Weddings? I love weddings! Joy all around!

So... Yeah... I decided to start a blog. I feel a bit late to this particular party, but hey, better late then never. Since I doubt anyone aside from my friends will be reading this, I won't say too much about myself. I just graduated with a Bachelors in Liberal Arts at Wyoming Catholic College, and I work as an EMT. If you want to know where I am living/working, just picture the movie Wind River (starring Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and the Punisher), and you'll have a pretty good idea.

But enough about me. I wanted to start this blog to add a bit of humor and joy to Mondays, to make them a little less... mundane. I also like thinking about random things, and once in a Blue Moon, (actually it takes several, and preferably the mango flavor) I actually think about something deep or intelligent.

I drew the title of this blog from the Jack Nicholson movie As Good as it Gets.

There is a scene where Jack Nicholson's character, Melvin, is trying to compliment the waitress he has fallen in love with throughout the movie. He says "You make me want to be a better man." The comment not only makes his love interest happy, but it also helps Melvin figure out why he was so happy with her.

I had the privilege of attending the wedding of two of my classmates this past weekend, and I realized during that time just how much I missed being around people who make me want to be a better man. Whether it was staying up late at night playing euchre or just sitting around a table eating lunch, I had a truly joyful time in the midst of these actively virtuous people. My thought this week is this: In order for someone to experience true joy, they should surround themselves with those who make them desire virtue.

So I guess that ties into the general idea I want to promote with this blog. True joy is important to the virtuous life, and the virtuous life requires intellectual exercise. I hope this blog can be a combination of intellectual exercise and humor.

Since this is supposed to be a blog about literature and applying it to our lives or something cheesy like that, I guess I should throw in a quality reference to wrap things up. When it comes to characters who end up experiencing true joy because of a friend who makes them want to be a better person, there is one that stands out: Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment. He is like Melvin, and Sonya is the waitress. However, Sonya is only able to help Raskolnikov desire virtue because of her own pursuit of God. If this plot doesn't ring a bell, you should go read Dostoevsky! Tolle et Lege!

Hey, is it solipsistic in here? Or is it just me?

Philosophy meme!

Pretty sure they would not have tried to make him drink hemlock. He would have been too pawpular.

Anyways, have a good week! Stay virtuously happy!