Works Cited

I think the most arduous part of any writing assignment is the Works Cited segment (aka bibliography), complete with citations and its own dedicated page.  I can write easily and fluidly, but because of citations, you have to constantly stop and check the source, put it in the right places, and use it a certain amount of times (depending on the specific assignment).  And nobody can ever remember the proper format for the Works Cited page, so you have to always keep flipping between resources to do it right.

However, this is all necessary.  If not for citations, plagiarism would be rampant, and intellectual property would be rendered defenseless.  Sure, it takes a little more work, but it is the price we pay for living in a just (or pseudo-just) society.

Human Responsibility

As humans, we all innately have a responsibility.  This responsibility is to attempt to reach our full potential, in all respects.  One should live for themselves, but it is important to do your best for the sake of society.  Imagine if people did not live to the fullest; there would be a much lower quality of living, and a blandness to life.  We owe society because it has given us so much.  I am on this computer right now because thousands of people worked to design, manufacture, and market it.  I am able to use this magnificent blogging software because many people worked to create and perfect it.  Others have done so much with their lives to make ours as nice as possible, so we all need to do our best to give back to society.

The Truth About Being Human

As humans, we can make free choices about what to do with our lives, as long as the social and economic climates permit.  However, there are fundamental things that no human can choose.  The first is to live.  No creature that has ever lived in the history of the Universe chose to live; it just did.  We come in to the world from nonexistence, and most likely return to nonexistence when we die.

Once alive, we do not choose our bodies, our genes, or our bodily maturity.  We are free to choose what we do in life, but the body ages and grows regardless of our will, and dies regardless of will as well.  Sure, you can alter yourself and put off death, but you can only go so far in either area.

Nobody chooses to be alive, but we have to endure the human condition and make the best of it.  Because we are all ultimately the same in this regard, in that our existence is not determined by us, we should be as compassionate to each other as possible.  Living should not be painful, and at the best it should be exciting and pleasureable.  We can make this a reality, as long as we realize that unbridled power and excess is unnecessary, and we all just need to make it through.

Your Life

Why is your life like this?  Why are you who you are?  These are grand questions which have no definitive answer, but some things can be conjectured.

Many people wonder what it would have been like to be born as someone else, or in a different time period.  That would be interesting, but it is likely impossible.  The only possible existence you could have is the one you have right now.  If your parents had not conceived you, you would never have existed to think about alternate existences.

One theory is that every human is destined to exist in this form.  Another is that if you had not been born, then you would have been born in a different body.  While it is impossible to know the former theory’s relevance, the latter can be reduced with a proof.

Let’s say there are two parents about to give birth.  They both give birth, so there are two lives.  However, let’s say one of those groups of parents never conceived, so now only one child exists.  By the latter theory mentioned above, the consciousness of the child who was not conceived would take the place of the new child, but that would force out whatever consciousness would have been there if the other child had been born.  Therefore, it can be concluded that if you were never born, you would not have existed at all.