Last year, I went to Raphael House in San Francisco, a homeless shelter for families. I am part of a volunteer group that raises funds for homeless children to buy school clothes as well as awareness in the community. We watched a video at the Raphael House compiled of clips showing the lives of homeless children and the ways they interpret and respond to their situations. One boy of eleven compared his life to a game of chess; he said "one wrong move and you could lose everything," deep thought for a fourth grader. He spoke about how he has been homeless for the last five years. That's almost half his life. I can only imagine how transferring between schools, moving around, and not knowing where his next meal would come from could affect a person. His attitude, as well as those of the other children, was optimistic and strong. When faced with hardships, we can act in countless ways, a majority of them being not beneficial, or even ruinous. This young boy has somehow found a way to adapt to his family's lifestyle, with strength and much intellect. While most look down upon the homeless, or anyone out of place in society, I can only aspire to have character such as this kid.

Rain

As I sat in the passenger seat of my boyfriend's car this weekend, I asked why he wasn't using the windshield wipers. He told me he was thinking about the way our brains are able to see past these droplets of water and complete an image, despite our only seeing a percentage of the scene. We often take for granted these incredible abilities, as well as others that exist within us. People are quick to wipe away their talents, for whatever reason, may it be that others won't approve or that they just don't consider them to be special, and this is truly unfortunate. If we all noticed something about ourselves, and held on to it, and used a talent unique only to us in order to create a stronger character or benefit another person, we would all be in a better place. If we noticed the things we tend to ignore, we could appreciate life that much more.

Sand Art

It's incredible, the emotions we can evoke through art. It's equally incredible that one can be so passionate in creating it. In this video, a woman creates piece after piece using only sand. She has disciplined herself in timing and is completely involved in her work, while she throws sand with great emotion. It is inspiring to see such a talented woman being properly appreciated by a teary eyed audience. She controls their feelings with every movement of her hand and uses that power to create a beautiful moment. In relation to Heart of Darkness, this is what some of us are capable of, under the right circumstances.

In Reflection of the Quotation, "Become who you are":

We are born as infants, canvases,
with a lack of character or personality.
Without morals, values, or individuality,
we step into the world with paths to choose.
We decide who we are, through trial and error,
and we become who we are
through determination and drive.
It's not easy creating yourself,
but you certainly must try,
or else someone will do it for you.

Book

I recently heard on the radio, an author speaking about his latest book. He said that when he began, he couldn't write a novel, but he could write one page a day. This is what life is about. We often try to expect everything to happen automatically, especially in our "balloon generation" as described by Urban Dictionary as the generation who "expects awards and balloons for minimal amounts of work," as well as with growing technology to increase the efficiency of all possible. We try to accomplish huge tasks without patience, and we fail to see the option of doing so one "page" at a time. If life were a book, it is important to acknowledge every little word and letter, for some day the book will end, and we'll have just our moments to look back on.

From Senior Year

It is a new feeling that has spread among seniors like a pandemic. This college process brings about all sorts of thoughts that we previously never had to think about, and along with it all comes emotions (and lots of them). While I am probably a more emotion-oriented person than most, I can't believe how many this process has brought about. I have lived most of my life away from loved ones, my parents being divorced and living far away from each other, so I never thought moving away for college would be difficult. Yet on the plane to Pennsylvania during spring break, I must admit to a rush of anxiety filling my mind and consuming every earlier assumption that this would be easy, like a hungry kid with cake and a sweet tooth. Nevertheless, the emotional drawback proved in the end that we are never truly invincible when it comes to life's changes. Instead of defaulting to my second choice of attending Lewis and Clark, I decided that pushing myself is usually the best approach, and this way I will learn more about myself than I would staying close to home. So in conclusion, I'd like to commend this process, despite its tiring and frustrating qualities, for allowing us all to discover ourselves a little more.

P.S. I will soon be an official Allegheny Gator, as soon as I take the leap!

An Entry From Highschool

Today we stood along the 17-yard line on the BHS football field. Surrounding us were underclassmen circling the track like we did two years ago. Seeing our lives ahead of us, the whole 73 yards, made me see the important things in life. We can't worry about the little things; they only amount to a few inches of grass. I want to look back on my life, though, knowing that on every dash I did something great--I achieved something significant or impacted someone's life. I can't wait to read Siddhartha and see what kind of book inspired this activity.