The Black Truth of "Thanks"giving

"Black Friday: People trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have" (Unknown Source).
This holiday conundrum has always seemed very puzzling and ironic to me. Why is it that people, who claim that they are "thankful" for everything they have, continually desire more? A day meant to reflect on all that one has and how lucky they are to have everything and everyone around them in their lives essentially loses its essence when the next day these aforementioned souls literally sacrifice their well-being to acquire more than what they were "thankful" for. The root of these actions stem from the inherent greed of man. It is only in human nature to desire more than what we already have; we can always have more. This traces back to the nature of humans to always desire more, whether it be material possession or complimentary praise from peers. Because of this inherent greed of man, I personally believe that the tradition of Thanksgiving has lost much of its meaning. Tracing back to historic roots, Thanksgiving was created by Separatists forming alliances with Indians who happened to save their lives; however, with the desire to acquire more land, these Indians were soon forgotten and conquered by these said white men, which perhaps set a permanent scar on the wholesomeness of "Thanksgiving". Thus, in my opinion, Thanksgiving has lost its meaning and does not truly represent our "thanks" and "gratefulness" which we claim we have for others. If we truly were thankful for everything we had, there would be no need for "Black Friday"; however, the sad truth is that humans are greedy and thus there will never truly be a day where we are truly "thankful" for what we have.

What Defines a Man?

This week in English, we briefly touched on the period known as the "Roaring 20's", a time that "roared" with new social conventions and cultural rebellions. The Roaring 20's was also the birthplace of modernism and consumerism. Thanks to advertising and mass production, America had soon turned into a mass consumption society. These were the times where man had to have everything, and if man failed to obtain everything, he was worthless. To some extent, this belief still holds true today. There is a tacit axiom in which when one is seen to have "more" than others, he holds a higher worth than others.  We in American society have falsely built up this belief that possession equates to worth; the Founding Fathers even adhered to this belief for America in the immortalized statement "life, liberty, and property" which was only later changed to "pursuit of happiness". Man pursues property, which in his mind, as well as every other American's mind, equates to happiness and worth. As time has progressed, the idea that man's worth equates to his skills and personal achievements is starting to come into relevance in American's; however, the belief that man's property defines his worth is still (sadly) rooted deeply inside the minds of the American man. In order to truly progress as society, individuals must be able to grasp the idea that man's worth is not based on possession, but rather personal skills and true, not superficial, happiness.

Blueprints for the Future

Disclaimer: I received assistance from Omkar Shende in editing my thesis statement, which accounts for the high level of diction and the use of a Latin phrase. It means "In the beginning God created punctuation." 

            In  principio creavit Deus lexes Punctuatum. Or so, at least, we have been told in every English class since the fall of man. But this is not the case. In today's fast-paced, evanescent society, punctuation's role has  been to restrict, not facilitate creativity; we have transformed, but the orthodox rules of punctuation refuse to, quixotic reminders of the past, not blueprints for the future.

            The human condition is metamorphosis; we have always craved revolution, abandoning the hunt for farms, the farms for factories, the factories for suburbs; punctuation is among those societal constructs we too must forsake. Many punctuation marks have, frankly, gone "out of style". Marks like the colon and the exclamation point do not have the same effect as they had before; today, they give readers a sense of being told how to interpret what the author is writing (Source D).  However, the greater impetus towards change over the past half a century, technology has advanced at a resounding rate. With this development of technology has arisen new modes of communication: social networking. As technology develops, traditions change. These traditions of strict, coherent punctuation are no longer deemed necessary in the modern society; instead, new rules of punctuation arise. (Source A). Half a decade ago, punctuation marks such as "@" or the "hashtag" (#) had very little meaning. After the creation of Twitter, these marks have become an integral part of modern communication. Even the Library of Congress Archives accept "tweets" as acceptable and integral to our current society, as is evidenced by their storage of these forms of communication for posterity. This goes to show that the rules of punctuation constantly undergo change; it would be unwise to follow old rules which do not apply anymore in modern society.

Survival of the Shame

A very interesting aspect about shame or guilt is that humans are the only species known to exhibit what we call "shame". According to Dr. Stanley Coren's essay "Which Emotions Do Dogs Actually Experience?", dogs do not experience complex emotions such as shame or guilt. A question that arises from these findings is why humans are the only living organisms known to experience the feeling of shame. One explanation for this feeling of shame is the great complexion and evolved state of the human brain which allows us to experience more complex emotions. However, digging deeper, shame could be a necessary element for human survival. Seeing as how far humans have evolved, it is a fact that humans must rely on each other in order to survive. Shame and guilt are equalizing factors in this connection. Having the ability to feel guilt, men are able to sympathize with others and become more self-conscious with how one's actions affects others. As a result, man will not repeat actions which cause this feeling of guilt. Shame is the personal reflection of how one stands in society, and how to improve oneself in order to better himself, the people around him, and society as a whole. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale is an illustration of how shame and guilt drive one's motives to survive in society. The immense shame he feels for committing adultery and the guilt to both Hester and society for not confessing his sins drives his emotions insane, as the shame (literally) "gnaws" on his soul for seven years. Dimmesdale is conscious with how he is affecting others with his shame, and thus he cannot truly feel connected to society because he knows that he is secretly damaging them. His only way to connect back into society is to confess his sins and, ironically, remove himself from society with his death. Dimmesdale answers the question on why humans feel shame and guilt; shame and guilt provide a moral fiber into the individual and as a result, shape the individual and society as a whole into a better place. Although Dimmesdale does not physically survive the ordeal, by purging his shame and guilt, he finally feels alive with his own conscience and the eyes of society.

New Beginning?

Thursday marked the last day of the first marking period. A whole two months of hard work and late nights studying came to fruition as we took our last tests of the marking period, which could ultimately decide our grades for the quarter. A good test score could be the difference from a B to an A, and vice versa. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the new quarter, where we will try to put whatever woes we had in the first quarter behind us. In that respect, we are similar to Hester Prynne after her punishment at the scaffold. We will try to trudge on in school, putting whatever bad grades behind us and continuing to work hard to succeed. It won't necessarily be easy for us, as the pressure will increase as we attempt to raise our down-strucken grades. We may be laughed at, and people may stop in the middle of our hallways to pray for our well-being. Undoubtedly, children will stop and laugh at us in the hallways. We will continue to be living Hester Prynne's until we take our finals and start a new semester. I wish all my classmates the best of luck, and may your essays be ever in your favor.