As a child growing up watching Disney movies was one of your favorite things in the world. Everyone remembers the classics: Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid. Though, the lessons they teach are completely unrealistic. Allow me to start my mellow attack on the Little Mermaid. The theme appears to be that love is built on sacrifice. Ariel changes herself and abandons her way of life in order to meet a guy that she saw and thinks was love at first sight. Ariel gives up her most favorite thing in the world, singing, in order to meet this guy. She wants to be just like him so she trades up her mermaid tail for legs in order to fit into his standards and social norms. Furthermore, I hold a single question: What is this teaching young girls? I'll tell you exactly what: That we should change ourselves for guys to meet their wants and needs. Yet, when we become older they tell us to never change for anyone, quite contradictory to what we were taught at our young, naive, toddler age. I then decided to investigate into more Disney movies to find more ideas similar to this and was not surprised to find them. Beauty and the Beast invests a false hope that true love can change a man. Cinderella forces you to believe that if you have a one night stand with a guy and run off that he'll try to find you. However, some Disney movies have a good message. For example, Pocahontas conveys that segregation of cultures will not stop true love as long as you pursue what you want. Some Disney movies are just teaching the younger generations unrealistic ideals.
Most of my friends have siblings. It seems to be quite common in my generation that people have a brother or sister. On the other hand, I'm one of the few that is an only child. If you have a sibling you're probably rolling your eyes right now thinking I've got it good and what could I possibly have to complain about. I'm not about to complain, I'm about to tell the truth about what it is like to be an only child. And if you are an only child maybe you can relate to this. First, attention. This is the biggest problem with being an only child in my opinion. I get all of the attention in the house. To some people this might be a good thing because I never feel ignored, I always have someone watching out for me. Though, it is also bad. My parents don't have anyone else to criticize so I'm in the spotlight when it comes to grades, social media, or any wrong-doings. My parents constantly have an eye on me because I'm their only child, I'm important to them. Therefore, I have close to no privacy. I can't just not talk to them when I'm not in the mood, because they're going to talk to me whether I like it or not because they have no one else to talk to. They're going to yell at me for whatever I do wrong because they don't have anyone else to watch out for and worry about. They notice my mood change almost instantly. If I'm having a bad day, they notice because they stare at me and watch me, they don't have another kid to watch over. Attention is my biggest issue with being an only child. Other than that, I've pretty well got it set. That's my only complaint is I don't get left alone, I constantly get picked on, I have no privacy. However, I still think I wouldn't want a sibling.
It doesn't matter what school you go to, there's always several cliques. Not necessarily the stereotypical ones that they name off in 22 Jump Street, the jocks, the nerds, the goths, etc. However, there is always a group that seems to dominate the others. You know, that one that people disgustingly label the "Popular kids". Now, let's be honest. They think they're popular but really no one else likes them. What exactly defines popularity though? Most people's definitions would probably be the group that is superior when it comes to the number of friends they have, the clothes they wear, the car they have, anything they have. Though, why should this be the definition? Isn't it more important to have a few friends that are loyal than a bunch that constantly talk about you behind your back and don't really, honestly, care for your well being? I would think so. Then, these labels, they really shouldn't exist. Similarly, this ties with judging a book by their cover. Don't label someone you don't even know. As the culture now evolves and we have new kinds of cliques and different decisions made by people the amount of labels are expanding. In my school I've heard plenty of people say, "That group is all of the gays," or, "That group is all of those transgender kids." Quite insensitive I believe. So what? People are making decisions about their life and you don't have a right to place scrutiny on them, place a label on them. The world shouldn't work like this anymore. Though, I've heard from my parents several times that the world is more accepting now of new ideas than it previously was, "If a kid would have said that/ identified as that back in my day everyone would have teamed up to give them a black eye." However, the world still isn't accepting enough. Sure, maybe we don't beat kids up or always call them mean names to their face, but still. Whether we like it or not there's someone standing behind us whispering to other people about us, or hiding behind their phone whispering about us. Yet another way technology negatively impacts us may I note. These labels are killing peoples' self esteem. This "popular" label, it isn't right. Everyone is truly popular in their own way, it shouldn't matter about how many friends you have, what matters is that they're loyal.
In light of recent events I feel that this is a topic that should be discussed. Recently, Paris suffered from several bombings that killed over 100 people. Turn on any news station and you will find that this is a common issue that everyone appears to be mourning. However, the attacks in other areas have gone virtually unnoticed. Accompanying Paris, Lebanon and Japan were among some of the few other countries that suffered disasters. Why is it that only Paris was focused on? Maybe because of how large the country is and how large the, what is considered a massacre, was. Currently where I live some choices have been made in order to keep my country safe, we are no longer let immigrants enter for the time being. Whether this is the proper action or not is being popularly debated. So the question stands: Is it appropriate to not accept immigrants or refugees into the country due to the catastrophes that took place in Paris? As for me, I am undecided. It may be slightly stereotypical to not let immigrants in from the middle-eastern countries. A search of their belongings and their life in their old country should be conducted and maybe close watch kept on that person, but keeping them out might not be the best choice. On the other hand, even if all precautions possible are taken disaster could still strike. Humanity is becoming more and more disappointing to me every day. I often watch thee news and see all the people dying around the world and in my own area and wonder what has possessed people to become this way. Crime rates are higher in the 20th century than ever before. Technology is corrupting our society and people are out for the kill. What on Earth could posses a person to kill over one hundred people? Possibly their demons crept up on them and escaped but that's not a good reason. Those people were just innocent civilians not looking for trouble; they were fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters. Having studied behavioral analysis and profiling I think it's safe to say that the attackers have some sort of personal vendetta. Maybe it's caused by issues they suffered from as children, events that permanently scarred them and left a seed that would grow and grow until finally it consumed them. Humanity is becoming questionable day after day, how can we stop it? Leave me your thoughts in the comments! I would love to hear your views.
Recently a big topic at my school has been mindfulness. In this generation and generations to come technology appears to be a prominent part of our lives. So much so that it is all we tend to do with our lives and spend hours at a time on. By keeping our eyes glued to our phones and fingers texting away constantly we forget to notice what is going on in the world around us. It is important to acknowledge the little things in life. All around you new experiences are happening that you are unable to witness because you're too worried about how many retweets you got or how many likes your post received. Take a second to appreciate the beautiful song of the birds, a family experience, children discovering the world. Not only can the children discover the world but you can too. Be mindful. My teacher encouraged me and my classmates to somewhat "unplug". We went through a series of challenges. For example, instead of walk around with my phone in my hand or in a pocket where I can reach it, keep it in a bag or purse. This challenge I have stuck with and continue to follow quite easily. Next, we were asked to delete one of our favorite apps, now this challenge I found particularly hard to do, I never did it actually. Then, we were told to track how long we spend on our phones using an app called Moment (this app can be purchased in the App Store on iPhones for free). This app was quite a rude awakening to me. At first when I downloaded the app I was only spending 30 minutes to an hour on my phone, to my delight. However, as a week past I actually was then getting all the way up to 2 hours and now 4. Finally, I got mad and deleted the app. This app was definitely an eye opener for me and I try to spend less time on my phone now. Furthermore, not only does technology keep us from seeing the world around us. Technology also forces us to critique ourselves on every little thing. You can go on any social media site and find plenty of pictures of girls and guys of all different ages. Like human nature would naturally tell us to do, we tend to compare ourselves. Find minuscule things wrong with ourselves and thinking we need to change the way we act and look to fit into society, causing us to ultimately base our entire being off of what other people think of us. I'd like to say that I've come to be independent and reject this paradigm but the truth is I haven't. Like other girls my age I still try and fit into the crowd. Why? Sad but true, the main reason is you get picked on like food stuck in someone's teeth. If anyone can find even one thing wrong with you there are people who will put you down for it, whether it's to your face or not. So, is technology benefiting us or hindering the way we see the world around us, how we see ourselves?
Link to the Bored and Brilliant Challenge: http://www.wnyc.org/series/bored-and-brilliant/ |
AuthorSmall town girl with big and creative dreams. ArchivesCategories |