Thankful

       I know that writing about what I'm thankful for is very cliche noting the time of year, but Thanksgiving has shown me that I take too much for granted. This Thursday I went downtown to the parade with my family. I had a great time, but I kept seeing poor, homeless people sitting on the sidewalk. Most people kept walking, not evening acknowledging their existence and I, like the others, didn't stop. I felt so guilty because after the parade I could go home and eat a huge feast, while the poor had to wait in a long line, hoping to receive a meager amount of turkey and mash potatoes. Sometimes we (people in middle and upper classes) see the poor as disgusting slobs or as addicts; we don't think about their back stories or how previous situations have landed them in poverty from birth. Most people living in run-down areas are born into it; it is much easier for the rich to become poor than for the poor to become rich.
     These circumstances remind me of the awful life that the Africans were put into, both by force and by birth.  The Africans had no way out of slavery and people treated them with extreme hatred.  As understood from the story "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", Harriet Jacobs tells of the hardships faced daily by the enslaved Africans.  She had to runaway and hide in an attic for many years just to ensure her children's future.

      People who do have money are to consumed in their own lives to see that this kind of tragedy still exists today. Africans are still stuck in ghettos and slums, single mothers and fathers work multiple jobs just to but food on the table, and many people are thrown out onto the streets due to ponzi schemes and Bernie Madoff's insane swindling of investors money.

      Someone once said "If you haven't all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you wouldn't want".  Before judging the poor, think of how hard their life is and be thankful for what you have.

                                                           HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Death: Final or Continuous?

     One thing that we have talked about numerous times is Death.  It has plagued writers mind's for centuries as they strive helplessly to understand the non-understandable. Death will forever be the world’s biggest mystery and we will always try to figure it out.  

      Most poets and writers of all kinds choose a side.  Some choose to see life as a circle; we are born from the earth, we live upon the earth, and when our life is at end, we go back into the ground.  We are one with nature again.  Others see Death as a journey to everlasting life.  They see Death as an inevitable force and though they don't want to die, they know that Death will prevail.   

     Two poets that display these contrasting views are Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson.  Walt Whitman sees death with more of a "hippy" view.  He believes that we come from the soil and go back into it.  In "Song of Myself", Whitman says "I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles" (lines 54-55).  Whitman knew that he was to return to the soil where he then, would be part of the earth and cycle of life.

     Dickinson looked at Death with a more somber and realistic tone.  She lived for most of her life next to a cemetery where she contemplated Death on a regular basis.  She personifies Death in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" as well as portrays the idea that your body stops at the grave, but your soul continues on the journey to everlasting life.  In the first stanza Dickinson writes "Because I could not stop for Death, /He kindly stopped for me;” this shows the personification of Death, but also relates the word "kindly" to Death.  Though Dickinson chooses positive diction to describe Death, she knows that when death comes she has no choice but to go with him.  He may be kind, but that may be only out of pity or mockery because, unlike Whitman, Death is final in Dickinson's eyes.

Lesson's Learned

      The Scarlet Letter has taught me a lot about life, but most importantly it has taught me how to deal with guilt and sin.  Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays two extreme situations; you can be a "Hester" and bare your sin to the world or be a "Dimesdale" and bury your sin until it devours everything, leaving just a shell behind. 

        Some may see Dimesdale's journey as overly dramatized because they themselves can't understand why someone would die as a result. But think about it, (hopefully) very few of us have committed adultery, nonetheless as a minister. If you were in Dimesdale’s shoes would you have acted any differently? Of course as humans we immediately see ourselves in Hester, the “saint”.  We want to be strong and let everyone know our darkest sins without as much as a wink.  The funny thing is, is that we are all “Dimesdales” at heart.  We all keep secrets even though it may relieve us if we tell.  We all cover sins so that we are accepted in our religion, friendships, and society. If only we all just understood that our world would be so much more accepting if there were no secrets. In the end, Dimesdale realizes that if he had not been a coward and stood on the scaffold seven years before, his life would have been more meaningful. We all need to apply this realization to our own lives because it is better to have died once then to “die a living death daily”.

Dimmesdale's Dilemma

          We all know the feeling of guilt. It festers in our conscience until it begins to wear away the soul and human encasing it. All throughout the Scarlet Letter we see the deterioration of Dimmesdale, a highly respected minister in the Puritan village. He begins as a confident man who helps others with their sins, but by chapter sixteen he is described as " having a listlessness in his gait as if he saw no reason for taking one step further, nor felt any desire to do so, but would have been glad, could he be glad of anything, to fling himself down at the root of the nearest tree, and lie there passive, forevermore"(Hawthorne 185).  He lets the guilt of his adultery eat him inside, leading to a sorrowful dilemma; if he confesses he faces great shame and possibly death, but if he remains silent he will most likely turn insane.  The fact that Dimmesdale is a respected man of God puts him in an even more treacherous situation.  If people realize that even the most religious man in their town has committed a sin, then the laws of God will be questioned. People will begin to think that committing adultery is okay in the eyes of God because Dimmesdale has done it.

            Dimmesdale has almost accepted the fact that not telling the world his sin is punishment enough.  The ugliness of his sin is portrayed through his physical appearance hinting at the secret buried in the chambers of his mind.  By not publicly telling his sin he may also be protecting the townspeople.  He is their most trusted Minister and without his kindness and wisdom many will be upset.  This raises the question, is Dimmesdale being selfless by not relying his sin to the town or is he a coward for not joining Hester and Pearl upon the scaffold?