Living passionately, aging, and graduation.

LIVING PASSIONATELY:

https://www.ted.com/talks/isabelle_allende_how_to_live_passionately_no_matter_your_age

SUMMARY:

This ted talk primarily focuses on how to keep passion in your life despite your age. Isabel Allende opens with discussing the idea of aging. She says that society labels us as old at about 65, and that's when we feel most of our aging. In reality, we are constantly aging, but our minds stay young. She says that aging is all about our attitudes and how we react to it. We must say yes to life and allow ourselves to age and not fight it. It's all about learning to accept things and enjoy life. She says that it takes practice and training. This idea of acceptance isn't easy for everyone, and we must train ourselves for it. She says we must choose to stay engaged in life, not let our age weigh us down.

TACTICS:

Allende uses a variety of pathos and logos to further her ideas. We all experience aging, it's very personal for all of us. She talks about parts of her body "dropping" and how she no longer feels like she is noticed by others. This is something most older women can relate to and feel on an emotional level, creating pathos. Allende also uses humor, like the video of the child meditating. It gets the attention of the audience and engages them, creating more pathos. Allende also gives examples of women she believes to be living passionately; some activists, some average women, which is a pretty large spectrum. This is considered logos, because it's like supporting evidence. "If these women can do it, so can you!" sort of thing going on. I think to give this idea more credibility, Allende could have explained why she thinks they are "living passionately" and how they got there in the first place.

PERSONAL CONNECTION:

This talk is personal to me because of my particular situation: I'm a senior in high school about to graduate, a basic milestone in everyone's life. It shows signs of growing up and entering the real world. So when I was confronted with this idea of aging and living passionately, I was interested. We all want to find purpose in our lives and know how to find passion. As I am entering this new stage in my life, I want to know how I can enter it with passion, and continue to have it forever. That's why I chose this talk. 

The Hero of Double Indemnity

"In your mind, are there any heros in Double Indemnity? If so, who?"

Double Indemnity is essentially a movie about a deceptive woman tricking a man into killing people, and then that same man gets screwed over because of it. There's not a lot of morals in this movie, let's be honest. 

However, the movie does have its very own mora compass, Keyes. From the beginning, Keyes is an extremely introspective and cunning individual who will stop at nothing to determine the truth. He doesn't take the easy way out, he digs until he is certain he has found the truth. 

Unfortunately, this turns out to be a big issue for Walter Neff. After Neff meets the glamorous and seductive Phyllis Dietrichson, he's willing to do anything for her. This includes, but is not limited to, killing her husband so she gets all his money. They appear to get away with it at first, but along comes Keyes. 

With a shadow of a doubt in his mind, Keyes starts digging. He trusts his instincts and follows it to find the truth. This leads to him bringing in the witness Jackson to confirm his hunch that Mr. Dietrichson was not the one on the train. This paves the way for Keyes to find the truth. 

But before Keyes discovers the truth, Neff, with an extremely guilty conscience, confesses. But I think we can all agree that Keyes is the true hero of this story because of his undying need for the truth and justice, despite how things may appear.