Social Awarness problem #3

A HARD DAY

TONIGHT WAS COLD.
The radiator in my room broke.
I had nothing to cover me but a newspaper.

TODAY I AM SO TIRED.
I stayed awake too late watching TV.
I couldn’t get comfortable on the park bench last night.

LIFE IS UNFAIR.
My mom won’t buy me that new sweater I really want.
I ripped a huge hole in my only shirt.

PEOPLE CAN BE SO CRUEL.
These girls started a rumor about me and it spread throughout the whole school.
A man laughed in my face when I asked for a quarter today.

I CANT WAIT TILL I AM OLDER.
I can go to college in California and get away from my parents.
I can get an actual job and maybe have a place to live.

                This two voice poem is about the issue of homelessness. It comes from the perspective of a regular girl in high school or middle school and a girl that is about the same age who is homeless and trying her best to make ends meet. It is meant to show how the two girls both have similar thoughts on life or people but their problem is reflected differently. The regular girl experiences problems like fights with her mother or idle rumors, while the other teenage girl lives out a life of poverty and each day faces the issue of money and shelter and her wellbeing. What I meant to show by writing this was that these two girls may be the same age the same intelligence level and quite similar in the aspects of their personality, but the regular is oblivious to issues that the other girl faces and doesn’t think of how hard people like her have it when she complains. The ending is there to show that each girl along with their troubles has dreams, and while one girl thinks of a likely future that is soon to be, the other one dreams of something that has only the slightest bit of possibility.

Animal cruelty

There is a time when the entertainment we seem to enjoy so much, just becomes harmful and wrong. There is a point where we must learn that what we are doing is wrong, and that what is right is more important than the money in our pockets. Animal cruelty is an issue that has been going on for a very long time and as the days go by, it does not seem to be getting any better; the message just does not seem to be getting through the peoples thick minds. animals to a lot of people are their family, they treasure and love them like a child to take care of, but others view them as useless and unintelligent things there to hurt when angry, to use as a toy and punching bag. If a child had a learning disability and could not learn at the rate of its other students or comprehend things exactly the same way, would the child be hit? Animals may not speak English or do math or be able to understand the actions and objects of humans, but that doesn’t mean that they are unintelligent, it doesn’t mean that they don’t understand ANYTHING they just comprehend and see it a different way. Because they can’t tell us, doesn’t mean that when hit it doesn’t hurt, just because they are not human, doesn’t make hurting them any less wrong. Bull fights, circuses, elephant rides at the zoo, can all be harmless and fun, but could also turn very horrible if you look a little closer.
In both these articles it says that humans treat animals so badly because they use them as a way out, a way to release all their anger or frustration or stress on something that is weaker than them. In one of the articles it says that there is a connection between domestic violence and animal cruelty. It says that not only are the people that have already abused their partners, or children are hurting animals but also those who have grown up around this kind of abuse. I believe they do this because they walk a thin line between knowing what is right and what is wrong. They have lived all their life with those around them hurting others or getting hurt, and though they know it may be bad from the tears shed and the long lectures they might have received from school or others, they have been born into and can’t help but feel it is natural and view it as a solution to anger. because in their mind they know that it is wrong to raise a hand to a person, or hit the people around them, they feel that when angry it is a valid solution to hit something, so they hit their animals because they view them as less important and small therefore it is not wrong to do it since it is just a cat or a dog.
The reason I am so strongly against this is because of the two cats I have at home. I love my cats very much and view them as a part of my family because I have had them for as long as I can remember. when it think of animal abuse it think how one of my cats could have been placed in some horrible persons home and hurt and abused, how I could have ended up with any animal and loved it just as much as these ones, and how that animal could be out there right now being deeply hurt. I am glad that there is organizations out there helping to put a stop to animal cruelty and helping the police locate animals in need. I try to donate as often as possible to foundations like the ASPCA and PITA but sometimes donating is just not enough, if you want to change this a lot of people are going to have to take a stand.

Social Awarness problem #2

I look up and see the expanse of sky,

Not the broken shards of blue.

I look around and see the trees blowing in the wind,

Not the great oaks surrender at the hand of an axe.

I look upon the earth and see its mask,

Not the face I have destroyed so long ago.

I close my eyes I cannot see.

I cover my ears I cannot hear.

I silence my voice and I cannot speak out.

Like this I have reached perfection.

Like this the world is beautiful.

I wrote this poem to show how oblivious people are to the world and the problems around them. Continuously we are told that the ozone is being destroyed, that the amount of trees is slowly dwindling, that animals are being innocently killed; and yet we choose to do nothing. Each and every one of us lives in a world of hurt and anger, hunger and poverty, yet still we walk past those begging for a coin, we ignore the kid being bullied at school, we continuously tell ourselves that just one person died, just one person was hurt, “it won’t happen again”, there’s no reason for us to take a stand. People seem to think that if they just ignore the problem, if they turn their head from the danger then it will stop, then it will not happen. It reminds me of how some little kids play hide and seek, they cover their eyes and assume that if they cannot see, then they will not be seen. Most of  us are no longer children, we can no longer just  shield our eyes, it is time that we stop switching the channel when ASPSA commercials come on, or throwing out the charity organization letters, they don’t lie when they say that one quarter can make a difference. Not everyone can join a foundation, or donate, but there is always other ways to help, one small change made by each and every person on this planet and can make a change.

My writing inspiration for this was the book terrible things, how each animal tried to ignore the problem hoping it would go away, but each time the terrible things came back, and each time again they tried to ignore it until no one was left. I thought of some of the things I have often found myself doing, that in a smaller way could relate to the animals in the book; and mine was the homeless, the starving, the hurt, and uncared for, how each day without realizing, I heedlessly ignore these problems, because they are not in front of me, because I do not have to live them, I don’t think of them. Realizing this I will try to make more of an effort in donating and helping people and our earth.

Sharp Objects

I just finished this book and found it particularly compelling in many different ways. This book was about a young reporter that returns back to her home town after a number of years to write a report on two little girls’ murders. In this book the main character Camille is a heavy drinker and does many irresponsible things both now, and has in the past. The reason why I think she commits so many reckless actions is to make up for the dark secret she was living, and the people around her. I think for her drinking she is trying to drown out the voices that keep telling her to leave to run; she doesn’t want to believe what she is actually thinking, so she distracts her brain with alcohol. I believe when she is drinking she finds herself able to slip away from reality, and the further she slips away, the less she has to wake up and face her current situation. As for her reckless actions presently, I believe she does them to compensate for her mother, so that her mother doesn’t look so bad, so that everyone is looking at her the "screwed up little child", instead of having eyes on her mom. I think that even though Camille in the beginning of the book refuses to admit it, she has known all along what her mother has been doing and has been desperately trying to hide it. In one of her mother’s journal entries, there is a passage about when Camille was younger she pulled away from her mother Marian; she hated Marian, and refused the special attention and care her mother tried to show her. To me the mother is wrong and is just not able to see the way her daughter was really trying to show her love. By committing so many horrible things, and doing such dangerous things at such a young age, she calling out to her mother, trying to grab her mother’s attention. She wanted her mother to tell her stop, to beg her to be good to give her the time of day in a normal motherly way. Camille looked for affection in others and other things, because she felt so deprived of it at home.
I am glad that Camille has finally opened her eyes and taken a good look around her, I just wish that she had grown up sooner. Before she was too afraid to face her mother, to help her sister, to really solve the murders or at least lead the police in the right direction. She stayed for too long in the shadows pretending that light and sunshine could still reach her even when she was so consumed within the darkness. if only she had come back to her hometown and remembered how horrible things were, had processed how horrible things still were; if she had just stopped drowning herself in alcohol and irresponsible "fun", and reckless actions, and stopped trying to distract herself with other people around her then maybe she would have been able to take control of thing before they spun so completely out of control. This reflects on the world, because to many people try to avoid trouble; they try to turn their heads and pretend they can’t see what is really going on. People would rather close their eyes then reach out a helping hand. It sort of reminds me of the book the "Terrible Things", how all the animals tried to make everything still seem okay and ignored how all their friends were being taken away. It also reminds me of a line from the song, Blowing in the Wind by Bob Dylan: "How many ears must one man have, before he can hear the people cry."

Social Awarness problem

The things that affect my surroundings the most is the people around me, the way that they react to things, the things that they do to cause reactions.... these people become most of what makes up my surroundings, but there is one thing in particular that a lot of these people do that annoys me the most. It’s okay to try out new things, to experiment with a different way of doing things, or just be the person you are every day, this doesn’t give anyone a reason to be ridiculed for it. I hate when people judge others by just looking at them, at what their wearing, what they’re doing, who they are hanging out with. It’s such a sadly common thing that happens almost every day when walking down the street and by strangers mostly, which to me makes it even more upsetting. If you don’t know the person then there is no reason that you should immediately assume things about them, you never know their reasons for it. This sort of thing happens a lot when it comes to girls, but it happens to guys as well. They just as harshly judge others as they are judged themselves.
Because I think this is wrong, it doesn’t mean that I don’t do it myself. It seems almost impossible not to look over at someone and at least come up with an idea of who they are based on what you can see on the outside, it seems impossible not to think they are unfashionable, nerdy, too uptight, too happy, too weird based on what is visible. It doesn’t matter if they are not any of those things... to me it seems like a natural reflex. I think the reason that we do this is partly because of self-esteem, it is to make up for any insecurities that we have about ourselves, and we seek flaws in others to make ours seem less bad. It could also be that all our lives we have been taught to judge things based on their appearance. If a marker has a purple cap we can only assume its purple and pick it up to use, but underneath the marker might be yellow or red, and the wrong cap was just placed on this marker. It’s the same thing with people, you see one thing, one action and your only left to assume by what you can see, if you really want to know you have to get to know them a.k.a take the cap off the marker to reveal the yellow marker inside. I am not justifying the fact that people judge others, because the affect this has on people can be quite sad. Things like, people will never try new things again, become very self-conscious, develop shyness, go through life being scared of others. This doesn’t always happen; sometimes people realize that when being judged if they don’t know the person it doesn’t matter. unfortunately I don’t suspect there is any real solution to this, people don’t just wake up and decide that they will never judge another human being again, it just would never happen. I think the only real solution would be for people to stop caring so much, so then maybe our surroundings and the people in them won’t be so affected.

Blog Posts Review

                While looking over my groups posts, I found that both Sadie’s and Oscar’s blog post on their books very fascinating and clever. With Sadie’s blog post I found that throughout the whole piece, everything was very well written and her idea was very well supported. I loved how in her post she was able to explain so deeply about the social mindset and explain the characters emotional state in the book, catcher in the rye, about the boy Holden.  One way I loved the most in particular was when she connected Holden’s feelings of depression to similar feelings she has experienced before. I also thought that her text to world connection about humanity, and the corruption of society. I think next time when I post I will try to follow Sadie and incorporate more quotes so I can really and more deeply connect to the character or story.

I also really liked Oscars because he was able to share such amazing insight about the world, and how he had learned from the story. I agree with him that this story of a U.S solider finding help in an unexpected place, really shows that even though two places may be torn apart from war, there can still be kindness and love shown. His blog post made me think that life isn’t about what people you stand with or what place you fall into, friends and those you can trust are all around you, but if you consider everyone on the other side an enemy, then you will never know love and true respect. Oscar’s piece has encouraged me to add what the theme of the book and the characters journey has taught me, and how I was emotionally affected.

Solutions

                “‘No’ he said sighing. ‘But you’re going to have to find your own way out’”

This quote is from the book Story of a girl by Sara Zarr. I picked this  line specially from the book because I think it shows not only the authors main idea, and represents the characters journey; but also is relevant to lessons we learn in life, and times many seem to experience in the world.  In this book Deanna Lamberts life is changed in a second, when her father catches her in the back of an older boys Buick. Nearly every day she struggles to deal with the cold and judging attitude her father has adapted since then, and her horrible reputation this incident has given her. I believe that this quote represents the author’s main idea because it is able to show the obstacles she must overcome and how she must learn to do it on her own. The theme of this book is overcoming and finding out how to let go of a past that is keeping you back. The quote symbolizes these things, because it shows that even if Deanna wants nothing more than to leave what has happened behind, her cold father, the nasty remarks at school, she can’t just get up and walk away from it all, she must seek another way to solve the problem. It shows that running will do no good, and that she can’t expect someone to lift her up when she is weak, eventually everything will catch up to her and she will have to find her own solution.

            This quote is also able to represent the journey the character goes through in the book and the change she is able to make. In the beginning Deanna lambert is frustrated and angry with all that has happened; she is bitter and fearful of the whole experience and the way it still seems to carry on in her own life. She continuously at first accuses and blames her father, she lashes out at people who make pointless remarks, and she runs from anything that seems to remind her of that night. To deal with all of this, she depends on her brother and his girlfriend to one day leave and take her with them, to save her from the life she lives; she reaches out for comfort in her best friend Jason… sometimes in the wrong way. Though pretending to act strong and independent, inside she is still that little 13 year old girl, who was weak and wanted to be pitied and praised. By the end though, Deanna is able to let go of the anger she has stored up inside of her, she is able to clear her head let it all out, and face her problems head on, instead of trailing on the feet of her older brother, trying to match the footprints he left behind, her own not quite matching. This relates to the quote because it shows how she is finally realizing that other people can’t save her, she has to save herself.

            Finally this relates to world, because it is a lesson we all eventually learn. Often when faced with problems, we choose to run, to hide, instead of standing up and dealing with them as they come. It is a natural thought to want to escape, wishing there was a back door to flee out of when the world throws hurdle our way, but more often than not it is not always the logical way of thinking. It’s okay to lean on others when our legs seem to give way, or crave the comfort of those around us when we go through a time of grief, but there is a point where we must stop ourselves and stand on our own. The simple need for comfort is not an escape, nor a solution; it is simply a fake way to feel better, like everything is okay. But our past will eventually catch up to us; the pain will soon again be rested on our shoulders, the burden placed upon our backs. We must learn to stand, to find a solution no matter how impossible this may seem, because eventually we all need to find our “own way out”