Solidarity

Definition: Union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests, as between members of a group or between classes, peoples, etc.

Solidarity, or the evils that come from it, is what I believe to be the key theme of Anthem by Ayn Rand. Solidarity is meant to be a good thing, many individuals working together for the common good. However, this is not the case in Anthem. Individuality has been completely erased from society, leaving only we, us, etc. What was meant to be beneficial (or at least I think) lead to a world in the dark with oppressive rulers that destroyed those seeking more than their current meaningless lives. People showing intelligence and ingenuity were burdened with simple, monotonous tasks meant to remove any hope of learning. I'm sure that I would lose the will to live, as was the goal of the dictators. I really enjoyed this book and I strongly suggest that you read it.

At lunch, I had an "Andrew, you're being stupid" session with my table-mates. I told them what happened on Friday and they found something to contradict my every thought, and I'm glad they did. I'm not saying I regret venting on Friday, but I do want to apologize to my teacher for being ignorant and I would like to thank my friends for helping me realize my stupidity. I don't think I show my anger often enough so this was a good opportunity to vent anger from long ago. I'm sorry it had to relate to his teaching, but it had to happen eventually. I talked to him after school and I mentioned that I had two sheets in my binder that looked like homework that I never handed in. We decided that these were from days that I went to orchestra lessons and that I was never informed of the need to hand them in. I gave them to him and, although report cards come out tomorrow, he said he would try and talk to someone about getting my grade changed in the computers. Guess how much one homework assignment is worth on my average. 1.4 POINTS!!! So if he is successful at changing my grade, I get a 97 average! Still not what I was hoping for but it's what I deserve for being so pig-headed about this whole issue.

At track, I failed. I tried doing a workout with 4 other kids from the cross country team but I just couldn't keep up. We were supposed to run 6-8 800's at a 2:30 pace (2:40 for me). I ran the first and I barely hung on. For the 2nd and 3rd, I ran a 400 and then dropped out. The I ran another 800 (slower than everyone else) and one more 400. They kept telling me that I'm only a freshman and they're juniors (and Timmy who's also a freshman but he's insanely fast) and that I should try my hardest, even if I'm 200m behind them. I tried but I just gave up. I couldn't deal with seeing them so far ahead of me. I need to get back in shape, and fast!

Mike (see November 7th) MADE MY NIGHT!!! He drove me and Alex home from boy scouts and once we dropped Alex off, he decided that he wanted a Slurpee. So we went to 7-11, bought Slurpees and started towards my house. About a minute from my house, he put in his Disney-ish CD and we rocked out to I've Got A Golden Ticket. We got really into it and we were singing along and we realized we weren't going to finish the song by the time we got to my house. We decided to drive all the way down my block to finish the song, but then Hakuna Matata came on so we drove some more and sang some more. After that, Be Our Guest. The song finished when we got back to my house, about a half an hour after leaving the meeting. :) Awesome drive with an awesome guy.

This is my attempt at solidarity. The red piece represents Equality 7-2521 and the white pieces are the rest of society. He although he was different, he used to fit in. Now, he is an outcast on the run from the people he used to live among peacefully.

Today's lesson: People are stupid, ignorant, and cruel. They say mean things that weren't thought through and they don't understand the truth when it is brought in front of them. But despair not, for there are individuals (such as my friends at my lunch table) that see the truth and help others overcome their vices.

Two months </3 B.V. 2/17/96 - 9/22/10