PASSOVER PUPPETS

While watching the Colbert Report last night the "Passover Finger Puppets" were brought to my attention. Oh the irony. It blows my mind that such a religious holiday with the meaning of life instilled can be commercialized. Same thing with Christmas, it is no longer about the meaning, but the gift giving. So who's to blame?

EVERYONE. No single entity can be credited with the commercialization of religion. Our society has just become one that is focused on the main stream activity. If its' cool then you bet it is going to happen. Religion is such a sacred thing, I think it is forgotten. But I am not sure if there is a way to install the secrecy back. Once something has been commercially exploited, you cannot really take it as serious as you did before. But there is a way to further prevent it from this. If the buzz around religion slows down, I think some of the people who say they are religious will fade away and the true values will shine through. People are beginning to see religion is a meaningful tradition, not just a fade.

THE RIGHT INTENTIONS

My roommate just adopted a puppy from the pound. She is an impulse buyer. She went and bought the puppy, Charley, a bed, toys and all the other essentials. Charley was already spoiled and she had been home one day. My roommate took her to the park all day the next day, where they played for hours. Then her parents found out she adopted a dog. All hell broke loose. Her dad "called" the animal control and cut her off from their funds. So without telling anyone she took the puppy back after living with her for 4 days. What a selfish thing of her to do. She did not think about anyone else except herself, and that she wanted a puppy. But now she has traumatized this puppy for life. She had the right intentions, but completely screwed the puppy over. It kills me to think that Charley could possibly be put to sleep because my roommate was too selfish and impulsively bought her. I think this happens a lot in society today. People always have the right intentions, but they do not think about the consequences. Such a simple thing to realize, but it is often looked over.

LENSE

As I wake up every morning I brush my teeth, wash my face, and put in my contacts. It is my routine, I do this every single morning of my life. However, I never thought about the fact that when I put my contact lenses in, I am not only doing it so I can see. I am putting in the lens of every single moment in my life that has created my viewpoint. I completely forgot to think of things in other peoples' views. We live such a sheltered life and in such sheltered communities that we forget others' perspectives. I think this is one thing schools need to focus more on. Students do not the entire picture of the real world because they are not taught different. A person must try to get an experience from the outside world, by either going on a mission trip or visiting a third world country. They are never taught these views in school. This epidemic is a sad reality to me. The fact that some parents send their children to "Island School" to get a sense of reality is a joke. We have to outsource children for them to get a real world perspective, because we do not acknowledge our weaknesses as Americans.

I am guilty of it too. I think it is hard to not be sucked in. But I am scared for future generations. Knowing what is really happening in reality is such a vital tool to becoming a moral, appreciative person. Hopefully I am over emphasizing the problem and children are being shown that the world is not manicured lawns and having the right attire for each occasion. But I when I do pay attention to everything in the world that I have been apart of, I really begin to think I am just finding out a sense of what I really am.

SYCOPHANT

Sycophant, such an elegant word with such an ugly meaning. For those of you who do not know sycophant means a self-seeking flatterer. I never would have known this word if it hadn't been for my hair dresser. To my benefit we were having a conversation and the word came up. I had no clue what it meant. But then I found out the meaning and realized that we are surrounded by these people everyday. I feel sorry for them. It disgusts me that our society would let it be acceptable to be someone else's' flatterer. How low can it get? In what other nation is it okay to be someone's bitch? None. It just confirms the role society plays and the emphasis they put on being accepted. If a person is willing to do whatever just to be seen with someone or to have friends, what is the point? I am confused why someone would not want people to be their friends because they like them, not by what they have. It is mind boggling to me that someone would want this. I am probably never going to realize why it is okay, but I am sure it will continue to happen. America needs an ah-ha moment. We need to realize what we are conditioning people to be. This whole idea really shows how our society really does make things socially acceptable, even if it is for the wrong reasons. It is now time that society makes a few changes to what is actually acceptable, for the right reason.

ARTIFICIAL REALITY

From being an only child, I think I tend to observe things a lot more than other people. It has always been in my manor to sit back and look at everything before I jump right in. Recently, I have been awakened by an observation. College students live a fake life. Think about it, and particularly in a girls' world. I am the only girl in my group of friends who has not had plastic surgery of some form done. I have found the most current form of plastic surgery in my friends to be nose jobs. Next its the hair, I am guilty of it changing my hair color too. However, I think the complete transformation of a brunette to a blonde and vice versa has increased recently. Next it's the nails. They are either always painted or they are acrylic. The nails go along nicely with a fake tan and a full face of makeup. Then to top it all off a fake id.

So what's really real? Nothing. It has been a sad realization of mine that the "reality" we live in is mostly consumed of fake things. There have been so many distortions the the human body, that I do not remember the last time I saw someone with everything real. If it's not one thing it's another. I slowly began to think back of the Dove campaign and how honest it is. There needs to be more of an effort to make girls realize it is normal to be completely natural. But there is a strong current against it in society right now. I personally hope that there are more campaigns like Dove's and then maybe people will be enlightened with a true perception of reality.

EDIBLE BURRITO TAPE

As I sat and ate my Chipotle burrito the entire contents fell out and it really enraged me. All I wanted was to sit there and eat my dinner without creating utter chaos. I thought to myself there has to be a way out of this mess. The only thing I could come up with at the time was tape. It makes complete sense, if there was edible tape. I personally know a ton of people who would want to use it. The burrito business would benefit from it and its' consumers. It is a very practical a simple idea that could revolutionize the Mexican food industry.

SIXTH SENSE

After watching the movie, The Sixth Sense, I thought to myself that I have a sixth sense. It is to read peoples' emotions. I do not know why, but I can tell the second someone is about to burst out in tears or when they want to yell someones' head off. I do not know if it is because I am emotional person myself, who is very hard to read, so I get other people better or what. I believe I am going to be able to use this trait to my advantage as I get older and enter a working force and have a family. I wish that the sense was amplified to that I could read minds. That would be the best sixth sense ever. Maybe someday I will actually be able to tell what people are thinking with the technology in the future. That would make my life so much easier, but complicated at the same time. I wonder if my life would turn out like Mel Gibson's in What Women Want. I think I would want to be the person who had the sense when they wanted, and not all of the time.

EYE CONTACT

I was skyping with a friend earlier today and even though I was right in front of him, there was no eye contact made. It was the weirdest thing. I did not get why one of my really close friends could not look me in the eye and talk to me. Its' not like I was the student who did not know the answer in class, who purposely wanted to avoid eye contact, I was just a normal person sitting having a conversation. It really started to bug me, and it made me even more upset that I couldn't find out why someone would do that. There are so many positives about eye contact, but then I started to realize maybe people cannot keep eye contact because they are not confident in themselves. And maybe that it is their entire life lessons that have made them feel this way. If you are just a passer-byer then there is no need to make confident statement. But I know when someone makes eye contact they mean what they say and are sure of themselves. Even if they are wrong, they still make it seem like they are right. Eye contact needs to be taught more in childhood, because it is one of the best and worst things about a person.

CHANGE?

Is there really a need for change in the world? The use and point of coins really does not seem that useful anymore. There has to be a better way to keep track of change. I think that there should be a credit card or phone ap that just automatically collects all of the change a person has, and then when there is enough change built up a person can withdraw the amount. There would be a better system for change and keep track of it for the consumer, but it would help the government too. There is no way in the world that all the change can be accounted for, but with the new technology there would always be a way for counting all the change. With the help of the new change idea, consumers would often be less stressed and more organized. If there was only one card they had to keep hold of for all the change, then life would be simpler for them. I believe this is one way that the government can help ease the life of citizens.