Monday, April 20, 2020

Thoughts of Life and Death

Passion. Courage. Conviction (not the word that means convicted of a crime).

These words are largely subjective--which means everybody's definition will be based on their own experiences and personalities.

That said,  I would like you to look them up before you answer this week's blog question.
Once you do that, consider the following:

1) What is it in your own life, this life that you have been given, that you would die for?  Is it different than what you live for?



2)  What is your passion; what gives you courage; about what do you hold an unshakable conviction?


After you have considered these two crucial questions it is then time to ask yourself where these notions came from, and when you first noticed them enough to have the awareness to answer this question--and of course, write about that as well. 
Deeeeeeeeep......

18 comments:

  1. Passion often gets misused but just like other words we all have our meanings. Jesus for instance in the literal definition of passion. Who heard of a person dying for the enemy or ask yourself this would you die for your enemy? God had a passion for all of us and he died for us. I know this is said many times but we don’t realize that enough. To answer the question of what I would die for? Jesus because he gave his life for me now I will give my life to him. Dying for him is living for him, following Jesus means not being conformed by this world or as we say in this generation being transformed by this society. I am willing to live for him by spreading the gospel as he did and to follow his commandments. It's not easy and we as humans get confused and the thing we are under a strict God. But that's not the case, that's why he sent himself as a human being because he knows it's hard. God doesn't like slavery so we are either all in with him or we have the choice of opting out. We were given free will. To sum in other words what I'm dying for is what I'm living for. Everyone knows who my passion is because I love to talk about him every day Jesus, and I will continue to talk about him. But other things I'm passionate about is my future. 2008 I was a little boy sitting on the grey carpet in front of my mother Tonya Lovell Curtis. She worked with babies and when she told me her stories I was inspired to become one. An OB/GYN is my passion, just bringing life into the world is so beautiful and it's something that never gets old. Just the fact a human being crafted inside a woman's womb is such an extraordinary experience. I was 6 when I decided to become an OB/GYN and now I'm here 17 years old still with that mindset working hard to make my dream become a reality. There were people along the way who doubted me becoming an OB/GYN, one of them being obvious, I'm black. But I remind myself they don’t hold my future, my enemies don’t hold my future, the haters don’t hold my future. God does and each time I thank him for the opportunity God has given me and it's nice to know he’s expanding my plan. God gives me the courage and that drives me to work hard every day. My conviction is God and because I uphold it as a strong belief the enemy or the devil is trying to attack me first. But I am covered by the armor of God. I was never persuaded to be a Christian because of my parents or church. God met me on a personal level and because he did I follow him. Nothing will ever change my mind whether friends or family. This took me all day to come up with answers with these questions. But what helped me was meditating with the word of God to come up with these answers. God spoke to me through his word and some of the videos of Thomas Frank I watched which is a YouTuber I recommend. Yesterday I was inspired, I organized everything and wrote work on my calendar and deep cleaned my room. One exigence that helped me work on finishing this blog was what I wrote on the posted note last night. “ Why am I working hard”?

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  2. When I think about my life, there is honestly nothing I love more than my family and my best friends. Those are the people that I would die for and I know that they would all do the same. I think that I feel this way just because I have a big heart. When you truly love someone, you would do anything for them. These people have always been there for me when I needed them and for that I can never thank them enough. Of course, I also live for my family and friends because they are the people who support me and make my life into what it is. Some other things I live for though are volleyball, drama and lacrosse. These are also some of the things that I am most passionate about in my life. I first started doing drama in sixth grade and right away I knew that it would be something I’d be passionate about for a long time. I started playing volleyball and lacrosse in high school and they have not only made me a better athlete physically, but have taught me a lot about myself. Besides sports and activities, I am definitely the most passionate about my future. Everything I do is working towards my future in some way. If my future doesn’t work out the way that I have planned, then all of the hard work that I’ve done would be for nothing. It sounds harsh, but that’s just how I think about it to motivate myself I guess. Because I want to achieve my goals so badly, it gives me courage to continue working hard. One conviction that I have always held myself to is that hard work pays off. It keeps me motivated and passionate about school and my grades.

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  3. I live for learning new things everyday and generally being engrossed in it and I would die for my family in order to protect them. My passion is for basketball as its the thing I enjoy talking about the most. Even though my love for basketball is somewhat recent, I have really gotten to learn so much about the sport's history and its stars. My past experiences give me courage, as I use them as inspiration for striving to better myself. We all make mistakes, but we learn from them and it makes us better people.
    I hold an unshakable convention for being true to one's self, as it's something that I find important to the pursuit of happiness.
    A lot of these feelings and principles were newly found, and sort of represents the person I am at the moment.

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  5. If I would die for anything or anyone it would be my mom. My mom is extremely important to me. She is the reason I push myself to work hard everyday and she is such an inspiration to me. She always does so many things for me and my siblings and I can't thank her enough. My mom put herself through medical school and is a nurse practitioner. She inspires me to be apart of the medical field and help people just like she does. My passion is to achieve that goal. I want to graduate medical school and become a doctor to help others. It is something I stress about on a daily basis. I easily beat myself up when it comes to school so getting through medical school would be such a huge achievement for me. I live to achieve the goals I have always wanted to accomplish. I want to be able to look back at what I did and be proud of myself just like how I am proud of my mom.

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  6. The word “passion” can have a variety of definitions, as it depends on the context. I mainly take it as having strong emotions reflecting an intense desire, and when you’re passionate about something, you really care about it, and put all (well, most) of your emotions into it. I feel like you have to be really passionate about something (or someone) if you’re willing to die for it (or them). I, for one, would definitely die for my family. They’ve been there for me since I was born, and I’ve always felt safe around them; I’m mainly talking about my mom, dad, sisters, and grandparents (even though I only have one left). They wouldn’t abandon me, like many people you would consider “friends” do. Family is forever, and no one can really escape that. Even if you don’t have the best relationship with your fam, they’re still going to make up a part (no matter how small) of your life. My entire family shaped me to be who I am today; they basically “created” my life, so I would end it for them if it came down to it. There’s a certain quote that I actually really like and it says: “Live for what you love, and die for what you’re unwilling to live without.” I wouldn’t want to live without my family, just because they’re really all I have, and I can actually be myself around them. I live for them, truly. They’re honestly the only reason why I’m alive right now, because everything else in life is kinda shitty. My family makes me feel loved and appreciated, and I wouldn’t have a “life” if they weren’t in it. I often think about who would miss me if I died, as well as the reasons that I have to live. The only big thing that comes to mind is how torn apart my family would be. That’s why I live; to surround myself with those who care about me and will love me unconditionally. My passion actually grew from my family, and the hardships that they’re had to endure. When I was little, I soon realized that my passion was making those around me feel better, and to heal others. I saw so much pain in my dad and my sister that I wanted to grow up and be the person to take that pain away; I was passionate about going into the medical field. That passion is still there, as it always has been, but now it’s a little foggy. I’m still not sure about what exactly I want to do with my life, but I still want to impact the lives of others, and make my family proud. They’ve given me courage to push on through everyday, and to work hard for my future. They’ve provided me with endless amounts of love and support to do whatever frightens me, and they’re there with me every step of the way. My family also has shaped my convictions, my ethics and morals that are most important in my life. One strong example would be how you should love yourself the way you want others to love you, which my mom always told me. She helped me love myself, and taught me how to allow others to love me too. As I said repeatedly, my family shaped me to be who I am today. They’ve shaped my passions, given me courage when I was afraid, and formed my convictions, and I will always live by that, and for them. These notions came from my family, as they’re the answer to everything. When I saw the blog topic, I already knew that I wanted to write about my blood, for all of the reasons listed above.

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  7. I’m not really sure all of the things I would die for. I know for sure, I would die for my parents if it meant that I would be protecting them, as well as my brother. I love them so much and we have been through so much, so it would hurt me to think about how they would act if they lost another child, but at least it would be different. I wouldn’t want them to go through more pain than they already have. When I do meet someone I love (in a romantic way), I would probably die for them too if it meant it would protect them and if it would lead to their eventual happiness. Another thing I would die for, even though it is not possible, is for Josh. I would do that if he could come back, if my parents could see him again and talk to him to help him get through what he was going through. It wouldn’t be as hard to lose a child when you know what happened and why they died, so it wouldn’t be as hard to lose me if I was killed in an accident or something. It’s just hard to understand why he did what he did because he seemed like he was happy and he had so much going for him. If we could learn what was hurting him so much, it would be painful information at first, but I guess it would at least give us more information. There are other things I would die for, I just don’t know how to put them into words. These things are the same as the things I would live for, except there is so much more I would live for. Life is precious so it is important to appreciate it. There is so much to live for, even when it may not seem like it. I just hope everyone realizes that. I have always felt this way, but these feelings were elevated after losing my brother. I love helping others and bringing people happiness. I love spending time with my family and baking for others. If I can brighten one person's day, every day, it will make a difference over time, and it may be really big to that person. I’m not really sure what gives me courage. It is kind of a combination of things that rotates depending on the situation. My brother is my main drive because he is no longer here to speak out, so I do it for him, or I at least try to. I STRONGLY believe that people should do what will make them happy, and also in the saying “my body, my choice”. If everyone did what made them happy, such as being who they are(sexuality, gender, etc) without judgement, then more people will be happier. Also, it is my body, so I can do what I want with it and no one should tell me that I can’t do what I want. When I say this, I mean like abortion, body modifications, etc.. I have always believed this because it’s not fair to control someone else's actions, especially if it helps them. I just want everyone to be happy and comfortable with who they are. I really started noticing this belief in the past couple years as more people are protesting about it, but especially my belief about abortion. I reallllllyyyy noticed how I felt about abortion (how I think it should be aloud “pro-choice”) when the deacon at my church began to talk about how it was wrong and how he was providing very false information. He kept talking about how babies were being killed up until the day they would have been born. This is not true, since people can only get an abortion up until a certain point in their pregnancy, and even at that, it is not a baby yet. It is at most a fetus, but usually a cluster of cells. If it can not live outside of the mother’s womb, it is not technically a baby, so if that person chooses to get an abortion, they are just removing that cluster of cells.

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  8. I am not sure of what I would die for. I lost so much in my short time of life. I lost friends, mentors, and family, but I still power through and live my life. I am not numb to the feeling of lost each one it hurts. To be more specific for those who believes I am over my head. I lost my swim coach to cancer. I lost my friend in his sleep. I lost my grandmother to heart failure. However, their teaches and lessons I still remember and apply to this day. Their memories and lessons live through me. I wouldn't die for just one thing or person the wisdom from my mentors, family, and friends that in itself is a gift. This accumulation of lessons and stories creates my principles for life. Therefore, I would die to keep these principles. The principles of looking at everyone as an individual, everyone desires a second chance, family is the most important, patients is a virtue, keep an open mind, and treat everyone equally. These are a few principles that make up who I am. Without these principles there would not be Maxwell Tran. In true honesty I live to help others. My dream is become the greatest doctor on the Earth. Now, many people may not see me as the "caring type" I will tell you this the people who truly know who I am might tell you otherwise. This is my passion this what makes me happy. And I have faced my own trial of setbacks my 8th grade english teacher recommended I would never become a doctor in my future. I take that personally because if she thought that. How many more think the same? It brought doubt within my head, but my family the ones that have been me through everything. My mom, dad, and brother have supported me and encouraged me to become what I want to be and never lose focus from that dream.

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  9. Without a doubt I would die for parents, although I am positive they would incest it would cause them more pain then if they were to be the ones that died. I would die for my best friends, they have gotten me through some of the hardest times in my life, even if they don't know it. I would die for my significant other, for the obvious reason, love. And of course, for my brother. I always tell him I hope I die first before him because a world without him in it would be to horrible to bear for me and I don't know how I would recover. You would only die for someone if you truly love them and I love all of these people and how lucky am I to have so many people to love that much. Extremely. My passion is helping and nurturing. I have this unbearable need to always take care of something or someone. I like to help and take care of people. This is why I want to be a labor and delivery nurse in the future because I know that I will get to help that baby when it needs it most. It can't care for itself and needs someone to help untrue it. Another thing that I am passionate about and gives me courage is love. What can I say, I am a sucker for love. Love is at the basis of so many things. I truly believe that love can cure and conqure. I know a lot of people think love is just a bunch of bullshit but I don't see it that way.

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  10. Just like almost everyone's response I would die for my family. By family I don't just mean blood, I mean my best-friends, there parents, and anyone that I truly love. In reality I have a pretty small direct family, but a pretty big family that I chose. Now mixed that with what I'm passionate about, and it's pretty much the same. Ever since a young age I've always been passionate about growing up and going into the military. This main reason why is because my older cousin Josh who I had looked up to my entire life had joined right out of high school, and ever since I've been set on that. As I got older and had questioned my parents on what their parents did, and the parents after that, there's a very long line of veterans on the male side of my family tree, skipping over my dad. Hearing the stories from my grandfather, and the stories from my mom, form her grandfather, have always sat deep in me. I'm pretty sure that's where I get my patriotism from. I've always felt that doing that is my calling in life especially after any military based movie, I'm ready to get up and go enlist. The thing is I know what the outcome could be, but that doesn't make me scared. I haven't been scared of the idea of death since I was probably 10, now don't get me wrong when in a situation that's life threatening of course I've gotten spooked, lol. For me to go overseas, or even to be in the National Guard in the States, and God forbid I need to be activated for a domestic problem, if I have to put my life on the line to save my family, your family, or any American... I'm going to do it every damn time. I don't know if this is a blessing or a curse, but it's who I've become, and there no turning back now.

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  11. I had to think about this blog a lot. I knew what I lived for almost right away but I couldn’t think of anything that I would die for. That’s when I realized that they were the same thing. My family, my best friends, and I don’t want to admit that this is included in this list but my education. These three things are the reason that I am the way I am today. I would go through hell and back for the above things and I’ve already been through a lot for all of them. Something that gives me courage is the love that surrounds me. I have so much love in my life from almost everyone in it. I have my family, my friends, my boyfriend, my teachers, and so many more people that love me. They are the reason that I keep moving through the worst situations in my life. I can’t let them down so I keep pushing. Something that I have an unshakeable conviction for is there is always a reason to do something good. I have tried so hard to always remind myself of that because it is really hard for me to understand sometimes. When I make a pros and cons list I always start with the cons because I can find more but every so often I remember that one good thing and I end up making a great decision. I’m terrified to go to college but I see how my brother has become a better person because of that experience and that is what will get me through the fears. I’m always scared to let people into my life but then I remember that they could be the one to help me.

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  13. After thinking about this blog for some time, I came to the conclusion that the only thing I would die for is family, without a doubt for my brother and grandmother. Honestly, with the pure heart that my grandmother carries, she would never let me sacrifice myself for her, but if she ever needed something like an organ I will be at the hospital donating mine within seconds. My brother, on the other hand, hasn’t truly experienced life and I would and will do anything I possibly can to make sure that he experiences true happiness one day. When I get older and create my own life, I will make sure to take care of them. That is another thing that makes me want to be so successful, I want to be able to take care of my family. Not that they can’t take care and provide for themselves, but in a sense I want to give back to them for always giving to me. It blows my mind at how loving my grandmother is, and I only hope that one day I can love my children the way she loves me. When it comes to passion, the only thing I am passionate about is being successful in the future. When I say successful, I don’t mean rich or famous, I mean comfortable enough to not have to stress to pay for necessities, being surrounded by positive energy, especially love, and being truly happy. I want to be in love with what I do for a living, find someone and start a family, make more close friendships, the ones that could be bridesmaids at my wedding, and to have my loved ones close. I want to be surrounded by love. I am passionate about becoming successful. I have heard so many comments about my passion, both negative and positive. Sometimes, I get compliments like “I love how devoted you are, I wish I could have your work ethic”, but I also get criticized “Why are you crying over school? It’s just school, you care too much. School is only an escape for you.” But it is so much more than just an escape, it is a place I know that can lead me to where I want to be in life. Knowing that I am smart and that I have a future has stopped me from making very stupid mistakes. Keeping in mind that I have the opportunity to live the life I dream about keeps me going.

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  14. When I think of my life, and what I grow up with, I think of my family. My two amazing siblings that I grew up with, and my two parents that I am so grateful for. I live and die for my family. They're everything to me. They're there for me through everything, and have dealt with me for so long (which most people can't do). Haha, but anyway. What I'm passionate for is, dance. I've been dancing since I was about 3 or 4, and I couldn't imagine doing any other sport growing up. Dancing helps me calm my emotions in the right way. By expressing my dance moves and just being in my own head without a care in the world. Dancing makes me happy. It gives me courage walking out on that stage and giving my absoulte all in all of my dances that I've ever performed. The rush in my body before taking over the stage also makes me very confident and ready. I've been passionate about dance my whole life, so that never changed, and my family, I've felt like that way my entire life also.

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  15. The word passion can be misleading and give people the wrong effect. When I think of my life, I think of my parents. They have been there through every breakup, anxiety attack, cheer competition, dance lesson, literally everything. They have to be my best friends because I tell them everything like everything because they do not judge me and they are very understanding. Those two are my rocks and I rely on them with so much. They never disappoint and they are very generous to my brother and I. I know that they would do anything for us. They put up with us and I could never thank them enough. I am very passionate in perusing my career choice. I would like to go to college and major in child studies to become a high school guidance counselor. Too many kids come to school upset feeling lost with no one to talk to and I want to be that person that they can go to. The person that makes them laugh and feel better when things are doing downhill. From there I would like to be the cheerleading coach there and give those athletes the best 4 years that they can get.

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  16. I would die for my parents. They have done a lot for me in my 17 years, and I will never be able to thank them enough. They struggled to make ends meet throughout my childhood, but I still always got what I wanted. They worked overtime and picked up second jobs to make extra money to move us out of Pleasantville, so I could be in a better environment and get a better education. When my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I felt guilty for all these things because I felt like I never appreciated them and now I could be losing my father. Luckily, it was caught early on and he was treated and cancer free within less than 6 months of being diagnosed. When I went through my first major loss, they were there for me more than ever. They picked me up early from school when it hurt too much, they talked to me for hours while I cried, my mom even slept on the floor in my room the night it happened to make me feel safe and to be there for the several panic attacks I had. They have taught me so many life lessons,given me everything and more, and I'm so grateful. My passion is to help others. I am a helper, I continuously put other peoples needs and feelings before my own. It gets me hurt sometimes, but when it pays off, there's no greater feeling than knowing I helped someone in need. My mom constantly tells me I can't save everyone, but I'm willing to try to save everyone who wants to be saved.

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  17. Besides my best friends or anyone that is close to me, I wouldn’t know who or what else I would die for. However, to live for something is so much different. I wanna live to make more memories in life to achieve the many things I want in life ; college, getting my dream job, mortgaging a home, buying a car, getting married, kids, going to bars (oopsies, but had to be said), and growing old with my best friends. One of my passions is to draw. Lately being in quarantine, I started to take most of my time to start drawing again. This was the first time picking up a pencil in years. I stopped drawing because I never had the time or I just felt that what I was drawing didn’t have meaning. However, I picked up a pencil and started drawing like crazy. I drew out how I felt and it was great. My only motivation is to keep going. Around this time in 8th grade, my only best friend took one too many pills. He was the only person in the family who didn’t look at me like a 5 year old; didn’t boss me around, kept me in check, knew what was going on and how to help me understand certain things. He was like an older brother to me and when he passed, I lost it. I didn’t talk to anyone for a couple of days, held in every single emotion that I could, and started giving up. However, I realized that Ben wouldn’t have wanted that for me.

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  18. I would die for those I love. I know it’s a boring answer, but it’s the truth. There are a plethora of people in my life that I would be willing to end it for, because they are what I live for. I feel like the case for everyone is you would die for what you live for, no matter what or who that may be. That’s the poetic part about life. I think I came to this realization at the same time I realized I loved each of these people, it just comes as a part of the process for me. The moment I decide I truly love you is the same moment I decide I would lay down my life for you. For that reason, I always knew the answer to this question. My passion I would say is poetry or writing in general. I have such strong feelings attached to it and love doing it more than anything. Writing fills me with strength and courage. I came to this realization this year I would say. I knew because before I discovered my love for writing, I never felt anything like it before. I led a passionless life until I got into poetry, that’s how I can tell that it truly is my passion. I have strong conviction towards it, it will never change in my heart.

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