Bike Trip

(This may seem personal, but bear with me)

Over the past summer, my parents confronted me by saying that I needed to do something that would really bring me out of my "shell". They proposed that I go on a trip of sorts. So I did some researching (by that, of course, I mean Google) and I found a popular hiking/biking/service program called Overland that stretches across the United States. I was enticed by the "American Challenge". This is the trip where bikers cross the United States (literally from ocean to ocean) with 2 leaders and 12 high-schoolers. When I told my parents that I wanted to consider this, they asked me: "Why this trip?" A valid question; and one I didn't have an answer to until reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, History. Emerson says that one should learn from experiencing life, not by reading about it. He says: "Civil and natural history, the history of art and of literature, must be explained from individual history, or must remain words" (7). Of course, Emerson is talking about history, and not a bike trip, yet I still feel the same message applies. One cannot learn about himself by going through the motions at his old life. That is why my parents offered the suggestion of a trip in the first place! Emerson keeps me in check by writing in his other essay, Self-Reliance: "He who travels to be amused, or to get something which he doesn't not carry, travels away from himself...Traveling is a fool's paradise" (34). Aren't I traveling to gain confidence? This quote unnerves me because I feel that if I go on this trip, and gain nothing from it, it will be a waste. I am not going to study, to do service work, or to learn from art, as Emerson qualifies that past statement. I am at a standstill as to what to do. Maybe I should be a little bit more self-reliant, and decide for myself!

If anyone who reads this has done any trips with Overland, please comment on what you thought of it!

The Self-Reliant President

While reading the immensely "dense" text of Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson, I deduced that this essay was meant to help a person going through a questioning time in his/her life. I define "questioning" as a time when one questions their beliefs, their morals, or their way of living. It is a guideline of how to live "correctly", according to Emerson. Anyway, while reading this essay, couldn't help but to look at the world around me, and wonder who needed Emerson's help the most. Senat... excuse me... President-Elect Barack Obama's name came to mind. He is going to need to rely only on himself during his term. He has to single-handedly bring the U.S. out of an economic nightmare, manage the war in Iraq, and stop global warming (all the while living up to the gigantic expectation of him because he is the first black president). He has to be self-reliant or he will be a huge bust. He cannot listen to everyone's opinion. He has to continue to do and begin to do whatever he said during his campaign. Take a note from Self-Reliance, Mr. Obama. Emerson says:" Trust thyself...Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being" (20). What Emerson is saying here is that the "Great men" of their time have known that they aren't perfect, but they trust themselves enough to take control of a situation, and they always go with what their heart tells them to do.

Perspectives

This has been an eventful year for Trevians.

Rev. Meeks came to protest school funding, the stock market plummeted (which directly affects North Shore children), and the New Trier soccer team won the State Tournament. That's a big year for us, right?

However, this has been an even more eventful year for the world.

An African-American has been elected president. Just think, roughly 40 years ago, the civil rights movement swept over the United States, which eventually led to total equality throughout this country. Barack Obama even mentioned the story of Ann Nixon Cooper in his victory speech. She is 106 years young, and she cast her ballot last Tuesday. She was a woman who was around when African Americans were segregated, brutalized, and looked at as inferior. She is alive to see a fellow African American become president. Not too long ago, there was a hoopla over Ruby Bridges going to an all-white school. She is even alive to tell the tale. I guess the point I'm trying to make with this post is one of awe. I encourage you to take a step back, take a deep breath, and look at your life compared to that of 1965. Kinda puts the State Soccer Tournament into perspective, huh?

Last Place Isn't What It Used To Be...

During a class discussion on the short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the issue of equality was immediately raised. I'm not going to bore you with the entire discussion, because you were there, but for those of you who were spacing out, I'll give a brief overview of what led up to the point of this post. I think Mr. Lawler said: "Remember when you were 7 and playing in a soccer tournament? Remember how everyone got trophies at the end? Is this total equality? Is this good or bad?" Again, sorry Mr. Lawler for probably butchering the fantastic point you made, but I got the idea through. Anyway, this got me thinking: "Is competition good for America?" I know most of you don't like the opposite of America's Capitalism (Communism), but our society breeds kids to do anything to win. These kids will likely end up leading our nation through businesses and corporations. Think Gordon Bombay in The Mighty Ducks.
I'm not saying that there shouldn't be winners and losers, but I am simply an advocate of giving trophies to all the players participating in the tournament. On a bigger scale, I have to be careful. Yet I still try to keep that mentality when thinking about the stock market crisis that has seemed to disappear from the headlines of newspapers. For instance, I think the Bailout Plan should have been passed. I think the innocent people who invested their money in a "fool-proof" company should not be punished the way they did. I think that everyone deserves a trophy. Even if it is for last place.