Tuesday’s with Morrie

Pop Culture VS. Individual Values: How Society is Destroying Our Individualism

My father is the one person in this world that I fear. It is a respectful fear that he has instilled in me throughout the years. To partially understand my father, you must have a little information about his past. My father's father was an alcoholic. I have heard that he was abusive and very angry. Later in his life, my grandfather had counseling and treatment and his family was able to talk out their feelings with him. Everyone except for my father because he was away at college or the Marines. Living with something like that makes a mark on a man's life. The Marines are programmed to break a man down and build him back up the way that they want. This is needed because the Marines are the cavalry in war. Marines have a mentality of “getting the job done” (Swaggert). This mentality changes their persona and many Marines come out of their service slightly mentally unstable. My father was one of them. My father has a rage that I believe has no bounds. He says, "the little door, when you open it unleashes the monster...” when my father came up to visit last, his siblings angered him. I watched with my grandmother as my father paced and growled, muttering bits of threats and vengeance. My grandmother kept insisting that my father cool down, however I understood. He was not overreacting; he was using his anger in a non-violent way. When he looked up I told him, "I know." He actually laughed and said, "it's genetic then is it?" Rage allows a person to continue when they may fall. It gives resistance to fear and sometimes a little muscle. It also helps to support your identity when outside forces might seek to change you. Through example, my father has taught me his rage.

Everyone has heard the saying, "if someone jumped off a bridge would you jump off too." Most people would answer no, however we find ourselves not actually living our lives by what we naturally believe. Everyone has a sense of their own values, and sometimes those values are affected by Pop culture. Pop culture is affected by many variables and therefore affects people differently. Pop culture has a system of values that are determined by many things. For instance government,