Tuesdays With Morie- Work

When we first started the movie Tuesdays with Morie, the very first thing I realized about Mitch was how obsessed with work he was. It was clear how much his work and his striving for achievement over took his life and influenced every aspect of his life. For instance, Janine, his girlfriend, was fed up with Mitch nearly the entire movie because of how work obsessed he was. In the beginning of the movie, I thought that Mitch's work was going to cause him to only visit Morie a few times here and there, and that he would get easily distracted because of his work. Luckily, Morie had such a positive effect on him that he got ahold of his life and what was important to him. All it took was slowing his pace of life down, and taking time to "smell the roses." Morie taught Mitch about the difference between simply going through the motions of your life, and actually enjoying your life, which Mitch eventually learned how to do. I think that Mitch's character in the beginning of the movie: the work obsessed, always striving for achievement go-getter, is the exact replica of so many Americans today. Sadly, I think that we as Americans learn to have this attitude even in middle school and junior high. All throughout school when grades begin to matter, children are taught to always strive to be the best in their class, and work as hard as they can to get the best grades possible. Sadly, these ideas are carried with these young Americans forever, where they bring this demeanor to the work place. My brother's girlfriend just began teaching, and was telling us how upset parents got when progress reports came out for their kindergartner's. Yes, children in KINDERGARTEN are already receiving grades, AND parents are already concerned if their children is not performing well. How could a kindergartner possibly not perform well? What are they even being graded on: how well they can build blocks and paint a picture? It just goes to show that more and more kids are being molded at a young age to strive to achieve the most that they can, and those ideals are carried with them for the rest of their lives.

Reflection on the "Do Nothing" Assignment

The assignment ended up turning out similar to how I imagined it would. I needed to go Spring Break shopping, so I decided to do the assignment at Hawthrone Mall. I thought it would be better to go shopping before I stood and did nothing so that at least that way I would like a little bit less sketchy than if I simply stood there holding nothing. After buying a few things, I stood near the main entrance of the food court and faced outwards towards the stores. When I started, I felt very awkward. The hardest part of the entire assignment was making sure not to allow any thoughts enter my mind. I found myself beginning to think about what I was doing later, what my friends were doing, and what I was going to wear later that night. Once a thought began to enter my head I quickly acknowledged that I was having a thought, and cleared it from my head. At first, not much was going on around me besides people passing me, not paying any attention. Eventually, one couple walked past me staring me all the while, laughing and whispering to each other. I stared into space the entire time, which must have looked very strange and apparently amusing to these people passing. After finishing the assignment, I realized how important it is in my life to constantly be surrounded by someone else and always doing something. It felt very strange to me to literally be doing absolutely nothing at all. Americans are so programmed to be constantly doing something or moving around. This experience was very relaxing, and it made me realize why meditation is so important in many other cultures.

The "Do Nothing" Assignment

Today in Sociology we were assigned to do.. well.. nothing. The assignment is that we have to stand in a busy place for 10 minutes and do absolutely nothing. You can't talk, you can't people watch, you can't pretend like you're waiting for someone, you can't even think. Everyone in class had a lot of questions. I think this really is going to be one of the hardest assignments I have ever done. I understand that we are supposed to observe what's going on around us, but how are we supposed to observe what's going on inside of us if we're not even allowed to think? Hopefully when I start doing it I will understand. I'm sure if this is done correctly, a good lesson can come out of it, but I'm really not sure. I was going to do the ten minutes before school, but I know one o f my friends would say something to me, and I wouldn't be able to respond. Maybe if I run to Walgreen's or something I will try to do it there, but if I do then I think a worker will ask me if something is wrong if I simply stare in space for ten minutes. Well, I'll have to figure it out somehow! I'll post a blog after I actually complete the assignment, and hopefully it will have been a good experience!