Alienation

The deepest form of alienation is alienation from your own family. Isn't that sad?

Alienation is actually different from isolation. It's "not being recognized": it's being estranged. If you're estranged from your family, then what are you? What do you have? That is what seems so sad to me.

We all have to choose a path to identity. Sure, I'm pretty young if I do say so myself (!), but I could say that I've still sort of chosen a path. Right now, I'm pretty much walking the path of replication. That is, replication of my parents. I've definitely embraced my parents' values, since they've raised me. But I think that since I've lived with the ideas of my parents my entire life, everything that they tell me is right just seems normal to me. Of course, I can't speak for other people my age. It just seems normal for me to listen to my mom all the time.

Like Hegel said, we're trapped in a state of uneasiness. Even if we choose to be free, we don't feel free. It's like what we talked about in class: I could choose not to go to school, but I'd have a certain guilt looming over me all day. In this way, I have freedom, but at the same time, I don't. Ah, but this goes back to the "path" that I'm on...I've replicated my mom's values, so I go to school anyways. It's a value she holds, too.