Fairy Tales Equal Life Lessons

Megan Nanovic- Blog Post One

Fairy tales are an accepted part of every culture and any people grow up hearing such stories.  Looking back at old fairy tales or hearing new ones can cause a person to realize how strange these stories can be, but that does not stop people from enjoying and learning from the tales.  While reading "The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumplings," I was struck by how strange the story seemed to me, and then I thought about how strange some of the fairy tales that I grew up hearing about would seem to people that were not familiar with them.  Once I realized this, I was able to focus more on what the point of the story was.  From this story, I was able to gather that if you truly love doing something, then you can find your way back to it despite obstacles that you may face.  At the end of the story, I noticed the connection to the first law of money because the woman did what she loved and money followed.  Michael Phillips may argue that the old lady became rich because she did not go in search of money, and she did what she loved.  This reminded me of talks that I would have with my dad.  When I was a little kid and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would tell them I wanted to be a lawyer even though I did not really know what that meant at the time.  I told people this because my dad is a lawyer and I wanted to be like him.  Any time my dad heard me say his he would remind me that I could be anything I wanted to be as long as I was happy, and he continued to tell me this throughout my life.  He wanted to make sure that I would follow my passions and not pursue any career for the wrong reasons.  Today I still want to be a lawyer, but because of talks that I have had with my dad, I am confident in saying that I am pursuing a career as a lawyer for what I believe to be the right reasons.

Comments

  1. jdoutFebruary 1, 2018 at 4:55 AM

    Very interesting reflection on "The Old Woman," who became the source of a surprisingly heated discussion in last fall's CSEM! Some people argued the woman is ungrateful because, despite her situation working for the Onis, she wanted to leave; according to this logic, should have stayed there and continued working, instead of stealing their secret magical rice paddle and absconding with it. Others argued that her final vault into wealth was wrong because she benefited from selling rice that she did not work to create. The use of laughter and silliness was ignored by most everyone. I wonder what today's discussion will bring?! At any rate, your post also underlines the significance of what we do in CSEM, that is, sincere discussion about things that matter to us. It sounds like you already have the knack of that, thanks to your conversations at home. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thing 11, Foreign Aid, Paternalism, and Africa

In class yesterday something very interesting was stated by either Ashley, Manuel, or Professor Douthwaite Viglione on the topic of foreign aid and how it is actually harmful to some developing nations. Thing 11 (Africa is not destined for underdevelopment) piqued my interest because this topic comes up so much when discussing global development. The greatest issue with how the media portrays foreign aid and the "wonderful" picture that they paint of poverty is that it is not a complete depiction of what the issue actually is. The issue of poverty is far too complex to mark it as something clear-cut, or “black or white” that can be solved systematically with a “quick fix” such as volunteers coming in and heroically fixing every issue that plagues a country. Social problems are not "one-time" issues to be conquered and that's that, rather they are often cyclical and reoccuring. So when celebrities travel to these countries and show videos of the barren land and...
Read more

A tie in to my art talk and sending out hopeful messages

María Mendoza - Blog post 1 Last week during my art talk, I really wanted to emphasize the point that there is a lot of social commentary that can be made through various forms of art. In particular, we see contemporary art as a great medium for expressing ideas because it is so recent and relatable to most people. Difficult and uncomfortable topics can be discussed more readily through art, which I believe is essential to its existence. Besides appreciating the beauty of a work, one must also take into consideration the message the artist was trying to convey. Often, artists wish to tell the audience something through their masterpieces.          Art in itself is very powerful and important because of its power of persuasion and ability to send out hopeful messages (though not all art will portray the same message – that all depends on the artist). But to that point, I think all art will have some sort of purpose. Just thin...
Read more

Billet de 20 francs-- Debussy

Image
Billet de 20 francs Debussy Ashley Lo The bill I received was created by the Bank of France in 1980. It came into circulation in October 1981 and, as the Franc currency was replaced by Euros in 2002, it too went out of circulation.  Created by the painter Marcel Baschet, , this note depicts a portrait of Claude Debussy, famous French composer, with a turbulent scenery of the sea in the background that echos with Debussy’s “La Mer.” Debussy was one of the most prominent Impressionist composers. He was made “Chevalier of the Legion of Honor” in 1903 . Some of Debussy’s most famous works include “Clair De Lune,” “Reflets dans l’eau” and “Arabesque No.1.”   In reality, Debussy indulged in luxurious life and often spent more than he earned,   It’s quite interesting that, Debussy, who was at one point over 42,000 Francs in debt to Durand, his publisher, then becomes the face of money more than six decades after his life. I personally love...
Read more