Heading into the shortened mid-winter break, I was chosen to write this week's edition of Kits' Korner. Jeremiad is defined as being a long, mournful complaint or lamentation. In all honesty, I was not fond of the idea of writing this blog, and at that moment I thought to myself, 'why don't I just write my own jeremiad?"
At first I thought of jeremiad simply as a synonym for a rant. As I dove deeper into the word, I learned that there is much more to the word jeremiad than simply complaining. Jeremiad stems from the French word, jeremiade--meaning pessimists.
Jeremiah was a Jewish prophet during the destruction of Jerusalem and the holy temple. Jeremiah lamented to the people about their lack of worship for God. Jeremiah was continuously warning the people of the tragedies that would come to Israel if they did not change their ways. Nobody listened to Jeremiah. They continued to live their lives full of sin. Jerusalem eventually fell and all the damage had been done. Jeremiah then wrote his own lamentations in a book titled the same, therefore, giving jeremiad its definition.
After learning about the story of Jeremiah, I began to think that we all could be disregarding someone's thoughts as just another complaint. Personally, there have been many times where I've ignored someone's warnings, thinking that they were only looking for pity. I believe that there is something we can take away from the story of Jeremiah. Maybe we should start to listen to what people say, even if it seems like just another complaint. In doing so, we could be potentially saving ourselves from the dangers ahead.
Everyday I encounter rants and complaints on various social media sites such as Twitter. From politicians, to athletes, to friends, everyone seems to have a reason to complain. I believe that every once in awhile people should complain and vent their concerns. Rather than keeping your thoughts inside, we should embrace these feelings and express them. People should go on their long rants and maybe we should pay attention. Sorting through which ones are giving us a good warning and which ones are simply someone lamenting in their problems is the true challenge.
Researching jeremiad and writing this blog actually proved to be enjoyable. Once I was able to get past my initial idea of writing out my own complaints, I began to actually have fun. I now am going to take people's rants and complaints into greater consideration. Viewing rants as jeremiads seem to give them more merit to me. I do not know whether or not that is a good or bad thing, however, only time will tell whether or not we should have listened.
--James Glenn 11th grader CHS
At first I thought of jeremiad simply as a synonym for a rant. As I dove deeper into the word, I learned that there is much more to the word jeremiad than simply complaining. Jeremiad stems from the French word, jeremiade--meaning pessimists.
Jeremiah was a Jewish prophet during the destruction of Jerusalem and the holy temple. Jeremiah lamented to the people about their lack of worship for God. Jeremiah was continuously warning the people of the tragedies that would come to Israel if they did not change their ways. Nobody listened to Jeremiah. They continued to live their lives full of sin. Jerusalem eventually fell and all the damage had been done. Jeremiah then wrote his own lamentations in a book titled the same, therefore, giving jeremiad its definition.
After learning about the story of Jeremiah, I began to think that we all could be disregarding someone's thoughts as just another complaint. Personally, there have been many times where I've ignored someone's warnings, thinking that they were only looking for pity. I believe that there is something we can take away from the story of Jeremiah. Maybe we should start to listen to what people say, even if it seems like just another complaint. In doing so, we could be potentially saving ourselves from the dangers ahead.
Everyday I encounter rants and complaints on various social media sites such as Twitter. From politicians, to athletes, to friends, everyone seems to have a reason to complain. I believe that every once in awhile people should complain and vent their concerns. Rather than keeping your thoughts inside, we should embrace these feelings and express them. People should go on their long rants and maybe we should pay attention. Sorting through which ones are giving us a good warning and which ones are simply someone lamenting in their problems is the true challenge.
Researching jeremiad and writing this blog actually proved to be enjoyable. Once I was able to get past my initial idea of writing out my own complaints, I began to actually have fun. I now am going to take people's rants and complaints into greater consideration. Viewing rants as jeremiads seem to give them more merit to me. I do not know whether or not that is a good or bad thing, however, only time will tell whether or not we should have listened.
--James Glenn 11th grader CHS