crazy ones

Jack Kerouac wrote one of my favorite poems:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them; disagree with them; glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

This quote is so powerful. Today in advertising, we watched a commerical used in an Apple advertising campaign. I just fell in love with the ad because it adds so much meaning to an already meaningful quote.

Here’s a link to the commercial

Borges can help you with your reglious beliefs

I have been reading a story by Jorge Luis Borges entitled “El evangelio según Marcos.”

The story is about a man named Baltasar Espinosa who is basically a parallel to Jesus Christ.Espinosa takes in an illiterate family (Los Gutres – a father and his son and daughter) who lost everything due to a flood (the flood = the great flood involving Noah’s Ark…).Espinosa finds a bible and decides to read Los Gutres the story of Mark.Los Gutres were not religious but loved listening to Espinosa speak because he was a very eloquent speaker (again, parallel to Jesus).

Unfortunately, Los Gutres were not freethinkers…they took everything that was told to them as the truth.Unfortunately they were in this mindset when hearing the story of Mark.Because of this, they took everything they heard literally.The story continues on to foreshadow as in when the father asks Espinosa if the people will be saved if he dies.The Gutres prove to be very selfish (bible parallel once again) and the father goes as far as sacrificing the daughter’s virginity so that they can directly follow the bible.Finally, after much discussion and clarification of the story of Mark, the cuento foreshadows that Los Gutres are planning on crucifying Espinosa just as Jesus was crucified.

It seems to me that the main theme of the story is that it is important to learn various interpretations of religions before making decisions.Because Los Gutres were uneducated, they made a preemptive decision (crucifying Espinosa because they wrongly associated him with Christ) which possibly could have been prevented with possible education.

is less really more?

Today on my way to work, I happened to see a bumper sticker which made me think twice. The bumperstick read, “The more you know, the less you need.” First of all, I’d like to point out the irony of this, seeing as the car was turing into a shopping center (maybe the driver did not know much? -ha). Anyway, the saying is so true. I know that for myself, when i was younger I was quite interested in having things…anything really. It didn’t matter if I needed it or wanted it…it just felt good to have something tangible. However, as time has passed and as I have grown, matured (hopefully), and taken the time to learn about people other than myself, cultures other than my own, and situations other than the ones I am in, I have realized how much “stuff” I really can afford to do without.