Monday, January 12, 2004
Life is Good
Today actually went pretty well. I found out that I made in the 98th percentile on the PSAT. This means one of two things:
1) I really am a pretty smart guy.
2) What people say about America is true. I'm not that bright, it's just that the majority of Americans are stupid.
The only really bad thing that happened was that I found out that I did my Spanish work completely wrong. So did the rest of the class. The teacher chewed us out like we're all a bunch of morons for not being able to understand an assignment she didn't even explain how to do. Now, if only a few students did it wrong, then I might be convinced by her implication that it's all our fault. But if nobody did it right, it seems like she ought to examine her way of teaching instead of our way of learning. It took her 45 minutes today to explain the assignment she discussed for 20 seconds before the break, and some people still didn't fully understand. Surely that says something.
Other than that, life is good. Really good. I feel happier and more at peace than I have in weeks. Who knew school could actually be something positive?
A random chain of thought I had: the phrase "thank you" should not exist. The only reason people say it is because it's polite. It's polite because it implies that the person being thanked has done something good. The deeper connotation: the world is such a horrible place that good deeds must be formally acknowledged. Does that depress anyone other than me? In an ideal society good deeds should be so common that no recognition of them should be necessary. The words "thank you" should have no meaning. It's a pity that the phrase is still required even among Christians, isn't it?
In other words, if anyone who reads this one day meets me and I don't say "thank you" for something, don't consider me to be rude. All it means is that at the present moment I'm feeling rather idealistic.
Yawn. Time for bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be as good as today.
1) I really am a pretty smart guy.
2) What people say about America is true. I'm not that bright, it's just that the majority of Americans are stupid.
The only really bad thing that happened was that I found out that I did my Spanish work completely wrong. So did the rest of the class. The teacher chewed us out like we're all a bunch of morons for not being able to understand an assignment she didn't even explain how to do. Now, if only a few students did it wrong, then I might be convinced by her implication that it's all our fault. But if nobody did it right, it seems like she ought to examine her way of teaching instead of our way of learning. It took her 45 minutes today to explain the assignment she discussed for 20 seconds before the break, and some people still didn't fully understand. Surely that says something.
Other than that, life is good. Really good. I feel happier and more at peace than I have in weeks. Who knew school could actually be something positive?
A random chain of thought I had: the phrase "thank you" should not exist. The only reason people say it is because it's polite. It's polite because it implies that the person being thanked has done something good. The deeper connotation: the world is such a horrible place that good deeds must be formally acknowledged. Does that depress anyone other than me? In an ideal society good deeds should be so common that no recognition of them should be necessary. The words "thank you" should have no meaning. It's a pity that the phrase is still required even among Christians, isn't it?
In other words, if anyone who reads this one day meets me and I don't say "thank you" for something, don't consider me to be rude. All it means is that at the present moment I'm feeling rather idealistic.
Yawn. Time for bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be as good as today.
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 1/12/2004 11:54:00 PM 
