Today's Society in a Fiction Book

"Fahrenheit 451" is a fictitious novel that portrays a very weird socety which for sure, we do not want to have. The book shows how advance, yet, gloomy their society is. Contrary to the "fiction" word that has being tagged to it, I can personally say that somehow, our world has never been different from theirs.

Due to the banning of books being implemented, and reading of books as a crime, the people in the novel were unknowledgeable and dumb. They had become unaware about the things that usual people must know about. Worst of all, their emotions were taken away. They lived a life of apathy and even violence. People never cared for other people. Everyone was blinded by the thoughts that were forced into their minds. Today's world is similar to theirs. Though books were not banned in the present society, it is so evident that people are acting the same as the characters in the novel. They have always been apathetic to the world's present problems and have done nothing. They exercise violence just to answer their needs and get what they want. The people today are much knowledgeable than those in the novel, but then, they remained dumb. The novel also showed how technology ran people's lives and how it destroyed the society. Today, the world is full of people who have nothing but material things. They are people who continuously destroy themselves with the help of the technology. And as they do it to themselves, they bring the whole society with them.

Despite of the similarities it has depicted, the two worlds also have differences. For instance, in the novel, the people were no longer allowed to read books. Books were burned, together with the owner, if he appeals. Today, though people are no longer relying so much on books because of modernization, they still value books at least. I can sometimes see beggars and even the poorest of the poor picking up books which are being trashed by the owners. This just shows how people still get attached to the books, eventhough they only open it once in a blue moon.

No matter how people would differ our present world to that of the novel, it will remain a fact that "Fahrenheit 451" is a fiction novel which shows that our world can also become as "fictitious" as the world in it. It just waits for the people to do something to worsen the situation.

Brawling for Popularity

When I was younger, I never thought of being a girl. I have always acted and dressed like a boy. I always wanted to become one of those boys who could make everyone stop and stare, even just for a while. I wanted to be respected and feared. Most of all, I wanted to get the attention given to the boys more than girls, due to their physical strength. When I was in sixth grade, I admired how my male classmates were. They were always bullying my other classmates, and getting into riots inside the four corners of the classroom. Due to that, many of my classmates were afraid of them. I believed that those were cool. So, I tried. I have this guy classmate of mine, who was older than us. He was nice to everyone. He was the "big brother" of the whole class. Once, he made fun of me. Actually, the jokes he had thrown were simple and just funny. But, I never liked it. I told him to stop, but he didn't. When I had enough, I stood up and picked a dustpan. And, in front of the whole class, I hit him with the filthy thing. He had a tiny cut in his neck. At last, he stopped making fun of me. I, on the other hand, felt that what I did was cool. Devilish as it may sound, I became happy. However, I wasn't contented yet. When he went out of the room, I confronted him. He really did not want to fight with me, but I didn't listen to him. I threw a punch into his face. He got mad and gave me a kick. So did I. We had a physical fight in the corridor. It stopped when he ran after me and we met a teacher. After that, I really felt fulfilled. It was so nice battling with a guy. That time, I thought that I could already be considered as one of those strong boys being feared by people. But, the next day, I was surprised as our teacher knew about what I did to my classmate. She got angry and even told me, "I will talk to you later!" With those words, I had my heart beating so fast, with my conscience alarming me. I realized that what I did was wrong. I should have just talked to him peacefully. But, I never did. I was blinded by the praises that will be given to me because I was brave and strong. I was really demoralized that time. I never wanted to be subjected into a disciplinary action, or worse, suspension. Luckily, due to ageing, my teacher forgot about the talk and even my offense. I did a big sigh of relief! After that, I approached my classmate, asked forgiveness, and admitted my fault. I felt ashamed. I realized that I don't have to do what my boy classmates do just to be praised and get more attention. There are so many ways to gain compliments from the people around you, without using your fist. Maybe, you can get some as you knock a person down, but, it will never bring you true peace and happiness.

No Space for Sincerity

In our home, we first lived, we first learned. This is where we are mostly influenced. I stand as a living proof. My first school, despite of being a sectarian one, never made me a real Christian. Yes, they let me pray and force to hear mass, but those were only limited inside the learning institution, for when I go home, those stuffs were ignored. In my 17 years of existence, my parents never instilled in my mind the importance of believing in God. I even found it so strange when they once admitted me to a Catholic school, without any belief to Roman Catholicism. But they didn't care, as long as I'm in a good school. And during my days in that school, I never took my Christian Living subject so seriously. I would always fake everything that should be said or written on journals, when it comes to religion. And the most awkward part of my elementary days were those times when our teacher would ask us if we attended mass or not. Everyone answered yes. I, on the other hand, would always stay quiet. I have never seen myself in a church every Sunday, unless there are burials, weddings, etc. And if so, I would end up talking and not listening to the priest. When I was little, I would always love to hear mass, just like my other friends. But, nobody in the house has the interest to listen to a priest talking about God. And as I grow up, prayers were taken for granted. There were some instances when I would try to pray, but I would leave it unfinished. Up until now, I never took them so seriously. It seems to be miserable, but this is my life.

Friends are People You Can Regret of Having

They would always say that you can never trust anyone nowadays, but yourself, for you can never manipulate everyone in this world. In our everyday lives, we always go with different people. We tend to develop a relationship with them, which we call friendship. But, it is not an assurance that friends are always trustworthy. You would never know what comes next and where would that trust of yours go.

Back in high school, I've seen so many dramas between friends. They always go, laugh, fight, and cry together. These are the common things they do. I've got this classmate of mine who seemed to be a friend of everyone, but still has experienced being betrayed by a friend. He has his close friends, and at the same time, the whole class. Yes, he was dear to everyone, just as long as you've got nothing against him.

He is so active in social networking sites. He even seemed to have accounts in everything in the worldwide web. And he also got a blogger. Because he writes well, many people read and appreciated his works, including me. Every time he makes a new post, he would always update us about it. Of course, he informed us because he trusted us, his friends. Then I've got this other classmate of mine, who is, originally, not interested with those stuffs. And this certain classmate was one of us, being informed by him.

Days passed and he became an active blogger. We, too, were liking his entries. Then, that other classmate of ours became so much eager to read his posts. Well, there's nothing wrong with that, but, we all know that she was never interested in those things. So, I was wondering why is she doing those. She really became the most interested follower of his in blogger.

I thought that those actions of hers were just her little steps for preparing for college. Of course, college life is so much harder than high school, and you are really ought to read, read, and read. So, we just didn't care. Until such time when I noticed that my classmate, the one who had his blogger, ceased from posting something. At first, I was, like, okay. But, there was a time when, he, himself, told me the truth about what really happened.

That classmate of ours, who was so eager in reading his posts, claimed his blogger as hers. She had a text mate and she pretended to be a boy, using the name of my classmate, who is the owner of the blogger. The worst thing is, she told her text mate that everything in my classmate's blogger was all hers. My classmate once told me that she even asked him to always inform her when another blog is being posted. So, everything was just because she wanted to impress her text mate that she is that good in writing.

On the other hand, the owner of the blogger, was really outraged. He realized that he just wasted the trust he has given to her, since the time they became friends. Though she asked for forgiveness, it wasn't that easy, according to him. Now, he's not that active anymore, but still posts something. And the big difference was, he would no longer update us when he's got another entry.

Friends are people you can definitely count on. But, it's hard to admit the fact that nowadays, you can only name a few. So you're left with two choices: either to trust, or regret?