Ingrid Illustrated

During Silent Book Club reading time in class this week, I have been reading the novel We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. I am enjoying it very much so far, and one quote that really stood out to me was “ I love him, but I am not sure I like him” (Lockhart 20). The second I read this line, I had to take a step back and think about it. My first thought was that this sentence didn’t make sense at all. Isn’t “love” just a degree of “like”? You have to like somebody before you can fall in love with them. But then I thought about it more. I believe to “like” someone, you have to like their personality and enjoy being around them. In my book, Cadence does not like her grandfather because her grandfather doesn’t welcome any change or diversity. But, she still loves him because he is her grandad.  My brother, for instance, is someone that I love, but do not like. I love him because he is family and will always be there for me. However, I don’t necessarily like hanging out with him all the time....

During our Harkness discussion today, a few classmates brought up the point of money today, becoming Big Brother. After giving this some thought, I can definitely see it happening in our world. In the novel 1984 , Big Brother is portrayed as “God”, the thing that dominated and influenced everyone’s lives. Nowadays, money is becoming closer and closer to “God”. We depend on money. We envy those with more than us. We are hungry for money. Why do we try hard in school? Why do we take honors and AP classes? To get into a good college. Why do we pay $30-80k a year for college? To get a good job. Why do we work hard at our job? To get a promotion and perhaps retire a little earlier. This is considered a successful path in life. But what is considered success? Success is money. Success is happiness. Designer products bring us “happiness”. Big, nice houses bring us “happiness”. Long, exotic vacations bring us “happiness”. But it isn’t permanent. When your Gucci bag tears, you are no longer hap...