Something I learned in High-School

 Hello Everyone,

    It has been a very long time. I don't know why I ever stopped writing these blogs; I love to do it. It is so awesome to have a stream of consciousness and an outlet to express my thoughts. 

    I am in my final days of K-12 education and it is a very weird feeling. I have enjoyed the journey very much and I have really tried to make the most out of it. I mean even the character progression I has throughout the four years of high school have been very important. I went into high school not really knowing who I was or what I wanted and I am leaving high school with a much better understanding of that. Every person I have interacted with, all have taught me a lesson. Some of those lessons are an example of an aspect of them I want to try and emulate and others provide an example of exactly what I don't want to do. When it comes down to it, that's the true value in school. It's not that I haven't become a better academic, because I have. But the social lessons and even lessons learned through playing sports and other extracurriculars are vital to understanding yourself as well as others around you.

    For instance, I feel like I learned more about the functions of government through doing Student Council more than I did in AP Government. I began to understand the complicated process of bureaucracy and that even if you feel like you have the best and most sensible idea, you have to work and compromise with others. It was a hard lesson to learn that others won't always be able to see the value in your perspective, but learning how to show that value to others and also how to compromise when people disagree was something that I feel like I can apply to the rest of my adult life.

 

    The thing is though, that high school is both of these kinds of learning, and they do go hand in hand. Even in this example, I was able to see the different types of government I was learning about in AP Gov come into play, when we were voting on things and seeing the process of how decisions were made. This demonstrates an issue in that school can give you all the information, but it is thinking about and applying that information that demonstrates its value, and most people (including myself in a lot of ways) never give themselves a chance to use what they learned or forget about it before they do. 

    Just like anything else, your education is what you make of it. (Notice how it is make and not made, because education is a life-long journey) In my life, I am trying to leave high school and not forget any of what I learned, whether it was in the classroom or playing sports or in my relationships with others. If I can use what I have learned and apply it to the rest of my life and expound upon those lessons in college, I will be a better man because of it.

Self Reliance is The Key Success

     This train of thought has been infesting my mind more and more recently. After telling my boss about a recent development in my life that I was feeling a bit torn up over, he said, "That's why you just have to rely on yourself". Which at the time I just kind of smirked at and was feeling like that was kind of an ignorant thing to say. But the more I though about it, I realized that he was absolutely correct (to an extent anyway). You have to be satisfied with yourself or at least on the path to being satisfied with yourself  before you become depend on others to be satisfied. 

       

    Relationships end, jobs will lay you off, and in general, all good things will end. That's just how life is though, unpredictable and full of ups and downs. The important thing is to put yourself in a position when the rollercoaster of life takes you on a down, you are in a position to come back up. You can't get so attached to something that if you were to lose it, you can't picture a way you could live without it. These dependencies can get formed around other people, substances, jobs, and many other things. If you lose your significant other, you should be able to appreciate the relationship and move on. If you lose your job, you should consider your value and go look for another job (or even better, employ yourself). The key is to make yourself valuable. If you can make yourself valuable, the relationships and the jobs will present themselves, and you will be prepared to seize the opportunity.

 

    In my own life, I find myself procrastinating to increase my value until the down actually happens. Hopefully others can relate to this, but when a relationship ends, I find then I want to take better care of myself, dress better, and do more things I really enjoy. If I was more forward thinking, I would always be putting those things as a priority. The problem is that as humans, we are likely to grow comfortable with how are life is, instead of considering how much greater it could be if we were to form better habits.  I am currently working in a factory as part of summer internship program. The thing that irks me the most about the atmosphere inside, is not the monotonous labor or the constant loudness radiating from the machines. The worst part is seeing all of the unhappy faces, staring at the clock, wishing their life away for 20 dollars every hour. The relationship between employer and employee seems to be that all of the employees are only satisfied with their jobs because of the paycheck they get on Friday. The employer knows this, and also recognizes that their employees are expendable. I want to get on the intercom one day and just give a rant that everyone should just quit and live a life where they are increasing their value, completing their goals, and doing something they are passionate about. Many of them though are in a position where they rely on the paycheck to get by for the week. They have families to provide for, bills to pay, and other expenses. Through conversations I have had there, all of the middle aged employees who have often worked there for twenty or more years, always stress the importance to me of going to college to get a degree, start my own business, and to use caution to avoid getting anyone pregnant. They have had to learn the importance of giving yourself value and freeing your life from dependencies the hard way. They are now stuck working at the lousy factory, and I take their words of advice to heart.

    I don't want to be stuck in that situation. I want to live my life in a way where I am not dependent on that check to get by or where my own value is based on how much my employer or anyone else values me. I want to be able to rely on myself and be successful in my own regard. You can't cheat the system though, you can't have the rewards of truly being valuable and self reliant without putting in the work to do so. I need to continue to do things in my "free time" like reading, learning to do new things, and just doing things I am passionate about. The goal is to be able to be happy on my own and to consider myself successful, and if I can do that, the money, relationships, and enjoyable experiences are soon to follow.

Stop Letting Your Natural Man Prevail

 Hello Audience,

    I feel bad for my extended absence. I lost touch of my priorities and this blog is actually quite beneficial because putting my thoughts out there helps me think more clearly. 

    I am not a guy who considers himself smarter or wiser than other people around me. I have my dull moments and my absolute boneheaded moments. But, I am a man who can pick up on patterns in my own life and the lives of others around me. Recently, the pattern that has been on my mind is people letting their "natural man" not only be the priority in their life, but also let their natural wants hurt their long term success. Most of you probably know what I mean by "natural man", but for those who may be confused.

“The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The natural man is born with a hard and un-regenerated heart that is not amenable to God and to things of God. - The Disciple Paul

    If you read this and thought "Well, this is just a bunch of religious mumbo-jumbo. I don't consider myself religious and therefor this does not apply to me." Well, it really does. In fact, it applies to even the most atheist non-believing people alive. Granted, I do consider myself somewhat religious, many of the innerworkings of the Christian faith are still unclear to me. Think of "Spirit of God" being the things in life that are truly fulfilling, the things that make you get out of bed happy everyday, the things that when you look back on your life you can truly be proud of. The way I think about this quote, just as Christians believe about the path of getting to Heaven and making yourself more Christ-like in nature, the path to feeling any sort of feeling true self-fulfillment is one that is not only difficult but requires ultimate selflessness, patience, and empathy.

People that embody the "natural man": Greedy Stock Traders, Drug Addicts, Charlie Sheen

    Pleasing the natural man is a road that is easy, comfortable, and can even be very exciting. But, it is one that won't provide any sort of true happiness. It is a road of finding the next "fix". The next drug, the next sum of money in their bank account, or the next party. When you get this "fix" the joy or relief you may feel is short lived and you will inevitably come to desperately searching for your next "fix". The problem with this way of life, is that drugs, money, and things of that nature come and go, They won't help you through your lows, and they won't help you achieve the best version of yourself. Prioritizing these artificial sources of fulfillment is a quick way to introduce corruption and struggle into your life. 

    The common misconception is that having these artificial sources is not a problem on the path to achievement. Time after time though, I have found in my own life and in many others people lives, that you can't have a ball in both courts. People don't realize the control these things take on you. In my own life, I have had my struggles with prioritizing these distractions. Every time it is the same process, I pursue things that provide artificial sources of happiness, I feel unbothered by it and don't recognize the way it's holding me back, and then, out of the blue, I get a rude awakening and have to reevaluate my life and change my priorities. I have gone through this with vaping, partying, money, and even within relationships. I always regret my pursuit of things of the natural man and always wish I would have had cut these things out of my life and pursued more meaningful things. Things that are truly valuable to me are things like genuine interpersonal relationships, achieving things in my education, and teaching myself new skills. It is hard to do these things when you are worried about things of the natural man. Whether you realize it or not, these distractions are holding you back more thank you think, and soon one of these rude awakenings will present itself and you will be left with just regret.

    The road less traveled, the road that leads away from the natural man and the artificial sources of happiness is not at all easy. Whether it be following that diet, missing those parties, or putting down the drugs, the struggle of keeping a long term perspective will test your commitment. You cannot get rid of the urges of the natural man, only learn how to control them and resist them. For me, it has always worked on a system of replacement. When I feel the urge to go out and drink with friends, I go to the gym instead. Turning down those invitations are hard, but going to do something that makes you better physically as well as clears your mind, leaves me feeling more fulfilled in the end and regret free. Fill your life with people and pastimes that make you better, and put you closer to your goals, and the future you will thank you. You may miss the pursuit of the natural man in the beginning, but in the future you can look back on your life and be proud of the person you have become. My natural man is testing me every day, and sometimes he wins. But, what's important is making the conscious choice to recognize those things as beneath you and to keep that long term perspective with every decision. Ask any recovered drug addict or formerly obese person how hard it was to give up their vice of choice, but then ask them if that choice was the begging to a happier, more fulfilling life. My challenge to myself is to further subdue the wants of my inner natural man and to spend more of my valuable time in doing things that move me a rung up the ladder on the path to true achievement and fulfillment. Don't waste your time on things that leave you feeling empty or detracted, use your time to do something meaningful.

An Essay I Wrote for Art Class- The Philosophers Lamp by Rene Margritte

  

The Philosopher’s Lamp-Rene Margritte

The Philosopher’s Lamp is an oil on canvas painting masterfully created by Rene Margritte during the Surrealism movement. It was created in 1936 and was a departure from the Art Deco style that was popular during the 1930’s. Rene Margritte was commonly known as the grandfather of the Surrealism movement with his work challenged people’s preconceived notions of what art should look like and be perceived as. The Philosopher’s Lamp is full of symbolism and is not only interesting but also applicable even a century later.

Even at a quick glance, the content of The Philosopher’s Lamp is full of  visually interesting details. According to renemargritte.com, The Philosopher’s Lamp is a self portrait of Rene himself. The well groomed yet saddened man depicted has an exaggerated nose that is wedged into the end of his own pipe that he is smoking. To the left of the piece observe a lit candle on a simple table. The candle, however, runs down the leg of the table and we cannot see where it starts. This scene is set on a simple solid background which is a dull and saddened blue.

The visual elements (aka form) that make up The Philosopher’s Lamp unveil incredibly intriguing messages hidden beneath the visual surface. Looking at the piece and pondering the meaning behind the visual elements is what the goal of Surrealist art really was. The artists created pieces, Margritte’s in particular, tht used ordinary objects that were depicted in very unordinary ways. Illogical proportions and various juxtapositions give Surrealism its unique appeal. Such as in this piece, where the man’s nose is very large or the candle being very long and soft.

One message I was able to take away from The Philosopher's Lamp, was one of irony. The Philosopher's nose being in the end of the pipe that he is currently smoking signifies that he is asking more questions than he is answering, and that he is stuck in a somewhat pathetic loop of meaningless thought exploration. I think this depicted message is applicable to current aspects of our culture, with so many people being so concerned with just hearing themselves speak or appearing intelligent that they fail to do anything meaningful. One source though, takes a slightly different interpretation of what the unproportionally large nose being in the end of the pipe meant. “By painting the man taking the tobacco in such a way, and by making him appear to be sad portrays the message of Magritte's awareness to his own addiction to pleasures (such as smoking a pipe)” (rene-margritte.com). While it’s not the message I took away, I find that there is validity in this message of addiction in this interpretation. This message is just as applicable to our current culture, with too many people putting value into “pleasures” than accomplishments and leaving us overall unsatisfied.

The oddly shaped candle that provides a dim source of light within the piece is also symbolic. What is it symbolic of? Well that’s the real question, and just like the pipe, it has a few different interpretations. My initial interpretation is that the candle burning down was a representation of making progress, and that the reason it was so strangely long was to represent that making this progress is just a path to asking more questions and needing more answers. This connects with my previous thoughts revolving around the pipe and nose. “The candle is a representation that although sometimes life is not clear, one can try to at least see the imperfections clearly. In this case, the imperfections are shown through the theme of addictions.” (rene-margritte.com) I can see how this message is one that could be taken away and it does connect with the overall theme, yet it is not one I really took away by just observing the piece. 

Overall, I believe this piece is supposed to make the viewer reflect on what is really important in their life. It reminds me of the age old question of the value in happy ignorance versus the value in well informed misery. We are all philosophers to some extent and all face life with different questions and goals. What I was able to take away is that it is critical to ensure that you are asking meaningful questions and doing things with the purpose of achieving something. Otherwise, you will be in a wild goose chase and left distraught, just like the depiction of himself in The Philosopher's Lamp.

The Death of Network Television

    The ages of TV being the main way we consume media are long behind us. The younger generation is more likely to spend hours watching short videos made by teenagers on TikTok rather than Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. This chart from Buisness Insider shows a very clear distinction; Network TV (NBC, CBS, etc.) is being consumed majorly by the older generation. Now, surely there are some confounding variables, such as older, less active people, have more free time on their hands than their younger counterparts. Also, traditional network television is what the older generation grew up with, making it their pass-time of choice.

George Jefferson- one of my favorite
characters to ever be on TV

    It is an important distinction to make that the older generation flocks to television for a reason. It is because they got to witness the rise and golden age of TV firsthand. Shows like Saturday Night Live, The Jeffersons, and Seinfield all swept over the nation in the late 20th century. These shows are now known as classics and are all prime examples of shows that were produced in this "golden era." But why? Well, these shows all did something new not only for the landscape of television at the time but also for culture. Take The Jeffersons for example, telling a story of a strictly African American family that didn't rely on blatant racism to be entertaining but rather clever writing, loveable characters, an absolute banger of a theme song, and most importantly powerful underlying messages the audience could take away to their own lives. These shows were so culturally impactful that people would carve out time in their schedules to sit and watch the shows with their families or even alone. It reminds me of the movie Rainman, in which the protagonist designs his schedule strictly around the TV shows he needs to watch with his TV schedule taking absolute priority. People were so invested that they felt like they could literally never miss an episode.

    Network TV now however SUCKS. They have lost the connection with their audience, they get way too political, and its just blatantly atrocious. Shows like The Neigborhood tell a story of a stereotypical white family moving into a stereotypically black neighborhood. While the concept alone isn't great, the execution is unimaginably worse. It feels as if it was a show written by a group of uninspired aliens or maybe some sort of artificial intelligence script writer. The jokes all rely on stereotypes to be funny, the characters are terribly written, and overall it hurts to watch. Seriously, Google some scenes if you aren't familiar and you will surely understand my sentiment. What hurts the most, is it just communicates the lack of creativity and originality the younger generation is lacking. Networks don't know how to connect with their audience and writers have seemingly just gave up in trying.

    The generational divide of TV really displays itself when you compare streaming services to traditional networks. It is obvious that the networks don't understand how to connect with the younger audience that is slowly slipping away. However, streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are putting out made-in-house shows that the younger audience is going crazy for. Shows like Outer Banks, Stranger Things, and Narcos are all sweeping the nation like the "golden age" shows before them. Streaming platforms have cracked the problem the billion dollar networks before them seemingly couldn't, in getting the younger audience truly excited about TV. They are also having to deal with a whole different playing field. One oversaturated with on-demand entertainment from social media, video games, and Youtube. The streaming giants are putting in all the time and money necessary to keep their shows original and entertaining though. Additionally, they do not have to play by the same convoluted rules their major network competitors do which increases their freedoms for creative expression much greater. This becomes very obvious when watching a product of a streaming service side by side with a product of a major network; it just feels like they are made using two completely different formulas. One of these creative formulas is definitely showing its age and in turn causing a loss in younger viewership.

    In conclusion, I don't know what the point of writing this was, however my motivation is when I sit down on the couch after dinner and bare witness to the current atrocities on TV. I just can't help but wonder who the target audience for these shows is and seeing the lack of creativity and originality makes me sad for our current generation of people. Network television slowly being phased out I think accurately displays the shift of power from generation to generation we are currently going through. 

 

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The Start of chancecarter.net

     I love my blog. I want other people to love my blog. How does one go about growing support for their online blog? Slapping "chancecarter.net" on a few sweatshirts and giving them to some friends came to mind. A few iron on transfer sheets and a trip to our local consignment store later, hoodies were made. This, was a great idea. By 12:00 o'clock the next day I had ten people lined up to buy one. I wasn't even planning on selling them, but who am I to not supply a demand? Granted, this endeavor is not making me any profit because I am literally selling them for what they cost to make. But it's not about money, the thought of people wanting to wear a sweatshirt that I designed promoting a website I created is much more exciting to me.

    In a few short days, this blog has already given me the opportunity to get a taste of what it is like for people to show appreciation to something you have worked to create. Even if someone told me that no one would ever read these blog posts, I would still make them. I like sitting down with my thoughts for a couple hours and turning them into something I can put out into the world. I think many people have the inner age to create something but then never end up acting on it. Even if you are creating something that will never see the light of day, it's the process of taking an idea and turning it into a tangible thing that is valuable. Never really thought of myself as a blogger, but have always felt this general urge to create. So why not act on it?

    This post makes me sound like this blog is now some sort of hot craze that's sweeping the nation, when in reality one of my three posts has a record high of 100 views. I am not going to become a millionaire from chancecarter.net, and it's not gonna make me internet famous. But, what it does have the potential to do is get people thinking and maybe even inspire some people to act on their own urges to create. If anything, this should show you just how easy it is to turn your thoughts into something. 

    Anyways, if you want your very own "chancecarter.net" swag I will be posting a link to purchase them shortly on to the site.