I Believe In The Power of Impact

"Purpose"

Have you ever experienced a time in which you had to help someone, because you've been in that situation before? I remember being in a position where I wanted to help lower-income students receive school supplies. I recall staring at my computer screen, five months after my thirteenth birthday, reminiscing upon the time where I had to use back to school rally supplies, and wear hand-me-downs.

I felt like I could relate.  

Fast forward a couple of months of collecting donations for the students, when my family, friends, pastor, and I delivered those filled backpacks. Kids my age were just so happy to receive something that was finally, theirs. Parents were approaching me with expressions of gratitude for providing their students with a chance to better their education. I felt satisfied with my life. I felt, meaning. I understood my purpose was to help others in any way I could. 

I saw the impact I had on those boys and girls. I couldn't understand how amazing helping others made me feel. I felt like I could do anything I set my mind to. I didn't think about how young I was, or how some of the kids were older than me. 

I believe in purpose. I believe in impact. I believe purpose and impact go together: hand-in-hand. And I believe that one person's effort to make a ripple in the pond, can make a wave in the ocean. And it doesn't have to be a person as well known like Malala or Ghandi, anyone can make a difference. You could be nine, or you can be fifty-nine. Every contribution can make a change. 

End of Year Reflection Blog 18.05.16

Wow. I can't believe in 10 days, we will be officially done with middle school. Our 'What Does it Mean to be an Eighth Grader,' and halloween party days feel so long ago. As I was trying to remember things that happened this year, I couldn't believe we were in eighth grade for that long. Time didn't go by so fast. It feels like it was ages ago when Sebastian ripped his pants, or we did our plays. 

The most important thing I have learned this year is perseverance. There was so many times I had wanted to quit, this class and school in general, but I kept working at it. Of course, I did it with the help of God and my family. The second most important thing I have learned this year is time management. Time management has to do with literally EVERYTHING! I never realized how much time plays in life. Literally, everything in your life is based off of time. What time you go to sleep, what time you wake up. It all goes back to time. The last thing I learned that was very important, was to enjoy life because life is never promised. I learned this while reading Tuesdays With Morrie, and To Kill A Mockingbird. In TWM, Mitch learned that life will never be promised, and It was represented by Morrie. He wasn't that old, or well old enough to die. In TKAM, the theme was put into effect by Tom Robinson because he was a young man and certainly didn't deserve to die. 

One thing we did this year that I will never forget is most likely when Sebastian ripped his pants, twice. It was really funny and just so random, that you wouldn't expect it to happen during class. I was glad that we were able to have a laugh about it, and that he didn't really get offended or embarrassed by it. 

The nicest thing someone has done for me this year was when I was in and out of a sling, and my friends helped me put my chair up or carry my books. Even though sometimes, I was being stubborn and didn't let them put my chair up. 

I can't really think of something I taught my classmates. Maybe something like helping others or being kind to each other. I know I helped a lot of people this year, and I hope I taught my classmates to help others in any way possible. I think if I did teach this to someone, that'd be really cool because I would have had somewhat of an impact on them. 

I think I made my biggest improvement in writing argumentatively and identifying where a comma goes.  I was reading my old Diary of the Wimpy Kid journal, and it was atrocious. Like the most simplest words were spelled incorrectly, and my grammar was terrible. I can see the difference in my writing skills/grammar skills from when I was younger, entering middle school, and now that I'm graduating middle school. I also feel that I made a big improvement in my argumentative writing. I learned how to cite my sources in multiple ways, and also how to write without sounding bias or informal.

An accomplishment that I was really proud of was receiving the grades I received. I worked really hard in this class, and I was glad the hard work paid off. I was also very proud about the essays I had completed for the different units. One particular essay was the argumentative essay, because I put a lot of work and effort into researching and writing. 

The most challenging part of this year for me was most likely when we would read books together. More specifically, To Kill a Mockingbird. It was really stressful to have to read, annotate, answer questions, keep up with the chart, and also finish the rest of homework from other classes. But I'm very delighted that I was able to get over the very stressful period, and be able to relax afterwards. I'm thankful though, for Mrs. Larson giving us that amount of work, because I feel it'll prepare us for high school. 

The best piece of writing that I have completed this year is my 'This I Believe' speech. I believe this is my best piece because I learned how to get the point across in a concise amount of words, and also how to show emotion through my writing. I was/am really proud of how I was able to explain what I believed in, and also provide an example of how I portrayed my value. 

My all-time favorite book has to be The Outsiders. I read it this year, and I really enjoyed how easy it was to connect to the characters and their situations. I fell in love with the author's writing style, and also the character's sense of loyalty to each other. The main character, Ponyboy, reminded me of my brother. Vince, like Pony, is really smart. But sometimes, in certain situations like Pony, they can both be out of line and do something that can get them in very big trouble. 

Another book that I really liked reading this year was That Was Then This is Now, also by S.E. Hinton. The book crosses over a little bit with characters from The Outsiders, and I was really enlightened by finding out a little of their future. I felt like I could relate more to this book than The Outsiders, because it dealt with half-siblings, and that's something I'm like an expert on. 

Students, make sure you listen to every single direction Mrs. Larson gives you because otherwise, the class will be a very big struggle to be in. Also, make sure you manage your time wisely. With the time management, it will save you a lot from stressing out. I also advise you to take this class seriously, because like I said before, the class will help you in high school. My sister came home one day and we literally had the same vocabulary words, and were learning the same basic things. 

Aphorism Project 06.05.16

Aphorism: "once you start running...it's hard to slow yourself down." Page 136

The aphorism, "once you start running...it's hard to slow yourself down," founded on page 136, is during the process of Mitch and Morrie's conversation about how rushed life really is. I believe this quote is not based off of any type of athletics, the saying is underlining the emphasis of how busy and stressful life can become. Sometimes you become so wrapped up in life, there is hardly a time to sit there and notice the joys or new things in life. It could be as easy as being caught up inside work, chores, bills, or just a 'busy' life in general. Once you being thinking, 'I don't have enough time,' you drive your body into overdrive. It makes it too hard to shut yourself down and to take a break. 

I also really believe in what Morrie was saying before Mitch said the above quote. In short, Morrie was talking about having a purpose or meaning. Morrie believed people with a meaningless life wandered around, in a hurry to find that certain feeling to make their life complete or have the sense of purpose. The person begins to try fulfilling their life with equally meaningless things such as a fancy sports car, or all of the Michael Kors purses a person can have. You become so entangled in a mess of all of your 'fulfillments', but it somehow doesn't give you a sense of purpose. In fact, you feel more meaningless and empty inside. I think that's what Mitch was trying to get at, that you go around life trying to find purpose in things you don't really need. You become warped into thinking you need the newest gadget or design to breathe, and you never slow yourself down. 

I  can connect the aphorism, "once you start running...it's hard to slow yourself down," to a song. I feel as if 'Breathe' by Jonny Diaz is a good relation off of Morrie telling Mitch, "...everyone is in such a hurry..." In the song, Diaz sings, "It’s off to the races everybody out the door/I’m feeling like I’m falling behind, it’s a crazy life." The lyrics from Breathe express the hurry Morrie is describing people being in. The chorus of the song tells the listener to 'just breathe,' expressing to take a breath and slow down from their busy life. I believe once you take that breather from all the stress and business in your life, you will be able to find fulfillment and meaning of your life. 

I strongly agree with what Mitch stated because if you do use the aphorism as a metaphor, think of it as running. You're building momentum as you increase your speed and time in running right? Once you get to the finish line, it's hard to slow down because you're going at such an increased rate of speed and your momentum is building up as you run, that you have to begin slowing down before you can completely stop. After thinking of the metaphoric way this aphorism was stated, I began to relate to different things in my life such as before winter break; you're struggling to get everything done, it's so hard to just breathe. 

I think my own aphorism would be 'helping is healing.' I came up with this idea as my aphorism because in my own personal life, helping spread awareness about bullying has helped me accept myself and heal the wounds from my own bullying issues. Such things as helping other people with their school supplies has also helped heal me from feeling bitter about growing up with a low income, because I realized that people have it worse than me, and I should always be appreciative. This aphorism can be applied to certain topics and such, but it's a general truth. Helping others can help you heal from past wounds or open sores you are currently struggling with.

Final Tuesdays With Morrie Reflection 04.05.16

Prompt:

Book: Tuesdays With Morrie

The past three socratic seminars have influenced my thinking because the different viewpoints people mention, are totally different than how I looked at the topic myself. For example, Sam and Lilly brought up the idea of being number one as the best, but I didn't view that portion of the book like that all. In fact, I agreed with the idea of being number one is just the same if you've tried your hardest, like Paolo mentioned. However, Mariza proclaimed the idea of being the best as our culture. 

Based off of Mariza's comment I thought of how many other topics and beliefs our culture influenced on young people. Such as it may not be cool to do well in school or care about your education, or that money is power. Key categories that pertain to such a great involvement in our life, tend to 'brain wash' young people and even older people as well. And I don't mean literal brain wash, like you spend every waking moment of your day addicted to the category. As I mentioned brain wash, I meant such things like love. Now a days, TV shows are constantly pouring into our brain about different Hollywood romances or fictional romances. Our culture influences us to believe that love, like a boyfriend or girlfriend, is everything. But I beg to differ because there are cultures were a family's love is worth more than a boyfriend/girlfriend. Where children aren't even allowed to date, until they know what love really is. 

My trends from the previous three socratic seminars were very downhill. The first socratic seminar I was apart of, which was seminar number two, I talked a few times, most likely once or twice. Then  during the third, my second, I didn't really talk as much and I spoke once. My personal goal for each seminar was to be an advocate for myself and try to speak as much as possible, but that goal didn't work out so well. From the first to the last, I didn't  complete my target, as much as I tried to work up the nerve to speak, I don't do well with public speaking. 

Our group session in the first socratic seminar, we mainly focused on the book, and some people tried to bring others into the conversation. There wasn't a lot of 'white noise' during the first talking, because everyone was trying to put their input into a very important topic, and people were metaphorically trampling over everyone. Sometimes our sessions remind me of a heard of angry bulls. In comparison to our second talking, the group as a whole really focused on making connections to the real world. There also was parts where emptiness began seemping in, because I think we talked about a heavier subject, such as fear and helping others, than we have before. The last group talking we had on Wednesday, was filled with white noise because I feel that we didn't have much talking to. 

I believe topics that helped hinder a specific seminar, seminar no. 3, was the relations to the real world. Based off the connections from book to world, the group was able to grasp the severity of our actions and how being selfless could really change an entire incident. From this conclusion, I think the fact connections were in relation to Morrie's words, it really helped bring up different questions, connections, or just general statements to help prompt others to speak out, without literally calling a classmate out.