Arachnephobia

            Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the thirteenth.  Triskadekaphobia – the fear of the number thirteen.  Ablutophobia: the fear of baths.  Arachnephobia - the fear of spiders.  The list goes on and on.  Simply put, there are lots of fears in this world as fear is an innate human emotion.  It plays a pivotal role in our lives as it may either help us to develop our strength of character or impel us to make impetuous decisions.  No matter what gullible and naïve people may say, fear is an unavoidable emotion and a person will inevitably confront their fear sooner or later in their lives.  For me, I would have to say that I am arachnophobic.

            Spiders.  The very mention of the word makes me shiver and shudder.  Vampire-like venomous creatures, spiders terrify me, their heads small yet sinister-looking while their abdomen looks as if it contains potent poisons.  However, there is one part of a spider that leaves the most indelible impression: their legs.  Abnormally long and lanky compared to the rest of the body, a spider’s legs exude an eerie aura as it gingerly moves the spider towards its prey.  These legs, eight in total, are the defining characteristic of a spider.  In fact, as I am writing this blog right now, there is actually a spider on the outside of my window and I am appalled by the shape and size of its legs as it enlarges the actual size of the spider.

            My fear most likely originated from a birthday party I attended when I was a child.  On that day, my friends and I were engaged in playing a perennially popular children’s game of tag when suddenly, I tripped and fell.  Not paying much attention to the matter, I simply picked myself up, completely oblivious to a menacing creature lurking towards me.  Following our game boisterous game of tag, we went back in the host’s house to eat some cake.  I was extremely famished after our enervating activity and was really looking forward to indulging myself in a scrumptious cake.  However, as I was about to take my first bite, my friend’s eyes suddenly widened and he pointed at my chest, his mouth hanging open.  I looked down to where he was pointing and saw a pair of eyes staring right back at me.  What lay on my chest was a spider with the longest legs I ever saw in my life – a daddy long legs spider.  My heart pounding like my drum and my hands damp with sweat, I was stunned by the grotesque nature of the spider – ugly and scary – and could not move at all.  To my utter surprise, one of the birthday boy’s friends actually came over and gave a cry of joy as he held out his hand to allow the spider to move onto his hand.  Thankfully, the spider did move onto his hand.  The problem with the spider on my chest had been resolved but an immensely larger one had emerged at the same time.  Even to this day, I find it extremely ironic how birthday parties are supposed to be a heart-warming occasion and yet, my fear of spiders emerged from this “jubilant” event. 

            While fear may impel others to be impulsive and reckless, I feel that this is not the case for me.  For example, there have been many occasions where I have been called by my sister to “shoo” away or “kill” an unsuspecting spider that has entered her room.  Even though I am scared of them, I realize that my sister is even more terrified and that as the older sibling, I have the responsibility of taking care of her.  Henceforth, every time a spider unwittingly crawls into her room, I have to muster up my courage to pick up the spider with a tissue and toss it outside.  I do not feel that my fear really hinders me in any way as I am able to confront and overcome my fears when it is important. 

Three Quotes

            A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, is a compelling novel which depicts the episodes and emotions of two Afghanistan women, Mariam and Laila.  Khaled Hosseini brilliantly uses these two characters from his novel to not only symbolize the women of Afghanistan, but also vividly portray to his readers the plight of Afghanistan women.  This heart-wrenching story takes place during the Soviet invasion on Afghanistan and later the Taliban attack. 

           

The quote “Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman” reveals how oppressed women were (page 7).  In regards to the general theme of this novel, this quote exquisitely exhibits the plight of Afghanistan women.  During those times, the women were extremely marginalized and at the end of the day, they were always the scapegoats.  All blame would collapse upon the shoulders of the Afghanistan women who could not assert themselves or defend themselves.  Even when their indignation may impel them to speak up at times, their voices of protest and pleas would not be heard as their voices were like silent snowflakes outside the walls of their houses.  The only thing they could do was endure silently and persevere in the face of abject injustice.  In addition to being scapegoats, women were also deprived of a basic life: no rights to education, no rights to having a profession, and no rights to dressing how they wanted.  Women were compelled to stay at home and during the few times they were allowed to go out, they had to wear a burqa, a symbol of their imprisonment.  Men would force their wives to wear a burqa as a form of control and demonstration of ownership. 

            In addition, another significant quote in this story is “Women like us. We endure. It's all we have” which demonstrates the women of Afghanistan’s remarkable strength of character.  Their inner strength is strong beyond belief as they all try to cope in order to survive in an unforgiving time.  Mariam Jo fully embodies all these women.  After being discarded by Jalil, Nana teachers her daughter, Mariam Jo, her view of life: women can do nothing but endure.  Mariam takes this lesson to heart.  Later on in the story, Mariam endures degradation by Jalil’s other wives, she endures an arranged marriage, and she endures her domineering and irate husband who constantly berates and attacks her.  Despite suffering such a tragic life, Mariam Jo never harboured any thoughts of suicide and tries to cope with her grim life.  She is a true paragon of Afghanistan women, exemplifying their ability to persevere, be stoic, and be stout.

            The last quote “Mariam could see herself too, reflected in the brown of Jalil's eyes: Her hair billowing, her face blazing excitement with excitement” contributes to another theme of the story: love (page 21).  Although A Thousand Splendid Suns may be replete with hardships and pathos, there is a theme of love – maternally, fraternally, friendships, and lovers – expressed throughout the story.  This quote reveals how madly devoted Mariam was towards her father.  Even though he left them to live in a shack-like home isolated from society, she still loves him and would eagerly await the days he would come to visit.  Such an act could only be done by a person who adores their father dearly.  During the beginning of the story, it appears that Jalil was very fond of Mariam as well but unfortunately, he is an abject coward who can could not stand up to his wives when they insist that he marry off Mariam. 

r U "behind the grind?"

            English has always been a perplexing language and will probably remain the same for coming decades due to a lack of consensus and basic understanding.  What people do not comprehend is English’s dominant quality - the gift to evolve and adapt, similar to Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.  In my opinion, the English language is ever-changing and instead of trying to keep it static, we, as humans, should ignore the innate scepticism in ourselves and learn to accept the inherent changes of the English language. 

            About 1000 years ago, the English language was completely incomparable to what it is today.  Grammar did not exist and certain symbols were used to represent what we call today the “alphabet.”  Back then, it would have been preposterous to propose changing “ae,” which equates to the modern day “a,” to a simple “a.”  The mere notion of adjusting something that functions so well would have been viewed with contempt and scoffed at.  Yet, fast-forward one thousand years into the future, and here we are, equipped with a vastly different alphabet and vocabulary that resembles nothing like it did in the past.  In fact, many agree that this change was actually beneficial for the English language.  This is a clear example of how change was helpful for the English language and how people should embrace change.  However, despite this apparent fact, we are still cynical of the impending changes that English is currently confronting.  Educators are concerned about the relentless stream of sentence fragments, abbreviations and emoticons.  Scholars fear of the decline in spelling, word choice, and writing complexity.  All in all, they are advocating one axiom: that the grammar of English right now is impeccable and anything else is inappropriate and degrading.  What makes the current type of grammar legitimate while this new form, called “textism,” is erroneous?  Is it the fact that the current one is “just right” or the fact that it is because many people adhere to this current form of grammar?  Humans, in nature, are naïve and capricious creatures.  They all tend to follow the herd as they are under the illusion that the majority are always right.  The same could be said of the situation right now.  People should learn to embrace this change as it will be efficacious like it was in the past.  In addition, it will also help to upgrade our language and usher in a new era, teaching many the values of sentence structure and being concise.  Therefore, I believe we should welcome this change of abbreviation and computer language as it will help English and teach many adolescents and adults alike the values of English such as succinctness and syntax.