This I Believe - "There's No Such Thing As Trying Too Hard"

      I know that school is not for everyone. Some people like it, some people don't. I know that most kids here are just dying to get out, and they think that because it is the end of the year, they don’t have do anything but show up. However, I don’t believe that people should do that. I believe that people should be passionate and put effort into everything they do, no matter how small.

      A few years ago, when I was in about 4th or 5th grade, I was working on a science project. This boy walked over to me, looked at my project, and told me, “You're trying too hard.” I just stared at him, not knowing what to say. I was confused. Why was that a bad thing? Since when was putting effort into something wrong? I had always been the kind of person to work really hard on everything and try to go above and beyond. I loved school. But I knew that there were kids who didn't. I never understood why some people think that it is “cool” to not care. To not try. Especially now, in middle school. People would say that I was annoying or some other words that would get me in trouble if I say them, because I suggested they to do their work instead of talking. I would get extremely frustrated that they didn't even bother with starting their work. It annoyed me that they didn't care about school as much as I did. But I did think it was kind of funny when we got tests back and I got a better grade them because they would ask me, “Oh my god, how did you get a 4? I got a 1!” Or something along those lines. They didn't understand that not caring, and slacking off was causing them to get bad grades.

      Throughout the years, I have learned that I cannot control other people, no matter how much I want to. I cannot force them to do their work, I cannot force them to stop talking, but I can work my hardest, and hope that they realize that they're not helping themselves. That they will get so much farther if they actually tried. The putting effort into things is not dumb or pointless. And maybe I do try too hard, but maybe that’s not a bad thing.

Tuesdays With Morrie - Final Project

Now that we have finished Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, we are going to take one of Morrie's aphorisms and make a poster about it. The aphorism that I chose was "Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone." (Pg. 133) I think that this aphorism means that even when a person is dead, love from other people is what keeps them "alive". If the person who loves them keeps thinking about them, and loving them, obviously they will not come back to life, but it keeps their memory alive. They aren't gone completely, even if they are dead.

A few years ago, my grandpa died, and last year, I was talking with my grandma, who said that she talks to my grandpa sometimes, which I think is what Morrie was saying. If the person who died is loved, and remembered, that person isn't gone completely. That is why I agree with this aphorism. It also reminds me of when Morrie told Mitch to visit his grave and talk to him. That would keep his memory alive. On page 170, Morrie says, "'Tell you what. After I'm dead, you talk. And I'll listen." Morrie wants Mitch to tell him his problems, which is "keeping him alive".

My Aphorism: Good doesn't have to be perfect.

Tuesdays With Morrie- Socratic Seminar Reflections

      Throughout the time that we were reading Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, we were having Socratic Seminars. Now that we have finished the book, I am going to reflect on all of the seminars that we have had. 

What trends did you notice with yourself and your personal goals for each seminar? 

I noticed that throughout the seminars, I started to talk more and more. I noticed that the more I wrote on my guide, the more I participated, even if what I said had nothing to do with what was on my guide. My personal goals changed also throughout the seminars. The first seminar, I said that I wanted to participate more. Then, the second seminar, I said that I participated a lot, and so I wanted to work on engaging people in the conversations who may not have added enough. The third seminar, I thought that I may have participated a bit too much, and I wanted to work on not interrupting people when they were trying to talk. I did try to be mindful of how much I was talking, and this last seminar I definitely tried to engage people in the conversation, which I think I did well. 

What trends did you notice with the class for each seminar? 

I noticed that a lot of the time, the same people were not adding enough, and the same people were talking a lot. I noticed that the people who only added one or two things to their guide didn't add anything to the conversation, and if they did, they only participated once. The people who added many things to their guide, were the people who were participating a lot.

What did you notice that helped or hindered a specific seminar?

I found that the more interesting the questions were, the more people participated. During the second seminar, I asked, "Would you want to know your death date?" And that sparked a really interesting conversation, because a lot of people had a lot of opinions and a lot of really good points. Today, someone asked, "How would you want to die? If you had the choice." That also sparked a really interesting conversation, which ended with Lorin saying that she would want to die on death row, but we don't have to get into that. I noticed that what hindered the seminars was people talking over each other. Because of the no raising hands rule, a lot of people would get cut off in what they were trying to say, and then when that person was finished, someone else would chime in, and the person who was trying to talk originally, is ignored. That was something that happened a lot, but I think that by the fourth seminar, things went really well. And Carter brought the crackers, so that's great. 

  

Tuesdays With Morrie- My Perfect Day

      For the past two weeks, we have been reading Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, and on the Thirteenth Tuesday, Mitch and Morrie start taking about their perfect day. If Morrie could be perfectly healthy for a day, for twenty-four hours, what would he do? Morrie would wake up, excercise, eat his favorite breakfast, swim, and meet with his friends. They would come over and talk about their issues. They would go for a walk in the garden, and go out to dinner for duck, or pasta, and they would dance all night until they were exhausted. Then, Morrie would go home and sleep. To Mitch, is seemed like just an average day, but, because of Morrie's disease, he couldnt excercise, he couldn't swim, he couldn't walk in the garden, he couldn't eat the foods he liked, and he couldn't dance. So, if he was healthy for a day, he would want to do all of those things.

What would my perfect day look like?

I think that my perfect day would be in the summer. I would wake up, my mom and I would make the Pillsbury biscuits from the can, and have a family breakfast with biscuits, bacon, fruit, etc, etc, etc. Then, I would meet up with some of my friends, and walk around in the park, maybe going to the gas station to get ice cream. We would just walk and talk and laugh. Then, when it got late, we would walk back to my house and have dinner. My friends and I would probably have pizza or Mac & Cheese, and we would eat it and watch a movie, or American Horror Story, or something like that. After that, we would stay up late just talking and laughing until we couldn't keep our eyes open. And then we would sleep. 

I think that if I want more of these perfect days to happen, I need to start getting off my phone, and going outside. I need to spend more time with my friends and family.