Specchio Falso 13

Specchio Falso (The False Mirror) Pic URL

One of Descartes’ many great accomplishments was bringing out his skepticism theory. He doubted everything he once knew and came to the realization that the only thing he could prove to be true,  was his existence in the world.  “Cogito Ergo Sum,” is a famous quote from Decartes that means ,”I think, therefore I am.” What I took from the outcome of Decartes’ experience is that this world we live in can be deceiving and the way to get close to the truth is just to doubt and think carefully before believing everything and everyone. A painting that reminded me of Descartes’ skepticism theory is, “Specchio Falso (The False Mirror),” by Rene Margritte. After reading the title of the picture, my interpretation of the painting is that our eyes can be very deceiving. Sometimes, our minds will trick us into thinking that we have seen something that we haven’t. This relates to times when people are in denial and refuse to see the truth in life (a cheating boyfriend, death of a loved one, etc.) Because sometimes people are in denial, they would rather lie to themselves and be at peace with believing what makes them feel better. I believe this peacefulness is represented by the blue sky. Sometimes believing in a lie is much easier than dealing with the truth. Decartes’ skepticism theory  teaches people that they should not be naive and should not become a part of a false reality.

Asking for an ID 14

Picture URL

When you work in retail, you already know you are going to have to deal with all sorts of customers, especially if you are a cashier. Dealing with people's money is a really big deal. Some customers will make life easy for you and the purchase will be a breeze. Some even have long interesting conversations with you, or make you smile and laugh. Then, there are customers who are in a bad mood and like to put it on other people. When you work at staples and someone uses a credit card you are always required to ask for their card, look to see that there is a signature on the back, and make sure that the customer's signature matches the signature on the back of the card. If the customer does not have a signature on the back of the card, then we are required to ask for an ID, regardless of how much the total comes out to be. Other stores are required to do this as well, but some people just automatically use the card without even looking at the back of the card. The reason I am writing about this is because there are too many customers out there who get extremely angry when I ask for their ID. It honestly makes me really upset. I don't get it at all. I am doing them a favor to make sure that there is no fraud happening. They should be grateful like most customers. Not yell at me and create a huge scene. What makes me the most mad is when a customer writes on the back of a card, "Ask for ID" and when I do they yell at me for asking for an ID. Some people don't understand that fraud can happen anywhere anytime and I'm only helping to ensure that their money is not being stolen. I related my blog to Aristotle's philosophical idea that human’s highest function is reason. I realized that I could easy get away with not asking for an ID just to avoid these rude customers, but life is about the right use of reasoning. I shouldn't just let these customer's get away without showing me their ID, because I could be really doing some damage one day if fraud was actually happening. Aristotle said that you a person's reasoning should not have bad motive behind it and it's true. All of our actions should be in virtue.

The Truman Show 12

Pic URL

After watching the movie, "The Truman Show," I can see the irony behind the character names such as, Christof and Truman. First off, I am going to start with the name Christof. If you break down this name it would be "Christ Of." After looking it up, I found that Christ means the anointed one. Anointed means to make sacred. So basically, Christof the character in the movie, creates this imaginary world that revolves around the character Truman. He treats Truman as someone who is sacred and thinks he is protecting Truman by controlling everything and everyone that comes across Truman's path. For instance, when Truman tries to leave the show, Christof decides to control the weather and turns the ocean into a huge storm. The irony behind the name Truman is that if you were to break down this name, it could be "True Man." In the movie, Truman who lives his life on set of the television show, is the only character who is true to himself. Throughout the movie, he shows his true feelings and emotions while everyone one else is acting and playing along for the television show. Furthermore, Truman seeks the truth. By the end of the movie, he notices that everything that happened was really not a coincidence. He noticed all the weird things going on and figured that he was being filmed. For instance, he would catch the crew members talking to each other from listening to the radio. He also, notices how the back of the elevator wasn't a wall.

47 Ronin 11

Pic URL (not my own pic)

Every year I go to two Christmas parties. My first Christmas party is usually at one of my relative's house and my entire family (cousins, aunts, uncles, etc) all come together. We all bring food and have a buffet table and at a certain time we play Secret Santa. During Thanksgiving we all put our names into a Hat and after shuffling, pick a name out of the hat. I always love my secret Santa gifts. The second party only consists of my immediate family (sisters, sisters in law, brother, brothers in law etc.) This is when we open up the rest of our presents. My mom usually makes our favorite dishes. After presents we all play board games and makes fruity drinks. This is my favorite part of the year because since my brothers and sisters don't live with me anymore it's nice that we get to sit down, and play games together all night. This year, after opening presents we decided to go watch 47 Ronin with some my other relatives. We took up over 25 seats in the tyngsboro AMC theater. I LOVEEEEEEEED THE MOVIE. Most of my guy cousins of course complained about how there was not enough action, but I loved the story line and how it is based on a true story. For me, this is a MUST WATCH movie. Maybe not in the theaters, but at least watch it when it comes out on DVD. Honestly, some of the actors were horrible at acting, some of the English was terrible, and it has really bad ratings, but I think people should still watch it for the storyline =)