Things to think about while watching Glee.....

On a cold winter's night, while watching "Glee," the thought of my monthly connection blog entered my mind. Cultural relativism is a thought that can even be demonstrated through the shallowness of "Glee." The whole idea of accepting one's lifestyle is shown in a high school setting with the different cliques. While one person sees singing as lame or stupid, the other student will see someone who plays football as being a neanderthal. The whole idea of accepting one's culture seems too perfect in my mind. You may see cultural boundaries as something bad, but without them what differs between two groups of people, other than geography. The subtle differences between cultures such as: clothing, music, heritage, and lifestyles, change who we are and how we grow up. With everyone alike, there would be nothing to set us apart from one another. The differences follow into the animal kingdom, such as the leopard and the puma. One genetic variation changes the entire coat, speed, and habitat of the feline. The differences in culture relate to the differences in Things Fall Apart because of how each tribe lives their lives, as well as the natives to the Europeans. An example being, the idea of suicide, is the worst possible thing in the minds of the tribesman and they would not even touch the body of Okonkwo. The European men didn't this act of taking one's life to be that bad. The idea of accepting one's culture in the novel goes with the idea of accepting Christianity. While you may want to be polytheistic, Christians would like to convert you to Christianity. In my mind, keeping cultural differences is a good thing, something that should be remembered. Heritage as well is something to embrace by the next in line. (I'm definitely watching "Glee" with Karen because I'm not gay(She told me to say that). I would much rather being playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2).

Going Back to Beowulf. (Baiowulf)

Looking back on Beowulf, vocalizing the last words of the poem are deemed to be very important. Ethics are looked at universally and would not only apply to us, but to all creatures. Through other readings it has "made the poet, the audience, and modern reader part of Christian community separated from the pagan actors within the poem." This demonstrates how people have separated the true meanings of Beowulf to what they see the poem as in modern society. The good are praised and the bad are punished in society, but the other side is not seen by the good. Black and white images are broadcasted in the good people's mind, because bad is bad and there is nothing else to see. This takes away from the elements of Beowulf, even if Beowulf is praised for his doings against evil. These values taken in by society are the basic structure that it is founded upon. The idea of "praising" and "worshipping" the good is what society does. This is why in every movie seen, the good guy always win (Except in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Which is why it is so badass)). The whole idea of "darkness" or "dark thoughts" frightens those in society which is why Grendel is such a scary figure to the readers of Beowulf. "The heroic world is a world of action and of public recognition for deeds performed, not of brooding and soul searching." This can be seen as a "brawn over brains" situation where people are more interested in action rather than talking. With everything in consideration, honor is always at stake among Beowulf, Grendel, Grendel's Mothers, and the Dragon.

(Insert Hero Here) vs. (Insert Hero's Arch Enemy Here)

As seen by Beowulf, there are different qualities of a hero and qualities of a villain. I see this as a character or literary hero because of the context in the poem. It always seems as though a hero has the means to stop the villain and the villain always has the hero's weakness on hand. This situation is not in Beowulf until it seems like Beowulf's weakness is his age when he fights the dragon. Beowulf shows that a hero is chivalrous, respectable, modest, and always does what is right. In Beowulf, he demonstrates that he wants to do the right thing by fighting Grendel with his bare hands. This actually helped Beowulf because no weapons could hurt Grendel and this made Beowulf able to defeat him. Through Beowulf's honest actions that he as a hero posses, he was able to do what his overall goal was to do, kill Grendel. On the other hand, a villain holds the opposite qualities of a hero. A villain appears to be evil, dishonest, harmful, and always doing something wrong in the eyes of the public. The villains of Grendel, Grendel's Mother, and the Dragon are all seen as the villains in this poem and hold the quality of harming others. When it comes up between the two, the hero will win because that's what the reader would like to read. But also brought up in class, the hero and the villain are in the eyes of the beholder. The qualtities of either side can be flip-flopped between each other by the reader or a spectator. That's why the qualities of heroes and villains can be so difficult to see.

What Grinds My Gears

I would like to ask one question: Do you know what really grinds my gears? The lack of lane courtesy in modern day bowling alleys. If you do not already know, I am an avid bowler and I have been since I was 4 years old. My father taught me the greatest aspects of bowling and how to do it well. He also taught me one of the most important thing which is called, "Lane Courtesy." Lane courtesy is respected another bowler while they are either bowling or ready to bowl. This means they are on the approach and are picking up the ball or have the ball in their hands.
The reason this really bothers me is because I have always, 100%, given lane courtesy to others but it has not always been given to me. Whether it be a 7 year old kid or a 55 year old male, it's not there. Why? Haven't they been taught it? Shouldn't they give me the same respect I give them? Regardless of the situation it's rude, disrespectful, and harms my ability to bowl well. Several times I have had a string of strikes put together and all of a sudden some person jumps up on the lane and scares me half to death. I don't know about you (the reader) but having a 15 pound bowling ball coming near your body at 20 mph isn't something I like to have near me.
What to do with these people? I have asked them nicely to stop, I have blatantly told them to back off, but none of these things seem to work. I have a suggestion! Why not hit them over the head with a hammer? Or bash their brains in with a baseball bat? The worse option thought of would be to cut off each and everyone of their bowling digits (middle finger, ring finger, and thumb)! That sounds like a perfectly fine solution to me, because then I wouldn't have to put up with their lack of lane courtesy because they would have NO FINGERS TO BOWL WITH! So how do we chop off these fingers without having assault charges brought upon us? I would have a meeting at the beginning of each league explaining lane courtesy and what the consequences are. If those consequences are getting your fingers chopped off, you should have listened better. I see lane courtesy as something that someone new to the sport should be taught so they continue using it through their bowling career. With any other sport there is sportsmanship and rules involved, why not teach it in bowling?
So in conclusion, use lane courtesy. Otherwise I will bring in a pair of sharp shearers and chop off your fingers while my friend Jimmy holds you down. I use lane courtesy, my team uses lane courtesy, and most of the bowling community use lane courtesy. For that other percentage of bowlers who don't, learn it. For your sake, and for your fingers sake, always use and adhere to lane courtesy.