Spurius

Sometimes, you get the feeling that it would be best if you just disappeared.  Escape what you know, and explore somewhere unknown.  At times, you may feel like you need to close yours eyes to the world and just hide away for a while.  We all run into this feeling, or a similar one at one point in time or another, usually when everything in life seems to be working against us.  These moments that make life sometimes hard to live, and when the future seems to go down the drain.  It is how you treat and handle these, that dictate how the next step in the path of life is to go.

"There is a sky full of stars.  Just because you look away from one, doesn't mean the rest aren't there." ~ Spurius

This quote comes from Spurius, an unknown author of unknown origin.  But, that does not matter, since it is the quote we are here for.  This quote is so vague that it could fit in the context of a thousand different things.  But, this is the very thing that makes it such a great quote.  It reaches all sorts of audiences, and is so relateable in almost in any situation.  

It could fit in a relationship sense.  Maybe that one person you always liked never came back to feel the same way.  Maybe that boyfriend or girlfriend that you thought you would live forever decided that it couldn't last.  That person is the one star that you closed your eyes to, and this can sometimes become a devastating moment, where you think there is nothing left in the world.  But, just as the quote says, there are more stars.  And many of them shine just as bright if not brighter.  

But, it could also fit in a aspiration sense.  There was this one goal you always wanted to achieve, that one thing your wanted, that one experience you wanted to have, you just reach it.  That star was that aspiration, and not achieving it can be devastating for some people.  But, they need to be reminded that there are other goals or things that they can achieve.  Ones that could be even more impactful to their life. 

Spurius, whomever he is, can really express a lot in so few words.  There are endless situations in which this can be applied.  Just remember to open your eyes after you close them.  There is much more to see, I promise.

A Cookie with a Fortune

A lot happens in one year.  We age physically, we develop emotionally, and we learn new things.  We become wiser than before, and more experienced to the world around us.  But, as we reach the end of one adventure, we simply are staging the platform to begin our next.  As school comes to a close for students across the country, we look back and see the valuable lessons we learned, that we may or may not have realized were useful before hand.  And, of course, we have developed unforgettable memories with our closest friends, loved ones, and lost ones.  After a quick lunch at a Chinese restaurant, a Fortune Cookie summed up these in a very efficient way.

"I hear and I forget.  I see and I remember.  I do and I understand." ~ Anonymous

The quote we are covering today is not the one that is in the picture, just as a heads up.  Only the one that is labeled "Anonymous" above.  This quote seems simply like a collection of 3 short sentences.  But they are much more than that.  They act more as levels.  Every single day, you hear things.  Even with your eyes shut, you cannot stop hearing.  There is no way to actively shut it off, without using ear muffs or something of the like.  It is something we can't control.  But, of all the things that you hear, how much of that do you actually remember?  Probably less than one percent of everything you have heard in one day?  Naturally, most of that is forgotten unless it pertained specifically to you.  

The next thing is seeing.  You can partially control seeing.  You can close your eyes to that which is in front of you.  But, no one forces their eyes to be closed forever, unless they are closed and can't see for a reason that isn't something that they have no choice but to live with.  There are things that I have seen in the past that have haunted me to this day.  And other things that I have seen, that the beauty of that person just does not disappear.  It remains, reminding of the good in this world.  But these are all things that I remember when something in a conversation triggers the thought or memory to reoccur.

And the last section is all about doing and not just doing it blindly but doing it with understanding.  When you do something, your not only seeing it, your not only hearing it, but you using your physical ability to do it.  And, in order to do it well, you have to understand what does what.  I know that description is slightly vague, but is a hard concept to put into words.  You can listen to baseball on the radio.  Then, you can watch on TV.  But, it will never be as good as actually playing it yourself, on the field, with the rest of the team.

With the memories that we have forged over the past year, we can count on the future being even greater.  But those memories that you were a part of, will be with you for a life time.

Avoidance

This week we have a quote from a fairly famous person.  You might recognize from his involvement in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies as the main character, Captain Jack Sparrow.  Yes, he is the comical Johnny Depp.  I never thought he would be one to be quoted after seeing his films, since he is always sarcastic.  But, new information to my ears, he is also a musician.  Read the quote below, as I always ask you to do, and think, as usual.

This one struck me deeply when I first saw it.  I have no idea why, but when I saw it, just seemed to fit.  What he says is definitely true, perhaps that is why it sounds so right.  There is the term "turning a blind eye" for a reason.  It usually is so that we avoid doing something we should do or letting something happen that shouldn't.  We have that choice to make that action. 

If there is something we don't want to see, we just simply close our eyes.  Then we can't see.  What we see is the darkness of our inner eyelids.  Perhaps you can see some of the light through them, dancing as you or others around you move.  But what you had seen before is gone, seperated by a veil of skin.  



The heart, however, is different.  You can't hide that giddish feeling when you see someone you care about.  You can't do anything to stop that leap in your chest when its your turn to speak in front of a large audience.  You can't remove the feeling you get when you are embarassed.  You can't hide the joy when something great happens. These feelings just happen.  You cannot close your heart off to them. When you turn a blind eye, its easy to do physically.  But, after that, how do you feel?  In most cases, you might feel regretful or shameful.  You knew what the right thing was, yet chose otherwise.

One might thing that this quote is very straightforward and they would be right.  Yet, this quote is such an interesting realization that most would never think about.  Johnny Depp has a keen way of looking at things.  It is so easy to relate this into your own life, and I hope you found this just as enjoyable and meaningful as I did.

~Lazarus, May your Journies be Daring

Loving Another

This week, we will delve into a topic that people have debated for centuries.  That topic is love.  We have always wondered what it is, always tried to describe it in other words, but there is no better word to describe love than the word "love".  Everyone seems to have a different opinion on the topic and a different idea of what it is, how to attain it, and its purpose in one's own life.  It is one of the few topics that are tangible but theoretical. It also describes something that is very real, but also not materially existing.  The following quote came from a man named Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher.  He also founded Taoism, which is based off of his writings.  Read the quote below and think about it for a few minutes.  Let it bounce around, and see if it sparks any ideas.

Were you able to make sense of it at all?  Does it almost seem pointless?  Or does it make no sense whatsoever?  Is there any way you can apply this to your own life?  I will start with this; I understand that this subject can be touchy for some.  However, it may be worth discussing, perhaps learning something new in the process.

I can quickly associate this quote in my own life, but I myself, am not entirely sure why or how it exactly fits.  We all have parents, and we are told that they love us unconditionally.  It has always been a part of human nature to have a sense of belonging and to have this desire to be cared for by someone and to care for others.  When you do have that sense of belonging, it gives you the strength to go new highs and new distances.  You stop worrying about belonging, and finding a home, and worry more about living your life.  You always know that there is someone who has your back when something goes wrong, and that there will always be someone that will catch you when you fall.  It gives you the strength to make that leap, even though you may not be sure if you can make it to the other side, because you know that there are those that are holding the rope to bring you back to try again. 

That is what it feels like to be on the receiving end.  So what happens to us when we are the delivering end?  According to this quote, it gives us courage.  Courage is another one of those ideas that there are so many different interpretations of.  It's difficult to label exactly what courage is.  It gives you courage to move on in life.  To get through those bad days and to look forward to the next day.  It allows you to know that there is something good in this world, that all is not just full of bad things.  It takes courage to push on in this world.  

Don't forget, that Lao Tzu specifies loving DEEPLY.  I don't believe he means just the everyday talk of loving someone, as we know it, or just liking someone.  He means unconditional and love that is lasts until death.  The care and love you have for someone that you know will never, ever go away.  And not only do you know that it won't go away, but you then experience over the course of the life time that it still remains.  

The Funny Past

In this week's quote feature, we will be taking a look at C.S. Lewis, an author who will be familiar to most of you.  If you don't know who he is, he is the author of The Screwtape Letters, the Narnia series, and Till We Have Faces.  Read the following quote and think about it.

Interesting, isn't it?  Can you relate to what he means?  I know I can.  Every day, I'll come home to my father or my mother asking me how my day was, and I say "good" every single day, because it seems as if the same events happened.  Each day was the same when given little thought at the time.  But now, as a grown man, I look back at my middle school and Elementary years, and it its no longer the normal day that I see.  But a collection days, in which I learned something new every day.  And something different in each of the classes But, that's not how it felt like back then.

I think this is the point he is trying to get across.  Even though it may seem that every day is the same, in reality, it is not.  Each and everyday is important, different, and unique.  This quote doesn't require a lot of translating to understand it fully, as it is pretty straight forward in the message it wants to get across.  I have to say that I have never noticed this, but I do find it funny, now that it has been pointed out.

The Dead End

        Has there ever been a time when you have just wanted to hurt someone?  Not just hurt them because you want to, but because you felt as if they did something wrong against you.  Or, they actually harmed you, not just doing something wrong.  This feeling is most commonly referred to as revenge.  Read the small quote below by Douglas Horton.

Now, think about this for a second.  Dig a second grave?  You might at first be confused, as how would killing or hurting one person come back on you?  Actually, it is very clear and simple.  There has never been a story of revenge that has ever come to make the revengee happy or feel better.  It only makes them feel worse in the long run, even if it does feel good for a second.  All you will do in the end is drag yourself down with the other you are trying to pull down.

This can be seen in Shakespeare's famous work of Hamlet.  Hamlet's father, also named Hamlet, orders Hamlet to take revenge on the man who killed him, which is Hamlet's uncle.  The whole play is based upon this, and Hamlet gets his revenge in the end, killing his uncle to set thing's right.  But, in this heroic tragedy, Hamlet also dies from the poisoned point of a rapier that he had been stabbed with during his sword duel with Laertes.  He literally became the second grave.

Revenge only steeps you down to a lower level than where you actually belong.  Someone who forgives is usually a happier person than the one that seeks revenge and drives himself or herself mad in the process.

Courage

Sir Winston Churchill is a widely known historical figure.  He was the Prime Minister of England during the course of the World War II.  As soon as World War II was over, he was removed from his position at Prime Minister.  Today, we have a quote from him in the image below concerning courage.  Take a moment to read and ponder it.

When I first read this, I was extremely confused.  I view this situation as a classroom, so standing up, sitting down, speaking, and listening are seemingly the four main things that go on during a class period. So, according to this quote, it takes courage to do anything?  That seems pretty odd.  Everything I do takes courage, which I can see as true in a way, but I don't believe this is what he means.  What is it that he could possibly mean by this quote then?

We know, or if you didn't know, that Winston Churchill was a politician.  Throughout his life, some of his beliefs and writings were very controversial in the political community.  When we have a controversy, then there tends to be an argument to which there tends to be at least two sides.  Let's look at it from a political perspective, and a controversial one.  I believe that this quote needs to be split down the middle, since he is talking about two people showing courage in different ways in the same situation.  This isn't advice for just one person.  We begin with a statement that is made by someone in a room.  Now, everyone can just sit there, takes this statement as fact or as the right course of action, without voicing their own opinions.  But, the person who does stand up and speak his opinion, especially if he or she believes it is wrong.  At that moment in time, the opposing person is fighting peer pressure and stepping outside of the norm.  That is the first half of the quote anyways.  

The second half of the quote goes back to the person that made the original statement.  This person could just cut off the opposing person and not listen to anything he says.  Or, he can seemingly listen, but really disregard everything that is said.  In either case, he is essentially ignoring any advice or insight that he, himself, may not have had in the first place.  Therefore, it takes courage to sit down and listen. Actually listen to what is being said, and take it into account.  And, if you are wrong, then it is okay to admit it in front of everyone.  

This just goes to show that there are so many ways to show courage, and each situation will be different.  Each of these people are doing completely opposite acts, but they are showing courage because of the situation at hand.

Chain Image

Mutual Relationships

This week, we go to visit one of our founding father, Mr. Abraham Lincoln.  Surely, everyone knows who Abraham Lincoln is.  We all know of his enormous involvement in heading the Civil War for the Abolotionist North versus the Confederate South.  Mr. Lincoln grew up in Kentucky, before starting off his career as a politician.  He was a very hands on man at home, since his family was not well off, but had to work for a living.  I believe he came up with this quote provided in the Image below.



Think about what you read for a minute.  Can you put it into any context of your own?  I see this as a Mutual Relationship style of quote.  What do I mean by that exactly?  Well, this sounds very familiar to saying that if you take care of something, then it will take care of you.  So, a man needs to proud of where he lives.  Proud is defined as "feeling deep pleasure or satisfication as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closely associated."  So this means that must feel at home wherever he lives.  He has to be satisfied with where lives, and the qualities of this home. If he is proud of his home, he will take care of it, to make sure that those qualities don't go away.

If he is able to take care of the home, then it will return the favor to home.  It will continue to shelter him from the outdoor weather and protect him.  So it will be satisfied with the qualities that this man has and, figuratively speaking, accepts him into itself.  It's a very interesting concept, and one that continues to this day.  I have heard many a time that if you take care of your care, it will take care of you.  And there tends to be more respect for someone who takes care of their things, than someone who does not.  And this idea was even present back in Abraham Lincoln's time.  Are you proud of where you live?  Enough, that it is proud of you?

A Pessimist, an Optimist, and a Realist

This week, we will cover a quote from a TV show that I'm sure most of you have heard of, The Walking Dead.  As a brief background to this moment in the show's history, Carol and Morgan come across a new community that is run by a man named, King Ezekiel.  King Ezekiel, to make things even more odd, has a tiger as a pet.  As you get to know him, you notice he has an almost noble way of speaking and is always saying things in an order that resembles that of Shakespeare.  And he is always spewing out loads of wisdom.  Take a moment to look at the image below.  Ignore the first quote; we will be focusing on the second one.

What do you think?  If you don't know what to think, well, this is another one of his oddly worded pieces of wisdom, so lets pick it apart to better understand it.  According to Google definitions, a pessimist is "a person who tends to see the worse aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen."  As we can see at the end of this quote, King Ezekiel is talking about a path, one that I would say is the path of life.  If a pessimist sees all of the bad things, it would make sense why he is looking down.  And looking down doesn't necessarily mean that he is literally and physically doing just that.  When someone is depressed, we say that he or she is looks down.  I would understand it to be in a similar light as this.  The pessimist is always depressed, and he keeps hitting his head.  On what? I'm not sure.  But why would he hit his head?  Well, if you have ever hit your head on something before, your first and immediate reaction is to look up and see what it is that you ran into.  So, if a pessimist continues to hit his head, it is like something is trying to get the pessimist to look up, and see the other good things in life, and that it is not all bad.  And, to look up, so that he knows where the path of life is going. 

The optimist serves to be the exact opposite.  Also according to Google definitions, an optimist is "a person who tends to be hopeful and confident about the future or the success of something."  So, whereas someone is said to be down, translating to depressed, another common phrase comes in mind here for an optimist.  Have you ever heard someone being referred to as having their mind in the clouds?  This fits perfect.  As an optimist will look at everything that is good, and rarely acknowledge those things that are bad.  So, rather than looking down like a pessimist, they look up, but not straight ahead.  They look up, toward the sky.  The look too high, for they do not acknowledge everything.  Both the pessimist and the optimist do not see where they are going.  The pessimist doesn't know what direction they are going or what is coming in the future, while the optimist doesn't know where they are stepping, and also, doesn't know the future.  Hence, the optimist loses his footing and is forced to look ahead to see where he is going.  But, he continues to bring his or her head back up.

Then, there comes the realist.  A realist is "a person who accepts a situation as it is and is prepared to deal with it accordingly", according to Google definitions.  So, they are not biased to one side or the other, as a pessimist and optimist are.  Instead, he or she removes themself from the situation and see all of the good and the bad.  Therefore, they neither look up, or down, but directly ahead.  They are not fooled by all the good, or all the bed, but see them for what they are.  There are always good and bad things in everything.  There is never something that is purely good, or purely bad.  But everything has good and bad aspects.  Therefore, he or she looks ahead.  They can see where they are stepping, and not lose their footing.  They see where the path of life leads them, so they can change their path accordingly.

King Ezekiel, in as little words as possible, was able to show us the difference between a pessimist, an optimist, and a realist.  In this sense, he very much resembles Shakespeare.  Look at everything we were able to pull from just three simple lines!  It is just as important how he said things, as to what he said.  So, based on all of this, what are you? A pesimist, an optimist, or a realist?

More Training - Less Bleeding

       If you were to get to know me as a person, you would realize how much of a military orientated man I am.  So, this week, we are going to do a military theme.  Many, if not all of you, have heard of the Navy Seals.  If you have not, they are an extremely elite group of soldiers that run highly confidential missions, ones that we will probably never hear about.  The only Navy Seal mission that I know of is the Osama Bin Laden raid, and is probably one of few that are pubically known.  Below, I have one of the many Navy Seal mottos.  Take a moment to read it.

        At first, you may think, how is this possible?  Run with with more ballistic gear?  Wear more armor?  Bring more bandages with you to stop the bleeding?  Where as these all could be the reasons... I don't think that this is the message that the motto intends to get across.
        So, how does one sweat?  Well, your usually sweating when you are pushing yourself to the limits in some sort of physical exercise.  So, if you push yourself in your training exercise, beyond the extent of your comfortable limitations, you begin to work yourself, and build yourself up to be stronger.  The more effort you put in, the more you reward you will get out.  So, "the more you sweat in training," the better you are going to be when you have to apply it in a life or death situation.
    This leads right into the next part of our quote.  Since, as a Navy Seal, you are better trained to handle these situations, there will be a smaller chance that you will be shot or caught off guard in battle.  You will develop this odd sixth senses, allowing you to have more situational awareness.  The harder you work, the less of a chance that there is that you will be found bleeding in battle.

Disclaimer:  All photos used in this blog are meant only for illustrative purposes.  I have no rights to these photos, and the link to their origins can be found below. 

Image Links:

Navy Seal Motto

Eyes - Not a Quote but an Understanding

            Today, we are not going to be covering a quote.  Instead, we are going to cover something that I, Lazarus, have not been able to get out of my head.  It is something that has remained there for weeks, and I need to do something with that thought.  I have decided, that the best thing to do is to share it with all of you. There is more to this than just the science, so read till the end. 

            Ojos.  Oczy.  Les yeux.  Augen.  Eyes.  In whatever language that you want to refer to them as, they are the same thing.  They are those two round balls that are in the smack center of your face, that allow you to see color and all the wonders that life provides.  And they are different for everyone, different colors, different sizes, different pupils, and so on.  A little known fact about eyes, is that they actually don't grow at all.  The size of eyes that you had as a baby are the same size eyes you will have when you grow to be 80 years old.  

            At a recent visit to the eye doctor, I learned a new thing about the eye.  Have you always wondered why they dilate your eyes in the office?  What purpose is there?  To make your life miserable, by cringing every time you walk into the day light or a brightly lit room for the next four hours, right?  Well, depending on the doctor, that may be an exciting side accomplishment, however, it is not the primary purpose.  Actually, if you did not know this, your pupil is not a black circle like it would seem from the outside.  It is actually clear window into the eye, allowing you to see all the way to into the back of the eye.  The eye doctor dilates your pupil so that the window grows bigger, so that he or she can see more of the inside of your eye.  Pretty neat right?  You can see this demonstrated below.

           But, on to what we are really here for.  Have you ever looked into someone's eyes?  Not just glanced, but really looked, stared, held that gaze?  And how many of you look away very quickly?  I know that I have.  What causes us to look away though?  We look away because its awkward.  It makes us uncomfortable.  It challenges us.  And, most of all, the eyes can tell you many things about a person.  You are literally looking into the person after all.

          Staring into someone's eyes has the most interesting of effects.  In movies, at the very climax, the directors begin to drown every noise out, except for the two lovers, who are at the center of attention.  In some, they main character gets caught in a trance, only then to be caught having missed everything the other character had just said.  I had always thought that these type of things were just from the movies and the shows.  But they are very much real!  You look into someone's eyes, and then everything just seems to quiet down around.  You stop listening and you become entranced.  You become stuck, looking, absorbed by those eyes.  There is nothing that you want to do more, except look into those eyes.  You follow them everywhere they go. 

         Then, when you hold that gaze, it becomes even more of a connection.  It's almost as if you know everything that they have gone through.  The pain, the happiness, the sadness, the depression, the excitement, and so on.  And you see them for who they really are, pass any masks that may be present.  Just looking into those eyes leaves an impression on your mind.  Those eyes, the ones you saw and looked into that one night, for what may have seemed like an hour, but was really only minutes, become engraved.  I can close my eyes at any moment in the day and recall those eyes.  And every single time, I see something that I hadn't seen before.  A new detail, a new swirl, a new color, or a new shade.  I'll never forget those eyes.  Those eyes, the ones that opened my own. 

         Eyes are a powerful thing, and if you have the chance to just look into someone's eyes, especially if it is a loved one, you would be amazed by the experience.  Perhaps it will not be anything like my own.  As I have written this post, I can still imagine those eyes, following me, watching, and most importantly, I look back into them, entranced and trapped.

Disclaimer:  All images used are purely for demonstration purposes.  I claim no rights to the images above.

Links to Images:

Eye Diagram

Blue Eye