Journal on Cinderella Man, Hillary Clinton President Announcement, and A Wrinkle in Time - Essay Example

Journal: On "Cinderella Man" The movie, "Cinderella Man" - a true-to-life story is one of the most heartwarming and worthwhile movies I've seen. It's nice to know that the human race is capable of such goodness in the person of boxer Jim Braddock, portrayed by the absolutely genius Russell Crowe. Crowe here as usual, in his past movies as "Gladiator" and "A Beautiful Mind" displays that vulnerability set against a backdrop of toughness, whether be it be physicality or mental prowess. It's like looking at a gem with many facets that shines depending on the angle or how light and darkness plays up shining aspect as well as the darkness. Greatness indeed has much more to do with spirit, with how a human being chooses to react - especially in tough situation when the temptation is always there to find an easy way out. Oftentimes, we don't have a choice how our fates determine our individual destinies. But we all are given, a certain gift that sets us apart to rise above our situations. Braddock had a talent not just for boxing, but for fighting in true form, that is fighting a fair game. True success matters only because we choose to keep promises to the people we love, rather because of outward indications such as money or achievements to show the world that we are not losers. In the movie, Braddock was motivated to win because he made a promise to his son that the family will stay together no matter how the Depression in the 1930s hit them. And isn't only because we love the people in our lives which make it easier for us to be humble To try to become humble on one's own is a tough job - precisely because it takes other people for one to achieve true humility. Journal: On Hillary Clinton, President The announcement of Hillary Clinton that she will contest the presidential elections in 2008 did not really come as a surprise to the world. After all, she has been at it for the past years. Only that the fact that she will actually gun for the top post and even win it, is such an exciting and tantalizing prospect for the world, it's almost unbelievable. We ask ourselves what could be her motivations. What does she want She's after power - so what's new She wants to show the husband that she is better than him - what better way to punish him and one that would confirm our worst expectations of her. She stayed with him and did not divorce him long after her husband weathered his second term post-Monica because she wants to get the ultimate revenge. After all, men are expected all the time to go after power, that for them power is a legitimate goal. We hold on to the view women are not competitive, or rather should not show competitiveness in such a public manner - the most public manner - in the field of politics. We ask these questions for a woman derided not only for her ambitions, but for showing such grit and unusual determination when most would have slinked into a permanent retreat after a battlefield strewn with losses, shame and the relentless drive of a society to make her to what she in fact is not both personally and career-wise. Who is she, and what is she in fact If Hilary Clinton indeed becomes President of the United States two years from now - she will not only make history to become for the first woman to become the most powerful person on earth - but perhaps who succeeded on her own terms, winning on both counts - personally and career-wise. Maybe she really loves Bill after all. Journal entry: On "A Wrinkle in Time" There are books which we love as children. Once we gotten over them, we go on to "adult books". And then there are books that captivate us at a time when Santa Clause has not yet left the world of magic and faith. And which, even after years have elapsed, we can still go back to find that the magic has not flown off the window. One such book is a "Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle, a book first published in 1962 and continues to enchant the public with its rare combination of being a fairy tale, religious allegory and a brilliant scientific foray into the rarified world of astrophysics and quantum physics. We don't want to admit it but we will continue to read fairy tales to our kids even if experience us tells us that there are as much as happy endings as tragic ones - because we want to believe that we mightily strive to have happy endings. And that aspiration does not make us hypocrites or liars to the younger generation. In the book, Meg, the main character, not only saves her little brother from evil clutches of IT and got back her father to their home - through the old good thing called love - but discovers that her faults, her imperfection saved the day. What could be more inspirational than to know that we don't have to be perfect to be capable of the things that we need to do. Maybe the central tenet of Christianity is that God loves us in spite of our faults. The book also makes a good cause for intellect - one that uses intuition, rather than pure logic. And the field of science that uses intuition as much as logic is physics. Just consider how Einstein famously stumbled upon his great theory of relativity - by imagining himself riding a beam of light. Journal: A Dream I've had had dreams about my home and the house where I grew up in. But last night I dreamt that I was in another house. It was a house I have never seen in my waking life, though in my dream it was as if it was mine because I felt so at home in it. My first recollection of my dream was me, walking along a corridor with light bouncing off the walls. Then I came to the living room, with people laughing and in lively conversation. I saw two of my closest friends having conversation with Hugh Grant and Hillary Clinton. Then I just sort of smiled at them and plopped down at a sofa, viewing the people in the room at a distance. Then at once I was outside a garden and there was this pool of water - whether it was in fact a natural stream or a big tub of man-made pool I was not really sure. The strange thing was that when I got closer, the water sort of dried up and the pool turned into a concrete pathway. That was when I woke up. In dreams one never knows how one ends up at a certain situation or a place. They sort of just come all swirling right along, morphing from situation to the next. But while dreaming, all of these just come naturally. And then, there are those characters that come from nowhere and in weird combinations - Mickey Mouse talking with your uncle who suddenly turns into a white horse. I often wonder why we dream. Maybe they have a purpose in our lives. Some even believe that they can warn us of wrongdoings, guide us into making better decisions and make use see pathways to the future of our lives. And wasn't it Shakespeare who wrote that our life is such stuff that dreams are made of Journal: Why Britney Spears Shaved Her Head There was a time when I was five or six when I ate too much ice cream, it gave me diarrhea for a week. It didn't make me stop all together from eating ice cream. In fact, recently, I had again done the same thing - all for the love of ice cream. Bingo, lactose intolerance made my stomach go rumbling, followed by trips to the toilet. My point is that when you indulge in something or do anything in excess - there are certainly consequences. But sometimes consequences are not even enough to make us keep from doing something which we are compelled to do. Why do we do things even if we know they will not be good for us Highly academic - I believe in the world o f human beings. What is nice to know from being human is that when a line is crossed, most of the time we are given another chance to go back to our corners - to see that the line has even been even drawn in starker color. Which makes me think why poor Britney is being punished too much for eating her "ice cream" It gave her more than a bum stomach for sure. Partying with Paris Hilton and being caught without her knickers on camera maybe excessive for any mother who has two kids. She certainly endangers her children with antics - but it might be good for the whole world to contemplate what person in her age has not done anything close to what she has done. We ascribe to celebrities the things that common people actually in real life commit in far worse proportions. And we love to trample them when they have already reached the zenith of their potential in our eyes. So now, she's not only a bad mother or a bad example to the youth - she's going nuts. Loosing it. I don't think so. I think Britney shaved her head just for kicks. And we all do that once in a while. Read More