Get it? Because piths sound like pits...?
Sorry, that was probably the worst joke I've ever made.
Anyways, I thought I'd start off all my blogs with a sleep update. After hearing you tell the class that for some reason AP kids like to show how much they suffer, I thought I'd continue the tradition (sorry). I've actually been going pretty strong recently, with 5 hours of sleep on the good days. 2-3 hours on the bad days unfortunately because my swim coach is sadistic and makes our morning practices at 5:30am... three times a week. I swear we're one of the only teams to have morning practices so often. Despite that, I've only fallen asleep in one of my classes so far which is a huge improvement from the last two years of high school. In case you're starting to think that I'm a horrible student, I promise you it gets better once swim season ends.
Onto the main topic, which by the way has nothing to do with piths (I didn't know what else to title my blog and it was the first thing that came into mind). After the Harkness we did on The Alchemist, I realized that I didn't actually know what idealism meant. What does it exactly encompass? With a quick search on Google, I found three different categories an "ideal view of the world" could be split into: Idealistic Expectations (beliefs that things should align with certain ideals or moral standards), Optimistic Perspectives (outlook that emphasizes the best possible outcomes and the potential for positive change), and Philosophical/Ethical Ideals (perspective based in philosophical or ethical theories that define what the world should be like based on abstract principles, i.e. altruism). I personally think they're a bit redundant, but one aspect they all share for certain is the lack of acknowledgment for the limits of reality. Putting what I learned from Google into use, I could say that the crystal merchant's idealism about his business counts as an "idealistic expectation" since he expects to make it big one day without changing anything and risking failure. Similarly, I could say that Santiago's pursuit of his personal legend could be considered as an optimistic perspective since Santiago believes there is treasure awaiting him by the pyramids in Egypt and that the universe conspires to help those who are dedicated to their personal legend.
Even outside The Alchemist, idealism remains dominant throughout our lives. One idealistic thought that plagues the many students of Troy High (myself included unfortunately) is the ideal of getting into their dream college, whether it be UMich or one of the Ivys. More so when we're younger, but many realistic aspects of our so-called "goals" are ignored and only the best outcome is glorified. When I was way younger, I had unconsciously formed my ideal vision of getting into Harvard and making my mom happy. What I failed to realize were the heavy bounds of realism. For example, the hefty tuition and fees that would have to be paid, the amount of academic rigor that would be required of me, or the years of dedication I would need to put into building the perfect college application brick by brick. Of course, what counts as "ideal" is subjective since there are obviously people who got admitted to Harvard.
Either way, I guess the takeaway from today's rant is that there are apparently different categories idealism can be sorted into and that Harvard counts as an "ideal" for me (which Google brutally defines as "existing only in the imagination but not likely to become reality").
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