The Way

I feel that the entire movie was extremely inspiring. When I read the beginning of the blog post, I thought about my journey in life, at the Mount and even my own journey in VHS. It is extremely funny how some things that just happened a couple months ago can seem like forever ago and some things that happen in life a long time ago can have such an impact on our lives that they seem like they were just yesterday. The concept of the pilgrimage is such a beautiful and amazing concept. We all go through journeys in life and we meet people that all impact us in ways that we usually cannot see from the outside and sometimes in ways that we will not realize until we can look back and see what actually happened. This blog has made me think about my journey in my own life. The quote that really inspired me in the movie was when Daniel said, "you don't choose a life, you live one." I feel like this is so true. If people get caught up in trying to plan exactly what happens in life, they will miss the beauty of living in the moment and having experiences and making decision in the heat of the moment. The movie has inspired me to look at some things in life and not to take all the people around me for granted. I know that some of my great friends from high school will be my friends for the rest of my life and some of my other friends will not be. The concept that some people are maybe not meant to be a long term part of my life makes me sad. The pilgrimage is about thinking about life and taking all the troubles and all the ups and downs and realizing that hey maybe things did not work out how we expect sometimes, but we have to pick things up and move on. The idea that people who are now so important to me may not always be in my life is scary, but we have to trust that God will work things out. I feel like this is what the camino is about. When the woman who recently walk the camino walked it, she asked God "Can I really do this?" I feel like we all ask God if we can really do things at one point or another in out own lives. Maybe we will not walk to camino, but we can all relate to have doubts or struggles in life. I feel like Tom's goal of the pilgrimage changed by the end of the movie. At the beginning, he took the pilgrimage because he felt like it was the right thing to do to remember his son and finish his mission. By the end of the pilgrimage, the journey became a more personal experience for Tom. The journey became a cleansing for Tom. The idea of the journey to almost find yourself can seem very peaceful. I feel like the concept of the Camino is very cleansing and beautiful. As I leave this class, I hope that I can take all that I have learned to walk my own journey of cleansing in my life. I am really going to miss this class and all that it has taught me about myself, my relationships with others and life in general.

IVF

I feel that there are definitely both pros and cons to IVF. I feel that the biggest downside to IVF could obviously be mistakes such as the terrible mistake that was made in the Dateline special on the Savages. However, mistakes like this one are extremely rare. Many couples, however, will use IVF as a way to genetically enhance their babies. Many times people will put out ads for people with specific SAT scores, physical description and athletic abilities so that the person can donate sperm or eggs. This can pass the line of designing a child instead of just accepting them for who they are. However, I feel that in most normal situation IVF can bring many good things such as the creation of a baby. Many couples really want to have children of their own but they jut can't. IVF allows these couples to be able to experience the joy of having their own children and brings the gift of life to these families. The Church teaches that IVF is wrong because they do not believe that a third party should be involved in helping a couple have a baby. I feel that IVF is okay in that aspect. However, I do believe that the church has a point that many embryos are often created in IVF and these embryos are not all used. These extra embryos are discarded and that is the same as discarding life. I feel that IVF is extremely expensive, and the wealthy can pretty much only have access to the benefits of IVF. If a couple has the means to financially be able to use IVF, then I feel that they should be able to do so.

The word of the year is...

I thought that the article had a very interesting perspective on the year and what it truly meant. Of course, anyone reading an article about a person talking about love in their year would think that the mention of love is just another cliche. I thought that the way that the author went about explaining the love in her own life. She was sick but she did not want to accept the help of other at times. Once she learned to let the love of others into her life, she had a better experience with herself and with others. It is extremely important for people to allow others into their life if they truly need help. When the author became sick, she realized that she needed the help of others and she learned to appreciate God and the things that others would do to help her through her illness.

I feel that the word of the year in 2013 for me is trust. I feel that in this year I have learned to open myself up more to others and to reality. I feel that I have learned to trust more in my own personal opinions on people and my future. In the past, I feel that I often times would think about the judgements that other people had about others and I would not trust my own instincts. I feel that I learned this year that I have to trust myself because if I do not trust my own opinions and listen to my own conscience how will I truly get anywhere in life. I feel that I have also learned to put myself out there more and to trust that things will work out as they are meant to be. In the past, I feel that even though I am a loud person I often times would not put myself out there in certain situations for fear of getting hurt and for fear of something going wrong in the future. I also feel that I have learned to trust more in God and his plan for my life. I am always the type of person who gets extremely stressed and worried about school and other things in my personal life. In 2013, I feel that I learned that all I can do is my best and I just have to trust that everything else will work out in the end. I learned to trust that my future will be okay through the college search process. I learned to trust that my friends will always be there for me no matter what happens. I learned to trust myself and others. I feel that I also learned that trust is crucial in relationships and trust should be the foundation of all relationships in life. I feel that I hopefully in 2013 will learn to trust myself and also to worry less and trust that everything will work out.

Roger Ebert: On Kindness

This story really stood out to me among all of the others. I feel that many of us do not think enough of the little actions in life that we can do to light up the day of another person. Often, lighting up another person's day can even better our own day. I thought the cutest statement in the cartoon was "to make others unhappy is a crime". I fully believe that this is a true statement. We must work to make all people happy at all times. Why should we be mean to another person when we can do something to better their day and to make them happy? We have to learn to make ourselves happy so that we can make the world happy and just a better place for everyone to live. Kindness starts within our own hearts. Then, we can learn to spread it to the world and make the world a more joyous and happier place for everyone to live.

He's Just Not That Into You

The first character that I can learn from in the movie is Gigi. Gigi often gets too involved in relationships and starts to think way to far into things. She begins to take things the wrong way and believe that guys are after her even though they may not be. She takes the "signs" to the extreme in her relationships. Gigi also can have low self esteem issues at times in the movie. She will stay with guys even if they don't treat her well because she believes that she doesn't have anywhere else to go. However, Gigi does have a happy ending at the end of the movie when she and Alex end up together.

Another character that I can learn from in the movie is Ben. Ben seeks a relationship with Anna even though he is already married. He goes behind his wife's back to be with Anna and to sleep with her. I believe that the important message that I can learn from Ben is that marriage is not something that people should get involved in before they are ready. Ben was obviously not ready to get married, and he only got married to his wife so that he could stay with her. Marriage is a sacred thing, and people have to take their time before they marry someone and really make sure that that person is the one that they want to spend the rest of their life with.

The last couple that I can learn from in the movie is Neil and Beth. Even though Beth and Neil are not married, they have the most committed relationship in the movie. Neil is still there for Beth when her father is sick even after they have broken up. Beth realizes that she loves Neil and that she still wants to be with him no matter what. I feel that this has taught me that love is the most important thing in a relationship. The title is not what truly means something in a realtionship. The love and commitment that a couple has for each other is the most important and lasting part of a relationship.

Snow Day

I loved seeing the child and the old man talk during the video. The child said that exploring is better than watching TV because the things that people see on TV are just pretend and exploring lets you go out and see the beauty of the world. I also really liked what the old man was saying. He said that today is not just another day. If we view today as just another day, we are not taking advantage of it like God wanted us to take advantage of it and live every day to the fullest. If we take our time to look around and to see everything and the beauty of the world we are living a full day. We have to live every day like it is the first day or the last day that we are living and relish in the beauty of the world. He also said that we should just be happy that we have eyes that we can open to see the wonders of the world. The video allowed me to appreciate the little things.

 I also really liked all the striking images that I saw in the video. The pictures let me look at the beautiful world and actually take the time to appreciate things that I usually just look at and do not actually appreciate. I really liked the picture with all of the orange butterflies, I thought that they were extremely beautiful. I also enjoyed the picture of the snow-covered mountains. I thought that was extremely fitting considering today is another beautiful snowy day. I also liked the picture of the river. I thought that the green trees around it were beautiful and the flowing river with the rocks in it was majestic. The pictures were so beautiful and allowed me to have a greater appreciation for nature in my own life.

A New Vision for the Church

Pope Francis is stating something that many Catholics have been trying to avoid for a while. Pope Francis is pointing out the flaws in society and trying to show Catholics that is important to proclaim the Gospel and work for change in society. We are to challenge the social norms and the way that society functions today. It is important that all Catholics realize that we must work to challenge society and help those who need help. Pope Francis wants us to not try to find excuses for the way that we act in the world. Pope Francis believes that it is so important to work together and to help those in society who need our help like the poor.

Black Friday shows how in society we can just find excuses to waste our money. We often only shop because we believe that we are getting a deal and often buy things that we don't even need. Pope Francis challenges us to be less of consumers and to reach out to people who truly need money like the poor. The poor need money and on days just like Black Friday and in the entire Christmas season we waste money. I think that it is important to reach out and help the poor and those who truly need our help/ during the Christmas season, we can help the poor and give our money to those who truly need it instead of wasting it on unimportant gifts.