Spartan View of Life

When Spartan women had children, they had to have them inspected by the authorities. If the child was sickly looking, weak, small, or had birth defects, it was thrown off the edge of a cliff. This ensured that only the strong and vigorous were allowed to live. They did this so the Spartans developed a shield against guilt for killing another human being. It also encouraged a contempt toward those that weren't perfect.

In today's society, we do not kill people to create a callousness against others, but we develop one just the same. Slamming those that are different than us, or do something wrong, builds a contempt in us towards someone that does those things. Some people teach their kids that people of a certain color, race or tradition are bad and therefore are inferior to them. All these things do to us exactly what throwing a kid off a cliff did to the Spartans: we just don't care about those that aren't like us or aren't perfect.

Spartan Helmet

This week, as I study Sparta, I was tasked to make a Spartan helmet. After three days of work, I finally finished it. It looks pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Here is the first part of it.

Finished. The visor is a little small, but I might be able to adjust it.

Greek Final Project

As of last week, I began working on my final project to show what I learned in Greece. If all goes well, I will have a 7-10 page report about ancient Greece's battleships, battle tactics, and overall naval power, several models of the above described items as well as army weapons, and a feast comprised of food they would have eaten in ancient Greece. I was debating about a slide show, and I might still do it to illustrate the either items I don't have models for or pictures from battles. Fingers crossed it all turns out well.

Know a Person Before you Judge Them

It is important that, when you portray someone in a book, or a poem, you know them from facts instead of rumors. Dante showed what happened when you judge someone off rumors in his Inferno, in which he portrays Odysseus (Ulysses) as being the exact opposite Odysseus he is in Homer's writing. If you judge someone off of something someone said to you, chances are that the judgement is wrong. It's just that person's personal opinion. To get to know a person's character, you need to know more than one thing about them. I personally have never known someone that has had this done to them, nor do I think anyone has ever done this to me. Before you speak out against someone, check with other people about them, or see if there is anything on the news about what they have done. Do a background check if the person is well known. If it is someone at school or something, check with teachers or other kids in the school.

Father-son relations

This week, (week one of my study of Greece) I am studying a lot of the Greek myths. Two of them were those of Daedalus and Icarus and Theseus and the Minotaur. The assignment is to write about the father-son relationships of Daedalus and Icarus Aegeus and Theseus.

Daedalus and Icarus' relationship shows a lot of the disobedience most boys develop as they grow older. We boys are trying to prove ourselves and are trying to be more independent. Our fathers advise us and tell us what to do often. They don't do it for their health. They do it to steer us in the right direction. Daedalus tried to do this with Icarus, but Icarus' disobedience kicked in and he ended up dieing because he didn't listen to his father's advice.

The relationship between Aegeus and Theseus shows how much fathers love their sons. Aegeus loved Theseus and therefore didn't want him to go to Crete to defeat the Minotaur. Theseus, however, who was impulsive and loved danger and adventure, wouldn't listen. He promised his father that, as a sign that he had lived, he would fly white sails instead of black when he returned. However, as he returned home, he forgot to change the sails. Aegeus, believing his son was dead, killed himself by jumping off a cliff. In my opinion, he did this because he had never really known Theseus, having left before he was born, and he believed he would never be able to. I think he regretted leaving.

The Reason People Choose Evil Over Good

I think someone would choose to do evil instead of good only if they had a very specific reason, such as revenge for a past crime. Or maybe they are just dumb and think it would be fun. I, personally, do not remember doing anything wrong while knowing the consequences of my actions. If I did, it would be lying, as that poses a problem to me to this day.

I think what causes someone to choose doing evil over doing good is temptation. Temptation to do something and see what happens. And Satan is the one who causes temptation. Therefore, by default, Satan causes people to do evil.

The Choice Between Good and Evil

This week is studying the difference between good and evil, and the choices they present. To me, the choice between doing good and evil is not always clear, but it is usually. Despite that, I tend to do things either reflexively or instantaneously, and I don't always consider the options I have on how to react. So I sometimes make evil choices, especially when angry or hurt, as that is when my brain goes into overload and I want to hit something, generally the person who hurt me or I am angry at.

How do we know what is good and what is evil? I don't know how we first learned it, other than Adam and Eve both ate from the tree or the knowledge of good and evil and since then we have been punished for the wrong things we do. I know what I consider evil, such as vengeance, hatred, and stuff like that, but I don't know everything God considers evil. In fact, I don't think anyone does. Just another question to add to the post-bucket question list.