Moral Absolutism

There is no such thing as absolute good or absolute evil. The two coexist. There is both light and darkness in all of us. The only exceptions (if you are religious) are God/Jesus and Satan. Everyone else is woven together with both good and bad. That's what makes us human.

Someone is always eager to remind us of the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. cheated on his wife, as if this cancels out the theory that he was a great man. Adultery obviously counteracts every positive thing he did. He can't be both a hero and a sinner.

There's always someone who points out that many of our former presidents had slaves, so they must have all been bad men. Their contributions to the most prosperous nation in the world are all irrelevant, because of a single (but huge) character flaw.

We see a picture of Hitler with a little girl on his lap and cringe. How could Hitler have a gentle moment?

We always want to see things in black and white; right and wrong; good and bad. The truth is, it's never that simple. Even the saints do bad things and think bad thoughts every now and then. Even the monsters can be pleasant and caring at times. That's humanity. It's just the way we are. Our blood is as pure as it is poisonous. The best and worst of us all meet somewhere.

Poem: "Collected"

I wanted to share another poem. Thanks to my friend, the talented poet and musician, Tre'don, for titling it.

You always smelled
Like Doublemint gum
And stale cigarettes.
You said you wore all black
Because it made you feel powerful.
And you never combed your hair
Because you didn't have the time,
For there were memories to be made.
You always spoke too fast
And hugged me too tight,
But I didn't mind.
When we met you told me
That you collected stars.
I thought it was
So silly,
So ridiculous
To believe that you could
Own something
That belonged to the gods,
To the universe,
To the world.
But now that I think about it,
I did consider
You
To be mine.

Jaylin



Click to visit Tre'don's Youtube page.

Writer's Block

Writer's block (aka: Satan)

I want to write. I want to write something profound, and thought-provoking. I'd love to just get lost in my writing, like I have so many times before but I just can't.

And I have so many things I want to write about. There are so many things I have to say. Ideas are always coming to me (even when I wish they'd stop so I can sleep).

But lately, every time I pick up a pen, it's like I don't even know how  to write. It's like I haven't even learned how to form letters yet, let alone sentences.

It's excruciating. It's like having something trapped deep inside you. It's in your mind, your soul, it is a part of you that you cannot express. And you try. You try so hard to put it on paper and get it outside of you. But you fail. And the idea haunts you. It becomes all you think about. You play with it. You twist it, and turn it, like a loose tooth. And just like a loose tooth, you can mess around with it all you want, but if it's not coming out, it's not coming out.

(Writer's block has actually gotten so bad for me, that the only thing I actually can write about is writer's block.)

I'm going to go torture myself some more now, and maybe I'll have a paragraph by the end of the night.

Wish me luck.

"Acting Black"

While listening to conversations in my 4th period class, (not eavesdropping, just being attentive) I overheard someone talking about the pop culture sensation that is Miley Cyrus.

"She acts so black," one of my classmates said.

Being an African-American girl, this both offended and confused me. What does Miley do that makes her behavior black? Smoke? Twerk? Curse? Listen to rap music? Is that all it takes to be a part of the black community? Is that what it means to be black?

I think the comment bothered me mainly because I know black women, and they are so much more than twerking, smoking, and cussing. Miley Cyrus can be described as reckless, outrageous, raunchy, and maybe even "fun" (if that's your definition of fun) but she is definitely not black. And she is aware of this.

Miley apparently knows, as well as I do, that your skin color does not determine your personality or habits. Your environment, your experiences, your hobbies, interests, passions shape who you are. Your race does not.

It always bothers me when people associate certain behaviors with certain races. Asians get good grades. White people speak properly. Arabs are terrorists. But the truth is: I have Asian friends that rip out the pages of books. White friends that only use slang. Arab friends who are the peacekeepers. But because of how they look, society immediately sticks them in this box that is extremely hard to break out of. The majority of these racial stereotypes are completely inaccurate. (I defy a few myself: I have no rhythm. I'll pass on the fried chicken. I'm not very loud at all. I've never had a weave.)

Stereotypes hold us back. They place a glass ceiling over our heads and set standards and limits for us they we don't even realize are there. I say this knowing that stereotypes won't go anywhere soon, but also hoping that we begin to give people a chance to show us who they are before we categorize them.

Why I'm Blogging

Since this is the first post on my blog, I thought I'd share why I wanted to do this.

I often find myself needing a creative outlet, a space where I can be completely myself and put my thoughts out there. Writing has always been how I've done this. I have a ridiculous amount of notebooks completely filled with poems, journal entries, short stories, etc. I also have a love for journalism and news and I write for my school's newspaper.

Although I love being a part of the newspaper staff, I often find myself uninterested in the stories we publish. And if the writer is uninterested, chances are the student body will be too. Our staff puts way too much work into the paper for it to just be thrown away without anyone reading. A lot of our reporters can't seem to understand why no one wants to read. I, however, know why: It's boring.

We write stories about the same things for every. single. issue. We tiptoe around controversial topics, we don't report any hard news stories, and we worry far too much about the readers' reactions.

What matters to me is that there actually is a reaction. (And there are definitely no reactions to stories that go unread.) I want to write stories that move people, inspire people, make people feel something, start conversations.

Since I can't write about whatever I want for our newspaper, I thought I'd publish my unheard thoughts here (which explains: Creative Liberation). I plan on using this platform to express myself, share my thoughts, and talk about what inspires me. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading.

Jaylin x