America (11-14)

 XI - Preface II

    Division is a severe issue in the modern day. And it's funny if you think about it, we've been trying to be more accepting, more inclusive, and our societies are more globalized and interconnected than ever before, yet we find the U. S. of A. in turmoil. Of course, I live in America, so the drama I hear about is bound to reflect the negative thought of mind within our country's borders, but alas, we are a laughing stock for the entire world as the bell cow of insatiable greed. Do we deserve the moniker? Probably, but every country has done heinous things and no one is an angel in the eyes of the beholder. It's just easy to follow who is the loudest, who speaks the most, and who has the most buzzwords, and because it's easy, it's what most people choose to do.

XII - Thinking isn't free

    Rational thinking has its flaws. It has a significant amount of flaws, just as intelligence and any other trait does. There is no good without bad, after all. But rationality has the perks of being a great thing too. To think on your own, able to make your own decisions, that is what is key in making a proper society. That is what the basis of a prosperous society, the ability of free thinking. Yet, it is hard to find free thought now days. For starters, what is free thinking? It can be described as the thinking that comes from your own observations, your own explanations, and your mind's machinations in sticking what you know together to make your own view of the world. And if the world is a sandbox as seen in In Layman's Terms VI, then it should be reasonable that we should be divisive in thought, and we should come to different viewpoints across the millions and billions of people - though, a lot of concepts can be easily overlapped, such as points of contention with yes-no answers (i.e., do we approve of Civil Rights?).  But let's analyze the current state of America. We have numerous parties of thought, and a clear division with severe hostilities from both sides. We cannot seem to accept points of contention, and we do not act in an intelligent way: i.e. murder, pointless arguing, etc. As a society, we have never felt so shattered and fragmented in the way a neutral party sees America. From an onlooker's view, it's a constant battlefield; who is right? Who is wrong? The issue is therefore fairly obvious; in comparison to the ideal society, America is hellbent on righteousness and ignorance - arguments of logic and few and far between, and are confuddled and blocked out by extremists who refuse to concede anything. Compare this to the ideal society, where every single point is reasonably debated until a point of consensus can be found, and the division of our country is much more clear and obvious. The ideal society is absolutely unfeasible in any way shape or form; people, especially the average person who has no choice but to work and has too many responsibilities to care deeply about politics, are not going to invest time and thought into where they cast their ballot. Simply put, thinking isn't free; to contend every single point is too much effort, which is why the majority of people are not politicians, but mere followers. And thus, we see the consequence of this, and whilst this issue may have been hidden due to the lack of internet and anonymity, we now see this issue in full flesh over modern day topics. As discussed in In Layman's Terms VII, under the mask of anonymity, extremist beliefs are allowed to coexist without any close to any filter, and as a result, views are stretched beyond belief, causing more contention from other parties, leading to a national crash out. American politics, simply put, is not about rationality, but all about who believes they're more right than the other, and who can be more convincing rather than being morally good. 

XIII - World Cup

    Hosting a World Cup is no small feat indeed. We have the honor and the privilege to do greatness for the game of football, the football known around the world. Yet, guess who won't be taking a part in the World Cup, and will probably be group staged? America. See, the difference between us and the rest of the world is astounding; we have the capital but we do not get the results. Our focus on life is totally different onto a different football: American football. We are at the forefront of all the jokes because of this; we consistently falter to third world countries while super houses in Europe and South America consistently dominate the rest of the competition. Let me ask you this, did you see how bad Adam Johnson played at Centre back for the USMNT? If you said something other than "he doesn't exist," then you've been played like a fiddle. Us Americans, we do not like soccer like we do the other sports. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this; I love American football more than anything else on the planet. But it is fair to note the difference in American culture compared to the rest of the world, cause while they kick perfect spheres, we kick oblong pigskins. 

XIV - Patience is key

    The ideal society mentioned in XII is not possible. It makes sense why when you dumb down the English language; for there to be the existence of one positive, the conjugate negative must exist. For example, the word good wouldn't exist without the existence of bad, truth doesn't exist without deceit, ugly and beauty, poverty and prosperity, and so on. So in an ideal society, not only must there exist the contrapositive, but the idea of everyone having superb intellect would mean that, in the ideal world, no one could be unintelligent. This will never happen. There is no explanation needed for this. So if the concept of the ideal society is completely impossible, then what can be the solution to the problems in America's fracturing? The answer is hardly an answer, but something that has to be woven into our current culture. Because we are too brash, too hesitant to listen to others, too condemning, these problems in the list must be addressed as we come of age to the next generation. For it is our responsibility to take care of the next generation and the generation beyond until we intertwine with the soil, we need to weave the proper mentality into the children and grandchildren beyond. It is our duty as caretakers, as citizens of the land, as people of a society, to build the foundation of society from the ground up, and it starts with changing the mentality of the people. This is a challenging feat, but it is not impossible. We have seen the effects of social phenomena before, but we need to find a way to make patience and compassion a virtue that stays with us for all eternity, regardless of any mask of anonymity or pressure. In the eyes of a neutral beholder, we have never truly been the people who practice compassion and patience, and historically, blood has been spilt for the most mundane and asinine things like skin color. Yet, to break the cycle, at least as far as my words may go, we must be able to see the fractious nature of parties, and we don't have to abolish them, but we must, and I urge and beckon us, to look at everything from a bird's eye view: practice rationality. It is only through rationality that we can understand where compassion and empathy comes from, the empathy between one another. If we do not ask why, and we only speak the practices out of foreign concepts like peer pressure and self desire, are we living the minds of ourselves? Are you really one with yourself if you refuse to at least try to think from the eyes of the greater picture? For as condemning as we are as a society, as a group, we share one commonality; we are all graced with the land we call North America and the same skin and bone that coats our conscious. 

In Layman's Terms (1-10)

 I - Preface

    There are plenty of facts that we know about our world. I'd start by saying the Earth is like a sphere, maybe not exactly, but fairly close. There are mountains and there are trees, those exist in abundance. The list is endless about the facts of our planets, those we determine through discovery and endless observation and experimentation, and these are the facts we base our world on. For instance, we know gravity exists, and something keeps us held to the ground, so we know that we cannot make floating platforms and try to run on them, because we couldn't. We know by intuition that standing on a tightrope is dangerous, which is why those who dare are called daredevils. Some things come intrinsically to us, others come through years of work.

II - Gradients

    You and I who read this are human. Make no mistake, a robot could very well read it and have no interest in what you and I believe in, but I'd like to believe that it would be one like myself that reads these words. It's a close minded way of thinking, to shun the future, but alas, it's what I believe. It's actually beautiful, if you think about it enough, to map the different levels of human thoughts on a gradient of color, between open and close minded ways. We are so varied that it's impossible that we could all connect on the same things. Yet, people try and try and then they fail. Simply put, there is no way for everyone to relate to the same things. It's why businesses have target markets. It's why a lot of the world is the way it is, divided into factions and borders and all the inbetweeners. We are simply, too diverse to relate to everyone, and it divides us. And perhaps that's for the better.

III - World Thought

    The reality is, I probably don't know you, the you who reads this. And if I do, then the statement still holds true. I can't tell what you pick up, what you miss, and if my message comes across. That I can't tell. I will never be able to tell. There isn't telepathic thought for a reason. If we could know everything as a group, a union, as one, we would be so far beyond anything imaginable that the conglomeration of our minds would transcend humanity and living as a whole. We'd die where we stood, because we could not handle the mass of information that everyone has lived through. We'd be intelligence, but intelligence is the robber of human joy.

IV - Intelligence Dilemma

    To be intelligent, to be smart, is to prove something in your mind. We live off of what we don't know and the emotions that are associated with not knowing. Fear. Surprise. Joy. Countless memories that come from figuring out what we don't know about our world. If we knew it all, if we cumulated all of humanity's thoughts into each and every mind separate, we lose our purpose. If we knew it all, if we had the misfortune of omniscience, we'd be hapless in knowing our own demise, hapless in finding joy with a lack of purpose. To know is to seek the truth, and to seek the truth, frankly, is a pursuit that will lead you to the complexities of our world, and the grim state of everything.

V - Why Learn?

    So then you ask, why learn? If it is a peril pursuit for knowledge, why take apart? Thus, I introduce you to the concept of extremes. To be naive is no better than to be omniscient. For the information you lack, you miss chances. The thing with knowledge is that it isn't just a heap of mind-carriage that wears you out, it inspires opportunity, it brings you the joy just as it brings despair. And to be frank, you can find a reason to make every thing you interact with double-edged, reasonably. So why is naivety just as bad as omniscience, you ask? If you do not know anything, if you lack the fundamental knowledge of being, if you cannot interpret your experiences, then how can you say you are really living? Living is all about the interpretation about the senses, and the fundamental property of naivety, or idiocy, would be the subsequent lack of this interpretation. So to learn, is to exhibit that you indeed have the capability of thought to prove that you are living. For I don't know that the person to my right or left is alive or not until they speak to me, just as they don't know if I've experienced anything beyond the encompasses of my mind until I speak to them.

VI - Connections

     A mind is an echo chamber, one that confirms itself time and time again. One can be convinced of anything they set to be convinced by, forget the facts, forget the logic, the logic in one's mind is all that they need. For instance, the two prior chapters are filled with fallacy, to the minds of other people. I can reasonably argue that, in the capacity of my own mind, that IV and V are both true. Yet, if you ask a student, or a professor, or perhaps anyone of other capacity, you will not receive the same sentiment. So it is to lie in IV and V that I reveal that all along, to be right or wrong is upon the eye's beholder. How can you take this as fact? You don't necessarily have to, the world is an empty sandbox where everything goes. But, at least in my eyes, and maybe yours too, we can formulate theories that work and theories that don't work. It is only the most intensive, and most convincing, intelligent, philosophical mind that can reasonably argue about how the world should and will work.

VII - Risk

    Is it impartial to assume that you are always right? Maybe it seems narcissistic to some, and perhaps it is, but what if you were always right? For one, why be wrong when you can always be right? If that is a choice in your mind to make, then be right at the cost of losing more than you should when you're wrong. What do you lose when you make this decision?

VIII - Common Consensus

    Your life is your lie to tell to yourself. If you want to do something, be something, pretend or not pretend, it is up to you. It is, solely, your ideas, your beliefs. It's why humans can't stand people who are unauthentic to who they are, why liars are looked down upon, because to not be comfortable enough in your own skin, not comfortable enough in your own actions, that's what I believe is and should be shunned. If you do something, own it, and let the punishment or consequence be determined not by your deceit, but by your acceptance of your situation. If we owned our actions just as we own the skin and clothes we wear, if we owned what we said, perhaps society would be more just and righteous than the chaos we descend on. This idea of owning words and actions would especially apply due to the plentiful ways to communicate online that is mostly unregulated. One can say whatever they please under the curtains of anonymity, but how many would own the statements they say? One can only wonder.

IX - At peace.

    One is defined to be at peace in the same way they are defined to be at bliss; in absence of thought, in absence of their senses, to be at peace is akin to being dead in the moment, the evanescent feeling of being weightless. Let yourself be free and in the moment, and you have a good chance of feeling at peace. So do you want to be at peace then? Is it at peace, or is it in absence of mind? The truth of the matter is that we can all find ourselves at peace, but no one actually wants to be at peace for so long. To feel senseless is a bit uncomfortable after all, to most they say. I'd argue that if you were to be at peace, you'd rather do other things. If you think of life, and its karma, as a sinusoidal function, perhaps you are at peace upon falling from the depths of hell.

X - World Peace

    As stated in II, humans are very diverse, and it is our nature of being diverse through the way we were raised, the way we behave, the environment we were in, millions and trillions, probably even duovigintillions of different nuances that make us the way we were. Ever heard of the butterfly effect? Simply put, our whole lives are the culmination of numerous butterfly effects that just so happen to coincide with our life. So let's define world peace. As current events go, we are definitely not at world peace. War, constantly political conflict, all of that can disrupt the balance of world peace. Even a world with no ongoing wars, at least under the definition of peace as the absence of conflict, can never be at world peace. World peace is simply too broad, too diverse, too many different nuances to control. So it should never be accomplished. But there is a correlation between people are world peace, seeing as people are a part of the equation to world peace. The solution, therefore, should be obvious; the solution to world peace is conformity. As an extremist solution, it has absolutely no feasibility in our world and landscape, yet the idea is there. If you make everyone believe the same things, act the same way, and so on, then yes, world peace is obtainable. 

The Weekly Tree Report - 9/8/25

 The Weekly Tree Report

8/19/25, The Return

    It is wonderful to be back home to where I know. The summer was great, but back with work we come and back comes the Weekly Tree Report. Do not expect consistency. I am taking six APs now. I am in struggle town. But I will try, and I will try indeed, to keep the posts up for as long as I can. Until I become employed, go to college where I run out of time, or some random circumstance, or maybe I get bored, I will continue to work on this blog. Thank you.

Trees as in Life

    Why do we have trees on our planet? For life? For sustenance? Preventative measures? I think the meaning behind trees, or perhaps their purpose, is no more than because they're mesmerizing. When you look at a tree and really think, there is so much history and story to every piece of bark on a tree. What you can sense, feel, smell, see, things that may be hidden; all of these aspects of a tree write a beautiful story that is parallel to our own stories we make throughout our lives. A tree can grow in so many ways, or it can die in certain spots. We can never predict where it will grow or die even if we can manipulate the way a tree grows; we can never predict how a child will behave in the future, regardless of how much or little we parent it. We judge trees off their characteristics just as we make first impressions to other people. A tree carries so much weight on it's back; it holds the responsibility of anchoring the ground, providing shelter and shade to the ecosystem, and sacrificing itself to the biosphere in order to keep biodiversity high. A person carries so much weight on their back; they hold the responsibility of anchoring down society through their occupations, provide shelter to their family and provide our economy with money through taxation and jobs and all the lovely things that come with adulthood, and they build connections amongst themselves, with animals and people, living things and dead things, that keep the world's global structure intact.

    Why do I mention this? It makes you think; are we really so different to trees after all? All it takes is a shift in perspective to understand why people sympathize with trees. Why we nurture them in our gardens, why we build plots and provide them shade and water, why we go out of our way to take them home from stores (even though they are very heavy). Perhaps, this feeling is not in the immediate vicinity of our heart or mind, but the feelings we share with trees lead us to feeling some sort of spiritual connection. So why do you have trees at home?

Crepe Murder

    Have you ever seen a crepe myrtle? I bet you have. They're gorgeous flowering trees that bloom pretty blossoms for very long periods of time. You find them along the sides of schools, in parking lots, wherever you think a flowering plant will fit, a crepe myrtle takes its place. But at the same time, we somehow do not know how to care for these trees, even if they're ornamental. They're planted in the tightest spots, perhaps because parking lots confine the space that you can plant, but their growth is significantly haltered due to the precarious position that they're planted in. More than that though, have you ever seen a crepe myrtle in the winter? If you happen to stumble upon one in a parking lot, they look absolutely hideous. They look like a child's drawing of a tree, skewed and seemingly fake like sculptures. They've been brutally topped and cut back hard so that they sucker out when the spring comes around, but is that really how you should treat a tree? I get that the trees need to be small for the parking lot, but why place them there then? But alas, it is unlikely for any change to be made. That's ok, but can we please stop murdering crepe myrtles?

I Like London Planes

    The good ol' sycamore. Also known as the London Plane. They're very tall, they're very interesting, and they have big leaves. My high school, which can be compared to a prison at the moment, has a lot of them alongst the front lawns. They stand tall, look out to the sky, but they're probably younger than the school. Funnily enough, at the front of my school lays a small uprooted sycamore that is almost dead.

Thank you.