Lesson 29: Do You Know What Your Legislators are Doing?

An email from a colleague recently crossed my desk regarding H.R. 3359, the US and the World Education Act. H.R. 3359 is designed to raise student achievement in international education by a) increasing competence and literacy of school teachers and b) supporting curricular and extra-curricular programs that supplement international education. Pretty good cause, huh?

In the email was a statement from a congressman who said "If you think that your input doesn't count, imagine that in my office, we NEVER hear from constituents on about 98% of all the bills that make its way through the legislature. 98%!!!"

Although the number is probably an estimate, I was shocked to learn that statistic. During my time as a political science major and my volunteer time with organizations such as APIA Vote, I became very interested in civic participation and having a voice. We do have a government that is, after all, by the people and for the people, so why wouldn't I want to participate?

It seems that we often take advantage of the fact that we have so much freedom to petition our government freely. Not everyone has that, you know? And nations that aren't blessed with this privilege are willing to fight for it. It seems that the more we're denied these freedoms, the more we value them. Since we as Americans have always had this allowance, is it true that we don't value it as much?

Why, for instance, does voter turnout decrease during non-presidential elections when the elections for Congressmen and local office are more likely to affect constituents? In a crucial time in our history when our nation is at a significant turning point, I urge all Americans to participate in the civic process, make their representatives earn their money and use their voices to advocate legislation that matters to them.

Lesson 28: Best Friend, Part II

My first post about friends, Lesson 15, talked about different kinds of friends. After receiving an email from my best friend who literally lives on the other side of the world, I was inspired to write another.

I have heard time after time that happily married couples marry their "best friends." I think that's a beautiful concept, but I have a best friend. She's great, but I'm not going to marry her. Instead, I think I'm going to marry someone who is a good combination of the tough love, hang out, work and best friend. It would be nice to be able to come home to someone who's willing to show up in public with me, listen to everything I have to say and tell me the honest (and sometimes harsh) truth not out of frustration but out of love. I wouldn't call him my best friend. I'd just call him my husband.

Again, as I recall the original purpose of this blog, to prove that it's possible to learn something new every day, I'm realizing that what I want from the man I'll ultimately spend the rest of my life with will change. It's not to say that I don't still want to learn from someone or that I don't want to be able to laugh with someone. I'm still learning about this whole 'til death do us part thing. But maybe that kind of love isn't about placing expectations on someone you haven't met yet. To be honest, I can't say I'm sure I know what it's all about yet. But once I find him, I'll accept him as he is because I am sure he'd do the same for me. Friends do that for each other, right? Sometimes it's those little imperfections in people that we eventually learn the most from. And besides, how incredibly boring would marriage be if you got everything you wanted on day one? Where's the adventure in that?

Lesson 27: Pretty Girl

Today while watching Oprah I learned that women around the world face all kinds of pressures to live up to "being beautiful." They go through rituals as extreme as drinking cow urine, leg lengthening, or letting fish eat dead skin cells off of their feet in the name of beauty. I can't say I'm one to just throw the makeup brushes aside, but I definitely draw the line a few feet before I even get close to drinking cow urine.

The show also featured a French model dealing with anorexia who was literally skin and bones because a designer told her she needed to lose weight. And Lisa Ling went to Shanghai and visited a Barbie store where young Chinese girls said that they like Caucasian dolls better than Chinese dolls because of their blue eyes.

I often ask why people place so much value on money rather than kindness or love, and a friend of mine said that it's because money is easily quantifiable but it's hard to find the measurement for kindness or love. But as women in China decide that they need to look more "western," I have to wonder, how do you quantify beauty and who gets to decide that?

***WARNING: I'M ABOUT TO BE VERY VULNERABLE***

As an adult, I compare myself to others and put myself at a solid six on the appearance scale. When I was a kid, I struggled a lot with the way I looked. I knew I wasn't the pretty girl. There were times when I was told it was a good thing I was smart because I wasn't pretty. So I buried myself in books as I was passed up by the boys for the cheerleaders. Even today, I know I'll never be a fashion model (too short) or a Victoria's Secret Model (too boy-shaped). I'm okay with that...until someone else says that it's not good enough to just be smart or to just be "big-hearted." Despite their efforts to love themselves, why are women made to feel inadequate when they're not rockin' a size 2 with perfect breasts, full lips and flowing hair to there?

I guess that this post isn't just to tell you all that I learned about women drinking cow urine today. (Although that was a pretty eye-opening lesson in itself) It's also to ask why this unquantifiable thing of beauty is such a determining factor in creating relationships and advancing in social status. It's to say that it infuriates me when I'm passed up because of the way I look in favor of a conventionally pretty girl. And what would happen to me if I weren't a six? What if I rated myself at a two? Would I have a job? Would I have friends?

They say that half of a woman's beauty is her confidence, but I have to wonder how is she supposed to be able to build that confidence if she's constantly told that she isn't the pretty girl?

Lesson 26: Happy 4th of July

Today's lesson of the day came early as I, in all my bright-eyed bushy-tailedness woke up to Good Morning America's 4th of July celebration. There was a report on the Declaration of Independence and the good people at the Smithsonian who were working on restoring the original document. It turns out that the phrase "my fellow citizens" was part of a draft of the Declaration of Independence that never made it into the final copy.

But underneath the word "citizens" was another word that until recently, historians couldn't quite make out. It turns out that Thomas Jefferson had originally written "subjects" but later smudged the word and replaced it with "citizens" so as not to reference the colony's relationship with England.

Another fact that I learned today from my newspaper: Thomas Jefferson died on 4th of July.

Lesson 25: Greek Gods

I believe that Greek mythology is one of the most fascinating things in literature. I remember being in the 5th grade and being assigned a report on Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about that project aside from some story about an apple and drawing a picture of her coming out of the ocean.
Are you still reading between the lines? Lessons should be retained!
Anyway, all those classics are great because they provide some insight into references and even words that are still used in the English language today. A couple of things I learned today:

Morpheus was the god of sleep, so that's where we get the word "morphine," and to say that someone is "In the arms of Morpheus" is to mean that someone is in a deep sleep.
How come Morpheus never visits me?
The Greek figure Tantalus would steal nectar and ambrosia from Zeus to bring it back to his people. He also offered his son as a sacrifice to the gods by cutting him up and serving him to the gods to eat. Although Tanalus's son was brought back to life by Demeter, the gods were so angered by Tantalus that he was severely punished by being made to stand in a pool of water under a fruit tree just out of his reach. When he tried to reach for the fruit, the branches raised and when he tried to have a sip of water from the pool, the waters receded.

The name "Tantalus" is the origin of the English verb "to tantalize," inferring that people who were tantalized were reaching for something just out of reach that they could never have.
And sometimes I feel like I'm being tantalized by a Greek figure of my own who is just out of my reach.

Lesson 24: Objects in the Rearview Mirror

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Technically, that's true. But I've started to wonder if first impressions should carry as much weight as they do.

I've been meeting a lot of people, and obviously I rate their first impressions. Sometimes they're good and sometimes they're not so good, but one thing is consistent. They're not accurate. There have been people I've met who made great first impressions; people who impressed me or made me want to get to know them better. A few months, weeks, or even days later I don't want to know them at all and struggle in figuring out how to cut them out of my life. Others make not so great first impressions, somehow make it through to round two and make me feel like I've known them my whole life.

So what is this business of first impressions? People come to job interviews in suits and after getting the job may revert to business casual. People primp for first dates and then feel all right with jeans and t-shirts by date 5. Maybe it has to do with comfort level. At some point you ditch the perfect look and get so comfortable that you're sitting in your underwear on the couch with a bucket of chicken.

Maybe rather than giving so much weight to first impressions, we should treat people the way we treat objects in the rearview mirror. You can make use of that first glance but only after you check your blind spot. Because don't people deserve (or at least require) a second glance?

Lesson 23: You Learn Something New Every Day, Eh

You can learn a lot of things from the trending topics on Twitter. No, I'm not talking about the uknowyourfromatlif ones that drive me crazy because of the grammatical errors. I'm talking about the global ones where people talk about what's going on in their current events.

For instance, today I learned that it's Canada Day. On July 1, our neighbors to the north celebrate a national holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act (or Constitution Act, 1867), which united two British colonies and a province of the British Empire into Canada. That said, I guess you can say that July 1 is Canada's birthday. So, that also means that Americans living in the northern border states are going to have quite a weekend being in the environment of two celebrations of independence. I can taste the maple syrup now...