Hey there, so today I'm going to be discussing a few concepts we focused on in class, starting with one seen more on the controversial side of the spectrum: death.

I think, in our society, we fear death. We fear the loss of the ones we love, the loss of time, and the loss of experience. Because of our emphasis and the importance we place upon "things" and "stuff", we fear the physical loss of those we care about; to have someone die is to lose the conversations we get from them, the moments we experience with them, and the feedback we receive from them. In our case, death is seen as sad and undesirable (no one truly wishes to die for the most part, but you get my point--we seriously don't value death). However, like Morrie stated, even though we die and those we love die, our relationships with them never die with them. We'll still love them or hate them or feel what we felt during their life. To die is simply to lose their physical manifestation,  not their spiritual impact or influence upon how we've lived, live, and will live.

On a different note, love, too, is seen as controversial and has a different context in our culture. For us, love can be viewed on several levels; I'll just speak from my experience. I've found that loving your family and friends tends to be the norm. It's not strange, but it isn't highly valued either--people are not jealous of love for one's family: it simply is. However, to be romantically linked to another is seen as frightening, to fully commit to another and wholeheartedly love another is a terrifying concept in our culture. We're afraid to love another and give up a part of our selves. We have been raised in a truly individualistic society in which dependence is frowned upon, we have been raised to embrace our singular identities. We are not used to association with another--being "someone's something" isn't something that many of us are innately comfortable with because we become a part of another's life. We are into the fleeting, initial stance of love--butterflies in our stomach, rapid pulsations, and high-powered emotions. However, many of us fear the commitment that real love requires and the effort and maintenance that goes into that "real love". I, personally, am not one looking to be in a relationship at this point in my life--I'm barely my own person, I barely know what I'm doing with my life, and I've only had 17 years of being "Lianne". I know that I'm too independently driven to give a part of my identity to another--when people talk about me, I don't want to be "his girlfriend". I'm not ready to commit to that because I know that I can't become dependent on another before I've even become fully dependent on myself.