Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

This I Believe – Second Draft 12/5/06

Change is everything. Everything is energy (yes, even matter is a form of energy). Therefore change is energy. As manifestations of energy, living things absolutely must change, just like anything else, in order to exist. To eat, to sleep, to excrete, and to procreate are like conjugations of the verb to change.

I am thoroughly glad to be growing up. It has been happening since before consciousness, before self-awareness, and even before mitosis is over. Growing up is completely included in the “go with the flow” agenda. By experiencing life, retaining memories, and expending mental energy (thinking), living things evolve and learn. We do it to survive.

Learning should always be applicable. I read an autobiography in comparative literature wherein the African author pointed out a difference between French missionary teachings and his native tribal teachings. The difference was that white knowledge can be thought of as a solid block while tribal knowledge is like a fluid. A solid object’s form is self-definitive – its construction is always the same. Applying pressure will cause it to either push back or break. A fluid, however, changes to the form of its container. I favor tribal knowledge because it embraces the ability to apply learning to circumstance.

Procreation is the ultimate mark of adulthood, as well as the ultimate time of change. When two organisms reproduce, a new hybrid is created. Those lives are pooling their energy and giving their very own being to a young offspring. After this purpose is fulfilled, the parents (after raising their children) are free to die and fertilize their children’s ecosystem. Evolution is carried along through the same process, a long-term acceleration of life.

Since change is not always considered positive, pain exists in our lives. I often wish people could appreciate life more than halfway, which is essentially appreciation for solely pleasure. I do not mean to say I enjoy being sad, frustrated, confused, or generally hurt. If these emotions brought joy their signifigance would not be the same. However, although they do not bring joy they should not be put down, bottled up, or medicated. Pain makes us real. Pain allows us to live and perceive. Life, an unfathomably beautiful state of being, seems to lose credibility if one cannot accept that there are pitfalls and obstacles along the way. Furthermore, without pain there simply would be no way to define pleasure. Whether positive or negative, change allows us to grow and evolve. I believe pain and pleasure are mutually related, and their child is what we call reason.