King of the Scorched World: What is the Point of Power?

I am writing this at 2AM due to my insomnia. Tonight's case is caused by this video, a music video for the song 'Handlebars' by Flobots, who I have never heard of up until this song. It is songs like Handlebars that cause me many sleepless nights, and if you see me yawning in class, feel free to ask me what I was thinking about the night before, and then grab some popcorn. I recommend watching it before reading the rest of this blog, so you will better understand what I am writing about.

Now for the main bit:

If you have watched the video, you will see the general story of two friends that embark on two different paths, one of peace and one of control, as indicated by the sign at the street corner. Though for now, let us focus on the path of control the second friend took. As he advances down his road, he gains power financially before becoming a political figure, then a tyrant, eventually taking control of the world in the video and killing his friend of peace.

Now for the deeper thoughts that keep rest from my eyes:

As I neared the end of the video, and I heard the line "And I could end the world in a holocaust" as the protesters were killed, I began to think about why so many countries think the ability to end the world is a good way to gain power. What is the point of being able to rule the world if the world is destroyed? No one can worship you as they lie dying, so why kill them to prove a point?

This led me to think about whether or not Power itself is evil. Once someone has a taste of it, an addiction grows that becomes more deadly than any drug, as crystal meth or ecstasy may kill a few, but Power is a merciless partner. Instead of slowly breaking a person down before stealing the breath from their lungs and the life from their eyes like its chemical counterparts, Power grants its host the ultimate high, superiority to their fellow man. This high is one that any person will do what is normally unthinkable to continue. The feeling of being on top causes humans to do disgusting, horrible things to put others down. Power offers to fill all the wants and needs of the human soul, but at what price?

You were cut off by that jerk in traffic, making you late to your meeting, why not give him a tap on the bumper to inform him of your displeasure? People tore down two towers and killed hundreds to make their religion and cause great, so why not torture a few of their friends to ensure that our dominance is not threatened? They have launched nuclear missiles at us, guaranteeing the death of nearly everyone in our country, so it is only fair if we give them the same fate, right? Power is what me must all shed ourselves of in order to stop these atrocities, yet it has struck a deal with our Humanity that binds its addiction through all generations, imprinting the need to gain it by any means necessary upon each and every one of us.

This leaves me with one final question:

When will Power, our sadistic director, lead us into the final act?

News Site Commentary: Public Forum or Flame Bait?

We all like to share our opinions. The United States was founded on this idea, and the founders wanted these opinions to be freely shared. It is because of this that we have the right to disagree, and it is the reason why I can write this blog that you are reading right now.

Comments are useful as it allows us to give back to a news story in a way as well as view the reactions of others in the voyeuristic behavior that is customary of the Western World in this age, but how many times has an intelligent conversation or argument been derailed by a comment that is equally ignorant or vulgar? These sort of postings can turn even the story of the death of a person into a degenerating skirmish of demeaning insults and swear words.

In the end, the benefit of the ability to share one's point of view by commenting on news stories far outweighs the occasional punk on the Internet who decides to go and ruin it for everyone else.

To quote an oldie: "Don't let one bad apple ruin the bunch."

FPD in the Public Eye: Christian Bastion or Country Club?

A recent story on macon.com about three teachers from First Presbyterian Day School returning to work after having children and being stay-at-home moms for several years. While the story in itself is not a major hit, it has sparked a war of commentary about whether or not FPD, and private schools in general, are narrow-minded and stuck-up in relation to their public school counterparts. Seeing this has made me think about how I perceive the school.

While FPD is an academically sound school, its otherwise excellent curriculum is weighed down by Bible courses that, outside of more practical courses such as Comparative Religion, are incredibly repetitive and yield no further information the second, third, and fourth time you take a testament survey course, Genesis course, or Life and Letters of Paul, just to name a few. This is an incredible waste of time in student schedules that instead could be used for another elective, or for a study hall in later grades, when holding a full Honors-AP course load can be a delicate balance, one that can be tipped with the bulk of another rehash Bible course.

The second thing about FPD that blights the nice paint and facilities is how the student body acts towards a variety of things. The most forgivable of these traits is the general lack of knowledgeable interest in real-world issues such as the presidential election, oil prices, and, most recently, the Russian occupation of Georgia, many of whom did not even know was a country, earning strange looks for me when I mentioned Russians taking the capital. The interest of the student body is instead captivated by updates on facebook followed closely by a mixture of sports, dating, and the Jonas Brothers.

Things are less forgivable, however, when minorities come into the picture. Because there are maybe 1 and at most 2 black people in each grade, some of the less-classy of the upper class have free reign in making racist comments in an almost casual demeanor, sometimes directly to a black student, in the comfort that there will be no 'peer justice' from the minority's friends.

Racism may not even be the most severe problem among private schools, but the most apparent and provable for the purpose of this blog. Ironically, problems such as drinking, drug use, and sexual interaction among students, those which parents send a child to private school to protect them from, may not be quite as prevalent and visible as their public school counterparts, but they are present, and this is what matters.

To put this into a single sentence: While the academic environment of First Presbyterian Day School is significantly better than that of nearly all Bibb County public schools, one must be careful not to idealize it as the same problems are present, except hidden under a cloak of dollar bills and khaki pants.