The Modern Day Puritan

While there aren't any Puritans today like there were in the times of the past, a lot of their beliefs still do exist, just in a more modern circumstance. Nowadays, thinking of someone as a Puritan would just be to think of them is having strict beliefs, or, simply, not a fun person. And here's the tie-in: of course, school.

I honestly think school is alright. But yes, we should all agree, it's very strict, even here at Whitney Young. Just Friday, only two minutes into my lunch period, the security guard yelled at me and my friend for being in the hallway. Okay.. Or take for example this guy in my gym class who literally stepped into the classroom a second or two after the bell, and received a tardy.  School can be a fun place, but it's very strict, kind of like a modern day Puritan. After doing some research I learned that Puritans actually allowed alcohol, in moderation. So they allowed enjoyment, but were strict if you abused the privilege. The more you think about it, the more you can see the tie-in to school. 

So, although the Puritans don't really exist today, we can still see some of the ideals they left behind, like everything in moderation. If we become too comfortable with our privileges, we might stop following the rules, which is I think what our school has in mind with it's rules. The Puritans were more strict than today, but I think had roughly the same idea, if that makes sense.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

Wow. This was a very dramatic, unexpected ending to what I thought was a great play. But now the real question, hero or stooge?
I have to say hero. While John isn't a superhero or a you saved my baby! hero, he still was heroic in his own way. He could have lied to protect his own life when his close friends would be telling the truth and dying for it. He chose to do the right thing, and not be selfish, and I think that makes him a hero. 

You still need to be convinced? Let's look at it the other way around. John gave up his life to tell the truth, because he believed it was unfair. A definition of stooge I found was "a weak or unimportant person who is controlled by a more powerful person." Comparing these facts, I think John is doing the opposite of being controlled by a more powerful person (i.e. Parris, Danforth, Hale, etc.) by withdrawing his confession. If he really was being controlled, he would have confessed, without a doubt in his mind. But by withdrawing, he did the opposite as they wished, likely starting the rebellion Parris and Danforth had hoped to subdue. 

I hope I've convinced you. I think that John did the right thing in this case, and doing this helped repair his relationship with his wife for the little time their marriage had left. Oh, one more thing. Hero is defined as "a person who is idealized for courage or noble qualities." If you don't think John was courageous in his decision, I think you should re-read Act IV... 

Arrivals... there goes the neighborhood.

Sadly, in this day and age in our world, we tend to be very selfish. Due to this, we judge people before we even get to know them, thinking they could ruin what we have. If we are a new somewhere, we sometimes judge people because of what we think we know about them before we even get to know them. Everyone is a little bit guilty of this, I know I am. This leads to fighting and sometimes war when people refuse to compromise or be friends.  We see this lots of times throughout history. 

An obvious example of this in history would be when Columbus came to the Americas. When the Indians already living there refused to convert to Christianity and become civilized like the Spaniards, Columbus and his men felt threatened, and thought they had to do something. They then felt it was justified to kill Indians, steal from them, take them for slaves, and etc. The new arrivals, Columbus and his men, felt threatened by the Indians since they were different, and thought this meant they were dangerous and uncivilized. However, they didn't even know the neighborhood, and immediately judged it and harmed it. 

Yes, this does relate to my life... especially right now. I'm a freshman, but since I'm an ackie, the new arrivals (the new freshman) seem to think that the ackies are conceited, stuck up, and only want to brag about their accomplishments. That's not me at all. I think they should give us a chance before they decide to not want to be my friend at all. It's very easy to judge nowadays, but I think that especially in a place like high school where everyone is nervous about what other people think, we should try to refrain from doing so as much as possible. Last year, I thought I might judge the new freshman, but now I see it's actually the other way around.. 

I started by saying people can be very selfish, and that's why they don't want anyone new in their "neighborhood." That's all I can really say. If everyone gave each other a chance, the world would be so much more peaceful.