I Believe In...

I believe in forgiveness. There are some things that seem impossible to forgive and others that are easily forgivable. The other day I was at the mall with my parents, we were having dinner in a restaurant, we were sitting in the corner. There was a family with a little baby, sitting two tables behind us. Nobody was sitting in the table directly behind us. My mother hung her purse on the back of her chair. After a while two ladies walked in, one was wearing a pink headscarf and the other one was wearing a blue headscarf, they were carrying big bags from different shops. They went to the family with the baby to say hello and then went to the table behind us. They were there for about 2 minutes and then they turned around and left in a hurry. A while later, when we finished dinner my mother turned around to check her phone that was in her purse and found that her purse wasn’t there! My parents were furious! That purse had all my mother’s money, credit cards, ID cards, driver’s license, sunglasses and reading glasses, house and car keys, phone, and other things too. At first I was mad, but now I hope that God forgives the people, who stole my mother’s bag and that their baby doesn’t grow up to be like them. I hope that they realize that what they have done is wrong and they never do it again.

There are some things that seem impossible to forgive and others that are easily forgivable. But life is about forgiveness. The stolen purse symbolizes just another obstacle in life that we need to overcome. Concentrating energy and thoughts on bad things that happen to us only hurt ourselves. I believe in forgiveness because once you forgive, you let go of a heavy burden that makes your heart heavy and fills it with negativity.

Rose Blanch

· What are the consequences of ‘just accept the situation in which you find yourself [so] everything will be so much easier’? (John Boyne, pg.53) Bruno’s Father to Bruno.

What happens by just accepting is being passive and not acting. A lot of people didn’t do something about the Holocaust because they were scared that if they did say something they would be killed or treated like the Jews. Though the people that did do something about it, such at the Rose Blanche and Le Chambon Sur Lignon were brave enough to do what they think is right. It is easier to accept the situation but it will just make it worse. If the Rose Blanche and Le Chambon Sur Lignon and the others didn’t do something about it, then the war might still be going on.

· What is the relationship between decisions and consequences?

The relationship between a decision and a consequence isn’t very big. The consequence depends on the decision you make. The decision can really impact the consequence but the decision also affects the consequence too. You have to choose a decision wisely and see if the consequence to it will have a negative impact on you.

• Is it right to risk bringing such danger on one's relatives and friends by challenging the forces of law and order? You might want to consider the villagers of Le Chambon.

I don’t think so but if you try to do something good for another person that is less fortunate then maybe yes. Just like the Chambon people did. They put their family in danger but they risked it to help somebody less fortunate than them.

Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry was born in 1950 and pursued film at the Philadelphia State University. Even though he wanted to be a documentary filmmaker he joined the newspaper as a photographer. His career took off when he went to Afghanistan and took pictures of the civil struggle before the Russians invaded.

Those images made him win the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Aboard. In many of McCurry’s pictures are portraits or how the people suffer.

“Everyone wants Afghans to live their lives in a peaceful country where families can thrive, but our idea is to achieve that goal are often but built on faculty assumptions.” Steve McCurry

Two pictures that really stand out for me are Children of War, Tamil Tiger Recruits During Training, west of Batticola, Sri Lanka, 1995 and Children at Work, Tibetan Girl, 2002.

What McCurry is trying to emphasize in the Tamil Tiger Recruits picture is how some of us are so lucky to be healthy at home and don’t have to live in tragedy and war. Also how some of us have it easy and don’t have to put much effort in to anything we do daily.

What McCurry emphasizes in the Tibetan Girl picture has different emphasis. It shows how some children of our age and younger have to work in the fields while others are at home and don’t have to do anything. Also it shows how not only do the parents have to work but also their children.

Photography is about showing the personality of the person. It can change the way people see other people that are less fortunate than themselves. A great picture makes sense and the colors usually match the theme, it also shows feeling. McCurry’s work reflects the poverty in Asia and Pakistan and Afghanistan. It shows how people suffer and all the natural disasters that happen.

Where the Heck is Matt?!

Where the Heck is Matt is a hard question to answer. He could be in England or Africa, Panama or India. With this guy he could be i the South Pole for all we know!

We are all the same and different at the same time. It is a contradictory that is very true. We humans want to be loved and heard and that is what we seek in others. Though some people don't care of others or what they need or want. These are the people who make us different, these are the people who make us unique.

In Matt's essay he describes himself as a caveman and that he has changed but his brain stayed the same. He says that his brain was designed to inhabit a network of about a dozen people, yet he lives in a world of over six billion people. I think that this is a funny thing to say yet it is very true. Usually you can only remember people who are important to you, but no more than that.

What I noticed in Matt's video is that when people joined him and danced they were all smiling. It made the people laugh and laughing is good and what I think gives meaning to life.

I hope that someday everybody will put down their differences and live in one caring community!

Com+pli+ment

On the blog Breaking the Frozen Seas Within there is a video. It is about two men who compliment people to make them feel good since the financial crisis. It is really nice to see what people do for peace. I think it was really nice of these guys to compliment people because it was a small sacrifice they did to make others feel good. Hopefuly people will see these two guys and think of them as roll models and follow what they did. This way mybe someday there will be world peace. So anybody who believes that mybe, just maybe someday there will be world peace, just start with a compliment! It could change someone's life.

Alexandra, That's My Name!

I don't like my name that much, Alexandra, it is long, bold and a very common name. My name has always been the longest in the class. Well who would have a name with more than 9 letters! In English everyone says my name as if they were walking on fire. But in Spanish it sounds different, softer and mellow, like when a river collides with the ocean. My name comes from Greek. It means conqueror or protector of humankind. It came from Alexander the Great. He was a young King of Macedonia and conquered Greece and Persia. I really don't think I can conquer anything like Alexander the Great did. Well for starters I'm not even royalty!
I was named after my grandfather who passed away. He was a very talented man. I wish I were more like him, but really, I'm very different. Well that's what I think. My grandfather did a lot of different things that I'm not very good at, for example he wrote poetry and sang! I don't think I can do any of that. Although even though I cant do as many things as my grandfather could I can still do other things that maybe my grandfather couldn't do! For example, can do gymnastics and I can play the piano and the guitar.

Even though my name comes from a long time ago it is still quite a popular up to today, and it is pronounced the same way in almost every language. But since my name is so long I have a lot of nicknames for example, Alex, Ale, Alexa and rarely Lexi. Even if my name is long maybe it isn't that bad. Maybe someday I will grow into it, maybe I will become Alexandra a female conqueror!

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”

"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home" Quote by: Matsuo Basho

I chose this quote as my title because it really inspired me. I think that this quote can show people that no matter where you go everything starts at home. Even if this quote isn't very long it is still inspiring and meaningful. Though there are still some people who might not understand this quote or won't take it seriously. But I think it is very important for people to understand that manners start at home and just because those people are at home, they can't treat their family different from others.

~Alex~