Gender and Dating Relationships

In this article the author was saying how many women use marriage and the ring as accessories. The author compared real-life marriage stories to the movies and how many women in the relationship want the ring - some even as an escape from love. I reflected on my parent's love stories as well as the other love stories we had heard in class. Each and every one stated that their love and their relationship is not like the movies. Relationships need work and time and commitment, something the movies do not show at all. I think the author made very good points in his article. His one story about how his girl friends didn't want to take their fiance's surname - it was too sexist and gender-dominant for them.  However, I believe that taking the man's name is traditional and nice, but I do understand that it is not for everyone. I liked how the couple agreed to both take each others names.
Compared to my families' experiences and my parents' love story, I think that my parents had it right. One thing my mom told me was that when her and my dad got engaged, all of their friends and families were like, "Finally!" because they had been dating for so long. Another thing is that the couple needs to talk about marriage and their  future life together. One women in the article stated that her and her boyfriend hadn't talked about it all because she wanted the proposal to be a surprise. I would want my proposal to be a surprise but that doesn't mean I don't have to talk to my future husband about it! Sure, you will know that you ARE getting engaged but when and where and how will all still be a mystery!

America the Beautiful

After watching this video and following Gerren Taylor through her story of starting modeling at a very young age, modeling as women twice her age, and then falling and ending her modeling career, I have learned many new impacts the modeling world can have on people. The modeling world has shown me that the industry is harsh.  Towards the end of the video when Gerren was in Milan to try to get booked for jobs, the women at the company told her she was obese and ugly and that they weren't looking for her to do the job. Being stick thin, Gerren was told she needed to lose weight around her hips, that in order for her to get the job she needed to become skinnier so they could save money by using less fabric. As a 12 year old, Gerren was hired for numerous modeling jobs; she knew she was beautiful and talented. As she got older, the industry kept denying her the jobs because they said she was 'too fat' and 'not pretty enough' bring her self-esteem and self worth plummeting down. I believe that my experience as a young women living in todays society has been altered by the ideals and expectations of society. I am constantly reminded that there are women prettier, skinnier, more talented, and smarter than me everywhere I turn.  It is having the confidence and the power to face those constant reminders and say that just being yourself is enough.

Becoming Who You Are

Parker talks about his life, his determination and success and his vocations in life. He explains that the concept of vocation is 'rooted in a deep distrust of selfhood.' He spoke about this deep-rootness of vocation crated a gap between who he was and who he was supposed to be, making living his own life hard for him. One thing Parker said that really struck me was that our vocation isn't a goal in our life that we need to work towards and eventually reach in order to feel whole, complete, like we have our mission in life. Our vocation is something each and every one of us already possess. Vocation comes from the voice within and calls us to be the person we were born to be, not a person that we need to change into becoming.

Parker continues to talk about how we often times spend the first half of our lives losing who we truly are, then we spend the second half of our lives trying to gain back who we are. He talks about his granddaughter and how he plans to take not of her as a small child and the things she says, does, believes, trusts, etc., then he will give it to  her when she becomes an teenager or a young adult to remind her who she really, truly is and how as a baby she was being her true self. This idea that we are who we need to be and who we are called to be in life is exactly who we are as a child. I can see that in my everyday life my ideas and my thoughts are conformed into the opinions of the people around me and the people in my life. After reading this passage I realized that what he has said is true. Throughout middle school and high school my beliefs and my ideas and opinions have been changed to please and agree with those around me. I realize that who I was and who I was trying to be was something completely different than who I am and who I am called to be. I need to refocus myself on my life, my beliefs, my ideas and my opinions to figure out who I truly am. I think it is ok for me to listen to the opinions and ideas of others to help form my own opinion, but completely changing mine to fit their mold of who they want me to be is not my vocation in life and not who God has called me to be.