Public Figures and Death: My Two Cents

I had literally just come home from a huge rant about why I don't really care about celebrity deaths to find my Facebook overflowing with "RIP Jack Layton" updates. And my first thought was that it would be especially hypocritical of me to care.

Now, I'm not going to say that celebrities and politicians are one and the same. Because they are altogether different people, in the public eye for different reasons. But it is because of their presence in the public eye that makes people want to care, is it not?

I never knew anything about Jack Layton, mainly because I am generally uninterested in the world of politics. And perhaps because I am from a "free", "safe", "advanced" country, regardless of who I vote for in elections, the future of my country will pretty much stay the same. But, besides that, I vote Liberal based on whatever uninformed preconceptions I have, and am happy doing so.

In this past election, living abroad and overwhelmed with a whole new sense of indifference, I didn't bother to vote. I can't say I'm necessarily proud of that, but that's just the way it is. I didn't vote and that's that. But if I had voted, it would have been Liberal. Just because.

That being said, the only things I have ever associated with Jack Layton are bright orange and that vandalized election poster that read "E.Jack.U.Layton." That is as much as he has ever meant to me, and that's as far as it will ever go.

I'm sure he was a great man with great visions for Canada. And perhaps things would have changed had he come into power. And perhaps he was the popular youth vote. And perhaps he motivated people in ways I cannot understand.

But perhaps it was also extremely irresponsible of him to run in the last election. If he really was this sick, what was the point of running in the first place? Would it not be your responsibility, as party leader, to step down knowing that you might not be around much longer? Had he been voted in instead of Harper, I feel like this would have just spawned another election, or at least widespread anger across the country.

Every death is sad. And when it comes to politicians, one could argue that they wanted to help the world, and the fact that they have died means that their visions for the country may never be realized. But I also believe that everyone has their own problems in life, and to go out of my way to mourn for someone who I have never known personally, and is not someone who has ever meant anything to me, is a little silly.

Everyone has public figures that they adore or respect or want to marry or whatever. And, anyone who knows anything about me knows that there's at least one celebrity that I would marry in a heartbeat. People like to like people in the spotlight. And if any of those people of yours were to pass away, I think it's absolutely fair to mourn. Because for whatever reason, they meant something to you. But jumping on public figure mourning bandwagons is something I look down upon like nothing else.

Before Michael Jackson died, he was a seen as a huge creeper and pedophile. When he died, he became seen as a misunderstood genius overnight. Amy Winehouse was a crack addict, and people were so sad about the loss of "great talent" when she died of her addictions.

But there are countless good people who die everyday. Good, anonymous people. And no one gives a shit about these people. And that is the bigger tragedy, in my opinion.

So before you label me as a huge heartless bitch, think about this all for a minute. Go pick up a newspaper and read the obituaries of regular people. Give them a minute of silence. Don't give it to those who have already had more than their 15 min of fame.

The Grass is Just as Green

Jealousy is a natural human emotion. And so long as you are human, it is natural to feel jealous of others.

Because the grass is always greener on the other side.

But upon further inspection, is the grass really all that greener? Or is it simply another shade of green altogether?

About a month ago, we were made to write speeches in class, and one girl's speech was exactly about this. Quoting someone else, she said something along the lines of, "If you are going to be jealous of someone's abilities, be jealous of all the hardships they had to go through in order to get there."

No one really gets a free pass in life. Some people have more money. Some people are naturally pretty. Some people are extremely bright. But no one is especially perfect, and everyone has their own problems, regardless of how flawless or superb they seem.

Every person you meet is made up of every single experience that took place in their lives up until now. And if you consider all the traumatic and upsetting things that have happened in your own life, you can only assume that the other has gone through at least as many horrible events.

This is not to say that some people have it worse off than others, because we all know that the world isn't fair. But in general, most people are on a pretty equal level of average.

So why am I bringing this up all of a sudden? Because I am surrounded by foreigners who speak Japanese so much better than I do, and this in itself is an extremely frustrating thing. But it isn't fair to be jealous of them. Most of them are Korean, and their vocabulary and grammar are extremely similar. Others are Chinese, and don't have to spend as much time learning characters. And every now and then you'll find a random white kid who is just naturally amazing at languages. But some of them are older than me. Some of them have never gone to university. Some of them have had to undergo mandatory time in the army. Some of them sleep throughout class because of how they spend so much time working part-time jobs in order to support themselves.

And here I am, at 23, with a Bachelor's degree from a good university, fluent in two extremely important world languages, and here thanks to a supporting family. This isn't to say that life is easy. Because life isn't easy regardless of what you have. But at the end of the day, I really have nothing to complain about.

Memories

Memories are not always a bad thing.

Although far away in time and space, many memories are positive.

I love visiting places with memories attached to them. A park bench. A subway station. A school. Some of them are good, some of them bad, and others average, yet somewhat significant.

You can't pass by them without thinking of the time when that something took place.

And you wonder, how this place, completely void of emotions and feelings can trigger so much.

And you wonder how many people who pass by it have no idea about your attachment to it.

And you wonder how many people are attached to the very same places.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back...

...is still progress, right?

I'm honestly starting to think that that's the best way to look at life.

Everything in life is about movement, whether physical or figurative.

No one would argue with me that physical movement defines a good chunk of our lives: depending on what places we are forced to commute, we identify ourselves as students, workers, shoppers, patients, etc.; depending on where in the world we live, we consider ourselves as a member of that city, country, continent.

But the figurative moving, the moving on from one part of our lives to the next is equally, if not more important. And whatever it is that forces us to move forward is often something that we don't want to part from.

As time goes by the longing for what is no longer, or that that never was, seems to fade. Because that's how life goes. But see a photo of someone who meant so much to you so long ago, seeing a photo of that person in the here and now, without you and without the need for you, somehow that always makes you go back a step.

This isn't limited to past loves or anything like that either. Friends and places change just as much over time. And it doesn't have to be with a photo either. But photos hit you hard. Because you see the change. Or the lack there of.

And you're instantly transported back. Not back in time, but back to a previous stage of your life that is no longer. Because every memory you have is attached to what no longer exists in this world.

But we're still moving forward. Because we have no other choice.

Saturday Night Reflections

One of the things I enjoy about life right now, is that I not only the ability to meet and interact with Japanese people, but also the fact that I am given the opportunity to meet all kinds of people from all over the world.

Between the people I meet at school, to friends of friends, to random people in the street, I have had the chance to meet so many different kinds of people, and I think it's wonderful.

The world is extremely vast and extremely small at the same time. And the more people you meet throughout life, the more you start to realize this. You can live halfway across the world, and still find tons of commodities from home. And while living in this faraway land, you can meet someone who lived a couple of hours away from where you used to live, and live a world apart from them.

The more you interact with people, the more some stereotypes are destroyed, while others are fortified. But most importantly, the more you interact with people, the more you learn about the world, and about yourself.

It's obvious that I didn't have to travel to the opposite side of the planet to be able to talk to people from various cultural backgrounds. Montreal is a whole lot more multicultural a place than Tokyo will ever be. However, the way you interact with people of different nationalities is somewhat different when you yourself are a foreigner. And the way people act with you is different as well. It's somewhat hard to explain, but I think that anyone who's lived in a foreign country could agree with me.

There are a lot of difficulties that come with being the foreigner, but there are also a lot of good things as well. And being able to see the world through different eyes is no doubt one of these positive things.

Happy Stuff（｀・ω・´）vイェイ！

I've noticed that my blog seems to revolve around the negative aspects in my life. That being said, if anyone's reading my blog and only my blog in an attempt to figure out what's going on in my life, I look like an extremely depressed and unhappy girl. But that's actually not the case at all. This blog is just where I dispose of all my shitty emotions.

So that being said, let's look at some little things that make me happy.

1. Purikura

Fuck, I love purikura. I love everything about it. I love how tacky it is. I love how much your face gets warped in the photos and your eyes turn out humongous. I love that the pictures print out as cute little fucking stickers. And I love that I have a fucking sticker album that I decorate with said photos and other cute stickers, as if I were a 12-year-old girl. Best. Invention. Ever.

Purikura-album-decorating pretty much guarantees happiness. Yay.

2. This Month's Utility Bill

I fucking laughed so hard when I saw my bill: ¥10. For those of you who know nothing about the Yen, my bill was pretty much $0.10. Best bill ever. I usually owe waaay more than I expect. So all this to say, I am extremely amused and pleased. Muwahah.

3. Really Fucking Cute People

I think this speaks for itself. I fucking love cute people. I want to put them in my pocket and take them everywhere I go. Yes.

4. People Who Hate People As Much As I Do

Also self-explanitory.

5. Ice Cream

Because everyone should like ice cream. Unless you're lactose-intolerant, in which case, I'm sorry. But if you aren't, then ICE CREAM FOR THE MASSES.

That's it for tonight. This post was brought to you by the positivity of ice cream and post-exam procrastination.

Stop Drop and Roll

In the same way that there are people you absolutely can't stand for absolutely no reason, there are people that you absolutely love, and you just can't explain why.

Even if you barely know the person. Even if you live in completely different worlds. There's just something about them that makes you think, "This is a person I'd like to get to know better." And when that person makes an effort to want to see you, want to talk to you, it means the world to you.

Because it's the small things in life that really count. For better or for worse. And when you're having an emotionally bad day, and one of those people wants to see you, out of the blue, it doesn't matter how much work you should be doing, you drop everything to see that person, and you just feel so much better, even if only for an instant.