Monthly Archives: April 2005

Is It Immoral to be Unhappy?

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This morning I saw this provocative post by Auren Hoffman which asked, “Is it immoral to be unhappy?” He refers to the extremely lucky in the world (ie people who have the capacity to read blogs) as the “blessed class.”

Imagine an unblessed person. Imagine what they think when they see someone who is blessed, who has everything … yet is still unhappy. They’ll think you are crazy … insane … because you have it all.

So today at lunch I posed this question to some friends: “We have unlimited opportunities in this world and amazingly lucky, so guys, is it immoral to be unhappy?” The response came: “I think there’s a difference between being appreciative and being happy. I can be appreciative for what I have but not happy.” My response: “But are you truly appreciative if what you have can’t make you happy?” Hmm…

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All Hail Benedict!

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I was named “Benedict” after my great great uncle Benedict Arnold, the great American traitor. I tell this story often so I was pleased when people came into my English class “Ben, the new pope has chosen the name Benedict!!!” I was thrilled. Along these lines, the Baby Name Wizard NameVoyager is a great site that shows how popular your names (and others) were/are at different points in history.

Link: German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Elected Pope.

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Fitting an Impossible Ideal

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I have never been in such a pressure cooked environment in my life. Two more SATs, APs, final exams, and final papers all converge over the next 6 months. Seniors are getting rejected from colleges and, amazingly, you only hear about the couple dozen kids who are going Ivy League. Yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle did a front page story on the results from the SAT I and tens of thousands of others took last month. My college counselor was quoted extensively in addition to a mini-profile of a guy in my class who got a perfect score of 2400 – 1 of 100 in the country. What are lunch time discussions? People printing out US News rankings; people saying they just want to become a lawyer and make money; people blurting out “Geeze, if so-and-so had perfect SATs and 4.0 GPA and got waitlisted from Harvard, what are they looking for?” My classmate Elena Butler summed up her gripes in this eloquent post:

It’s dehumanizing. At times, I feel like I’m just another case study. My scores, my grades, even my extracurriculars/interests (that supposedly make me unique) just make me more like everyone else. In other words, all my curiosity, passions, and energy now seem two-dimensional.

I can’t be the kid who is an athlete and a musician, has straight A’s, a 2400, and a life (though I can be his best friend). Instead, I’ve realized that I want nothing more in my life than to effect change, either through an idea, invention, or discovery. But right now, I feel boring. I think this is because the college process has fostered in me the desire to fit an impossible ideal.

I only hope this desire does not recur in my life–after all, it’s nonconformity, not conformity, that wins out in the end.

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Great Leaders/Doers Drink Tea and Eat Wheat Bread

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Think of the people you know who are coffee-addicts. I think of people who rely on artificial energy boosts, who get 2 hours of sleep, and people who are “good” but not “great.” I think of sleazy salespeople.

In my experience people who drink tea are the “great” leaders. A) Tea is very healthy for you and herbal teas have been proven to decrease the risk of certain diseases. B) There’s a soothing factor involved with inhaling the aroma of an herbal tea and, for me, part of my “active meditation” routine. You can drink tea all day long which is important for those of us who do a lot of talking.

Here’s another proposition: wheat bread shows character. (Ok, I may be taking this too far.) Back in the day I would chow down Wonder bread without thinking twice. Adults who I respected kept telling me “Eat wheat, it’s better for you.” I didn’t understand them. Now I do. I’m addicted to 100% whole grain wheat. I want wheat for my sandwiches and wheat English muffins.

I’m not as smart as Steven Levitt and his brilliant explanations for the “hidden side of everything” (see Freakonomics) but hey – I tried.

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Moral Sense Test (MST): Test Your Moral Intuitions

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Link: Moral Sense Test (MST): Test Your Moral Intuitions.

This is a very interesting Harvard research test to see how you make moral choices. The scenarios are all pretty similar – if a train was screeching out of control with five passengers and the only way to stop it was to throw a heavy object in front of it, and the only heavy object is the heavy man standing next to you, would you throw the man in front of the train, killing the man but saving the five passengers? Take the test and realize how tricky – and inconsistent – you may be in moral choices.

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