The Power of Courage

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In my English class, we have been studying the Salem Witch Trials, along with the literary works that were produced based on those events.  We read The Crucible, the play written by Arthur Miller that depicts the story of the trials.  We also watched the movie that was made in 1996 after we read the play.  We did both just to compare and contrast and also to really get to feel the emotion that is hard to get while reading.  Courage means doing something even though it can be difficult and fearsome.  The reason I believe this is true is because in many cases people can be cowardly and just go along with the crowd and stay "safe", but it takes courage to stand out and fight against what is wrong.  An example of this would be when Nazi Germany took power, most Germans wanted nothing to do with being Nazi but did not protest or let outside countries know what was going on in fear of being killed.  This idea of being courageous and going against evil when everybody else is comfortable, is very prevalent in the story of The Crucible.  In many cases the protagonist, John Proctor, goes against judges, fellow townsmen, even officers and other officials to fight for what he believes is right.  Everybody else in the village was comfortable remaining voiceless and so was he for a while.  But, then he was compelled to testify against the court of law along with a few others.  Another case of being courageous against other people would be when another character in the play, Reverend Hale who played a pivotal part in this story, stood up against the court after siding with them earlier.  At first, he made the witch accusations and got people in prison, but then he realized what he was being a part of was false and that he was wrong.  He admitted this and attempted to save the lives of the condemned.  This theme of being courageous in a dark time is pretty powerful, you can stand out and possibly save lives or save people punishment, or you could just be comfortable, hide, and save yourself.  

Express Yourself

After discussing the meaning of "Upon the Burning of Our House" (by Anne Bradstreet, an early American poet) in my English class, we talked about how people differently express themselves in forms of art.  There are many ways to do this.  You could do it by song, poetry, painting, drawing, any kind of art can express how you feel without ever actually saying it.  It also ties into Heaven, because in the poem she first addresses God in anger and wonders why such horrible things could happen to her even though she is a Christ follower.  Then, she goes onto say that she realizes that everything has a purpose and that in adversity, you should look to God and see the bigger picture.  Our teacher told us to use an art form to express how we feel or an important moment in our lives.  I chose a poem by Marriane Williamson.  It's a pretty commonly know poem.  "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, but it is that we are more powerful beyond measure.  It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us..."  I really like this poem and it will probably be my senior quote.  It has the most impact on me and I can really connect to it.  It makes me strive to do better things and be a happy and kind person.

The rest of the poem can be read here.

My Second Home

In English class this week, I have had to read the autobiography of Maya Angelou.  It is called "My Sojourn in the Lands of my Ancestors."  It talks about her journey to Africa in the early 60's as an African American and how it felt like a home away from home.  Many people have a home away from home or a place they can go to get their mind off of things and feel relaxed.  Mine would have to be the baseball field.  Even though I would be doing physically straining acts on it, it still makes me feel the happiest and more relaxed than any other place.  I want to be there all the time and I feel right at home there.  When I am at a baseball field I feel like I fit in just right and nothing will make me mad or unhappy.  This is my second home, or my "home away from home".

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One Step at a Time

A film that my English class has been watching and discussing is the film Amazing Grace.  It depicts how William Wilberforce fought his entire life to abolish the slave trade.  That was a major issue at that time.  There are many issues in this world, from slavery to war, it’s all bad.  One way I would try and change the world would to try and encourage people and make people feel good about themselves whenever I could.  If you were always encouraging and nice to people then they might not feel discouraged and lonely.  They might not think that they aren't enough and be depressed, which might even stop a suicide or an act of terror towards other innocent people.  Many times someone has been a hero and calmed someone down from a suicide attempt.  A more recent story would the story of the lady calming a depressed man down from shooting at a school.  That is a perfect case of how people can influence another person’s life and actions.  That is exactly how this ties into William Wilberforce and him abolishing the slave trade act a long time ago.  He persuaded people to quit committing the horrible crime against humanity that they were committing.  The point is, you never know how far showing kindness or being encouraging o a person can actually go. 
(The article of the woman calming down a shooter)

A Separate Peace Trailer

After reading A Separate Peace, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the story is guilt.  It is a main idea in the story.  The first image is a picture of crutches against a wall.  They are a symbol of how no matter how bad a situation is, it can always be fixed, and crutches help the process.  It represents anything you can do to fix a bad situation.  My second image is a picture of the famous painting and event, The Last Supper.  It represents the guilt of the main character Gene by showing the guilt of Judas after betraying Jesus.  My third and final image is a picture of a World War 2 memorial.  It symbolizes conflict in the story because World War 2 is the setting for the story.  A reason for this song I chose for the trailer is because it makes me think of guilt or someone to think about their past a little.  A Separate Peace is worth reading for anyone who likes a story of surprises and tragedies.  I enjoyed the book and I'm sure that most anybody would like to read this novel.  

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Song used in trailer: What I've Done (Linkin Park)

My 3 Goals for My Junior Year

My first out of the three goals that I have for this year would be to become a better student.  There is always room for improvement in the class room and no one can ever know everything.  I would like to at least maintain or even raise my GPA.  Also, I will try and challenge myself a little more with how I work and how I plan things out.  I have had trouble in the past at planning out when or for how long I work or study for.  My second goal would probably be become a better athlete and try to have a good attitude when things don't go as planned.  I haven't really had a problem with that before, but it's always something to be good at.  Having good sportsmanship falls under the category of a spiritual goal, which brings me to my next goal.  For my third and final goal for this year I would like to become closer with God and talk to him more than I do.  Last year I had a Bible class so I got to hear from his words and talk to him often, but this year I do not have a Bible class this semester so I need to try extra hard about being close to God and giving my attention to Him.




Photo by Mitch Fuqua