Perspective (bias)

So upon reflecting on a play I saw last week (called "Persians"), I was reminded of World War II and so part of this entry will incorporate that, but also will be discussing what people know as "bias" and of course I will probably get off track and talk about who knows what.

Being a student of history, I have needed to come to terms with the word "bias" and force myself to change it to the world "perspective." Why? Because the word bias has a negative connotation forced onto it; however, all things created will have bias, it will reflect the creator. When authors write books they come to the table with their own personal values, ideas, goals, etc. (their perspective on life or whatever). We see this every time we watch the news, read the news, talk to people, even look at the cars they drive or the clothes they wear. Do we all have bias? of course. But it isn't always bad, so I prefer the word perspective (since it prevents possible hostility and supports an open mentality/approach to others' ideas).

Anyway, so in my "education as an application for change" course we discuss many things on a philosophical level and how ideas/things affect schools, education, and life. We will soon discuss war, which is why I went to see this play (it was made mandatory by the professor). Anyway, it presented the aftermath of the Battle of Thermopylae and the grief the Persians must have felt since so many had died. It had the perspective of the Persians and whatever, I'm not interested in the play, but some of the dialogue between what represented "advisors" to Xerxes made me think of WWII, Germany, Hitler, etc. So I looked up some statistics on causalities for each nation.

What I found was pretty interesting since, at least in the states, we are told how important our role was and how we may have aided significantly in ending the war (this is not what I want to talk about, nor formulate an opinion on), but the numbers were rather interesting (I am going off of rough roundings since I do not recall the specifics and do not care to ruin the flow of my rant):

out of the total deaths (near 75 million, I believe) the top 5 nations in terms of deaths was this:

1. Soviet Union with almost 23 million (about 30.5%)
2. China with around 20 million (about 26.5%)
3. Germany with somewhere between 7-8 million (about 10%)
4. Poland with somewhere between 5-6 million (about 8%)
5. Indonesia with around 4 million (about 5%)

totals about 60 million deaths (80%)

After looking at these numbers, I said to myself, "huh. Maybe I should've learned how important the USSR was to stopping the Germans rather than how great the USA is." I mean, sure the USA came in late to "save the day" but honestly if the USSR had not had such fervent resistance against the Nazis. Surely, if it were not for the Proletariat Dictatorship of the "evil communists" the fascists would not have been stopped. This reminds me of that one robot chicken clip (which I will now look for and add the link), it is called lil hitler, and at the end the attitude of the USA is pretty much true. But anyway, without looking at different situations from various angles you miss a lot. Oh and btw the USA lost around 400,000 people.

But yeah...when war is brought to the table I simply say I want no part. I am a pacifist and most certainly refuse to kill another human being. A good movie, albeit old, is a classic Soviet film called, "The Cranes Are Flying."

Anyway, as ironic as it sounds, I gotta go shoot some people on my 360...probably CoD4 campaign. lol. I can still enjoy the fake/romanticized creations of humanity...as long as I do not hold them to be truths. mmmm....video game violence, the best breakfast.

Thanks ahead for any comments or opinions that you're willing to share.



p.s. I, too, think carrots are quite rad.

Wall or A Secret Door?

So I find myself in a mental room where I look around at all the artwork on the wall (depictions of my current choices and options) and rather than reorganize them in a more efficient or pleasing way. I decide to just plop down and stare at my favorite and hope the rest of the room fixes itself.

And in non-methaphorical-land/right now, I am half playing Mass Effect (due to typing) and skimming my assigned readings for history (6 one or two page, dated news articles and two lengthy articles a total some 50 pages via word document standards/defaults). I slept off and on yesterday during the day and late evening and am currently up for the day (have been for a few hours now) and walk to class in about 3 hours from now...this is a more common depiction of my academic life. I realize that I should have done this reading sometime over the weekend or well anytime earlier, but I know that it will be done before class...somehow.

Anyway, the main topic of this blog is not the current, but the future. I have to pick classes for the fall this week, and I haven't seen an advisor (not really an issue as I know how to pick my classes and stuff), but I need to discuss starting the teacher's certification program...my only drawback is that my GPA in my history classes isn't high enough to meet the requirement for the program, leading me to believe that they'd tell me I couldn't start it anyway. Anyway, I've already taken classes which are both normal requirements for the program anyway and also fulfill gen ed & other requirements for graduation. I know I should be starting clinicals soon and in preparation I will be getting my license post 21st birthday this summer (OMG I KNOW!). Also, this fall I will start commuting rather than living near campus, so while getting my license is still needed I feel "dilemma'd" (as I'll term it) towards the fact that I could be starting clinicals perhaps this fall also...but maybe I shouldn't worry about it.

Also, I've noticed something which seems to happen all too often: at a certain point in the academic year grades for classes that I like seem to strengthen and the opposite for those I dislike. Since this semester is/was supposed to be one that overall strengthens my GPA, this worries me. I think if I try to change my habits towards those dropping classes and focus more on them in my free time that I should do better....however I am the King of knowing perfect solutions, but failing to practice them.

As the summer approaches the above seems to climax and then quickly fade, but in doing so, new situations arise, particularly Church related. Sr. Kim asked me to help out with the VBS program during the week of June 9th; this on one hand is a great way for me to help others and grow spiritually, but I may be stressed out still from school and just wanna hangout. Working/helping with the VBS thing would probably be useful experience for my future career as a teacher (even though I'd be working with much older kids than in the VBS program), but I also dislike dealing with kids during the elementary school age (hence my interest in Secondary Education rather than Elementary). It comes down to, on the simplest level, do I be self-less and sacrifice my energy/time to hold up others...or...do I use that time for myself in solitude to rejuvenate myself? The problem with this is that if I choose to help out with this will I be too exhausted for Special Person's Camp and/or other Summer things?

And that leads me to other Church stuff. Leah, a good friend of mine, is co-directing SPC (special person's camp) and would love to have me help her and be there to support her. I love SPC, but it may be the toughest week of my life, each year. I feel like this is one of those things that I say that I'm not sure if I'll do, but inside I kinda know that I will unless something prevents me from doing so.

There's the two conferences: Grove City, where I am being sound assistant (again) & chairman for one of the days. And at CBC, where not only am I the sound guy (again with my dad), but I have a sermon(ette) to give...and it's the 100th anniversary...so it's going to be crazy.

And I have the chance, as I'll probably be asked, to help with teen camp too...so yeah...

...so back to my babbling about artwork and this metaphorical room....What I notice about each picture is that it covers part of the wall that is my current life; I have to ask myself if I choose to keep this picture and hang it up, am I covering just a wall or a secret door?

So it begins

So I have decided to create a blog. Why? Simply as an output a pouring of my mind into text for a better understanding of me.

Why an online blog rather than a personal journal/diary? Well that's also simple. I find that the best way to understand a person or subject is to discuss it and hear another perspective on the issue.

My Blog will be entirely "pure" meaning that I will attempt to do very little (if any) re-editing or organizing of my thoughts.

Whenever something is on my mind it will be blogged. My guess is it will be mostly my thoughts and feeling towards the world as philosophical/abstract ideas are brought to my mind via education or simply a response to something in my life or society.

There are no limits and I hope this is a great educational and bonding experience for us all, but mostly for me.



I hope you all enjoy and will leave me comments and/or feedback and perhaps e-mails or whatever if someone feels it is more private.

With Love,

Seth