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.

A sad realization

I read the book "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green, which is pretty grim. It is about two cancer-diagnosed lovers that know that their lives are close to ending. At first, Hazel Grace, the main character, isn't very social. She only likes to read and watch America's Next Top Model. The only thing close to social she does is attending a Cancer Kids Support Club. Then, all of a sudden Hazel meets her Prince Charming, Augustus Waters and her world completely changes.

This book takes an entirely different perspective than I could have ever imagined. This perspectve is the darkness of death, but then it is wrapped around with all this love. It can bring you tears of both happiness and of sadness, then leave you pleading for more. Something I enjoyed very much is that Augustus is the extremely hot and buff guy every girl is in love with and Hazel isn't the ideal girl either. But, they fit together so easily, it is very hard to seperate them. Although they know death will come upon them soon enough, they still choose to live their life to the fullest, and I admire them for that.

This book has made me kind of depressed though. The thought of me having to die sickens me, especially since it will be haunting you every second of your life. You never now when you could die, which is an extremely morbid thought which, sadly, everyone must face. It made me reach a happier conclusion though. I now know I must live life to the fullest and to strive to make something out of my life, because you only have one life.

Another scary and tragic thought: I am, in a way, saying YOLO (you only live once)

Everyone's Special

I read the book "Looking for Alaska" by John Green. This book is very interesting, in my opinion. Lots of weird things and people happen and live in Culver Creek Preparatory School, Alabama. It seems like the middle of nowhere. But the people in the school make up for its weird location. They love to do crazy things. But, these aren't the jock- popular kids. These are the smart-popular kids.

There's the main character Miles (also known as Pudge) who likes to memorize famous peoples last words. Then, there's Chip Martin (also know as Colonel), who likes to memorize capitals of countries. Also, Takumi Hikohito is an amazing MC. And, who could forget, the crazy Alaska Young who is a sex-addict. From the first day Pudge arrived at Culver Creek Preparatory School, he has had a crush on Alaska. That's not the point though. The point is that all these people have very interesting talents (or something like that) and that makes them stand out.

So, after readin this book, I have concluded that everyone is special in their own way. Now, it may not be as obvious as Pudge, but everyone is special. For example, I am extememly passionate about soccer and I try to play everyday. Basically, I live for soccer. And it could be the same for other people. You could like sports such as football, basketball, or baseball. Maybe, your talent is a bit different, such as memorizing definitions for words straight out of a dictionary (this is just an example). You may not realize what it is yet, but it's there.

They say most friendships last 7 years

I'm reading the book "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian"by Sherman Alexie. It is about the courageous Indian, Arnold Spirit. He is also known as Junior to the Spokane Indians that live on the reservation. All his life he wanted a bit of a change, something other than drunk adult Indians and fistfights everyday. He especially wanted a change from being picked on everyday and wanted a decent education. Is that too much to ask for? Apparently, it is for most Indians because when Arnold switches from the local Indian school to the school of Reardan (which is in a white town 22 miles away from where he lives) he is completely shunned by people he had known for his whole life. He was even shunned by his best friend, Rowdy, which he had known for most of his life.

It starts off as a very masculine friendship. Although, Arnold isn't the most masculine man in the world, Rowdy comes very close to that. Rowdy is the toughest kid on the reservation. He is long and lean (and as Arnold says, as strong as a snake). He is too tough to even show emotions. Rowdy becomes and looks even more tougher due to his dad. Rowdy's dad drinks hard, and hits Rowdy and Rowdy's mom all the time. But, whenever Arnold asks Rowdy about it (such as a bloody face) Rowdy would say, "It's war paint. It just makes me look tougher." Ever since kindergarten Rowdy got into fights, and he fought everybody. But not Arnold. Rowdy and Arnold were both born on the same day of November 5th, 1992. And they were best friends ever since. Best friends, that is, until Arnold transferred to Reardan.

Things were never the same between them afterwards. Probably because Rowdy never talked to Arnold again. And just like that, a 14-year-long friendship vanished. Just because of one comment. I can't hate on Rowdy though. He felt betrayed, his only real friend betrayed him for a stupid school. How would that make you feel? I can relate to both of them though. Sometimes, you need a change in life whether it affects people positively or negatively. You just can't hate the person that needed or went through that change though. You have to look from both perspectives, and you have to try to understand. Because, you now, there is always room for forgiveness.

"The Mission" to do the right thing

I read the book "The Mission" by Jason Myers. It is very similar to his last book "exit here." which I did a blog post about last week. I decided to read this book because it was from an author that I really like (Jason Myers). Also, Isaac recommended this book to me, and he knows some really good books. And, once again, I was sucked into a great book from a great author. I read it in 3 days.

But, this book was very saddening.  This kid, Kaden, goes to California for a week with his uncle who parties everyday and is a druggie. And, in that week, his life is almost completely ruined. Now, I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but it made me think. His life has been screwed up because of other peoples decisions. I think it is extremely unfair, and why should he have to pay for other peoples bad decision? And, as in other Jason Myers books, Kaden turns to drugs and alcohol. Although, it was Kaden's idea to turn to drugs and alcohol, it wasn't his idea for all this drama to happen before he was born to affect him in the future.

If this had happened to me I'm not sure how I would react at first. Probably some mixed feelings of confusion and anger. There are many ways I could face this problem. But, a lot of them aren't very good solutions. I could, for example, do what Kaden did and turn to drugs and alcohol. Or, I could just lock myself away from the rest of the world. The issue that Kaden had to face was horrible, and I believe no one should have to face the same problems as he had to. So, as a way to at least try to stop this issue, I want people to stop and think, what would be the right thing to do? Or, how could this affect me and someone else in the future? Then, maybe, people realize that some things are better off not doing.