"Exist"entialism

The idea of existentialism boils down to one brief yet well-defined line, that human beings and human beings alone are responsible for giving the life that they live meaning as defined by their actions, feelings, outlook, and all other technicalities. There are also many simple lines that define views expressed by an existentialist and can also represent existentialism as a whole. For example, one of the lines is "every human's experience of life is unique and human life is understandable only in terms of the individual experience." Now, while not claiming that I am an existentialist myself, I would have to agree strongly with this idea. I believe there is no way to define human life as  a whole, it is irrational and indefinable. Rather, for one to define life, they may only define it as they see it personally and for that matter, they may only define their own life, for that, if anything, is the only life that they may truly understand. It is in this sense that life is understandable only in the individual experience; what we experience throughout our lives is what is collectively termed as our definition of life and to each person on this earth, that definition will be antithetic. But this defining of our own life, this is what separates us as humans from other species of this earth because for what we know, we are the only beings who find the consciousness to ask the question of "why are we here?" and "does this life that we live have some greater meaning?" Because of this occurrence, I believe that we are meant to ask this question, but also, we are meant to answer it ourselves. Another extreme quote that would come from the existential point of view is the line "their recognition is that from the moment we are born we are sentenced to die." Now, unlike the previous quote, this is a quote that I'm going to have to disagree with. Yes, the reality of it, we all do eventually die one day and that is determined the exact moment our entrance to this world occurs. However, I don't see our death as a "sentence" or something that is given to us just because we "are" or we "exist." I believe death as a continuation of our life, a next step into an unknown. For this reason, I don't like how existentialist's believe that we are only born just to die and that everything in between is irrelevant. I'd like to believe that as an individual you should live your life to your utmost potential and through that a meaning will present itself, and you may or may not recognize that meaning but for everyone, it will be there. That is how I like to live my life each day, to the best that I can be and the search for meaning will not be necessary, the meaning will find me.

The One Thing "He" Possessed and That "She" Did Not

Opportunity. It is a word defined as "a chance for advancement, progress or profit; a favorable circumstance or occasion." When Virginia Woolf used the example of Shakespeare having a sister of the same talent as he in her essay A Room of One's Own, Woolf was attempting to make a very distinct point between the sexes of male and female. Her point was that even if a certain man and women posses the same amount of talent and genius, that because of the opportunities that are available to men and not to women, is the reason why Shakespeare was able to create his masterpieces and why his imaginary sister could never attain the fame that he achieved. Woolf acclaims Shakespeare's fame to his attending of grammar school, his chance to work in theater and meet many influential people and being able to exercise his wit and talent to the masses. However, Shakespeare's imaginary sister didn't have the opportunity to attend school, or to travel and meet people. No, she was condemned to the housework and was scolded at for any attempt she made to read or write. The way Woolf presents this situation, by showing how the "accepted" roles of men and women during Shakespeare's time very much affects what each path their respectful lives take, is a very realistic example of something that could have, and probably did occur. Many would argue that this could not be the case, that Shakespeare's talent was inhuman, some even claim him to be a demigod, and that no one could match his savvy, especially not a woman. But I believe this idea to be based on our biased views and experiences of society, both current and historical. I truly believe that many individuals during Shakespeare's time possessed the potential that he had, both of the male and female sex. However, there is one thing that set Shakespeare apart from the rest. Opportunity. But not only opportunity, because even if those certain individuals who possessed his talent were exposed to what Shakespeare was exposed to, an extremely low percentage, maybe even no one them at all would produce the high level of art that he did. Therefore, it is not simply missed opportunity that is what holds most back, but what one does with that opportunity, how one shapes it and molds it and in turn produces something memorable. So Woolf's argument that someone born with Shakespeare's talent but condemned to their "place" in society could never prosper is valid, however there is no guarantee that if the conditions were perfect, that true works of art would be born, it's up to the individual's use of their experiences and their opportunity if results are to be seen.

Perspective

We make judgments everyday in our lives, whether we mean too or not. These judgments are not necessarily unfair or unjust,  they are simply based on how we see things through our eyes, our perspective on them, and we sometimes forget to look at the big picture. Many events, appearances, and interactions between two different parties are often seen quite different by each one respectively, and other outside parties could see it different ways as well. This difference in perspective is what causes many conflicts and contentions between two or more people at its most subdued level, and between two or more nations at its extreme. The biggest problem with perspective is that most people tend to believe what they see and fail to review the situation from someone else's point of view and therefore do not understand the contingencies and the disputes that arise, due to people's ignorance. An excellent example is Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, which uses a difference in perspective to help drive the plot and also shows just how bad things can go wrong when different parties each have different perspectives, or outlooks, on life and they clash with immense implications and consequences. In this book, we see multiple coups and religious-based factions uprising in the country of Afghanistan, including the Mujahideen and the relentless Taliban. The differences of each of these groups, in terms of perspective, are what causes their immediate loathing of each other, the Mujahideen with their very "hands on" approach of dealing with opposing views, the constant bombing and gunfire, which is somehow supposed to eventually create peace. Then there is the Taliban who were born solely based on the opposition of the Mujahideen and we see this in the "Taliban Rules" where women are given nearly no rights and extreme punishments are the consequences for even petty crimes. Also, when we see the Taliban rise to power and the Mujahideen look to the United States for help, this in the Taliban's eyes is a direct threat   on their belief and we see what pursued the U.S. helping the Mujahideen with the occurrence of 9/11. However, few people realize that the Taliban, although their views are extremist and in our eyes, erratic and ridiculous, are very passionate in their beliefs and religion and since our involvement in the conflict was seen as a threat, they responded with an action that was, although extreme, what they deemed as an appropriate warning. The U.S., seeing only one side of the conflict, immediately leaps into action instead of assessing the situation and the differences of our cultures and then proceeding from there. This has taught us a valuable lesson on how people's customs and beliefs and outlook can be viewed in a completely different manner from both sides.