Following from our conversation today, post at least 300 words in response to these questions:
-What ideals do you (or people like you) strive to attain? It may help to think about what skills and roles you want to master—academically, athletically, musically, and especially socially. What kind of person (or kinds of people) do you aspire to be? What kind of person (or kinds of people) do you feel obligated to be?
-What do you (and people like you) need to be fulfilled? What roles or tasks are you asked to perform in order to reach that fulfillment? What roles or tasks impede that fulfillment? What do you do on your own to fulfill yourself?
-Now attempt to characterize the relationship between ideals and fulfillment. Where do these two projects conflict, where do they synchronize, and where is it more complicated?
Don't forget to respond to two posts before class Monday.
Good luck!
My goals are may be similar to the goals of any other person, or they may not be, seeing as I am not another person, I am only myself. Before I have a family, I hope to be fluent in five languages, have a steady job, and make good grades in everything academic. I would like to be physically fit as well, and I hope to pick up the guitar again. I would love to have the friends I have now throughout my entire life, and never loose contact with them, yet, I know that most likely, I will loose contact with a few, a very sad, but true fact. I feel obligated to the charitable, all around, out-going person. I want to be kind and empathetic, just as I, hopefully, am now, and I don’t want to change. I still have child-like qualities, which I don’t find to be bad at all because it makes life more fun when you can relate to younger people or memories from early childhood.
ReplyDeleteTo be fulfilled, I would need to be this type of person, with a good family, consisting of a wonderful husband, and at least one son and two daughters. I do not want a house with a white picket fence, and I know this sounds odd, but I don’t want my family to be perfect; I want them to be quirky, like me, and I want them to know all the languages I will know. Also, I need to be the type of woman who can do a little bit of everything, teach, be a good parent, do chores around the house, cook, home improvement, manage money, socialize, and so much more. It important to me to independent, and I wouldn’t want to stay home all day whilst my husband works all day. I need a good job that pays well, and that way, I may even have most of my goals accomplished before I get married. The only obstacles that impede my life goals are people saying I can't do this or that, people dying, or lack of time.
The difference between ideals and fulfillment is that one is the action, while the other is the ideas that might or might not get you to become fulfilled. But, say, your ideal spouse is someone who can make you laugh and make you happy, and you find that spouse, and you really are truly happy. Hopefully, that ideal or goal, would be fulfilled. Where it gets more complicated is when people have more than one goal, or they have a few ones that seem impossible. Your ideals may become dreams to you because they only seem that they could be dreams, when really, thinking like something can only happen in a dream and not reality, is like condemning yourself to stay unfulfilled forever.
Sofia
i had to make a stupid account just so i could post this oh and for now on people know this is sofia
ReplyDeleteBefore you try using a google account, read this because I tell you, it doesn't work with Google for some reason. it will say, this account is now able to view this blog page, or something like that, so i would suggest a LiveJournal account
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, an ideal does not need to be reached in order for one to feel fulfilled. Many of my ideals, or goals, may not ever be grasped, but that doesn’t inevitably stop me from having a rewarding lifestyle. Some of my wishes are more easily assessable than others; most are completely determined by my will. For example, I’d like to become a dermatologist when I grow up. This relies solely on working hard academically, so I aim to improve myself in that area this year. Athletically, I strive to become a better competitor to my opponents in all the sports in which I participate. I would also like to pick up piano again and maybe learn guitar before graduating and going off to the college of my dreams, whichever one that may be. Lastly, I aspire to be one of those people that others look up to and remember for some beneficial reason.
ReplyDeleteThe key ways for me to attain fulfillment include sense of self-accomplishment, support from close relations, respect, and the ability to achieve what I put my mind to. For me, self-accomplishment goes hand in hand with self-worth. Being capable of completing tasks on my own, especially if I’ve put a lot of effort into it, gives me a feeling of elation, pride, and triumph. Support from friends and family is the backbone of my fortitude; with this also accounts for respect from others, whether older or younger. The only thing stopping me from being fulfilled is the unwise, not thoroughly thought out actions that I might make.
Ideals and fulfillments don’t always synch like clockwork. An ideal is the image a person might have of perfection, whether it’s of themself or for others. Fulfillment is the emotion one enjoys after reaching an ideal. However, like I said in the beginning, you don’t always have to reach, or even need an ideal to feel fulfilled. In simple terms, I should feel fulfilled if I complete all of my goals for this year. But what if they don’t all work out? Maybe I’ll never pick up piano again, but that doesn’t stop me from trying something new. Ideals can change; fulfillment will always remain sensational.
During my time as a high school student, I strive to attain goals such as being an "A" student, being physically fit for volleyball, working hard in volleyball to produce good results on the court, and honing my piano skills. I also seek to acquire better social skills and hope fit in with the "in crowd." I find the not all, but a great amount of people would like to fit in with and have an ample of amount of friends, in order to have a good social life. In my future, I personally aspire to be an outgoing person with an abundant amount of friends, who is also kind, and helpful to the community. I would like to be someone who has a fun-filled life which is also balanced with work. I would like to become this person, but at this time, I feel obligated to act like a perfect child in the eyes of my parents. I feel that my parents don't want me to be a teenager, so I feel as if sometimes I am a 12 year old girl. One of my biggest goals is to try to shake this vision out the eyes of my parents.
ReplyDeleteTo me, in order to be fulfilled in life, I must be surrounded by family and friends who love each other, and who will always be there for each other. In my life I want to be married to a man who I love and who makes me happy, but also has a well paying job. I would like to have three kids: two girls and one boy. I would feel fulfilled if I had this family, and lived in a suburban part of town with a fairly large house, and in a neighborhood consisting of neighbors who are my best friends. I also would like to have a job when I first start off, but I personally would like to become a stay-at-home mom. I want to be able to bring my kids to everywhere they need to go, and I also would like to do other activities for myself without the obligation of working. I also would like to have a housekeeper, who would come to the house a few times a week to do chores around the house, because I personally despise doing chores. In order to fulfill myself, I need to take vacations around the world to learn about different cultures, and I would like to start a major charity to help those who are starving and who are in need of water. The only things that would impede in my fulfillment is the economy, not getting married, and like Sofia said, people dying.
In my opinion, ideals are dreams and goals that I must work to achieve, and fulfillment is when these dreams become reality. These two conflict when there is an ideal that is just so unrealistic to the situation that I am in, that there is probably no way that the ideal will be fulfilled. They both work when the ideal is not far-fetched and others would be willing to help me reach my fulfillment. Ideals and fulfillment become complicated when none of my ideals seem to be reached, or if I reach achieve the ideal, it just wouldn't fulfill me as much as I thought it would, which is bound to happen in some cases.
There are a lot of ideals that people think you should strive for. Like being the top student and being really good at sports is what most people like me see as there ideals. I want to get good grades because I want to get into a good college. If I get into a good college then I will probably have a better life. I want to be good at sports. Sports are probably never going to be the most important part of my life, but I like playing them. I want to have a lot of friends and be popular. Also, I want to be fluent in like six or seven languages.
ReplyDeleteBeing fulfilled is different. Being fulfilled is accomplishing something that you want. To be fulfilled I would like to get really good grades. I would like to get into a good college. Being good at sports would be really fulfilling to me. Winning in sports would probably be more fulfilling. Like winning a state championship would be better than just being good, but the team not doing well. Also, I would want to have a lot of friends to be fulfilled. Being liked by everyone would also be fulfilling.
Being fulfilled and ideals really have to do with what you like. If you like collecting rocks or something, and you collect the most rocks in the world than you will probably feel really fulfilled. Obviously collecting rocks is not an ideal, or most people do not think that it is. In other ways, ideals and fulfillment can be the same, or gotten the same way. If you love your job, and you are really successful at what you do, than you probably feel fulfilled. Most people think that having a really good job and making money is an ideal that everyone should try to get.
People like me are the kinds of people who want to achieve more than others. We strive to be successful in the things that we take on. Academically, I try to challenge myself to the best of my ability. I take on the honors classes because I believe in myself and I know that if I put in the effort, it can be done. Something that I like to always think of if I begin to doubt myself is, if someone else is doing it then it isn't impossible. I try and get the most out of my studies and enjoy learning. Academics are something that can take you so far in life if you take advantage of them. And that is exactly what I am trying to do, take advantage of all the opportunities that are put in front of me. This goes along with athletics. I try and put myself is all the sports that I can, both inside and outside of school, because I want to take advantage of my opportunities. Sports teams are like honors classes in that they both give you that great feeling that you've done something good for yourself. Making an A on a test and winning a race both mean that all of your hard work has payed off and thats the greatest feeling of all. Thats why I push myself so hard, all for that one moment. I aspire to be a well rounded person who has experienced much in her life. I want to be well educated, but also be in shape to run around the park. I feel obligated to be someone who younger kids look up to. Someone who I used to look up to. This person can juggle the sports, the academics, and the social life and makes it look easy.
ReplyDeleteTo be fulfilled, I need to be challenged and succeed. Whether its a tough class or a sport. Like in running, the practices are hard and its hot outside and as much as you want to quit you just can't because you know that feeling of winning is going to make it all worth wile. The classes that have you up late nights studying all week and tired are the ones that you are going to succeed in. You know that you must put in the effort to get the prize. If you feel yourself slacking off in school or in practice and you're just too tired for it all, then you know that the outcome isn't going to be something that you like. The negative energy will delay/prevent you from that fulfillment. To keep myself happy and satisfy myself I like to put in the effort and work hard, but also know how to have fun and relax when you need to, because without it you won't be able to survive.
I characterize ideals as things that you strive to get closer and closer to, but probably won't reach. Its a perfect image that you portray that you try hard to reach. Fulfillment is the feeling that you get when you get closer and closer to reaching those ideals. Ideals are like the dollar hanging in front of the treadmill that you spend your whole life trying to reach. But you can feel yourself getting closer and closer and thats what keeps you motivated to keep going. You can never really satisfy all of those ideals that thats what keeps them so special. But, they synchronize in that the two put together keep people happy and striving to do their best in life.
The ideals that I have are very simple. I strive to be the best that I can be at everything that I do, whether that is academically, athletically, or musically. I think that a lot of people, but maybe not all people, would agree with these ideals, and we see people striving for them every day, whether it is going to practice, or going to school. I aspire to be a person with a good job and a nice family. I don’t feel any pressure to be a specific kind of person, but because of my ideals, I feel obligated to be this person that I want to be.
ReplyDeleteIn order to be fulfilled, for me, I need to know that I did the best that I possibly could have done. Also, in the future, if I have the family and the job that I want, I know I will have accomplished my goals and as long as I am content in my life, I will be fulfilled. The only thing that impedes my being fulfilled is me, if I don’t do the best I can or if I get discouraged.
I feel like the relationship between ideals and fulfillment is simple. You wouldn’t have anything to fulfill without your ideals. However, ideals can change, and if you don’t know exactly what it is that you want, it becomes harder to feel fulfilled. Sometimes you find that you feel fulfilled without even accomplishing what you set out to do, and the relationship between your ideals and your fulfillment can become complicated. In most cases though, I think that fulfillment is directly related to accomplishing your goals and your ideals.
in repky to Kyla Maupin:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Kyla, other than the fact that I would want a job, a part time job, rather than be a complete stay-at-home mom. I really would love to see my kids grow up, and also would love to pick them up from school, and drop them off to. This is my ideal picture of a mom, because that's how my mom is. She is somewhat a stay-at-home mom, but she is also the CEO of my father's company, so she does have a job, which I can't really fully describe because I could never fully understand the amount of work she does, none the less what she actually does. Most likely paper work and taxes, but it keeps her busy. But yes.
In reply to Whit Porter:
I completely underdstand what you are saying. But for some people, not me, though, they feel pressured to become a certain type of person, whether its because of family, or if its society. You idea of ideals and fulfillment is exactly what I was aiming for, except I failed to describe it in a simple way. :)
Whit – I never thought of, but agree with, the fact that if you “don’t know exactly what it is that you want it becomes harder to feel fulfilled” and you can “feel fulfilled without even accomplishing what you set out to do.” However, I think that statement contradicts with your opinion that ideals and fulfillments always directly coincide, in which I disagree with.
ReplyDeleteKyla – I think that you make a good point in that you have to work towards something in order for fulfillment to occur. Also, unfortunately, I agree that in some situations, your ideals will never be reached no matter how hard you might try.
Whit - my apologies I didn't realize you wrote "in most cases."
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion all dreams and goals that anyone in this day and age strives to achieve are relative to the people around them. By this I mean if everyone one at country day made b’s and I made all A-‘s then I would be ecstatic about my academic life, but if everyone made all A+’s and I still only had A-‘s I would be sad about my grades. Other aspirations work the same way whether it be earning money or excelling in a sport I think that people always strive to be better than the people around them, or at least I do. So having said that, I think people, at my age, that want to attain any social goal all want basically the same thing. They all want to be friends with the people that they most like to be with, and they want people to want to be friends with them.
ReplyDeleteTo be fulfilled at my age all one needs is friends and a sense that they are doing well enough now so that later in life they will be able to do the things that they want to do. To do this the person must meet the goals that they have set for themselves in school but also have a fun social life, and not only do things that help them in school. Some people have advantages in reaching fulfillment like being naturally funny or athletic or good looking. These all help people reach fulfillment.
To me the ideas of ideals and fulfillment are very closely related because I believe that when one thinks of ideals they think of what they would be if they reached fulfillment or reached their goals. The two ideas are also very different because sometime ideals are unrealistic for you, but goals are what you want to achieve and you think is possible to achieve.
lilia- I agree that fulfillment is a sensational sort of thing that you can get from reaching your goals, and I agree that you don't always need ideals to become fulfilled, but sometimes when you're striving to accomplish something, it makes it more fulfilling when you actually do accomplish it. Even though ideals can change, you always feel fulfilled when you accomplish them.
ReplyDeleteSophia- I agree with just about everything you said, except that thinking of something as a dream is condemning yourself to stay unfulfilled forever because your ideals can change into something that could actually happen and sometimes your dreams can come true. But other than that I agree with your point of view.
andrew: I agree with you that to be fulfilled you want to be academically successful, good at sports, and have lots of friends. Making good grades is the key to a successful life because you will have a better job and be able to do more things. Also, I take most of my pride in sports and winning games/races/meets. Being successful when I grown up as one of my ideals, too.
ReplyDeletesamuel: Just like you, I too strive to make the best grades and be better in sports. I take friendships as a very serious thing because that is what makes you happy in life. Having funny people around you all time lightens the mood and makes people happier. So you're right about having a fun social life and not focusing on school ALL THE TIME, but also taking school very seriously and striving to be the best.
The ideals that most people wish to obtain are focused around being the best at a certain skill that they favor, while some strive to be the best at everything they do. For most people these skills include academics, athletics, music, and their social lives, because these are the things that will shape the rest of their lives. For each these skills I have a different level of success that I feel obligated to achieve. My ideals focus on working to be the best I can in everything I do. However, I do hope to find one skill that I particularly enjoy and succeed at, which can eventually evolve into my career. I feel obligated to get good grades so that I can go to a good college and eventually have a successful career, although I am still unsure of the career I wish to have. I think most people feel this obligation because it is crucial to the rest of a person’s life. Ideally I would like to do something important with my life so that I can leave my mark on the world and be remembered.
ReplyDeleteFor most people to be fulfilled they require happiness. But happiness can mean different things to different people, and I’m not yet even sure what happiness means to me. I know that I want to have success and love and to be proud of my life. I would like to travel so that I can see the world from different viewpoints and learn about cultures and societies which I could never understand without firsthand experience. I’m not sure I would like to be the stay at home mom I know is thought to be the ideal wife in most typical American families. Although I do want children and I want to be very involved in their lives, I think that if I really love my job I would like to keep it while raising them. I am the only one who can accomplish these ideals and achieve a happy and fulfilled life, but I am also the only one who can get in the way of the life I desire.
Ideals are the success a person aspires to obtain, while fulfillment is the reward a person strives to receive once an ideal has been accomplished. However, not all ideals are accomplished in the way most people imagine, and some are never accomplished at all. It is an unrealistic wish that most people have to accomplish every goal or ideal that they may have, however, it is this dream that drives people to work to achieve their goals the best they can, and it is that determination that brings people fulfillment in their lives.
In our western culture a steady successful life is the ultimate goal for most people. Though people from other parts of the world see this as unimportant and that a life based solely upon obtaining money will leave a person unsatisfied and meaningless, and this is partly true, but I think money can grant other opportunities. I hope to be successful in life in order to have the ability to have multiple kids and travel the world and see what other peoples customs are. I enjoy material things, but I understand how someone could easily overindulge in a material lifestyle and forget about their family and what is really important. I want to do the best I can in school without over stressing myself. It has been solidly reinforced to me that a good education is the most valuable thing someone can have, and I am grateful to be at Country Day. I am not sure what I want to major in in college, but hopefully I can decide in these three years of high school I have left. I enjoy playing sports now, but I am pretty sure I do not have what it takes to play competitively in college. It is important to me to stay in decent shape for the rest of my life and play sports occasionally in clubs, with my friends, and be mentors for my children. I played the piano when I was younger, but then I stopped for a while. I plan on picking it up again later this year. I aspire to be the kind of person who is always there for his children, both in presence and financially. I want my children to know that they are the most important, just like my parents have been with me.
ReplyDeletePeople need to accomplish their goals in order to be fulfilled, but cannot forget family and friends on the way of achieving their goals. To reach my final goals, I am asked to do well in school, and make friends. The only thing that stands in the way of my fulfillment is myself, I must keep working hard, and never give up.
My ideals of a perfect family later on in life will hopefully leave me fulfilled, but I will not know until I have reached those goals. If I over stress myself to become financially sound, I will not be fulfilled, but if I don't provide enough, then my family will not be able to do what we want. That is why I hope to get in to a good college and get a job that gives me a lot of time to be with my family, and a lot of money to do what I please. There must be a balance in one's life in order to be fulfilled, and an ideal life in which one can strive for during their life.
Kyla- I agreed with everything you said. You are pretty confident that your fundamental ideals will bring you fulfillment, but you are not sure that all ideals will bring you fulfillment, this makes a lot of sense and is very rational, and is what I believe too. I think your goal to start charities will really make you feel fulfilled and important, and of course you will be doing the world a big favor. You said that not getting married would impede your fulfillment, which is true, but I think that a big part of that would be yourself causing that problem, and you can rise above it and search hard for the right person to marry no matter what.
ReplyDeleteMckain- I can relate to most of what you said, especially your uncertainty of what you want to focus the rest of your life on. What you said about keeping your job if you had kids if you had a really good job made a lot of sense and sounds very responsible. How you said that you are the only one who stands in the way of your fulfillment is a great view of life, and will ultimately, I think, lead to a better life.
Keil Senter writes:
ReplyDeleteHaving ideals is something everyone in this country, and even on this planet, has in common. Ideals, it seems, are always focused around a certain amount of competitiveness. If everyone had their choice they would undoubtedly choose to be the best in an area of their lives, such as being the smartest, the most athletic, the kindest or the coolest out of, at least, their circle of friends. Ideally everyone in the world would be good at everything sadly this cannot be the case. I cannot live up to my ideals at being good at sports because I am so terrible at all things athletic-related, that it is almost sad. My ideals to be the smartest could not be attained due to my terrible worth ethic and study habits, as well as the fact that the other distractions in my life keep me from getting to homework until 5 minutes before class starts each day. This may just be me, but I set my ideals high, and don’t worry if I don’t achieve them, because that’s not what is important to me. Fulfillment, however, is a different matter.
Being fulfilled, I think, is, not to give everything your all, but to do what it takes to achieve happiness. Realistically, I am not going to waste my time trying my hardest at sports, because I’m terrible at them, and getting better isn’t essential to my happiness. The same, however, does not hold true for academics, because they affect the school I am accepted to, and the career I choose later in life which will be central to my happiness then. Academics are also important to my parents, and for me to be happy I have to make them happy first, otherwise fun, another essential thing to my happiness, is out of the question. Ideals and fulfillment are very different to me and most of my ideals, probably even none of them, will ever be reached; all that matters is my happiness and with that will come fulfillment. They are somewhat related, seeing as the pursuit of some ideals will lead to fulfillment, but overall I think they are completely separate things: ideals being the things that you aim for, or fantasize about, and fulfillment being something that comes when you gain happiness and acceptance.
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ReplyDeleteGreat work so far, guys.
Liz- For me, I sort of disagree, but I'd like to change in order to agree with what you said. When you said that in order to be fulfilled you like to be challenged. For me, if I have a challenge, I usually will quit because it's too hard. But if I could just stick it out until the end, I would feel very fulfilled. I like your ideas on this topic.
ReplyDeleteLilia- I agree completely with you. I didn't even think about your last few sentences when you said that even if your ideals don't work out, you can always try something new, but the fulfillment will still be there. That is a good thing to think about and you can always remember that even if something completely fails, you can always bounce back off of something that could in up being even better.
Elizabeth-I aqgree with all the stuff you said. Being good at stuff doesn't really mean anything unless you have a chance to show it, like in a race or test. I liked your connections between ideals and fulfillment also.
ReplyDeleteHugh-I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on ideals and fulfillment. I agree with almost everything you said. It makes my heart smile that your looking to balance yourself so much in life. Your family is going to be really lucky if you stay on this path. Keep it up bud.
samuel- I agree with what you said about the idea that most peoples standards depend on those of the people around them and that to be fullfilled at our age you need the sense that you are doing well enough in life to create a good future.
ReplyDeletesofia- I agreed with most of what you said however I disagree with the idea that having ideals that are kind of unrealistic and dream-like is sure to cause unfillment because I think it is those kind of dreams that cause you to push yourself to do the impossible so that even if you never accomplish the dream you at least get closer to it.
Lilia: I agree that fulfillment can come from reaching your goals, but I think it can also come if you do not and I think that it changes from person to person how they reach fulfillment.
ReplyDeleteSamuel: I agree with most of what you said especially about what you said socially, because my ideals of reaching fulfillment deal with happiness and for that to happen I need to be surrounded by funny people.
Lilia- I think that you brought up a very good point about an ideal not having to be reached for someone to be fulfilled, and I think that this is deffinitly true in my life.
ReplyDeleteKeil- I agree with what you said about people always aiming to be the best at something in their life because I feel like I have never strived to be the second best at something
"here in the deep, sandy little valley, enclosed on all sides by bare slopes, the only people present, apart form the officer and the explorer, were the condemned man, a dull-witted, wide-mouthed fellow with ungroomed hair and face, and a soldier, who held the heavy chain..." (53).
ReplyDelete"Guilt is always beyond doubt" (57).
How does guilt pay a part in the arrangement of the characters and the setting?