The end of the world

Normally, I would be writing about a character in a book and how they are special in some way. Instead of that, today I would like to talk about the "end of the world". The Mayans predicted that the world would end December 21, 2012. There has been a movie about this issue and a lot of worries have come up from this. There is a lot of scientific evidence that this events will not take place. But, I believe something else. I think that a part of civilization has ended (in  a way, not entirely).

The reason I believe this is because we are losing faith in one another. Take a look at the news. There have been many cases of murders over the past few days. Every one has heard about the tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday. It was horrible, there were multiple 6-7 years olds killed and a few teachers killed in the process. This is just depressing, and that's just the start. There was also the incident of the man in China stabbing all those poor elementary school kids to death a few days ago. It sickens me. Luckily, some of these massacres have been stopped before they actually took place. For example, a kid in Texas was going to kill multiple people in his school, but the police stopped him on time, and before he could do any harm. Also, there was a bizarre plan of killing Justin Bieber and selling his testicles for $2,500 each. The plan was uncovered before anything happened, but this is still crazy. What has our world come to?

I guess what I'm trying to say is; with all these horrible things going on, we are losing faith in each other. We can communicate very quickly with people worldwide, and we are realizing something. We are realizing that there are so many untrusted people in this world, we don't know exactly who to trust. So, slowly, I believe people who we don't know don't believe in us. We could be the "crazy Americans" to some people, and we could say the same thing to other people. So, calm down, you will be able to have Christmas and open presents. You will survive what the Mayans predicted as "the end of the world". But, we must restore faith in each other, or else an imitation of "the end of the world" might just be around the corner.

5 jobs and a dead dad... Can't get much better than that

I am in the middle of the book "Tales of the Madman Underground" by John Barnes. My understanding of this book is a bit fuzzy, but it is still a very interesting book. So far, we meet the main character, Karl Shoemaker a high school senior living in Lightsburg, Ohio. Oh, right, did I mention his dad is dead, he has 5 jobs, and a drunk mother? Pretty bad if you ask me. He is also forced to take part in the Madman Underground, a group therapy for "special" kids during school hours. So, if you think about it, he has it pretty bad off. This is why I believe Karl Shoemaker is much more mature than people think he is.

I think this because Karl is always thought of as a loser with no life and hardly any friends. Most of the people who think this are the "cool" kids who's lives are perfect. They would care less of someone like Karl and they just push him off like he is nothing. They don't know the struggle he's been through and that he is going through now. The fact that he has 5 jobs and has to take care of his lazy, good-for-nothing mom 24/7 is enough for me to believe that he is an extremely mature man. He must keep up doing homework, take part in 5 jobs, and maintain some sort of social life while supporting his family. How could you believe this guy isn't unbelievably mature?

So, in all, Karl is pretty much what and ideal mature person should be like. Responsible. He must juggle doing many very difficult tasks everyday. I don't believe many people could do what Karl does in a week. It must be the most stressful thing ever. I now that I myself couldn't do this.

The Stereotypically Inaccurate Story

I read "Paper Bag Princess" by Robert N. Munsch with Isaac, Eve, and Sydney during ELA. It is a picture book about the Princess Elizabeth who is going to marry Prince Ronald when a dragon attacks the castle, burns it to the ground, and kidnaps Ronald. The Princess then goes on an adventure to save her fiance Ronald. This doesn't sound like your average fairytale, now does it? This is completely the opposite of what most fairytales poison you with.

This is a picture book that I have enjoyed greatly. It answers a bunch of "What Ifs" that no one bothered to go through. It also has very strong message about stereotypes. Me, Isaac, Eve, and Sydney agreed that the main message is to not judge yourself or other people by stereotypes. Stereotypes are very bad things. It is someones generalization of one group of people. In this case, it is the generalization that princesses expect princes to save them when they are in need. So, Munsch completely flipped that stereotype around to prove that stereotype to be wrong. Most stereotypes are inaccurate, but even if they are so what? It shouldn't really matter.

So, overall, this book proved a big point which is great to show kids. This is because these younger kids can learn that stereotypes are bad at an early point in their life so they will never stereotype someone else. This book also has a twist ending. I believe it is one the best twist endings I have ever read. Princess Elizabeth saves Prince Ronald, but Ronald is disgusted by her appearance. So, in return, Elizabeth proceeds to call Ronald a "bum" and leaves.

Best. Ending. Ever.