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.