things my students wrote

“All humans are essentially junkies; the way we chose to get high is the only variation. One person will desperately seek to trigger the release of dopamine by studying hard and receiving good grades while another person will trigger the same effect by smoking methamphetamine.”

“I am slowly learning to appreciate my journey to self-discovery. Most importantly, however, I am coming to terms with the fact I might never understand everything about myself. I do not have to know everything or have full control of everything all the time, and that realization brings me extreme happiness all on its own.”

“Should intellectuals not begin to inject critique as a cure for hegemonic thinking and bring the question of being to its rightful place, it may be impossible to do so in the future. The day in which all is “happily” enframed and nothing is revealed anymore, where MacDonald's, Coca-Cola, and capitalist decadence take precedence over our relationship to ourselves and others may dawn on us one day. This would be nihilism par excellence as everyone would be obliviously fat and partaking in the exploitation of others.”

 “Speaking and changing ourselves is the only way toward peace without sacrificing individuals as if they were meaningless. We will never attain peace unless we drop the weapons and wage war with our voice.”

“Some philosophers believe that love is purely an emotion and others believe that it is mainly conceptual. In my opinion, love is more than just an emotion or an idea. Love is emotional, physical, mental and chemical.”

“There is nothing worse than trying to get to know someone and all they can talk about is how pretty you are. There is no substance in a conversation of that nature. You should be communicating to see if you might want to spend the rest of your life with this person.”

“We all just need to learn how to pay full attention without judging. Philosophers Krishnamurti and Heidegger both explained listening well. However, I think they missed the most important part, that life is about listening to one another or even listening to music, sounds, etc…. Without listening, there is no relationship with anything beyond self.”