Question Everything

Hey, everybody. It's been quite a while, I feel.

I have several excuses, promise! Finals...er, finals, and...finals...
Yes.
But also, I've been working a lot on this new writing project with some friends, and it's also been occupying a lot of my free time: check it out at roleplayingproject.blogspot.com. This is also why I haven't posted any writing for a while, but I soon will be, hopefully.

But yes yes, down to business. You may have noticed the title of this post, if you are meticulous enough to read two hundred size font; you may have actually read what it said. Overachiever. *brofist*


We live through a large portion of our life believing what we are taught. It's natural. It's the reason you, as a small child, believe that angels are naked babies, Obama is from heaven, or perhaps Santa is real.
(Oops, I think I gave it away. Cover your eyes, it's okay! He's...semi-real!)

But as we grow older, it is also natural (or...it should be) to question the things we are taught. Anything we are taught deserves questioning; is it based solidly? Is there a good reason? Should I really believe in it?
Of course, there are some things that we accept as unquestioned because we feel certain about them through personal experience. We know left from right. We know that twelve inches is a foot. We know that certain foods are good and some are bad. These are natural standards.

What about the things we begin to see as we grow older, though? The culture we live in constantly bombards us with things expected of people our age through books, songs, TV, movies, politics, news, whatever. We can't just accept these things for granted, otherwise you might become one of those penniless, mush-minded teens who thinks that 'swag' is gonna pay the bills, and you totally don't need anything else.
Question everything. When I say 'Everything', I mean it. I'm not excluding anything. Even those things you think are amazing, awesome, and go doey-eyed whenever you think about it, question; why do you react to it that way? What makes you like it so much? You may be surprised to find what the answer was.

One of the things I want to focus on mainly is popular...anything. Anything that is popular has a reason it's popular. I find that ninety percent of the time, it's not a good reason.
There's a reason I critique even the things I like. For you who may not know, I'm a huge Star Wars geek. I have read tons of Star Wars literature, and I own all the movies (plus almost all the extra material you can get with them). Same thing with Lord of the Rings. Yet, I look at them, and I can see that they have their own problems. Just because you like something a lot doesn't mean it's perfect. By no means! Question it, examine it, find a good reason to like it.

Often, you may have to find reasons for the reasons. That's okay; go way back. Hit the root of the 'reason(s)'. I find that many people just watch, read, or listen to something and go 'Heeeey, me gusta.' and don't think much further into it. They become fans of something and if someone dare-eth to poke at it with a critical finger, they pounce on them mercilessly.

That being said, there's another side to this coin. If you start questioning things, make sure you don't just pick at whatever you can grab at. Especially if you're examining something you inherently don't like. You need to find good reasons you don't like that thing. Don't just cherrypick stuff out of thin air.

Phew! Long and philosophical post. Anyway. Have fun finishing finals, you people. Slog on. There's a light at the end of the tunnel; it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and break! Woot woot!
Hasta la vista, readers.