The Unexamined Life/Modern Day Gadfly

The unexamined life is not worth living? Not exactly.

"Sorry! The lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock." - Banksy

      There is a difference in 'living' your life and simply being 'alive'. To me, if you are not examining your life, at least at the very major turns (graduations, marriages, births, deaths, etc.) then you are not living: you are simply going through the motions of being a person. What makes a life a life is the memories that come from choices, and the consequences of those choices. The 'worth' in life comes from looking back and thinking that you were proud to make (some of) the choices you made, and that you wish you hadn't made some. When your life becomes worthless is when you wake up forty years later, and wonder "How on earth did I get here? and can't answer yourself.

As far as modern day gadflies go, I would pick Banksy. Even though he himself is invisible (to most), he acts as an invisible hand.With the acts of producing his popular artwork he pushes the status quo and poses some real and uncomfortable questions to the public. When does the line between "Street Art" and "Fine Art" begin? When is "Graffiti" Graffiti?

Beyond that, much of his art is also controversial in content. One of my personal favorites has a man in Great Depression era clothes next to a sign that says "Follow Your Dreams" with a giant "Cancelled" symbol over it. With art like this, he acts, in my mind, as an invisible Socrates, causing us to change our beliefs in the system, the government, and ourselves (or at the very least question them.)

Eulogy

Imara was a young woman who wore many outfits. For nearly half of her life she wore a tight pair of spandex, and supported not only her elementary and high school teams, but also assisted in bettering her club team. She attended AAU Nationals twice in a row, but was unable to attend her Junior year due to another national competition: Academic Decathlon. For you see Imara was not only exercised her body, but her mind. Although she didn't take home any individual medals at nationals, Imara always worked for the team, and supported their efforts to bring home a banner.

Imara also knew that all work and no play made a very dull boy (girl?). Once her academics and sports were finished, Imara enjoyed partaking in activities with her friends that included roller coasters (not like the Giant Drop at Six Flags), beach volleyball, movies, or just hanging out downtown, Strawberry Surf Rider smoothie in hand. When she needed some alone time, which those who knew her well understood she required to function, Imara loved to read manga, watch anime, and read whatever she could get her hands on (which recently were books on writing, urban planning, and college applications). Her two favorite books were Welcome to the Monkey House and Bass Ackwards and Belly Up. The one activity she truly looked forward to each year was NaNoWriMo, which she won for three years in a row, and was planning on winning again this year.

Imara was a liberal who was strongly concerned with social justice, especially in the cases of women and minorities, and considered herself an ally to the LGBTQ community. Her favorite political blog was thinkprogress.org, and had she been able to vote for president this year, she would've voted for Obama. Instead she contented herself with awkwardly calling strangers and asking if they would support his campaign. Although she strongly aligns with the left, she also encouraged debate in this arena of her life, like she did with all another areas. She was even known to argue against her own beliefs in order to make a debate more interesting to her.

A quintessential gemini, Imara loved life to the fullest, and hated it equally as much, often in turns which changed like the wind. She is survived by her mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, three uncles, three aunt-in-laws, five little cousins, one cat named Tiger, and her 6th generation Sims 3 Random Legacy (Vivano and his wife whose name I can't remember. Kathy? Katie? I don't know. It was important to her, not to anyone else.)