Choose

= **"Choose"** =
 * Rachel Tunney**

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According to Milton's "Paradise Lost", life before the downfall of man was peaceful, with little worry and stress. The Garden of Eden, fully explained in detail in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, was the setting for two main characters: Adam and Eve. These figures, although portrayed centuries ago, continue to be popular world-wide. Adam and Eve remain the model figures for the first humans. Before Eve, the female protagonist, takes a bite of a forbidden fruit, thus leading to the couple's banishment from Paradise, the two lived happily in a world where all their necessities were provided. Hunger, suffering, and pain were unknown to this world; the couples were innocent to these manners.======

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This box was separated by two separate halves: the first represents modern society's lust for technology, wealth and materialistic possessions. The other half is love for peace and serenity, a life that does not revolve around the desire for the newest gadget or greed for a heavier paycheck. The "yellow brick road" represents the path of life. Sometimes we come to forks in the road throughout the years and must make a choice and CHOOSE between one way of living and another. This box represents two of those special choices.======

The Quiet Moments C.D. cover represents relaxation; a life that turns away from the stress of trying to accumulate wealth and high respect. The beach scene is a classic example of how one might spend time when not busy worrying about technological advances. Water in the background represents one of the essential ingredients of life. Within the Catholic Church alone, water has always been a symbol for cleansing of the soul and existence. When one chooses to live a worry-free life, they cleanse themselves from evils that are commonly associated with lust and greed. Sand-dollars are commonly known to symbolize peace and serenity; this piece just helps to emphasize the "peaceful" theme. The flower located at the top of the beach scene recalls a main theme from Voltaire's Candide. Towards the end of the novel, Candide, the protagonist who set out on an adventure to find true happiness in the form of his lover, learns that the best thing to do in life is to cultivate one's garden (the reason for the flower at the top). The best way to avoid boredom and harm is to keep busy with pineal but productive matters. Simple work provides both purpose and reward for one's dedication and ethic. If one remains preoccupied with chores, then we can't complain about not having some sort of object or being too poor. Cultivating one's garden is one of the key secrets to living a happy life. The ticket in the lower right hand corner is from Romeo and Juliet. It represents love and how one should either find a significant other or some other sort of energy to truly love. No one can take wealth and technology with them once their life has past; what matters most is the ability to love other people with all your soul, to forgive quickly, and to forget moments that bring you down. The big lock hanging in front of the peaceful scene represents the common choice of most individuals in modern society. People turn away from this lifestyle. The lock actually symbolically represents the angel found at the end of Genesis with a flaming sword that prevented Adam and Eve from entering the Garden of Paradise once more. The lock represents how we are band from a life of peace and serenity for eternity if one chooses to follow the path for technology and lust.

The phone most obviously represents new technology and the advances in communication that it makes throughout the year. The snake that lies on top represents temptation. Choosing a life full of lust (the heart on the right) and wealth (the coin at the top) would be so much easier and more rewarding it seems at first than a life filled with work and peace. The cheesy leopard background represents the tacky and gaudiness of this kind of lifestyle. To live full of wealth and technology only results in an increase of rumors behind your back and increase of suspicion of others. The "grill" represents Eve's bite into the apple in Genesis: a clear symbol of taking what one shouldn't. The teeth are outlined in gold to represent that an individual that chooses this pathway is taking the bite of wealth. The upside down battery represents how one's energy becomes wasted on such frivolous manners and if one chooses this way of life, one's longevity quickly deteriorates.