i began my junior year today. predictably, history and literature are my favorite subjects thus far. oh, the perpetual motion of history, the way that every occurrence in every realm impacts the progression of time and of the world, is endlessly fascinating. every realm of civilization - the state, the church, the arts - impacts every other realm, none fully reigning culture, but all limiting each other and often working against each other - yet this endless shifting is what advances history. i absolutely love it. it's almost sad that i only have two years left in high school.

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people with real joy are those who know that to live for themselves is squandered and fruitless, and so they choose to live for others, and for something greater and outside of themselves. it is often the people we are at first inclined to pity whom we grow to envy most, and those whose lives we instinctually covet are the ones that eventually fill us with compassion.