Revenge

"A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green." Francis Bacon

What a quote. So astute but yet so obvious. This my friends, is the true art of language. Francis Bacon found a way to sound smart, yet to appeal to the common folk and bank on a generality that not many people would make. If you didn't know, there is a show currently airing on ABC called Revenge. The show is about a girl whose father was framed for something he did not do, and subsequently was taken away, tried, and convicted on false accusations. The girl was sent away and institutionalized until she became eighteen years old when she was released as an adult. She never saw her father again since the night he was taken away, making her all the angrier. When she gets out of the institution her father has died and a man, who her father knew, is there to meet her and gives her the possessions he left, where she finds a letter explaining what happened and why he was taken away. Realizing that he was framed she seeks out the people mentioned in the letter in order to ruin their lives like they ruined hers and her fathers.
I happen to be a fan of this show, but in reality is it justifiable to take the law into one's own hands in order to seek revenge for a terrible wrong done to you and your family?

Well...according to our Law, it is not, but I believe according to man's law it is justifiable. Her father died in prison, and she was institutionalized for something he did not do. The Justice System obviously failed her once, so I don't blame her for having little faith in it. Not only this, but instead of killing she rather decides to ruin their lives literally, rather than taking their lives from them. She is not a fan of killing, but an advocate for social humiliation, which is what her plots always seem to lead to in the end. A pure genius move.

The quote above applies 100% to this TV Show. In synopsis, the quote says that if a person keeps thinking about revenge, then they will continue to feel the pain and long to seek that revenge. This is evident in the TV Show as the main character, Emily Thorne (aKa Amanda Clarke), continues to relive her father's trial, a much publicized event, in order to better understand the responsibility each victim had in the grand scheme of things. She definitely keeps her wounds green, on purpose so that she never forgets what these people have done to her and her real purpose for taking them down.

 Now, the question is how is this applicable to real life? Well...I believe we can construe this quote in such a way so that it deals with motivation. You may ask, how in the world can he possibly believe that this quote can bend in some way to motivate? Well...life is competitive...and sometimes you will lose. Is it groundbreaking? Yes, people don't like to be told they can lose, but it's a real possibility. Whether it is in sports, academics, jobs, there's a high probability everyone will lose at some time in their lives. So what to do when you lose? Pick yourself up and dust your shoulders off. Remember who that person was that beat you and work harder, longer, and be stronger than they do so that you can keep the wounds of loss green and motivate yourself to beat them the next time around. This is why I love this quote so much. It has so many different connotations. It can apply to a TV Show all about getting revenge because of the mistreatment of one's father, or it fits the use for motivation when you lose and fall down. Just remember to get up and keep your wounds of loss green, so that you will push yourself to work harder than you ever have and overcome the previous loss.
 

999

The talk of American Politics. Everybody is forming some sort of opinion on it. Whether they love it because they feel it will generate substantial revenue, or they hate it due to their feeling that it will raise taxes on the middle class, every well informed master of politics is hearing about it and pondering its implications.

Now. I'm no political expert, but I think Herman Cain is onto something. Not with regards to the effectiveness of the 9-9-9 plan, but rather the talk being generated by said plan. If you haven't noticed, the Republican Debates have become much more substance based rather than being all about a candidates character or personality, and this is exactly how the debates should be. Who has the best plan for turning around our country. Due to Cain's advocating of his famed 9-9-9 plan the Republican candidates have been forced to come up with their own plans, and own methods of fixing our struggling economy. From Mitt Romney's 59-Point Plan to Perry's plan to use our energy rich state to generate jobs, the Republican's are now focused on coming up with the next plan that will save our country from going too far under (not that we already are). Clearly the 9-9-9 Plan may not be your cup of tea, but at least it has the prospective candidates debating amongst themselves on what is really important in this election: fixing this economy.

Tribute to Life

“This has been a dream come true for me. The best drivers in the world and the best teams in the world are here and I'm just so proud...Thank you everybody.” Dan Wheldon 1978-2011

Dan Wheldon. Indy Car icon. Dead at thirty-three. In what was the last race of the Indy Car season, the sport lost a true winner Sunday. Wheldon, winner of the 2011 Indy 500 and the 2005 Indy Car Series Champion died doing what he loved. "This has been a dream come true to me" just rings throughout your head saying this guy knew what he loved. He found something he was passionate about and performed to the fullest of his capabilities to the very last race. To lose a life is a depressing thing, but to lose one so young makes it even more horrific. Words can't express how awful the taking of a life truly is. Whether by freak accident, on purpose, by natural causes, it doesn't matter because somebody still left this Earth with no more than a crash, well, at least in this case. Wheldon was married and had two sons neither older than two. It is obvious that he will be missed, not because of his racing capabilities, but because of the life he lived and the people he impacted. 

This entry is a tribute to life which I feel is only fitting considering the somber mood due to today's unfortunate crash. We all must remember that our lives can end at any given moment, thus we have to live like there's no tomorrow. Make use of every single day we have on this great Earth, and hope that we get the opportunity to wake up again and enjoy life. Cherish those you love, and forgive those you don't because our lives are too short to go about without forgiving those who have wronged us. 

It is sad when you lose somebody you knew, and I guarantee Dan Wheldon's family wishes they could relive yesterday and even today before the race. There is no way anybody can see what's coming for them. People can attempt to predict, but you just never know when your time will run out until it happens. So let this be a tribute to life, but also a celebration of Dan Wheldon and the life he lived. I don't know him personally, or know what type of person he was, but any walk of life, no matter what or who it was deserves to be mourned and remembered. However, we must also look at it in realization that death can come knocking on anybody's door regardless of who they are, or the life they have lived.


R.I.P. Dan Wheldon 1978-2011
May you find peace wherever you may be, and may your family get through these tough times that lay ahead.

Your Decision

"Get it all or lose it all? Your decision." Clayton Critchfield

If you know Clayton Critchfield...then you realize that this quote embodies his determination, and willpower to be successful in the things he does. There are many people out there who may have more raw talent than Clayton, but if I had to choose between Clayton and someone with the more talent but a lazy attitude, then I would choose Clayton every single time.

If the world were to be full of Clayton Critchfields, then we could accomplish so many great things. Imagine a land built on principles like never giving up, and striving to be the best. Through all the javelins and bullets flung and shot in your direction, you take the pain and move on stronger than ever before because you set your mind to be the greatest you can be, and you SUCEEDED. That right there is a world I would love to live in. A world bursting with people bound for the top, humans destined to achieve greatness, and a place with no limits on the impact it can have.

The question posed is can a World jam-packed with Clayton Critchfields ever exist? The answer is: if only the government would allow cloning. Alas, a pun was indeed intended there, so no need to think I am for or against cloning. That isn’t the point I was trying to make at all. The fact is we can’t control everyone on this planet. There is no way to program each and every person to be the hardest-working, most strong-minded individual ever known to man. No. That would eventually lead to a society full of one breed of human being, ultimately a dystopia. WE HAVE TO CONTROL OUTSELVES. There is no other way to put it. If WE strive to be the best, then WE must make our own selves do the work, and put in the time in order to accomplish great things. It is the only way society can change how it is today, is if WE all, as individuals, take responsibility for being the best people WE can be. Whether that be contributing to Science, Law, Philosophy, Art, or whatever or passion may be, WE have to take our own initiative and run with it. “Be the change you want to see in the World.” Mahatma Ghandi. This quote sums it all up. In order to see the change WE want, WE have to be willing to do the work.

Time Isn't Always On My Side

"Time is on my side." The Rolling Stones

I don't know how the Stones did it, but they obviously found a way to keep time on their side. In an age of planes, trains, cars, and buses...people still find it hard to get to places on time, or to find time to accomplish things. Whether you want to go to the movies with friends, or watch your favorite TV Show, it seems like something always comes up...no matter how prepared you try to be. Maybe one of your friends finds out they had a prior engagement that totally slipped their mind, or perhaps you get caught up working late and miss that episode of Modern Family you were so looking forward to watching all week long. We can budget our time all we want to, but the truth is there will always be something that comes up where we have to make a choice. Do I go and work ahead on my homework, or go out to the football game with my friends? Should I go see her tonight even though I'm sick? Or do I get some much needed rest and not risk feeling worse tomorrow? Life is all about making choices. Whatever those choices may be, it's about sacrificing one thing for something else. Like right now...I could be working on homework, but instead I have decided to write a blog entry. Likewise with regards to you, instead of reading my blog right now you could be watching TV, spending time with your family, having fun outside in the rain...bottom line is that things always seem to come up, decisions always have to be made, and so many times when these two things occur we get stressed out.

We always strive to make the right choices. It's human nature to want to be right all the time, and desire to have control over all aspects of our lives. Therefore when something doesn't go our way, or we miss out doing one thing for something else we can feel pressure, and with the pressure comes stress, which can be extremely unhealthy. Bottom line is this...you only have so much control over your life. I don't care who you are, there's only so much you can control. However, in order to maximize controlling potential, one must be confident in the choices they make and not think too much over those choices. So what you decided to study instead of go workout? DEAL WITH IT..and move on. Life is only so long, so why spend most of it worrying about the decisions you've already made, and the little things you have no control over?

Lovelier Than You

"Nothing's lovelier than you." B.o.B

I'm pretty sure we all know who B.o.B is. The famous rapper from Atlanta who wrote songs such as Airplanes, Nothin' On You, Magic, Strange Clouds, Don't Let Me Fall...yeah, that guy. Well he also composed another masterpiece that has flown under the radar immensely. One can only speculate as to why such a work of art is not in the national spotlight as it should be. Perhaps the audience he targeted just didn't embrace it, or maybe only the people who bought the album realized the pristine sound coming from those little bytes of memory, but the bottom line is it doesn't get nearly the amount of respect it deserves. The song I am referring to is Lovelier Than You. Now for me...I bought his album the day it came out and listened to it straight through trying to determine which songs I found to be intriguing and which ones were sub-par. I had gone through nine songs and already I knew that the album was going to be a hit..but I still hadn't heard "that song". Then it hit me. The 10th track by far was the finest. It begins with a little guitar riff, slowly adding in the drums and just carrying you away, to fabulous memories of you and your lover, whoever that may be. Now, I don't know about you, but I like for the music that I hear to have some lasting impact on my life, or in other words, some real-world application. At the time, it had none. I loved the song, and kept on listening to it, but there was absolutely no way I could apply it to any aspect of my life. I kept on going through the remainder of freshman year, and the start of sophomore year trying to figure out what this song really meant to me and I still just didn't feel it. Then, came August of 2011, just a mere two months ago. It took me from April 27th, 2010 to August 7th, 2011 to figure out how this song applied to my life. It hit me like a freight train. She was tall, with long dark brown hair, gorgeous hazelnut eyes, and a smile that made my heart melt. Her skin was a bronze-tan, showing clearly that she had spent the Summer in the sun, therefore I inferred she enjoyed the outdoors. Her personality was the best part...she was amusing, and had a great sense of humor, along with an easy-going nature and this girl was extremely fun to talk with. And did I mention her voice? It was as touching as the sound of wind-chimes on a crisp, sunny spring morning. It just made you want to smile. She was smart, cute, and she definitely had to be the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. There was nothing lovelier than her. In fact, as I began to think about her more and more, B.o.B kept running through my head with those lines "nothing's lovelier than you, nothing's lovelier than you", and it came to me. This was her. This was the girl that I was meant to think of when I heard that song. I had searched, and searched, and she had found me. And I've been smiling ever since, while thinking about the loveliest girl in the world.

The Sound of SILENCE

"A man is known by the SILENCE he keeps." Oliver Herford

The Sound of SILENCE. A song by the great musical innovators of Simon and Garfunkel. The Sound of SILENCE. A sound so profound, so meaningful, that it in itself is an innovation. Now, you may ask yourself, what exactly does he mean by this? Well...as Oliver Herford puts it above, "A man is known by the SILENCE he keeps." You could interpret this in several different ways. Maybe it implies that men are known for being SILENT rather than being loud, or perhaps by keeping SILENT a man is making a stronger statement than by talking. You could spin this quote many different ways, but the way I see it is that SILENCE is stronger than noise. By being SILENT you are displaying a degree of loudness that can never be expressed through words. It is the absence of sound, but the production of thought. In the presence of SILENCE one ponders what exactly is to be meant by this lack of speech? Is it in protest, in thought, in absent-mindedness? What does it mean? Well...I believe it can mean all of these things. However, I think that sometimes by not uttering anything, a person is saying all they need to say. There are many people in our history, and the world today that I have a great deal of respect for. One of my all-time favorites by far is a man by the name of Clarence Thomas. Thomas, is a Supreme Court Justice of the Untied States. He has been on the bench since 1991 when he was appointed by George H.W. Bush. Now, many people bring up his political ideology, but I have no intention of bringing this up at the present moment. Rather, I want to examine the way he presides on the Supreme Court. Justice Thomas is best known for his SILENCE. Now, clearly he applies to the quote above due to the fact that he is "known by the SILENCE he keeps" but many question what his SILENCE means? Is he just ignorant and therefore has a tough time keeping up with what goes on in the Court? Does he dislike being on the Court, therefore being SILENT out of apathy? Or is he SILENT because he has nothing to say? Well...you can make a claim for all of these, as has been done many times before, however, I firmly believe he keeps his SILENCE because he realizes its effect. If you haven't noticed, the thing he is most known for is being SILENT. I do not think this is a mistake, as I believe he intended for it to be that way. He didn't want to be known as the Justice that annoyed the lawyers, or the Justice that had such strong opinions he bashed the opposition...no. He wanted to be known as the SILENT Justice. By positioning himself in this way it is clear that he has created this fascination with his SILENCE. And what does that mean? It means when he does talk those words speak louder than the words of all the other Justices throughout our extraordinary History. Ladies and Gentlemen, Justice Clarence Thomas, the SILENT Justice, found a way to use his SILENCE to make his voice, and his opinion heard 'round the world.

Why Should YOU Care?

Why should you care? Why does it matter what this guy...Lewis Aldridge? Yeah him...what he has to say? Well to be quite frank....it doesn't. You weren't forced to come here, and I didn't thrust this blog upon you like someone throwing a pie into your face...no...you came here because you were curious. Curious of what you may ask? I really have no clue...but I'm going to fill you in on what this blog is about anyway. This blog is exactly what its title conveys...thoughts by some guy named Lewis Aldridge. Whether those thoughts are with regards to sports, politics, life, news, or just what I'm doing...I plan to use this blog as an outlet for what I'm thinking, and maybe, just maybe, you'll stay around to listen for a little bit.