A time of reflection

I'm currently writing while listening to the song posted above.  I wasn't exactly sure about what to post about this week, so I'm listening to a song that I normally feel reflective about.  I don't know why I feel reflective while listening to this song; I don't even understand Japanese.  I think because this song comes from media critiquing the view on life's purpose it makes me think about how I feel in relation to my surroundings.  My community, my peers, everything that goes on around me.  It makes me think that there are so many things I get stressed about that I really shouldn't get stressed about.  

I've been doing a lot of interviews with our pledges lately, and the question of what accomplishment I am most proud of in my life or what hardship has been the hardest for me to overcome comes up quite frequently.  Even after numerous times being asked this question I still don't have an answer.  I think about my life and the hardships I've faced.  Sure, I've had troubles with my parents, with my friends, with my emotions.  But compared to the suffering other people have to endure I feel like bringing attention to my trite hardships would be insulting to the real problems people in this world face.

In the same way I think about my accomplishments and come up short as to one defining moment in my life that I've felt most proud of.  Sure, I've had my fair share of accomplishment and I don't mean to belittle myself by saying I haven't accomplished anything.  No, I've accomplished many things that a majority of people won't even have the opportunity to pursue.  But compared to others who live now or have lived before my accomplishments pale in comparison.  

It's not that I expect myself to have these achievements or failures greater in magnitude than are already present in my life.  What I think about is how many people I know can identify these peaks and valleys in their life, while I simply can't.  I'm left to think that my life is simply more stable than most.  Is this a good thing?  A bad thing?  I don't know.  It's just something that occurs to me and I think about it from time to time.  

I realize that by this point the song you've hopefully been playing in the background while reading my post is far from over, but I've already looped it two or three times so I'm going to conclude here.  I have quite the busy week ahead of me and I should probably be getting some sleep.  I encourage you to listen to the rest of the song, but I know many of you will not.  If you do, I hope you enjoy it; it's probably one of my favorite songs to actively listen to instead of passively listening to, which is something I rarely do.  Hope your week goes well. Unless you aren't coming back for Thanksgiving, I expect to see all of you over TG break. I understand it is a time for family, but I'll be offended if you can't sacrifice some sleep to come hang out.  I really do love you guys.

Talk to you next week.

Jason