Post 4: Health

Health is something many people take for granted. It is appreciated when one is sick or injured; but once the sickness subsides and the injuries heal, we are quick to forget how valuable our health really is. Seneca says, “Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life, which fade and are tasteless without it.”

Whenever I’m afflicted with an illness; Congested airways, sore throats, and fevers make it very difficult to function.  It makes it pain-staking to produce any emotion besides self- pity, and it can make even the most pungent foods, such as oranges, seem bland. Being ill makes me feel as if I am peering out of a foggy window, only to be clear up when the sickness dissipates.

When I broke my right arm in the 8^th grade, I felt significantly handicapped.  I had to do everything with my non-dominant hand. Simple things such as brushing my teeth and putting on clothes became a hassle.  I was frustrated with my pitiful state, and realized without my health, I would be nothing.  Life seemed to fly past me, and I felt cemented to the cast on my arm.  

That’s why I am lost for words when I see people abusing their bodies.  Many people poison themselves with junk food, and watch TV all day; As if watching sports would help burn off their excess fat. If that lifestyle is upheld, organs may stop working. And as a result, those individuals would have to be connected to a breathing machine for the rest of their lives. Wouldn’t that make life “tasteless”?

 If you don’t take care of your health, you may find yourself on crutches or getting a heart transplant.  Thus, try to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and don’t jump off your roof to prove you’re a badass; for “Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life.”

Post 3: Price Tags

Everything has a price tag; whether it’s food, clothes, toys, or transportation.  What gives anything value? What makes something worth more than another thing? Do the prices range from least useful to most useful, or are some items conditioned by the public? Karl Marx says, “Nothing can have value without being an object of utility.” It is true that value comes from utility, but prices don’t always match its usefulness.

Who is to say an iPod is worth more than a $5 Sub sandwich? iPods aren’t even edible, and I could buy 100 sandwiches for that price.  If I was on a stranded island, I would take the sandwich any day, because dying of starvation is not a good idea. So, under those circumstances, would a sandwich be worth more than an iPod? I guess that is why we use gold as a currency; its value is fairly consistent throughout the world. Wait no, how is gold useful again?

Why do we buy purses that cost $1000, when there are purses of the equal quality, and size for just $30? (My mom does this -__-)  Their only real difference is that $1000 purse has Coach or Louis Vuitton printed on it. The two purses have the same utility value, so why such a large gap in price? This is because consumers pay outrageous prices, so they can flaunt their “name brand quality.” They pay a hundred dollars for each letter stitched onto their purse.

Value is very subjective; for as the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Post 2: Striving To Be The Best

In life, there are times when individuals are bent against their will.  When all attempts to free themselves prove to be futile, many people suppress their ambitions and bring their lives to a pause.  Sadly, many high school students are afflicted with this curse.  They complain that they don’t want to be at school; so they blow off their days drawing stick figures on uncompleted math tests and bubbling happy faces on all their scantrons. On the other hand, I strive for excellence, even though I dislike school just as much as the next guy.  Abraham Lincoln once said, “Whatever you are, be a good one.”  If you have to be a student, be a good one.

Why would anyone want to waste 12 years of their life twiddling their thumbs, and getting scolded by teachers for not doing their homework? Public education binds us until we graduate high school, so we might as well use the opportunities to learn something; you never know when it could come in handy. For example, academic success can positively influence job and college acceptances.  

Lazy people are notorious for doing “half jobs”, because they apply minimal, if any, effort on their daily chores. Thus, in their profession, lazy people perform in the lower 50^th percentile, and get fired by their employers.  Would you want a doctor that barely squeezed through medical school, or the one that graduated at the top of his/her class? 

I hope this serves a wake-up-call to all of those who blow off anything productive. You have nothing to lose by trying to reach your full potential, but you have everything to lose when you don’t apply yourself.