Difference.

This cartoon reminded me of the saying 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. I don't mean strictly in terms of beauty, in this case, I'm thinking more along the lines of culture. People grow up within a certain culture and this experience develops their perspective, or in other words, their worldview. A lot of the time, worldviews stem from certain religious beliefs. Nonetheless, people view the world differently depending upon their specific experiences, culture, religion, etc. People sometimes view foreign worldviews as something lesser than their own; something that needs adjustment in order to be acceptable, or beautiful, in their own eyes. But I think having different perspectives and experiences is a beautiful thing in and of itself. We wouldn't be able to distinguish beauty in another if everyone was exactly the same and embodied the same values and qualities. Difference is what makes something beautiful and interesting, so why try to undermine that? Of course, there will always be certain underlying similarities... we all have eyes, we all smile, and a lot of cultures develop morals through a similar means such as fairy tales and folklores. Nonetheless, beauty stems from differences, but that's not the only thing. Creativity, love, progress, and many more things can also develop. Differences should be embraced by different cultures, not scrutinized.

-RWR

Legacy

I've been thinking a lot about legacy recently About the people who grow up knowing they want to build something specifically with the goal not to create that thing, but to leave it behind. There are also those who want to build a legacy not just for their own glory and ego, but also for their families. I feel like my generation has been told we're all special, but when we get out into the real world we realize we're not. We're self conscious, in desperate need of validation all the time. While we're so wrapped up in our instant gratification and shallow days, how many of us are actually putting our best selves forth to build something? How many of us are working toward a legacy? We all want jobs, raises, promotions, but what happens when we achieve these goals? They're lateral movements, moving along a timeline pushed forward by time itself, and not some internal drive to break free of that, to push up, to test the boundaries of time, to create a timeline with zigs and zags that adds up to something greater. I wish I could be one of those people. I hope one day I'll live among those people. But as it stands, I'm not. I'm taking it one day at a time, looking at salary as my only human growth factor over happiness, fulfillment, and passion. Venus and Serena were told they were special too, but they were also taught to earn their potential, not to just sit idly by complaining about how they for some reason can't just will themselves into greatness. I'm slowly learning that myself.

-jcn