Showtime!

Currently, in my senior English class, we are reading Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Before starting the play, we learned a little background on the Globe Theater in London at which many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed. While learning about the Globe and the way that shows were performed there, I began to think about the advancements that have been made in theater productions between Shakespeare’s time and now. But regardless of these advancements, the general idea of theater performances remains intact, making it a timeless art form.

Now and Then
I am currently participating in my high school’s variety show, which is a huge production that showcases the many talents of the students at my school. Our tech crew spends weeks creating different lighting cues for all of the acts and our stage crew builds a beautiful set made specifically to fit the theme of the show. At the Globe, shows could only be preformed during the daytime when weather permitted because there was no ceiling and the only light came from the sun. Special effects were limited to things such as people speaking from under the stage or appearing on a balcony. The audience often had to rely on their imaginations and the descriptions of the scenery given to them verbally by the actors to figure out what was happening on stage.

Some Things Never Change
Despite some advancements made in special effects or scenery, the concept of performers being on stage and entertaining an audience with their talents has remained the same. Performances are still put on at the Globe Theater in London without the many special effects of contemporary theater, and they are well-received by modern audiences. People still read and enjoy Shakespeare’s plays hundreds of years after they were written because the themes within the plays such as love, loss, victory, and tragedy are universal and timeless.

Love What You Do, Do What You Love
People involved in theater productions have always been and still are very passionate about what they do. It is common for people involved in theater to invest so much of their time and effort into their passion that they consider performing a part of their identity. After being in the variety show for four years, I have discovered how much work truly goes into putting on a show such as that one and I have gained a lot of respect for people who are involved in theater. It is difficult to really understand how a passion can become part of your identity until you have found a passion of your own. However, there is a danger in letting your life’s passion overcome you. It is important to remember to balance doing what you love with the many other wonderful opportunities life has to offer you.

My Life, My Religion

Currently, in my English and History classes, we are studying the Islamic Revolution. We have watched the film Persepolis and are currently reading Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, two different works that teach about Islamic culture and the oppressive regime that the people living in Iran during the Revolution faced. We are also using blogs as a means of information about Islam to get perspectives that we may not get elsewhere. However, not all blogs about Islam are purely for educational purposes, as I found when I stumbled across faithfreedom.org. This blog contained different articles, poems, and charts about the Islamic faith that I found highly offensive. For example, there is a chart labeled “differences between Jesus and Muhammad” that makes Muhammad seem like a heartless murderer and Jesus seem flawless. Even being a Christian who worships Jesus, I have a problem with this chart because the author is skewing the story of Islam to make Muhammad seem to be something he is not.

My Beliefs
For many people, religion is a part of who they are and plays a big role in their daily life. People don’t go around questioning why you have brown eyes and two sisters; they just accept that that’s who you are. So why should your religion be any different? Unfortunately, there are people in this world that think that their way is the only right way, and anybody who disagrees or has a conflicting idea is wrong. There are these closed-minded people in every faith, so there is always going to be somebody who disagrees with your beliefs or values. The important thing to remember is that how somebody else feels about your religion doesn’t matter.

My Choice
What’s really important is that you stay true to your beliefs because they are a big part of your identity. Even if you don’t completely agree with every aspect of your own religion, that is something you should recognize and accept. When people say cruel things about the beliefs that make up who you are, such as the author of faithfreedom.org, it is okay to get mad or feel hurt because it is a very personal attack. However, you can’t allow these cruel words to lead you to question your faith because then you are letting other people decide your identity for you. The judgments that others pass about you or your beliefs can be a limitation to your identity that isn’t always easy to overcome, but stay true to yourself because those strongly-spoken people don’t have any authority to tell you what to believe.

Happiness: What is it to you?

Every Tuesday night at seven o’clock, I go into my basement and turn on the CW to watch One Tree Hill, a favorite television program of mine. I like watching this show because it’s full of drama, both good and bad, and it lets me escape to an alternate world for an hour. Usually, once it’s over I go back upstairs into reality to finish my homework and head to bed. However, this past Tuesday I was left with a quote in my head that has been stuck there until now. One of the characters, Julian, said to his fiancé,

“I feel like people get lost when they think of happiness as a destination. We’re always thinking someday we’ll be happy, that we’ll get that job or that car or that person in our lives that will fix everything. But happiness is a mood. And it’s a condition, not a destination. It’s like being tired or hungry. It’s not permanent. It comes and goes, and that’s okay. And I feel that if people thought of it that way they’d find happiness a lot more often.”

This quote really stood out to me because it’s something that I had never really thought about before. But, once I started thinking about it, I realized that the way that you view something as seemingly simply as happiness can largely affect your identity.

Something in the Distance
People who view happiness as a destination are often very ambitious because they are trying to accomplish some far off goal that will ultimately bring them happiness. However, this ambition often overshadows the small victories that this person makes along the way, depriving them of the little joys in life. These people are usually in a rush to get certain “unpleasant” aspects of their lives over with, but they forget to stop and be thankful for every moment of their time on Earth.

Going With the Flow
People who view happiness as a condition or mood are usually more easygoing and have an easier time accepting change or hard times because they know that they will find happiness again. These people are good at finding the silver lining in situations that may seem hopeless. Often times, viewing happiness as a condition rather than a destination allows for the enjoyment of every day, rather than wishing to pass over precious time just because you are waiting for something great to happen.

Where Am I?
I don’t believe that there are many people in the world that strictly fit into one category or the other. We all have our moments when we forget to enjoy the time we have because we are looking forward to something else. There is nothing wrong with being ambitious; you just need to remember not to let the road to accomplishing a goal get in the way of noticing the other great things that happen to you along the way. Viewing happiness as a condition isn’t an extremely difficult thing to do if you consciously try. My challenge for you this week is to be aware of the way you view happiness, and try to think of it as a condition that comes and goes, not something to strive for someday. In the words of Julian, if you can do this, you will “find happiness a lot more often.”

If you still find yourself struggling to be happy, check out this blog post by Gretchen Rubin about 10 Common Happiness Mistakes.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I tend to be a bit of a people-watcher. So, as I sat in church this morning, I looked around me and observed the other people in the room. I noticed that there were a lot of families sitting in the pews, many of which were obviously related because the kids looked like miniature versions of their parents. However, there was one blonde, curly-haired little girl that stood out to me. She was sitting with who I presumed to be her mother, father, and two older brothers, all of whom had straight, dark hair. I know there are many genetic explanations for how this little girl ended up looking so different from the rest of her family, or that she could be adopted, or perhaps not even a member of that family at all; but in my imagination she was the daughter of the man and woman in front of me and I was perplexed by her outward appearance. At that point, although I should have been paying attention to the sermon and for that I am sorry, I began to think that even though she may not look like her parents, maybe she has her mother’s laugh, or her father’s love for sports, or a number of other non-visible traits she could have inherited from them. One thought led to another and eventually I started to think about how profound an effect parents have on the people that their children turn out to be, whether they mean to or not.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I am currently reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver in my twelfth-grade English class. The parents in this story are Nathan and Orleanna Price, a reverend from Georgia and his timid wife. They have four daughters, all of whom are very different and are affected by their parents in their own ways. The daughter most obviously affected by them is one of their twins, Leah. Leah is the most religious of all the daughters because she idolizes her father and knows how dear his religion is to him. She follows Nathan around and wants nothing more than his approval. When Nathan asks Leah a question that she doesn’t know the answer to, she gets very down on herself and thinks, “If only I could ever bring forth all that I knew quickly enough to suit father” (37). Nathan never praises Leah, yet she feels the constant need to please him. This is clear when she says, “I know that someday, when I’ve grown large enough in the Holy Spirit, I will have his wholehearted approval” (42). Although Nathan is rarely loving or kind to Leah, she looks up to him because he is constantly imposing his views and values upon his family, while Orleanna sits back and lets him take control. Nathan is rude and controlling towards Orleanna, so as their daughters observe their interactions, they learn to accept that their father is in charge. Although Orleanna doesn’t seem to affect Leah as much as Nathan because Leah doesn’t worship her, by not setting a good example of how to be an independent and strong woman, she teaches Leah that it is okay to live her life the way a man tells her to.

Especially at a young age, children are very impressionable and will often mimic whatever examples are set for them. If a child is brought up in a home where they are exposed to violence or their parents are going through a crisis such as a divorce, this can alter the way that they look at life and possibly lead to a more violent future. It is the parents' job to do their best to be good role models for their children, but not to force them to be something that they’re not. Nathan doesn’t accept that there is any way to live life other than to be a devout Christian, so he shoves his beliefs down the throats of his family and expects them to obey his every command. It is important for children to have guidelines for how they should behave, but once you try to tell them who they should be, you could be permanently tampering with their identity.