Freshmen

             Dear "Underclassmen,"

                I have only been in High School for four years but, in that time i have accumulated some semblance of wisdom to share. My first piece of advice is to get accustomed to your environment, this means learning how your schedule works, where all of your classes are located, and a place for you to eat your lunch. Second, start introducing yourself to people but be cautious, some of these people are parasitic and should be kept in the "school friend" zone i.e. at a distance. Don't worry too much, depending on who they are and whether they are good people, it is morally acceptable to dump them later. the third and the most hard piece of advice is to really begin to understand yourself. In my opinion, to do this is to understand what is good for you. For instance if someone isn't good for you, knowing yourself and what you need from a friend can help you to realize this.this applies to everything you wish to achieve.

TED talk

In his TED talk "A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success", Alain de Botton goes through many reasons for why you may be facing what he calls a "career crisis", anxieties about how successful you are. Throughout all of his reasons, what remained constant was his belief that Society clouds our perspective of achievement. For instance, he believes that because we are told that, through a lot of hard work, anyone can achieve anything, we are made to believe that if we become unsuccessful, we didn't try hard enough. In addition, he adds that due to us living in a meritocratic society, or at least one that seems like a meritocracy, we are meant to feel that if someone doesn't get to the top is thus meant to stay in the bottom and deserves to stay there. In this, he stresses that achievement is not always merited but rather, it can be accidental or random. Although I know most of what Botton was talking about in this TED talk, I still felt a little relieved to know that someone else agrees.

This took forever

            

           With his menacing mechanical breathing, his signature black helmet, and his crimson lightsaber, there is no questioning why Darth Vader is the most iconic movie villain in the world. His reputation as a cold-hearted killer composed of nothing more than machinery and hatred, only further cements this as we see Vader strangle, maim, dismember, and slaughter men, women, children, enemies and even allies all throughout his time as a Sith Lord. With all of this in mind, how could anyone think that this ruthless bastard is anything but evil, pure unadulterated evil?

              Before he was Darth Vader, he was Anakin Skywalker, a boy born a virgin birth on the desert planet of Tatooine. On Tatooine, Anakin was a slave and was forced to work in a junkyard for most of his childhood. It was only when Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn learned of the boy's unusual birth, that Anakin was freed from slavery. Soon after Skywalker's liberation, Jinn brought him before the Jedi Counsel as the Chosen One and wished to take the boy as his apprentice. The Jedi Master's request was denied at first, but upon his death, the Counsel allowed Jinn's former apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to train Anakin.

             During his time as a padawan , Anakin began to have dreams about his mother in danger. Going against the Counsel's orders, Anakin ventured to Tatooine to discover that his mom was captured by Tusken Raiders. Tracking her down to the raider’s village, Anakin found her too late. Anakin, enraged at the loss of his mother, used the Dark side and slaughtered everyone in the camp. After this, Anakin began pursuing the knowledge to cheat death.

              After serving the order as a one of the most successful Jedi Knights, training an apprentice, and being the chosen one, Anakin, who was already a member of the counsel, wished to be promoted to Master, but was declined. Adding to his distrust of the counsel, they instructed him to spy on Supreme Chancellor Palpatine who, as Anakin’s confidant and the hidden Sith Lord, decided to take advantage of this. When Anakin started getting dreams of his wife dying, Anakin became increasingly paranoid and would become obsessed with learning how to stop her death. Palpatine would use this paranoia to seduce Anakin over to the Dark side, and have him turn against his Jedi compatriots resulting in the destruction of the Jedi Order and Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader.

                 Darth Vader didn’t just come into being because Anakin was evil, but because Anakin was mentally unstable. Throughout his entire life, Anakin was not in control of himself. As a kid, he was actual slave. As a jedi, he was expected to follow his destiny as the Chosen one and to adhere to their strict doctrine. Later, his fear of death was used by Palpatine to control him. And then, the dark side’s influence made him kill his own wife. After being disremembered and burned, Palpatine would control him through Skywalker’s faulty life support system. 

Venezuelan Rising

  The crisis in Venezuela is a war of conflicting ideologies between the Venezuelan people and their Government. Simply, the Venezuelan people are suffering under an oppressive, neglectful regime in which the peoples' wellbeing is put into jeopardy. The people, daily, are faced against murder, crime, and neglect by their entrusted government. The authority aims to control all protests and any disagreement to their agenda is met with violence. This conflict of interests, for lack of a better word, is an external struggle in which the Venezuelan people have fought for what they have lost due to their government's negligence. 

  Venezuela has "the most important petrol reserves" placing this resource at a high value which, logically, would provide a secure economy for its people (Venezuela Rising). Despite this, "Inflation has reached 45%" due to the Venezuelan government's choice to sell petrol to the United States and importation of food which "has completely destroyed national production" (Venezuela Rising). With this loss of of national production, life for the Venezuelan people has become reliant on its government. The government has handicapped the nation's ability to provide for itself. 

Nicolás Maduro is the president, by definition, of Venezuela. In practice he behaves as a dictator. his career is polluted with political corruption. Using his paramilitary biker gang called The Collectivos, he rules with an iron fist over opposition. Through murder and violence The Collectivos, and by extension Maduro, quells this so-called "revolution". Even though many civilians are dying by this militia of sorts, there being 350 murders in June of 2014 alone, Maduro blames the revolution for the casualties. Opposition politician, Leopald Lopez was arrested for arson, conspiracy against the government, and terrorism charges on the 18th of February, but he was only found guilty of public incitement to violence through supposed subliminal messages (Venezuela Rising). To summarize, Maduro has proved to be nothing but a delinquent leader. 

  The conflicts depicted in Venezuela Rising are external, between the civilians of Venezuela and the Government aimed to oppress them. The loss of life, economic stability, and humanity has left the country in shambles. The government is actively alienating its people, thus isolating the government from its country. The only emotion seeming to be lacking from this situation is guilt. The government shows no remorse for treating its people as cattle.