Problems as a teenager

I often receive little respect from adults because I'm a teenager. Teenage boys are thought of as mischievous and always creating trouble. Whenever I'm with my friends and we go into a convenient store, the managers give us dirty looks because they assume that we are thinking about shoplifting. Having a conversation with an adult can be difficult. Because I'm younger, adults think that I am not old enough to understand certain topics and quickly change the subject. I hate this because even though I might not understand what they are talking about, I may want to hear what they have to say. Another problem that I have when talking to adults is being accused of not paying attention. When someone makes a statement and not a question, I usually don't say anything or respond with a yes or no. Just because I have laconic replies doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention.

Another problem I have learned as a teenager is that life is not fair. When younger siblings complain to their parents that they have been abused by their older siblings, the result is immediate punishment. But sometimes the older brother did not hit his younger brother. How is this punishment fair? It is not. Innocent people die everyday. Thieves and criminals don't always get caught. Being a teenager, I have learned to accept the fact that I am wrong even though I am actually right. For example, when something valuable is broken in my house. As soon as my parents find out, they blame it on me. I try to tell them that I have no idea how the expensive vase was broken, but in the end I am still punished. School is not fair. People who never do their homework sometimes get the same grades as people who do their homework or never get punished for not doing their homework. Having experienced so many different unfair situations as a teenager, I have learned to accept the fact that life is not fair.

My family is unorganized. I never have to clean up my room because my parent's bedroom is just as messy. In fact, our whole house is a mess. My parents are always leaving their clothes and magazines spread out on the floor or stacked up on the couches. The only time our house gets cleaned is when my parents are hosting a party or special guests are visiting. Our kitchen is a disaster. We never wash our dishes. Everyday I come home and find a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. Some families have to be neat and tidy, but my family doesn't care if everything is out of place.

One of my mom's talents is talking. Once my mom starts a conversation, she will keep talking and talking forever. At family parties, we always end up leaving late because my mom has a hard time saying goodbye. Unlike my mom, my dad and I are quiet. We seldom get sucked into deep conversations. Both my dad and I hate talking to people we don't know or about something we are not familiar about.

My family loves to go on vacations. Because most of my family lives in Indonesia, we have had the opportunity to travel to places all around the world. During the school year my parents are always traveling to random places such as Australia or Egypt. My mom loves traveling because she gets to learn about the different cultures and experience the ways they live. I love vacations because I get to relax.

After it's all said and done

After all the discussions in class about fate vs. freewill, I now wonder whether I can actually choose one side. In the movie Stranger Than Fiction, Harold's fate is to die. However, he has some freewill. He decides to stop counting when he is brushing his teeth and he decides to eat the cookies that Ana Pascal made. I think there cannot be just one answer. People have a fate, but they also have freewill. Freewill does not mean that people can change their fate, freewill simply means that people can make their own decisions. Sometimes freewill can be used to improve a persons life. Even though Harold Crick knew he was going to die, he made the best of the situation. Instead of being lonely, he got a girlfriend.

I also walked away wondering whether if there is an actual answer to this question. Fate or freewill? The more I think about the question the more I get confused. Oedipus obviously had a fate, but just like Harold and everybody else in the world, he also had freewill. But can freewill be limited? Everyday I have the choice of going to school or not. Everyday I go to school. Because my freewill is limited in many situations throughout my life, do I have any freewill at all? Is my fate to go to school forever?! (haha, no) Fate or freewill is a question which I believe has no correct answer. People can believe whichever one they want, but there will always be someone who disagrees with them. For this reason, I have chosen neither fate nor freewill.

Fate vs. Freewill

People determine their fate by the choices they make. No one knows their fate in life. We make decisions everyday which lead us to our fate. The outcome of our fates, whether they are good or bad, result from the decisions we make. For example, people who drive even though they are sleepy. They have the choice to drive dangerously or not to drive at all. If they get in a car crash and die, their fate was bad. However, their decision to drive led them to their horrible fate.
If I had to choose between freewill or fate, I would choose freewill. If we do not have freewill, then we cannot make choices. But everyday we make choices. During Christmas season, little kids choose whether to be good or act bad. Parents choose to give presents to their children or not to give them any presents. We live our lives on the decisions we make. People choose to work hard and become successful while others choose to slack off and become hobos. I believe life is all about freewill. My fate will be determined on the decisions I make.

Live or Die

People say life is short. I agree with them. I try to make my life as interesting and exciting as possible because I know that life is limited. When I become older, I want to reflect on how happy and thrilling my life has been. Life should not be wasted. No matter how long I live, there will always be something I wish I could have done or had. Everyday seems too short. I often wish I could go back in time and revisit certain events. I wish time could be extended. Sometimes at night I stay up late because I don't have enough time to finish my homework. When I go on vacations I wish that my trips could be longer. I want to live my life as long as I possibly can.

I would prefer having a long healthy life over a short famous one. If I only lived to my early twenties, I would be missing so many years of life. In those missing years, I could have raised a family or visited places all around the world. Think of all the exciting possibilities or events that I would never experience if I only lived to my early twenties. Fame is not important to me. Even though becoming an idol of the world and making history sounds nice, I think that my life would be way too stressed. Everyone would be watching me and there would be no time for rest. I would be on T.V. everyday. I do not like this because I like to have some privacy. If I became insanely famous, I would be on YouTube. I do not enjoy having so much attention. For me, a short famous life would cause too many problems. I would much rather prefer the plain and simple life.

Remember when....assignment #5

Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite comic book series. I remember when I was about eight I got my first Calvin and Hobbes comic book. I enjoyed reading the comics so much that I started collecting them. Now I have five or six Calvin and Hobbes books. The funniest comics I can remember are the many times Calvin gets into fights with his babysitter. Calvin purposely harasses the babysitter which leads to their numerous arguments. I enjoyed how Calvin would always argue with his babysitter to stay up later or watch more TV. Some other scenes that I found amusing were the scenes when Calvin would fight with his classmate Susie. Whenever Calvin is at school, he is always trying to find a way to get Susie in trouble. Calvin hates Susie because she is smart and he is not. I liked Calvin's mean tricks and lazy behavior. When I was younger, I hated reading. Calvin and Hobbes was an excuse that I used on my parents to tell them that I was productively reading.

For many people, including most westerners, two opposites are never thought of as being together. Good does not come with evil. In our western mentality, we have a tendency to separate ideas. The first thing that comes to mind when we think of old people is death, not being born to eternal life. We seldom take the time to look at things from a different perspective. Old people are not always about to die. Why not associate them with happy people who are continuing to look for eternal life, instead of jumping to the gloomy thought of permanent death?

The main thought behind this philosophy is that opposites can be contained in each other. Sins aren’t always full of hate, but can bear forgiveness. A baby doesn’t have to be thought of as young, but can be looked upon as containing an old person. The yin yang symbol embraces this idea. The two opposite colors of black and white are inside each other. Don’t think in opposites, but group ideas and things together.