Analects Books 7, 8, 11

While reading book seven, more specifically article 3, Confucius talks on how he is fearful of not living up to Virtue or that he will not be able to recognize where he went wrong. I believe that this is something very common on all of us, because its just normal for us to be stubborn and never want to give in, even when we are completely aware that we are wrong. We are far too proud. It was also interesting because it shows that Confucius did have a flaw, he was vulnerable, or that he sometimes could act in the wrong way.

In article 10, Confucius says that he cannot sing the same day in which he previously cried. I found this very confusing, because I see no reason for it. Life is very short, we are supposed to enjoy every moment of it, right? I don't believe it's wrong to choose to leave sadness behind, forget about it and move on, not drool over the bad events that happened even a few minutes before. I always choose to give small importance to things I do not enjoy or like, so it is easy to see that I do not agree with Confucius on this specific topic.

Analects Books 4, 5, and 6

Tonight I wasn't able to read very far before I stumbled across something worthy of writing about. It was while I read the introduction to Book Four, where it describes the "supreme virtue of Goodness, and those who are Good love the Confucian Way". I misread the word Goodness and took it for God, and it wasn't until I realized that God had nothing to do with Confucianism that I had to re-read it and understood my mistake. However, what was interesting about this accident was the fact that it made me realize just how similar the words Good and God are. It made me wonder if the word God comes from Good. Now, I don't know about time periods, order of events or translations, but it would make sense, seeing that the Church has always described God as the most virtuous being, a noble and generous superior, although a thorough examination of certain Bible parts have made us realize that this is not always so. It is curious, though. Perhaps it is some kind of subliminal message.

Paraphrasing Excersice

1. "The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera. "The cold ocean water around Antarctica flows north to mix with warmer water from the tropics, and its upwellings help to cool both the surface water and our atmosphere. Yet the fragility of this regulating system is now threatened by human activity." From "Captain Cousteau," Audubon (May 1990):17.

The cold water surrounding Antartica travels north, mixing with the hotter water in the tropical areas, making the water on top and our environment cooler. This is why the Antartic is such a big origin of cold weather. However, this process is being interefered in a negative way because of our recent relationship with the environment. (Audubon, 17)

2. The twenties were the years when drinking was against the law, and the law was a bad joke because everyone knew of a local bar where liquor could be had. They were the years when organized crime ruled the cities, and the police seemed powerless to do anything against it. Classical music was forgotten while jazz spread throughout the land, and men like Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie became the heroes of the young. The flapper was born in the twenties, and with her bobbed hair and short skirts, she symbolized, perhaps more than anyone or anything else, America's break with the past. From Kathleen Yancey, English 102 Supplemental Guide (1989): 25.

A time of change in America were the 20´s. Although drinking was illegal, anyone did it anyway. The police did not rule the city, criminals did. Classical music was now a thing of the past, making jazz the most popuar music genre. The "flapper" was now the fashion movement that almost every woman was following, and perhaps it was this that was the biggest separation with the way things were done before. (Yancey, 25)

3. Of the more than 1000 bicycling deaths each year, three-fourths are caused by head injuries. Half of those killed are school-age children. One study concluded that wearing a bike helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent. In an accident, a bike helmet absorbs the shock and cushions the head. From "Bike Helmets: Unused Lifesavers," Consumer Reports (May 1990): 348.

More than half of biking-caused deaths lay their guilt on head concussions. Exactly 50% are kids that are small enough to be in school, but this can all change. More than 80% of these accidents to the head can be prevented by simply wearing a helmet, because it will reduce the shock to the head and at the same time act as a pillow. (Consumer Reports, 348).

4. Matisse is the best painter ever at putting the viewer at the scene. He's the most realistic of all modern artists, if you admit the feel of the breeze as necessary to a landscape and the smell of oranges as essential to a still life. "The Casbah Gate" depicts the well-known gateway Bab el Aassa, which pierces the southern wall of the city near the sultan's palace. With scrubby coats of ivory, aqua, blue, and rose delicately fenced by the liveliest gray outline in art history, Matisse gets the essence of a Tangier afternoon, including the subtle presence of the bowaab, the sentry who sits and surveys those who pass through the gate. From Peter Plagens, "Bright Lights." Newsweek (26 March 1990): 50

Henri Matisse manages to capture real life in his paintings, making you feel as if though you were at the place of his paintings. Two of his most remarkable works are "The Casbah Gate", a painting which shows the gateway Bab el Aassa, and the painting representing a Tangier sunset and the guard of the gate. (Plagens, 50)

5. While the Sears Tower is arguably the greatest achievement in skyscraper engineering so far, it's unlikely that architects and engineers have abandoned the quest for the world's tallest building. The question is: Just how high can a building go? Structural engineer William LeMessurier has designed a skyscraper nearly one-half mile high, twice as tall as the Sears Tower. And architect Robert Sobel claims that existing technology could produce a 500-story building. From Ron Bachman, "Reaching for the Sky." Dial (May 1990): 15.

Some say that the Sears Tower is the best piece of skyscraper engineering, but some disagree. However, what matter is if the engineers will attempt the construction of an even higher building. William LeMessurier, a structural engineer, for example, is attempting the making of a building two times the height of the Sears Tower, while the arrchitect Robert Sobel says that technology today could produce a tower 500 stories high. (Bachman, 15)

Job 17- End

It's interesting that Job feels that God has limited human intelligence when he sits down with a couple of his friends to try to figure out why his life is turning out to be so miserable when he has done anything but sin. This is interesting because of two things. Supposedly God created humans as an exact replica of him, but as we saw in Genesis he didn't want us to be equal, he still cared about being the mightiest of all. I believe that our intelligence is limited, but we have never come anywhere near to filling it. What I don't believe to have limits is human curiosity, which in a way helps us become more intelligent. The other thing that I considered was the fact that Job was sad because he had not done anything wrong. I believe that most of the people today that encounter daily sufferment, such as hunger, violence, mental problems, or near-death encounters are just like him, people who have not sinned but sadly have terrible destinies. I also think that many of the people who have it all under our materialistic eyes are dishonest, uncaring, and plain bad people. However, they have anything at their disposition, while good people who technically deserve what the rich person has can't even imagine all of the luxuries these people have. This is terribly unfair, but sadly, the truth. This is why I tend to believe that what happens in the lives of people are not realted to the sins you do during your life, but rather by simple luck. Maybe Job is wrong, it has nothing to do with him. But at the same time, maybe things were different in his time.

Job 1-17

All of the chapters on Job deal with the bet that God and Satan made over the honest man. Personally, it amazes me that God, the so-called noblest and wisest of all you play with the life of a human just to win a bet with the devil. It also amazes me that he would even talk to Satan, I always figured that they had no way of communicating with each other, that they did not keep in touch. But what surprises me the most is the fact that he decided to toy with the life of someone who was loyal and completely devoted to his God, someone who despite all of the hardships in his life had chosen to remain faithful to his beliefs. This should be the tyoe of persons he sould be protecting, not harming. It´s somehow like in the movie "Stranger Than Fiction", where the author Karen Eiffel chooses at the last minute to save her character, who also happened to be a real person, from a tragic death because she decided that a person who would sacrifice himself for her book is the kind of person you would want to save, not kill. I wish God was more like Karen Eiffel and less than, well, God.

First Book of Samuel

Chapter 25 Verse 2: There is a mention about a place called Carmel. I wanted to point this out because the most "famous" only-Jewish club in Bogotá is called the Carmel club. I never thought this its name would come out of the Bible or that it had any holy connections, but it does make sense. The point that I am trying to stress is that I am coming to realize that many more things than what I thought actually come from the Bible, starting with clubs all the way to my English teacher´s name. It´s interesting to see these connections.