Parental Rights

Parents always seem to think they have the right to "spy", or check up on their kids. That is usually what drives their kids to dislike it so much. It should really be up to the child how involved their parents are in their lives. It's generally thought that if the parents provide a loving, caring, safe environment for their children, those children will trust their parents enough to let them into their lives on their own accord. But oftentimes parents feel that even if they don't provide that loving, safe environment, they still have the right to snoop around their kids lives. It is definitely something that should be earned not taken. Teenagers, like most people, don't approve or support unearned privileges which often causes them to rebel against their parents attempts, or to fight them on every step along the way.

Age is also a good factor in whether or not a parent should be able to check up on their kids lives. Every parent should and I think does have the right to check up on a young child. That is all part of being a good parent and ensuring that you child is safe. But as that child grows up and starts to grow into it's own person, a parent needs to learn when to let that child's character blossom for itself. Guide it when it is going astray, but don't inhibit it based on your own values and beliefs, because those are something every human should discover for themselves. If a parent understands that, supporting a child without trying to control it, then there is a significant chance that the child will let the parent into their lives, and even use them as a helpful tool for self development.

Polonius' Advice

Polonius gives Laertes a great deal of advice about how to behave with integrity and practicality. He cautions Laertes to keep his thoughts to himself, restrain himself from acting on rash desires, and treat people with familiarity but not with vulgarity. He advises him to hold on to his old friends but be slow to embrace new friends. To be slow to argue but to fight boldly if need be. To listen more than he talks and to dress richly but not gaudily. To refrain from borrowing or lending money and, finally, to be true to himself above all things.

These are really basic threads of advice, I think everyone is given that advice at some point in their life, whether it be from parents, friends, family, or even the media. It could even come from one's own morals and personality. They may have had different meaning back in that time, but most of them are still applicable in todays life situations.

I involve at least some of those in every day of my life, as most people should. Being true to yourself really should be an everyday activity to people. I am also very loyal to my friends, but often times slow to embrace new ones. That is the same reason when I came to this school in November, I got my set group of friends, and have been very hesitant of making any new ones. The only piece of the advice Polonius gave Laertes that isn't really applicable is to dress rich, but not gaudy. Not many people dress rich, unless they are in a high position in business or some other career that would entail a nice dress code. If you were to translate that advice to suit today it would probably be worded differently for guys and girls. For guys it would be "Dress with fashion, but don't dress vulgarly" and for girls "Dress pretty, but not revealing". All these pieces of advice are good, but it is up to the person if they want to follow them.

Revenge In Everyday Life

Revenge is one of the most common human traits. When we have been wronged, more often then not our first instinct is to return the pain or hurt to the person who inflicted it upon you. When someone pushes you for instance, you can take one of two roads. You can push them back or you can choose to take the high road and avoid the confrontation entirely. I am not a big fan of revenge, and I avoid it whenever I can. It's my opinion that revenge is a tool for people who are too weak to control their emotions, and although I have been guilty of it on rare occasion, I find the idea of it to be silly. The best form of the concept of "revenge" is retribution, which takes it's most common shape in the form of law.

Revenge is a problem or a disease that takes over human emotion and causes total chaos and personal ruin. There is only one vaccine to the revenge disease and that is forgiveness. It doesn't take much will or effort to just follow your first instinct of hitting the person back who hit you. It takes a special kind of person however, to rise above it. To care about the person who harmed you, and to help sympathize with them. Just last thursday I was punched in the back of the head at school in the hallways by a guy who had a problem with me. Him and a friend of mine had a dispute and I got mildly involved. Once the dispute was settled between my friend and him, all the anger got put towards me even though I played such a minor role in it. I tried to avoid confrontation with this kid as much as possible, then he decided to walk up behind me and punch me in the head. After he hit me, I could feel the anger pumping through me, but I looked at the situation, and deduced that it was a stupid reason to be fighting in the first place, and that if I were to strike him back, it would only worsen the problem, so I decided to just let it go. The kid was punished for it, and has since apologized to me, which was the best possible outcome. Had I gotten revenge, the situation would not have turned out nearly as well.

Revenge was never always around, it came to being aong with the evolution of mankind. It was developed as a solution to many of mans increasing social situations. Forgiveness was created in the same way. It was developed when peoples need for revenge started to go to too great of lengths. Perhaps the same scenario will occur. Perhaps once mankind has dealt with a certain level of revenge we will learn to be more tolerable of others mistakes, and learn to control our emotions and reactions better. But until that day comes, we will still see the war in Iraq, our soldiers in Afghanistan, and probably other wars and acts of terrorism to come.