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Life Sucks When You Are Uncool

When the Siddhartha first encountered an old man, a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic, it depressed him. He realized that life involves suffering (Dukkha) in obvious and subtle forms. Even when things seem good, we always feel an undercurrent of anxiety and uncertainty inside (The First Noble Truth). We spend our entire life struggling with aging, sickness, and death. Only maybe 10% of us achieve any semblance of real lifelong happiness—wonderful loving spouse, decent children who go on to successful careers, a healthy life free of disease and financial burdens. However, when we realize that we will inevitably die in few years anyway, none of these matter. So in the midst of all our pain and suffering, how can we remain calm in the middle of the storm? The answer is to be cool.

At the time of slavery, being cool was a behavioral attitude practiced by black men in the United States. A cool manner helped slaves to cope with suffering and death, or simply made it possible to have fun in their desperate lives. During slavery, overt aggression by blacks was punishable by death (philosophynow.org). It was very important to remain inoffensive and calm, and any level of serious emotion or intent should be disguised. However, cool always reminded blacks to resist and rebel against authority through creativity and innovation. Joseph L. White wrote: Black aesthetics, whose stylistic, cognitive, and behavioral tropes are largely based on cool-mindedness, has arguably become "the only distinctive American artistic creation" (Black Man Emerging: Facing the Past and Seizing the Future, 1999, p. 60). Thus, it is more accurate to conclude that cool represents a fusion of submission and subversion.

Today, the aesthetics of cool represents the most important phenomenon in youth culture. We might know that sticking our tongue out during photo-taking is cool, but we do not understand the cool worldview behind this pose. Cool becomes a cheap word and is used as a universal term of approval among the young around the world, right from children in primary school playgrounds up to college-aged adults. Some people would argue that we are living in a relatively peaceful world that slavery and major wars rarely happen, so original cool does not work anymore in the 21st century. However, the truth is that we are still living in a chaotic world where races, religions, genders, parties, nationalities, and social classes deeply split us. While the rich and privileged upper class dominates the society, suffering is still the biggest part of minorities' lives. It is still essential to understand what cool really is and how to use cool to deal with the new challenges and difficulties of the 21st century.

One of the most dangerous things in the 21st century is "parents." In the dictionary of cool, "parents" are one of the authorities, including family, school, religion, and government, who teach us the truth in life and make rules for us for our own good. What makes it really uncool is that you and I rarely question them. We think that we are in the driver's seat, but the truth is that we are just a back-seat passenger wearing the seatbelt and waiting for someone to drive us to somewhere he wants us to go. As a child raised in a traditional Chinese family, my life view was formed by my parents and the society. I was expected to graduate from a top college, work for a big-name company with decent pay, marry a virtuous woman at twenty-six, and enjoy the rest of my family life. In my favorite movie Whiplash, Andrew, a music student, aspires to be the next Buddy Rich, though his parents question his ambitions. As Andrew puts it, "I'd rather die broke and drunk at 34 and have people at a dinner table somewhere talk about it than die rich and sober at 90 and have no one remember me." Cool teaches me to stay away from "parents" and think independently and critically. Dick Poutain wrote in his book: Cool is an oppositional attitude adopted by individuals or small groups to express a defiance state to authority (Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude). Here, cool is a rebellious attitude, an expression of a belief that the mainstream mores of your society have no legitimacy and do not apply to you. Oscar Wilde also read rebellion as "man's original virtue" and said, "it is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made." In the science era, we have continuous "rebellions" and "revolutions" on previous ideas, theories, or technologies, so we can make ourselves so far today.

"You can either travel or read, but either your body or soul must be on the way." It is a quote from the movie Roman Holiday, which perfectly reflects another core value of cool: to know different perspectives. Nowadays, we only trust our own opinions, but believing full scale only on the versions of one party is being unmindful of what the truth is. Cool encourages us to travel around the city, talk to people on the streets, and listen to different stories and views. Reading books is another great way of exploring new ideas and perspectives. By thinking carefully about the mindsets behind the books, we are able to view the world through the same lenses that the authors used. All of these different ideas can get us out of the boxes that have limited our vision for so long. Given that major media companies dominate the way in which we gain information and knowledge nowadays, we should read and listen to more perspectives in order to view the situation more fairly and objectively.

The world changes every day, and this means that we should change constantly, too. In 1923, the sound film started to replace the silent film. However, Charlie Chaplin refused to change at first because silent comedy had made his name famous around the world. It is too easy to stay in one's comfort zone, but cool encourages us to get comfy in an uncomfy world. In the 21st century, new technologies such as VR, AI, and Cloud Technology are gradually stepping into people's lives. Companies like Google and Facebook are spending billions of dollars studying these technologies because they see them as the future. Most people, including myself, did not see it until we realized that our future jobs could be replaced by AI very soon. It takes a lot of time and effort to understand these technologies, but cool people are willing to change to be ready for better opportunities. Charles Dickens wrote it in his book, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" (A Tale of Two Cities). It is very dangerous to be out-dated in the 21st century. The price of being unchanged is a yawning wealth gap: the poor would dramatically fall further behind the middle classes, and those middle classes would be squeezed as well. The upper class will still triumph in the end.

As a young man full of exuberant fancy, I tried to draw up a plan of the "goods" of life when I walked onto this campus. However, coolness woke me from the fantasy and taught me to deal with my sufferings and imperfections by acknowledging and accepting them. When more than half of the students in the school believe in the American dream, they have already fallen into the trap by listening to the authorities. They accept the identity given by the UM, wearing hurricane T-shirts and tattooing the UM logo on their bodies, but forget to present and work on their real identity. The vast uncontrollability of this environment has a great influence on their pursuit of joy: alcohol, drugs, and sex. When the ambulance drove onto the campus and carried them away on a stretcher, they lost their calm manners and self-control. When they only study before the tests, they forget to work hard for themselves. During this class, I was confused. What is the point of striving if our lives are designed to be a struggle and purposeless? Again, this class has given me a very cool answer: Life sucks, no matter if you are cool; but life would suck a lot more if you were uncool. Thank you for letting me know "what's cool," and now it is my time to practice all the ideas above to be cool.

Work Cited

“Charlie Chaplin : Overview of His Life.” Charlie Chaplin : Filming The Kid, www.charliechaplin.com/en/articles/21-Overview-of-His-Life.

Dr Thorsten Botz-BorNstein. “What Does It Mean To Be Cool?” Philosophy Now: a Magazine of Ideas, 2010, philosophynow.org/issues/80/What_Does_It_Mean_To_Be_Cool.

Johnson, A., et al. A Tale of Two Cities. Pearson Education, 2008.

O'Brien, Barbara. “What Is the Importance of the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism?” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/the-four-noble-truths-450095.

Pountain, Dick, and David Robins. Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude. Reaktion Books, 2000.

“Sound Film.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 May 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_film.

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Cool is the privilege of the minority

Why cool is the privilege of the minority? In principle, to be cool means to remain calm even under stress. During slavery, who felt most stressful. So being cool is a good way for them remain calm under such a desperate condition. Cool represents a paradoxical fusion of submission and subversion. It’s a classic case of resistance to authority through creativity and innovation. That’s when Black people create Jazz, an innovative and improvised music, to express their pains and stress.

Minority is always abandoned by society. Living on the edge of the society, their values and rights do not matter to the majority. They usually have a hard time to go through all these prejudices, discrimination, and unfair treatment. Mainstream attitude does not help them to cope with these difficulties. Majority teaches us that we need to study hard and work hard, so we can be valuable to the family and society. But we ignore our potential on other fields that we might can do lot better. 

Coolness is control. It is very important for minority to control their emotions and behaviors. The self-control of cool black behavior in and before the 1960s, on the other hand, is immediately linked to the African American inability to control political and cultural oppression. The cool person lives in a constant state of alienation. It fits minority people and make theme easier to live this though world.

*4/15 after reading textbook

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Keep Your Rebellion Private

As the civil right movements started in 20th century, there were a large group of feminists publicly support and express their ideas. Their efforts did earn women a better life in the 21 century. However, young people always misunderstand that not every woman is a feminist. They do not really get an idea of what feminism means but mention this world over and over again in their daily life. They are proud of being a feminist and they are able to write a fantastic personal story about how they experience unfair gender discrimination in their life. When you ask them what feminist wants to achieve, they would tell you “Women who strive for the equality between men and women.” I will tell them that is is not going to happen. Man and woman borns in a different way and we function in a different position in the society physically and mentally. Why feminist really can strive for are the same rights and the same duties regardless of gender.

Rebellion is a human nature and it is a good thing. But when “feminism” becomes high-tone and cheap word without practicing, it is not going to work. It is important to understand who and what you are rebelling to. If you are bothered by the typical woman impression and bias, then you should work hard to change it. If you are depressed because you are not treated fairly by your boss, you should try harder to prove he is wrong. Keep your rebellion private before you really know what to rebel. Or, it is just a weak and cheap excuse for them to blame what you encounter.

“Too much marketing, too less reality” 

*4/1 after watching Jordan B Peterson debate with Cathy Newman! Stupid!

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You think Ultra is cool, but actually is not

Ultra is a big deal to the young in Miami. This is the place where music, alcohol, and drug spark.  When it comes to $300 tickets, the ultra becomes a privilege to the rich white people. It is just a big party for them. Most of these young Ultraers think it is a rebellious way to attend Ultra and yield “Fuck You” with the DJ. But actually, they are rebelling to nothing. They do not even have a target to point middle figure. What they can do is to stick their tongue our in front the screen and dance just as rest of the others.

I was there on Sunday. It was really sad to see that many people were over-drunk and high. Some of them even got passed out because they took too much drugs. It is a never cool thing to be out of control by using alcohol and drugs. The perfect party for cool people is to have a cup of beer and talk to interesting people. And once you feel enough, you go home. These young were not going to stop. Many of them spent over five hours in Ultra, just dancing and yelling. They were not controlling their body and mind. They did the same gesture that everyone else did. 

Ultra dressed all of them. Girls wear Bikini and boys wears vest. Everyone tries to be the coolest one in Ultra and none of them are even closed. They fell into the trap that they have to dress like to attend a music festival. It is never a cool thing to let others to dress you. Being a free member in this community, you are welcome to dress anything you want, but you choose dress just like others. 

I love EDM. I love Ultra. But it is just really uncool.

*3/21 after attending Ultra Miami

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A wise man can always be found alone. A weak man can always be found in a crowd.

Bruce Lee, one of the most famous Chinese movie stars in the world, is a not only the master of the Kungfu but philosophy. He always gave a deep interpretation of life and death, and this quote really sparks to me think about the coolness we learn. In our class, we mentioned the importance of community in the coolness, and cool people are afraid of being alone. However, this quote indicates that a wise man should be alone. When I look at it deeper, I found there are something else beyond this quote.

Being ostracised from society is something that is biologically hard to take. Throughout the history of human being we have to stay in groups purely to survive. 30,000 years ago if you ventured out on your own, you might have never come back. So we stayed together. These days are different because we don't have to deal with animals and nature. So when you are staying with the group you are not necessarily being weak, you are just doing what comes naturally over thousands of years of human evolution. And it still helps minority to survive the world when prejudice and discrimination dominate the world. It is safe and sustainable to stay in the group and help out each other. So “crowd” here does not mean “community”, but instead, “mainstream.”

Bruce Lee was actually saying that if you follow everybody else’s ideas and opinions, even though they are full of prejudices and maybe wrong, you will have lots of friends (crowd). If you believe the crowd is wrong and you stick to your own principles, even though you might lose your friends, you will be isolated (alone). It is a very basic principle to the “cool” that rebellion is a human nature. When we blindly follow the mainstream and never question, we lose the nature of rebellion. 

*3/2 after watching Bruce Lee’s BBC documentary

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Cool and Uncool: Into The Wild

Into The Wild, one of my all-time favorite books, 1996 non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer. In the book, Christopher McCandless decided that the anger and violence in civilized society is too much to handle and commences a journey through nature in order to truly live life as it was meant to be. Eventually, his body was found inside an abandoned bus in Alaska.

As a college student who just graduated, he was expected to work for his father’s business. He is forced to socialize and know people for future career which he found extremely uncomfortable. Into the Wild addresses the issues of how finding oneself sometimes conflicts with being an active member in society. It is clear that McCandless was influenced by transcendentalism and the need to "revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience,"  because rebellion is one of the most important elements in the cool dictionary. 

However, I am wondering if might not be a cool choice to start this extreme risk-taking trip to the wild. With little preparation, it is very uncool to expose yourself into danger. I would see this “suicide trip” as a way to avoid the problems. Instead, real coolness emphasizes to cope with difficulties with all kinds of manners regarding self-control, adaptability, and work-hard. Wild is a great place to explore and find yourself life meaning, but it is dangerous to do crazy things with little preparation. 

Most of us do not have the courage to abandon all we have and go to the wild alone with nothing. We choose to live this world by playing its rule. It is important to be adaptive but we need to think and question more carefully. Is that what we really want? How can we cope with coming disease, sadness, and death? How can live a cool life to make this life better? Chris chose to die young. What is your choice?

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Close Look at Life is A Tragedy; Far See is A Comedy

If there is a way for millions of poor people to live their hard lives in poverty, disease, and wars, watching Charles Spencer Chaplin's films must be their best choice. Chaplin well understood the plight of being dirt poor and alone. He had been born into a low-income family with a drunk, often absent father and a mother who was in and out of mental asylums for most of her adult life. The way he dealt with the difficulties in his life and movie inspire me a lot during the most desperate time in my life. It is always full of sufferings and bad luck in his films, but Chaplin makes countless people laugh by having fun out of these miserable experience. By putting on Chaplin's lens to observe a silent, black-and-white world, I am seeing a cool way of living to handle the sweets and bitters of life.

Growing up in a troubled family is a big issue to a child. It was an overwhelming experience for a nine-year-old kid to endure the threats and abuse from debt collectors. It was the time that I started watching Charles Chaplin's movies on the television, and his acting got me through a hard time by making me laugh so hard. He taught me that sense of humor is a useful buffer when times are bad. In Chaplin's song Smile, he wrote: “You'll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile." This idea significantly shaped my personality into a fun-loving man who smiles all the time, even though my life is still full of struggles. Smile is a powerful manner in the dictionary of "cool." It differs from other dramatic emotions, happiness or sadness, and puts you in a calm position. It doesn't mean you should be emotionless, instead, "smile" is emotional, controlled, serious and detached, matter-of-fact, and unpretentious (Cool Rules Anatomy of an Attitude). Inspired by Chaplin's ideas, I found myself more comfortable to live with the dispute and adult issues as a kid.

Working hard is essential to the idea of "cool" as well as Chaplin's real life and films. Young Chaplin worked hard, and his early dancing performance was popular with audiences, but he was not satisfied with dancing. He had abandoned education and supported himself with a range of jobs and still wished to be comedy actor.  (Biography.com) When the idea of American dreams was widely popular, Chaplin reminded people that "Imagination means nothing without doing." It also alarms me to think about how much effort and time that I put in to achieve my goals. It becomes a cheap word for those who only study overnight for a quiz, but a really hard-working person should be consistently making progress. In Chaplin's films, working hard is also a way to provide stability and possibility for poor workers. It distracted them temporarily from the sufferings by offering them a sense of duty. As an optimist, I found myself quite not cool on this point because I talk too much but do too less. Working hard is unquestionably an excellent way to get myself in better shape and not privileged by upper class, but I do not use it fully. It is really uncool.

When the sound film started to replace silent film, Charles Chaplin refused to change at first. He stayed still in his comfort zone, the silent comedy which makes his name famous around the world. It is interesting to see how he changed to compromise and understand the new technology. It also happened to me too after so many new technological trends come out such as VR, AI, and Cloud Technology. I forced myself to learn and research all these new and complicated concepts because people have to change for being better. If I don't learn new skills or am not ready for works regarding AI, my job would be possibly replaced by the robots in ten years. Making change does not mean that you have to give up what you have, but instead asks you to carry more with you to be ready for opportunities. When Nietzsche stated "God is Dead," people started to think about who should take place next. And the answer is themselves. Only making changes for finding themselves new directions can help them to cope with difficulties in a godless world. Being outdated is dangerous and uncool.

Chaplin is an actor who, according to the New York Times, “almost single-handedly elevated the novelty entertainment medium of motion pictures into art.” However, what makes him so great is not only about how funny he is, but how insightful his work could reflect and criticize the society. He spoke out for many topics that other filmmakers did not want to touch. They were very politically sensitive and "left" in that period. But it is why Chaplin is so cool because disobedience is a man’s original virtue. Oscar Wilde said that "it is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made." Chaplin did not focus on making a "good" film, but instead, he was looking for a deep satirized film that reflects social issues and humanity. Influenced by Chaplin's artworks, it becomes an instinct for me to think critically when I encounter problems. Growing up in a country with strong censorship, I enjoy having a political conversation with my family at home. Critical thinking gives me a clear mind to look at this world more objectively and fairly. As a filmmaker too, I always strive to shoot more works to reflect my thoughts and doubts on different kinds of issues, not necessarily to rebel, but to show the audience that there is an another way to see the things.

For me, Charles Chaplin is not only an actor who used pant, hat, mustache, and shoe to make countless people laugh, but also is an iconic figure who demonstrated how to live tough life from both his experience and works. He shared the message to those who were in poverty that smile, hard-working, being changeable, and rebellion can help them to cope with problems. Chaplin never denies that life is full of struggles and sufferings, but what he expressed in his works is that we can have fun out of these struggles. When I ask this great artist for an answer to live a cool life, I am seeing a silly-looked nobody plays around with the troubles and bad luck. If I have to use one quote to conclude how cool he is, it must be: "Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot. To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!"

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Life Really Sucks When You Are Uncool

Who rules your life? Who do you live for? Do you really like who you are right now? You don't need to rush to your answers. Those are the ideas that people like Friedrich Nietzsche and W.E.B. Du Bois kept thinking and exploring for their entire life. When you look back to your past, there are always many "authorities" who taught you the truth in life and commanded you for the sake of your own benefits. What makes it really uncool is that you and I rarely question them. They could be your parents. They might be your teachers. You think that you are in the driver's seat, but the truth is that you are just a back-seat-passenger wearing the seatbelt and waiting for a journey. By reflecting all my experience and understanding the concepts of self-perception, self-mastery, and rebellions on this paper, I hope to touch the essence of "what's a cool life should be."

As a child raised in a traditional Chinese family, the whole family revolved around me. It also means that I am holding up amounts of expectations and pressure when I grow up. Some of my friends' childhoods were full of Disney and Lego, but mine was filled with cram schools after regular school hours. I was expected to be a good student, gaining excellent scores on Chinese, English, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, History, and Geography and contributing to the school social party. I had to sacrifice all my leisure time or interests to prepare for Gaokao, a national academic examination that determines my colleges and even my life. Most Chinese students including me were lost during high school years because we had no idea who we were working so hard for? Ourselves? No! Around one-third of us would not make into the colleges and the rest of us would work our ass off for graduation and job opportunity at colleges. We never ask for these things, but our parents forced their ideal ways of living on us. Then it turned out that I became someone that I hated to be so much.

In Africa, the metaphor of coolness goes well beyond self-control; it is a positive attribute which combines notions of composure, silence, vitality, healing and social purification. But it doesn't mean you should be emotionless, instead, "cool" is emotional, controlled, serious and detached, matter-of-fact, and unpretentious (Cool Rules Anatomy of an Attitude). You can rarely see this trait in my peers because their parents make most decisions for them and they are more easily emotional due to the protection and lack of experience. It is not a surprise that our young generation feels not strong enough to control our own faith. According to Nietzsche, it is central for the individuated person to achieve interdependence and self-mastery. Nietzsche argued that "he who cannot obey himself will be commanded. That is the nature of living creatures." So next time when you blame teachers or parents for being strict or even mean, take a second to ask yourself if you performed a certain level of self-control.

The biggest challenges for young students is to say no to the authorities. We are so used to respect and obey the elders, teachers, or the powers, but forget to question and doubt. You never ask why you need to study chemistry if you decide to major on arts. You never dare to question your parents when they pay too much attention to the school ranks instead of your preference. You never would question the LGBT movement and Black movement because of the political correctness and mainstream. However, it is one of the most important value to the coolness: rebellion. Cool is a rebellious attitude, an expression of a belief that the mainstream mores of your society have no legitimacy and do not apply to you. In my past eighteen years, my father asked me to keep a really short hair-cut and never dye it without his permission. I obeyed this order for eighteen years just because he wanted me to look like a good kid. I was very mutinous at the end, arguing and striving for my own interests. It didn’t turn out to win every time, but at least my parents would compromise or try to leave more space to me later on. I think it is a good example that Oscar Wilde reads rebellion as a "man's original virtue" and "it is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made." I made my rebellion to win my interest and it was a cool fight.

"Cool" teaches us to deal with the sufferings and difficulties by acknowledging and accepting them. I failed to practice this rule because I complain during the most of my life. It was an act of weakness that I had no control of my own life. When I kept hearing news about high school students suicide, I started thinking what kind of mindset I should possess to go through these hard times. As Oscar Wilde said, "we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." (Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act III) Life is destined to be full of struggles, and there is always a way to live with it. In the book Cool Rules Anatomy of an Attitude, the author introduced that African American were treated unequally and badly in the United States, in order to maintain black culture move on, they invited a new musical form called the blues, expressed in the language of their tormentors. The idea is to accept the circumstances amid which fate has thrown them not only with resignation but even with a good will. In my case, there are not much I can do to change the education system or traditional family culture in China, but at least I could try to have fun in these works and approach expectations from my family and society in a cool manner.

Now "cool" becomes a cheap word and is used as a universal term of approval among the young around the world, right from children in primary school playgrounds up to college-age adults. Everyone is trying to be cool in the school. You easily see yourself as a cool guy and take extra effort to dress well, fix your hair and practice in front of the mirror. You try to talk, act, laugh, and react in all ways that make yourself cool. But these things do not make you a cool person, but a person who puts on the mask and meets others’ expectations on you. Cool people know when and how to say no to the parties and temptations. They know how to control their desire and emotions as well as satisfy them by working hard and dealing with the difficulties in a cool manner. Cool people live the way they want to in stead of listening to others’ commands. Life sucks no matter if you are cool; but life would suck a lot, if you are uncool.

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Are You Really Cool?

Young Chinese start falling in love with hip-pop because they find it really cool. Hip-pop was mostly underground until a huge hip-pop competition took place in China. Audience were impressed by these cool rappers who wear oversized shirts and talk and sing in an arrogant way. When theses rappers copy the American rappers, writing the songs about drugs, sex, and alcohol, I believe that they are trying to be cool, but definitely not cool.

They do not understand what is real cool about hip-pop. It is a way that African American used to deal with the poverty, injustice, discrimination, slavery, and so on in 90s. Even though African American was not able to control political and culture oppression, disobedience is a human nature, as Oscar Wilde said. Hip-pop provided them a way to express their angers and attitudes. It is a core value that helped them to cope with the suffering and death and sometimes even play with it.

Many Chinese rappers only see the surface of the hip-pop, but do not really grab the glance of the real cool core of it. It is a lifestyle of living with the suffering and pains and trying to have fun in it. Drugs, sex, or alcohol are just different ways to achieve it. What really makes hip-pop cool is your unique perspective about life and experience.

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WHO ARE YOU LIVING FOR?

Everyone is trying to be cool in the school. You try to talk, act, laugh, and react in all ways that make them look cool. When the parties are over and you become sober, you want to cry. You are tired of making up yourself to be someone else to make others happy. But obviously it doesn’t make you happy.

We live in a world surrounding by different expectations. Parents want you to be a doctor like your father. Friends expect you to hang out with them more frequently. Your girlfriend hope you can create more surprise for her. You are just too tired of meeting so many expectations.

Life is short, and you spend most of your life living for others. Sometimes you don’t have a choice, but most time you do. You are able to choose the way you want to live this world. It doesn’t matter how other people think about you, but who do you want to live for?

When you are lost at night, who can guide you? God? Nietzsche said no more God. It should be you, a God inside your mind. You are able to control your life. You live they way you want, and you live for yourself.

In Lala Land, Mia wants to be an actress and Sebastian wants to be a jazz musician. They don’t do it only for a living, but they love doing it. Even though their dreams take a price of making them poor and suffering, they want it. Mia does not give up her acting opportunity in Paris for staying with Sebastian. Mia chooses to live for herself, because you know it is good for both of the, who are still on the way to pursue their dreams.

Living for yourself means that you do not comprise your passion, interests, and dreams. You want to who you want to be, and do whatever you want to do. If you hate where you are or who you are right now, do something and make a change. I did not ask you to be selfish, but to plan the best for yourself.

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DO YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND “GOD IS DEAD”?

If there is one sentence that can describe Nietzsche’s life, it must be: He died young and spend most of his life dying. I thought he was a cool guy, because I was well taught by his famous theory - God is Dead. It is one of the coolest statement in the 20th century that shocked the European so hard. People only saw his craziness at that time, but rarely notice his endless loneliness. I think the early death of his father and little brother profoundly changed the whole tone of his life and taught him that “life is full of sufferings.” It did and he suffered a lot.

I really hate people try to interpret “God is Dead” as what the words show. It is where the controversy begins. I understand that you are not going to understand Nietzsche’s theory without understanding his life. He born in a Christian family and his father is a devoted Christian. After his father died, Nietzsche aimed to be a good priest following his father’s path. But life kept disappointing him and the religion cannot provide the answer to his questions on life and ultimate truth while he studied more on philosophy and ancient Greek literature.

The core value of his works is the self-mastery. After the disappearance of god or faith, we should be responsible for our own life and control our own life. But ironically it was something that he struggled all his life but still did not achieve it. Furthermore, his later project “the transvaluation of all values” was another version of “mission impossible” that tries to change the basic moral and ethic standard for human beings which has been rooted for thousands of years.

It is fine that the God died, because we can still live well without the existence of God. God only provides the moral standard of people for thousands of years. When Nietzsche discovered that God not only failed to help us to find the meaning of life, but also makes it harder to seek our true knowledge, Nietzsche declared God is dead.