from the eyes of a roach episode 8

Human Thesis: Why Are We Here?

By: Sam Pernicano

 

So here we are again, answering another commonly asked question, “why am I here?”  What do I mean by this?  We this is a variation from the question that the religious people ask, “what did god put me on this earth for?” though I believe in god, I am forcing myself to strictly keep religion out of my writing as best as possible, because I am answering things from a scientific and psychological perspective, I cannot use religion in my writing.  So lets work on answering this question, “why am I here?”

This time I am going back, but not all the way back.  I am going back to your birth.  From your birth you have no mental capabilities of your own.  You cannot think, act, or eat on your own.  You are basically susceptible too whomever you come into contact with.  Once you begin gaining the capabilities of thought, this is where your “path of destiny” begins.  It continues all the way into college, and even after you get out of college and get a job.

Once you are capable of the concept of thought anything you interact with or come into contact with begin to create mental knowledge in your brain.  The things that make you happy will make you happy when you get older.  The things that make you sad will make you sad when you get older.  The things that scare you will scare you when you get older.

Eventually you will reach childhood and will be able to speak a complete basic vocabulary, walk on your own, think like a normal person, and will contain the fears, likes, and dislikes that you had as an infant.  Now childhood is where you really begin to understand your place in the world.  Let me make a quick note, in the agricultural revolution, children grew up and were forced to work the farms, there was no college.  During the industrial revolution, children worked the factories; there was no college then either.  During the great depression, most children lived in the streets or died of starvation. 

Those children in the agricultural revolution were put on the earth to supply their family with food and supplies. Most of the children in the industrial revolution were put on the earth to work the factories so that the manufacturing industries could continue.  The children that died in the great depression were put on this earth to show the world the harshness that the destruction of a society can do.  The children starving in the street were put on the planet to encourage the nation to work harder to get back together so that they could feed and take care of their citizens again.

Today children have access to multiple types of schools, education types, technologies, tools, and food.  We have truly gone a long way.  Now back to the main story, childhood.

In preschool is where some people begin learning who they are.  I became a builder in preschool; I would take the lego's that they had and build ridiculously complicated creations.  I’m not talking about random objects.  I once built a spaceship out of lego’s, in preschool.  Do you know what most of the other kids were doing? Drooling, running around, and falling on their faces.  I once beat a kid up for breaking one of my creations.  My creation skills and love of building with lego’s and k-nex lasted till the end of high school.

How about you? What did you do in preschool? Some kids begin their discovery in preschool.  Let's move on to kindergarten.  Do you remember kindergarten, learning to read, write, and socially interact with others?  What about that all popular, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I had one girl who said she wanted to be a tree, I kid you not, she seriously said that.  When in came to me, I just said, “I don’t know”, because ii don’t believe in making future plans.  The world is constantly changing; human nature is constantly changing and evolving.  New technology is being developed.  I make my plans short term, because I know that they will change.  How many of you had made plans for a party, date, or event that had to be changed? How many of you ever had to change your plans about a girl or guy? How many of you changed your plans about college? Marriage? Like I said, the world around us and the people in it are constantly changing.  It’s very easy to get stuck on an idea and have that idea come crashing to the ground.  Lets move on.  Form kindergarten to your first year in middle school.

How many of you in middle school began to take an interest in specific things? How many of you joined sports teams? How many of you joined the band? How many of you joined certain clubs and after school activities?  I joined the band in my 7^th grade year and have been a drummer since.  I am currently writing music of my own and have a percussive piece that is being arranged to be played by the Louisville youth orchestra.  (So what if it’s a bunch of kids, what have you done with your life again?)

As you reach your final years in middle school, you prepare for your entrance to high school.  For those of you who were popular, you start back at the bottom rung of the ladder.  For those of you that were cool, you are losers again.  High school is where a person REALLY begins to find their purpose in life.  This is where the world prepares you for college and the major that you want to follow.

Let me ask you another question, how many of you kept the same interests when you went from middle to high school? How many of you stayed in the band? How many of you stayed on sports teams? How many of you changed your minds? For those of you that had a complete change in your personality in high school, you’re not much different than most other people your age at that time.  From the ages of 13-18, this is a period of time in which people seek out and, “find their selves”.  It is during this period that people will try different things to see what they like and don’t like.  This is the period of time that people find out what kind of people they are compatible with to date or make friends.  This is the period in which every human being reaches puberty.

While you were in high school, did you have any favorite classes? How many of you had trouble with math? Science? English? If you had trouble with any of these classes you weren’t alone.  These are by far the most common classes that I heard students complaining about throughout high school, and even today in college.  Math is probably the most popular, followed by science, then English.  I will tell you this; these three subjects come in very handy when holding a job in today’s economy.  They also hold the world together. 

The geometric shapes and angles have been in existence for many years in building structures, roads, and things as simple as drawing a picture on a piece of paper.  Algebraic equations are used everywhere, in velocity testing on vehicles, and something we all know very well but rarely think about, gravity.  Biology, the study of the life sciences, allows us to have the knowledge that we need to understand the basic knowledge of the living things on earth.  Chemistry teaches us things about how things interact with each other, why baking soda interacts with vinegar (mix an acid with a base, you get a salt).  Chemistry teaches us why it is important to recycle, because plastics never break down.  Why? Because they are made of super long, super strong, chains of polymers that do not break down.  Without chemistry we would have never built the atomic bomb, because we would have never known about the atom, let alone known that splitting it causes a microcosmic scale explosion.  Physics teaches us how science and math work together to create the world, as we know it.  Without Isaac Newton we wouldn’t even have physics.  Now lets move on to the end of high school, the college experience.

After high school, most students head off to college.  Some students know exactly what they want to major in and they have it burned into the back of their mind, some students have an idea on what they want to major in, some students have an interest or a hobby that drives them toward a specific major, and some students are still searching for who they are and why they were put on the earth to begin with.  If you are undecided when you come in to college, or even after your first year, don’t be bummed out.  As the statistics go, most college freshmen don’t know what they want to major in, some until their third year. 

I started as a mechanical engineering major at Purdue, transferred to WKU and changed my major to physics, then went to math education, then went to science education, now I am currently at science education and am thinking about switching to psychology.  Most college students are likely to change their major at least once in their time in college.  Guess what, even when you have a job you still may change your mind.  Some people even go back to school in their late 30’s or around 40 just because they have lost interest in their current career, for monetary reasons, or for some other reason.

When you find the major for you, stick with it and work you’re hardest to complete it.  I will say this sadly; it is a fact that there are quite a few freshmen that don’t even make it through their first year, for whatever the reason.  I feel really bad for people like that.  I bet you guys are tired of hearing this, but it is true, getting a college degree will ensure that you get paid much more than if you only have a high school diploma.  However, college is expensive, all that tuition costs a crap load of money.  In my opinion, they should really either lower tuition, or offer more scholarships to a wider myriad of categorizations.

After college comes the time to apply for a job.  If you got lucky, you may have already gotten your job.  Applying for a job is a very hard thing to do, depending on what you majored in.  There’s this weird theory that I heard a long time ago that was kind of interesting, someone said that you are more likely to be hired if you wear jeans to an interview. 

Anybody else ever hear that, or try it? I can think of several cases where that is a VERY bad idea.  Can you imagine the look on the bosses face if you showed up to apply for a lifeguard position at a beach in jeans? I mean seriously, they would kick you away faster than Donald trump can pull a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet.  Think about this one: you apply to be a diving instructor at a water park, and you show up in jeans.  They would think you are dumber than a politician with no American background knowledge.

Seriously though, when it comes to job interviews people lie on their resumes.  People put the craziest things on their resumes.  I would love it if somebody set up a website with the funniest and stupidest things that people wrote.  I’m not picking on people, it’s just that the big heads of businesses are tough on the people they want to hire, and they want only the very best.  It’s kind of like applying to college all over again, except that you can say that you are a descendent of Jesus when applying to be a pastor for a church (just kidding).

While telling the truth is the right thing to do, I have to agree with the rest of the world here, lying on a resume for a job is acceptable if the incentive is that you REALLY need or want the job.  Just remember one important fact, if you lie, say something that you can ACTUALLY get away with.  Say something that either cant be traced or researched, or put on a good suck up act so that they don’t question you.  If you get the job then you are one step closer to discovering why you’re here.

For those of you still in college asking, “why am I here?” that question can be answered simply by looking back at your past accomplishments.  Look at all the things you’ve done with your life so far, good or bad.  What have you accomplished? Who have you helped? Who have you hurt? Who have you loved? Who has loved you? Who have you lost?

Then think about your parents.  How did they raise you? Did they love you? Did they take care of you? Did you do anything for them? Did you do anything to hurt them in the time you have been alive?

Now its time for a really big brain blow, ask yourself this one VERY important question, what would have happened if I had never been born? Think about all the questions you just answered before this one.  Had you not been born, all the things you accomplished, all the people you helped, all the people you hurt, all the people you loved, all the people that loved you, everyone that you lost, it all would have never happened.  Imagine all those people that were upset that you were there for, imagine all the people you loved and dated, imagine all those people that fell in love with you.  What would have become of them?  What about your parents? Had you never been born, your parents would have had a special part of their life missing from them.

So next time you ask yourself, “Why am I here?” think back to all the things you have done, and be happy that you are here and that you are who you are.  Think about what the future might hold for you and keep your head high.  Just remember that the world and everything in it is constantly changing, and never lose faith in what you believe.