Music To Express, Music For Change.

"Music can change the world because it can change people"-Bono

I believe that this quote tells us that music can be very important to us. From it, we see that music can change us and with is, change the world for the better. Music has been used as a form of protest before, and it encourages us to use music to express ourselves. Music is an art and it is expression of self. Music is worth fighting for because with it, we can express ourselves and share our ideas. We also have something to believe in and listen to when we need something to believe in.

One reason that music is worth fighting for is that it can be used as a form of expression. Music is created by different individuals replicating their inner emotions and feeling in the form of an audible sound. You don't have to create music to express your emotions, listening to it is enough. You could probably relate to many different types of music at many different times, depending on how you feel. "Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."-Victor Hugo. This quote shows that music can express how you feel and even though you cannot sometimes explain what you are feeling, you can still express it in the form of music

Another reason why music is worth fighting for is because it brings us all together. Music is everybody's language and no one owns it. Everyone can understand music and that is one of the many things that everyone in the world shares in common, their love for music. Weather it is rock, rap, blues, jazz or even in a language not understandable to one, it is still music, and it is still loved by all. It is a little like mankind, so different, with many kinds of differences and styles, but yet so similar, with many similar feelings and emotions. It makes sense, as music is shaped by mankind.

I believe that we can also learn from music. As I mentioned in my last paragraph, music is very similar to mankind. There are many differences and many similarities between different types of music, and the same can be said with mankind. I believe that we have to focus on the similarities rather than the differences. Many artists around the world have promoted us being different but all the same as well, and that is something that is true. We can learn from all these messages sent through music and learn that we are all similar just the way music is.

If we did not fight for music, then how would we express ourselves? How would we unite as a nation instead of all of us being little islands? Without music, we could not listen to something to give us hope and something to fight for, we would be expressionless and live in a much blander world than what it is now. Music is important because it brings us together and gives us something to fight for when we have virtually given up, or just want to have some fun. Life without music is like a broken pencil, pointless.

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.

Connections or symbols? Both?

Guernica, by Pablo Picasso is a response to the bombing of Guernica where 1654 people were killed, 200-400 of which were civilians. In the painting, you can see all the distressed faces off all the people and animals. I noticed in the painting that everyone is looking up as if there was someone there that they thought could help. Maybe a call to god uttering a single syllable. Why. Or could they be looking up because they were cursing at the Nazi's who were bombing them from above.

Guernica is probably the most complex painting I have ever laid eyes on an I dont think none could decipher it but Picasso himself. Picasso explains the bull and horse by saying "This bull is a bull. This horse is a horse. If you give meaning to certain things in my painting it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint objects for what they are."A quote that I found that really strikes me is when a Nazi soldier found Picasso, at that time viewing Guernica, the soldier said "did you paint this?" Picasso replied with "I didn't you did". One more thing is that the whole painting is in different shades of one colour. I this this is to go against racism because we are all the same colour just different shades so if you make fun of me, you are making fun of yourself

The painting is an anti war symbol and probably the most complex one I have seen. The secrets of Guernica? We may never know about it. There are many paintings around the world with lots of meanings that have been lost in time. This is probably my favorite piece of work by Picasso. Because I love mysteries.

I chose Starry Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh because the stars are high above the town and that kind of tree thing on the left is trying to reach up and catch the stars just as the sad people in Guernica were reaching up to try to find liberation from this terror. Both artists are great

Music. Self explanatory.

Thxa Soa thinks that Burma is a very closed country and he brings music to Burma. He believes that if the people of Burma like it, then why cant they get it? He also feels sad for the Burmese people because they rarely get to enjoy the great things that music has to offer and sees no reason on why they cant enjoy it.

In my opinion I defiantly feel that Soa is doing the right thing by introducing music to Burma. I honestly cannot think how life would be like without music. Even just taking two sticks and hitting a wall to make a beat is sometimes what makes you feel content. without music life would be so boring. So bland, tasteless. Music is not just for enjoyment, it is to express yourself as it is an art. It is to get your emotions out and if people are denied that, then they are getting denied a human right.

When I get in a bad mood, I instantly pick up my guitar, turn on my amp and start jamming to my favorite songs or just making up improvisation solos. Almost instantly, I forget the world and get into a musical trance. It almost feels as though I am god him/her self. Making the sounds of those notes that just takes the life out of me and eventually triggering me to achieve nirvana, the perfect state. It all depends on my mood. If I am mad I turn it up till I can hear no more. If I just need a fresh start to the day, I use my acrostic or make a cleaner sound with my amp. Both ways lead to the same calm state of a new beginning. I think this relates to religion because I have read in many books about people who have done more than one religion and they all say that the paths are different, but the where the path ends is the same for every religion. Water. When English take the clear blue substance from the tap they call it "water". When Malays draw it from the tap they call it "air". When Indians see the liquid they call it "pani". When the Spanish touch the shapeless form they call is "agua". Ultimately in all languages it is the same. Different languages call it different things but to everyone it is the blue shapeless liquid found in rivers, lakes and oceans, which all of us draw it from.

Music can be used in many different way and no one, not even Chuck Norris has the authority to take it away from people. If they do, we will revolt. What better way than with music itself. Well played Soa

I chose this picture because it represents a persons mind in torment. Painted by Wassily Kandinsky, each individual shape is a different idea and so many ideas at once causes stress. To clear the mind, you must find a path to your perfect state and subdue the thunderclouds that torment you. Music is one of these paths and if people deny it from you, it is hard to express yourself and make yourself mentally healthy. Music is a need and you cant take away needs.

Gods word will be done by us and us only

Eboo Patel believes that we should be able to live comfortably and be friendly to every religion and religion shouldn't matter at all for anything for interacting with one another. What does it matter if you are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Catholic or Jewish? We are still human beings and each person should be treated the same. We are should be looking at the same direction, comfortable, yet apart.

I think Patel is right in saying that we must be comfortable with each others presence and try to help each other. In other speeches, it makes me feel as though they want a Christian person and Muslim person to walk around holding hands all day long. Our school for example is an extremely diverse place. We are all in one community and that is the school community and everyone is in it no matter where you are from, but we are not holding hands and walking down the hall. We are comfortable in each others presence and we dont care if they are Hindu, Christian, Muslim or Jewish. We accept them for who they are.

I have seen people calling each other names according to their skin colour or what they believe in. I do not support this yet like Patel and Jesus Colon, I did not do anything to stop this. This is because I have had other personal experiences where I have seen fights and then there was a good person who tried to stop the fight but in the end, all of them got suspended. If that happened to me, how good would that look on my record? It could affect me for life. Patel has now opened my eyes to see that not taking action will affect me for life because I will be left with the guilt of not helping that Patel and Jesus Colon have now. They have atoned for that by doing good deeds for others to a greater degree. They have also taught me that I have to take action when I can. Action separates opinions and beliefs

I chose this picture because this represents all of the people who want to make a difference but dont have the courage to take action to do so. All our idea are all scrambled up and never made into affect because we are not going further. However it looks beautiful because ultimately our ideas are for the good of mankind. Peace makers all over the world want to shape this not into idea, but an action that we will all follow.

Identities, what we can do to make them the best we can.

In the story of Jesus Colon, he believes that you should always offer your help no matter how you look and what kind of reputation you have. He believes that you should not let anything come to you, you must go to it. If someone asks for your help you must help them. If you see someone who needs help then you must offer your help not wait for them to ask you because the might not. It is our duty as human beings to help each other come through no matter what he/she looks like or talks like. We are one race

I think that Colon acted like a "rude animal walking on two legs". But in my opinion, I probably would have done the same thing. It is defiantly not the right thing to do. But I close my eyes and think that I was Jesus Colon, I would have been thinking the same things he was thinking about. Would she scream? I would get in real trouble then.

I think that it takes one bad event to make you a better person. In this case when Colon ignored the lady he made a promise to himself that he will always offer his help to anyone he thinks needs it. In Fatmire Feka's case it was the war and separation of her family that made her give speeches to everyone and inspire them. Now Jesus Colons walks away with a promise to keep to himself and I walk away with the knowledge on how to live by my promise.

Poem:

This Poem By James Berry really stuns me. How he used poetry as a form of making us know about difference. I dont really have an answer to these questions and I dont think there is one. A line that really gets to me is "Do we shut our eyes to it or poke it with a stick?-4th line of the poem. This relates to what we do in real life. When you see something of the unknown do you not care?-shut our eyes to it. Or do play around with it and experiment-poke it with a stick. This is exactly what we do with the unknown. This poem has many unanswered question and I dont really understand it so I cant say much about it but it is defiantly about fear of the unknown and exclusion.

The Island:

The Island is a picture book by Armin Greder and it is not so different from other picture books when you first look at it. Little words, Big pictures. But when you thing about it, there is a lot of meaning in the book. There is a huge message and I think a big idea is "fear of the unknown brings no gain" Because they see a poor stranded man with only his boat and reluctantly take him in. The are very scared of him and dont give him any food or let him out. They then banish him and build high walls around their city so no one could get in. Now what if they is disease in their community? They cant get help because they do not know anyone around them to help them because they excluded everyone else. So if you always help people, they will help you back.

Peace is a need

In her speech, Fatmire Feka talks about her past and how it affects her today. How her family is still missing and how peace could have changed all of this and what we can do to achieve total world peace. She also thinks that we need to take action. You do not have to be like her and become a leader but at least try to help with donations. Not just heartless donation in which you just drop a coin in a box, just caring will do better than that. But try to tell others about what is happening and hopefully, they will start caring to.

Feka's speech relates to John Donne's "No man is an island" because Feka wants peace. Peace means that we are together and the whole point of John Donne's poem is that man kind is not separated and can never be separated, we are all part of the big picture, none bigger than the other, like a puzzle. But I think that that puzzle is incomplete and we are the ones that have to fix it. From both the world wars and other wars before and after those we can see that that puzzle is slowly being completely. Now people like Feka, Aung San Suu Kyi and many other peace makers around the world are not trying to fix the puzzle, but are trying to make us fix the puzzle with them.

When my brother leaves overseas for some time for some reason, my mom always misses him and the moment he gets back, she says that she missed him and the next day everything goes back to normal. It would be hard to imagine if he never returned and we didn't know where he is. Feka is going through this right now and it is a lot harder than I can ever imagine. To be struck by horror that follows you because you dont know if they are alive or dead. It is much harder to have someone "missing" than someone dead because when someone is dead, you can have a funeral for them and honor their souls. But if they are missing, what can you do? Nothing.

I feel that feka is a great hero in our time because she teaches us more than to make peace, but look at her. Her family is missing and insted of being sad about it she has inspired the world by using the stories to fight against hunger, poverty and make equality with peace. Although I don't think that she would have been the person she was today if her family did not go missing. However, it still takes a great deal of strength to become where she is today. Like my blog quote "A hero is a person who can hang on for longer" Feka is a hero because she hung on for longer. And she hasn't leg go yet

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I chose this picture painted by Rene Magritte because it shows a person who is completely oblivious to us to the left, In the middle he has turned slightly towards us so you can slightly see his face. On the right he has made a quarter turn to his right so you can see half of his face. I think that it is the peace maker goal to try to turn that person around and see what is happening to the world around him.

Is something really that great that you will sacrifice yourself and others for it?

Aung San Suu Kyi's interview for BBC talks about that the Burmese people have to do fight for democracy together. no man is an island, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.-From poem no man is an island by John Donne 1624. In my opinion, Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the greatest souls to have walked this earth. Under house arrest for 15 years. How would that feel? Lonely. Trapped. An animal in a cage. But these are all subdued by one other feeling. The feeling of hope. Hope that one day we will have democracy in Burma, knowing that day will come closer with every day that passes and we will get through those days with our blood, sweat and tears. Then, when she walked out of her house and saw all the people there for her, that hope went away and in came in knowledge.

I think that Aung San Suu Kyi is fighting for all the right reasons, but not in the right way. Do we have to use peace? Is peace really that great we must sacrifice what we are looking for? I think not. when brothers and sisters argue over something huge, sometimes we get in a fight. So what its not the end of the world. I remember this one time where me and my 15 (17 now) year old brother got into a fist fight. I was only 10. Guess who won? But he won because he was bigger. Aung San Suu Kyi is the older brother and the Burmese government is the little brother. Aung San Suu Kyi has the support of the U.N and many other countries but she is not using it to her advantage. I mean, not use all the nuclear weapons on Burma but just threatening the government of Burma to see what we can do.

What I have said on Aung San Suu Kyi could make me seem like a more negative type of person however I still admire her and her words of wisdom. Can any normal person speak on what he/she thinks is right? Can they continue on what they think is right with a gun at their head? a one way ticket to god himself. But I think that If Aung San Suu Kyi uses a little force then they will achieve what they want much quicker and not have to bear the pain and suffering any longer.

You my think that I am extremely foolish to have chosen a tomato soup can painting by Andy Warhol but I have reasons for it. Before we learnt more about Aung San Suu Kyi, did we know a lot about Burma? Maybe some of us did but I sure didnt. In this picture you can only see the front which obviously says "Campbell's condensed tomato soup" Which is the brand and product. It is the most recognizable in the picture and in real life we see the front first. But its whats on the back that matters. What the ingredients are, the expiry date and usually some more information about the product. The front is Aung San Suu Kyi because she Is the leader and is what we look at Burma for. The back is the people of Burma. They are mor important because it is what Aung San Suu Kyi is fighting for

We are together and together we are strong

I think that the theme of the poem is the fact that together we are strong. I can support this idea by the first two lines of the poem which are "No man is an island; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."So basically, it mean that no person is by his/her self. Every person is inter-connected to each other and we are one. "It is not the Human race are. It is the Human race Is." (Jon Turteltaub, 2007, National Treasures 2 :Book of secrets). Another aspect of this poem that I will review about in this post is that in the middle of the poem the line "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am part of mankind." This relates to the first line because the first line tells us that we are together. This line concerning diminished tells us that every time someone dies, it affects us all negatively because we are part of the human race. Relating this to the first line would be like each person represents a village in the continent, as John Donne describes the human race as a continent, then when one village gets destroyed in a fire and that village was helping another village to get food, then the other village will suffer for some time. In reality, if someone dies, then his/hers mother, father, siblings and other close friends/family will be in a period mourning of which they may never recover from. Therefore, I conclude that the ideas that John Donne induces in the poem is the idea of the human race as a single form and how when a piece of the form is taken off, another section may be permanently or temporally damaged.

The Video:

I personally think that this video is a great way to communicate to the world and to get your message out. It is extremely effective and I feel that getting words around the cities of New York and Sydney from the add on a billboard to the random scrunched up litter on the ground. Along with the backing track that made you feel this indescribable feeling inside yourself that made you think deeply about the words and what the mean together, which also brings in another idea that each word by itself wont make sense. Even if you are just missing one word in the whole video, It will take some time to comprehend the whole video, which I consider a loss of time. Another idea of this would be how it says "Man kind is not an island" in the poem and video but in the video, since it was filmed in two different cities which are half way across the world. In the video, you also could not tell which city was which unless there was a significant landmark. This brings in the idea of the human race being the same all over the globe. Personally, I am more a visual learner than auditory and this is one of the reasons I prefer the video to the poem.

John Marsden

John Marsden is an author from Australia. He came to our school last week and talked about how a writer should write. He made us do many different activities like writing different descriptions and joining nouns and verbs together. One of these activities was to write a four letter story about an animal dying. A four letter story is a story that has words no longer than four letters. It was a lot harder than it sounded! Most of us did not even notice that we had more than four letters in some of our words. This was my story:

I lay here, my end near. I can see my end, I can hear it too. It is not good but I must go. Not now, if that man had not shot me. I hear him tell many, what he has done. But they dont help, they go away. The man does not care, but he shot me. Who cares, I am just a dog. I roam the town, with hope. Hope that a man will free me from this lone town. And take me with them, to a home. Now that hope has come true, but not the way I want. The man who was too free me, has shot me. But he has made me free form this town, and now I will go to a my new home, hell. When I die, I will make food for many of my kind. The same kind who roam the town with hope. The same hope of a man to free them. I wish them good luck, a new hope I now have. Hope that all my kind will be free of not just this town, but all of them. And that they will go to a home that they can love. Not my future home, that I will hate. Now I die a sad dog. My end is now here and down I go to meet the hounds of hell.

I think that my story is quite good, I thought I used what John Marsden said about writing and I think it worked out quite well although there were some words which were more than five letters.

To find out more about John Marsden, click on the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marsden_(writer)

Why did I choose these picture? Hmmmm.....

Manchester united football (soccer ball), i pod, electric guitar, Laptop, Cricket bat, book, McLaren shirt, Sudoku booklet, toy Yak

This item is a Manchester united football (soccer ball for some of you).My aunt gave me this football ball in America and me and my cousin played with it everyday. However, I am not including it in my photo for that reason. This item represents me by showing two things about me. One of those things about me is that I like football (soccer). I’m not that good at it but I like the sport. Another thing that this item tells about me is that I support Manchester united. This item also reminds me about the times when I lived in Singapore. Because every day I used to play football (soccer) with my friends. I lived there for about 12 years and I miss it very much.

Another item that tells a lot about me is my i pod.My Mom gave it to me on my 11Th birthday and I was extremely happy. This tells that I like to listen to music. I like to listen to lots of music like rock, R&B, rap and many more genes. I go to concerts sometimes and I enjoy them. I always use my i pod when I go on road trips or go to school (by bus). My i pod also has games that I play when I get bored. It can also be used to go and surf the web when ever I have Internet connection

One item that represents me is my electric guitar. This shows that I play guitar. I got this guitar in the beginning of 6Th grade which was also the time I came to K.L. So this reminds me of the time I've lived in K.L. I also like to play my guitar a lot. I like to play it because it is very fun to play most of the songs I know and sometimes play along with the actual song. It also helps me calm down. Yes, even when I am am playing heavy metal songs, it still calms me down. I also started playing guitar in Singapore so it reminds me of that too. I like to use my amp and make different sounds

I would bring my laptop because its where I can do all my work from and play games, use Facebook, watch movies and do other stuff on it. I got it in the middle of 6Th grade because my Mom and Dad used the computer a lot and I could not complete my work in time. It is also very convenient because it is not that heavy and it can be used for many different reasons. I also use it to talk with my old friends who are overseas. This makes me very happy because I can talk to them whenever I want to if they are online (for Facebook) or if they are not, I could just send them a message.

This item is my cricket bat. I chose my cricket bat because I play cricket and it is one of my favorite sports along with football (soccer). I used to play it a lot in Singapore with my friends. I also used to play in school for the team and with friends but once I moved to K.L there is not much place to play with my brother where we live and not many people play it in school so I have mostly abandoned the sport. But I do play it with my friends when we go back to Singapore.

The next item is a book. It is called Artemis Fowl by Eoin (pronounced Owen) Colfer. It is the first in the Artemis Fowl series. However this book is not just by itself. It is representing all the books I read. Believe it or not, I actually read a lot. I like to read because its like a movie in your head. Except its in much more detail and any time you want, you can stop reading and read it again tomorrow. Movies are also bad for your eyes and most of the time, don't give you the full story.

The 7Th item on my list is a McLaren F1 shirt because I support the McLaren team. My favorite driver is Lewis Hamilton. I have been supporting them for at least 4 years. But I have only watched two Grand Prix and I really enjoyed them both. One was the Singapore night race about two years ago and the other one was here at Sepang.

This item is a Sudoku book and I really enjoy it. Its fun and it is very challenging. It is also good time pass. Sudoku also makes me think more creatively so it makes me smarter. However that book is very hard and I have only done a few of the puzzles and sometimes I have to cheat to get the answers! It also makes me think quicker and I use it whenever I get bored.

The final item on my list is a toy Yak. Right now, you my be surprised at this random object but to me, it is far from that. My brother gave me this Yak about 2 years ago when he went to Mt Everest for a school trip. since he is leaving this year, I decided to put this here because it is definitely an object that I can remember him by.Its like a picture but it is 3D and it brings back memories. I know when he leaves, I will miss him.

The pictures that represent me

these are the picture of my items. The second one is my laptop and I used my web cam to take the pictures so that's why its like that.

My quote

I chose my quote because I feel that it gives everyone hope to become a hero. And in reality, they can. If you say that a hero has to be special then people will lose hope and forget the thought of doing something heroic. I think that my quote shows that all you need is the determination to achieve the goal you set for yourself. I personally think that everyone can be a hero even if they are bad. They can just maybe mend their ways and that itself takes a lot of courage. A hero needs lots of skills but I think that determination is the most important one of all because when you are doing a heroic deed then all odds are against you and you would feel like giving up. Thats when you need determination to drive you on.

I chose the picture above because it shows that he is hanging on for some reason (I dont know why) and this what a hero does.

Matt Harding blogpost

Matt Harding. An inspirational person to us all. weather your Christian or Muslim. weather your from U.S.A or from Afghanistan. You cannot fail to get the message that the world can be one. Like one country instead off all the separate countries we have today. In this Matt Harding's video is like hope. A ray of light in a room of darkness. He has given the world hope. he has shown the world that we CAN be one, we CAN live together in peace. He has promoted it from an idea into a fact. If he can make other random people around the world dance with him without force

then imagine what we all can do if we work together.

This Matt Harding. He was a video game designer until he quit his job. He makes videos of himself dancing badly in different countries. I chose the picture because it shows you clearly who Matt Harding is.

Like Matt, I have traveled the world and have seen how people live in different parts of the world. I know how hard it is to unite all of the world together. But its amazing how a normal guy like me and you can unite the world like this. He makes us realise that its not impossible, its not even hard, if we work together, anything can be done.

Credits:

Photo from

http://thisibelieve.org/media/essayists/tib-hardingm-62368-200.jpg

The Compliment Guys

The compliment guys are a lot of fun while they are an inspirational idol to everyone. When I read the article I thought that "why cant I do that" what I meant was not to such an extent such as Cameron Brown or Brett Westcott/ the compliment guys, but if I am walking next to a random person how hard is it just to say "hey, nice shoes" or something like that. It may not seem much to you but it makes the other person feel good. Like maybe if they had a bad day, your compliment could have mad that person feel a lot better and brighten their day. This is exactly what the compliment guys have been doing for a long time. They are nice to people and people are nice to them.

These are the compliment guys. Brett Westcott is standing on the left and Cameron Brown is on the right (your left and right). I chose this picture because it clearly shows who the compliment guys are and their sign which they use every time.

Brett is a junior civil engineering student and Cameron is junior business management student. Both go to the Purdue University in west Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. I think that in their own way, both of them are heroes because the are doing what is right by making people feel better and they are trying very hard to do keep on doing this becuase they are giving up the time to study. These people making other people smile is a great idea and we should all do it to each other

Credits:

Photo from:

http://www.google.com.my/imglanding?q=compliment%20guys&imgurl=http://blog.al.com/living-news/2009/07/large_compliment%2520guys.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.al.com/living-news/2009/07/has_anyone_told_you_how.html&usg=__ZEVpCv8t1_QCRLKC4oYZXdhC7Cs=&h=356&w=453&sz=41&hl=en&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=QHWm1ccAdVRV9M:&tbnh=100&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcompliment%2Bguys%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&sa=N&tbs=isch:1&start=0