Everyone's a Winner ... Wait What?

Everyone’s a Winner … Wait What?

No one likes to lose. Yes obvious statement is obvious but it’s true. Some of us respond with huge numbers with excuses. We say how lucky the opponent was or something. Even if you’ve been completely destroyed you still grumble and moan. So really this is just being a bad loser. Then there’s the so called ‘good’ and ‘gracious’ loser. These people have exactly the same thoughts as the bad loser but they clap while making a fake smile instead. Then there’s the last set of people. The ones who say everybody wins.

 

Do you play sport to any sort of serious degree at all? Then you’ll agree that the ‘Everyone’s a winner’ people are being incredibly dumb. In the middle of a contest, whether it’s a gruelling scrum between two teams or something less physical like that crucial putt for par on a green if you lose after all that you are not going to pretend everyone’s a winner. When I’m battling for a crucial point in a badminton match I’m not playing in the knowledge that it’s okay if I lose because I’ll still be a winner. If I lose I know it will suck.

 

Obviously it’s not just sporty people who are competitive. The red mist can descend on anyone. So why do some people pretend that everyone is a winner? School sports day’s spring to mind. I’d imagine parents and teachers don’t want to see children crying when they lose. In all seriousness though is it a good idea to teach children that no one ever really lose? They’re going to have a bit of a shock if they carry on believing this into later life. There’s my parenting advice for the day.

 

If you truly want to compete then you do not believe that everybody wins. In my infinite wisdom I have figured out that only losers believe that everybody wins. Imagine this. You are running a marathon. You watch as everyone else flies out ahead of you. But you don’t buckle under pressure. You pace yourself far better and one by one you pass the other runners. Soon you’re nearing the front. You pass the half way mark still going strong. You can feel the adrenaline pumping. Twenty miles in you run into the lead. The other runners fall further and further behind you. Yes you. You smash through the wall and keep going. You can taste the glory. The finish line is in sight. You’re so close. Do you think everyone’s a winner now? Are all the people behind you winners despite the fact you’ve gone much further much quicker. If you think yes then imagine now your leg falls off. You lie on the floor unable to move. All the other runners go past until you are in last place.  Are you a winner now?

 

Sportsmanship is important. Enjoying yourself is important. But don’t say everyone’s a winner. You are wrong you spanner and you go to the back of the class. Maybe we all need a bit more of a winning mentality. Then maybe England would actually win something. I’m looking at you men’s England cricket team.

 

 

Why do we all Hate Valentines Day?

Why do we all Hate Valentine’s Day?

Normally when a holiday comes around everyone gets excited. It’s supposed to be a joyous time spent with friends and family. So what happened with Valentine’s Day? A lot of people will complain about Valentine’s Day. People act like it’s all in bad spirit and we don’t understand why we pay it so much attention. Why is this?

 

I’ll start with my own opinions on Valentine’s Day. Meh. I don’t really care, in fact most years I don’t even notice it. It’ll be days after and someone will mention it and I’ll finally be paying attention. So while I don’t particularly like it, I don’t have the motivation to completely despise it like a lot of people do. It’s just kind of there.

 

The most common complaint about Valentine’s Day is that is makes people who have no Valentine feel lonely. This is true, while some of us are not bothered about not having a date I can see how you could find it quite a lonely time, particularly if you’d had a recent break up or rejection. The issue with this argument is that all holidays can be lonely. Someone in a bad place or after suffering recent loss would find other Holiday’s just as lonely. In fact you could argue Valentine’s Day isn’t even the worst time of year for feeling lonely. Christmas and New Year are lonelier for more people due to more people not only caring, but expecting to enjoy Christmas and New Year. Therefore hating Valentine’s Day for being a lonely time for people is unfair as all holidays can be just as lonely.

 

Another argument is that it puts pressure on people who have to buy gifts or such things for someone. Then again I can imagine a lot of people comparing this with someone saying they can’t fit all their £20 notes in their wallet. I’d personally say though that buying gifts for someone is a practise again undertaken at Christmas but also Birthdays. So why is Valentine’s Day so much worse?

 

It is extremely commercialised. Again have you ever been around for any other Holiday? Christmas merchandise starts appearing in around October time. Every holiday has been commercialised, it’s not like you are forced to waste all your money on random Valentine’s Day themed junk. There is an added bonus of extremely cheap chocolate available in the day after, since shops need to get rid of all their heart shaped stuff. Anyone who loves a bargain should be thrilled at this. Valentine’s Day merchandise can be used all year round as it’s a lot of chocolate. It’s not like all those cheap Christmas cards that shops have to dispose of.

 

If Valentine’s Day is there for you to be romantic and loving to your partner shouldn’t you be like that all year round? Yes you probably should, but you already probably are. The point of Christmas for a lot of people is to be kind and joyous is it not? Shouldn’t you be like that all year too? I think holidays are meant to be a time where we can relax and not worry about everything.

 

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have a religious reason for existing like Christmas and Easter. So? It’s not like most of you look forward to Christmas because it’s your opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. You look forward to all that Christmas tradition garbage. So this argument is pretty ridiculous. Halloween if I’m not mistaken was originally a time to ward off evil spirits. I don’t take part in Halloween and the spirits have never come for me.

 

Everyone loves Halloween. You don’t hear complaints about it like you do with Valentine’s Day. Strange considering they are basically the same, just with a slightly different coat of paint. During Halloween the emotion of fear is highly prevalent, during Valentine’s Day its love instead. So both have a highly prevalent emotion. Both are heavily commercialised. In both you are supposed to receive sweet edible things. Swap out Jack-o-Lanterns for heart and change all the black to pink and you’ve completely switched the two. The main difference is on Valentine’s Day I don’t get annoying Children knocking on my door practically begging for sweets. The look on their faces when I gave them apples as a healthy alternative.

 

I don’t get where the hatred comes from. Valentine’s Day is just the same as any other Holiday and I have the same opinion on it as I do with other Holiday’s as in I don’t really care. Is it because it’s a more exclusive Holiday for people who are dating. That’s pretty bitter. If it doesn’t involve you then do you have any reason to care about it at all? It literally makes no difference to you what so ever.

 

So what does all this mean? It’s simple, you should treat Valentine’s Day like I do. Fail to notice its existence and go to comicon instead. Anyone in Telford look out for me, I’ll be dressed as Professor Layton. So on a finishing note, all of you who don’t care about Valentine’s Day have a fun day. All you people who do care but are single, enjoy your tub of ice-cream and all you guys out there who have a special lady, have fun being dragged along to Fifty Shades of Grey.  

Science and Religion

Science and Religion

In my sixth form we had days called shape days. They were boring life skills development days that wasted time when we all had exams to revise for or coursework to complete. For one of these sessions we had an hour long period set aside for an unknown discussion. Shaking with excitement I walked into the class room to see on the board the title Science vs Religion. I looked at the person sat opposite me who clearly had the same thoughts on this, can we leave yet. The PowerPoint started and a dumb joke about Islam came up and I proceeded to zone out for the next sixty minutes.

 

It was only when I left that I thought about it a bit more. But I wasn’t thinking about the discussion itself, rather why people feel the need to compare Science and Religion in the first place. These are two things that while both pursue knowledge in some way, not only have completely different reasons for doing so but are not linked in any way outside of ignorant people trying to put them in some sort of competition.

 

I am non-religious. I study Chemistry and have always had an interest in Science. When people tell me Religion is wrong or unproven however I am instantly baffled. I don’t have a religion and don’t believe in a God because I need to know things. I don’t like to leave things unfinished and I can’t put my faith in something I am not sure exists. I do respect people who do but this isn’t really the point here. Saying Religion is wrong because you can’t prove it seems to me to be missing the point so much that the point is in an opposite direction behind a brick wall and a fire. It doesn’t seem to me like Religion is supposed to be taken as factual evidence for how things happen, but rather the beliefs for why things happen I am no expert but from what I can gather Religion has the purpose of peaceful and harmonious living, I cannot see how you could fault someone living in that mind set.

 

The key difference between Science and Religion is that they look into different concepts. Science looks into how things happen, whether it’s how chemical react or animals have evolved over the years. Religion wants to know why things happen. Why people are on the earth in the first place. Interestingly neither can answer each other’s questions.

 

My former physics teacher was a devoted Christian. I know multiple people interested in Science who are also religious. I also know people devote their life to their Religion but also have a scientific mind and are interested in how the world works. That’s not to say people aren’t ignorant about it. There was a very religious teacher at my high school that didn’t believe in gravity. Let’s ignore the fact that gravity can and has been proven and focus on how naïve this is. Similarly I once met someone who discarded religion as backwards. This is equally naïve.

 

You’ll get people who try to tell you that Religion cannot be proven. So what? Not all Science can be proven either and Science is often disproven as new theories and concepts come to light. We don’t understand a huge majority of what happens and it’s very possible that we are wrong about a great many things. However a lot of things can be proven. Gravity for example has been proven to exist. It isn’t by chance that things fall and we don’t float off the earth and it isn’t coincidence that if you drop 2 identical items they will accelerate at the same rate. However you can think of the amount of Science that is theoretical and can’t be proven. Quantum Science is a good example. Albert Einstein rejected the idea of Quantum mechanics as he didn’t believe Quantum Mechanics makes sense. Scientists can’t agree, just like scientific and religious people cannot agree.

 

It should be noted that a lot of scientific method was pioneered in ancient civilisation, a time where everyone was religious. It was also a time with far less scientific understanding and maybe the miracles described in Religion were deemed possible. To use the Bible as an example we all know the Story of Noah is impossible and almost certainly didn’t happen but then again no one ever said the Bible was a historical document. Nearly every Christian I have ever met has told me they take the Bible in a more metaphorical sense and it means something different to each person. The Bible was written in a time long before the scientific benefits we have today. On the other hand it is important for people who put their faith in Religion to appreciate scientific advancements. Without Science medicine would probably still involve a huge number of leeches and we wouldn’t even have the technology for me to publish this blog.

 

So the question here is what you value more. Do you want to know how something works or why it happens in the first place. Personally I need to know how things work. There are times however where I would prefer to just know why. Both are difficult, but trying to argue that one is more relevant, or better than the other would make you the naïve person here. Science and Religion don’t disprove each other, rather they look into what the other never will.

 

So what’s the point of all this. Some people say Science and Religion are completely incompatible. This is wrong. Science and Religion intended how they were meant can never conflict. Perhaps a respect for both is the most progressive way of thinking, no matter which you feel more connected to.