Creative Writing - "Boy"

This was my creative writing assignment for one of my classes. Directly inspired by "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid. Let me know what you think.

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Grip the bat this way so you don’t miss the baseball like you always do; break in your mitt as soon as you buy it; come home right after practice and clean your room; put your video games away, you ungrateful brat; don’t forget to break in your mitt; do all your chores quickly and don’t take any breaks to have a cookie; listen to your mother and don’t ask me questions; do your homework so you don’t become an unsuccessful bum having to live off me and your mother for your entire life; help your sister with her homework when she whines; eat your broccoli; read a passage from the Bible once a night or you’ll go to hell; I thought Jesus forgives all?; don’t ever question anything I say; don’t be afraid to injure the other team’s best player if it leads to victory; remember to keep your stance wide and your eye on the ball; second place is the first loser; don’t disappoint me; don’t let down your mother; failure literally isn’t an option, we aren’t afraid to abandon you; find a nice girl to date; stay out of the kitchen, always act like a man; be a gentleman, respect her if she says “no,”; tell your mom to get me a beer; never change the channel when I watch television; but I’m sick of watching sports; I think your mother is putting too much of that strange estrogen vitamin in your meals; the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree; never bring your family apple picking, it’s bad luck; there is such a thing as a good time to lie; Democrats are ignorant because they never have any good things to say about anything; go to a college that is known to all the neighbors, but only if they think it’s a good school; follow your dreams; your mother and I firmly believe that majoring in Accounting is clearly the wisest choice for you; I don’t even like math; I’m guessing that you don’t like girls either?; stop worrying about the future, you’re only 11; I’m 13; stop being ungrateful; accept that life is meaningless because everyone in the world will eventually die; heaven might not be real; try to live life without regrets; choose Wendy’s over McDonald’s because it seems classier; get used to riding a bike because I’m definitely not buying you a car; you never even taught me how to ride one; well go learn on your own; are you going to be a failure or success in life?

Perspective

I've had a rough night and day so far, going through some frustrating times. I've talked before about how life may bring you through some really dark tunnels, when there seems to be no end in sight. But in the grand scheme of things, that tunnel may only be a few miles long, really short compared to the (almost) eternal marathon that life seems to be. Frustration is only a ripple in life, sometimes even a larger wave. It will cause discomfort, but for a short amount of time.

But that wave could possibly overwhelm you. It's times like these that you need to use the power of perspective.

I was driving to work, slightly angry, sad, and a little bit shaken up. My mind was drifting into all these crazy, seemingly impossible, thoughts. I was frustrated beyond belief, actually.

Then I saw traffic building up on the side of the road. My anger spilled over and I cursed under my breath, remarking to myself about how idiotic slow drivers can sometimes be. But then I realized that the car that was moving extremely slowly was a hearse, and behind it was a morbid looking line of cars moving just as slowly. That's when I felt terrible about myself, realizing that my anger took control of me and blinded me to the importance of life.

Like actually living. Life is short and death is inevitable. Which is why one must live everyday as best as he or she can. You never know what can happen. You may lose a loved one, you may know someone who has fallen ill, or maybe you yourself may have something dire happen. It puts everything in perspective.

I know what I want in my life. I have an amazing family, friends that are practically family, and a girlfriend who I want to make family. But in times of frustration and anger, when its at the point where your boiling blood is about to overflow, take a step back, realize how good you really have it, and gain some perspective. Deal with your problems maturely, move on, and live life.

Sometimes you may find yourself moving too fast. Remember to pace yourself. Remember that eventually, you'll be leading a slow line of morbid looking cars.

Don't take anything for granted. Live to love and love to live.




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Sorry if this post seemed a little dark. Love you all.

Religion: Questioning

I'm going to make this an ongoing topic that I'll keep posting about in the future. I know that I can't fit all of my thoughts in this one post, so this will be the start of my new series about Religion.
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This topic of Religion is meant to help myself put my questions, thoughts, and ideas into actual writing. I write this to express my feelings, and receiving some answers or suggestions would be great. This is NOT about me choosing to leave the Church.

This is not meant to offend anyone.Thank you.
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I like to think of myself as a good, practicing Catholic. I go to mass every Sunday, I pray before meals, I've attended a Catholic elementary school and even University, I keep rosaries and symbols of my faith in my car, dorm, and wallet. Yet I wouldn't call myself devout. Odd?

Definition of devout:

1. Having or showing deep religious feeling or commitment.

2. Totally committed to a cause or belief.

I do not believe I am entirely, 110% committed to the Catholic faith. This does not mean that I do not accept the religion anymore, simply that I just have so many questions about Catholicism. When I first realized this about myself, I was a bit troubled. How could I be raised in such Catholic upbringing all my life but still find myself unsure of things?

The religion, actually, all religions, relies on faith and faith entirely. I picture religion sometimes as some one being stranded on a completely unmapped island, just forcing himself to live out of pure faith that some one will save him. Yes, the movie Cast Away is a perfect example, but how many times out of 10 would that man be saved?

I loved going to Catholic school (St. John's the Evangelist, represent) and I love attending a Catholic university (La Salle University in Philadelphia). Catholicism has a great moral code that is taught to the children, something that I'm extremely grateful for since it really has shaped my own character. But since these same children are raised believing in the Holy Trinity and everything in the Bible, there isn't room to question these ideas. They are given to us as facts.

What I'm trying to say here, is that we've never had opportunities to question our own religion and explore others. Most religious families preserve their faith and raise and grow their family within that religion's boundaries and morals, which is fine by all means. There is nothing wrong with that.

But now, I am putting my questions, built up over the years, into words.



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Some topics (but not limited to) that I hope to cover in the upcoming days (in no particular order):

1) Catholic Flaws
2) Other Religious Alternatives
3) Guilty Conscience About Lack of Faith