Principle to Keep

I do not consider myself a principled person. This goes along with the fact that although I consider myself opinionated, I do not have enough support in those opinions to keep them and have them never change. But with principles, I feel like the trivial ones I have don't mean much, and they can be bent in my mind while facing different scenarios. However, there are two that I have that I think will not be bent in any situation, and one of them is very important to me:

Do not make anyone feel significantly small for no reason. If I say something bad to someone, most of the times it is meant as either a joke, or retaliation for that person making me feel like less of a human being. For every action I go through, for every thing I say, there is always an ulterior motive. But in no situation would I be able to call someone a derogatory name, or somehow point out one of their flaws for just no reason at all. Even when I make fun of someone for a joke, or maybe as retaliation for that person "starting it first", I will lie in bed and stare at the ceiling and over think every word I've said, and feel this sickening feeling of guilt.

The reason for that is because many times in my life this has happened to me: people pointing out my flaws, calling me names, for no reason at all. Well of course there was a reason: to make me feel bad about myself, and just because they're bored with their own lives that they feel the need to disrupt mine. But would I do that willingly? Would I want a person to over-think their flaws as they lay and try to sleep? No, I wouldn't. I'm sure that there are definitely some people who don't care about other's opinions of themselves. Everyone says that they don't care, but it makes me feel weak, hearing insults about myself. Of course, I understand the fact that I do not like everybody and that nobody can be liked by everyone and that nobody likes everybody. This is not a principle that I could have everybody live by, not even the people that I really like. But regardless for myself, I do not want to make the people I care about feel weak. 

Janie

With Janie, the one thing I can say that I admire about her is her maturity. Did she really need the hardships she received from both Logan and Joe in order for her to get to a mature point? I think so. I observed this maturity in certain points of the book. After Joe died, she complained about how much she hated Nanny, what a horrible woman she was! Making her marry a person that she doesn't love. As she grows older, she realizes that Nanny was only trying to do the best for her. She didn't want Janie to end up like her and Leaky. I feel like had Nanny not made Janie marry Logan, she would've run off with Johnny from the peach tree, and who knows how that would've gone.

All Janie really wanted was love. I can't say that this is a good thing, because this desire of her for that love rushed her into the obvious bad decision, running away with Joe. Although she does make a good decision for love and herself by going with Tea Cake, it does make for a tragedy in the end. But really, who can blame her? As human beings, we naturally have a desire to seek affection and love. Janie is just human. She made decisions with her heart and what she believed would be the best for her, although it didn't really work out.

I also feel bad for Janie. How unlucky could you be? To have a relationship that wasn't even a relationship (Logan), rather than her being forced to work, then to be stuck in a store 30 years with her hair put up (Joe), and finally when she does meet that person who is the ONE, he gets sick and she's forced to kill him. To go through just one of these horrible scenarios would scar a person for life, and Janie was forced through all three of these! I believe the universe works in a system of karma, but I don't think karma was an issue with Janie, but I do think she is certainly very unlucky to have to go through all of these hardships in her life.