Day of Prayer

I honestly did not know about the Day of Prayer. I do not plan to do anything special with this day. I am Christian, but I do not think that a day of silence will do anything but make people argue. I see it as a way to make people come together for a common cause, but it will more likely separate people.

I am all for tolerance. I try to not judge people, but honestly it's very hard not to see others as different and weird. It is human nature to see those who are different as strange, but the problem is that people treat them as if they are stupid and not worthy of living on the same Earth as them. Everyone was put here on Earth for a reason and everyone has an important job. So, making fun of someone does nothing but cause hurt feelings. And a lot of times the person you are judging is nothing like you think they are.
I think that it is perfectly OK to see others as different (we are supposed to be different) and perhaps not agree with there ideas (when is everyone going to agree anyway?...NEVER). The problem is that people start sharing those feelings and making fun of the person out loud. If we all just kept these opinions in our heads things could be better. If we don't come out and say these things but instead just realize that things are never going to perfect, things could improve. That way if someone does want to make fun of someone, they can...inside there own head. And those who want to accept everyone...well that's just awesome.

If the Day of Prayer came to our school, it would just cause more trouble that it's worth. I think that instead there should be a time for silence, even just a minute. Those who want to pray can, and if you don't believe in that you can just reflect on the world problems. In Middle School, they would always start the announcements with, "Please stand for the Pledge and remain standing for a moment of silence". I think that was a great idea, but no one would ever be silent.
So, I think that instead of a time for prayer, we could make a time for silence, and that would avoid conflict.

First they came for...

Still trying to catch up on blogs...

For me the Day of Silence is not a big deal for me. I understand where the people who are being silent are coming from and I think that they have to right to protest tolerance for everyone. I glad that they are doing something about it. I just wish that they could have explained it more to everyone because I don't think that people realize what it is for. I think that it was wrong for those who didn't believe in it to stay home. Just because someone doesn't believe in that doesn't mean that they should say mean things or stay home from school. It was not really affecting them anyway. If you didn't want to be silent, you didn't have to be.

For my example of someone who stood up for the underdog...
In the book Speak, Melinda Sordino was the silenced. She was an outcast throughout almost the entire book. Sorry for giving away the story, but she had been raped by Andy Evans at a party, and had called the police. So, at school she was known as the one who had ruined the party. She was ignored by her old best friends and was treated like she was invisible. She did not tell anyone about that night. She lives her life depressed, until she is able to finally admit to herself what had happened. Then she learned that she was not the only one who had been affected by this boy. At the end, she finally stands up to Andy and is considered a hero because she had done what no other could had the courage to do.

I see Melinda as a someone to admire because although it took her a while to get confident with herself, she accomplished her goal and in turn helped out other girls too.

What would your choice be?

What would you choose and why . . .

A) Would you choose to live forever and do nothing special or live for a 'moment' and do something that changes the world?

Then choose a character from a book/story (TKAM, F451, "Harrison Bergeron," TO, OAFK, any free choice book, any person in real life -- in the news or your life, like your mom -- or the person for your research paper) we read this year and tell what you think he/she would choose and why.

OR

B) In OAFK Wart (King Authur as a young boy) learns life lessons when Merlyn turns him into a variety of animals. For example, he learn to dig and love one's home from the badger, he learns how lifeless life is as an ant who always obeys and never asks questions. So . . .if you were to be able to change into any animal, what would you choose and what lessons do you think you would learn about life. You may research an animal for supportive information.

Don't forget Mother's Day!

Enjoy!
Mrs. Gaboury

Earth Day Blog

Hmmm...Earth Day...seems like so long ago...

I definitely believe 100% in working towards "fixing" the Earth. I would love to work on some huge project and save the world...but that's kind of hard at 15.

So, I guess I'll have to continue to turn off lights and turn off the water. I try to do the most to be environmentally conscience. My family recycles and I don't litter! I also try to not drive everywhere and waste gasoline, but it's hard to walk or ride your bike to school or the mall here in Averill Park. I also try to encourage others, especially family, to do little things too. But, without everyone in the world being conscience, how can we change the course of Global Warming? Everyone needs to help out.

For Earth Day, I didn't do anything special...I personally think that everyday should be thought of as Earth Day because the Earth and these problems are not going away. The rising prices of everything is quite depressing and scary.

So, I try to make a difference, but sometimes it's hard.

Endless Life of Special Moment?

This is a hard question for me, because I see both advantages and disadvantages to living forever, as well as for living for a limited time. When it comes down to it, though, I think I would go with the living forever thing. I know that this is the odd choice, because many would prefer to live a fulfilling life than a long one. In fact, I originally started writing that I would want the short, accomplishing life. However, after thinking about it for a bit, I realized all of the countless times that I wished I could live forever so that I could see how the future turns out. If aliens really exist, or if global warming will really destroy the planet. After thinking about it I decided that I really want to see what is going to happen in the future. I do not feel the compulsive need to accomplish something, and I would be happy as an immortal, simply observing the progress of the world, and perhaps influencing the occasional lucky fellow with an infinity of knowledge. As much as accomplishing something would be awesome, I would want to have infinite life. Death is not an attractive option for me, to be frank. So, yes, my choice would be to life forever.

Guy Montag, from Fahrenheit 451, would, I believe, contradict my choice. I think that Guy Montag is not as obsessed with knowing things as much as I am, and would rather choose to do something special, such as bring literature back to his world, than to live out a hollowed existence. This can be seen in his risky behavior and determination to do things to correct what he believes is wrong.

Either way, my choice stands because knowledge holds a place in my heart, and I’m sure Montag’s choice would be the opposite of mine because he does feel obsessively the need to do something special. It would be great if I could live forever and do something special, though, you know. But then, that isn’t the point.

~Tyler

my choice

if i could be turned into any animal, I would choose to be a pig. no jooke. I think that pigs must have an absolutely horrible life being fed slop, getting fattened up to be eaten one day, being forced to mate, and not being allowed out of the farm. I think that, from the pigs point of view, I could learn about what it's like to live in absolute slum-like conditions. I might not enjoy this transformation much, but I think I would gain alot of knowledge from this experience.

If i had to choose between living forever and not doing anything special or living for a moment, but doing something that would change the world i would choose to live for a moment. I would choose this because when you do something that changes someones life its like living forever because you will always be remembered.

If Aticus from To Kill A Mockingbird had to make this choose i believe he would choose to live for a moment. I believe this because he spent most of his life helping people and then passing on his beliefs to his children. And even though he didnt change the world he made it a little better for the people in his town. If he couldn't do this he would have no point in living, which (because of the type of person he is) would make him extremely unhappy.

Day of Prayer

OK, I never heard of this thing until it was mentioned in this post. And it kind of annoys me. I mean, I have no problem with other people being religious, but I am NOT because that's just not the way I was raised. So the fact that we're having an entire day just for people to pray means pretty much nothing to me. I really don't think that schools should celebrate it or anything, simply because there are people like me who don't pray, and who don't want to because they don't have any idea what it entails.

The thing in the actual question about whether we'll be extra tolerant of people who don't pray kind of annoyed me. There are actually some people in this class who don't! I don't know if this is what you are trying to do, but it seemed as if you were assuming we are all good Christians here.

Though it happened ages ago, it seems, I am pretty sure that that day was full of homework.

--Ali

Good Doggie

humans have given almost all amimals several qualities that we always associate with them: a serpant is evil, an owl is wise, and a lion is kingly. These are the things we would expect to learn if we like Wart could be turned into that animal.

If i had that chance to become an animal and to learn from them i would become a dog. Dogs are assosiated with loyalty, kindness, obedience, and when the time comes they can be vissous and powerful. These are qualiities that I sometimes need to work on. I like to be a leader a lot of the time and tend to not follow directions unless i see the imeadiate benifit of it. This can be agrivating to a lot of people my parents because i do not always do what they want me to do like clean my room or put a napkin in my lap (see "The Great Napkin Wars" for more detail). It can also be annoying to my friends because i can be a bit bossy. Also to my group members in a school project because i can take over. So the qualities of a dog would help me in these areas to humble myself.

But dogs when needed can be powerful, which is something i need to do because i deal with my fare share of verbal abuse.

Choice B

If I could change into any type of animal I would like to be turned into a bird. I think that it would be a good experience because it would be fun and I would learn something at the same time. I could see places all across the world that I have never seen before. I would learn about patience and determination because it would take a long time to travel to those places. At the end of every trip though I would get to enjoy being at my destination. I would learn that if I worked hard it would eventually pay off.

I would live for...

This blog makes me think of my 5th grade graduation. I think all the former PES students remeber this, we had to sing the song "One Moment in Time." And that is what I would choose. I would much rather live for a moment and be remembered or help someone, than live for an eternity and do nothing. I wouldnt want to live for an eternity, I would get board espesially if I wasnt doing anything special. I want to live a life filled with fun, and I would love to help someone or something.

My Mom is a nurse, and she works on the maternity unit. She always says that she sees god everyday when a new baby is born. She has helped so many women deliver their babies. I really look up to her, and I know that both my parants would choose to live for a moment and help someone rather than live for ever.

For my research project I choose Dr. Jane Goodall a.k.a. "The Monkey Lady." She has helped so many chimpanzees, and she has already helped to change the world in her moment. She is 74 years old, and is still devoting her life to inform people about animal conservation. I definatly want to live for a moment rather than an eternity.