What Book Has Benefitted me the Most and How?

                One book that has benefitted me the most was Night, by Elie Wiesel.  This book is based on a true story of a Jew during the time of the Holocaust and what life was like.  Unlike many other books I have read, Night gave me a deep emotional feeling by living the life of a Jew in a concentration camp through a book.  The main thing that always hit me while I was reading it was that all of the stories in the book were true.  How did this book benefit me?  Well first of all, it made me realize that I have a wonderful life and that I should be thankful for every minute of it.  I have always heard of horrible lives, but actually living a life of depression, death, and fear imprinted itself into my mind. There were many instances that seemed unbearable to live in, and at many of those times I would realize that this is true story and how my life seems like heaven compared to it.  By giving me this realistic sense, I always stop and remember the book of Elie Wiesel’s story whenever I am depressed or angry and this helps me overcome my problems.  Knowing that my life can be considered heaven, I become very grateful and humble. 
                The main thing that Night has done for me was to make me much more humble.  I will realize how good my life is and how great of a place I live in.  This new view on thoughts about my life will reduce me from complaining about things.  In turn, this help me become a much better person and people will like me much more.  My relationship with my parents improved due to this book.  I realize that I am lucky to even have parents and so I really take them dear to heart.  I will respect them and never get mad at them because I imagine what life would be like without them and it doesn’t seem possible.   I feel like I wouldn’t be able to live if my parents died, but many people in Night did.
                Watching loved ones die right before your eyes is insane.  I would never be able to live on if that has happened to me.  However Elie Wiesel watched thousands of his fellow Jews murdered, slowly die from lack of nutrients, gasses to death, and even burned to falling ashes on his head.  When Wiesel explains his long hike to another camp with many of the other prisoners, he explains how some prisoners fell over from excessive cold or lack of any more energy in their body.  The rest were forced to leave the people to die slowly.  This helps me because whenever I am playing a sport and become tired, I look back on the book which gives me a huge burst of power, knowing that this weakening feeling in me cannot even be closely compared to that of Elie Wiesel and his companions.
                The book Night, by Elie Wiesel has benefitted me the most out of all the other books that I have read because it gives me a new view on how life is and how much more grateful I should be living in the life I have.  I should be grateful for everything and when I complain about something, I should realize that it is not that bad and how much worse it could be.  Elie Wiesel suffered greatly and I know that every second of my life should be filled with thanks and respect.  The book Night has changed my whole mind set.

 

What is More Important, Good Ideas, or a Person's Appearance?

        Today’s topic is “A person’s look or clothing is more important than having good ideas to succeed.  Do you agree or disagree?”  When I saw the topic title, it was astonishing that someone would actually agree with this.  It is common sense that having good ideas is much more important to succeed than dressing and looking nice.  There are many obvious reasons as to why my opinion is correct and I believe that I could talk for hours to prove my point. 
        One of the main reasons is that good ideas will lead to success because the ideas will be liked by others, since they are good, and clearly will become a thing of popular interest, attracting buyers of the idea and making a lot money of the idea.  This is success.  However, dressing nicely will not get you success because you don’t have any goals for success in life.                
        Having good ideas is much more important than looking nice, because if you have good ideas, you must have some sense to dress nicely.  It would be a bad idea to dress horribly because people will look at you bad.  But even if you look bad but have great ideas, you will still be successful.  For example the guy that created Facebook had a great idea and is now swimming in success and he doesn’t dress or look that good.  Or even Steve Jobs.  He invented apple, but still he didn’t look that good.  However his success rate was booming.   
          A person who chooses the side against me may say that if you have good ideas rather than dress and look nice, you will not have any success what so ever with females.  This is not entirely true because there are many females out there and a lot of physically attractive ones like successful guys financially.  Even if you don’t like these type of women, there will always be someone out there for you.  Dressing nicely and looking sharp may get you a lot of attention, but will not give you any future. 
         Good ideas make the world advance and if we did not have any good ideas, our race would never improve.  If instead we had a world of only good looking people, our technological and mental lives would go nowhere.  We need to have good ideas to make the world go round and to fix all our problems. 
          It is common sense that good ideas are more important than looking good when it comes to success.  Any kind of success is possible with having good ideas.  Good ideas will give you a good sense of what to do and what not to do.  Your lifespan will be expected to be longer and you will not have as many problems in life.  Looking nice may get you places in high school, but will not do anything to get you through real life.  People will look down on your physical ability and will not be able to take you seriously.  Good ideas will give you respect and success.  Another example is the Korean singer Psy.  He made a great idea for one song and it suddenly turned into the most popular song in the world.  He made millions off of one song.  Or even movies based on superheroes through Marvel.  These movies tend to make millions once they are put out. 
              The topic today was common sense in my mind and hopefully in yours too.  To be successful in any way, good idea heavily out weight looking good.  Even if it just one good idea, you will go places with that, and as for romance, good ideas will make you a great man.  You will make all the right choices and life will be great, even if you do not look good.

Humans Greatest Strength

          As many may know, humans are far superior to all other organisms on Earth.  What may be the cause of this?  The answer is very simple and the key to our greatest strength; the high sophistication of our intelligent minds.  As compared to all other organisms, humans have a greater understanding of all things and a much better handle on the ideally way of survival.  Long ago before humans, the biggest strength lied in brutality.  The leaders were always the strongest organism.  Humans have evolved to not be brutally dominant, but sophisticatedly dominant. 
            I believe that our strength in this world is our minds.  Without them, we would not be at the top of the food chain.  We have developed technology that puts us up there.  Without this technology, we would not be able to defend ourselves on an animal attack.   Our bodies physically are much inferior to that of animals.  Most organisms have defense mechanisms or fatal teeth and jaws.  Our bodies are not fit to live in the wild, due to years of evolution, we have become lazy and thus in no need of any defensive or offensive mechanisms.  We would only be able to pick things up with our thumbs but we won’t be able to stand a brutal attack.
           Since we are equipped with a mind, we have made tools, first simple tools like that of a sword or a plow, to advanced things, like the computer you are on right now, to the internet that is bringing you to my blog.  Our minds are so advanced that we are far above anything that an organism on Earth would ever become.   
            Intelligence is an important thing because although you may not be able to stand an attack on you, you would still be able to find ways of capturing food, or surviving a long winter, or even the chemistry to make a fire.  Strong predators that could kill us in a naked cage match (like that lion about to destroy the guy) do not have the intelligence to survive a long and harsh winter, or to create a fire to keep warm.  Animals can only do one thing, like fly or swim or run, but humans have mastered all of these traits with their minds.  We were able to put together an automobile that can go faster than any animal. Submarines and ships that can take us over and under the vast oceans, and we have even invented a huge machine that can be lifted off of the ground, even under our intense atmosphere’s gravitational pull.  These machines can fly for hours.  Obviously our mind and intelligence is the greatest strength of humans.

Three Things That Make a True Friend

             True friend are very hard to find.  Most people will come across a few in their life.  Although one may have many acquaintances that he or she will call “friends,” most of them are not really true friends.  A true friend is someone that you can call your best friend at all times.  I probably have about five true friends in my life.  These amazing people are honest will all things, unless they are playing a small joke, as trustworthy as a person can get, and they are compatible with myself.  This compatibility consists of senses of humor, ways of life that we can relate to each other, and the same type of fun that we are willing to have.  My great friends are always there if I need advice or help with something.  To me they are considered brothers.  I have no real blood related brothers however my friends are just as close.   Three qualities of true friends are trustworthiness, brotherly love, and the ability to have a fun time with you.
             Trustworthiness is important in all types of relationship, whether it is a friendly relationship or a love relationship.  Trustworthiness is a good quality to have and will make people see you as a great person.  True friends should have trustworthiness, whether it is to keep a secret or to trust someone with an object.  All my true friend are trustworthy and I know that they would never lie about anything serious.  I can also trust them to keep me updated on all things that might be of interest to me.  They are not only trustworthy, but open too.  This is one of the main things that separates friends from true friends. 
           The second thing that I mentioned about a true friend was brotherly love.  This is the type of friend relationship in which you would do anything for the other person. It’s a connection that would last a life time.  Brotherly love is the same emotion that you would show to a true brother.  I believe that you must have a connection as strong as this to someone in order to call that person a true friend.
            The last quality in a true friend is probably one of the most important.  Ask yourself if you had fun when hanging out with your friends.  Did you enjoy yourself, or did you waste hours of your life?   Were you put under peer pressure?  If you did not feel like you had a good time, then you should reconsider the people that you hang out with.  A true friend will always be fun to hang out with.  Even if it something as boring as detention, your true friends will make you have a great fun time. Anything boring can be turned into a great pastime with the combined minds of you and your true friends.  Having fun in your life is very important because if you don’t, you would not have anything great to remember when you are older.  A fun life is a life that has been lived to the fullest and to have achieved this you need to be able to identify a true friend from just a friend.  Friends are just people who you are cool with, but true friends are equivalent of blood brothers.   
           A true friend is vitally important to find in your life.  These type of people will make your life enjoyable, and don’t say that you cannot find a true friend because there are many people who are just like you out there.  True friends would do anything for you, are one hundred percent trustworthy, and will have a great time hanging out with you.

Big School or Small School. Which Would I Prefer?

          Our school is extremely small compared to most other schools in the world.  T consist of about three hundred student including elementary, middle, and high school.  The size of this school is something that I really dislike and that will give me an elementary, middle and high school life that will not be lived to its fullest.  Larger high schools are much better in my opinion because of every single difference between the two.  I cannot think of one thing that would give smaller schools and advantage over larger schools.  There may be a few who would prefer a smaller school but I on the other hand would much rather enjoy the great expanse of hundreds of classes, thousands of students, and a much greater place to work; which has many more resources. 
            The number of students in a school is the first thing that comes to mind during this argument.  First of all, you would be much more likely to find people just like you, that you would be friends with for the rest of your life.  These are the kind of friends who would do anything with you, and would share everything with you.  Not only would guy friends be important, but also girlfriends.  The chance of finding a girl that you actually love in a small school is hard, however in a larger school, you would have a much broader spectrum when it comes to finding someone who actually gives you the true feeling of love.  This girl would be one of the people who you would want to spend every day with, and who would understand you like you are part of herself.  A small school would give you girlfriend that you have feelings for, but never the perfect girl that you have always dreamed of.
          Not only are people important in a school, but education as well.  In a small school, supplies are lacking and not all of the teachers are at the level of teaching properly.  In a larger school, teachers would have to meet the requirements and supplies would always be available, whether it is fast internet or an air-conditioned room.  All of these things are important to the learning atmosphere.
          Points that I could see being brought up to favor the smaller school would include: drugs and sex would be much more influenced on your life, or it would be impossible to join a sports team due to all the other competition, or that people would easily get bullied.  All of these problems are faced with deeper thoughts that actually make them a good thing.  Drugs and sex are a choice in everyone’s life.  The matter on whether your parents raised you correctly would give you a large view on the right answer toward these things.  Drugs and sex are a part of life and if one is not faced by them early, they will probably not make the right decision later.  The matter on the great competition in athletics is just another way to give you the motivation to train and become the best.  You can make any of our schools athletics teams even if you have never played the sport before.  This creates students to not give any effort to become the best, or to even become better.  With competition, one will try their best to achieve victory, something you would not find at a small school.  Bullying is another topic that would be in favor of small schools.  Signs of bullying in smaller schools are much more hidden.  Larger schools would have much more knowledge over the subject thus making it easier to get to an adult.  Bullying is just a matter of staying away from the people who bully you and in a large school, that task would be much easier.
         There is no question on whether I would like a large school or a small school.  Larger schools are what dream of and what would make my life ten times better.  I would choose a larger school in a split second due to the diversity, larger population, better facility and supplies, and all the other small things that go along with a larger school.  I can see no reason as to why a smaller school would be superior to a larger one.

 

What Would I teach my Kids?

          I plan on having children at some time in my life and I would want them to grow up to be smart, talented, and enthusiastic people.  To do this, I will have to teach them many things that I have learned from my experience and help them to accept and use these ideas to improve their social, mental, and physical capabilities.  The main points that I would get across are to be respectful to others, never lie or over-exaggerate, and to not become lazy.  These are things that I find really important to me and that I wish I would be better at.  By teaching my possible kids in the future these things, I would express myself as the person my sons or daughters would be, and I would like for it to be a good image. 
            The first thing that I think is the most important is to be respectful to others.  This automatically will give everyone a good view towards you, thus making you much more social.  By respecting others, people are not aggravated by your presence, even if you are not doing anything.  Being respectful is also important because adults will look down on you as a figure of higher social intellect than every other kid or teenager.  A good view toward my kids would help reflect on me.    Being respectful to others is a must in what I would teach my kids.
          Although respect is a major virtue in life, honesty is too one of the most vital in teaching to my kids.  When kids lie or over-exaggerate, people don’t trust them or never believe them.  By teaching my kids never to tell a lie, I would give them an honest life.  My parents tried to teach me never to lie, but I do it occasionally.  To teach my kids honesty, I would try to become very involved in their life.  This way I could have a glimpse at what I should believe.  I would also tell my children that I would truly be happier if they would tell me the truth.  I would really express the fact that I would be more willing to accept the horrible truth, than I would to a lie.  My children would then be able to talk to me openly about their problems.  This would give me a great advantage in what I should be doing to keep him or her happy as a parent.  Not only would I get involved in their life, but I would also give them an even better perspective through the eyes of others.  Adding to the respect, people would look on my child as a child of complete honesty.  This would give my child trust among many people, but also help them as to information that their friends would tell them to keep as a secret.  I personally love to hear things like this and I am sure that my children would too. 
          Respect and honesty really reflect the way a person acts, but not as much mentally.  This is why I would stress my child to become hard working and motivated to do anything, whether it is homework for school, or to go and help with chores.  By doing this, I would give my child something that I think is the most important toward school; not being lazy.  Laziness can cause people to slack off in school and to not want to do anything they don’t enjoy doing.  Being motivated helps make your life less stressful and more efficient.  An efficient life is most important for children because it is what they need to get them through life.  Facing a problem would just be as easy as figuring out how to fix it and doing just that.  Laziness is a feeling that I have a hard time trying to overcome and I would not want my kids to be in the same situation.
          In addition to all the small things that I would teach to my children like how to play sports, how to swim and many other small things, the main traits that I would express to my children would be respect, honesty, and motivation.  With these three traits well developed in my child, he or she is bound to have a great future ahead of them.   

School Uniforms?

             Our school is one of the few private schools on Saipan.  We have many strict rules compared to other schools however, we have something on many of the other schools.  This is the fact that we don’t have to wear uniforms to school.  Many students like this because they have freedom of dress and can express themselves in that way.  We also dislike uniforms because they don’t look good.  People have only a couple of pairs that have to be worn often and sometimes cannot be washed.  Uniforms take fashion out of people and in their minds make the less attractive.  Most kids dislike uniforms and all of the Saipan International School students are grateful that they don’t have to wear one. 


              The first thing that uniforms bring is an expensive price to the school, and a lack of enough uniforms for a person.  The school may have to pay over a thousand dollars for uniforms and that amount may not be enough to allow all students to have more than three.  This leads to the student having to do laundry often which increases the family’s water bill and eventually leads to grumpiness throughout the whole family.  An increase in water bills also hurt the school because the family will have to start worrying about the huge amount of money that they have to pay for their child or children to go there.  I assume that if we got uniforms the student population would decrease, only due to family reasons, but because the student just doesn’t like the fact that he or she has to wear a uniform and may want to transfer to a different school because their dress code is more lenient.  The fact that S.I.S does not have uniforms helps the school itself, and the students that go there.
            Imagine when you were a kid, or even if you are a kid ask yourself this.  Would you want to wear a uniform that looks the same as all the other genders of your school?  Most people would say no and the people that would say yes are probably insecure about their image, or do not want to spend money on a uniform.  If you think a uniform costs too much to buy, you should not be attending a school that has a high tuition fee.  If you are not able to afford a uniform, you should not be able to attend the school.  However, I can believe that most of you would not approve of uniforms.
          Uniforms are not only a hassle to wash, but a boring looking uniform.  I have never seen a uniform that I would actually want to wear.  All the uniforms are grey and similar.  If our school got uniforms, people would view it as much more boring and lacking school spirit.  Forcing students to wear uniforms makes your school seem like a jail.  If we had uniforms and people visited our school, they would look at it as boring and their child would not want to go there.
          The topic today is very easy to answer and I can see that our whole class says no to school uniforms.  They are boring, a hassle, disliked by most people, and waste peoples time, money, and water supply.  No one I know wants a uniform for school and those who have uniforms, from different schools, dislike them and wish that they could go to S.I.S, the school of free dress.  Here, we are able to express ourselves through dress, and we can give our school the expression of a happy, safe, and free place.