This World and Me

I grew up in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb northwest of Columbus. My school district offers me numerous opportunities that are not offered to students everywhere. In high school, I had the opportunity to take AP Chemistry—a college-level course—as a freshman. I got to take courses in the German language all four years of high school—I even visited Germany in the summer of 2016 to study with a host family. By my junior year’s end, I had taken a total of eight AP exams, and my senior year of high school has so far been spent at The Ohio State University under Ohio’s “College Credit Plus” dual-enrollment program. While these experiences have undoubtedly been illuminating, at the same time, they have isolated me from certain critical perspectives on our daily lives. I had my world turned on its head in the summer of 2015. In school, I had learned a little bit on the importance of community service, and I thought it would be healthy to leave Dublin and experience a different environment. With th...

"Rey. May the Force be with you." —General Leia Organa, portrayed by Carrie Fisher (1956–2016), the last lines of dialogue of Star Wars: The Force Awakens , 2015

"... you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life." —Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement address , 2005

Consider the following. Before you stands a heap of sand. You have just returned home from the beach, and while there, you grabbed a bunch of sand, placed it in a jar, took it home, and dumped it onto the floor. These individual grains of sand are collectively a heap . We can both agree to this as “heap” is a rather vague description for a mound or pile of a particular substance. Now, there are probably hundreds upon hundreds of grains of sand in this heap. Let’s suppose there are exactly 10,000 grains. If we take exactly one grain of sand out of the heap, we would then have 9,999 grains of sand, and we would both still agree that 9,999 grains of sand is a heap. Likewise, if we remove another grain of sand, we are left with 9,998 grains, and it would still be a heap. Removing one grain of sand is so trivial a difference that it does not change whether the remaining grains are a heap. You might already see a potential problem with this argument. If we accept the premise that removing o...

Oh, cut my lace in sunder that my pent heart May have some scope to beat, or else I swoon With this dead-killing news. —William Shakespeare, Richard III , 1592 (comments by Queen Elizabeth, upon learning that Richard, the corrupt Duke of Gloucester, will be crowned King of England)

To my friends who read the blog, Firstly, thank you. I have received numerous compliments from all of you regarding the content on this blog, and I have found myself deeply encouraged by your kindness and appreciation. 2016 has seen so far more than  fifty  individual posts. In the preceding year, I only posted ten times, and the year before that had only eight updates from me. Some of these posts are quick, little snippets – such as quotes that I found particularly clever or appealing – some of these posts are lengthy dissections of an abstract concept, and some of these posts are comprehensive introspections on aspects of my own life. The empty text box is such a gorgeous sight to me. In many ways, I am my first reader. It's exciting to experience the whole process, starting with an initial idea – I call it a "seed" – and seeing it essentially write itself. I'm just the lowly photographer, watching it all happen from behind a camera. The ideas in each post inter...

"Years of love have been forgot In the hatred of a minute—" —Edgar Allan Poe, "To —" , circa 1829

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. —Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement address , 2005

When I was in first grade, one of my classmates invited me to try out gymnastics. I didn't really know what gymnastics was, but I got an idea when my friend described the legendary "cheese pit", a deep pit of hundreds of soft, foam, "cheese"-like blocks. Gymnastics seemed like a huge playground for kids. The introductory class was just me, my friend, and two other kids. It was my first day, but the other kids had already been gymnasts for several weeks (a week feels longer to a seven-year-old), so I was more on my own. We started with a few basic warm-up stretches (not the cheese pit), and then we did a workout on the trampoline (also not the cheese pit). Towards the end of the workout, we made our way to one of those large gymnastic wedge mats. I was stunned. I could not remember seeing such a strange-looking mat before in all of my seven years of existence. I blurted out: "What the hell is that!?" This post flows naturally from a string of posts ...

Consider this scenario. The instructor of one of your classes promises you that there will be a surprise quiz next week. The class in question meets only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and a "surprise" quiz is one which, walking into the classroom, you have no idea whether it will be given on that day. The school week ends on Friday, so there are only three possible dates for the quiz: next Monday, next Wednesday, and next Friday. If you came to class on both Monday and Wednesday, and on both days, there were no quizzes, then you would know, walking into class on Friday, that there must be a quiz, for Friday is the last remaining day in which the instructor could give a quiz as promised that week.  Therefore, it would not be a surprise for the instructor to give a quiz on Friday. Because Friday has now been eliminated, Monday and Wednesday are the only possibilities left for the surprise quiz. If you came to class on Monday and were not given a quiz, then Wednesday...

Nervös. Bei dem Flughafen in New York war ich nervös. Es war meine erste Mal in Deutschland, und ich war einfach nervös. Dann habe ich die andere Amerikaner kennengelernt—es war auch die erste Mal in Deutschland für sie. Neun Stunden später war ich in der Stadt Nürnberg, und ich traf meine Gastfamilie bei dem Flughafen. Sie waren so freundlich, dass es so bequem war, Deutsch mit ihnen zu sprechen. Nach dem ersten Tag war ich nicht nochmal nervös. Ich konnte Deutschland einfach erfahren. Und Deutschland habe ich erfahren. Es gab viele Teile von andere Kulturen in der deutsche Kultur. Die beste Beispiel ist mein Gastbruder Urs. Er spielt wirklich amerikanischen Fußball (in Deutschland!). In Amerika benutzten wir in meine Deutschkurse „amerikanischen Fußball“, aber mein Gastbruder nennt dem Sport „American Football“—er benutzt Englisch! An dem erste Freitag hatte mein Gastbruder einen Tanzkurs, und dort hörten wir viele Lieder von Amerika. Jetzt muss jede Person in Deutschland Englisch ...

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default. —J.K. Rowling,  The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination  (Harvard commencement speech) , 2008

This is a research report that I wrote for my Honors English I class in my freshman year of high school. It is dated December 10, 2013. My instructor was Mrs. Razem. From “how many people live in New York City?” to “what does a hedgehog look like?”, in the modern day, one only has to encounter any intriguing question, and the answer can probably be materialized almost instantaneously through the use of computers. It is needless to say that computers have become a vital aspect of the daily lives of millions of people. However, computers were not always so useful, and had it not been for one man, today’s perspective of computers would be very different. This figure is best known for co-founding Apple, a company which has grown to become the most valuable company in the world (Tibken and Stahl). The sensational achievements of the life of Steve Jobs have revolutionized several technologies, and, by extension, have positively changed the lives of man. Apple Computer was founded by Stev...

Sonder — n.  the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk. —John Koenig, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows , 2012

A week ago, I was at the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg, Germany. For some odd reason, I had brought a jacket with me; not a single cloud came to my rescue as the Sun turned the sweat glands in my head into faucets. At least I had my sunglasses. The other Americans and I made our way to the Zeppelinfeld, a large field where hundreds of thousands of Germans historically congregated to hear Adolf Hitler's rally speeches. As I walked the steps to ascend the tribune, my heart began to beat more quickly, for I knew that I would be standing in the exact spot that Adolf Hitler – a name which has become synonymous with pure evil – stood not more than a century ago. A few other tourists were there as well, and they each took their turn standing upon the little balcony that overlooked the entire Zeppelinfeld. When my turn came, I braced myself for whatever paranormal curse that Hitler left on the tribune to hit me like a freight train. Thankfully, it never came. There's somethi...

This is my first blog post that I've written in the German language, which I am currently studying in school. The post is about my summer study trip to Germany, which I will begin today. Heute Abend werde ich in Deutschland sein. Ich gewann diese Studienreise, als ich die „National German Exam“ (ein nationale deutsche Prüfung in der USA) tat. Ich tat besser als zweiundneunzig Prozent von die Schüler und Schülerinnen, die die Prüfung auch taten. Wegen dieses Ergebnisses war ich qualifiziert die Studienreise zu beantragen. Ich musste eine Anwendung tun, und dann musste ich ein Telefon-Interview machen. Die Anwendung fragte mir einige schwere Fragen, wie „Warum wollen Sie Deutsch sprechen?“ und „Was wollen Sie für Ihren Leben machen?“. Ich musste auch einen Brief für meine Gastfamilie schreiben, und mir wurde gesagt, dass die Organisation, die die Studienreise organisiert, den Brief zu meine Gastfamilie wirklich schicken wird, wenn ich die Reise gewinnen. In meinem ...

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love – these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, " O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? " Answer: That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be? —Mr. John Keating (portrayed by Robin Williams ), Dead Poets Society , 1989

Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it. —Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man , 1991

Consider this thought experiment: try to imagine yourself without a body. Just an effervescent consciousness floating around the room – kind of like a ghost. It's a little awkward at first, but you can do it. You are capable of imagining life where one's body does not exist. But now, try something different: try to imagine yourself without a mind . Immediately, we run into some trouble, for how can we imagine ourselves without minds, if a mind is necessary to do the imagining? How can we , the consciousness of our minds, think if we do not exist? We can't. It follows, then, that if one is able to think, then one must  exist. This is similar to the thought experiment that led French philosopher René Descartes to famously declare  cogito ergo sum  – I think, therefore I am – in his seminal 1644 book Principles of Philosophy . You know that your mind exists, because you have the ability to think for yourself, to direct your thoughts at your own volition. You know ...

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seemed invincible, but in the end, they always fall — always. —Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth , 1927

This song always sends chills down my spine. Released in 1983, in the midst of Cold War tensions, the English-translated version of the song is about a couple that releases 99 red balloons into the air, which the government mistakes for a potential military threat. Panicked, "ninety-nine ministers meet" and hastily authorize the use of military force against the ninety-nine red balloons. They order a group of ninety-nine air force pilots to intercept the potential threat and "identify, clarify and classify" it. This show of military force is seen by other nations as an act of war. The confusion and strife-torn atmosphere catalyzes a devastating nuclear war that destroys both sides of the armed conflict. The song was released at a time when the possibility of the events described in the song actually happening was very, very real. The United States and the Soviet Union – the two global superpowers – had huge stockpiles of nuclear weaponry. The most tense moment, th...

This is a rhetorical analysis essay written for my AP English Language and Composition class. My instructor was Mrs. Razem. The year is 1963. The United States is at its momentous period of revolution: the Civil Rights Movement. At the head of this revolution sits Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who, having protested in the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, is confined in Birmingham City Jail. Opposed to King's unlawfulness, a group of eight Alabama clergymen compose an open letter , criticizing King's demonstrations as "extreme". King's letter in response, later dubbed " Letter from Birmingham Jail ", eloquently defends his actions to the Alabama clergymen through the use of strong appeals to moral authorities that King and the clergymen share, as well as through his shifts in tone from respectful to accusatory. King is quick to point out that he and the clergymen share a relationship with God and thus appeals to God as a moral authority. King opens his ...

We often wonder what it is about humans that sets us apart from every other species of life on Earth. We can communicate with each other in languages more complex than any other life form; we can invent tools and machines that make life for us longer and easier. We have the stunning ability to prove the truth with our minds—and we do this through reason. The 18th-century Age of Enlightenment sealed the deal for reason, establishing it as the highest source of authority for mankind. If there is any one trait that sets us apart from all other life on Earth, it has to be our impeccable ability to reason: the ability to conclude that if all humans are mortal, and Mr. Stroh is a human, then Mr. Stroh must be mortal. The foundations for reasoning are the rules of logic—and so too are the foundations for mathematics. Fermat’s Last Theorem states that equation x n + y n = z n will have no whole number solutions when n > 2. The theorem was proposed by French mathematician Pierre de ...

A photo posted by Michael Zeng (@michaelzeng7) on May 14, 2016 at 8:11pm PDT