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i've decided to list all the people i find to be elitest douchebags, feel free to post any person you want, please post a legitimate reason as to why, or even a vague abstract reason.....



teadidikai for various reasons, also because she pretty much ingores anyone who p.ms her
reagun ban for this exchange
reagun ban is hypothetical, i am the troll
whiteracistanything...except the ones who are funny....i like that guy...
tommy_o, because of this exchange

pat robertson (not the gaian) he owns a ******** diamond mine he got from a african dictator...what the ******** schumer he dared to want to ban 25 2 life also he's a f**
hillary clinton, need i say more, also she tried to ban gta for animated nipples
littlepinky82, well actually she's a hypocrit, but close enough, she need to read the fair use act by the way.
pretty much anyone in the m&r
koei, for "owning" chinese history
dong zhou
other people....
myself...
but only while playing halo online for then i become 1337

hate list are always necessary.

go ahead, put dong zhou up, you'll like it.

why should i, after all you already did

The guy (or girl) whom patented Glitter. Need I say any @#$&#xin;g more?

lul, whut

You should pity them instead of hating them.

When I was in k-12 education I was never really into the “education” part of the equation. I was always more interested in the reading aspect, I’m pretty bad at math, science is not my forte, but reading, now that was something I truly and completely enjoyed and understood.
Sadly, I enjoyed it at the expense of my other studies, and as such got into a lot of trouble. I was more into reading then paying attention to the teacher’s talk about math and numbers. Oddly enough, they decided they were fine with that and so they shipped me off to the pass room. Essentially I sat in a white room all day as punishment for not paying attention in class. It was pretty boring, but on the plus time I got to read a lot.
While in the pass room I started reading compilations of children’s stories, folk stories, and mythology. I read a vast swath of short stories whose sole intent was to teach a lesson, and I came to love that format. The allegory, the parable, ontological mythology, all things Aesop, my personal favorite writer.
And to that end, I took a deep interest in the Zen stories, fanciful tales written to teach a lesson or at least impart some kind of deep meaning. These tales aren’t necessarily for children, and their lessons are often entirely abstract, often they are about the metaphysical. But still, they are packaged in a simple, humorous format, that even a child can understand, if not fully contemplate.



Take for example “the stone mind”(56 cool Hogen the Zen master allows some Buddhist monks to camp out in his yard and while listening to them arguing decides to join in. The argument, about subjectivity and objectivity is metaphysical in nature, so he posits a question, “There is a big stone. Do you consider it inside or outside of your mind?” A Buddhist monk replies, “From the Bhuddist viewpoint everything is an objectification of the mind, so I would say it is inside my mind.” Hogen replies “your head must feel very heavy, if you are carrying around a stone like that in your mind.”
This simple dialogue, easily understandable, makes it’s point clearly. A rock is a rock, and obviously it exist. It makes the other viewpoint, subjectivity, look like buffoonery of the highest order. After you read the parable it becomes obvious, it leads you to the correct answer, this has generally been the format of parables and allegories and the like, and it is very visible in the Zen stories.
Of course, as a youth, I wasn’t fully aware of these kind of stories as a tool for learning, I just thought the stories were kind of cool, because they often were humorous or about magical events, and I love magic.
It wasn’t until middle school that I actually thought to look at the stories morals and meanings, that I realized that the sole function of these stories is to teach a lesson. This is something I miss in today’s literature, there is much less a focus on the teaching aspect of stories, or if it is there, it is so sappy and overbearing that it really just kills itself on message. Subtlety is an art, and I think Dr. Seuss took it to his grave with his story about the lorlax trees. And this is a real shame, the quick and simple nature of these stories belies their ability to teach and impart a message.




At the end of the day, the art of the teaching story seems to me to be a dying breed of tale. But these Zen stories offer a look at one of the oldest forms of education, and they’re just plain enjoyable to read.



















WORK CITED.
Nyogen, Senzaki Reps, Pual, “Zen Stories From Sand And Pebbles.” Literatures

of Asia. Ed. Tony Barnstone. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003.

566-568