Symbolism Poem

Conflagration

whisper

it delicately dances
trembles before breeze
gleams through shadow

hum

it sluggishly crawls forward
pushes against former boundaries
conquers inch after inch

chuckle

it expands and it matures
infects prey with increasing vigor
stretches ambitious tentacles and flexes

carol

it bursts into a joyous song
harmonizes uniquely with the surrounding life
revells in sweet and reckless freedom

roar

but elation evolves into an all consuming wrath
writhing greed erupts and challenges once peaceful Pan
defiles devours destroys decimates dissolves demolishes until

on blackened field

spent by passion

it releases a

sigh

Death of a Salesmen Blog

Linda Lohman's American dream is a perfectly cooperative, loving, and unified family. She is willing to bend to the wishes of others in order to promote this. She constantly attempts to mend the relationship between Willy and Biff. She despises strife and at one point in Willy's flashback she asks "why are you fighting?" At another point she says to Biff, "No, Biff. You can't stay here and fight all the time." Linda Lohman is passive and she wants her household to live in accordance to this; with pathos. Because of her character, Linda acts as a doormat and the reader often sees Willy "walk" on her.

In the end, Willy's tragedy is Linda's own. Not only did Linda lose the husband that she loved unconditionally for countless years, but she lost her perfect family. Willy and Biff were never truly brought together, and now a gaping hole has been blown in her family with the suicide of Willy. Linda's tragedy plays into the Central theme of the play. The Failure of the American Dream cannot be grasped by Willy through successful buisness, by Biff through fame glory and money, or by Linda through a spotless white picket fence family.

My American dream is not nearly completely formed. At this point, I'm hoping to go to college and enter a major that capitalizes on my strengths of writing and speaking. After this I hope to either get a masters degree or enter a career field that I truly enjoy. Hopefully I can progress far enough in this field to be able to support a family. Much like Linda Lohman, as futile as it seems, I hope for a happy family. Nobody is perfect, least of all me, but I hope that I can work hard in order to be able to create and support a family built on the foundation of God's love.

Picture walk

First of all, let me express how relieving it was to go on a walk by myself.  I know this sounds bad, but I have constantly been with my family for more than a week now, and it was nice to be able to enjoy the peace and solitude of a walk in nature.  There really was no other choice for me, I love nature.  Because of this, I went to lake Youngs and walked and ran for several miles there.  One of the reasons I like lake Youngs is because there are usually very few people there.  This was even true on new years day which was a relief to me.  Most of the pictures I took possessed some symbolic value to me.  I'll explain them, and I won't let you draw your own conclusions from them, because that would be somewhat postmodern.  Anyways, this first one with the contrasting fences made me think of how God makes what is old and decaying into something new.  This also is significant to me because I watched the builders replace that very fence as I ran by several months ago.  the second picture reminded me that we need to hold on to what we know is right whether or not others are doing the same.  I had to take this third picture because no matter how monotonous life is sometimes, there is always a splash of color somewhere, even if it is just a beer can.  This fourth picture made me think of all the times I passed a no trespassing sign while running at lake Youngs.  It reminded me that in a few months I am going to leave what I know and am familiar with, and venture into unknown places and experiences.  the last two pictures are of the steepest hill on the trail.  Even though we sometimes face struggles, we can always conquer them with the help of our heavenly Father.

Antigone

"Is he not my brother and yours, wheether you like it or not? I shall never desert him, never"
Antigone

This quote essetially defines the entire play.  Because of Antigone's determination to bury her brother, Creon is forced to make a choice between his pride and his family.  This really does bring the whole thing down to the pride verses what is right issue however.  Antigone says that she will "never desert him." This is a moral call on her part.  Antigone knows that it is right to bury her brother, and she is going to stick to this no matter what.  Creon on the other hand is driven by pride and a wish to maintain authority in his new city state.  Because of these two opposing forces, the whole play is a clash of wills

I believe that just as Antigone made a judgment call and decided that burying her brother was right, so we should be able to decipher morality, and decide what the right choice is based on God's word and our innate "Moral Law."  Also, just as Antigone stuck to her decision to bury her brother, so we should stand through persecution for what we think is right.

Thoughts on Mere Christianity

"It is therefore, in my opinion, perfectly right for a Christian judge to sentence a man to death or a Christian soldier to kill an enemy.  I always have thought so, ever since I became a Christian, and long before the war, and I still think so now that we are at peace.  It is no good quoting 'Thou shalt not kill.'  There are two Greek words: the ordinary word to kill and the word to murder.  And when Christ quotes that commandment He uses the murder one in all three accounts.  Matthew Mark and Luke... I can respect an honest pacifist, though I think he is entirely mistaken." (118-119)

This passage from Mere Christianity shows that C.S. Lewis disagrees very strongly with pacifists.  It seems like deep down one reason for this might be his British heritage.  The British have ever been a warring nation, and there are many more pacifists in America than in Britain.  One of the main reasons C.S. Lewis brought this up is most likely because there was a massive war in Europe about seven years prior to the writing of the book.  Because of this war, many people were probably sick of killing seeing death.  This might have led to an influx of pacifism.  The truth is that if the allies had not defended against the axis threat, there would have most likely been even more bloodshed, and the world today would be ruled by the Nazis.  For this reason, C.S. Lewis countered pacifism in a very strong and very biblical way.  When the bible says do not murder, it is proved to mean just that by the original Greek.  Murder and killing are two very different things, and as C.S. Lewis said later in the chapter, sometimes it is a person's noble duty to kill, in order to protect other lives.

I completely agree with C.S. Lewis's view on this topic.  After all, where would this world be without the noble soldiers who gave their lives in order to protect the freedom of America and many other countries.  I certainly hope that I am never called to take another man's life, but if i am, it would not be the first time God called a person to deal out death.  We see countless occasions in the Old testament where God commanded his servants to kill His enemies, and it is easy to see why.  In this wicked world their are many people who can only be stopped by lethal force.  But above all other things, we must remember that God is the one who should be directing our sword, not ourselves.  

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