Thursday, August 27, 2009

Good Guys, Bad Luck?

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/jdi/lowres/jdin94l.jpg


I love irony.

Diversity can enrich any culture. The important thing to remember, however, is that all parties involved must be willing to accept the others - not just stomp them out and claim to conquer. In this case, the Indians were seemingly willing and hospitable while the Europeans were not so accepting. The nice guys do finish last, sometimes.

It seemed to me that Cabeza de Vaca truly cared for and appreciated the Indians, although he would rather not have lived the way they did. At least he appreciated them enough that he didn't approve of their being sold as slaves, anyway. Maybe it took him however many months living among them, being supported by them, for him to adopt this view.

Why was Cabeza de Vaca exiled? Why did his life finish in such disgrace? What did he do wrong? Was it because he befriended and fought for the Native Americans' rights? Or was he just punished for being one of the few survivors of the initial expedition that he set out on? Was he a "good guy"?

Thursday, August 13, 2009

I have been meaning to update my blog all summer. As there is a little over a week left before the Fall 2009 semester is officially underway, I began to seriously think about what I'd write.

And then I got to thinking...

Is it presumptuous to assume that people will be interested to hear about my summer activities?

Is it a bit arrogant to think that someone would be excited to hear my most random thoughts, my rather mundane stresses and fears?

But then, I thought...

Well, would it be rude of me to deny my friends, who I saw every day this past year, the very basic privilege of keeping them updated on my life?

Is it awful for me to question the genuine friendship and compassion of those who I struggled through the hardships and challenges of that first year in HUST with?

It's like being caught between a rock and a hard place -
Risk being rude or being arrogant.

Or just overthink everything and drive yourself crazy.

WELCOME TO THE THOUGHT PROCESS OF MEGAN M. HOOPER

How excited are you guys for this semester?! There's only more where that came from.... :)