Forrest Gump Essay relating to a general goal for humanity.

So, check this out, I just wrote this paper for my Political Science through Literature and Film Class. I've been doing a lot of work so I haven't been able to blog much, so check this out and let me know what you think. too cynical? too general? First Draft right here.

Cam King

‘Forrest Gump’

4-24-2011

What makes a good life?  Is there a single general goal we should all be pursuing during our time on this planet?

            To directly answer the question above, the context and important aspects of ‘Forrest Gump’ clearly unify all the important parts of what makes a good life, but it becomes relative to what exactly does the word ‘good’ mean.

            Good is relative by all who encounter various forms of the word in different languages. The difference of good for you and me are entirely different. You can ask a room full of 25 people to write down the meaning of good, and you would get 25 different answers. It is not because good is a vague type of word, but the fact that people hold different ideals and ideologies within themselves to help define what good is. Asking someone to define good would be like asking Siddhartha as a boy to define what total ‘enlightenment’ would entail.

            Speaking of Siddhartha, what an incredible book and amount of stories that book entails. The idea that everything comes full circle and the two boys ultimately achieve the enlightenment that they set out for at the beginning of their youth is fascinating. To again go back to the original question, I’d say that no one essentially knows what good is until you’ve had the bad. You’ve got to experience new personal lows and down points in one’s life to realize what kinds of good you have experienced. In the case of Siddhartha, the fact that he is given an ample life with a religion and family to suffice with, he ultimately becomes bored because everything in his life is too normalized. Personally he has not experienced enough of a series of tumultuous events that shake up his life. Despite seeing his clan members, and father not gain spiritual awareness he sets out on a mission to with Govinda to gain enlightenment themselves.

            We’ll skip the lesser parts of the novel Siddhartha and go to the part where he becomes so infatuated with different beliefs and jumping from group to group that he loses his original intention. He makes a complete 180 degree turn and gives in to becoming a merchant and living the life of a rich man filled with sex, alcohol, gambling and other notorious actions. His newly found life leaves him to leave in search for a better existence once again. Meanwhile, an enormous rift exists between Siddhartha and his childhood friend Govinda that lead them on alternate paths. Siddhartha eventually becomes so depressed that he almost gives in to suicide and the loss of his former wife and running away of his son leads him to give in to the mystic power of nature. Siddhartha re-encounters the old ferryman and begins on a path of simple existence and a sense of general acceptance. Siddhartha endures a revelation that all things such as birth and death are all part of a timeless unity. Death, life, joy, sorrow, good and evil are all parts of the world and become necessary to understand the meanings of life. At this point in the book, the old ferryman who has led Siddhartha to understand this retires, leaving Siddhartha to become the ferryman and an iconic figure that represents all wisdom for the rest of the story.

           

            The singular fact that arises out of a magnificent story such as ‘Siddhartha’ is that evil is a necessary tool for understanding good. A counterweight must always be present here on this earth as a way to measure separate forces of nature. A ‘good life’ does not mean that only good things happen to you. Perhaps a good life could be a remembrance of a few good things that have happened. For example, a good life could be the example of Forrest Gump.

            While Forrest certainly lives quite an extreme life throughout the course of the movie, there are several striking similarities to Siddhartha here. Forrest, in today’s world might be diagnosed with a learning disability. Perhaps a mild form of Asperger’s or maybe he was totally normal. IMDB simply labels him as ‘not intelligent.’  Anyway, Gump’s quest for a ‘good life’ means that he is chasing his childhood love influence named Jenny. Throughout a series of alternate and sometimes comedic conquests such as being a Ping Pong world champion, successful business owner and accomplished Vietnam War hero, Gump continues to be easily satisfied in whatever he does. Perhaps this is what separates him from the other characters in the film. He becomes engrained in whatever he does by taking every order quite literally. (Remember him being the favorite of the drill sergeant?)

            In several iconic moments the phrase, “Run Forrest Run!” becomes the literal saying throughout the movie that takes Gump throughout the multiple defining moments in his life. Even after meeting several U.S. Presidents Gump continues on his simple life of basically doing the things that make him happy, which is chasing after Jenny in a simple and fashionable manner. Even when Jenny leaves Forrest for about the 6^th time, he decides to blow off some steam by running back and forth across the country. He again becomes famous for this after his several year treks from the east coast to the west coast, and ultimately gets Jenny back and learns of his child from a former one night stand.

            The point is from the highs and lows of the film Forrest Gump is easily satisfied and yearns to live only a happy and simple existence. Because of his easy going nature, coupled with an extreme effort throwing 110 percent of what he has into everything he does he becomes a successful person. One could watch the movie and easily say that Forrest Gump has lived a ‘good life’ not because he has only had good things happen to him, but because he experiences a multitude of different emotions throughout the film, highs lows, death, birth, love and hate. Forrest ultimately learns like Siddhartha that everything is the same cycle of the timeless unity of all things.

            For the more general answer of the second question, ‘Is there a single general goal we should all be pursuing during our time on this planet?’ I’d have to say no. I’m more on the cynical side of things and refuse to believe that we are better than all the other forms of animal life on this planet. Here comes my personal mantra and rant. We’re animals just like all the other millions of life forms on this planet. We are also easy to kill, in fact easier to kill than some animals, (See Kodak Bears, dinosaurs, Rhino’s and Elephants) but the two things we’ve done better is reproduce more than most species and also develop technology at an extremely higher rate than other animals. (We’re realllllly good at killing stuff too) This in turn has led us to become the top of the food chain, and more civilized to some extent. While most people wake up in the morning, put on pants, and drive their mini-vans to work, that does not mean we have ceased to become animals. I strongly believe that it would not take more than a few nukes to revert us back into our primal instincts and natural fears like all animals have. Our civilization here in America is a relatively simple one with growing technologies that allow us to become lazier without having to move as much. The obvious facts that major populations of the US and all parts of the world devote so much time to doing nothing other than checking a few notifications on their facebooks, and stuffing their faces with processed junk food and alcohol has led me to believe that there is no general goal for people to chase after except their own survival, which extends from most people’s supreme fear of dying and losing their own lives and measly existences.

            While I do generalize quite a bit up there, I do think this cycle is very easy to break. Passion and love for anything is the obvious way to step outside the box here. People that become passionate in activities, or sports, or a cause, essentially jump out of the box here and become individualized people. Look at famous people who have dedicated their lives to causes, people such as Martin Luther King, Michael Jordan, Winston Churchill,  Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and countless others have immortalized their presence in modern day societies.

            Yes, while I’d consider all of the people above the same animals as you and I, they have designated their emotions and strength into making some sort of difference. Even Hitler had passion, and I would consider that to be the main difference between being a human animal, and being well, a real animal. While there is no general goal to being a human in today’s world, other than your natural instincts telling you to survive and driving you to reproduce, the option to live a life full of passion and devote yourself to ‘something’ remains to be the strongest and best opportunity to live an exciting life for both you, me and everyone else on the planet.

Donald Trump...really?

http://blogs.forbes.com/williampentland/2011/04/23/dumbest-guy-in-the-room-donald-trumps-energy-policy/



You need to read that article up there. Donald Trump wants to RE-INVADE Iraq to solve our energy crisis here in America. Why isn't he being scrutinized for the complete idiot he is? Woof. 

Looking for Summer Jobs.

Well, I'm on the job search and funny to say...I got bored after a few e-mails and discontinued my search.
Instead I relieved my search, and tossed aside my full of work wednesdays to search for Louis C.K.'s new stand up. I highly recommend you watch it.

Here's the link

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=SWYT9AQ1

It'll make you laugh, and yes it is extremely vulgar, but it will help you de-stress.
Hopefully I'll get a response and another cooking job, all while enjoying the vulgar tastes of Louis C.K. Check it out ^^

Intramural dodgeball championship

 So this afternoon we concluded here at KSC the dodgeball intramural championships tonight. I'll spare you reading the entire story and start with the end.

We Lost...to the Basketball team.

Now I don't want to be a complete jerk off and pat myself on the back here. But if there's two things in this world where I'd pride myself on, it'd be dodgeball and...I don't know eating copious amounts of food? Jeez, but seriously. The basketball team throws hard. I'm not going to put it lightly, their tough dudes, like all jacked and crazy athletic. I'm not saying the team I wasn't on didn't have talent. Oh we most certainly did, there was a reason we were in the finals.

The match started off intense with us taking the first game. And like most intramural championships, nobody was watching this epic championship go down.

I was the last person left in the first match, and I single handedly took down four of them. I must have been throwing those balls with everything, my shoulder still kills. Anyway besides the 100 mph lighting I was throwing, the basketball kids were good. We fell in the second game as One of the taller kids caught the hot fire I was throwin'.

My teammates god bless them, were ruthless. My buddy took a rocket to the face, and somehow still stood up just long enough to almost get impaled by a fastball coming from across the court. These basketball kids were good.

Besides this being our 3rd game of the night, I felt good. I must have taken out over 15 of them throughout the 6 games that we played. Now keep in mind it's a 6 on 6 game. I'd say that's pretty good. My teammates were even better, they were catching fireballs, but there was just too many of them. The basketball kids had good tactics, and I was ganged up on, and got out early 2 games in a row.

At this point, the wins were tied 2-2. It was the rubber match, and everyone was out for blood. As much as our counterparts on the courts respected us, it seemed as if we wanted nothing more than to wipe the floor with them. I certainly did, I was out for blood, but my shoulder was starting to give.

Sweat pours down my face, I whip my hair to the side and wipe my brow. The whistle blows and I sprint like a bat out of hell towards the dodgeballs set up on the line. I grabbed it and look back. Our team has 3 balls, and the basketball boys have 3 balls. Rubber match indeed.

The basketball kids took aim first. WHAMMM! SLAAAAAP! Two teammates down for the count. Now a four on six match. The basketball kids began to cry out towards victory. I line up, eyes wide open, screaming for blood. WHOOOOOSH! Almost took that cro-magnons head off. He turns to me, wide-eyed, praying to the gene pool gods that he still has a head attached to that overgrown body.

I turn and grab another ball. Our teammates catch one ball. YOUR OUT!! screams the referee to the basketball boys. Five on four. I huck one to the other side of the court, as it sails high over his head. Damn.

The whistle blows two more times, as the Space Jam monsters began looming on the other side of the court, Two left, just Joe and I. The screams of the cheerleaders that have now spawned together behind the basketball boys are like crows circling over soon to be dead prey. Volleyball girls assemble to watch the final strikes of the game.

Once again, I wipe the sweat off my face, lungs feeling heavy, adrenaline pumping like never before. Here is my moment to take out all the anger I can. This is my shot against the 'the man'  and hierarchy of people that play sports in high schools and colleges across the country. My defining moment as the most athletic comeback of a non-athletic kid against real athletes!

SWOOOOSH! For a second I look down and Joe is dead. The look of defeat, pain and pity rolled into one glares at me. He slams his fist and rolls off the court. I crouch down with a ball, Wind-up and huck. Nothing.

I'm out of breath, and the slow-motion that ensues was epic. (As pictured in my head) Much like the scene in 300 when Leonidas sees the giant monster with the axe, I'm wide-eyed. A ball is sailing directly toward my thigh, The only move I had was to lift my leg in time.

It's my bad leg, and within the same second I hear the cries of victory from across the court. I let my team down. We lost. More importantly, we lost out on free champion t-shirts. The smell of defeat creeps in. Maybe next year kid. The high-fives begin, and despite the bitter feeling a large amount of mutual respect is felt among all the players.


Damn, I live for this.

Tracy Morgan's Tweets

Here's another short blurb. It's me convincing you right now to get a twitter, and start following celebrities. Well kind of. I mean, most of these people are hilarious. I have a twitter for the soul purpose of having other peoples random thoughts entertain me throughout my day. It's fantastic. Try it, I dare you. Follow people like Shaq, Charlie Sheen, Tracy Morgan (my personal favorite) Dave, Chappelle, and even fake news outlets like the Onion. I guarantee that you will find a boundless amount of entertainment, and gain perspectives through other peoples thoughts, just by reading how idiotic and gross some people are willing to publicly admit through their tweets.

Oh, and follow me @cking1989   ; )

Rhetoricalism at its best.

I did not write this article. However, you should take the time to read it. Despite the article being written about Justin Bieber, I've found this article to be amazing considering the vast idiocracy of the Middle East conflicts, and how deception of other countries is either used to gain a positive or negative effect of Public Relations and sympathy. Just read it, you'll understand.



The teen pop star has found himself the latest political football of the Middle East.

Justin Bieber, in Israel to perform a concert in Tel Aviv, has found himself having to contend with more than just predatory paparazzi. Thanks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he’s also found himself ensnared in a sensitive bit of Israeli political diplomacy.
According to Netanyahu, a meeting had been scheduled between the Prime Minister and the heart-throb, at which Netanyahu had planned to host a few innocent children—victims of a recent rocket attack from Palestine near Gaza that left one child and a school-bus driver injured. He simply wanted to give them a “happy experience.” In the Prime Minister’s version of the story, Netanyahu cancelled the meeting after Bieber heartlessly refused to meet with the children.
The Washington Post reports that “Israel’s Channel 2 TV said Bieber had told Netanyahu’s office he did not want to make the visit political,” and thus refused to meet with the children to avoid taking sides in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
The only comment from anyone actually associated with Bieber, however, is from “Ronit Arbel, an Israeli spokeswoman for Bieber [who] denied the reports. She said there were never any plans — or even discussions — about a meeting with the prime minister.”
You have to hand it to Netanyahu—as far as tactical diplomacy goes, planting the Justin Bieber story is borderline brilliant. If Bieber took the meeting, Netanyahu would successfully harness Bieber’s fame to create global sympathy for Israel in their conflict with Palestine. If Bieber refused the meeting, Netanyahu could paint him as a heartless dick for refusing to meet with these rocket-attacked kids and achieve the same PR effect.
As appears to be the case, the alleged invitation never even took place. But that, of course, is beside the point because the conversation is already out there. This is wagging the dog at its best.
Netanyahu’s strategy has a lot in common with American Republicans: Once you start a conversation about “death panels” when debating Obama’s healthcare reform, it doesn’t matter that the “death panels” are a complete fabrication. Once a conversation is started, it’s very difficult to stop, even if it has no basis in reality.
As long as Bieber has been famous people have been saying, “That’s a lot to take on for a kid that young.” Managing fame, money and fans’ expectations is one thing, but navigating this kind of delicate political diplomacy is a whole other ballgame. If it’s a challenge for President Obama, it’s not even a fair fight for a pint-size like Bieber.





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Truth be told, I don't care about Justin Bieber, but it's kind of interesting how they use him to gain public notice. And what they say about the Republican 'death panels.'

Spring Fever

Spring Fever...What does that mean.

A few things, you clean, you get to go outside a bit more, and everyone gets busier. Which leads me to my next point. It's been a week since I've written in this blog? Yikes. Get it together Cam.

I'll try to make it short and sweet for ya. Tons of new things are happening in my life, as well as the world. I never thought I'd say I'm too busy, or too much on my plate, but I'm certainly at the brim.

Japan had another earthquake, two more I believe. A 6.4 magnitude 48 miles off the coast of Tokyo. South East of Tokyo. And a 7.1 magnitude in the same area as the first major one. My sympathies go out to all the people affected. It's truly a horrific experience for that entire country.

Secondly, it's flu season. I may or may not have the flu. Besides almost passing out with every step I took today, and multiple people telling me they've been sick, I was hit with a (excuse the pun) wave of awful symptoms. Just beware, cause the past two days have not been fun, I can barely move dude.

Lastly, excuse the sparse writing in here, (I think of all of you who randomly read this blog I swear) on somewhat of a constant basis. My major goal is to hopefully get a nicer camera and update you with pictures, to go along with the telling of my personal life adventures. It'd be a nice way for me to document some experiences, and you to get some insight to what a random and semi-vicarious lifestyle I live. Nothing else major to report, everyone is loving the weather and also freaking out about how much work they've got to do in the last few weeks of the semester. Seriously when will these teachers figure out that they're class isn't the only one that we have work assigned for? Woof.

P.S Our Ultimate Frisbee tournament at URI went well. We played some super tough teams, but luckily win or lose, our team seems to have the most fun together. It's like playing sports the way they were meant to be played. Win or Lose, your still having fun, and still getting drunk on a Saturday night with 15 of your best friends in college, then getting up and playing even harder on Sunday.

Procrastinating

I'm not too sure why people procrastinate, but I haven't met too many people that don't procrastinate at all. For reasons other than I can explain, I think it's just the lackadaisical way we've been brought up. Sometimes, like me for instance, I get way too busy, and just get bogged down. And when the pressure is on like that, I simply get nothing done, or very little. Which doesn't ease the stress or tension, and does next to nothing to improve my mood. So, to be short and sweet, if you feel you are procrastinating, and your mood is somewhat down because of it, I strongly urge you to get up and start doing something.

Create a list, even with the small things you have to do in a day, and check them off one by one. It can be via note paper, a whiteboard, or make a to do list on your phone. I used to get so bored, I'd google "What to do when your bored" or, "How to stop being bored."

My quick advice for now (Because I've been too busy to blog lately) is to make a list, check it twice, and just do it. I'll be back later to update you on the past few days, frisbee tournaments etc and other events. As for you, this is your permission to stop procrastinating. Ready, set, go.