ABC "Best of Class"

As some of you might now, I get to go to this 'Best Of Class' thing April 26th where all the valedictorians from all the schools in Delco get together and talk about their feelings while ABC catches it on tape. Well, something like that. Anyway, I got to fill out a questionairre, and since I found it rather interesting and thought provoking, and also because it would be a waste if the answers never saw the light of day again, I'm going to post it, along with my answers, here. Feel free to answer these questions on Think Bowl. Or just on your own. Or never.

Namaste.

1. What skills/talents made you ‘best of class’? Who has helped you along the way and how?

The only skill that gave me a slight edge over my fellow classmates is my ability to take in and process information efficiently and effectively. I'm definitely no more creative, intelligent, hard-working or inspired than others in my class, but it just so happens that one of my particular knacks meshes well with how our current educational system "ranks" students. So, along with the information processing skill, I'm just lucky.

My parents aided me the most in becoming 'best in class.' Without their mixture of strong guidance and intelligent freedom giving, I know for certain I wouldn't be the person I am today. Without them, I wouldn't have my genes, my personality, or my character. And, if I may say so myself, those are three of my best qualities.

2. What is the greatest obstacle you have faced in your life and how did you deal with it?

My greatest obstacle, and the one that am still working on overcoming, has been the strangle hold of mediocrity. In a country, and indeed a western culture, that gives lip service to superior effort while only rewarding quiet desperation, I've found myself time and again amazed at how quickly I put a cap on what I'm capable of, a cap that isn't even near high enough to really represent my potential. In the coming months and years, then, my greatest obstacle will be fighting this societal pull towards apathy and mediocrity and actually stepping up and being fully and authentically human.

3. What are your future plans? How would you fashion your life if you could NOT go to college?

I plan on attending Villanova for four years in order to obtain a degree in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry. From there, I hope to go on into nanobiotechnology research regarding alternative means of energy production and conservation. I also hope to get involved in as many writing and non-profit causes as I possibly can.

If I were to go directly from highschool to the "real world," I would definitely go out west to Boulder, Colorado and get involved with the Integral Movement and the amazing people building Zaadz.com. These two organizations, Integral Institute, founded by Ken Wilber, and Zaadz, founded by Brian Johnson, seem to me to be only the very beginning of a surge in truly Aware (with a capital A) people trying make a positive difference in the world. To be a part of that right out of high school would be amazing.

4. How has your race or ethnic background influenced your life? Tell us your story …

Well, I'm pretty close to your average white guy, so my race hasn't really affected my path through life so much. My ethnicity is more or less non-existent, so that too has had very little affect on me. I guess, though, the "average" status of my race and ethnicity have affected me by allowing me to take the "average" path through life. Not a very interesting story though.

5. Talk about the influence of race, gender and economic class in America today.

Hm, I could pretend like I actually know enough to speak intelligently on this, but I don't. At the same time, I figure you want me to hazard an ill-advised crack at the issues, so I will.

Race definitely shouldn't be an issue, but unfortunately it is. Though more and more, I see the main issue being culture. I think (or at least I HOPE) that most people don't judge others by the color of their skin. However, I do think that a lot of people, myself included, still judge people by their culture, often from a position of ignorance and misunderstanding.

Gender has swung from one extreme (the housewife) to another (the feminist) over the past century and is only now coming back to a more moderate path. I feel that women and men should be able to do whatever they want, regardless of their gender. If that means a man being a housewife and a woman being a CEO, then that's perfectly fine. We've escaped, technologically, from our biological underpinnings, now it's time for us to escape socially.

Class, well, what's there to say about it. I'm living in the "middle" class, and I couldn't be happier. There are plenty of things I "want," but all of my needs, whether physical, biological, mental, or spiritual, are all met as I am now. At the same time, I realize that people all over the country can't say the same. It's a tragedy that in a country of so much affluence, so many people live without the basic necessities of life.

6. How does religion play a role in your life and in the world at large?

Religion is a tricky thing, isn't it? In this modern world, one might change ones religion as quickly as one changes ones shirt.

Personally, I started my life Catholic, and like most Catholics, quickly lost faith and tried on other religions for size. Over the two year span since I decided that just swallowing, without chewing, the religion of my youth was a bad idea, I've come to find that Buddhism is a much better fit for me. Not because it's "trendy" or the "hip" thing to do, just because it's path is so well laid out, so clearly trodden, and so accessible to anyone who wishes to take it.

In terms of religion in the world, I think it has its place. It never fails to amuse me when I see atheists fighting with evangelicals, both calling the other fundamentalists. Why? Because they're both so right and can't see it. Religion has it's place, but its surface features changes with the times and with the age of a person. Following a religion blindly leads to wars. Following religion with an open mind and heart leads to enlightenment.

7. Tell us about your favorite technological device. What websites do you use and why?

My favorite technological device would have to be my computer (or really, any of the numerous computers that I use throughout the day). I'm amazed by the near limitless amount of information I have access to in the simple click of a mouse or touch of a button. This sort of information access has NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. At the same time, I have the ability to creatively utilize my talents in ways easier than ever before. All thanks to this little beige box on top of my desk.

My favorite websites may be seperated into three categories: news, personal development, and spiritual / community growth. In terms of the news, I go to Salon.com and Slate.com for a healthy dose of what's going on in the world from an open minded, progressive perspective. For personal growth, I regularly read Steve Pavlina's blog at StevePavlina.com in order to make sure I'm always growing as a human being. For spiritual and community growth, I check out Zaadz.com, billed as a social networking site for people who want to change the world, and Integralnaked.com, where I can go "behind the scenes with the most provocative thinkers in today's world."

8. How does text-ing and IM-ing influence how you communicate?

Text-ing, not at all. IM-ing has been a double edged sword. On the one hand, it's much easier to keep in touch with many friends all at once. On the other hand, it prevents from intimate, one-on-one contact with friends on a daily basis. Because of that, I try to keep IM-ing to a minimum and make actual, real world communication my social activity of choice.

9. What piece of advice would you give to underclassmen?

Don't take your view of reality as a given. Investigate your assumptions, test your beliefs, and find out where you actually stand. You may be very interested to find that you're standing on nothing, and that being there is exactly where you should be.

10. Which environmental issues concern you the most and why? (global warming,
oil dependence, endangered species, etc. etc.…..)

Not just oil dependence, but fossil fuel dependence, or as I like to call it, stored fuel dependence. Since the first human decided to rub two sticks together to make a fire, we haven't advanced at all in terms of how we get our energy. We still rely directly on the sun and energy stored, more often than not, millions of years ago. We've come a long way since that stick rubbing pre-historic breakthrough, it's time that we prove it.

And if we don't, we'll be in for a rude awakening when that "stored" energy runs out in the coming century and suddenly everything we took for granted isn't there anymore.

11. What do you know for sure about money and it’s importance in your life?

I know for certain that I don't know nearly enough about money. I've never had to manage my money, I've never had a job. I haven't ill-managed my money, but I haven't managed it well either. In the coming years, as I grow more and more independent, I'll also be forced to, or rather have the priviledge to, learn about money.

12. During the past year, we’ve seen natural disasters like Katrina, issues with the ongoing Iraqi war, the threat of terrorism, and a growing national debt … What concerns you most about these or other issues?

What concerns me the most about the world is apathy. The root of all the issues listed in this prompt and many others is people unwilling to take a long hard look at the world around them and actually take action to change what needs changing. Apathy, coupled with incompetence, makes for quite the deadly mixture, as can be seen in Iraq, Louisiana, and with our economy. But we shouldn't take take on the victim-mentality either, but rather rise above the apathy, all of us, and be and do the change we wish to see in the world.