Well, she's here. For better or worse, 2016 has arrived, and with it, the chance to begin anew.
There is a term in Latin known as Tabula Rasa. Translated that means "clean slate." I love that idea because it has such promise and so much hope.
So, let's start there.
Do you believe that anybody can really ever have a "clean slate"? If not, how come? If so, how come?
How quick are you to forgive anybody else's mistakes against you and "wipe the slate clean"? Do you hold grudges? Why or why not?
Finally, we all know that people love to talk about their new resolutions--something they have resolved to do in the new year that they either never did before or never cared about doing before. What is your opinion on new year's resolutions?
No way. The one and only way to have a clean slate is to lose your memory and have everyone you know so far away that youll never come in contact with them. People will always bring up past mistakes and experiences even if you want to forget them.
ReplyDeleteI only hold grudges sometimes and try to forgive people and it works most of the time nut as I said there are times where I cant let something go.
I think new years resolutions are great despite they seldom ever get done. People never try new things and its good that they are at least trying to do something new. Not only that people try to improve themselves. Its pretty cool.
I feel like nobody can have a "clean slate" because there will always be those people who bring up the past and say anything negative that comes to mind. I'm not that quick to forgive certain mistakes. It depends on how big the mistake is. I'm the type to hold grudges. I dont care. I hold them because I hate when people feel the need to try over with me again after they decided to do something grimey to me. I just remember and never forget. I also think new years resoulutions are trash. It shouldn't take a year to change yourself. You should better yourself as soon as you find to have a problem.
ReplyDeletea clean slate is only possible when you forget about what happened in the past and change the future with better actions . nothing is impossible in this world . and once you can really understand that you can achieve amazing things in life . holding grudges will cripple you without even realizing it . when holding a grudge you let your anger and your pride control your mind and actions and one doesn't think rationally, one can dig them self's a hole in some situations where there is no escape and end up becoming a monster inside which effects loved ones around them . so in the end i always forgive and forget . new year resolution to me are bogus . for example i started train when i was in 8th grade because i wasn't happy with myself and decided to change on the spot back in a cold november not on january 1st . ever since then its been a daily part of my life 6 days a week . people always wait for january 1st to decide its time for a new body but when the sun comes up on january 2nd they think its too hard and give up. no one really sticks to their resolution . if you wanna change that should be motivation enough to do it now not in the new year .
ReplyDeletePeople can’t just start fresh with a clean slate whenever they want to. If people could everyone would do it all the time. However when humans wish to change something major or even something minor about themselves it takes work. Lots of hard work. I wish I was better at holding grudges but I always have high hopes for people. So I forgive them fairly quickly. I hate everything about confrontation and I steer clear of it 99.9% of the time. New Year’s resolutions are dumb. They always have to do with change and if you have to wait for it to be January 1st to start the change then you’ll never succeed with it. If you want to change bad enough most people will do anything in their power to get it as soon as they can.
ReplyDeleteI do't believe in clean slates because you will already have opinions on the person(s) at any given time. You can forgive them. Like I did (I forgave anyone eho has ever wronged me in 2015). I do that for myself. So to give someone a clean slate wouldn't be for them, it would be for you, granted that the term "clean slate" is synonymous with the concept of forgiveness. However, in the notion of the majority, a clean slate is more than just forgiveness, it's the spontaneous regain of trust, which is counter productive if you tell people they need to earn trust.
ReplyDeleteI don't like to hold grudges. I don't like to hold on to burning coal. It takes me a while to get over certain things, but in the end, forgiveness is crucial. Because you forgive not because the other person deserves forgiveness, but because you deserve your own mental piece. Forgive but don't forget.
I think resolutions are stupid, because A) no one I know goes through with them for the whole year, and B) I would rather set goals to meet this year than to look back on the last year and thinking about the mistakes. I never want to believe that at the end of the year I made more mistakes than accomplishments. I like the feeling of accomplishment. There are other ways to improve yourself rather than just saying, "I'm going to do this differently" and end up not going through with it and being suck wondering at the end of that year why nothing changed. I believe it would be much more productive to set goals like: Get a job this year, take the SAT twice, apply to college, do community service. Those are tangible goals you can meet rather than conceptions about yourself you feel like you need to change never seeing that right in front of you is the opportunity to do so. And if you've made it to this point in my comment (first, THANK YOU) I hope that this year is the year of opportunity for you.
I believe people can have a clean slate. I believe this because the Bible says so. The Bible says once you repent, your slate is clean. Also, I forgive people quickly. I forgive because I want to be forgiven. I don't forgive and act like everything is Kosher but I forgive and distance myself. I don't hold grudges because that will only make me miserable. Plus, God says not too. He instructs us to forgive as we would like to be forgiven. I don't have time to hold a grudge. I forgive and move on. New year resolutions are unnecessary. If you want to change your lifestyle or habits, you shouldn't wait until a new year; Start now!
ReplyDeleteI think the only way someone can really have a “clean state” is if they moved to a different state or something where nobody knows anything about them. People that know you and your past will always find a way to bring it back up. Moving somewhere new is really the only way to really truly have a “clean slate”. You also have to be willing to forget about the past yourself. If you’re stuck on your past mistakes than you’re not really giving yourself the chance to start clean.
ReplyDeleteI’m quick to forgive even though sometimes I wish I wasn’t. I don’t hold grudges because it’s usually not worth it and tomorrow isn’t promised. I feel as if it’s a waste of time to hold a grudge against someone and God forbid something happened to them, you’d feel terrible for holding that grudge. It also depends what they did, but most of the time people hold grudges over dumb things like boys/girls, or something that happened at school or a party, or over social media.
My opinion on New Year’s Resolutions is that they’re good to have if you’re actually willing to put the effort in to reach your goal. Although, I don’t believe you have to wait till January 1st to start doing something if you truly wanted to do it to begin with.
(Kendra)
ReplyDelete- no I don't believe anyone can really have a clean slate because what's done is done there's no going back and changing anything.
- I don't necessarily hold grudges I choose to distance myself from those who have done me wrong but in some situations yes I can hold a grudge because I every time I see that person I remember the incident and get mad all over again.
- my opinion on New Years resolutions is that they are stupid because people never stick to it. They end up forgetting all about it.
I do believe in "clean slates", one reason being, I am one of them. Going from a Galloway school to going to May Landing's school I have accomplished a fresh start. I became a new and better "Shannon". I improved on the things that I flawed in myself and readapted them into the person I am today. No one in this school knew the "6th Shannon" and never will. No one will never know what I went through to make it here today,that's because of my "clean slate. I created for myself."
ReplyDeleteAs I believer in God I was always told to forgive. "If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 14-15). I forgive those who had hurt me, but I will not forget they pain they caused. Surrounding myself with that person means putting up walls to close myself in. I will forgive but I could not give them a "clean slate". I know that sounds hypocritical but it would mean putting myself out there again and a possibly to be crushed and torn down. It's about protecting myself from emotional damages. I try so hard not to hold grudges, it's takes so much more of an effort to feel range and anger. I'm now working toward my "Infinite Goal" of being in the pursuit of happiness, finding complete and utter love with a sense of joy within myself. I will forgive but not forget.
I believe that New Years resolutions are silly. It's just a way for people to pretend to better themselves for the benefit of a new year. To really start a change within yourself you have to have more of a meaning and a sense pride to change a flaw you don't want to see in yourself anymore. It takes an monumental reason in your life to want to better your lifestyle rather than just a new year. That is why most New Years resolution don't ever last long.
I do believe every one can have a clean slate as long as you have a good heart. that's honestly all it takes. However, I am not forgiving. at all. I don't hold grudges, but I never forget. I just become more cautious. wiping the slate clean is hard for me, because my dad kind of raised me as a very unforgiving person. Im not with new years resolutions, however I am with goal setting. I goal se year round, theres always room for improvement.
ReplyDeleteNo one can truly have a clean slate. We can erase the ink that we wrote on the slate all we want, but there will be some left over residue of the ink that we want to forget. We can excruciatingly use our force and wipe as hard as we want, but again in vain there will be the leftover blemish that we tried to avoid because of the fact that there are just some ink marks that are just too deep to ever erase from the slate that represent our lives. The ink symbolizes our lives as a whole, the actions that a person undergo in the past define who they are at any given moment in the future.
ReplyDeleteIf we really want to have a “clean slate” we have to alter our minds to recognize that we didn't have a past. For example, we can say new year new me, but we are just writing over the ink mark that we once were.
On my slate, there are sections that are expanding every day, and some parts there will be times where I have to stop because of inconvenient thoughts or other people intruding in my creation, but I can never stop moving along.
I do have Intense disdain towards other people but I never make it a priority. Hate breeds hate, and if I am the one to breed this hate even further, other events that I try to stay away from will follow. I will try not to seek revenge, but I haven't been pushed to do so thus far. Who knows what is install for us in the years to come that will test us.
To have a "clean slate" is such a beautiful idea. But, to remove the wrongs you've done to others and yourself is something that is simply unrealistic. I do not believe that anyone can ever have a "clean slate" but I do believe that some good comes out of every bad thing, so maybe cleaning everyone's slate wouldn’t be that good of a thing.
ReplyDeleteI am the worst when it comes to forgiving because I will forgive almost anyone for anything. And I wish I didn't. I hold grudges but I never do anything about them I just let the grudge bother me while other people use their grudges to attack others. Now, im not saying I want to harm all the people that have harmed me but I do wish that I didn't let people "walk all over me." I don’t "wipe their slate clean" per say but I will always forgive them because I want to believe that people are not bad but instead I believe that people make bad decisions.
I think that new year's resolutions are good in theory. I have one of my own: to do things for myself instead of others. I don’t believe that I will actually be able to accomplish that but I sure am trying. I think that new year's resolutions are a good place to start when trying to better yourself, its just the little push that some of us need. But I don’t think that people should have to wait a whole year to try and do something, we have time now and we should make good use of it.
I tend to always want a “clean slate” in my life for some reason. Starting fresh is intriguing to me and I try to have new outlooks on life often. I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing but I like waking up sometimes and just saying to myself “forget what has happened in the past and move on today as a new person”. Unfortunately it is very hard for me to have a completely clean slate, which is probably why I fail at it almost every new year. I think clean slates are possible just maybe not for me. My past is something that is hard for me to let go of and I always go back to it when trying to figure out how I am today. So maybe I just believe in partially clean slates. Totally clean ones can probably only exist if you wipe everyone from your past out of your life completely. I like the idea of “do-overs” where you notice the things you do wrong or would like to fix and work towards starting over. But a completely clean slate requires forgetting things completely and I’m not sure that can happen or I would like to try and do it. I am definitely the type to forgive everyone, no matter how bad the situation. Sometimes I think this is a curse of being who I am because I kind of put up with the hurt and move on. However, when I forgive people there is always a tiny voice in the back of my head that doesn't let me forget. I’m pretty sure it is impossible for me to hold grudges, possibly another flaw in my personality. Over the seventeen years here on Earth I have learned one important lesson which is that life is way too short. I’d rather forgive people and move on then to hold it against them forever and never have a relationship with them again. You never know when the last time you will talk to someone is, so why waste time being mad over something. I guess it all depends on the situation but most of the time I can be mad at you for a day and forgive you the next. The key is to just never forget what happened, so the slate is not completely clean. New year’s resolutions are a great thing in my opinion. Even if people’s resolutions aren’t carried out fully, they are still good goals for people to strive for. I think that once the clock turns to 12:00 on new year’s day people feel as though they have a new beginning and I love that idea. Even though they could have started their resolutions the day before with no difference, it’s kind of like a mini push towards something great they want to accomplish. Most people won’t complete their resolutions but I love the concept of them and how they make a positive impact on a lot of people. This wasn't a question but my new year’s resolution is to try and make myself as happy as possible in my future endeavors especially with college coming up. I want to make the most out of my year and put my own happiness first.
ReplyDeleteThese days I find myself more and more overwhelmed by everything going on in my life that I just want to push it all away and start fresh with a clean slate. I always find myself wishing for this clean slate but I don’t think I ever really give myself one when I really need it, mostly because it’s hard to just drop everything and start again. I crave that new beginning day in and day out. Sometimes you just need a breath of fresh air to clear your head and start over again. I think clean slates are healthy and normal, and 100% possible, you just have to really want to do it. Like I said before, it’s difficult to just drop what you’re doing and start something else. Just because you have a past doesn’t mean that you have to forget it or never bring it up, you can’t change the past, but you can control your future. You can choose when to change and give yourself a clean slate. I’ve seen it first hand, it’s not impossible ladies and gents. Do I hold grudges? Of course I do. I think everyone does at some point or another. I’m not saying that I’m still holding grudges from when I was 5 years old, but yes I definitely have held them for certain periods of time. Lately I’ve been able to forgive more quickly though, I’ve come to a realization that harboring bitter feelings is unhealthy and a waste of time. Why waste time being pissed about a situation you most likely can’t change when you could be focusing your energy on something that’ll benefit you? Finally. I don’t see the point in new years resolutions, if you wanted a change that badly you shouldn’t have to wait until the new year to do it. I guess if I were to have one though, it would be to just focus on my happiness and putting myself first for once.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that people can ever have a clean slate , whether they are forgiven for their wrong doings or not the past will always be apart of them and it made them who they are so they should know not want to “ clean their slate” but rather accept their past and learn from it then try and erase it. But I don't not believe that one should dwell on the past, accepting your past whether it be good or bad and living in the past are two different things.
ReplyDeletePersonally I am very quick to forgive people but I believe that just stems from my fear of being alone. When it comes to others I am very forgiving of mistakes and willing to dish out second chances. I forgive , but never forget how they hurt me and made me feel, because I have to protect myself from that kind of hurt again. I know that sometimes people do not deserve forgiveness but I just can not help but to give the the benefit of the doubt because in the back of my mind I'll always be thinking what if, and the “ what ifs” will kill me slowly.
New Year's resolutions are good in theory but usually bad in actual reality, because most of the time they are half thought up promises that we know we won't keep to our serve or others. Then when we fail we wait a whole 365 days to embark on another stupid promise that we won't keep.
The new year is less of a clean slate than it is an excuse for people to change their ways. A clean slate in the terms of school most definitely does not come with the new year. A clean school slate is in the beautiful shiny new september of each school year. I will have a social clean slate when I go to college and I will be able to start completely fresh with whatever I want. For the most part clean slates don’t exist and won’t come around when the year grows old. Wiping someone else’s slate clean is easier for me unless you’ve really crossed me to the point of no return. I have recently become acquainted with a girl I never thought would look me in the eyes without tight fists but hey she just snapchatted me so I guess all is well in the universe. I’m quite the forgiving person because I wouldn’t want to not be able to come back from a mistake with someone else. My sworn enemy begged for my forgiveness about a half hour after midnight on NYE and I was convinced the world was ending but it turns out it just took some intoxication to do the trick. New Years resolutions are adorable especially when they are personal and people say things they are going to do to make their own life happier. The New Years of one of my middle school years, my New Years resolution was to drink water and I literally drank nothing but water for an entire year and it made being a vegetarian much easier because I wasn’t getting sugared and caffeinated through my liquid intake for a year. If your resolution benefits anyone, do it, go for it, make life better!! But if you’re just making up random resolutions because it’s almost midnight then that’s silly and when you’re hungover on January first you won’t even remember it.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel as though I am constantly asking for a do-over or a "clean slate". I whole heartedly believe that people can change if they choose to do so, and in doing that they wipe their "slate" clean. Whether you believe it or not everyone's "slate" gets a little dirty, no one goes through life with the same clean slate they started with. If you never made a mistake, you will never learn what is right and wrong and will never actually live.
ReplyDeleteI tend to not hold grudges because frankly, they are just too difficult to keep up with. Someone has to do something pretty rotten to get me to hold a grudge for more than about a month. It is easy for me to forgive someone, mainly because I feel as though people deserve second chances. However, I will never forget what said person did to me, I keep the memory in the back of my mind and tend to analyze each thing they say from that point on.
Every year my New Year's Resolution is to lose weight, gain muscle, eat healthier, basically help my body to become new and improved. However, every year, about three days into the start of my resolutions, I give up or fail miserably. I feel as though New Year's Resolutions are a great thing, they are goals and milestones that you strive to achieve and I believe everyone needs a goal at all times.
Anyone can be given the opportunity of a clean slate. If we so desired, anyone of us could hop in a car, or on a plane, and travel far away from our roots. Once we arrive at whatever destination we were headed to, one would have to start from the beginning. We could be given this opportunity but our past experiences have determined who we are personality wise. Odds are, once we do get to this mysterious new location with new people and new lifestyle, we will revert to our old selves and the past would catch up. We can start with a clean slate, but then inevitably scuff up that slate with our true selves and past. Wiping the slate clean with someone you already know is nearly impossible. I don't like metaphors but I'll use this one. If you drop a plate on the ground and it shatters, sure you can say sorry to it... but it'll never be the same. You can even glue it together and show it how much sorrow and regret you feel for smashing it, sadly, nothing will ever fix those cracks in it where you glued the pieces in place. I've held grudges for a good few years. It doesn't eat at my soul every day, its just that I can't ever trust that person the same. It's a defense mechanism. I don't fancy being hurt twice and I don't think anybody else does either. We're always learning. We learn from mistakes more than anything and trusting the wrong person can be a mistake, a mistake most of us don't want to make twice.
ReplyDeleteAs for New years resolutions. I used to be really into the whole new year thing, but as of 2016, I'm not. I used to thin of the calendar as this never ending cycle. Once December ends, we go back to the top and start at January but now I don't think there is a top anymore. After December is just a new January. We don't start at the top, we just keep going. If that makes sense. So no, I don't like the whole idea behind New Years. This "new year new, new me" thing. Why do people wait till the end of the year to start fresh. January 1st is just another day if you look at it like I do. We are literally moving from December 31st to January 1st. Just as if we were to move from a Monday into a Tuesday. I don't respect people who put off change until the end of the year. Change should come at any point. Why does one transition in a day mean you start over. Why not take any old day and start from there. January 1st is just another day after all. And no one actually keeps their resolutions. If their called New Years resolutions, they're only motivated to keep the resolution going within a certain time frame. It sounds weird to talk about resolutions in June. People only keep them going when its appropriate. Lets just set goals for ourselves and not wait till New Years to do it. My goal is to eat healthier and workout more so that I don't require a walker when I'm an old fart.
No one single person can have a clean slate. Nobody is perfect and if anyone was, the world would burn. People have different definitions regarding what a clean slate means as well. If you had sex before, someone may see that as not having a clean slate and others may just look past it. Basically, you can’t be perfect because you fucked up somewhere down the line. I’m not too quick to wipe someone’s slate. If they come crazy at me, I’ll make sure they hurt too. I give them time to think about what they did and understand how it made me feel before I give them a second chance. If they want to be an ass holes then they don’t deserve instant forgiveness. New Year’s resolutions for most people are like unicorns. They’re not real. It’s like a basic white girl thing when you make a resolution. “I’m going to eat right and work out.” Going to Mickie D’s and not using the gym memberships your parents bought you is not a contribution to the accomplishment of your goal. Don’t get me wrong, some people do make progress. They go to the gym then just boost their gains with McDonalds. At least its half-assed.
ReplyDeleteI do bot think somebody can have a clean slate. A clean state you would kinda have to start everything over which is pretty much impossible. Yes you can start doing new things but the old things will always be.i giess that its a bad trait to have but i can not really forgive people easy. If you do something to me then you have to prove a lot to me. I hold grudges even if i tell myself I shouldn't and i hope one day i can change that about myself. New years resolutions are perfectly fine... If you follow them. Dont make a resolution to do the same old things you been doing after a month
ReplyDeleteI am a forgiving person. My mom always told me that you can forgive but you don't have to forget. when you ask do i hold grudges... well it depends on the situation. If you did something that you knew that will hurt me, just know i'm holding that against. Now if its something small, no i wont.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in new years resolutions. for the simple fact that if you can make a new years resolution now, what was stopping you from making one any other time. why do you have to wait for a new year to come to change something about yourself if you could start any other day of the year. I don't get it. so This new years resolution you speak about don't exist over here.
I do not believe in the saying "clean slate" simply because what happened happened. And you can't change that whether good or bad. That's the beauty of life, our past shapes who we are and is even present in our actions now. So we can't jus simply forget them and act like they never happened. Although I do not hold grudges I never forget what someone did to me. I will forever treat them differently because I whole heartedly believe in the fact that if they did it once they will do it again. Instead of setting yearly goals every year that will not be realized, I rather have long term goals and strive to achieve them.
ReplyDeleteYes I do believe people can have a clean slate because they but all the negative and stuff that was holding them back behind them. For example the group of crowd you was hanging with every day was smoking, and you didn't want to anymore u would cut them off and quit smoking and hanging around people that's encouraging you to do better things. I forgive people easy but I also would lose a lot of trust for the person because once u cross the line it's a chance you think it's okay to do it again. I try not to hold grudges because nobody is perfect but all I ask for is for people to keep it 100 with me. I think New Years resolution is sometimes bs because people go back to doing the same stuff they was doing before and not following through with the resolution.
ReplyDeleteI believe in a clean slate. Why not? I think the idea itself is great. Somebody wanting to do good & better themseleves? That's a positive thing that more people should be willing to do. However not all things can have a clean slate. I had a female recently do me dirty and she continued to lie to my face. I'm not willing to give her a clean slate however I don't hold a grudge, ya feel me? It's cool I mean yeah I'm hurting a little but you've got to keep it pushing. A clean slate a lot of times will be difficult because of all negativity you're sorrounded by. You're trying to do good for you yet all your past mistakes keep coming back to haunt you and with no positive people to help, you begin to feel discouraged. A majority of the time people say they'll change but never do cause we all know it's easier to talk. There's a lot of mental and emotional strength involved in having a clean slate.
ReplyDeleteThe only way you will have a clean slate is if you move far far away and drop everyone you ever knew and start all fresh is the only clean slate i can think of, no matter if someone tells you you have a clean slate one day it will
ReplyDeleteGet brought back up eventually when something repeats,7! I dont really hold grudges at all unless i really hate someone, im generally a very forgiving person to be honest. Sometimes it kinda sucks because people will walk all over your kindess and i know i would never do anything like that. Some people every year they say "its a new year new me" naa not me ihave no resolution, ihave nothing i am going to change because im happy with my life and i love everything about it even the struggles ive been though because thats what made me the personi am today, idrather live in a house with no electricity and nothing in it then be some pussy ass kid that lives in a huge house with everything brand new in it with a perfect family that gets everything they ever need or want because when your on your own its not like that.
I don't believe anyone can truly have a clean slate. I believe because you're past is always a part of you. Whether it is a blessing or a lesson it's still a part of you. I also believe that while it is a part of you, you can reinvent yourself and transform from what you were before. Depending on what the person has done to me I am willing to forgive them. If they lied then it depends the lie. For example if my girlfriend were to cheat on me I would move on from her but I wouldn't dwell on it but just move on. I wouldn't be rude and ignore her if one day in the future she were say hi to me or anything but I would forgive and not forget. I don't hold grudges because I feel as so if takes too much effort to hold a grudge. I think New Years resolution are amusing way to try to change ourselves for the better. It usually doesn't really work out but it's a try in my opinion.
ReplyDelete