind is actually quite enough to satisfy grades, jobs, and basic needs. Though scientifically this quote is completely nonsense, I think that during the learning process we not only need to memorize things and keep it in our mind, but we also need to teach the heart the values and the deeper meanings behind what we are learning. The heart is the core of it all, so if we don’t put new information to heart and think upon a deeper level we might as well not learn anything at all. I also agree with Aristotle because I think that the values of education are more important than the information and results. We shouldn’t blindly cram all the information into our brains, but reflect on what the education teaches us, such as learning how to care for others through group work, or learning a new equation in math class and connecting the balance achieved in the equation to another balance in our lives. If 2x=y, then 2(work)=(results)! When we make that deep thinking and connections, we have truly taught our hearts something, and the education is worth its full value.