Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Malcolm X #1

Malcolm X certainly reaches rock bottom when he is in prison. Fortunately for him, he's found faith in the Islam religion. I think in Malcolm's situation, being able to live life with such a strong religion is very beneficial. But when living my life, religion doesn't take over my life. Yes, I have strong Catholic views, but they don't control everything I do in life. I respect the people who allow religion to guide them through life, but I don't respect when they try to convert others. Mattessich says that it's an American view-- respecting other religions. I guess it is because I'm living in such a free country and being able to believe in what I choose reflects what I think of this situation.

In Malcolm's situation, he found light in the religion of Islam. Through personal experiences, I've found light in music. I'm not gonna sit here and go off about how music changed my life and omg music is my LIFE and blah blah blah-- but it's a big part of it. I've been exposed to music ever since I was born and started creating music at the age of three. My mom handed me my first violin and I played up until seventh grade. I was the concertmaster of the Bergen Youth Orchestra at 12 years old-- something completely remarkable. Then, for some stupid reason I don't remember, I quit after that year. I thought I felt liberated and carefree after quitting violin. But now I realize that creating music was always a part of my life and I couldn't live without it. I've started playing violin again in November and I'm on my way to achieve greater things.

Maybe I didn't feel as crappy as Malcolm did when he was in prison, but I've never been in prison (and hopefully not in the future), so this is the way I can relate to Malcolm's situation. Again, I don't let music take over my life like Malcolm allows the religion of Islam guide him through life. Instead, music is just a factor that makes me the person I am.

In this article, a woman found how to get back on track with her life through music and through God. Being a Catholic myself, I really liked this article. It inspired me in a couple ways. It brought me to realize that if you stick your mind to something, you can always achieve it. And finally, it allowed me to relate to this woman.  

3 comments:

WAGS said...

Hey! Malcolm has learned to be a part of the Islamic religion so willingly while he was in prison because that is basically all he could do while he was there. As he took interest in this, he became attached and relied on everything that "Allah" believed in. I remember in class someone said that they do not believe in the Muslim religion, which I don't either. But, the fact that Malcolm can now rely on someone to help him, other than himself, shows that he is now willing to become a better person. I also think that people who want to accomplish something can easily do it as long as they put their minds to it. Good luck with your violin<33

Angel said...

hey jamiee --
i completely agree with your blog. malcolm sort of found his love for religion after being in jail. if he wasn't thrown into jail, history would surely have changed today.
i'm in the same boat as you, music is one of my greatest loves and i feel like it does dictate some of my life, even though it is not as much as malcolm dictated his own with religion.
<3a.shoe.

Hari Shah said...

Jaime, I like the blog post very well. When I read about Malcolm in jail and how he was motivated to change his life, it made realize that education is key. I also imagined how history would be without any leaders like MLK Jr. and Malcolm. The traces of Black history would have a huge gap in it. Their is a clip on youtube (below) that follows up about the oppression black people had over the years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gayn8mR_Q7Q