Why Spencer is a perpetual destruction machine

AHHHHH! I just spent over an hour writing about trees. TREES!!! They are beautiful and provide we with great pleasure; I get to climb them, eat their fruit, bask if their shade; I have a very healthy relationship with Mother Nature's wood. Unfortunately it was a completely different metaphor than I was aiming for. I will still use it, but it wasn't working out the way I wanted.

Also, I started this two weeks ago. Two weeks! Argh, why can't I finish this stuff. I am displeased with myself now, so this will be finished and I will post something else soon.

We are stubborn people. It makes sense. If we were rubbery or translucent we would not be strong enough to hold another up and shelter them. No one would be able to depend on us and we wouldn't be of much worth then. So we must be strong. Just like a tree, we grow stronger over time at the little things of life try us. The tempests of time, the search for water among rocks and hard places, and the endless reach for enlightenment force us to grow and become stronger. This is good, but when do we grow the fastest and strongest.

Well, continuing with tree metaphor, a tree that is watered every day, left to grow recklessly, or protected from the wind will never grow to be as strong as I would need it to be to protect or please me. So the more the trials the tree tries to overcome, the stronger the tree is, meaning that a lot of very intense trials would make the tree nearly indestructible, such that it could even serve my children. If the trials don't destroy the dear tree of course. No woman or man can weather the raging tempests of life alone. Sequoias are a magnificent tree, because they are very brittle trees. They don't bend, they shatter and splinter. So, to protect themselves they grow in such a way that their branches become a very dense canopy. So dense, in fact, that when mountain gusts (which would destroy a solitary sequoia) beat upon the forests of sequoia the wind bounces up and off the trees without harming them. They stand together and reflect the test of time. It's beautiful.

Small tests are great, but they only do so much. Stretching the same muscles and tendons to the same point everyday does very little over time. Biking the same path every morning to class, even with the hills along the way, will only keep us at a set leg strength. We learn at an accelerated rate when our body is forced into an uncomfortable situation. We don't have to improve at this intense rate, but in Fight Club, the protagonist talks about how middle-aged men would show up with weak muscles and sagging bones, fight a couple times, and leave practically feeling and looking like an Adonis. This is impressive. This is true. Fighting is a great way to work out your body, because it forces to use every muscle in such a peculiar way that if your body doesn't become stronger, you won't be able to continue. The fear of a broken nose is enough for many people to work themselves harder. I had a friend today say that she doesn't feel satisfied by a work-out if she can hold her full weight on her arms afterwards. If her body is that weakened, she is going to become stronger much faster. Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he was a young lad, would go to the gym and work out until he had to convince a friend to carry him home, because all of his muscles were too weak. He became Mr. Universe for several years and is one of the strongest men history has known. While disturbing that he would do that to himself, it worked; he got the results he wanted.

Along this same idea, we have to have time to rest. Even a tiny force can weaken us too much over time.

This exhaustion does not just apply to physical strength. Mentally we can work ourselves at a higher degree than schools teach us and we can improve at a steeper rate. Instead of just learning the materials a teacher gives us, we can read other books on the subject (which I find quite fun with philosophy and sociology classes), study the text before a professor teaches it so we can strive over its meaning and implication before given the answer, and discuss classes and lessons with people with more experience or people at your level (then you both get to learn more).

And, again, these same ideas can be applied and proven through emotions. It is hard for children to deal with pain because they have never experienced it. Loss is very hard for a spoiled child to deal with because they have been given so much so freely. Happiness can even be a confusing emotion to understand if a childhood has been particularly absent. As we experience all these emotions more and more we gain knowledge and control over them. Also, particularly pleasant or horrific events give us even more experience in a short time. A first kiss or the death of a family member open us to see life in a new light. Along with this enlightenment we are allowed to understand more about life (philosophies, religions, relationships, etc) and we improve ourselves vastly, if we choose. We could instead just enjoy, or despise, the moment and stay that way until it passes and gain nothing but experience.

Years ago I thought we only grew when we were broken or injured in some way. I have since learned that this is not true. And I am glad it is not. We grow or decay steadily based upon our use of an idea, muscle, or belief. We naturally grow as a child because we have nothing and so every action is a mistake that harms us. We naturally decay as adults because we are no longer empty and simply desire to live peacefully. I don't want to just live though, I want to thrive. Someday I will rest. Someday I will stop. Someday I will live, but until then I must fight in order to become the strength that others may need.