Krishnamurti

I am happy we were assigned this exert. I enjoyed reading it. Eventhough, I wans't a big fan of Krishnamurti tone, I have to admit that any text that really makes me think and wonder is a text that I enjoy. I realized after reading this how lucky I am to have expeineced a different world. In Denmark the value of eduation is truely to learn about the world, and society you live in. In school, you learn about yourself and how your brain functions. There are not very many tests and no grades until you are much older. Competetion is not a huge factor. As a child, living in what people in the US. call a socialist country, I was tought that everyone is equal and that everyone had a fair chance in life to become happy. There wasn't that much emphasis on winners vs. losers. Therefore I felt a bit attacked by the way the exert was written. I agree with Krishnamurti, so I wish that he hadn't written it expecting me to be the people he is writing about. The people who live their life on autopilot, and don't value life's true beauty. Honestly the exert also made me a little sad because as much as I want to rebel and not be afraid and not compete or feel like a failure whenI don't get a good gradeon a paper- I still do. How do I get out of this? do I want to get out of this? I still want to be the best, and I still want to fear things because then when I don't anymore I feel strong, stronger than other people, and I like that feeling.

Definitions of Success

I really liked most of the the Success videos. It was interesting to see the different views and thoughts on the subject. Especially in the Resident program, where the lady asked several people on the street. I had imagined that most people would've said that having money and power would equal success, however it seemed like the majority actually said that success is something personal. The Will Smith view of success resonated with me a lot, and the points he brings up are some that I completely agree with. I have always believed that you can do whatever you want to do with your life. You can have whatever you want in the world, but you have to want it bad enough. I also think it is true that talent is different than skill; especially as an actor. It is quite possible that you may be the most talented in the world, but if you don't have the skillset and discipline to train and train, then the talent will be wasted. Of course there are such things as good luck however, I do believe that the most successful people, who I aspire to be like, have all worked their asses off, and acquired a certain set of skills that are not easy to acquire. In comparison, I love Debbie Turner's definition of success. She is a simple, very happy woman. She is not the type that will sacrifice everything she has to attain something really complicated- she simply loves her friends and her life (it seems like). It was refreshing to witness someone who didn't feel like she had to fight or go through fire to feel successful. She isn't a millionaire and she isn't famous, and yet she is so completely content and grateful. I like that there are people out there like her, however I could probably never be like her. I like the risk involved in my life. It's not predictable nor is it, or will it ever be boring.

Discourse Videos

The Northwestern Undergraduates video stood out to me. They had their own language, own rules and own traditions. I liked it because I, myself am part of the discourse community of an undergraduate student in Chicago- so I was actually able to understand some of the inside jokes that were made. This video among the gamers video were really the only ones that showed a certain discourse community. Even though cheerleaders and Vegans, probably have their own language and rules they weren't evident in the videos. The Northwestern video showed me a sense of the students that went there, their humor, their routine and lifestyle. Mostly, I didn't know what they were talking about which made me feel like an outsider, which in result makes it a discourse community that I am not apart of. During the gamers video, I felt completely lost. That is definitely a community that I don't belong to, not even one bit. I couldn't understand what the little dude was talking about, and I couldn't understand why anyone would spend that much time playing video games. It was interesting to hear about though, and I know it is a ginormous community that a lot of boys are apart of. I am guessing that success among Northwestern undergraduates is to do well in school, and graduate with a high GPA. Of course, I am sure that there must be many different goals among the students but for the most part I think success means good grades, or the label of being intelligent.