Schopenhauer to the Rescue

It’s funny that while attempting to answer this question, I thought of the Monkey’s Paw and the part where the old couple wished for the resurrection of their son but realized it really wasn't their son they were resurrecting. How is that? It was their son’s body- the same flesh he died with. What is it that made this lump of flesh different? The flesh was not their son because it is not the blood that makes a person a person; it is their personality and spirit. (if not, the movie Lone Star would be all the more disturbing).
The car that Vern currently has in his garage, or in his driveway, is really his Volvo and not the scrap parts made to look as the car by Grace. The reason is simple: the sentiments are the object in question. The material it’s made from is not the object in question.
If there is anything to be learned from the last two days of journeying through blood sweat and tears into the world of philosophy, it  is the theory of the Will and Representation (courtesy of Arthur Schopenhauer) which can be magically be applied to Vern’s case (Don’t worry, Vern; it’s Schopenhauer to the rescue).
Everything in our world is actually two parts: Will and Representation. In others words it’s our internal world and what our outside world looks like. In Vern’s case, the car’s appearance is the representation (not the materials, the appearance). Materials change obviously. For instance, there is the saying, “you never walk in the same river twice”. The will is the way the car is perceived: a twenty year old possession of Vern’s.
If you rephrase Schopenhauer’s theory, it’s all about sensation and perception. It doesn't necessarily matter whether Vern’s Volvo is not made of the same parts any longer. The feelings still exist. Just as we are still “us” although we are always changing: our cells are always dying and being replaced, and we never even have the same head of hair at any moment in our lifetime. Also, the River Nile is still called the Nile although the water is always flowing and moving on. In an egocentric point of view, it’s our perception of the object that makes the object.
Even if Grace did create an exact replica of the Volvo from the same parts, it’s not Vern’s Volvo since it doesn't have the same sentiments latched on (it's not perceived in the same way). It’s almost as if you would resurrect me ninety years from now but place a separate soul inside of me. It’s not me; it’s just my body that has been resurrected. The emotions and perception are different.
In response to the last question, Vern’s Volvo never changed.

Schopenhauer approves this message.

Not really, he's dead.

A+B=C

Think about the equation A+B=C.

In this equation, A cannot be C without B and B cannot be C without A. C itself is a combination of both A and B. Now let’s say C is any situation in our daily life like a friendly family game night for example. A will therefore be our surroundings which in this case would be my living room where I would be sitting on my couch facing my brother, mother and father. In the center would be a short wooden table with the game set and ready to go. The variable B will then the most important part of the equation: me.

Every moment of our lives is governed by us and our interactions with our surroundings just as C is a mixture of A and B. Therefore it is important to know ourselves so that we can know what makes us happy, sad, and, on an extreme note, really angry.

It was the day after Christmas for instance. We had just returned home from a family movie night out. I was still giggling and chatting about the insane comedy in the film we had watched. That was when my brother suggested a game night.

Now, I pride myself in being very introspective, so I know much about what makes me lose my temper. Ashamed as I am to admit this, the truth is that although I can be very sweet tempered on the surface, I have a short fuse and I can be very competitive. For that reason, I was very against the idea of a game night.

However, my other family members made the mistake of thinking it was a good idea.

Therefore, we set up the game and sat down to play LUDO where each of us has four pieces that we have to move across the board and try to get to “Home”. The one who gets all pieces home first wins. Here’s the flip side, we are allowed to kill the pieces of the other players. As you can probably tell, in this equation, A and B equal a bad situation.

We all erupted into a series of pointless arguments that ended with a broken laptop which was sadly mine. As I have already explained, I know myself very well since I live with myself 24/7. Such self awareness is the key to minimizing behavior such as destructive anger and violent behavior.  I know I have uncontrollable anger and my method is to avoid situations where I can lose my temper (it has worked for the 17 years I lived on this earth) and if I don’t listen to myself, I could potentially lose my brand new laptop.

It is my ability to listen to myself that I really like about myself. I know my strengths and weaknesses, and that ability allows me to settle down and get my priorities straight. In other words, if I know it is impossible for me to do certain things, I don’t force myself because everyone has things they can’t do (pushing myself to do my best is another matter in itself). However, if I know I can do certain things and do it well, I will do it no matter what and will put forth my best effort. This ability reduces the stress associated with school and it is also the reason for my good humor and level-headed demeanor.

For most people, it isn't as easy to talk about their qualities especially when the qualities are positive and my theory is that it’s because it can be an embarrassing topic. For example, I don’t see myself the same way others see me and sometimes I could call my humor one of my best qualities when others don’t necessarily agree with it. In a way, it could be degrading to place that label because it sets a cap on how high my qualities could go.

Of course, not everybody feels embarrassed about sharing their own qualities and usually the ones who aren't are like me and can look within themselves. If I wasn't introspective, I would have hated to share and set a label as well because then I wouldn't have to face the disapproval of others and their view of who I am.