"Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none." -William Shakespeare

If while walking around town you help an elderly woman cross the street, well then good for you.  You just did a good deed.  CONGRATULATIONS!!!  Now what do you want?  You expect to be bestowed with a million dollars or some grand reward because you did what was ethically expected of you by society?  Some people have a ridiculous misconception that whenever they do a good deed they deserve to be rewarded.  If modern society’s inner workings were run off of the concept that every time someone does a good deed and/or acts ethically they get a reward, then ethics wouldn’t exist at all.  People would do good deeds purely for selfish reasons and therefore, all of the just and righteous people would be, on the inside, self-absorbed self-involved jerks.  Or on the flipside people would only act ethically to escape from the possible punishment of acting evil.  I would like to believe that people act ethically because they know it for a fact as the right thing to do.  That in the environment in which they were raised, in their culture, society, etc. that when they are in that situation when an older woman needs help crossing the street, or they see someone getting mugged in an alley, or even passes by a homeless man that they will help the woman cross the road, call the cops or intervene, and hand the homeless man some of the loose change in their pockets. 

I believe humans need to act ethically even if faced with punishment.  In a real life assessment of good deed leads to punishment a good example is by taking the time to help that woman cross the street could have you end up late to an appointment, saving a man from a mugging in whatever form could end up with physical harm upon yourself, and if you give your change to the homeless man you might not have enough to feed the parking meter for your car.  Even with this possible retribution that can come out of doing a good deed it is still important to carry out good deeds.  Should all of humanity live in fear of helping one another?  Of course not!  Bad things are bound to happen to everyone, good or bad.  By doing good deeds people reinforce positive concepts such as karma and kabbalism (the Jewish concept of giving goodness to everyone you meet so in heaven you can all bask in eternal goodness).

In the Book of Job, Satan coerces G-d into punishing Job, a righteous man, to see if Job will commit a sin by cursing G-d for his misfortune.  It is crazy that G-d, who is described in the Bible as a merciful and loving G-d would punish a good man purely for the sake of a test of faith.  If Job were an evil man and committed sins daily I would find no moral quandary with G-d’s actions.  It must be reinforced that G-d is not human and his actions cannot be judged the same way a human can be.  I believe that G-d is neither good nor evil.  He just is, and his actions are beyond our understanding of the Book of Job.  As far as G-d is concerned, there is a higher plan and a greater purpose for everything G-d does.  It is impossible to inquire further and further speculation will bring no one closer to the truth.

Meaning of Life or Life that has Meaning

Life is meaningless.  Humans serve no higher purpose than that which is installed in their genetic code.  To survive, just as is the instinct of all creatures that walk the earth.  There is no hidden meaning or secret that people so often associate with the 'meaning of life.'    However if this is true then how do are people able to get up in the morning and go about their lives if it is meaningless.  As discussed in the last blog post about permanence.  If one is aware of their impermanence and meaningless life how are they able to continue on instead of giving up on life.  This is because although life as a whole is meaningless, to the individual, life has meaning.  People tend to give their lives meaning through the things that they do and learn.  People tend to tag themselves through their passions and hopes and dreams.  A doctor's life is given meaning most likely through saving lives.  An assumedly incorrupt politician's life is given meaning by helping pass legislation to help those in need.  There are things that I would like to have come to pass that will give me meaning in life.

1) Start a family 

b.  Starting a family with a loving wife and kids has always been a goal for my future. By having a wife who will always love me and kids who I will teach and raise, all attributing to my future happiness

c.  By having children and raising them in a loving and caring household I will help make the future generation of working adults more productive and helpful to society as a whole.  

2) Write many plays 

b.  All people deal with difficult emotions and the way that I best deal with it is by writing about it.  In my plays I can vent about my feelings through characters of my own creation.  In this way I will be able to lead an emotionally stable life.

c.  By writing plays I will supply society with culture 

3)  Serve in the Israeli Defense Forces

b.  I have a deep seated desire to live in Israel and alway be in my religious homeland and Israel, in its current state has a draft.  Technically I could move to Israel and not serve in the army but would then become a social pariah because I would not have served the country as almost all citizens of Israel have.  By serving in the IDF I would ensure my happiness in Israel and feel proud to have served my country

c.  Israel is under the threat of almost every Arab nation in the world.  By joining the IDF I would be part of the help to stop any sort of destruction of the country.  Israel existing would help the world because without Israel the world would lose most of the cultural influence of Judaism in the world.

4)  Master Hebrew

b.  To fulfill my own happiness and so I can live in Israel.

c. Helps to fulfill the previous hope for the future 

5)  Live somewhere besides Israel and North America for a stretch of time

b.  My life would be pretty one sided if I chose only to be surrounded by only two cultures that I have known my entire life.  I want to get up and move to many places and become knowledgeable on many cultures so my arguments are not as one sided as they are now

c.  As a member of society after soaking up the different cultures from around the world I can come back to a more ignorant place and inform people so the world is free of ignorance

Hero

Historic epics such as Beowulf and The Odyssey, famous novels such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Lord of The Rings Trilogy,  the Indiana Jones and Star Wars film franchises.  What do all of these works of literature and film have in common?  According to many it is because each work hosts a hero, but what, in fact, is a hero?  Do we define a hero according to the acts of Frodo, who carried the Ring across Middle Earth, at his own peril, to drop into the cracks of Mount Doom?  Or is a hero one who is brave enough to abscond from society and live in nature as Huckleberry Finn did?  Is it possible that both of these protaganists can be viewed as heroes?

I believe that a hero is too often defined by extra-ordinary actions. Heroism can be found even in the most humbling places.  One doesn’t have to run away from home and be a ‘rebel’ to be considered a hero, or to go against all odds to conquer evil and save the world.  Take for example, Willie Loman from Death of a Salesman.  As the play progresses Willie is a continuously unlikeable character as he made many mistakes in the caring for his family, however, Willie, throughout his life always made an effort to provide for his family.  In my book, that too can be recognized as heroism.  Tragic heroism, yes, but heroism in an ordinary setting with ordinary circumstances.

Society too often looks for certain archetypical ideas when defining the hero in a story.  Usually it is simply one who quite literally ‘saves the day’ from evil, from harm, and everything in between.  Society often fails to see the heroism in everyday circumstances and literature does a poor job at addressing these types of heroism due plainly to the fact that when we think of a heroic novel the first ones that come to mind are close to the novels and films listed above.

Stepping aside from the topic of what true heroism is, can a woman be a hero?  Obviously this is true.  Women are just as capable of acts of kindness and other ordinary heroism.  In literature it is just uncommon to see a prevalent woman heroine in early literature.  Thankfully as times have modernized women have become much more prevelant in literature as a heroine accepted by the guidelines of a hero given by society.

Finally, what purpose do heroes have to men?  I think as role models heroes are necessary.  They teach people morals and ethics and simply to do the right thing. "Unhappy the land that needs heroes."  I believe this quotation is correct.  No world is perfect and it needs heroes described as people who change the world in regular everyday acts of kindness.

There is no permanence

It is universally understood by humanity that there is no permanence.  Even with the acknowledgement of this fact people still feel the need to get up and go about with their daily lives knowing that most of what they do will never be remembered after their death.  So the question is asked, “Why do anything at all?”  Why not just sit around and do nothing because nothing you do will ever last longer than your death and if your lucky, maybe some time after that.  I believe in the lyric from the Broadway Show Avenue Q, “Everything in life is for now.”  It is a simple quotation explaining that regardless of the situation it is important to live your life for “now,” to live in the moment knowing that everything you have one day is capable of being gone the next and being able to enjoy oneself.  In our world there are two types of people.  People who live for their life, fully acknowledging the fact that when they die, most likely they will not be remembered by anyone except surviving family.  They continue on with their lives because for them, living out their life happily or at least, in the attempt to be ‘happy’ is more fulfilling than living life doing nothing and complaining about life being futile and meaningless.  To this type of person, a fulfilling life (by whatever that means to that person) with impermanence is better than a non-fulfilling life with impermanence.  However, people still look for ways to bring about permanence.  Gilgamesh looks fervently at ways to last forever, scared of death by the passing of Enkidu.  He alas, does not succeed, but his efforts are seen in modern society, but not as bluntly and as straightforward.  Modern society seeks permanence almost unconsciously while accepting impermanence, which may be why people just don’t give up on life because it is futile.  In modern day religion, most practices promise the person of faith eternal life in heaven or some form of it.  Medicine looks to stretch a person’s life span.  The population of senior citizens has risen because old people are living longer due to medicine.  Even in a life of acknowledged impermanence, humans tirelessly work towards permanence, or so firmly believe that they will be able to accomplish permanence in their lifetime that they don’t acknowledge impermanence.  When people die, they find meaning in life through their accomplishments and their passions that will hopefully live on after they do.  Having a family is one of those things.  When a person has a child, that child reflects their parent.  Extending family trees are perfect examples of a kind of permanence.  Although the original person may be dead and forgotten.  They live on through their descendents.  Literature is another example of this.  Author, who have been long dead, still have their works of literature read.  Tolkien, Huxley, and Dr. Seuss just to name a few authors who have not been forgotten because of their contribution to literature.  Gilgamesh, after returning home distraught to not have found immortality, “engraved on a stone the whole story.”  Gilgamesh found meaning in his life after his adventures by engraving his epic adventures.  Through his records, his legacy will live on and Gilgamesh can die a fulfilled man because he knows that due to his story, he has a chance of lasting past his death. 
With all of this in mind, it is still understood that everyone dies and eventually forgotten, but as a wise wizard (Gandalf) once said, “Death is but the next great adventure.”

Super Test

super test