the grass should always be greener on our side

Beyond the humorous exterior of Jim Hall’s Spiderman poem lies a deeper truth that we could all relate to. We all possess flaws that we would like to change, parts of ourselves that we consider imperfect and are often ashamed of. For some it is introversion, others impatience, arrogance, an argumentative nature, a lack of humor, the list goes on. Sometimes our flaws may even be considered something good by another’s standards but for some reason we have a tendency to look at the dark side of things. One way or another we find that the grass is greener on the other side; we find ourselves wishing that we possessed someone else's qualities that we do not have.

Locating your flaws is not something that is terribly difficult, but as I sat in my room reflecting on my imperfections I found the task of making them public rather difficult. Needless to say, the open nature of our English class blogs scared me away from writing honestly. As I mulled over what defect of mine could be credible yet not too personal to expose to around 59 curious students I came to a sudden realization: my worries over broadcasting my flaws to my peers was in itself my biggest limitation, my “fwame-wesistant suit” that I dream of burning. I feel that this “fwame-wesistant suit” is in one way or another shared by everyone out there. At the core of our insecurities is the desire to be able to flaunt our flaws proudly. Think about it--don't we all wish that we could let go of our doubts and expose ourselves to the world as we are? We all wish to be accepted and although we often believe that the easiest way to do so is to modify our personalities to conform to society’s standards, it is probably less complicated to be ourselves. Yes, there will be those people in your life that just cannot seem to get past the fact that you are a bit strange or lack the right kind of humor, but chances are you will find people who accept you for who you are and when it comes down to it, it is probably better if the people you hang out with could not care less that you like to sing loudly at school.

In conclusion, I believe that we should all attempt to wear our “fwame-wesistant suits” with confidence and pride. More often than not we cannot shed the integral pieces that create our characters, for they are our identities and make us who we are. Therefore, what we must learn to do instead is accept our defects and embody an attitude that says, “If you don’t like who I am, then I am certainly okay with that.”

Antigone and the question of pride and

This past week in our English class we were asked to read the play Antigone by Sophocles. The play’s ultimate moral was what seemed to intrigue me the most, for I found it to be exceedingly important:

“Wisdom is by far the greatest part of joy,
and reverence toward the gods must be safeguarded.
The mighty words of the proud are paid in full
with mighty blows of fate,
and at long last
those blows will teach us wisdom.”

Before I could ponder the truth behind this statement, I contemplated Creon’s situation. Was Creon’s tragic flaw one of pride or simply skewed principles?

Upon thinking I found that Creon’s problem comes from a little bit of both those options, but weighs more heavily on his pride. I believe that Creon’s arrogance was fueled by his single minded nature, which saw only one alternative to ruling his kingdom. When his “my way or no way” method of ruling is defied by a woman, the claws come out and the instinct of pride takes over. His egotism hampers his ability to see the illogicality of his actions and thus brings the death of his son and wife, an event that finally cures Creon’s blindness towards reason. Although too late for actions, the tragic occurrence allows him to see his wrongdoings as well as shows the audience the toxicity of pride.

After analyzing the root of the problem, I considered its application to real life. How often do we see pride or skewed principles bring down people? Must we suffer in order to acquire wisdom? I came to the personal conclusion that pride is more often the source of downfall in plays than in life. This is not to say that pride is non-existing in real life but rather that we seldom see someone’s overly haughty nature become the downfall of them. Unfairly enough, excessive pride frequently goes unpunished. On the other hand, single mindedness when it comes to ruling is many times seen as the collapse of said ruler. In many but not all cases, the “bad guys” fall from power as a result of their oppressive laws. Consider if you will, Hitler. Although this may be a cliché example, Hitler can be seen as the quintessence of someone whose clearly inequitable laws eventually brought him down. As an answer to my second question, I think that suffering is not required for the process of obtaining wisdom, but is however often the case. We attain knowledge in many ways, but sometimes the more valuable pieces of wisdom come after some form of affliction. By affliction I don’t mean that death or utter desolation has to happen in order to gain from it. Even something as seemingly trivial in comparison such as getting caught doing something bad can teach us something valuable.

In the end I found Antigone to be an extremely thought provoking play whose morals can be applied in various situations.