JE11 Fear As a Motivator

            In the collection, “sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards was aware of people’s fear of being damned and going to hell. Thus, he used this point of view as a motivator. He describes hell as scary as possible. He said God is omnipotent so that if he’s angered by a person’s behavior, he or she should go to hell. I think fear is generally an effective motivator. People always move away from things they fear so using fear as a motivator usually works. However, in my opinion, it is not a good motivator. A good motivator should be coming from one’s heart such that one has passion and is ready to take the task.

            I have been motivated by fear to behave well. In my previous school, there was a policy that if one doesn't obey one of the rules, one gets a warning. The warning will be shown on the record and the only way to remove it was to do some cleaning jobs or services. Besides, if we are being caught using a “contraband”, such as iPod, it will be taken away too. I was motivated by it to behave well. And I was even the only one in the class who never got a warning. To be honest, I still brought my iPod but I never used it in places that teachers may appear. Furthermore, I behave well most of the time so the teacher wouldn't pick on me. 

JE10 Church, Anyone?

            I witness religious services for lots of times since I was little. The colors of setting are usually yellow, orange, red, brown, and white. They make the place looks warm and create a feeling of hope and peace. There’s always a smell of incense inside. Most people wear the uniform and line up in order. When the ceremony began, everyone began to chant resonantly with few instruments being played. The form of ceremony is quite similar from the Puritan’s that people listen to sermon. However, the Puritans probably don't chant. The similar structures among different religions are that people line up in seats and doing something hopeful together. They may be praying, chanting, or listening to sermons. In addition, there is always a person who sits in the middle, representing the wisdom of the religion. I actually felt boring during the ceremony. Every Chinese New Year, I was forced to join such ceremonies. My parents told we were praying for the following year to be safe and sound. However, it doesn't mean much to me because I have to wake up very early at the beginning of the year. If I go to such services regularly, I would feel very annoying and fribbling. It probably would mean something to me when I am older. But now, I only want to enjoy my life with fun and relaxing activities. 

JE09 Motivation

           The authors of the stories and poems I read grew up under a religious society. I believe their families were all very devout to their religion beliefs and always told them why and how was it important. They grew up learning these ideas and thus regarded as the truth. What motivated them were probably the morality and the corruption of the society. I think the authors were all well educated so they had higher standards of thinking and behavior. There are many rules in religions. Some sacred books tell people how to behave well to get rid of the sins. Different authors convey their beliefs in different ways. For example, Anne Bradstreet strongly emphasized the power of God that He has the right to take everything away from us.

           My behavior is not really guided by a set of beliefs. But I do have my own set of principles of behaving under different circumstances. Sometimes my beliefs influenced me as well. Basically, my principles are: not to harm people, to consider other’s positions, and bring joy without violating morality. There’re also a lot more in details about my principles, but usually I do things depend on my instincts. Though sometimes it leads to a bad solution, my behaviors are mostly fine.

JE08 Compare and Contrast: Bradstreet v Sor Juana

            The topic of Anne Bradstreet’s poem is “Upon the Burning of Our Houses”. Comparing to Sor Junan’s “World, in hounding me”,  Anne Bradstreet’s topic simply illustrated a happened event, while Sor Junan’s topic represents a deeper meaning of how she felt about world’s material possessions. Both Bradstreet and Sor Juana’s poems are about the vanity of material possessions. Sor Juana’s poem further suggested that knowledge in our minds is the real valuable possessions of ours. In the poem of burning house, Anne Bradstreet used “house on high” as heaven. Sor Juana described the treasure as the intelligence in people’s minds. In Bradstreet’s poem, she followed some simple rules of rhyme. In Sor Juana’s poem, she strictly followed the rules of sonnet. The key word in “World, in hounding me” is treasure; the key words in Bradstreet’s poem are God and material possessions.

           

            “Vanity”, by definition, means the quality of being useless of futile. It also means excessive pride in or admiration of one’s own appearance or achievements. This word was used by the authors to imply the valuelessness in material possessions. People have vanity because they are extravagantly proud of what they owned or achieved. Ironically, this word’s second meaning is to describe the quality of being worthless. Pride is a good thing; it comes from your hard works. However, when it is exorbitant, it became a bad thing. I think what both authors were trying to convey is that material possessions and pride worth nothing in life. Knowledge absorbed in mind is the most important of all.

JE07 Hounding

            When the world hounds me, it means that when most things around me seem to go against my will. The title “World, in hounding me” clearly shows that the author was disturbed by the material possessions around her. The author’s idea was different from my point of view. I think material possessions in life are also important. Having knowledge in mind is important and it is what no one can take away from you. The theme of this poem is about evaluating the values between knowledge in mind and material possessions.

The author conveyed the idea that the real treasure is found in mind – which is the information we absorbed. The sentence “Costliness and wealth bring me no pleasure; the only happiness I care to find derives from setting treasure in my mind, and not from mind that’s set on winning treasure,” directly shows the theme of the poem. I agree that a person’s thinking and knowledge is more valuable than material possessions. However, I think material possessions are an important part of life as well. If material possessions can make a person happier and live a better quality of life, wouldn’t that be wonderful? If I have to write a similar poem, my theme would probably be more unconventional, such as “how material possessions make life more substantial.” I think I would be asked to write a poem like this in the near future because obviously Mr. McCool would want us to do that.

JE06 Poem About Loss

He was fancy

He was cool

He was admired

Wherever he goes

As times passed

He grew old

Around his 4^th birthday

A new version of him arrived

The new him was a fad

And he felt very sad

A sudden to take for him to die

Right in my hands where he lied

Sorrows in me aroused

Memories in mind flashed by

For all the good times, all the bad times

There he was always with me

Abandoned him, I did

Regretful for this, I was

I blamed myself

I reflected myself

I decided to let him go with peace

“Bye iPod!”

On the positive thoughts

Someday he would eventually leave

And we had good times together

Here with me is his descendant

I will further cherish the time with my new friend