So for that same amazing English class that I have been talking about, I have had quite the assignment over the past week. Our teacher gave us a five page paper, and over the past week, I have spent nine hours reading it and two hours writing about it. The paper is really good and all, but it has been very time consuming. The subject matter is very interesting, but that's just a TON of time to spend reading five pages. Don't get me wrong, I have learned a lot. I promise. It's just that I feel like I have already learned everything that I can from READING the paper. The only way I can learn from it now is to ACT on what I've read. The paper is all about thinking. It explores the various degrees of thinking, and I find it to be really interesting. It took me a long time to figure out exactly what the highest grade of thinking was, according to this paper. Now that I have figured it out though, I can hardly stand to just sit and read the paper.
Most of the notes that I took while reading had to deal with the fact that thinking brings up an infinite amount of contradictions. In the end, I realized that the most effective thinking has to do more with action than pondering. While pondering isn't bad, it's actually very good, the actions that take place with the knowledge gained from pondering is what matters. It is pointless to realize or learn something unless you utilize it in your daily life. After reading this paper many many times, I have come to conclude that real thinking is more than just pondering. It's taking those thoughts and bettering not only yourself through actions based on those thoughts, but more importantly, it's helping and serving others. It's truly living like you believe.
Having figured this out, it has made me want to serve others so much more. It can be even the littlest things that make the difference. It might be just smiling at someone when you walk past them, or it could be talking to a person that you don't get along with about how their day is going, and being genuinely interested in what they have to say. If you feel the need to do something specific for someone (something that is kind and beneficial for them) then JUST DO IT!!! Last Tuesday, I just felt like I needed to bake bread for all of my roommates. I'm not sure if one of them was just having a particularly hard day, or what. I just know that I needed to do it. I wrote each of them a little personal note to go with it, and left it for them in their rooms. These are the kind of things that the paper is talking about. It's going out of your way to help others. It doesn't matter if you benefit or not because that's not what it's all about. It is selfless, not selfish. There is a HUGE difference between the two.
Help someone. Serve them. I promise it's worth it.
