And even though
I wasn't quite sure At first I really liked Going on an adventure With you Heeeeey I'm tired -Atlas
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Conformity, in and of itself, isn't a bad thing. It's what societies are built on. Routines are a comfort, a source of stability, and they allow you to build on it to reach greatness. Mindless conformity is where issues arise. Important decisions about your life should be made by you, not by mindlessly following others. Thoughtfulness is key here--society often has reasons for being the way it is. You should have good, solid reasons for conforming and not conforming (especially when the choice you're making is important.) ---------- Q: How can you teach people to think for themselves?
A: You can't, not really. But you can put them in an environment that nurtures it--provide whet with information and get them to discuss it with others of a similar level of education. Add new information/context, rinse & repeat. (Ask them to look at things from different perspectives, to argue different points even if they don't necessarily agree. Ask questions that make them try to figure out why and how things happened. The information in't as important as what you do with it.) Philosophy I guess?? I should probably get back to poems soon -Atlas The conclusions I reach when I discuss my ideas with other people--whether they agree with me or not--are far greater than anything I could ever come up with on my own. --------- I think that too often when we discuss the state of our world that we stop once we've listed all the problems and explained our feelings about them. There seems to be this assumption that we can't change anything, that we don't have a say in the principle moving forces of our lives, that things cannot change because this is just the way things are. And that's true, to an extent (as most things are), but not nearly as true as most people seem to think. Alone, we don't have as much of a voice. But if we commit to building a better world for each other? It seems idealistic, even far-fetched, when I put it like that. But it's as simple as asking "How can we make this better? What caused this, and how can we fix it?" ---------- There is nothing you can say
no belief you can hold that cannot be twisted into something you did not intend it to be. (But you still have to take responsibility for what you say.) Philosophy is fun -Atlas And though my words are far from beautiful They are my own And I guess that's all I can ask for Right now ---------- I am endlessly optimistic when it comes to the potential of my peers. How (and if) they'll use that potential... well, I guess it's up to them. ---------- I can definitely see why idealism could be a flaw--I don't want to be blinded or misled by what I want to see. I want to see the world for what it is. But at the same time, I don't want to just gesture vaguely and say everything's terrible, that people are lazy and cruel, and that things are only going to get worse. (That's blindness too, I think.) The truth is, the world is real and something has to be working or else we would have killed each other off by now. The truth is, if we accept that things are terrible and it can't be changed, no one will try to fix it and things really won't change. The truth is, we may never reach our ideals but we'll be a lot better off for trying. --------- Being introspective for too long makes me feel flat, deflated, dull; like a rubber band that, once stretched, no longer returns to its original shape. --------- I believe in building a world that is not designed to break
Heyyy would you look at that I'm actually writing my philosophical musings down in prose form now. (Some day I may even reach coherency) -Atlas And maybe we're not heroes.
Maybe we're just people. (I can't decide Whether I want to accept that Or change it.) Hmm. (I'm tired) -Atlas If you knew that you would fail and it would all be for naught would you try anyway? Then continue. The ending will be what it is. ---------- Don't worry so much About how you look You should be more concerned If when I look at you The first thing I see Is your face ---------- 'The tower will outlast all of us,' the headline read. I still don't know If I want it to be true Or not. ---------- I remember reading this story once called The Girl Who Could Fly. It's a pretty good book, all in all. I read it a long time ago. (So, uh, most of this is from memory.)
But I remember one scene clear as day--a scene containing a cricket and a song. The cricket is one of a very rare species, one that lives in opera houses and other such musical places. And they wait their whole lives to sing a single song, where they pour out everything they've ever seen and heard and felt. Then they die (or at least, that's what I remember it saying. I should probably check.) The cricket in the book hasn't seen all that much--in fact, pretty much the only thing it has to sing about is Piper, the main character in the story (who is going through excruciating pain at the time.) And yet, despite all this, it sings. Everyone hears it--the heroes, the villains, everyone. For a moment it's beautiful and touching, and then the main villain is snatching up a shoe and raising it high and the cricket is singing "I sing I sing until the end." And then it stops. (I wish I could tell you how I felt the first time I read it. I think I just had to stop and stare at nothing for a while, because how are you supposed to keep on reading after something like that? I think it says something, that I remember this one scene even now, after having read countless other books and heard countless other stories.) When, years later, we got our front lawn de-weeded and noticed how quiet the night was, my mom wrote a poem wondering if the crickets sang on the way to the landfill. Yes, something in my heart whispered. They did. But people aren't crickets, especially not magic ones. We don't wait our whole lives for one grand finale, or if we do that finale never comes because life's not fair and it doesn't work like that. So this is my song. It's not perfect or beautiful but it's me. And that's enough. I hope that someone, someday, finds meaning in all this. Until the end. -Atlas You never forget your first friend
No matter how many years slip by Whether you drift apart Or split in a burst of fire Or even if you keep them close to your heart still There is a special place in your heart Reserved for them This is barely even a poem bleh -Atlas Sometimes
I want to be a hero But true heroes are forged in fire And as I look around at my world I realize There are a lot of things I don't want to see burned Do you ever feel nostalgic about things you still have -Atlas I would like to make it clear to you
That I am not gentle Because I am incapable of doing harm I am gentle Because I have seen the monster I would be If I wasn't Food for thought -Atlas And I think you'd be surprised
How often the things we wish for Aren't really what we wanted Are all my poems philosophical musings? (Apparently, yes) -Atlas |
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