Life Pause

 

   “I just can’t do it. There just ain’t enough time!” I hollered in the street.
The workload and things to do has become overwhelming these days and I was beginning to crack. Only if I only had more time everything would solve out…
“Please god! Give me time!” I wailed.
Exhausted and depressed I went home and collapsed on my bed. Then just as I felt asleep a voice rang in my head and started to tell me a story.

       
     Once upon a time there existed a boy who could stop time. He would be able to freeze time whenever he wanted.
He would never be late to school, sleep whenever he wanted, and always got 100 on every exam. However to this awesome and amazing skill he had there was a huge downfall which he realized too late...


     It was a hot summer day when he realized the critical flaw in his ability to stop time. After he enjoyed playing basketball with his friends he looked into the mirror. He was pretty content with the handsome and masculine face he saw in the mirror. But one thing that made him irritated was the day by day increasing wrinkles around his eye and forehead.


     Even though he could stop time, he could not help his time passing by which means even though he stops time for 10 years, he would age every second of those 10 years. He went fanatic and decided not to use his ability ever again.
However one day he found out that not using his ability meant he had to give up all the things he have enjoyed until now. Good scores, no late to school, those things were escaping from his grasp.


     He fell into deep confusion and chaos. He felt regretful about the past that he used his skill so often, but rationalized himself after few minutes that he had to use the skill not to be late, receive awards and get out from inescapable situations. He was crying unconsciously. He started to complain to god about why he got this suffocating skill. Suddenly, he fainted and dreamed.

    

Then I woke up from my deep dream and found myself lying on my bed. It was a dream, I thought. I pondered a lot about time and how I spend it. I realized that more time wasn’t what I needed but actually will power and skill to use time efficiently. However I still want that time pausing skill…

Andy's Journey

Andy Dufresne the main protagonist of our story starts his life in an ordinary world as a hotshot banker. He had a lovely wife, a lot of money, and a overall good life. However unfortunately to our Heroes’ journey script he gets’s called into a life of adventure.

Well to put it more precisely it wasn’t a really a call to the other world but rather a kidnap. He gets convicted for killing his wife and her lover and gets 2 life sentences in the end. He does try to refuse this call by trying to persuade the Juries to his story but fails due to his unfortunate circumstances. Thus he ends up in Shaw shank prison crossing the threshold of his ordinary life. These steps take place in a very short time during the movie making it somewhat different than the normal Heroes’ Journey movies.
Now after crossing into the unknown world of Shawshank our main heroes meets his friend/mentor Red. Red, one of the first people that Andy talked to, supplies Andy many vital objects that helped Andy through prison life. Red had contributed much to Andy’s escape and had always been a very good friend to him.

Andy faces great challenges through prison life and meets enemies such as the sisters, the wardens, and Hadley. He meets allies such as Red, Brookes, Tommy, and his friends at Shawshank. One of the most important test that Andy had to encounter through was with Hadley. During the tarring of the roof Andy takes a gamble and talks to Hadley about how he can help Hadley to manage his money. Though Andy almost gets thrown off the roof, he succeeds in persuading Hadley and creates a turning point in the story which represents the ordeal of Andy’s journey.

Our main character now earns the protection of guards and many benefits by managing the Warden’s money. Our main character, after claiming his reward prepares for his road back to his ordinary world, or escape from prison. He digs for ears with his rock hammer and succeeds in his escape in the end. Our hero is severely tested and finally most conflicts are resolved. Andy returns with a false identity and lots of money which is his elixir.

The story of Andy Dufresne follows most of the steps in the hero’s journey. However another perspective is to look at the hero as Red not Andy. The real hero of the story could be Red and he could be the one going through the hero’s journey. Though this is a very interesting work with I’ll leave it for later.

Creativity vs Education

Creativity vs Education

           Now days the world is pretty much crazy about creativity. Companies, colleges, governments, and even high schools are looking for creativeness. Why has creativity come to so much importance?

           Before the modern times we live in, educated people that specialized in certain jobs were very scarce. However as the industrial revolution swept the planet, high level public education has become wide spread and just a part of normal life. As this occurred, the value of high level education dramatically went down due to the increased supply of educated people. Now even after the long years of school life, it’s hard to make a living out of it.  Creativity now comes in to differentiate these people who have suffered academic inflation. The people with new bright ideas who can think differently than most people are preferred most where.

           Ken Robinson, speaker in this TED video, explains that our precious creativity demanded everywhere is destroyed during the process of education. He argues that schools has become like factories assembling students as mere products. “We are educating people out of their creativity” he says. My opinion is that I definitely agree. The current public education in Korea actually has become like assembly lines creating student products while killing their uniqueness and creativity. Now all students care is their rank in class and nothing else. When students graduate they have become machines that only know how to score 100% in a test. I agree with Sir Ted Robinson completely here but I must ask him, then what must be done to solve this?

           Through most of his speech he introduced numerous errors in the system of education. For example, schools focusing on certain subjects such as math and science, anesthetic ways of education in school, and the separation of students by grades. However how must we solve this? And is it even possible for such education?

          During the industrial revolution numerous factories have been built for one reason, mass production. Though mass production destroys each item’s uniqueness, it saved a lot of money and time. This means that if we are to change our current education from mass producing factories to creativity enhancing centers, it would take massive amounts of time and money. Some mass education for young students is just inevitable in our society. If the students wants to pursue their interest later on in life there are colleges and graduate schools which are much more like the education that Sir Ken Robinson is explaining.

Also I think creativity and knowledge learned by education is sort of a trade off. When students are taught what they don’t want to be taught or in the speakers words “anesthetically taught” some damage will done to creativeness for students However as a advantage it gives them useful knowledge and intellect in the field that they are not interested in.

        Creativity comes in many forms. A child believes he can fly, that could be counted as being very creative. But to prevent him from jumping off a building, someone has to teach him that his belief is wrong, completely killing his free imagination. Now this shows that there has to be a balance between free thought and knowledge of the world. Now the problem is how do we know what thought to kill and not? Thus some loss of creativity is inevitable in the process of education.

           I agree with Sir Ken Robinson that a change must be made in our system of education. However the problems that he stated in his speech can only are solved by complete home schooling, which is also called no public education. In our current worlds state I don’t think a method exists anywhere that could really help to thrive one’s creativity while educating them. So thank you Mr. Sir Ken Robinson for making the public aware of this problem but knowing is just different then doing.

Fighting Myself

Fighting Myself    

                                                                                                                               

     Fighting ourselves is one of the hardest difficulties in life to overcome. Nonetheless, we do it every day when doing homework instead of watching TV, staying cool even after someone insults us, or choosing an actual apple instead of an apple pastry. Fighting ourselves means not letting our emotions and impulses overtake our being, something I was very unfortunately inexperienced at.

     The first time I held a golf club, I was eight years old. On a warm spring day in San Diego, I followed my dad to a golfing range where the unfamiliar yet comforting scent of dewy grass filled the air. I saw people hitting golf balls, making loud clangs that reminded me of two metal pipes hitting each other. This was a strange but intriguing world, and I wanted to play.

     I started playing golf seriously when I was in middle school and began taking lessons in an indoor golf range. Though it was hard to know how far your ball went, it shielded me from the climatic variables such as rain and wind. The somewhat claustrophobic indoor golf range had a net three meters away to catch the balls. There were two black comfy chairs on the right side of the hitting space, to which I would gladly sink down after an especially intense practice session, and a gigantic air conditioner in the corner, an all-time popular seat during the summer. The ceiling was just high enough that clubs wouldn’t bang into it during the backswing. Although it was comfortable, it made golf slightly boring.

In many sports the most important goal is to defeat your foe; golf has no such opponent. A golf player’s biggest enemy is oneself, and the entire game is a kind of a battle against the self. The same was true when I was practicing golf. I had to hit 300 balls a day all by myself trying to improve my swing every time.  If I lost my concentration even for a fraction of a second, it would affect the path of my swing in the tiniest way. This would cause me to hit the ball just a centimeter off target, and the ball would veer off by a mile. Whenever that happened, I got frustrated and angry, which disrupted my concentration and made the next shot even worse, creating a vicious cycle. Dad told me I should learn to control my emotions and stay calm, but I just couldn’t.

     One day, I was lying lazily on the couch, watching TV, when dad hurried over to me and took the remote control from my hands.

“Sungwoo, you should see this.”

     He turned the channel to 264, the Golf Channel. It was the 2009 British Open. The screen showed a number of healthy tanned golf players walking the bright green field in their golf shirts and caps. It looked just like any other golf game we watched together.

 “What about it Dad?”

      Just as I asked the question, I saw something very out of place in the scene. A golfer with whitening hair and grandfatherly countenance appeared and began to prepare for his tee shot. I was surprised not only because he was very old to be in the tournament but also because he was in the leader board. I was immediately intrigued and was soon absorbed into the game.  However after a few holes he started getting bogeys after bogeys for about 9 holes. I was very disappointed. It’s over for that guy, I thought, he is going to get worse and worse because of that mistake. But surprisingly he didn’t. He regained his pace and he almost won the tournament, ending in second.  That person was Tom Watson, the 59 year old and the most famous golfer of 2009.

     I was deeply moved by what I just saw. Not by the fact the a 59-year-old man had almost won the British Open, which was a very surprising fact by itself, but by the fact that Tom Watson, who perfectly understood what the odds were for him to compete with men younger than him by an average of 20 years, who saw those young men hit 400 yards on their tee shots right in front of him with his own eyes, could be so calm and composed throughout the whole game. I would have been overwhelmed with worries and feelings of desperateness, and that would have messed up the whole game. But he maintained his own pace no matter what happened around him, and used his talents that he gained from his long years of experience to the fullest degree, and almost won. The complete self-control over his thoughts and emotions. He was the winner of the fight against the self.

     On the other hand, I realized I was a complete opposite. I was a very emotional and impulsive person. I was quick to anger, and I let the little things bother me. Even when I knew that my jokes or my actions would hurt somebody else’s feelings, many times I found it hard to suppress the boiling urge to do whatever popped up inside my head. This led to my almost daily fights with my older sister when I was young.

     I realized I had to learn to control my emotions, impulses, and had to maintain tranquility, just like Tom Watson. Even when I’m in a bad situation and everything seems to be going against my wish, I have to analyze the problem with a clear mind instead of reacting emotionally. I have to simulate everything in my head before doing anything.

The next time I was in a golf range, I tried to remind myself of the things I learned while watching the epic round. A shot flew amiss; I hit a top-ball and my right hand started ringing with pain; my driver shot hit the ceiling instead of going straight. I sensed boiling frustration building up inside me, but I pushed it back. I took a deep breath. I kept trying again and again even though I kept failing.  To my surprise, as time passed it became easier and easier.

     This hard-earned characteristic continued onto my everyday life even when I wasn’t practicing golf. Now I meet daily hardships in life with tranquility and calmness. I try to think ahead and plan what I should do. Golf had taught me not just a sport to play but a skill that has changed the way I think and act. It had taught me self-control. 

Myself as a writer - Assignment #1

Writing is like morning exercise

         Most mornings at KMLA starts with the morning exercise. I would wake up at around 6am in pure agony, put on thick hard to wear kendo clothes, and run to the gym not to be late. I would just arrive on time and start the rigorous morning exercise. At first muscles all over my body would scream as I wave the blade in the air again and again. The great pain soon overcomes me. However after the first few minutes of torture endorphin kicks in and the pain is gradually gone. From this point the morning exercise that I so dreaded actually becomes fun! With the high feeling due to my trusted hormone I enjoy the rest of the morning exercise with a smile. Now my essay writing for me is very similar to this.

Every time I sit down to write an essay I feel as if I’m staring at a huge blank canvas that needs to be painted. I have no idea what to write and the white spaces seems too big. The immense pressure is always torturing. I tend to delay the writing till the very last limit and even try to avoid it. Even during the beginning of writing I am easily distracted. However after a few sentences or I start to really get into the essay and enjoy writing it. So the hardship only stays at the very beginning of writing. Even for this essay now starting it was very hard.

After the hardships that I encountered in writing I tried many methods to make writing for me enjoyable from the start. This gave me a style that include humorous features, dialogues, and fun stories that makes me more fun to write and also for the readers fun to read. I avoided using a fixed structure for an essay and started memorizing phrases in books that I could use in my writing. I think this is the general way my style of writing developed, to make writing more enjoyable.

The weakness I would have as a writer would be the small number of books that I read in my childhood. During my elementary school days I was far from books and was much closer to TVs and computers. Now this really limits my vocabulary and expressions that I could utilize in my writing. I would have many ideas firing in my head, but fail to fully express them through my writing. Sometimes the right words won’t pop out, but stay at the tip of my tong.

Another big flaw that I carry is that most of my essay ends up very sloppy and unorganized. I don’t spend enough time carefully planning my essay and end up just writing what my brain blabbers to me. After done writing I would proof read my work and realize the sloppiness of my work.

My goal for me is to be able to truly express myself in an essay. I wish I can really practice my writing in this class.