Help, Please!

Image credit: Ryan, www.jorymon.com

Christmas is coming. I must confess that although I used to love Christmas, I'm not a huge fan of it anymore. I concur with the Charlie Brown and Stan Freberg school of thought that the holiday has become too commercial. The true meaning of Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, gets a bit lost with all the decorations, Santa, and presents. Plus, in an ideal world, I would prefer it if we could give each other presents as surprises out of love or because of accomplishments rather than a couple of set times each year. However, I also understand that having a set time like Christmas is useful because it might be easy to forget to give loved ones presents otherwise.

Anyway, odds are that this time of year, you're going to hear someone say, "It's better to give than receive." It's one of those phrases that everyone says but not everyone necessarily believes. I mean, let's face, it's pretty awesome when you get a gift that someone obviously put a lot of time and thought into. A gift that tells you that the giver really loves you a lot. In that case, is it really better to give than receive?

Better than Real?

Image credit: Lifetouch

Nowadays, children or their parents can pay extra money to have photographers digitally remove blemishes from their school photos. That's disgusting. Let me elaborate. Ever since high school, I've had a fair amount of zits on my face. On picture day of my senior year, I had the good fortune of having an enormous pimple on my nose. I could've paid more (or more likely, asked my mom to pay more, lol) to have it removed, but I didn't consider it seriously. I mean, the main reason for school photos and most other photos is to preserve memories, right? Why would I want to preserve a memory that isn't real? I had a zit that day, it's on the picture, and to this day, you can see that picture in all of its 8" x 10" pimply glory in my mom's dining room. That is a real memory. Unfortunately, we live in a society that seems to favor "fakeality" over reality.

I've already mentioned how digitally altered photos preserve fake memories, but there's something else I want to discuss with regards to photographs - the myth of the perfect body. Newsflash: in case the word "myth" didn't clue you in, there is no such thing as a perfect body. Every culture and time period has a different definition of beauty. To me, I can only find one thing in common with the various definitions: achieving beauty is painful, time-consuming, and dangerous. Today, individuals with a certain body type are photographed and celebrated as being incredibly beautiful, making the majority of people without that body type feel ugly. Further adding to this disgusting practice is the fact that models are also digitally "enhanced." Modern women suffer from body image issues and eating disorders. Some modern men have body image issues, but I'd have to say that they're biggest problem along these lines is porn addiction. They become addicted to looking at fake women. Who benefits from perpetuating the myth of the perfect body? Well, take a look at this video from a famous doctor of cultural commentary. So, yeah, in today's society, diet and exercise fad salesmen benefit.

Vote For Me!

Image credit: Gary Mcinnes

Ok, I've been trying to avoid writing about politics on this blog, but the political atmosphere in the country right now is driving me crazy, so I have to write something. I've got so much to say on this issue that I hope I don't ramble, but what it all boils down to is I think it's incredibly important for people to question their own beliefs.

The other day, a friend of mine posted a picture of an Abraham Lincoln quote (which, as it turns out, was never actually said by Abe Lincoln) on Facebook. We both posted a few comments on it back and forth, and then he said it was a good quote even though Lincoln didn't say it, "But quotes don't create anything other than a feel good confirmation of an already set bias. People don't speak to persuade or listen with the intent to question their belief. They speak to hear themselves speak and listen for anything to justify their views; ALL people not just Democrats or Republicans or Mormons or athiests. All people."

Manipulate Me, Please

Image credit: Buzzemand

Last semester, my English professor assigned us students to critically analyze a print advertisement. As part of his introduction to the assignment, he explained that he wanted us to learn to hate ads. We spent a few class periods discussing the evils of advertising and how advertisers are maliciously manipulating the consumers' subconscious minds. Now I must confess that at this point in the semester, I wasn't too happy with my professor. He hadn't returned my first paper as timely as I would have liked, and he hadn't given me the grade I felt I deserved. (I should point out that I kinda like him now because I got an A in his class. Cha-CHING!) So the more he talked about how bad advertising is, the more I began to think, "Wow. I actually really like advertisements!"

Unfortunately, my positive view towards advertising led me to make a fatal mistake in my ad analysis paper: in my conclusion, I specifically stated that I enjoyed the advertisement that I analyzed. Gasp. When I got the paper back from my professor, he expressed his own views on the ad and said, "Seen in this light, the ad gets a little less funny . . ." This paper received a worse grade than my first one. I was not very pleased, especially since I felt like his grade was based on the fact that my opinions differed from his.

Information Overload

Image credit: Pam Roth

I don't want you, the reader of this blog, to think that just because I'm the writer means I have to do all the work. Actually, I'm going to put you to work right now. I need you to count the number of movies, albums, and books that were produced, released, and/or published in the year 2009. Oh, and while you're at it, watch, listen to, or read every single movie, album, and book from 2009. Kinda intimidating, huh? You're just lucky that I'm not making you read every new blog and magazine and watch every new TV show and play every new video game.

The point is that the world is full to the brim with all sorts of information and entertainment. I try to keep up with stuff that's going on in the world, but sometimes I get overwhelmed by how much stuff is out there. And since I'm thinking I want to work with books or movies when I grow up, I feel a little wary about adding to the already overflowing pot of entertainment.

Trees in the Wind

Image credit: Sigurd Decroos

A few months ago, a friend got me hooked up with being a substitute aide at a preschool. (Best. Job. Ever.) Before I started, I thought that since the kids were so young (3-5 yrs. old)  the classes would be loosely structured, and the kids would mostly just play the whole time. There was a lot of playing, but the schedule was surprisingly adamant (surprising to me, at least). Every teacher ordered their agendas differently, but they all had the same basic elements (opening circle, snack time, play time, recess, etc.), and each teacher did the same order every day.

My friend told me that the specific schedule was very important, but I didn't believe her until right after spring break. The first few days back were crazy because the kids had gotten used to their at-home or on-vacation schedule and they needed time to get adjusted back to the school schedule. After those few days, I definitely understand how vital routine is to suppress total chaos.

My New Sports Analogy

Image credit: Jason Antony

Lately, I've been thinking about a movie that my bishop had the youth in my ward watch a few years back. (I have to mention my bishop because he said he was worried that I would mention him in my blog, and then I told him I'd be sure to include him at some point.) The movie was Facing the Giants. It's a Christian movie which basically compares the gospel to football. It's a good movie; very inspirational, funny, good morals, etc. In particular, my bishop emphasized a scene where the coach puts a blindfold on one of the players and challenges the player to crawl across as much of the football field as he can with another player on his back. The player ends up crawling across the entire field, and it turns into a teaching moment for the coach.

Anyway, for some reason, I started wondering what I would do if I were in that player's shoes. Let's say that by some miracle I feel a desire to be on a high school football team, I make the team, and I stay on long enough to make it to this moment. Would I crawl across the entire field? I don't think so. You see, towards the end of that player's crawl, the coach gets down into his face and yells at him constantly. "Don't give up! Don't quit! Do your best, your very best!" That would drive me insane. Seriously, I would just drop down and quit right then. Why? Because football is just a game; it's not life and death. That's when I finally understood the main problem I have with sports movies and analogies: sports are not about winning and losing. They're not even about how you play the game.