This I belive essay

      I believe in individuality. Since I was in middle school, I decided to be different. I didn’t want to become a carbon copy. I have always believed that everyone should be different. I used to go to every day and see almost everyone wearing practically the same thing, the same colors, and the same hair, -everything the same. Most people follow trends, but I prefer to stat them. In my mind starting trends in individuality and following trends is conformity.
      Society is set up in a way in which conformity seems to be the only option. To get a job you have to conform, to get into a good school you have to conform. Our society seems to be all about conformity. But if you look at the people who have changed this country and even the world, they refused to conform. I you look at people like Martin Luther King Jr. or Jackie Robinson, who went against the status quo, they were individuals. Fancy clothes, cute hair, and trends, won’t get you anywhere in, life. At first glance it looks like conformity is what gets you places but in reality its individuality.

      I strive to be an individual because; Individuality is what I believe in. I believe that people should be themselves instead of trying to be like others, because honestly who is going to care about who wore what in 10 years.

this i believe

race
 Seeing with the heart

addiction
I will take my voice back

responsibility
 A duty to Family, Heritage and Country

birth
 considering adoption

 change
The true value of life

      The essay, The True Value of Life, made the biggest impact on me. I can't imagine myself empathizing with anyone who was in jail for drunk driving, especially if I was injured because of what they did. If I had to live with chronic pain everyday, I could not even imagine myself forgiving the person who caused it. But after hearing and reading some of the reasons that helped her forgive him, I got a new perspective on forgiveness. I can kind of understand how she was able to forgive, but I don't think I would ever be able to forgive him, if I had been put in her situation.

I believe in...

I believe in second chances because everyone makes mistakes.
I believe in individuality because no two people are alike, no matter how much they try to be.
I believe in hope because we all need something to believe in.

My First Self Piercing

        I have always had an obsession with piercings, since starting high school. So when I was fifteen I asked my mom if I could get my belly button pierced. And of course being who she was, she said no.  For me no was not going to cut it. I had to have my navel pierced. One day while I was on the computer I was looking up belly rings and came across a site that also sold piercing needles. I decided to order some needles and a couple of belly rings.

       A couple days later when it arrived I was so excited. From the moment that I opened up the package, I knew that I was going to do it. I decided to do it on a Friday. After doing some extensive research on placements and sanitation, I decided to use alcohol to sanitize the needles that I was going to use. After cleaning the needle with an alcohol prep pad that my mom used for nursing I marked where I was going to pierce myself. Then I started to insert the needle.

        It hurt more than I had thought. While I was piercing myself, my friend Alex called me on my phone. When he asked me what I was doing, I said, “I’m piercing my belly button.” Then he replied, “Oh, do you want me to call you back later.” I told him it was fine we could talk. At this time I was still trying to push the needle through. When the pain would get unbearable I would stop and take a break for a minute, and then keep going. It took me three hours to get the needle all the way through. It took so long mostly because I was talking on the phone the whole time and taking breaks. After getting it through, I was ecstatic. It looked great.

Boston Marathon Explosions

     When I first found out about the bombs in Boston, I wasn't sure what to think. The whole situation reminded me on 9/11. Once the images that I saw on TV started to sink in, I started to wonder why someone would want to set off bombs on am marathon route. Even now, a day later I still don't have a complete understanding of what really happened, and it bothers me. When things like this happen, I start to think is anyone really ever safe. As the injury count rises, I am sympathetic to the people who were injured and their families and friends. what happened in Boston is truly a tragedy.

From Wladyslaw's point of veiw

     I was starving as I tried to find a place to open my can of food. I walked around for what seemed like well over an hour. And then I came upon a ladder I climbed up it and each step was unbearable my stomach was screaming for food. When I got to the top I pulled the ladder up so no one would find me. But as I was trying to open my can of food, a German officer appeared. My mind started to think of the worst possible scenarios.

Mr. Pickleman (Vocab 4 blog)

   Mr. Pickleman was a malevolent old man, who hated everything and everyone. He would sit on his front porch all day to ascertain information on his neighbors. He would watch the sidewalk, and if anyone stepped on his yard, he would yell at them and force them to disperse quickly. in the afternoon if any teenagers dared to walk by his home, He watched them scrupulously. he wanted them to do something wrong. He thought to himself," Young people these days don't understand that is is not venial to believe you are invulnerable to everything." He would watch people skulk by his house as if they were affiliated with some spy organization. There was a time when Mr. Pickleman was like all the people who walked by his house thinking and believing that their lives were not finite. These people were too nonchalant. if only they knew what he use to be - before "it" happened.  And now all he could do was watch people, and wish for a panacea to his problems. But of course there wasn't one, after all he was dead.

man's inhumanity towards man

      In the film the theme man's inhumanity towards man is apparent throughout. People were shot for no reason. A woman was shot for asking where they were being taken to. Also an elderly man who was wheelchair bound, was thrown off a balcony because he could not stand up when the Nazi asked him.the inhumanity towards man was based entirely on antisemitism. it breaks away from the theme when Wladyslaw's friends from before the German occupation, helped to hide him after he escaped from the ghetto.

Elie vs Wladyslaw

       Wladyslaw Szpilman had two sisters and a brother. his brother always seemed to have something to argue about. Elie had three sisters. Both Wladyslaw and Elie had loving parents and their families wanted to stay together. They were both Jewish and both were clueless as to what to expect when the Germans came. Both Elie and Wladyslaw's families were forced to move to ghettos. Elie and his family were deported together, but Wladyslaw's family was deported without him.