Letter to Cormac

Dear Mr. Cormac McCarthy,

I recently read your book The Road, and I must say that I enjoyed it quite alot. The dark and apocalyptic mood was very powerful and I think your overall message of what would happen if there was a disaster was very clear.

I do have one complaint, and that is your writing style. The lack of punctuation is very, very annoying and I was confused often throughout the book. The style is unique but not enjoyable. Also, I think that you are a bit pessimistic in your view of what would happen after the apocalypse. While I agree life would be hell, I don't think that all morals and rationality would be lost like we see in your book.

I hated the way you didn't include punctuation and eveything was clumped together, but I really liked how you described the world that the man and boy had to survive in. While reading the book, I could vividly imagine the rotting and cold world. When the man and boy were in trouble, I could really imagine their distress. Kudos on your descriptions.

In the end, I liked your book and your descriptions and theme, but remember for next time: puncuation is your friend.

Sincerly,
Jakub Mulica

Our Meaning

What is our meaning? What is our significance? We as people can do many things that define us and have great significance. I wonder what our generation's significance is, what our great fight is, what our meaning is in pages of history. The generation from the 1940's had WWII, 1950's had the Cold War and the baby boomers, 1960's had Vietnam and hippies, etc. Everyday, we continue to do things that shape what our meaning is. Every action we take helps define our significance, every decision has an effect.

All of us our looking for our purpose in life, our meaning. One of the most mind boggling questions is what the meaning of life is. What is the meaning of our lives? I think the drive that pushes everyone to go to college is to find that purpose, why when we go and change things in our lives, it to find our meaning. Having a purpose to life is one of the things that people most often go and look for.

Personally, I believe that our meaning in life, by “our” I mean the whole human race, is to further advance our race. What I mean is that every person should attempt to reproduce and keep human beings alive and not allow for us to die off and to create new technology to help humans and the planet as well as keep us healthy through medicine and fix the environment. That is our overall purpose, but every individual is looking for their own special meaning to life, that purpose that we all seek to have our lives have meaning.

God in 2010

God in the year 2010 is a symbol of hate and intolerance. What I mean is this, we watch the news and listen to Christians denounce homosexuals and Muslims, and claim that all their ranting is for the glory of God and that they know exactly what God wants and God clearly doesn't like gays or Muslims. That is only one example, another is when terrorists claim that God wants them to kill dozens of people or destroy America. God is suppose to be the divine being who humans can pray to, have hope in, and rely on in times of trouble. God and what God is suppose to be about has been perverted to an extreme level.

Hearing stories from the Bible and listening about the mercy and love of God is what I think of when I think of God. But this God that people are claiming is supportive of hate and killing is unfamiliar to me. Muslims, Christians, and Jews all belive in the same God but they have different theologies and rituals. God is the constant, God is the uniter, but in 2010, God is the biggest divider. God is no longer the symbol of love, God is the symbol of destruction because everytime there is a tragedy or catastrophy, it is God's doing. God has been reduced to what people say God is, changing and distorted by man. In 2010, God is a lie.

Candide's Punishment...Does it Fit the Crime?

Hell no! His punishments do not fit the crime. The Constitutional amendment that says that you are protected from cruel and unusual punishments should have been applied to Candide, because he got his ass whooped more than what should have been. First, he tries to kiss a girl and gets kicked out of a castle because his family is missing one courting? Well, that sucks, but he did try to hit on the his daughter so whatever.

Next he joins the army and goes for a walk. So maybe he should do some push ups or ran a couple laps for going for a walk, right? Nope! They make him run the gaunlet TWICE and he gets all the skin ripped off his body. For what? For taking a stroll on a nice day. And the worst part is that they were going to take his life if he didn't get lucky with meeting that king. Really? The death penalty for a walk! This punishment definitly did not fir the punishment to any degree.

The next time he got punished, he had just survived a shipwreck and was with his man, Pangloss. The natives decide its a good idea to sacrifice people to stop earthquakes. So they kill his mentor and publicly flog him for “listening with an air of approval". REALLY? Candide's life SUCKS, he gets such physical damage for actions that don't even warrant them. Do the punishments fit the crimes? HELL NO.

Modern Day Gadfly

Socrates was an annoyance to the people in authority when he was around because he questioned the social norm and made people think a little more than they usually did about very basic things and even more complex things. A person today who questions and is socratic if you will is Dave Mustaine from the thrash metal band Megadeth.

Dave Mustaine is the chief lyrisist, vocalist, and rythym guitar player in the band. Ever since the realease of Megadeth's first album in 1985, Mustaine always is asking questions about what is going on, usually his songs cover political and social issues. "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying" was a song that made you think about something we take for granted, our freedom and the price we pay for our "peace". Megadeth's fourth album is called "Rust in Peace", which is a phrase used for when they disarm nukes. "Holy Wars" is an intense look at jihads and religious conflicts over the world. The name Megadeth comes from a term mega death coined by a politician to describe a nuclear strike that kills a million people.

Dave Mustaine has been asking questions and writing politically fueled songs for decades now. Megadeth's new album is called "Endgame" and the title refers to a documentary under the same name which stated that former Preseident W. Bush signed a secret act that will create concentration camps and get rid of our basic liberties. He writes these things to try to teach the public similarly to how Socrates did.

The Unexamined Life Not Worth Living?

Is the unexamined life worth living? Socrates's quote gives us plenty to think about. I believe that unexamined life IS worth living. To me you have to think about what it means to examine a life and why is life only worth living after you examine. To examine one's life, I think you have to look at your experiences and what you have accomplished in your life and what you plan to do in the future.

Life is brutal and if you had some hard times in life, examining them will help you learn from those mistakes and advance as a person. But a person can live without examining his  or her life and live in a sort of ignorant bliss. If the person is happy and satisfied living without thinking about their life, then they have every right to do it.

One can see where Socrates got the idea that the unexamined life is not worth living, that if a person does that then he or she is blind to truth and lives their own life with a blindfold on. I think that you should examine your life to prioritize your life if anything and you can positivly affect it too. Is it worth living? I think it is but why live in a a cage when you can open the door and go anywhere you want to? Just some food for thought, something that maybe Socrates would appreciate.

The Eulogy of Jakub Mulica

Jakub Mulica has been taken from us, forever gone and away. Too soon has he been taken, he had many things left to accomplish if not for that freak trampoline accident. But in the time he was with us, Jakub was a laid back dude, just living life from day to day. He liked to just relax and chill whenever possible. Sitting back on a soft couch, munching on some food with some buddies, just playing videogames or watching the TV was one of his favortite things to do.

While he received some awards for good grades and academic studies, Jakub's Little League 2nd Place stands out from the rest and during his life, he liked that trophy. That reminds me that Jakub was an avid sports fan, especially when it came to Chicago sports. He loved all the teams, Da Bears, the Bulls, the White Sox, and the Blackhawks. The Cubs...not so much. Jakub was also a great fan of the English football, or "soccer", team Liverpool.

One of the greatest things about Jakub was his strong love and admiration for his family. Jakub loved his brothers and would do anything for them, to protect them and help him. After all, they are his littles brothers. Jakub was Polish and loved his native country of Poland. He visited it many times and would have again if not for what happened.

Jakub was well liked by his friends and he will be mourned. He is hopefully in a better place now...we hope.