I don’t understand memory. Why don’t we get to choose what we remember and what we forget. I just think it’s weird that I remember every word to every song I listened to as a kid but not the formulas for my chem exam. I don’t remember a lot from living in Seattle except a few flashbacks. I remember when someone broke into the house I was born in, I could see the broken door and my mom’s face when she saw it. I remember crying when we moved out. I remember breaking my leg on the stairs. I had a bright pink full-leg cast, and all of my preschool friends drew on it. I remember when I got my brand-new rainbow bed. I remember having a dream in the same bed where I could fly. I remember when I was still close to my sister, and she taught me how to eat spaghetti. And I remember moving to Bend. That’s what I think about most. Everything changed when we moved. I think for me it changed for the better, but we moved away from my grandparents, who we now see once a year. It’s crazy to me how time goes by, and we forget things that were once so important.

Lately, me and my friend have been really into watching “The Act” which is about Gypsy Rose. Some people may call her a murderer because she helped in the killing of her mother, but she is just a daughter who got put through mental and physical abuse. She trusted her mother, who was her best friend, but her mother had been lying to her her whole life, making her go through constant unnecessary surgeries and pills, and she was put into a wheelchair even though she and her mother knew that she could walk. Her mother lied about her age to attempt to keep Gypsy childlike. Her mother used her to make money, but money is no excuse for torturing your daughter. Gypsy wanted to live a normal life like any other girl and her mother not only ruined her childhood but gave her trauma that she still carries with her today.

PC: https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gypsy-rose-blanchard-and-mother–courtesy-investigation-discovery.jpg

There is actually none. Zero. I do not believe that the biology of human brain has changed enough to make us lie, cheat, hurt less.

But the culture has. The institutions that uphold our societies have been modified, transformed, reinvented. I doubt it was due to everyone’s sudden enlightenment that we have formed fundamental ethical principles. But I can see how through a painfully slow, gradual shift in culture, technology, and environment, we have changed our views and with them our ways.

Take the women’s current status in society. If it wasn’t for the World Wars, one can only wonder how many more years it would have taken for them to reach it.

Men were drafted, factories became empty, someone needed to build ammunition. Women finally got a taste of independence. When the war was over and the women were sent home, they were reluctant to go back to the previous state of things

It was scientific advancements that gave us the Enlightenment. It was Industrial Revolution and Urbanization that altered the class system and stopped the slavery.

The ethical arguments for why something should be changed usually comes only after the necessary economical, technological, scientific, and other circumstances are already in place.

The most important conclusion from these facts is that even our chaotic nature can be directed in the desired path.

Even if by nature we are prone to enslaving one another, hating one another, and a myriad of other very human kind of things to do, we are, in fact, capable of controlling this nature.

Through cultural, scientific, technological and other changes, we can restrain what’s negative, and maximize what’s positive.

It can happen accidentally, as it has been for the most of human history, or, we can bring these changes about with our own efforts – by creating the necessary institutions, pushing for the appropriate cultural changes, and making the right personal decisions.

We have abolished slavery and written the human rights. Then what should stop us from ceasing lying or murder?

The truth is, it can only be us. Since we can construct these institutions and manifest these changes, we can also bring them to ruin. And much much easier so than build them.

It seems NORMAL to us that humans have rights, men and women are equal, and slavery is wrong. But it does not take much for all of this to disappear. It might be a nuclear war, it might be forming your whole identity of off your political affiliation, or simply being a jerk to the people around you. So let’s put some thought into it all.

We have been give the ten commandments. But what if we create our own – ones based on empathy, deep thought, and mutual flourishing?

Sometimes I wonder what other people are thinking. I wonder if it is the same way that I think; do they look out the window and wonder how the trees feel? What secret does the wind flowing through their leaves tell? Do plants feel jealous of those more colorful or more exotic? Do they feel as people do toward each other? Does the earth feel the same emotions as me? Does it feel happiness and anger and sadness and stress? Do the sun and moon celebrate each other’s differences, or is that why they stay separate? I wonder if they really judge me like I think they do. Do they pray that I don’t sit with them when I walk in the room? Is it valid that I am afraid of what others will think of my hair or my makeup or my outfit when I get ready for the day? Should I continue to regret the embarrassing things I’ve done or said? Or has everyone already forgotten. Sometimes I want to ask people what they are thinking. I want to question them about what they think of the trees and the wind and the plants and the earth and the sun and moon, but most of all, what they think about me. 

It has been two weeks since I returned from my home country. This year in particular, time has gone by so quickly that I wonder if the day I graduate from high school will come anytime soon. I always miss my home country very much in the first few weeks after returning. Every time I come back from my home country, I pack two suitcases full of my belongings. When I first came to the U.S., I was very bad at packing. So I always asked my father to help me pack my bags in the beginning. But recently I have been doing a lot of trips and I am getting the hang of it. Also, I can now tell the approximate weight just by holding it. I always know what I am bringing back for the most part. In one suitcase I put snacks and instant rice. My favorite foods these days are dried potatoes and salmon jerky. Both of these foods have a taste that you can’t find in the U.S. and make me miss home very much. In the other suitcase, I usually bring new clothes and daily necessities. I always bring a hand warmer and a toothbrush. This time, I packed 23 kg of luggage, just over the limit. To be honest, I always get nervous when I weigh my luggage after arriving at the airport. However, I feel at home in my own country, and I am very much looking forward to going back to my home country again in four and a half months.

pc;https://www.hn-online.jp/magazine/lifestyle/3932/