Somebody needs to be abandonned in a third world country me thinks.

In fact..

What Shelley would do:

Turn in the car, get a full-return of the purchase price and seek out the nearest charity that would accept the amount to purchase clothing, food, and other living essentials. Then I would send that child with the supplies to Africa to hand them out personally.

To say.. Oh, Ughanda to all the orphans.

Or perhaps all of the starved people in Kenya suffering from AIDs.

I wouldn't send my kid to an extremely dangerous location like Darfur or something, I'd accompany them. But I'd force her to hand out each piece of charity she purchased with each time she called me a cunt for giving her a lexus at the wrong time.

Ruining her party.

Ruining her life.

Maybe then she could see what ruined lives *really* look like as she wears her SPARKLY tiara and spends her birthday giving away her gifts.

*snort*

Beauty of women throughout the ages

Different shapes, shades, sizes and all lovely.

Yesterday I was speaking to one of my coworkers about a book that I've been reading recently. Mind you, he's an incredibly intelligent and devout Mormon, but he's an intrinsic Christian that is generally disgusted with many of his fellow members for their extrinsic qualities.

In the introduction and first chapter of this book it discusses the nature of how the Greeks percieved and acknowledged their gods. The author specifically states that they were anthropormorphic and lacked the eventuality of mortality, hence they were fundamentally inferior to humans. They lacked the ability to risk because they could not lose everything as a result of their actions. More specifically, their lives since they were immortal.

The idea that they only meddled and did what they did out of boredom instead of actually striving to better themselves or out of duty is appealing to me for some reason.

I told my co-worker that I liked the idea of anthropomorphic gods over the ultimate godhead/god that had reached perfection in all ways.

By god he gave me the weirdest look. He was truly perplexed that I would take an imperfect and passionate god over a perfect god.

Truly, what is perfection?

To me, seeing and acknowledging that a god/goddess had human qualities and made mistakes is easier to inspire someone to become a better human being. It's more incredible, to me, to compete and to openly acknowledge a likeness unto a divine figure than it is to try to relate to a figure that you've been told has reached complete perfection that asks not to be questioned.

A lack of inquiry tends to create great ennui for me.

So instead of having someone lead by example, having someone who is still quite openly capable of faults and passion seems to inspire greater qualities.

I guess I don't understand the appeal in forever, eternity, and striving for ultimate perfection because I don't see how perfection is even possible on all planes and levels of existence for every human being.

What is perfection for me?

What was perfection for Hitler?

What is perfection for the guy that made my coffee this morning?

What was perfection for Helen Keller?

What is perfection for that random guy I sat next to on the bus in Italy?

What is perfection for you?

Last year I had the privilidge of speaking to Dr. Jennifer Hecht and watching her interact with a devout member of the LDS faith. She didn't understand the concept of wanting forever and perfection either. The woman kept insisting that she would eventually live forever with everyone she loved with a perfect body. However, upon questioning of what that meant she couldn't answer with anything beyond "I have trust in my living prophet and his apostles that they know the answer". All she knew is that living a certain standard set by men who listened to a perfect god meant eternal happiness, perfection of body (without flaws or health issues), and the company of everyone who had ever existed or will exist. Dr. Hecht replied by asking if she would itch forever or sneeze forever, or even if she'd have little to nothing to say for eternity.. What does that mean?

This just makes me think of that episode of Star Trek the Next Generation where a member of the Q had become so bored with eternity and having ultimate powers that he willed himself human and committed suicide just to experience something new.

The more and more I read into this, the more appealing it is to me to recognise and acknowlege someone with flaws over someone who doesn't.. it's just unnatural to me instinctually.

To strive and give it your best the only time you have to do it, that appeals to me. To risk and give everything you have into your life, the only one you'll ever get, that is insipiring to me.

What is the appeal of perfection? Avoiding embarassment? Avoiding irritation? Avoiding what exactly? Or is it even avoiding? What does this achieve?

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I'm a writing tutor at the college I attend, and while working I hear the same question repeated over and over again in different forms but it essentially breaks down to this: "What is Rhetoric?"

A lack of focus on critical thinking development in the American Educational system has lead people to the point where they are first learning about this concept in college. I am no exception as I was introduced to this concept only a few years ago. However, ever since then I have become an avid lover and dedicated student of the art of persuasion. My favorite genre, of course, has been visual rhetoric because I am a visual/textual/kinetic learner. Lucky for me, this isn't a common learning combination. So I am unique for my job and easily able to communicate with visual learners struggling with the textual examples required in our English courses.

I'm a translator of sorts.

For these students I generally pull up videos of Gandhi speaking and then bring up a few of Hitler giving political speeches. Just watching the clam nature of Gandhi as he sits and speaks as opposed to the passionate gestures of Hitler will often instantly convey the concept to these students. By using these readily identifiable iconic figures, I have been able to reach the majority of visual learners on the importance of knowing how to analyze rhetoric and how these men employed varying levels of ethos, logos, pathos, and kairos to further their causes.

There are certain students who cannot even understand the meaning of rhetoric at that level. Their minds refuse to acknowledge a difference of delivery between the two figures despite the drastic difference, and how that affected the message.

Until now I just ended up trying to explain it until my face turned blue, but now I think I've found the solution.

Behind door number 1:


Behind door number 2:


Pop culture, Alanis Morisette.. how I adore thee.

"I see the angel in the marble, and I carve it until I set it free."
~Michaelangelo