Cultural Underpinnings of Literature

The United States today would not be what it is without taking bits and pieces from every culture ever imagined. That is one of the reasons why the United States started, so that people wouldn’t have to hide what they are or how they feel. As our country has evolved there are plenty of things that people may or may not agree upon, but as we can date back a lot of our “habits” today are from the many different religious beliefs of our ancestors. One of the most influential religious beliefs that helped mold our perception of things is the Judeo–Christian paradigm.

Though, before I can even get started explaining how this mixture of two cultures helped shape our thoughts, what does Judeo-Christian mean? Christianity emerged from Judaism in the first century of the Common Era. Christians brought , from Judaism, the belief in one god, including a priesthood, concepts of sacred space and sacred time, the idea that worship here on Earth is patterned after worship in Heaven, and the use of the Psalms in community prayer. The term was used in the United States of America in an attempt to create a civil religion, which by embracing Judaism avoids the appearance of anti-Semitism.

I believe that a big part of our countries founding and actions is from the paradigm of the Judeo-Christian tradition, even though we are free to practice any religion or no religion at all. However, the debate still rages between those who seek to eradicate all traces of Judeo-Christian philosophy from our government and those who seek to preserve those principles.

Everything we know is some form of Judeo-Christian tradition, and to separate the idea of civil rights from the Judeo-Christian principle of moral obligation and the idea of a higher power is to devalue our liberty as United Citizens. As Alexander Hamilton argued, to separate the two concepts is "the most manifest violation of justice." Espoused by Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke and as stated in the Declaration of Independence, the rights to life and liberty are ordained from no less a power than God.

Judeo-Christian traditions are in everything that we do, from going to the mall to buy new clothes or to the doctors to get a checkup. Our activities of our daily lives are many modifications of how the monasteries ran things in the Common Era.

So even though there might be a lot of controversy of the Government forcing a religion onto its people, this is not all that true. As evidence by even the little things we do as a society relating to the Judeo-Christian tradition. A 2007 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life study found that about 75 percent of Americans are either religious or take no offense to public mentions of God on currency or monuments. However, we still find our legal system in cases to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and to ban Bible study clubs from public high schools.

Yes, the classic separation-of-church-and-state argument has to come into play somewhere. Let's break down this argument. The exact term "separation of church and state" is found nowhere within America's founding documents. This does not mean, however, our government cannot adhere to the Judeo-Christian philosophy in its operation. The wording of the First Amendment supports such an idea, as well. The establishment and freedom of exercise clauses prevent specification on the part of the government.

Every action we participate in shows some background of Judeo-Christian paradigm. This is because education derived greatly from it, healthcare, anything, even wearing makeup. So to have someone sit there and tell me religion shouldn’t be taught anywhere else but at a church is like saying the teaching of our history should only be taught by the president. This is religion is a great part of our country it is what makes us who we are today.

Therefore even trying to expel Judeo-Christian tradition from being one of our most important “stepping stones” for our country, wouldn’t be correct because you would see it in our everyday actions and in the fuss of deciding whether it is justifiable to be in our government or not.

Book Report: A Child Called It

A Child Called It was so incredible that I couldn’t set it down. I believe Pelzer’s story of his great determination would inspire anyone that took the time to read it. Dave Pelzer’s story shows that as long as you believe in yourself to survive, and choose not to give up because of anything that everyone has the power of bettering themselves in any circumstance. This book is about one of the most severe child abuse cases in California. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother. Dave had a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she didn’t consider him her son, but her slave, and no longer a boy, but an "It." Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and dirty. When his mother let him eat, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps. Nobody knew anything of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to. Pelzer’s dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son was the only thing that kept him pushing to survive his mother’s irrational games. After reading this book makes me think twice about complaining about the little problems that I face in my life. It makes me realize how much I take everything that I have for granted without even thinking twice of how lucky I am. This book inspires me to better myself in every way possible.

Wisdom Haiku

Struggles

I know we all wish that we could get away from life's institution.

Since life can be the one causing all of the difficult confusions.

Though, running away isn't the solution, because then, you'll never win.

Show and Tell

What I would bring to show and tell is my wonderful butterfly collection. There is a variety of different colors and sizes. My favorite type of butterfly that I have is a Pieridae. A pieridae is the white and sulfur yellow butterfly. I first started my collection when I was nine. My aunt had a butterfly in a frame on the wall and I fell in love with it. I've been collecting ever since. I have blue and black ones, green and orange, brown, white, and many colors you wouldn't expect a butterfly to be. I take alot of pride in my  collection and that is why it would be the first thing I would bring to show and tell.

"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly ( Bach, Richard)." 

My Sophomore Year

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live ( Whittemore, Flora).”

This year in this honors language arts class I have learned many things, but the things that I have learned that are interesting to me are paradigm and propaganda, how to break down a word so I can have a better understanding of what the word actually means, and about subjective and objective.

Paradigm is the lens through which we see the world. There are three things that shape a person’s paradigm, which is image, language, and music. Propaganda is when you shape your paradigm to get the result you want.

I have come to understand that the whole English language comes from Latin and Greek words. Therefore if there is a word you don’t understand then you can just break it down into its prefixes and root words and figure out what it means. For example perception, I learned that per means through and ceptio means to see, therefore perception must mean to see through something.

Another major thing that I have learned about is subjective. Subjective is from the persons, or subjects, point of view. This is the person that is doing the action. Subjective may be true may be false this is all because it depends on your own opinion. Objective is total opposite of this. Objective is the person, or object receiving the action and the truth has been verified scientifically, but you can’t always believe that what the scientists say is true because it may not always be, for example when they believed the world was flat.

In these past few months I have learned so much, but I haven’t just learned about things in language arts I have also learned a lot socially, spiritually, and I have grown up a lot as well.

What I mean by me learning socially is that I’ve learned you can’t harp on what other people think. If you let what other people think about you get to your head then you won’t be able to grow in any other way. I believe that negative people are like coffee, they stunt your growth and ability to succeed in life.

I have also become more of a calmer person spiritually. What I mean by this is my ninth grade year I used to be more of a rebel. I didn’t care what I did, but now I see that I shouldn’t be acting like that all the time and that there is a lot more things in this world that I need to be worrying about.

The biggest change I have made this year is growing up. Now that I am a sophomore and I took the PSAT’s I know that my main priorities should only evolve around school. I don’t have time for all the drama and high school nonsense and this year I’ve made a choice to skip out on it. Yeah, I’m not going to avoid all of it but at least this year I have realized what exactly I need to be looking out for.

I can’t believe how much I’ve changed in just this past year and I can’t even imagine how much I will change by my senior year, but I do know that I won’t mind the changes as long as I keep changing in a positive way and not in a negative one.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending (Robinson, Maria).”

Video: My Poem or Rap

Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.

But silence is impossible.

Silence screams.

Silence is a message,

Just as doing nothing is an act.

Let who you are ring out and resonate

in every word and every deed.

Yes, become who you are.

There’s no sidestepping your own being

or your own responsibility.

What you do is who you are.

You are your own comeuppance.

You become your own message.

You are the message.

-Leonard Peltier

Heartbeat

Your neighbors are outside talking and their children are playing. You are standing at the front porch in your favorite jeans and a muscle shirt. You start walking towards the street as you hear sirens getting closer. COPS, lots of them, your heart drops to your stomach as all of them pull up to your house with their lights flashing around the whole neighborhood. Is there something wrong? Suddenly the Chaplain parks. The look on their face, you don’t even want to ask what happened. The Chaplain starts walking up to you in his black suite. It feels like your heart stops. You fall to your knees. At first you could only imagine what was going on but now you’re crying because you know what’s coming next. The Chaplain walks right past you, rings your doorbell, and waits for someone to open up. You stand and approach the Chaplain, “What’s Wrong, what’s going on??” you say but no response, it’s as if he can’t hear you. Your wife comes out, her best friend just behind her. She’s wearing your favorite purple dress with the matching flip-flops and earrings. You can see it in her face, a look of grief a look of pain as the Chaplain whispers something in her ear. She falls to the ground, crying uncontrollably, her black eyeliner running down her cheeks. You’re screaming trying to find out what has happened. Her best friend is on the ground hugging her trying to calm her down. You look around and finally realize what’s wrong, why nobody answers you, why nobody even seems to notice you, as she screams your name asking why, how could it happen to you?

Wisdom Quotation

"Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you, as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox. Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a pure mind, happiness will follow you, as a shadow clings to a form (Buddha)."

What makes someone unique? This is a question that many people seem to have a problem answering, but what makes someone unique is not just a question. I believe what makes people unique is more than their DNA. It is where they come from, the things they have experienced in life, and a whole lot more. Now let’s not state the obvious, like the usual “my personality makes me unique” or “the way I present myself”, being unique comes from your own paradigm, your own perception of the world.

I come from a strong, diverse family. Just being in my family allows me to see many of the different personalities in the world. Everything I know I’ve learned from my family, some good and some bad. I think my family is so strong and unique because we come from everywhere. Even though the government labels us as Hispanic I don’t really believe this is true. When I say this it’s not because I don’t know where I come from but it’s because I come from so many different ethnicities I don’t consider myself as just Hispanic. Looking at my family tree I can see that my family comes from all over the world. Therefore labeling myself as just Hispanic wouldn’t be absolutely correct.

What I believe also makes me unique is all the things that I’ve been through. Even though the decisions I’ve made in the past were hardly any good ones they have taught me that you shouldn’t take life for granted and that everything happens for a reason. The time that helped me figure this out was when I almost died. This showed me that I was given a life for a reason, for example to maybe help people, or discover something, or maybe even just find the true meaning of living. And when it can sometimes feel like nothing is working and I should give up, is when I realize I should push harder.

This is where my paradigm is expressed. I try to view the world with a positive outlook. This is mostly because I believe that you are what you think. Meaning that if you believe that life is nothing but a boring waste of time then your life will turn out to be a boring waste of time, but if you see life as a blessing and live it to the fullest then everything around you will be positive and fun.

Recently I have stopped trying to be like everybody else and have learned to be myself. My life is more interesting and there isn’t a dull moment until I allow one to happen. My truth is everything I believe in and what I believe can happen is definitely a possibility, therefore everything in the world is possible for me. This is what makes me unique, not some little fingerprint that scientist says is different from everybody else, it is everything in my mind, heart, and soul.

"Today is gone and tomorrow's never there. Life is too short. Don't let the negative lead your path. Find your own path, and do so by skipping out on the drama (Martinez, Celina, May 10, 2010)."

Person For a Day

She walks tall, her head high. Coming up to only just above my knee, yet so confident. Her big brown eyes always filled with life but slightly dim when she is tired. She always has a smile from ear to ear. She is so beautiful. Her short brown hair frames her round face.

Her imagination runs wild. Her favorite game to play is doctor. She follows me like a duckling follows its mom. I guess I could say I am her role model but she is the one that influences me and encourages me to do my best.

Her history isn’t really set yet it has just begun. Her background is full of loving people and wild personalities. She is still young yet her personality already shows strong in her. Very friendly and never shy. She always speaks her mind. She is a great people person, and can make friends with just about anyone.

Something I would always recognize about her is her laugh, it kind of sounds like a zebra. Also I could never forget all the crazy things she says. Her favorite fraise is “Freeze sucka”, or “What’s crack-a-lackin dog”.

The person I am talking about is my niece, Estrella Luz. I love her with all my heart. She is so wonderful. I guess I would want to be her for a day because she is so carefree. She can just play all day and not stress about anything. I am always wondering what she is thinking and how her mind works so if I could be her for a day then I can finally fulfill that wonder. She is always very happy and energetic that it would be fun to be in her shoes. Also she is pure innocence and what teenager or adult wouldn’t want to be truly innocent for a day?

Betrayal

 

“One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope (American Playwright and Dramatist, b.1958)."  

I've never relayed on anyone for anything. Never had a best friend, never wanted one, and never asked anyone for help. I would always think that if I let people get too close to me, in the end I would be the one to get hurt in some way. I was always by myself, but I liked it that way. I would see people with there so called "best friends" but I knew one day they would betray them.

My eighth grade year I got involved in student council with the high school I was going to. I was one of four people that started this student council; there were two boys, another girl and me. We spent a lot of our time together, and I started hanging out with the girl a lot more. Before I knew it we started doing things that I saw other best friends doing. I was having fun and I started letting people into my life a lot easier now.

I actually started to like having someone to talk to all the time and go out and do things with, so we now considered each other best friends. We used to do everything together from getting in trouble to achieving academic rewards. Though, I was still not used to having a best friend. I was still kind of sketchy about how long this would last because nothing good lasted with me. “What can we take on trust in this uncertain life? Happiness, greatness, pride - nothing is secure, nothing keeps (Euripides, Hecuba).”

She went to Afghanistan for the summer and we lost touch until she came back, but when she came back it wasn’t the same. She had this stuck up attitude and didn’t really act like my best friend, but we were still closer than other people.

Then her boyfriend started getting really jealous of how close we were and only wanted him and her to be close. So slowly I started seeing him come between us and she just let it happen. I didn’t really care because of course I knew it was going to happen. So I just started doing my own thing and she still couldn’t see that she let a guy she knew for four months get between her and her “best friend” that she knew a lot longer.

She would always ask me to hang out and I would just make up some excuse so that I wouldn’t have to put up with the drama. I didn’t mind losing my friend if she was just going to choose her boyfriend over me, but what made me mad is when she tried to turn everything around and blame it all on me. She was defending her boyfriend when he was the one that caused all this friction between us.

Although all these things were going on I still had her back and considered her my best friend. Well at least until her boyfriend pulled the last straw and she still defended him. After that I realized that I don’t even want to be her acquaintance. If he could say things so evil to me and her still say just forget about it is when I realized that she wasn’t a true best friend. To this day I think she still believes her boyfriend didn’t do anything wrong and wants me to act like nothing happened, and although people should forgive and forget things, this could never be one of those things. If my boyfriend had done that to her she would expect me to get rid of him right away, and before all of this I probably would have. So now I have just went back to my old ways not caring and not needing anyone. I guess I should have just stayed that way in the first place because betrayal is the worst thing to feel especially when it is from your so called “best friend”.

“One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope (American Playwright and Dramatist, b.1958)."

Movie Proposal

We all know and love the Twilight saga, what if we fast forward almost 17 years. The Cullen clan is still the same, Esme, Carlisle, Alice, Jasper, Emmitt, Rosalie, Edward and Bella. Things haven't changed much, Rosalie and Bella still don't quite get along and Alice is still trying to get Bella to dress more like a girl. Jacob is steady at 17 waiting for Reneesme, Bella and Edwards daughter who Jacob imprinted on, to become his age so they can live their lives happily and in love. The family is now living in Kodiak, Alaska. Reneesme's 17th birthday is slowly approaching and the family is trying to get everything together for this very special day. This party will be bigger than the graduation party they had years prior in their old place they used to call home, forks, Washington. There will be a DJ, a dance floor, streamers, banners, food of all kinds plus all of Reneesme's high school friends will be there and all the Vampires that gathered together to help defend the Cullen family against the Vulture years ago. This is what is hard about mixed parties, how do you keep Vampires away from humans if they are not "vegetarians" like the Cullen's. It is agreed and understood by all Vampires, they will feed before the party so they do not get an urge to purge on a human.

The party is going according to plan when a vampire catches the scent of a lovely blonde high school student and cannot resist. He charms her to take a walk with him into the woods. She trips over a bolder and scrapes her knee, just enough to draw blood! The scent is too sweet and the urge is too strong to stop!! The vampire, eyes red and teeth erect, lunges toward the girl and just as swift as she fell his teeth were penetrating her carotid artery. What he didn't know was that young girl's boyfriend had followed them and saw everything!

The boyfriend waited until the vampire was long gone then he ran! He ran as fast as his legs would take him back to the town. He told his father the sheriff what he had seen. At first his father didn't believe him but after putting a few clues together he finally caved. The sheriff, his son, and a few other towns people they trusted researched and researched. They dug up everything they could on how to kill vampires. They came across an interesting story of the Quileute tribe, they wondered how true it was. They took a trip down to forks to research further. They ran into a few men whose fathers knew the Cullen family. The Kodiak towns people talked with these men, Sam, Quil, Embry. While talking one of the Kodiak towns people snuck into Sam's room and stole a map of where all the werewolves can be found. The towns people found some werewolves and by lies convinced the wolves to help them destroy the Cullen's.

The Kodiak towns people and the wolves headed back to Kodiak to pay the Cullen's a visit, but Alice saw them coming. The Cullen's thought they were prepared but they were definitely out numbered! When the towns people got to the Cullen house a great fight broke loose and humans and werewolves were getting slaughtered left and right. Bella caught a glimpse of a werewolf dragging Reneesme into the woods with three men following them, she and Jake chased after them. Bella took care of the three humans and saved Reneesme while Jake was fighting the other wolf. Bella, after saving her daughter, went to help Jake blood was everywhere, this was the hardest beast Bella and Jake had ever faced but nothing prepared Bella for what happened next. A bigger werewolf jumped out and attacked Bella leaving her on the ground. At the same time Alice sees Bella is in trouble and tells Edward, Edward runs off to find and save his wife as he has done so many times before. Jacob finally kills the two other wolves and goes to check on Bella. As Bella lay there in her own pool of blood Edward arrives to see Jacob, covered in blood, (as a werewolf) standing over his wife's body. Edwards eyes blacken in anger and his heart breaks in anguish, he leaps forward...

A Brave Moment

April 25, 2008 was the quietest moment in my life. I don't mean hypothetically either, on that night I thought my life was definitely going to come to an end. It's really hard for me to bring this thought up again but before that night my family and I had been going through a really hard time. I gave up on everything, and I had started to make some bad choices.

I don't really remember much. All I remember was my body in pain, the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. At that moment the whole world was quiet and everything stopped. It was like I was on the outside looking in. My body was shaking with cold sweats. My mind racing, trying to scream, trying to get out of this mess, but all I could do was lay there, motionless.

I can't really say why this was all happening, but I can say that it was all because of me and my actions. If only I had been stronger. I did a good job of hiding what was really going on and even now no one really knows. My parents didn't know what happened and thought it was because of a whole different reason. I wanted to tell them but I didn't think they would have understood.

I finally got through it but I would never wish for anyone to feel this pain. My family and I are doing better now, I'm making better choices, and we're not fighting as much. I'm just glad to be here.

After that my parents wouldn’t let me forget about the mistake I had made, so I finally got the courage to tell them what really happened so that maybe they would let it go. They say that the first step to recovery is to admit that you have a problem, and I believe that admitting to something so that you could get help is really brave, and every person can do it.

It is so easy to do what is wrong. I think this is because you actually have to work to succeed. I used to try not to think about what I was doing because if I thought too much about it I would start feeling guilty. Now I look back and I am glad that I decided to get help. I haven’t done too many brave things in my life, but I think I could say that this is one of the bravest things I have done.

Time Travel

     

      Although time travel has been a common plot device in fiction since the 19th century, I have found something that makes this fictional idea possible. You may not believe me, which is fine, because recently I have been present in so many previous historical events that I could tell you what truly happened. I have also been in some future events that may soon even be in the history books. Although I have accomplished what I was originally set out to do, which was build a functional time machine, I still have not achieved my primary goal which is to go into the past and live with the dinosaurs.

Ever since I was little I would imagine what it would be like if I lived with dinosaurs and now that I have my time machine I can actually find out what it is like. I bet your thinking that if I have already been to so many places with my machine then why not just hurry and go see the dinosaurs? Well, see someone can’t just go live with a bunch of flesh eating creatures; I have to have my plans set perfect. I have been planning this trip since I figured out that my invention worked, and I am almost ready to finally go.

Being so close to achieving my childhood dream, my nerves are getting the best of me. Now I imagine that I can study their actions and come back and tell exactly how they lived. I want to find out everything about them, how they lived, what they did to survive, and the real reason to why they are now extinct. I just want to see if what it says in the history book is actually true. Sometimes I imagine though, that if I do go through with this and people find out about it then they might be so greedy they’ll use my machine to find things that would only benefit them.

This time machine is the best thing that I could have ever invented, after I go see the dinosaurs then I will probably use this machine to sail with Christopher Columbus when he founded the Americas, march with Martin Luther King Jr., and then to go inside a mummy’s tomb.

With everything a time travel machine can do, why stop there. Maybe I can even go to the future and find cures to some of the incurable diseases today. Since I have a time machine I wouldn’t only use it for the things that I want to see in the world, but I would also use it to try to change the world back to the way it was before mankind started making some decisions that hurt our planet.

Mother Nature

We live in a world where we decide our future. Or do we live in a world that decides our future for us? Possibly, but what happens to those who disagree? There are a lot of recent natural disasters occurring around the globe, but who truly knows why they exist? I believe the earth was living prier to mankind existing on it, and still will be alive after our extinction. When we're sick our body naturally fights off the infection. Maybe the actions of humans are making the earth ill. Therefore, maybe these natural disasters are just a way of fighting off the earth's infections, or maybe not. Who really knows the truth?

Family History

         Many people I know can follow their family history so well that they not only know the country they originated from, but they also can follow ancestors to everywhere they went. On the other hand there are some that aren’t so lucky, and I fall into that category. Although I constantly ask my relatives and parents if they have any idea where we come from they often have difficulty answering me. They only have many stories about them and how they got to where they are today. Even though I don’t really know much I do know that we originated from Spain.

         I researched and found out Martinez is definitely of Spanish origin, and it's quite a common name in Spain today, especially northern areas like La Riocha. Like all names ending in -ez it means "son of”, so originally it derives from the common name Martin, which is found all over Europe. The surname Garcia is also of Hispanic origin, coming from the peninsula where Spain and Portugal are located.

         Martinez is my dad, Richard’s, last name and I know more about where his side of the family comes from than I do about my mom, Onofre’s, side of the family, even though I see my mom’s side of the family a lot more than I do my dad’s. I guess that is because my mom’s family hasn’t really migrated anywhere else since they moved here from Spain. I know that my dad’s family has been in all over the country since they migrated to the Americas. Therefore, I figure since they have lived in many places then I probably have relatives all over the US that I don’t even know about.

         I have heard so many stories at family gatherings about where I come from, even though most of them are just repeats, that there would not be enough time in the day to retell everyone of them. So the one I‘ll tell is my favorite one of all, which is just about how my parents met. They met after high school. My mom being from Cononcito and my dad was from Penasco. I guess my mom used to be the “player” type that didn’t really want to be tied down in a relationship, which my dad was fine with because he liked his “freedom” too. So as time went on they got together and tried things out but they just weren’t ready for anything serious. So they separated and went their own ways. Eventually, about seven years later they ran into each other again at a club that they used to go to here in Albuquerque. This time they were more mature and were ready to try things out between them again. They have been together ever since. I don’t know why but this is my favorite story, even though it is the shortest one out of all of them.

         Maybe I’ll be the first to find out about our ancestry since today technology offers us so many opportunities, and then in a hundred years my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. can have the opportunity of knowing where they came from so they won’t have the disappointment of being uninformed about their ancestry. It is so easy to lose your knowledge of your roots and I just hope in a hundred, two hundred, even three hundred years from now that my family roots are still deep in the minds of those who live on in our name, and hopefully it won’t just be this little bit of information that I wrote here today, but more and more information that came from farther than my grandparents past.

Starfish

     At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "I made a difference to that one!"  You can read this whole story or just read this one line and understand the moral of the story. I believe that the author of "The Starfish" is trying to show that even the littlest things can make a difference.

     This story applies to my life because everything I do, whether it is big or small, affects the world and the people around me. For example globally, I know that if I throw that piece of plastic in the trash instead of the recycling bin, even when they are right next to each other, I am adding to the hole in the ozone layer. Also for example I know that even a little thing like asking someone how their day is or how they are feeling can make a huge difference on them.

     So nobody can really say that this moral has nothing to do with their own personal lives because the actions of everybody has an effect on somebody, no matter how hard one tries to prevent this.

     So one might say "Well I want to make a difference but I don't know how.", or "Well I just don't have time.", but there are plenty of organizations and things that you can do that take less time than picking out your outfit for the day. You just have to keep your eyes open and actually be willing to help.

     The wisdom of teaching that the author is trying to show is that even when something is small it is still helping in a way, and the little things are the things that especially count. I like having my voice heard and I am sure you do too, or if not there are many things you can do that are anonymous, but remember that it's the thought that counts. Visit http://www.change.org/ and do a little for a lot of people.

Change.org

For over 20 years, possession of crack has been punished at 100 times the rate of sentences for powder cocaine. In other words, getting caught with five grams of crack would be treated as legally equivalent to possessing 500 grams of powder cocaine. Although most crack users are white, over 80% of defendants busted for possession of crack are black. The law's racially disproportionate effect contributes to America imprisoning more people per capita than any other nation. Additionally, minorities compose 70% of this huge prison population. Therefore, making the U.S. an international embarrassment. It shouldn't matter if someone is selling crack, powder cocaine, marijuana, etc. They are still all illegal drugs and the defendants should be punished equally. So help end this racist crack-powder cocaine disparity.  http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/crack-cocaine_disparity_now_15th_as_racist_as_before

The Great Debaters

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail (McAlindon, Harold R.)." The quote above is a perfect example of the movie The Great Debaters. I say this because this movie takes place in 1935 and in 1935 "blacks" weren't allowed the same privileges as the "whites". Therefore for Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas to inspire students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship, is definitely going where there was no path to create his own. This movie shows that you should not give up no matter what challenges life throws at you. This movie is a good example of believing in yourself. It shows that even when society discriminates against you, for whatever reason it might be, if you believe in yourself then you can definitely prove them wrong. Fight for what you want and for what you believe in, and if you like a drama based on a true story then The Great Debaters is a perfect movie for you.

Diego Rivera "Flower Day"

The picture above is a painting done by Diego Rivera. This painting is called Flower Day. In old Mexican traditions they used to give flowers to god. I believe in this painting there is a flower for every sin that has been committed in their town. Offering these flowers to god is their way of asking for forgiveness. Since the color white is pure they offer white calle lilies, and everybody gathers for this so they can have a fresh start together.

Liberty

"The New Colossus" By Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Green fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

" Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. " Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

My understanding about this poem is that the United States is offering its hand to anybody that needs help to a better life. We are saying if you want to be free and have rights then come to the U.S., but on the contrary the United States does not follow through with what they say. What I mean by this is that instead of making it easier to get here they build a 2,000 mile long wall to try to keep our southern neighbors out. Also we make it so difficult to make a proper living here that you would have to have something so important you'd be willing to put up with it. I get so emotional when I think of this because the U.S. offers the opportunity for justice but doesn't really give it. I believe if the "American Dream" is so amazing then why not help everybody, no matter where they come from, achieve it.