Saturday 29 November 2014

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Dear World,
This week is Thanksgiving, at least here in the US. It’s a pretty controversial holiday these days, at least as I understand it. I would like to share my thoughts on the subject, and boy are they complicated thoughts.
From my understanding, which admittedly could be very flawed due to where I got my knowledge (school and tumblr, mainly), Thanksgiving has two main roots: 1) celebration of the presumably successful harvest of that year (rather like the Jewish holiday of Sukkot), and B) celebration of our arrival in this country, which means celebrating taking it over from the Native Americans. The controversy in this is quite obviously part B. Many people feel that in celebrating Thanksgiving, we are either blithely disregarding the impact of our arrival on the Native Americans (what can be seen as a genocide), or we are out and out celebrating it. To me, it is completely wrong to even think about celebrating a genocide, especially coming from the perspective of a people who lost six million to a similar genocide (known as the Shoah, or Holocaust).
While I think that it is wrong to celebrate Thanksgiving from that viewpoint, I don’t think the holiday should be abolished altogether, or really at all. I think that as long as the holiday is taken away from its origins and context, it’s okay to enjoy it. After all, in my life and my family, Thanksgiving is used as a way to evaluate what we have been given in life, and to express our thanks for all that we have to fortune to have and experience. Sure, we throw in some turkeys here and there, but really it’s about appreciating family. The reason I love Thanksgiving time is that most years (not this one due to extenuating weather circumstances), it’s when I get to see all my family, all together, having fun and being friendly like a family should.
Now, I’m not saying we should ignore the terrible parts of the origin of this holiday. In fact, I believe that it is important to know about all the horrors of our past, and to teach about them to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself, just as we do with Passover. People need to be educated about the wrongs in our history. But since this holiday is about giving thanks, I feel that it’s okay to do both, especially because you are then giving thanks for what you have learned. I think that it is equally as important to save a day out of the year to say thank you and reflect as it is to have a day of commemoration; too many people go through life taking advantage of what they have. And there can still be a day of commemoration for all that the Native American people have lost, there should be. That, however, is a topic for another day, as it goes along with all the other holidays I think this world needs or doesn’t need.
All in all, I think that it’s important to remember that Thanksgiving is a holiday for just that: giving thanks. I don’t often take things at face value, but in this case I do, in order to continue to give value to this traditional holiday. I know that there are many problems with the holiday as a whole, I’m not ignoring that, but I feel that it’s okay to celebrate as long as you are celebrating the right things, and acknowledging the bad parts. To me, this day is about showing people the good before them, and that is something worth celebrating.
Well, that’s about it for today. Feel free to leave me a comment with your opinion, or start up a discussion with me if you disagree.
Don’t Forget To Be Awesome,
Ilana

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Quick Explanation

It's just now occurring to me that my blog title could do with some explaining. Basically, the way I came to this title was a simple thought process. I started by thinking about what I could say that would indicate my intention to use this blog as a way to make a difference, or in other words, as my weapon. This led to the phrase "the pen is mightier than the sword". Obviously, such a cliche title, and so long, too, was a bad idea, so I thought for a little while about how to shorten it for my blog. I wanted to use the idea of my writing, or my pen, but I wasn't getting anywhere. Finally, I hit on the perfect solution. "My Virtual Sword", which references the pen/sword phrase, and works in the fact that this is an online platform.

Meet the Author

Dear World,
Today I read This Star Won’t Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl. It had a profound impact on me. I have decided that I am going to make more of an effort to make a difference in this world. I have so many thoughts and ideas about the world, and I’ve always just kept them in until now, but Esther has inspired me to write them down to share with whoever is willing to read them.
I’ll start by introducing myself. My name is Ilana, and I’m 16 years old. I grew up attending a Jewish Day school, from the ages of three to fourteen. As a result I’m pretty fluent in Hebrew, and I have a pretty good knowledge of happenings in Israel. I spent the second semester of my freshman year on a programme on Kibbutz Tzuba in Israel, further refining my knowledge. Now I attend a (mostly) normal high school, in a (mostly) normal town, surrounded by (mostly) normal people.
One of my absolute favourite things to do is curl up in a comfy chair with a book (read: Harry Potter) and a steaming hot cup of cider, followed closely by absolutely anything music related. I love to write, too, which is of course why I started this blog. I have pages and pages, filling multiple notebooks, of all sorts of writings, from personal thoughts to the most fantastical stories.  I don’t watch much television, but every so often a show (like Doctor Who or Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will ensnare me.
In school, I am a part of the GSA and the Harry Potter Alliance. I’m working on being more active in both, but for the most part that just involves attending meetings as often as possible. My chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance only started last year, and we’re still pretty small, but I hope that I can see it become a much bigger and more powerful organisation within the school, maybe even while I’m still here. The GSA, on the other hand, is a flourishing club in this school, with possibly up to 30 members. Coming from a school where there hasn’t been a GSA in years because it was “driven underground” (to quote the teacher I asked), this is amazing. All in all, I’m proud to be a member of both clubs.
Well, that’s about it for now, I think. In the future I will have subjects of substance to talk about, but for now I think I’ll stick with an intro.
Don’t Forget To Be Awesome,
Ilana