Just to Clarify....

After my long, yet extremely insightful presentation today, I was humbly approached by my friend Aaron. He said that my blog was very intriguing, but that he had some trouble trying to connect all the ideas to relate it to the main theme I chose.

So I have decided to dedicate a post to breaking it down for my confused readers. I knew the final product of my blog would be slightly abstract. It was an inevitable result from my efforts to keep my blog posts from being trite, and to present new ideas in each of them. But if one thinks about the content for a bit and ruminates for approximately five minutes, one should be able to understand the connections.

Nonetheless, I have outlined my ideas below:

Click picture to enlarge

Hope this enlightens you all,

Henry

Parents Who Need to Simmer Down

If you've ever been submerged in Asian culture, you will know that Asian parents tell their kids to aspire to become one of three occupations. I have simplified it down into a nice diagram below:

My parents are no exception. Since I was 5-years-old, I endured the typical brainwashing every Asian child typically undergoes.
"Henry, in order to become truly successful, you must become a doctor! Make the big money, get a big house! Bring all your relatives over from Taiwan, and we can all live in your big house! Make your momma proud!"
I really had no idea what my mother was rambling about at that time; I was 5-years-old. As I grew older however, I began to understand.
I was 9-years-old when I visited my homeland Taiwan during the summer. (By then, there was already an established Success = Doctor mentality in my head.) That year was coincidentally the year Taiwan was hosting the World Games. As my family toured the sporting events, we stopped by the main stadium. And golly, was it beautiful.

From that moment forward, something sparked inside my head. I wanted to design grand, phenomenal works like the World Games stadium when I grew up. I wanted to be an architect.

On the plane ride home from our trip, I asked my mother: would it necessarily be bad if I became an architect when I grew older? Could I not still be successful? Her answer was simple: doctors make more money than architects do. To her, it seemed that one's level of success was determined solely by wealth. Being the naive child I was back then, I simply nodded my head and accepted her words as veritas.

***

My situation when I was young isn't much different than the relationship between Macbeth and his wife. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth is consistently steering Macbeth off the moral path and persuading him to commit actions he is doubtful of. This influence is extremely evident when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to murder King Duncan, and also when Lady Macbeth continues to act as Macbeth's cognitive advisory after the whole murdering ordeal. The decisions Macbeth makes are always related to Lady Macbeth's motives. Part of Macbeth's ambition to become king is fueled by Lady Macbeth's desire to bear sons and let the Macbeth bloodline take over the throne of Scotland.

Similarly, my future-career dilemma was greatly influenced by my mother. At that time when I was little, I did not truly want to be a doctor; it was only my mother behind the scenes who was advocating the occupation choice on behalf me. I was not able to voice own opinion and have some self-control over my future.
From both stories, the lesson becomes apparent: an adviser with his/her own agenda is capable of veering your ambitions into satisfying the interests of him/herself. It is important therefore, after considering the advice of others, to have a clear definitive voice in what you ultimately choose to do. Otherwise, your misled ambition may lead you astray from your genuine goals.



*Note: After taking Design Tech in Grade 10, I now have a putrid despisal for architecture.

Being Better Isn't Always Better - The Misconception That Led to My Demise

Math had always naturally been one of my stronger subjects. Since Grade 8, I had been recruited into Mr. White's little cult of enriched math students. Therefore, I knew a lot of concepts that were covered in the Grade 11 math curriculum. I wanted to perform exceptionally well in all my math courses in Grade 11, and I thought that since I already had the knowledge, getting a high ninety wouldn't take much effort at all. At the start of this year, I strolled into my functions and data classrooms with airy confidence, thinking that these classes would be a breeze. I think my teachers knew how I felt too, because as soon as I sat down on the first day, both teachers issued a solemn warning: "You may think that you know everything in this course," they said, "but by not taking this class seriously and not doing your homework, you will be digging yourself a deep grave. If you do not try in this class, don't come crying to me when you receive a bad grade at the end of the year, because you will receive. No. Mercy."
It was a huge mistake not to take those words into heart. Indeed, I did cruise in the high nineties during the first semester. I began to think that the math teachers were just intimidating me with shallow comments. But boy, was I wrong. Pretty soon, I saw a gradual but unmistakable decline in my marks as the curriculum tackled harder material and I continued to neglect my math homework. By the third term, my conceited attitude had completely disappeared, and I was working feverishly everyday to catch up to my high standards. The scenario was synonymous to Aesop's fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. Even though they were not as smart as me, the students who had worked diligently since the start of the year were getting higher marks than me, who was essentially the hare scrambling to catch up in the race. This experience definitely made me learn an important life-lesson. To this day, I vow to never be so haughty, and to do my homework, even when I think the material is lucid.

***

The connection to Macbeth is instantaneous. Macbeth also fell victim to the trap of over-confidence. His unfaltering faith in the witches led him straight to his demise. Even though the witches were telling the truth, they were only alluding to snippets that misled Macbeth and caused him to make wrong assumptions. Most notable are the following two prophecies:

     The power of man, for none of woman born
     Shall harm Macbeth (IV.i.86-87).

     Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
     Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
     Shall come against him (IV.i.100-103).

These two prophecies destined Macbeth to be doomed, because he inferred that he was invincible, and that he would be victorious in the upcoming siege against Malcolm. Who would have thought that Birnam forest would actually creep towards his castle on Dunsinane hill? Nonetheless, Macbeth should not have trusted the prophecies so easily. Those flattering prophecies that seemed too good to be true should have aroused suspicion. Instead of being so cocky and reckless, thinking that he was surely going to win against Malcolm, Macbeth should have taken more caution.

Macbeth's ambition was completely misled by the fiendish witches; they instilled false confidence in Macbeth, and made him believe that his goals would be easier to conquer than they actually were.

***
Now back to my story.
...My math teachers weren't dumb. Over their years of teaching, they had seen many cases where even the brightest students were seduced by laziness and ended up achieving nadirs in their academic history. Listening to my teachers' invaluable advice and approaching my math courses with a humbler attitude would have made me more successful in school and enable me to achieve my full academic potential.

Focus.

I have always been an avid violin player. In 2009, I managed to qualify for provincials in Toronto, after I played extremely well in the local Windsor Kiwanis competition. While this was good news, it also meant fitting many hours of strenuous, dedicated practice time into my daily schedule. In addition, final exams in school were approaching quickly; the combination of the two delivered a crushing blow to my daily life. The three weeks prior to the provincial competition and final exams were brutal! My daily schedule would consist solely of schoolwork and violin. There was simply no time for breaks or leisure of any kind!

This busy lifestyle undoubtedly affected me negatively. My peers noted how I had completely transformed. My hair was always tangled and greasy, and my eyes had droopy bags underneath them dark enough to be infinite black holes. And above all, my disposition was horrible! A lack of sleep combined with overwhelming pressure truly created a monster. I was temperamental, like a tornado that obliterated anything in its path. Everyone who interacted with me would leave with a stormy cloud over their head. Eventually, even my closest friends gave up on me and let me be.

Becoming a recluse didn't exactly help me either with the student council elections that were approaching quickly. My extinct social lifestyle created distance between my friends, and hence, I did not receive as warm of a support as I did in previous years when I ran for council. My terrible attitude which arose from a hectic lifestyle ultimately caused me to lose the 2009 elections. Moreover, I didn't even win the provincial violin competition! Oh, woe was me! Those were some dark times.

***

The tale of Macbeth is not much different from my personal experience. By disregarding my friends at school and sacrificing my popularity to focus on other aspects of my life, I was essentially setting myself up for the same disaster as Macbeth's. Macbeth originated as a well-liked general who was respected by his peers. By focusing too much on his big goals however, he lost his established ties with influential Scottish noblemen Macduff, Lennox, and Ross, which were necessary to have in order for Macbeth to have become a successful king. Also, Macbeth's ruthless actions, such as the killing of Macduff's family, promoted his formerly loyal subjects to despise him. The loss of popularity became a considerable factor that led to Macbeth's downfall. The Scottish noblemen Macduff, Lennox, and Ross all chose to side with Malcolm in the final siege to crush Macbeth. If Macbeth had maintained his social connections, the allegiance of the three Scottish lords could have turned the tide of the war against Malcolm. My personal example and the example of Macbeth both exemplify how, by focusing too much on achieving our goals, we can lose sight of where we are and forget to interact with the important people around us.

Was It Worth It?

I was an eighth-grader in Southwood elementary school when there was a science fair. It was a school-wide event, and the winner would receive a $500 bursary to perform research over the summer with an esteemed professor from the University of Windsor. This, of course, brought some vivid hype to the academically-inclined kids at my school, including myself.

The reality was, only two kids in Southwood were likely to win the science fair and obtain the bursary: Anas, my best friend, and I. We were both rare prodigies back in our day, so everyone was expecting us to be the main competition.

Two weeks after the science fair had been announced, Anas and I were both well on our respective ways to success. He had chosen to build a conventional miniature Tesla coil, whereas I had opted for a more creative approach: trying to construct an ipod Taser. Video on How to Make an ipod Taser


The night before our displays were due, Anas and I decided to rendezvous to help each other finalize our projects. (We were best friends then, so we did everything together.) He showed me his entire Tesla coil demonstration, which was very impressive. As for me however, I had done some thinking before I had went to Anas's house to show my project to him. I knew that there could be only one person who could win the five-hundred-dollar bursary. I also knew that Anas was the only viable competition that could pose a significant threat to my victory. Therefore, I only showed Anas a very basic model instead of my real project, which was actually stashed under my bed. I presented to him an early prototype that I had made weeks earlier, to give Anas a false idea of the competition that his project was going up against. We both tweaked our projects, and wished each other earnest luck for tomorrow's competition.

You can imagine then, how much of a surprise it was for Anas the next day. As I unveiled my secret, real, glamorous project, Anas quizzically asked, "Did you do this all in one night?" But we both knew the answer to that. It would've been impossible to make that much progress in one night. I had already invested numerous long, laborious nights in order to produce a project of such high caliber.

This incident was the start of the break-up of our friendship. I had lied through my teeth to my best friend, just to win a monetary prize. I did end up winning the science fair, but when I stood up on that podium to claim the award and saw Anas's dejected face in the crowd, I knew that I had also lost something much more.

***

This scenario has a striking similarity to Macbeth's relationship with Banquo. Like Anas and I, Macbeth and Banquo were initially best pals, the most intimate amongst all friends. From the witches' first encounter though, Macbeth started to formulate his own ambitious plans, and eventually betrayed Banquo in the process. When Macbeth became the King of Scotland, he became paranoid and took the witches' prophecies too literally. Afraid of being overthrown, he arranged the assassination of Banquo and his sons. Had his ambitions not drove him to madness, Macbeth would have kept a great friend, who could have helped him stay in power and given him invaluable advice. As for my science fair, if I had played a fair game and not beguiled Anas, I could have kept a friend that would have helped me out in academics for years to come.

Therefore, in both the case of Macbeth and I, one realizes that it is important to not let overwhelming ambitions cause one to betray close friends and sever deep bonds of friendship.



*Note: All similarities to real people in this blog post are merely coincidental. The following events are purely fictional as well.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of undisclosed individuals.

Cheater, Cheater!

It was a blistering Tuesday afternoon. It was one of those days when it was so unimaginably hot you couldn't focus on anything. Unfortunately, it was also the day of my chemistry unit test. It was 10:30 in the morning, and my black shirt was already soaked like I had slept in Water World for 5 days.

My thinking process was fried. Who cared about polarity and hydrogen bonds? What was electromagnetism? My mind was making all these lame questions when I really should have been feverishly finishing the 5-page long test.

I really needed to do well on this test too. I was stuck at an 87% currently, and if I didn't end the year with a 95%, the chances of me being flogged or disowned by my parents were frightening high. Besides the physical intimidation, I also needed a high mark in chemistry if I was going to apply any prestigious university in Grade 12. God, I needed to ace this test.

Now let me tell you about my friend Jebidiah. He's the top-of-the-class kind of student, and practically a professional when it comes to polarity and bonds. Oh, and did I tell you that he was sitting next to me on this fateful day?

I weighed my options. Our chemistry teacher was busy sipping her OJ like nobody's business. She seemed to be in her own dimension, more lost than Micheal Phelps in the Saudi Arabian desert. I could cheat... a small glimpse couldn't hurt anyone, could it?

...An inconspicuous nudge later, Jebidiah and I were practicing academic communism. He made sure there were no blanks on my page, and we made sure that all of our answers matched.

***

Reflecting back, I can see how this personal experience relates to Macbeth. Like Macbeth, I wanted something so badly that I  went through any means to reach my goal. To achieve a good mark on that chemistry test, I made an immoral decision to cheat. My ambition blinded me from seeing the potential consequences of my actions. If I had been caught, the incident would have left a permanent, ugly stain on my Ontario Student Record. It would have crushed all my future dreams in academics, and being accepted to a prestigious university would be a joke in my agenda. In Macbeth, Macbeth's life spirals downward as soon as he makes the fateful, unwise decision to kill Duncan; my life would have been no different if this cheating incident had been exposed. Macbeth's choice to murder King Duncan and mine to cheat both show how practical judgement can quickly disappear as soon is there is a craving that needs to be satisfied.

We stumble across many desperate situations throughout our lifetimes; hopefully, we can learn from the tragedy of Macbeth and make wise, moral decisions, even in the face of immense desire.

*Note: All similarities to real people in this blog post are merely coincidental. The following events are purely fictional as well.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of undisclosed individuals.

The Theme of Misled and Uncontrolled Ambition

A prominent theme in Macbeth is the negative consequences of unchecked ambition. Macbeth begins as a man of great potential and stature, only to be ruined by his relentless quest to be the King of Scotland. Because Macbeth has such a great yearning for power, a small trigger by the witches' prophecies clouds his better judgement and ultimately makes him commit atrocities. To make matters worse, after the witches have planted the seed of hope in his mind, Lady Macbeth gives Macbeth the final push that is needed. Whenever Macbeth has a speck of remorse for his actions, Lady Macbeth either challenges his masculinity, or simply reassures his doubts and makes Macbeth shrug off the guilt. She challenges Macbeth's masculinity when Macbeth is reconsidering whether he should carry out the murder of the king:

     What beast was't, then,

     That made you break this enterprise to me?

     When you durst do it, then you were a man;

     And, to be more than what you were, you would

     Be so much more the man. (I.vii.53-56)

And afterwards, when Macbeth is ranting fearfully after murdering King Duncan, Lady Macbeth calms him by saying comforting words such as, "consider it not so deeply" (II.ii.41). Most notably, Lady Macbeth dismisses the magnitude of Macbeth's murder of Duncan by telling him to wash the "filthy witness from [his] hand," (II.ii.61) implying that his actions can be easily cleansed and erased by simple water. Lady Macbeth is always alongside Macbeth to provide the emotional soothing Macbeth needs, until the very end, when Lady Macbeth herself falls victim to the emotional trauma caused by the terrible crimes the two have committed.

Macbeth's conquest for power brings about many negative consequences. He foremost lies to his dearest, best friend Banquo (eventually killing him too), breaking the bond of brotherhood and trust between them. The first sign of the collapse of this friendship is when Banquo refers to the witches' incident and Macbeth shrugs the topic off like it is trifling business:

    I think not of them:

    Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,

    We would spend it in some words upon that business,

    If you would grant the time. (II.i.25-28)

Macbeth lies through is teeth to his best friend, indicating the drastic change from being a proper, noble hero, to a deceitful man full of paranoia.

Macbeth also loses the popularity from his other peers. Once a popular warrior famed for his valor on the battlefield and loyalty to the king, Macbeth slowly loses the support from his Scottish noblemen peers Lennox, Macduff, and Ross. His erratic behaviour, such as his guilty outbursts during the feast, combined with poor decisions on his part create the tension between Macbeth and the Scottish noblemen. For example, the murdering of Macduff's family only serves to incite Macduff and cause him to become more determined to exact revenge on Macbeth. Macbeth's ambition formulates a despicable character that negatively affects his popularity. Because of this, eventually, none of the Scottish noblemen that were once loyal to Macbeth choose to side with him in the final siege and Macbeth is left to be doomed by himself.

As Macbeth is consumed by his ambition to become king, he loses his moral values. He changes from a virtuous man to one who constantly uses violence as the solution to his problems (as seen with Banquo, Fleance, and Macduff). Macbeth also has no regard for his country anymore: once he takes the throne, he leaves his country in a state of complete shambles. Macbeth becomes king to satisfy his own greed, rather than to serve his country and demonstrate his leadership. Macbeth’s unrelenting ambition transforms him into someone without a moral code, who obtains his objectives with no regard to the means used and the consequences.

Macbeth’s betrayal of his closest friend, his loss of support from his circle of peers, loss of moral values, and his rash decisions all ultimately contribute to his tragic downfall. Macbeth’s downfall demonstrates how misguided and uncontrolled ambition can be deleterious.