Opinion of The Plague (The Plague 2)

Well thanks Camus for your slow paced, death abundant, depressing, and unenticing read. But what do I expect from a book about the Black Death, peace and flowers? Nah, I knew what I was getting into, but I didn't understand why the read was so boring this time around. I enjoyed the stranger, I enjoy philosophy, but I dread the Plague for some reason. To fully absorb the context of each page I'd have to reread it. It felt like half-ass reading to me because everything between the lines was full of boredom and depression. Text that was irrelevant and characters though you tried to make them interesting, had nothing to them because they were all effected by the Plague nearly the same. Besides Cottard who enjoyed his freedom of not being imprisoned.

I didn't hate the story, I didn't hate the book, I just plainly hated the read and the non-relating text within the read. Maybe I have bad taste, sorry Camus. But unlike the Stranger my attention span for absorbing the text was 5 pages every time I picked up the book.

What I did like was the realistic view of how people would react at first to such an epidemic. Shock > Denial > Panic > Abandon Hope > Blow all their expenses > Live the final days of their life to the best it can be.

I think that is as realistic as it can get, and when something like the Plague occurs, it's only instinct to run and isolate rather than stand and fight, which I think from the beginning would have saved all those people. Also in every plague book there's gotta be someone like Paneloux who blames it on God and his smiting on the sinners in the world. Yes, I know it happened in real life and people believed it, but it really was an ignorant claim that God is punishing all for the sins of some. I also think that the fact that Camus had to state that there was a Christian boy who died made Paneloux's views invalid was unnecessary because the people should see the absurdity in his claims from the start.

Is Man An Idea? (The Plague 1)

Rambert states "man is an idea if he is incapable of love."

I think all man are capable of loving. Therefore, I'm siding with Rieux in that man is not an idea. We see humanity, 6.974 billion people living in the world as of 2011, and if death passed through majority of that number, would one fight for those people or the idea of a person's right to living in the world. I for one would choose to fight for the people who currently live here and not the idea that we should be living because I still have yet to know that.

Rambert says Tarrou is incapable of dying for an idea. Taking man being an idea out of the picture, I think any true man can die for the ones he loves. Tarrou can definitely die for people he cares about, more so than any other man on the street can fight against the plague for the "greater good" of humanity. If everyone came together, not fighting for the idea of man that doesn't exist, and fought for the brothers and sisters around them, wouldn't there have been a chance to combat the illness? So is man an idea? Yes. But is that idea worth fighting for? No. The people who are close to you, and take part in making that idea a whole are the ones worth fighting for.

Open Letter to Parents

Parenting is hard, I think we get to see that come around fifteen years of growing up and seeing the stupid things we've done in the past. But as a parent one has to just let it go, we're kids and we learn from our mistakes. Not everything can be taught solely from listening and following you, we just want to be our own person and learn from that. So don't make us do anything we don't want to do, push us in the directions you want, and if we like it so be it. Don't force those vegetables down our throats, that's what the Gummy Flinstone vitamins are for. Punishment is okay for drugs, grades, and alcohol, but don't punish your kids over stuff you couldn't do as a child. That excuse is ridiculous and times have changed, it's time to let go, kids should be able to sleep over their best friends' houses, and they should also be allowed to go out once in a while with friends if they really hadn't done anything wrong.

To my parents, I've been on the lucky end of the stick, I think. Everything you've done to or for me helped me be my own person, you didn't push too hard, but just enough. Mom has let me be responsible and make many of my own choices. Dad you've been hard on me my whole childhood, from schools to sports to health, and its paid off, I know now why you did it and it made me better in the end. So you guys did your job, I turned out okay I guess.

As long as your child does their work in school, does what they like to do, and stays out of trouble, what other means is there to parent them on? To all the parents who's kids fit those 3 things, I think you've succeeded your job in being a parent. Thanks.