To Not Swerve From The Path Of Righteousnes

Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his famous "I Have A Dream" speech

“A lie cannot live”-Martin Luther King, Jr.

By this quote we can already see that Martin Luther King, Jr. is a great man. He Fought for the African-Americans in the USA because they were being subjected to unfair treatment. By unfair treatment I mean that if you were a African-American in USA at around the 1940’s you could not walk on the same street as a Caucasian. It was against the law and you would be beaten. In these terrible times, King brought together an uprising to promote African-American equality. Not an uprising of violence but an uprising of non-cooperation. It was like saying “We will not follow these rules and cripple ourselves but we will do what you do and accept the punishment.”. Kings most famous speech was the “I Have A Dream” speech to promote America as a color blind country, that everyone is equal. King also won the Nobel Peace Prize and he earned it. He became the youngest person to receive this prize as stated here on Wikipedia, search “Martin Luther King, Jr. I believe that everyone cannot be a hero, but a hero can come from anywhere. King had concern for everyone including the Caucasians, he was magnanimous to all and he knew how to reach the people of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

King had concern for everyone. He did not want to hurt anyone in his campaign. King states “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that” This means that even though the Caucasians hated the African-Americans but King was determined to not hate them back, but to see them as one of them and to love them. King believed that violence is a cycle that gets you that results in the more violence. King defiantly did not want that in his beloved, but unfair country. Mahatma Gandhi had used non-cooperation to win Indian Independence by leading protesting marches that involved no violence and would tell his fellow Indians to not cooperate to the Britisher's unfair rules. He would also tell them to accept the punishment and Gandhi himself was sent to jail many times. King was greatly inspired by Gandhi and thought to himself “If Gandhi can do it, why not I?” In these ways did King not hurt anyone and made an example to everyone.

“We will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hand and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last” Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”-Martin Luther King, Jr. In his speech, “I Have A Dream” This quote implies the fact that Martin Luther King, Jr. was good and fair to all. He included everyone. Not just Black men and White men, which he was fighting for. I did not realize this before, but looking at this part of the Kings speech, I now know that King wasn’t fighting for his race. He was fighting for everyone. So that everyone would be on the same level and that everyone would finish the race at the same time, No winners, and no losers. The United Nations mas the global millennium development goals to make sure every country finishes the race together. I think that they took this idea from King and again enforces my previous point of being a great example.

Part of being a great leader, is to know how to reach the people. I feel that this is a essential skill that you need to know if you want to be a leader. If you want to be a leader, you need people who will follow. If you do not have any reasons for people to follow then no one will follow you. You also have to tell the people that you will listen to all their demands and give them reasons on how you will accomplish them. This is just one part of reaching out to the people. the other? Action. To actually do what you said you would do and Martin Luther King, Jr. had plenty of both. He did not make empty promises to his audiences. In his speech “I Have a Dream” King says “We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality”. This means that King is saying that he is battling the police brutality and battle them he did. King also reached out to the people by telling them what they wanted to hear. This was easier for King because he himself had been part of the violence, brutality and inhuman treatment (both kinds of treatment, medical treatment, getting rid of germs and how unfair the Caucasians were to him) happening to and around him. King’s in Kings speeches, he addresses every thing as “we” not I. When ever I read a very good sentence or statement, I get this weird feeling in my chest and somehow I know then it is amazing. It happens only on the computer. When I read and heard King’s speech, I instantly got that feeling. King address the audience in his speech by making most of his points with “we” with the exception of the I have a dream part in King’s speech “I Have a Dream”. One part is “We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.” you can read King’s speech here.

Before I did this post, I did not know much about Martin Luther King, Jr. I didn't even know that there was a “Jr” In his name. I knew that he peacefully protested for African-American civil rights but that was it. Doing further research in King, I now know him not as a protester, but one of my idols. He followed the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, who was from a different religion, Hinduism. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christian and both of them used their religions as a guideline and it lead to the same results for both of them. I now realise the success in King and how much of a hero he was. I wouldn't have realised this if I hadn't done this post which implies my thesis “Not everyone can be a hero, but a hero can come from anywhere." From the leader waiting inside of me (my name Meaning leader) I thank Martin Luther King, Jr. for his teachings. But it is up to us to make sure his teachings don’t go to waste.

Happiness, Everyday.

"Happiness is where we find it, but we rarely seek it"- J. Petit Senn

This quote by J. Petit Senn tells us that to be happy and that happiness is important. From this quote, we learn that we can all become happy, we just have to seek it. This quote also urges us to search and become happy and to live by being happy. Happy. One word that everyone wants to become. Some may say they want to be successful, others famous, but ultimately, what everyone wats to be is to be happy with what they have. Happiness is worth fighting for because when we look back at everything we have done in our lives, we want to be happy at what we have done, to have no regrets. Happiness is what we see it as.

One reason it is important to have happiness is that we need it to do things. When we are happy, we are more motivated in doing things, therefore we do them better. When you ask someone why they are good at something, the most common response will be "because it is fun and that it makes me happy". They work better and even today in any school some kids will be better than other at different subjects. Why? Because they have fun. Dennis Bakke, the CEO of imagine schools, a company that operates elementary and secondary schools in the US, believes that work should have some fun and be the source of satisfaction because it allows people to change and work better according to a interview hosted by CBN. The link to this article will be posted below. From this it is clear that having fun and happiness, can mean better work and a more efficient world.

Another reason happiness is worth fighting for is because it is in everyday life and we need it to survive. In the poem "What Happiness Is" by Sam Byron, he states "Happiness is when you get a new puppy, Happiness is when you get married, etc". This means that in everyday life is somehow associated with happiness. Happiness is needed because then no happiness is equal to no new puppy, no marriage, etc. Happiness is what we need because it is not just something we feel. It is something we do. We cant just feel happy. We must do something to make ourselves happy, or someone else happy. We need happiness because without it, we cannot do many things. Our world will be a constant dystopia even when it is to be a utopia. Happiness is needed to make a world welcome to everyone including ourselves. The poem "What Happiness Is" by Sam Byron will be linked below.

A third reason why happiness is worth fighting for is because without it, we could not live in peace and in a successful world. Do you always see written essays and paragraphs about how if there isn't something, then there is no happiness? For example, if there is no peace in this world, then people cannot be happy. Then the opposite must be true as well. If there is no happiness, there is no peace. So anything that leads to happiness is automatically cut off if there is no way to lead to it. If something is the path to happiness, but there was no happiness, would you take that path? Even if you did, you would be led nowhere. If you were trying to buy something, would you take a random path to a shopping center that didn't exist? Would there even be a path to something that didn't exist? The path to a non-existent goal is a non-existent path. This example proves that happiness is worth fighting for because without it, we cannot learn other values and learn what we must do to take the paths to reach to ultimate goal, which is happiness itself.

Without happiness, the world would become something that would be bare and unworthy of habitation. If you cannot find something to live for, then you have to find something to die for. Without happiness, neither can be found. We need happiness to work better and to work at all, because it is a part of our everyday life and without it, everyday life would not be worth living a day at all, and that we need it to learn other values that need to be learned. Happiness is not needed to survive, but to live.

Article/Interview of Dennis Blake: http://www.cbn.com/finance/dennis_bakke.aspx

"What Happiness Is" poem by Sam Byron: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/what-happiness-is/

What It Takes To Act.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen - Winston Churchill

Martin Luther King Jr. was someone who spoke up and did not let others walk over him.

"The world is a dangerous place to live in not because of the people who do evil, but the people who let it happen"- Albert Einstein. This quote tell us all something. It tells us that we have to speak up and take action. For me, this is something worth fighting for. Taking action. There is so much evil in this world that happens and we watch it. All of us. Only a few speak up and take action, but they are also humble enough to listen to others too. I believe that courage is what makes people take action and speak up. That is why I believe courage is worth fighting for.

Martin Luther King Jr. Was one of those who had the courage to speak up and take action. He fought for African-American civil rights. In his time, any one who was African-American was treated with no contempt and no respect. They were at times beaten for doing any "wrong" to those who were Caucasian. Many knew this was wrong, but it was King who had the courage to take action and speak up. He spoke up and took action in a non-violent way and he did not let anyone bring him down. He always spoke of his ideas and made them to reality, but he also listened to others too. Because of his act of courage, he was joined by thousands of African-Americans around the United States.

I believe that words are useless without action and that it takes courage to take action and become an up stander. Courage can lead lots of people to do many things but in Winston Churchill's quote "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." I believe the second part of this quote is what separates an intelligent fool, to a courageous up stander. King was the courageous up stander because he led the African-Americans to their freedom and he could not have done it without the support of his own African-American brethren. King also received support from his influences Mahatma Gandhi, Howard Thurman and Bayard Rustin.

Courage is worth fighting for because with it we can all fight for anything. If someone should ask, "what is worth fighting for?" how could you answer that question if you don't even have the courage to fight for it? This is why I believe that courage is what we need anywhere. We need it to achieve anything. Courage is the key to fighting for anything

New world characteristic

I feel that a new world has to be just. There has to be justice and order in a new world, or any world in order to prevail. People in the new world will be how we are today, intelligent. As the Greek philosopher, Plato says "knowledge without justice is ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom". I believe in what Plato says and he encourages us to be just in the new world, or any world and that without justice, each man will do as he will with no thought, as well no punishment given, and no lesson learnt. Justice in a new world is easily one to strive for, and one worth fighting for.

Justice important to fight for because we need it to keep ourselves in check. Justice allows to be civil because it offers us guidelines to follow and with those guidelines we can become civil to one another and not do what each man says to themselves. To become civilized is very important and that cannot be there in a new world unless there is justice because to be civilized means to show intellectual and moral enhancement. We cannot have either unless we stand together and we have some kind of order.

It is also important to fight for justice because we cannot simply get away everything we do. A beneficial action to a person might be malevolent to another. Justice allows us to see which actions are fair to all instead of letting people do as they please. Such examples are things that happen in the modern world such as robbery, ransom and acts of terrorism that must not go unpunished. If there was no justice, people would continue these actions more and more without being punished and continue to preform these actions out of desire than need. Justice is a leveler on what happens in this world and sees that it is fair to all. It offers the balance between discipline and freedom.

A world without justice is a world without hope, a dystopia. There would only be chaos and no order. We would always have a conflict between ourselves and nothing could be achieved. We will eventually be too good for ourselves and Humanities greatest discovery of a new world will eventually lead to its own downfall if there were no justice.

Kristallnacht-The Turning Point

Kristallnacht. The night that was the start of it all. The event which triggered the mass murder or six millon innocent Jews. Around 1,668 synagogues were ransacked, 267 burned. A place where one can go to when there is nowhere else to go, gone. 91 Jews killed and 30,000 sent to concentration camps, a fate death even fears. After Kristallnacht, it was told to the Jews that they were responsible and they had to pay for repairs. Millions of marks to be paid. November 9-10 1938 is the beginning of the final solution.

After WW1 the people of Germany were left starving. Adolf Hitler, seen as the savior through some, the reincarnation of the devil through others, ended 15 years of turmoil and gave a new meaning to Germany. He was seen as a great man through the eyes of many Germans as he vowed to break the Treaty of Versailles, but he is still a man and man makes mistakes. Hitler's greatest mistake was his anger for the Jews. Some of them even fighting for the Fatherland were seen as normal people. Then Hitler told the Nazi party that the Jews were responsible for the War. The Jews are evil and are greedy liars. The Jews had money and food for the Fatherland but kept it for themselves.

Hitler targeted the young. There would be story books about how sinister the Jews are. The children and teenagers of Germany loved to play sports. Hitler declared that boys could only join a sports club if they were part of the German youth. The children of Germany could not go out on holidays, so the Hitler Youth organized trips to mountains. Naturally many children joined. Klaus Boelling describes his experience at Hitler Youth, "At the age I joined Hitler Youth, it was fun. It was fun to be with children of the same age and not just stay in the streets or climb trees, but go on proper trips." This is the way that Hitler recruited so many youths. Andre, a young 12 year old German boy( Facing History, Facing Ourselves reading) turned to his parents to advice of if he should go throw stones at the Jews as elders at Hitler Youth told him to or not. His parents told him to make up his own mind. In the end, Andre made the choice of not throwing stones at the Jews. The following day, Andre's family left the country. What discourages Germans to not throw stones is that you have to leave the country as fast as you can which means you will not have enough time to take a lot with you. With the Youth, if you don't throw stones, your family will have to leave the country and you will be expelled from Hitler Youth. Being explled means you cannot play sport and go on trips anymore. Its like giving something so valuble, you cherish it as much as you can, then taking it and using it as a bribe. This is how the Nazi party grew so big. Fear of being different different of standing out forced people into the position of being a bystander.

There have been other experiences from Jews who have miraculously survived this terrible time due to their strong will and never give up spirit. Susan (Strauss) Taube, a surviver of the Holocaust explains about Kristallnacht in an interview with The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "I was going to school as usual every morning but I saw that our Synagogue was on fire. The news said that Jews should stay in their homes, and that what we did. Then it was mid-morning and all these people came to our door and just smashed the door and just barged in with scissors. They smashed all our plates, windows and used the scissors to cut up our beds and pillows. When they left we were just looking at the mess thinking, "how do we clean this up?". I went to my home town and found that the same thing has happened there.". Susan's father had been released from Buchenwald under the condition that he leaves the country. He leaves only with a small suitcase to the U.S. The rest Susan's family all die in Europe while Susan reunites with her father in the U.S. Susan says that she must share this with others because it must not happen again. She believes that something of this degree cannot happen again because it was so terrible and so un-human.

I believe that smartest of people can easily become the stupidest. The Germans were not stupid. They faced economic trials which few Americans have ever witnessed. You have been told its bad, but keep in mind that the German would have had to eat their own waste to survive. Hitler was seen as a Saviour because he brought back order and prosperity. He told the people what they wanted to hear. It could happen to any other county, all you need is the right crisis. Then those people will become stupid too.

I also believe that it the fact that it was all Germany's fault is overrated. They did burn down Synagogues but it should have ended there. The Westerners and Europeans should have ended it right there. As Albert Einstein says "The world is not bad because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who sit and let it happen.". I also believe that it was the Britain, Italy and France who triggered this ghastly event. If the Treaty of Versailles had not been so harsh, Germany would be under a democracy and not a dictatorship. The Germans would have no reason to worship Hitler, and like in the Norse myths, The gods relies on the peoples worship to survive and in return, they protected them. If Hitler does not have anyone to worship him, the Fuhrer cannot survive.

I chose this painting by Henry Fuseli because I think that this is the state that the Germans were like before Hitler rose to power. Now you can see that if you were in this state, and someone gives you everything you ever wanted, you would be indebted to them for life. This is what happened to the Germans, unwilling to do Hitler's bidding, but are grateful to him for liberating them.

This could also represent the Jews in the concentration camp. That is worse than the German state. The Jews in Germany suffered the same fate as the Germans but instead of being liberated by Hitler, they are striped of whatever else they had (friends, family, human rights) and make them work until it is physically impossible to work anymore, and then make them work more, then kill then. Very few have lived to tell the tale about these horrific Hell zones. It is a fate worse then death.

The man's face, you cannot see and it is in black and white. I think this could mean that he is very ashamed to be a Jew/German so he is bowing his head in shame.

Profile J=Me?

Last week Mrs Narsiman and Mr Whiting came to our humanities class to help us discover our profiles. We were all amazed at our results. Some dazzled of how this was exactly like them, others questioning the word of science. I did not know if it was me or not so I asked a few friends to help me out. According to them, I was equal to my profile. Profile J that is.

According to my profile I was Gestalt Dominant. In other words, I do not like to follow instructions and do them my own way. This is very true. It also says my hearing is very functional. This is kind of true because I somehow do everything better with music. I honestly dont know how it happens, it just does. I am actually listening to music right now and it helps me type faster. I even sleep with music and its all types of music. It doesn't even have to be music, just sounds, for sleeping at least. Complete silence to me is just scary. Its just too boring and there is nothing about it. No spontaneousness or any feeling to it. However listening to lots of loud music has made my hearing very bad and I cannot hear close whispers that well.

It also says what I cannot do under pressure and I believe this is right too. It says I cannot communicate under stress and when I am stressed, its just hard to me to speak well and communicate with others. Like in football matches, when I am under stress I cannot call out to my team mates to help me or call out to them when I am passing. I must somehow overcome this if I wish to be better in sports. It also says my movement is limited which is very true. When I am playing soccer at lunch with my friends, I am under no stress and I play quite well where as when I am playing a real match against another school, I get very nervous and dont preform as well as I do at lunch.

Overall I feel that my profile is a very useful tool for me and others because I can learn more about myself and how I can learn better. I now think that if someone did not even know me but knew my profile somehow, he could already know what I like and what I dont like. My profile is all about me but that might ot be the case with others.