Informal essay

“And so castles made of sand melt into the sea eventually.” – Jimi Hendrix I believe the meaning of the quotation it that nothing lasts forever whether it be positive or negative. There is evidence of this is throughout the rest of the song through a series of three stories based on Jimi’s life. One of the stories speaks of a couple who fight. The woman slams the door in the drunken man’s face and locks him out and he asks her “What happened to the sweet love you and me had?” This story is Jimi explaining that everything is temporary and will soon be gone by using the story of his young mother and her alcoholic husband. Their love ended early in divorce just like sand castles being taken prematurely by the ocean. The sand castle is symbolic of the apparent strength of a situation; because it is a castle it is seen as strong and lasting. But as the tide of change time come like the tides of an ocean they destroy what once seamed concrete. I feel these lyrics are very relevant to my classmates as grade twelve’s as we are going through incredible change and things that we once took to be permanent are changing and ending. In the past we assumed that our friendships would last until we died but as we are being moulded by the pressure of life decisions we are making choices that inadvertently will sabotage our relationships. This also is a message to the listener to cherish what they have while it is good because one day there happiness will fall. “You aren’t wealthy until you have something money can’t buy.” – Garth Brooks

In this quotation Garth Brooks is challenging the societal perception that success is obtained amassing great quantities of money. He is saying life is more about the experiences, relationships and other parts of life that are not purchasable than money and material goods. I think that the quote has more validity coming from Garth because he comes from the upper class that has money and iconic wealth. His quote has relevance in this post-recession society because many people have lost their homes and any material proof of wealth so they are forced to cherish what they have. The 2008 crash devastated the American population and shattered some of the American consumer based society. This quote is relevant to my life as it pertains to a friend Les Parsons. My friend and coach Les is the happiest man I have ever met because he has so much more in life than money can buy. Les lives for the experience by volunteering a year of his life working with Mother Theresa, coaching the Olympic Ski Team and sneaking into North Korea to record events and bring awareness to the people’s struggle. This affects me in the coming year as I decide what career path to pursue. Currently I must decide whether to become a mountain guide and live without much money while creating experiences or an architect who has very little time but can afford to live extravagantly. Garth Brook would guide me towards guiding because he believes that wealth cannot be found with money. “Anarchy is the only slight glimmer of hope.” –Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger says this in an important time in world politics. It was the year 1967 tension was rising all across the globe; the Soviets were facing off with the Chinese, the Israeli and Arabs went to war, the US sent more troops to Vietnam and most importantly Ché Guevara was assassinated for starting a revolution. In this time the governments of the world were looking like the root of oppression and hope was rare. To the world Ché represented people’s liberty from a corrupt government. By stating “Anarchy is the only slight glimmer of hope.” Mick Jagger is vocalizing the problems of the world and revolting against the system of governance. He believed that we must rid ourselves of governance and regulation in order to regain our hope of freedom. This would have spoken to the Americans of the time who were in the middle of the hippy revolution. This theme of revolt against a governing body is very real in the lives of teenagers. Many students at Lindsay Thurber have an anarchist view of how they should relate to their parents. Over the last few years I have had a few friends who saw the glimmer of hope of anarchy and chose to move out on their parent’s homes and discover the freedoms of the world. I personally do not believe in anarchy being a way out, in Egypt people are rioting and fighting to have the person they support run the country. These acts of valour around the world demonstrate that we find hope in anything we are passionate about and while we as a species love freedom most of us in the present believe that government is important. “I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I’m not.” –Kurt Cobain

I believe this quote is saying to be who you are even if others pressure you to be someone you’re not. It speaks to being comfortable with oneself and not cheating yourself in order to find success. A good present example of this is Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh is very unpopular among most the political world due his extreme right wing views. While the majority do not agree with the things that Rush states he has gained fame through sticking up for his outlandish opinions. He chose the path of being hated instead lying about who he was. This quote is somewhat ironic given that Kurt Cobain later killed himself. So I hypothesise that there is probably an underlying tone of self-help. I think that Kurt may have been trying to convince himself that he was comfortable with who he was before he succumbed to the suicidal thoughts. This is prevalent in high school as there is more and more pressure to drink and smoke. The students are often forced to be someone who they are not and drink or be left out by their friends who drink. Another example of this is the current laws banning homosexuality in Russia. Gay people in Russia are being forced to admit to be gay and face jail time, for being who they were born to be, or lie about it live a lie in freedom. “Of all the things I’ve lost, it’s my mind that I miss the most.” –Ozzy This statement is shows Ozzy Osbourne’s feel of loss of identity.

He recognizes that in the process of becoming an absurd statement of art, he has lost friendships and burned bridges but the worst part of the transformation was the loss of who he was. The mind contains a human’s identity so when he lost his mind he lost his own original identity. I believe that Ozzy is warning the listeners, to be willing lose things for success but to never lose sight of who they really are. Currently Ozzy Osbourne has sold all of his personal life to the public by airing the MTV show The Osbournes.