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Ch-Ch-Ch-Change Comes…It’s Inevitable! | |||
by Jackie Klapak Happy October, everyone! Gosh, with the weather cooling off and the leaves turning colors, I am reminded—every time I step outside or glance out my dorm room window—how real and constant change is. It’s an interesting concept, change. My friend’s mom says that the only constant in life is change. What really got me thinking, aside from the dying leaves and crisp air, was this past September 1lth. It has been three years since that tragic day, and yet I remember it as if it was yesterday, but so much has happened in those three years. When I realized that it was September 11th, the first thing I did was call one of my best friends, Melissa, and we talked for an extremely long time. Reminiscing was therapeutic and allowed me to revisit and remember a part of my life that has passed. Change is inevitable. I sometimes sit at my favorite coffee shop and just watch the passers-by. Children and adults are so different. It’s strange to be stuck in the middle, as a teenager, as I’m sure most of you know. One thing I’ve realized: amidst all the change and between children and adults, there really is not much difference at all. People have the same basic natures, personalities, and ideals throughout their lives. Throughout a person’s life, he or she strives for happiness and success, whether it’s happiness and success which can be obtained by hitting a home run at a little league game or happiness and success procured by getting a promotion after working for twenty-five years at the same office. I do not believe that morals change for people, either. Something is either right or it’s wrong. If something is wrong when you’re a kid, it’s still wrong when you’re forty-five. One interesting thing about kids is that they perceive the world in a much simpler and purer light. F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote The Great Gatsby in the 1920s, stated in one of his short stories, “At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.” I think that we all could do to see things in such a way: everyone can do a better job with being nonjudgmental and going about things in an uncomplicated manner. Kids seem to be a lot less self-centered than people are as they get older. In the American lit class that I’ve been taking this semester, we’ve been studying the works of this guy named Henry David Thoreau. He once said, “I am not as wise as the day I was born.” That was one hundred and fifty years ago when he said it, and when I think about it now, in 2004, it makes just as much sense as it must have back then. Sometimes people inhibit themselves from undergoing changes, or they at least try to. I have learned—and am learning—that it’s never a good thing to “live in the past,” as Jethro Tull’s well-worded vocalist, Ian Anderson would say. No one ever knows what the next day will bring, but the next day will surely always arrive, and it’s up to each individual to either lament in what occurred in the past or seize the moment and live minute by minute. I would like to say that it’s never too late to change yourself. Never ever. It often takes a great deal of willpower and courage to move on from something, but once someone can overcome his or her fears and face life by putting the past behind them, he or she can change the world. Although change occurs every passing moment of every day, some things never change. Good music never changes. That’s something for which we should all be grateful. It’s amazing how through generations, good music is still very much appreciated. THIS TEEN TURNS ON...
As readers of this column well know by now, each and evey month, I make a point to listen to an album by an artist I have never gotten around to listening to before. Sometimes it’s folk music, sometimes jazz, sometimes blues. Well, this time around took a bit of a walk on the wild side, as Lou Reed might say... For this month, I listened to my roommate, Corrine’s, AFI CD, Sing the Sorrow. I found the music, which was a cross between punk and rock, to be very rebellious. It was rebellious in a good way. The lead singer, Davey Havok, screams and the guitars wail. It’s great music for teenagers to listen to, because it could very well be the soundtrack to these confusing years. Sing the Sorrow was released in 2003, and the sound is quite alive and real. Jade Puget, the guitarist, is very adroit at playing and it seems as if this is one guitarist who can do nearly anything on the guitar. If you’re not familiar with AFI, do yourself a favor and check them out. For next month, I will listen to and share my thoughts on The Downward Spiral, by Nine Inch Nails. Tune in to see how that goes down with my ears next month. That’s all for now. Get in touch with your simpler and purer side this month. Notice the sunset for the first time in a while. Get pleasure in your early morning walk to your car. Think twice before saying or doing anything drastic, and accept the curveballs that life throws in your face. By the way, since it’s October, you should partake in Halloween festivities! Who would ever pass up a chance for free junk food? If dressing up and trick-or-treating is too much to handle, spend the evening with a group of friends or give candy out to the little kids who come to your door. Celebrate life! I’ll see you next month. As always, I welcome your emails: Jackie@midwestbeat.com | |||
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