My Interactive Reflection Journal

In IRJs, I try to deepen an idea from a past experience and propose creative insight into human nature. This blog was created and intended for me to see my progress as a writer. Learn more about me and this blog by clicking on the “about me” tab.

IRJ #22

When reading the Odyssey, I came across a passage that seemed all to familiar. In almost every novel and most hero’s journey stories the characters go through a refusal period. Characters refuse the call to adventure because of whatever reason, but then later finally take the plunge into the unknown. Whether expressed through another character, like in the Odyssey with Telemauchus’s nurse, people always have something inside of them that at first holds them back. Telemachus’s struggle with his nurse is a physical representation of the battle he is having with himself in his brain.

This common situation isn’t just in every adventure story. Authors use self conflict in books as a way of connecting with a reader. This is because there is something inside of all of us that doesn’t let us take the risks that we would like to. There is always that one thought that reaches out and grabs us right before we jump.  People somehow seem to believe our thoughts are always right. However, I believe that our brains always want us to play it safe for the purpose of surviving. I think that sometimes we should ignore that little voice and take risks and just jump. Whats the point in living if we don’t actually live? After all, would there be anymore interesting adventure stories if the hero just stayed home?

IRJ #21

Sibling Rivalry

Through out the book of Genesis, most of the stories include family struggles. I contribute most of these battles from competition either between different families, or within a family. For example, Isaac and Rebekah’s twin son’s, Esau and Jacob. Esau was a very ugly and harry man and a skillful hunter. Jacob however, was not a man of the field, and instead was a quiet man. Because Isaac was fond of game, Isaac loved and favored Esau over Jacob, but Rebekah loved and favored Jacob over Esau. The favoring of children created a sibling rivaly, and when it came time for Isaac to die and give his blessing to a son, tensions grew. Isaac planned to give his blessing to Esau, but Rebekah overheard this, told Jacob, and so Jacob tricked his father into giving his blessing to him. Hatred erupted out of Esau, and so Jacob ran away and never return.

When parents force competition between their children, jealousy and hate  can tear the siblings apart for life. No matter how small competitions are, when one child gets praised the other feels like they have failed their parents and this creates contempt for the other child. In order to preserve the well being of the relationship between siblings, parents should not purposefully create competitions between their children.

IRJ #20

Gen. 22- From the perspective of Isaac

One day, my father, Abraham told me that we were going on a journey. When I asked him where, he replied, “We are traveling to the land of Moriah, where we will make an offering in the mountains.” By now, I have gotten used to his sporadic adventures. My father is a religious man and he says when God tells him to do something he tries not to question the Lord, and so I go along with whatever my father tells me to do.  We got up very early in the morning, then packed our gear, sadeled up the camel, and took two of my father’s men with us. After a grueling two days we finally arrived in the mountains of Moriah. My father told his men to stay at the base of the mountain with the donkey and my father and I began to climb the mountain. My father is very old and I respect him greatly. It made me proud to see him hike up the mountains with the heavy wood for the offering.

Then I realized that we did not remember to bring a lamb for the offering. I thought in his old age my father had forgotten. So I asked him, “Father! The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”(Gen. 22.7), My father replied, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” (Gen. 22.8), I thought to myself about God and how his power must be so great that we would make this journey for Him.

All of the sudden, my father stopped and said that that would be the place for the offering. So, he built an altar and stacked up the wood. But then he did something unexpected. My father bound me with a rope. I cried out to him, but he seemed not to hear me. He scooped me up and placed me on the altar. I thought he had gone mad. He pulled out his hunting knife and held it up. I screamed and looked into his eyes. What could he be thinking? I thought I was a miracle child because I was born when my mother, Sarah was bearen. Every day he would tell me how proud he was to have a son and how he loved me so much. How could he want to kill his only son?

Just as he was going to pull the knife down into me heart, he froze and looked up toward the hillside. I followed his gaze and spotted the most beautiful Ram I had ever seen and he was caught in a thicket. I looked back at my father, and with tears streaming down his face, he exclaimed, “The Lord will provide!” (Gen. 22.14)

IRJ #19

Today, people are deliberating over if humans should receive the death penalty for a criminal act like murder. In the Bible, after deciding to make a new covenant, God said, “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed” (Gen. 9.5). I disagree with this statement, and I believe that God changed Its opinion/clarified what Its ideas on this subject. Later, in the New Testament, Jesus taught to forgive an pray for the ones who persecute you and to love your enemies.

I believe that everyone should have a chance to change no matter what atrocious crimes they commit. Also, I think that the death penalty should not be carried out anywhere in the world because some times people are wrongly convicted of crimes they did not commit. What if you spent years in jail for a crime that you did not commit?

For example, my dad recently traveled to St. Lucia to test a man who was going to be given the death penalty, to see if he was mentally unstable. This man killed someone and would have been hung if my father did not defend his plea for insanity. Even though he committed a horrific crime, I think that this man should be punished, but definitely not executed. Should murder really be punished with just another murder? The answer is no.

IRJ #18

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” (Gen. 1.1-1.3), This passage in the Bible always inspires me. The force of hearing those words blows me away. I question this power and think, how can God possibly do that–Just create something amazing out of nothing?

But then I remember that humans obtain that ability as well (however, on a much smaller scale). People create art out of nothingness. We start out with a blank canvass and end up with something beautiful and awe inspiring. Through art humans can express themselves and depict images that invoke the same emotions they were feeling when creating a work of art into other people around them. People use art to communicate love, hope, triumph, hatred, pain, and sorrow in places all over the world without using words.  Humans have this ability in order to connect with the other people on this earth.

Can you imagine what the world would be like without this creative oasis? I believe that the world would not move forward. We need art in order to progress as single human beings and as a community. Art also shows new revolutionary ideas that fuel forward progress. Art also depicts past tragedies, however sometimes these can be reminders for the future. For example there are paintings from the  Jewish Holocaust  that force us to remember the terrible events that occurred in the past and remind people to never let anything like this outrage to happen again. Art forms the world just as God did in the story.

IRJ: QR #17

My Soul: My rabbit and I

In the novel, The Golden Compass, the protagonist, Lyra, goes on an adventure and learns many interesting ideas from very interesting characters. For example, along her journey, Lyra meets an armored polar bear named Iorek, who is distraught because someone hid his armor. Iorek explains to Lyra that, “‘A bear’s armor is his soul, just as your daemon is your soul. You might as well take him away’ –indicating Pantalaimon– ‘and replace him with a doll full of sawdust. That is the difference.’” (Pullman 196-197)

Before Iorek lost his armor, he was a strong and powerful leader. Now, Iorek is lonely and depressed. Nothing could possibly replace his armor because it is the physical representation of his soul, and this is just like how Lyra believes that her companion, Pantalaimon, is part of her soul. When we were young, most everyone had something that they kept for a long time and treated the object as if it had its own thoughts and feelings. We projects ourselves onto this object and it became a part of us or a part of our soul.

I agree with the bear, if something happened to this part of us their would be no way to replace it. For example, I have a stuffed rabbit that ive had for my whole life. Once, I thought I had lost him and so thinking it would cheer me up, my mother brought home an identical new rabbit. Although it looked the same I could not accept the new rabbit because my rabbit was a part of me and had shared the same adventures that I had. Just like Iorek, I eventually got my soul back and once again felt the power and joy that I had before.

Proposition: Humans need representations of themselves no matter what form to reflect on and connect with their inner soul.

IRJ: CP #16

Taking Pictures: Worth Way More than Words

I call myself Flash and I am autistic.

With every click of the camera, I bring people together forever. With ever click I bring together different people, living different lives, and experiencing different emotions. With every click I find beauty. Beauty is living within everything and by taking a picture, I can hold onto the beauty forever. I can look and touch my photos in my dark days. In my dark days the world closes in on me. In the dark days I just wish to face my fears alone. On these days I do not take pictures.

Click Click Click

I have many friends. I cannot speak aloud so I just show them my pictures. They love me. This is why I like to take pictures. With pictures and can tell the story of my life. I can show what  see, what I hear, and what I feel with images. My images bring happiness and joy to everyone. This is why people say I have a special power. They say I can see the love within the surrounding hate. If I had the choice between the ability to speak or to see the way I do, I would choose the latter.

Click Click Click

I call myself Flash and I capture life and this is what i would say if i could speak.

IRJ: OP #15

Hakuna Matata: It’s Our Problematic Philosophy

In the children’s movie, The Lion King, two of the protagonist’s friends, Timon and Pumbaa teach Simba what they think to be a valuable lesson and good advice. Timon and Pumbaa try to cheer Simba up to counteract the grief of losing his father and tell him,”Hakuna matata” (The Lion King).

Video Clip: Pumbaa and Timon’s explanation of “Hakuna matata” (in song).

Plot Summary: Brief overview of The Lion King

To most children, the phrase ‘hakuna matata’ is just silly group of words. However, in the language of Swahili hakuna matata may translated as “no difficulties, troubles, problems, worries, or cares.” Also, in the film, Timon and Pumbaa explain in song that the phrase means no worries. Is this something that that thousands children should be taught all over the world? Should they just forget their troubles and live their life in the moment? The answer is no.

All my life I have been taught by my parents that I must try my hardest in the present to succeed later in your life. To live in the moment is what some people strive to do, but i think that living a lifestyle that promotes forgetting your future or past trouble will not set a child up for their proper success. If I lived by Timon and Pumbaa’s philosophy, I would just forget about my school work and sports, and instead do what I enjoy and live a lazy lifestyle.  One cannot easily think of examples of people who have lived by this maxim because carefree people disappear from history without having made a mark on this world.

Proposition: Instead of living a passive lifestyle, from birth, humans should be taught to strive to earn what they want for their future.

(Picture from: http://www.kadinsky.com/products.php?search=cat&cat=Poster%20Prints&first=1)

IRJ: CP #14

A few minutes later, the Head Keeper’s copious throng of soldiers surrounded the tree that Jacob and I were stranded in. They found us.The Head Keeper sauntered ostentatiously around our tree like he had accomplished a great and difficult challenge. Although, we knew quite well that he just ordered his guards to use their fancy equipment to track us down.

He shouted, “Lucy and Jacob Trailord, I order you to come down from that tree.” Jacob looked at me with fear in his eyes and whispered, “What are we going to do now Lucy?” I looked back down at the formidable army in the murky fog dressed in red with their bows strung and aimed in our direction. I choked out the words, “I guess we have to go down and face him.”

We climbed down the thick trunk of the tree and as soon as our feet touched the ground we were immediately surrounded again by the Colony Keepers. I stared disdainfully into the Head Keepers face and told him exactly what I was thinking, “Why do you come after us? Is it just on a lark? Don’t you have anything better to do than track down kids who have escaped your colony? Is it fun for you to to cause people pain? What the hell is wrong with you?”

He interrupted me and practically spit out the words, “Excuse me young lady, but that is no way to talk a head keeper!” I yelled, “Well, if you ask me, I think you are a deplorable, torpid, and a stout little man and you should not be in charge of anyone!” The Head Keeper looked down at his short, pudgy, body and then look back at Lucy with an obvious mixture of appall, rage, shock on his face. The Head Keeper was taken aback by this affront comment and it took him a few minutes to collect his thoughts. When finally he did, he squeaked, “You are dead.”

(To be continued)