Teddy: Defining Happiness

Authors Note: This is actually my second attempt at writing a response to the short story "'Teddy" by J.D. Salinger.  My first attempt didn't go over to well because I jumped right into it too quickly, and when reading a higher level story like this I needed more time to process my thoughts and really develop my thesis. There were so many approaches to look at this story from, and it covered many topics that I wanted to talk about, that is why it took me longer to put my thoughts together. Once I had a clearer idea and I narrowed my focus, I wrote this response and scraped my first one; although that wasn't my original intention. In this piece I talk about our selfish nature and how we look to the wrong things to find satisfaction. I tried to use a lot of text evidence to back my ideas.

Self-righteous, self-seeking, selfish -- we stand on our pedestals, looking down upon our narrow world.  We build ourselves up for praise, and please others to please ourselves. We are naturally selfish people. Our hearts desire for more, our eyes cast shadows of greed. Happiness, contentment, and peace are fleeting from our grasp.  As human beings, we naturally seek ourselves first because we desire satisfaction, but it is our selfishness that actually blocks us from this.

Desire, greed, and lust are things many people struggle with. For without these what would temptation be but just a word, what would drive lots of our motives? We meet an interesting character in the short story "Teddy", the ten year old boy who proposes the idea that we do not need these emotions at all, but maybe we need other emotions to control our motives, and to ultimately produce pleasure in our lives.

"'I wish I knew why people think it's so important to be emotional,' Teddy said. ‘My mother and father don't think a person's human unless he thinks a lot of things are very sad or very annoying or very-very unjust, sort of. My father gets very emotional even when he reads the newspaper. He thinks I'm inhuman.'" Teddy only mentions emotions that make us unhappy in this quote; he never says anything about emotions that do make us happy.  This is because Teddy is trying to say that we seek pleasure from many worldly desires, and in order to feel satisfied we look to what other people have to say about life. We constantly try to adorn ourselves with new gadgets and garments to fit in and conform in order to maybe find some contentment. But Teddy gives us yet another example of our false motives; he shows us that we do not need outward beauty to be happy. 

"He was wearing extremely dirty, white ankle-sneakers, no socks, seersucker shorts that were both too long for him and at least a size too large in the seat, an overly laundered t-shirt that had a hole the size of a dime in the right shoulder, and an incongruously handsome, black alligator belt." Teddy clearly didn’t pay attention to outward appearance nor did he judge others on their looks; he searched deeper. He didn't waste his time fooling with false images; he cared about living for higher purposes. Teddy focused on who he was as a person, rather than what others saw in him. I'm not saying we should not look presentable by all means, but I'm saying that happiness dwells deep within someone, not merely on the surface. When we discover who we are inwardly, then our outward actions and appearances will reflect that.

To unlock this inner peace, we must start at the source of satisfaction somewhere beyond our conventional approaches to life. The hardest question in life is asking who you are, but once we have this answered we will not focus on pleasing ourselves because we will not be searching for more approval. The generic answers to this question are things dealing with age, gender, race, and professions, but these are conventional and the logical approaches to this question. “‘You asked me how I get out of the finite dimensions when I feel like it. I certainly don't use logic when I do it. Logic's the first thing you have to get rid of.' "

Teddy's father's had never asked himself this question, nor did look beyond the surface of everything; he lived more of a superficial life. He prided himself with his loud voice, and he selfishly used his gift whenever he could to seek praise from others. "Mr. McArdle played leading roles on no fewer than three daytime radio serials when he was in New York, and he had what might be called a third-class leading man's speaking voice: narcissistically deep and resonant, functionally prepared at a moment's notice to outmale anyone in the same room with it, if necessary even a small boy." When we look for outward approval to drive our sense of emotional contentment, we can get addicted to it, and live each day only looking for compliments to fill ourselves up. It can become like a drug that invades and takes over our lives.

When we get caught up in the busyness of the world and the false signs telling us that we need to look a certain way to be happy, we can lose sight of the person we want to be. Logically, we desire to listen to what others have to tell us about life, but it is when we find our true self that we can find joy and pleasure. We will only feel completely rested when we give up our worldly motives and live beyond the surface. We will never be content if we are not happy about whom we are inside.

Serendipity: Unconscious Experiments

Author's Note: This is a research paper on inventions created by accident. Originally it was just all pure research, but as I was studying this topic I began to see a trend in the inventions I was looking at, and I even began to question if inventions can even be accidental.  Throughout this paper I am trying to convey the message that often so called discoveries from mistakes are nothing more than an unexpected  product of hard work. I use three different examples to support my thesis. I am also working on properly citing my sources in this research paper while having a professional voice.

Throughout history when can see a trend of inventions that were discovered through our mistakes. We even have a word to describe these unfortunate events leading up to million dollar discoveries: serendipity ("INVENTORS BY ACCIDENT | Modern Mechanix "). In order for our world to advance we have to find new things, and often when we do this we call it serendipity because we were not expecting what we found. Though most people believe that many life changing inventions were complete mistakes, perhaps they are nothing more than experiments with unexpected results. In the area of science, we are all taught at a young age how to experiment, and throughout life we do it without even knowing. Though certain inventions are classified as accidental, they are just the results of unconscious experiments.

A common kitchen appliance that we might take for granted was actually the product of what history has defined as an accident. In 1945, Percy Spencer, the inventor of the microwave, became one of the first employees of the Raytheon Company in Lexington, Massachusetts. His intense work ethic and exposure to brilliant M. I. T. students lead him to working and doing research for this company 7 days a week ("Accidental Invention of the Microwave Oven"). One day while he was experimenting with a new vacuum tube called a magnetron, he noticed that a candy bar in his pocket began to melt, so he  tried putting popcorn kernels near the vacuum and they popped. Using this technology Spencer built the first microwave in 1947 that weighted 750 pounds, was 5 1/2 feet tall, and cost $5,000. When it was introduced to homes in 1950, it wasn't very popular at first until a countertop version was produced in 1967 which was much more practical and was sold at a lower price ("9 Things Invented or Discovered by Accident").  Though Spencer never imaged that he would find this new technology, it was through his continual perseverance that the microwave was developed.

Almost thirty years after the microwave, another simplistic yet memorable invention was discovered. In 1974, Arthur Fry created the first sticky note as a bookmark for a hymnal while he was singing in the church choir. Previously, Spencer Silver, an employee of the 3M Company had come across a new type of adhesive that Fry later used in his invention ("9 Things Invented or Discovered by Accident"). The adhesive was weaker than all the other glues; it stuck to objects, but could be easily pulled off without leaving a mark. It was about three years later when Fry found a use for the adhesive and decided to sell it ("Post-it Note History - Invention of Post-it Notes"). When the product was originally introduced to the market as the Post-it Note -- thin sheets of paper with a slight amount of adhesive on it -- most companies did not believe it would succeed. Much like the Microwave though, Post-it Notes surpassed all predictions, and since 1980 the name has traveled across the world ("9 Things Invented or Discovered by Accident"). Again, these two friends, playing off of each others inventions, developed a completely new product.

Long before Microwaves or Post-it Notes, a favorite American snack was invented. In 1853, Chef George Crum in Saratoga Springs, New York was serving fried potatoes to his customers. The people were constantly complaining about how the potatoes were not crunchy, and the chef became fed up and decided to experiment on new recipes. He thinly sliced the potatoes and fried them in boiling grease to  make them crunchier. It turned out to be something that the customers loved and everyone called them Saratoga Chips ("9 Things Invented or Discovered by Accident"). Crum hadn't planned for the thin potato slices to turn into what we know now as potato chips, he was just curiously experimenting with new recipes .

Though all of these inventions were considered to be accidental, they didn't come from nothing. Something cannot possibly come from nothing, nor can an invention be discovered without thought or work. In all of the examples of so called accidental inventions, none of the ideas simply came out of the blue. The inventors all had a problem they wanted to solve and they were all hard workers. It was just certain situations that were perhaps not planned to produce the results they got. Though serendipity may exist, it is nothing more than what we call research. All modern science has been developed from experiments, which is just the act of testing new things and conducting research. Sometimes we do not realized that we are experimenting and that is when we pronounce our findings to be from serendipity, but truly accidental discoveries are really just everyday discoveries.

Works Cited

"7 scientific accidents that led to world-changing discoveries." io9. We come from the future.. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2013. <http://io9.com/5739235/7-scientific-accidents-that-led-to-world+changing-discoveries>.

"9 Things Invented or Discovered by Accident." How Stuff Works. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2012. <science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/9-things-invented-or-discovered-by-accident.htm >.

"Accidental Invention of the Microwave Oven." Vat19.com: Unique Gifts & Unusual Gift Ideas. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2013. <http://www.vat19.com/brain-candy/accidental-inventions-microwave.cfm>.

"Coke: Top 10 Accidental Inventions: JUNKies: Science Channel." Science Channel : Science Channel. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. <http://science.discovery.com/brink/top-ten/accidental-inventions/inventions-08.html>.

"INVENTORS BY ACCIDENT | Modern Mechanix ." Modern Mechanix | Yesterday's tomorrow, today.. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2013. <http://blog.modernmechanix.com/inventors-by-accident/>.

"Post-it Note History - Invention of Post-it Notes." The Great Idea Finder - Celebrating the Spirit of Innovation . N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2013. <http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/postit.htm>.

Through the Watchful Eyes

Author's Note: I composed this piece by starting with a stream of conciseness as I do for most of my pieces. The introduction talks about a recent experience at The Museum of Science and Industry. From there I go on to use the books Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and 1984 by George Orwell to convey my message. I wouldn't call this a compare and contrast, but it is definitely something I haven’t really done before. I was trying to work on my word choice in this piece after reviewing some of the words commonly found on the ACT.

Fascinated I was, as my eye traveled from image to image taking it all. It wasn't the pictures that amazed me, though; I'd seen plenty of pretty images before. It was the little purple dot that followed my eyes, showing me exactly what I had been focusing on. It sensed every move my corneas made and replayed them for me to see. Nothing that I saw, it didn't see. Everything was visible by the minute purple speck --so tiny and insignificant, yet terribly horrifying. Only in a museum would you find this today, but if history is correct, the future holds what we have only dreamt of being behind glass doors.

So it was, back half a century ago when discoveries were rapidly being made that some people first began to see a future so attentively watched by the government, that they feared what was to come. Both Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and 1984 by George Orwell were written in this time period in the 1950's. Vividly both authors illustrate their distress and fear of technology being used wrongly. They predict a dystopic world in which the government was in ultimate control, in which the citizen were closely censored, and in which there was no freedom from the watchful eyes of the authorities.

As Orwell describes in his novel, "There was of course no way of knowing whether you where being watched at any given moment … It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time." (4) Technology was becoming so vast during the time this was written that people were afraid that it would become more powerful, smarter, and stronger than humans themselves. To live in a world where you’re every action was exposed to the authorities and where you had no freedom of speech, left people with no meaning to their lives. It was as if the people were just puppets that were being molded and shaped into icons for the government.

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury shows us how all people cared about in this futuristic world was themselves and keeping themselves in good terms with the authorities. Neighbors turned on neighbors to rat each other out if they stumbled and chose to read a book against the regulations of the government. Because technology was so prevalent, the people isolated themselves from each other and only listened to what they heard from the walls. Nobody in the book ever just sat and talked with each other or got together to hang out; everyone was always busy with themselves and the walls. Living like this caused the people of the book to be changed in the same way that they were in 1984.

As we can see today, the world hasn't quite fallen into the pit that was predicted, the government doesn't control our every move, and we still have very much freedom. Compared to centuries ago though, our technology has come very far and if they wanted to, the government could easily tap into our lives and monitor our actions. Then why don't they do that, if we possess the technology? There is a simple answer to this question: it is just not humane. Though we may have a record of forgetting what is humane in this world by killing and torturing our own species, we have not forgotten that the human mind is far better than any technology. Computers and televisions cannot feel emotions as we do, they cannot love nor can they develop attachments. Technologies are machines that are made by us, therefore it cannot possibly replace us in this world. We need other human beings more than we realize.

This is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Author's Note: This was converted from a stream of consciousness exercise we did on family. I related it back to the Thanksgiving break we just had when I spent a lot of time together with my family, and now I'm realizing just how priceless that time was. It is almost impossible during this time of the year to get even my immediate family all together, and though I don't usually see it right away those times when we have nothing to do and no where to go are the most memorable moments. This piece specifically talks about someone I'm really close to in my family  that I only get to see every so often.

We sit together,

For once,

With no where to go,

No clock ticking down our time together.

She laughs and I do too,

She talks and I listen soaking it all in.

Her time here is limited.

I dream about my future as she explains her's,

Willing it to be just as glorious and fun.

She inspires my mind to think,

She inspires me to stretch myself.

Yet when the meal is over and we leave the table,

I shrink back to my reality.

My reality that I'm not her.

I feel like I know so much more because of her,

Like college will be a dream,

And everything in the future will be even more fun.

But it's not,

Because I once dreamed,

About my life like she would describe it,

But now I'm here and she's there

And I'm still lost in that dream.

"Live like today is the first day of the rest of your life,"

I remember that day in the airport,
When I really understood that line.

I've never been fond of saying goodbye,
That day came too quickly.

My heart raced in attempt to run away,

To leave and return to reality,

Expect what I wanted was no longer reality.

Family --

That was all I wanted.

I was loosing something irreplaceable.

She never cried so neither did I,

She was excited so I was too,

She left so I tried to follow,

But this time I couldn't.

I had no clear cut path to walk on,

So I  had to make my own.

My own way without her.

Now when she returns I have a new fond love,

That makes our time together,

A thousand times more priceless than before.

No money or currency,

No gold or silver,

Nothing on this earth,

Could possibly account for times we share together.

The Burning Cycle

Author’s Note: This is my summative piece for the book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. One of the things that I noticed as I was looking back at my notes after reading the book was how many times fire was used as a symbol. I saw a trend that throughout the novel there was a progression of how Montag viewed fire. Though I didn't initially see it when I was reading the book, there was a whole other meaning to fire throughout the novel that really intrigued me. I began to fire as cycle of destroying and rebuilding, and I also saw how it was necessary to experience both ends of the cycle.

Fire is contagious. It devours and destroys; within a matter of minutes it can turn years of work into ashes. It is ruthless and heartless until it is extinguished. We burn to rid the world of what is old and to make it new. Though it is perceived that fire should be feared, there is a whole other side to it to which we are drawn. This side brings us together; it shows us that there is pleasant atmosphere surrounding a little fire. Fire provides warmth for us when the world has none to offer, and allows us to gather around it in our times of need. Without the fearful side though, there would be no enjoyment in fire. Fire is a cycle of destruction and rebuilding, and we must experience the burning, the loss, and the sorrow to rise with hope from the ashes.

"It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed." (p 33) When the story began Montag's thoughts toward fire were that it was essential for destruction, and through that brought peace in the world. He saw fire like a roaring lion, just waiting to devour whatever was in its path for its own pleasure. Montag channeled his emotions into the fire, and used it as a cover up. Fire was a source of control through destruction. If you controlled the fire, you had all the power to either protect things or burn them, and everything was in your hands. The government clearly used fire in the same why. They did not want the people to have access to certain things -- books and other ideas -- that would provoke them to revolt, so the government burned to cover up and control the people.

There is a certain type of burning that reflects this part of the story; it is called a controlled burn. Present day firefighters use it to burn down prairies or large fields when they become overgrown. It is nothing wild and spontaneous like forest fires, it is more of a completely calm and well thought out, manipulative way to contain an area of land. Much like in the story, when the people of the city became overgrown and almost independent, the government used a controlled burn to destroy their hope of growing any further.

With this type of fire, though, the plants are not completely demolished. The visual part of them is burned, but there are always roots left underneath the soil that remain untouched. In time, the roots grow to be the same magnificent flowers they were before. But when they start to go their own way again, they get burned to their roots.

As we clearly see, it's a cycle. We always return to where we started. Destroy and rebuild, destroy and rebuild; we are creatures of habit, and it takes all the strength we have to turn away from what people are flooding into our minds. We build ourselves up and think we can disobey and turn our own ways, only to be reminded through burning that there is still someone in control. Fire expresses to us that, as people, we long for some sort of control, while it also shows us that some things are far out of our control.

Throughout the novel, Montag's interpretation of fire progresses from a fearful, powerful element to a warm, living element. When, he ran from the controlled fire of the government after they discovered what he was so diligently trying to hide, he began to see fire in a different way. In his pursuit to escape, he plunged himself into the river, hoping to cleanse him of his past. The water purified him and he emerged different "He was moving from an unreality that was frightening into a reality that was unreal because it was new." (p 165) Montag had finally found the only source that would ultimately destroy fire itself: water. It's water that makes old things new, that cleanses the conscious, and that can defeat fire.

As he proceeded with his new found hope, he saw a fire in the distance, but it wasn't the same as the fires he'd seen before.

"That small motion, the white and red color, a strange fire because it meant a different thing to him. It was not burning, it was warming… He hadn't known fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take." (p 171)

Montag felt intrigued by the fire, he found it strange to see people just sitting and talking around it, and he realized that fire could be used for so much more. It could bring people together instead of always tearing them apart. It could provide warmth instead of cold heartedness. It could rebuild instead of destroy. Fire was continually rotating throughout a cycle of causes pain and peace.

There is a mythological creature called the phoenix that symbolizes this cycle of fire. When the phoenix's days are gone and it's ready to die, it goes up in flames. Through the ashes, the bird is reborn. It shows us that there is a hope in destruction, and it is necessary and crucial to experience both of ends of the spectrum -- the death and the rebirth. Without the bird dying, there would be nothing to look forward too. In the novel, things were burned, but through the ashes new things were made. In the end, when the city went up in a bomb, it did not trouble Montag because he knew that it was a cycle. It was a sign of hope that all of the evil in the city had been destroyed. Montag knew that it was just like the phoenix, the city would be reborn through the ashes and it would have a fresh start, a new beginning.

Though we experience destruction, we can see it in a different way, knowing that there is a cycle and after destruction must come rebuilding. The novel displays that fire is a cycle, but furthermore it shows that life is a cycle, and ultimately the human race is a cycle. I always wondered why we had History class if the events were done and over with, but the truth is we need to be educated about past failures in order to avoid making the same mistakes again. No one really cares about what happened long ago, but we do care about the present day and we care about educating ourselves so that history doesn't repeat itself. Throughout the past decade, it is evident that we have a hard time learning from our mistakes, though. The human race has gotten themselves into war after war, killing millions of families, only to get themselves into more trouble. But through all of this, in the end, there is an inexpressible joy that we can experience: seeing soldiers coming home. There is nothing like a family reuniting after being separating. There is nothing like the hope and peace that comes after a fire.

The First Coming

Author's Note: I wrote this poem modeling William Butler-Yeats style in the poem "The Second Coming". I wanted to keep the focus of it close to what the focus of his original poem was to model is his style even better. Since his was on the second coming of Jesus I decided to do mine on the first coming. Yeats used a lot of symbolism from the Bible, so I tried to do the same thing with mine. In my poem, much like Yeats', I made it from the perspective of the people and what they were thinking during that time period.

The First Coming

Roaming and roaming the dessert land

The Sheppard came back for his sheep;

The people cannot see; the world won't accept;

A love never seen before hung upon a tree,

The burnt, the fellowship, and the grain,

Covered, and the law torn apart,

The rich in spirit are not sought out, while the lowliest

Are hand picked with precision.

This can't be what we've waited for,

This can't be the Savior who's arrived,

The Savior!  My soul is overcome

When a vision from the Spirit

Blurs my conscious: far beyond the entrance to the city,

A colt untied from his owner,

With healing hands and majestic little feet,

Prances along a cloth road, as palms

Wave throughout the air, hailing to the king.

The town trembles in fear; now knowing that those years

Of prophecies has prepared us for yet another

Vast amount of silence and trouble,

But the Sheppard, finally coming around,

Takes up his own cross to leave us again?

The Second Coming

By William Butler-Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?  

Together

Author's Note: When I first read the short story, "Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe, it seemed to me like a complete nightmare vision of the world. As I began to respond to it, I struggled a lot with deciding on a topic that I really felt passionate about and I was running into the problem that there was just so many different ways to look at the story and respond. I even wrote a whole different response before this one. It wasn't until one day that we were doing a stream of consciousness exercise using a scene from a book that I decided to scrap my other attempts and start all over. I did the stream of consciousness using thoughts I had while reading "Tale Tell Heart", and through that exercise I got the main idea for my introduction and formulated my thesis. Now I feel really passionate about my topic, and it was so much easier write because of that.

There is this funny sense of abandonment that comes over the world as the sun sets for another day. The world fades from shades of bright and cheerfulness to an eerie, unpredictable darkness. When the doors close, and the only light left is the dim glow of the moon seeping through our windows, we lose our sense of reality.  We see light as hope, and we are encouraged by the presence of others, but when the lights are turned off and we part our ways for the night, we are left in a dystopic version of the world. Kids are afraid of the dark because during the night nothing is predictable nor is anything concrete. Our eyes fail us and we are left to just imagine what might be near us in the darkness. We were not meant to ever be left alone and isolated; we were meant to be united with one another and rely on one another even in our darkest hours. When we are separated from the world, we begin to give into selfish desires, and we forget our true identities. Sharing with others and being around others gives us hope, but when the light fades, our hope disappears.

When the light is taken out of the world just what we would expect happens; the most ignoble deeds of our society are committed. In the dark, our actions can be easily covered up and go unnoticed, but when the sun rises, guilt sets in, and we can no longer justify with the darkness. There was a horrendously, indecent act committed by the main character in the short story “Tell Tale Heart”. At precisely midnight, a keen hour of absolute darkness, the old man was energized by the night. Because of his lack of hope, he turned to the darkness and murdered another man. When the light returned and the world was back in action, the man was overcome with guilt. Though before the darkness covered it, in the morning everything had light shed on it.

From the Christian viewpoint, not only is light hope, but it is the sun that gives it, the Son of God: Jesus Christ. "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19) As we see in the short story, the light knows the acts we commit at night. Though we do not reap the consequences right away, when the sun rises we will have to pay for our sins in broad daylight. As Christians believe, we were given day and night as a constant reminder of what will happen on the day Jesus returns to judge the world. For God sent his son to the world once before to give us a new hope in Christ Jesus, but when He returns again, for his second coming, he will not be here to save us, but to justify our sins, and there will be no darkness for us to hide in. "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. " (John 3:20-21)

In the eyes of Christians, this story demonstrates that there is a hope of light even in darkness. When we lose this light, we often also lose sight of reality. We can turn into people we never wanted to be at night because at we are isolated and lonely, and we forget our purpose. It is simply the act of being with other people, talking and sharing with others, that encourages us and keeps us on the right path. Having fellowship gives us hope that we are not alone in our journey on this world. As the Bible clearly says, we were given light, so that even though the sun sets, our hope in Jesus never leaves. Though there will come a day, according to the Bible, that the darkness will forever leave us, for now we must persevere through the night, and keep sight of the light that comes in the morning.