My unexamined life and the new philosophers.

 Junior year in high school is the year most students are forced to examine their lives. Colleges want to know about the kids that are applying to their respected places of higher learning. Before this year, I found myself examining the things around my life. The institutions, popular culture, and the people (not proudly, might I add.) But this is the year I consciously and constantly  examine myself. This almost constant flow of self evaluation always comes from the same questions. What makes me stand out from my peers?  Why do I want to go to college? Why didn't I try harder in class? These questions always lead to the fact that I should've tried harder in school. I still have time,  but life would be a lot easier now if I had gone that extra mile as an underclassman. 

 That last paragraph, as great as it was, led me to a sobering discovery. If I want to succeed in life, I must follow Socrates's advice. I must be always asking myself the questions that I'm asking myself this year. Otherwise, I'll just achieve some crappy job as a seg-way sales person.

 There are few people who resemble Socrates like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. If it weren't for them, I would hardly know anything pertaining to the current political events. Not only that, but I probably wouldn't be able to think for myself in reference to politics. If Stewart and Colbert really follow the Socratic method, then I used to be the second audience. Laughing at and mocking our political leaders, thinking I was just just as smart as the combination. As I got older, however, I began to question some of things Mr. Stewart/Colbert were asking. Not that I necessarily always disagreed with them, but I began to realize that following them blindly wasn't helping the process. I needed to form my own opinions. 
  In this way Jon Stewart is like Socrates. His outer  persona leads people to believe he only wants them to laugh, just like Socrates wanted people to think he was ignorant. But in reality, they want people to think for themselves.