Thankful~

This year has brought a lot of change for me.  I am living in a new state, living in a new house, going to a new school and making new friends.  Change, while it is scary, has brought some of the  greatest things into my life.  This year I have a lot to be thankful for! I am thankful that my family's move from Washington to Colorado went smoothly. I am thankful that we moved into our house quickly and without many problems. I am thankful to be at a small and structured school. I am thankful that I have made so many new and amazing friends.  However, with all of theses huge things to be grateful for, it becomes very easy to ignore little things that I have been given.  It’s crazy to think that some of the things that we use regularly, most of the world does not have access to.  This year, I am trying to be thankful for little things, as well as big things.

I am thankful for clean water.  I am so blessed to live in a country where almost everyone has access to cold, clean water (whether it comes from our houses or from restaurants).  I  am thankful that the water that we wash our hands with is clean and that the water that we take showers in is safe.  I am thankful that I have never had to worry about whether or not I had enough to drink, and whether or not that drink was safe.

I am thankful that I have a closet full of clothing.  It’s crazy to look in my closet and see all of my clothes. I have some summer clothes, winter clothes, spring clothes, fall clothes.... However, in many parts of the world, some children do not even have a pair of shoes.  I am thankful that I have more clothes than I need (and probably am able to wear).

I am thankful for my own room.  This is one thing that I take advantage of a lot.  My room is ‘my space’, it’s where I go to do homework, talk on the phone, read and just be.  I can decorate my room, I can organize my room and I can relax in my room. I couldn't imagine sharing a room with my brother for my whole life, let alone my entire family.  I am thankful that I have my own space to go to when I come home.

I am thankful for electricity. Every morning I can wake up and curl or straighten my hair. Every day, I can flick a switch and light instantly lights up my room. I can come home and turn up the heater if I’m cold.  I can cook food in the oven, I can cool food in the refrigerator, in fact I don’t even have to wash my own dishes by hand, but rather, I can put them into a dish washer.  I am very thankful to live in a place where electricity is accessible.

I am thankful for education.  School may keep me up some nights.  I may fail a test. I may get so stressed out I wish to live in the times where women could not go to school, just so I would not have to deal with it. But it is amazing to know that I am able to receive a 12 year education for free! I am so beyond blessed to live in a country where everyone, no matter their race or gender, can attended school and become equally eligible for all types of jobs.  I am thankful for school.

Accept, Act, Accelerate~

How would our communities begin to look different (in particular, our school community), if “...everyone–staff, students, and teachers–[chose] everyday to offer, thank, encourage, inspire, and let others know you notice and believe in them.”? In this day and age it is becoming increasingly more ‘trendy’, to remove oneself from their community environments, and practice a self-centered, self-providing life style.  With this shift from community based societies to individualistic centered societies, people in general have begun to feel less ‘seen’. We can sometimes find ourselves going through our day without having really engaged anyone in a conversation.  As a teenager, this type of mentality is very easy to fall into.  Me teenagers feel that they must keep up a certain independent, confident and selfish exterior in order to avoid being hurt and in order to better fit into the society they are slowly becoming integrated in.  Quite frankly, this is why so many struggle in high school-- this period of time is where one needs to feel as if they are ‘seen’ by parents, teacher and peers, however ironically, this is often the time where it seems they get the least of this. Our divergence from the community based society has left us in a world full of people seeking approval and attention from a world that will not give it to them.

Koinonia is the ancient Greek word meaning “... communion, joint participation; the share which one has in anything, participation, a gift jointly contributed, a collection, a contribution, etc. It identifies the idealized state of fellowship and unity that should exist...”1 .  In larger (and often times more so in public schools), students feel neglected, unwanted, unbelonging and unconnected to everyone or anyone else.  If students and teachers began to practice the habit of “...thank[ing], encourage[ing], inspire[ing], and let[ing] others know [they] notice and believe in them.”, those feelings would begin to disappear. If students and teachers were able to do this, a sense of ‘community’ or ‘family’ would be added to the school environment. This shift in the ‘school culture’ could positively alter behavior, depression rates, academics, social relations and the way students interact with others outside of the student body.  By choosing to ‘see’ others, we are able to open up opportunities for others to in turn ‘see’ those around them, and little by little we can begin to incorporate koinonia back into our society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koinonia

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/angela-maiers/people-know-they-matter-w_b_3348144.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

A Shift In Culture: Religion~

Throughout history, religion has often dictated a people’s way of life.  For example, in ancient Mesoamerica, the natives never skipped annual sacrifices, for fear that their gods would cause them to suffer.  In ancient Greece, there were countless gods to whom the population worshipped, because if they did not, the gods might send them misfortune.  Religion has played a huge role in society since the beginning of time, but in the modern world of today, the need for religion is beginning to decrease.  As a religious person, this idea saddens me.  However, as knowledge of the world increases, the idea of ‘the gods’ has diminished, as trust in them is no longer deemed necessary to ones own survival.  In the future, it is my belief that we will have gained so much knowledge about every aspect of life, that the need to trust in a god or gods will no longer be necessary, thus religion practices will become a thing of the past.

For centuries, if you asked someone what caused a thunderstorm, they would probably answer by saying that it was the work of a god.  Today we know what causes them, but for most of history, people could not explain things, such as occurrences (like a thunderstorm) in nature.  Due to this lack of knowledge, many societies had to ‘create’ or put  belief in deities in order to explain why certain things happened. In many ancient religions, there were hundreds of different gods who did different things, because if you can’t explain the existence or origin of something, you believe that a god must have initiated it.  If knowledge equals power, than the lack of knowledge these people possessed ignited fear, so many cultures centered around trying to keep the gods happy.  In addition, the ancient world was a more dangerous place than it is today.  In ancient times, kidnappings, murders, village raiding, stealing and enslavement was natural, and in many societies, a non-biased justice system did not exist. Therefore, in order to try to ensure the safety of one’s self, as well as one’s family, devotion, sacrifice and prayer were given to the gods in order to try and gain favor.  The thought of having an all powerful being watch over you was a comforting thought if you felt that you may at any point be in danger. Finally, a certain aspect that was present in the majority of ancient civilizations, was the fear of life after death.  Death, or the underworld, was a place characterized with great fear and uncertainty, so people (naturally) began to fear death, and wanted to believe that it’s not the end.  In turn, many religions encouraged people to do good, or face eternal suffering after death.  This created a sense of devotion to deities, because people wanted to ensure that they would have a good fate after death.

As society moves forward in innovation, we develop a lack of need for a god or gods.  Currently, we can explain how and why many things in nature do what they do, and we have diminished the need to pin our lack of understanding on divine beings.  Especially in western culture, we live in a place where our country protects us.  We have a strict (and non secular) justice system, and pillaging a neighboring village has become less common.  This being said, many people of today do not believe that they need a god to feel protected.  We have began to more and more grab onto the idea that we control our fate. This idea has in response (for many) made the thought of death (and the ‘underworld’) less daunting.  Many religions are becoming more ‘loose’, and people will claim to be apart of a religion just because their family claims that religion, not because they themselves believe it.  I believe that this will causes a lot of the younger generation to not understand their religion, which makes them feel a lack of connection to it, which will create a sense of unimportance of religion in the future.

Even in today’s world, many countries (especially Eastern countries) still revolve around religion.  I believe that a large part of this is due to the fact that in a lot of countries, development and knowledge has not reached their peak.  When technology and knowledge reaches them in full, I believe that they will begin to let go of religious beliefs. Secondly, it also seems that religion is mainly being driven by the older generation.  As a country ‘westernizes’, so does the youth.  Religious tradition is beginning to be lost as this generation of children are generally less ‘plugged into’ religion than their parents.  With more information in the world, people have become less reliant on gods, and more reliant on knowledge, thus the ‘mind’ in essence becomes a person’s new ‘god’.

 
If society keeps up with the advancements in technology of today in future years, I believe that within one hundred year (so by 2113), those who are considered ‘religious’ will be in a vast minority of the population.  As we become more and more self reliant, we will not need gods to bless us, protect us or guarantee a good life for us-- we will be able to do that for ourselves.  It is my hopes that religion will be preserved and that we will never completely lose that aspect of our lives.