Sunday, October 25, 2009

My Day at Norval

School means work, and field trips mean no school. However, when I went to Norval I realized I was doing work unconsciously. I was working on the aspects of my life that I don’t usually practice. Risk was one of them.

The wall was an activity that pushed me out of my comfort zone. It made me anxious, tense, and stressed. Although I experienced these emotions, what I did enjoy was the thrill of excitement. It felt like I had an adrenaline rush of pleasure after I accomplished the task. I was proud of myself that I pushed myself that far. In addition, a tingle of enjoyment, amusement and delight was what I experienced when I got thrown up in the air with the Indian Blanket.

Nevertheless, this wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance, support, and contribution of the team. I trusted them with all my strength because they showed confidence that they had a handle on the activity. Therefore, I knew that they wouldn’t drop me. I believe that the whole team did a very good job on communicating to one and other, so each and every one of us could feel comfortable.

Although we did well on communicating, we lacked focus. Our councilors had to remind us to pay attention. They also told us that our number one priority was on the person that we were lifting. Unfortunately, this took concentration that we didn’t have. As a result of this, Aureon fell rapidly and hurt himself. If we all had paid a little more attention to what we were doing, this reckless accident wouldn’t have happened.

As the day passed, I was starting to notice that even if we had great ideas made by bright people, they wouldn’t of have become reality if it wasn’t for the effort of the team. Being a leader implies that one is in charge, but a team means something entirely different. It means that as a group, we all collaborated to get things done. This is what my team did. If it hadn’t been for the trip to Norval, I would have forgotten one of my favourite quotes: Teamwork is a make or break situation. Either you help make it or the lack of it will break you." – Kris A. Hiatt.

The day to Norval showed me that any goal is possible if you try your best. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to go on the trip because it opened my eyes to many different things that I would not have normally seen. Now, when I have the chance to take a risk, I will feel more comfortable and safe with my decision.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Greatest Things in Life Aren’t Material

There are large sums of emotions we go through every day. Some emotions are worry, hate, and care. Material things however bring out the ignorant side of us. This is simply because we forget about the meaningful and priceless things that we take for granted. Did you ever notice that there is little time spent in actually thinking about what really matters? Ironically, those things aren’t material.

Life is more than having nice cloths, expensive cars, colossal houses, and cool games. It is about the passion you show for others, and how you can help them with their needs. More people than you can think don’t get showed this love. Instead, they receive disgrace and hatred. The main reason why we take for granted these important things is because what surrounds us has control of our lives. For example, if your neighbor bought a sensational car, you would get envious…and BAM, it has an impact in our lives.

There are some things in life that we just want to have. Like I wrote before, expensive cars, colossal houses, etc, but what we can’t forget is our loved ones and our health. These are the true things that we can’t consign to oblivion, fail to remember, and lose sight of.

The Greatest Things in Life Aren’t Materia

There is a large sum of emotions that we go through in a day. Some emotions are worry, hate, and care. Material things however bring out the ignorant side of us. This is simply because we forget about the meaningful and priceless things that we take for granted. Did you ever notice that there is little time spent in actually thinking about what really matters? Ironically, those things aren’t material.

Life is more than having nice cloths, expensive cars, colossal houses, and cool games. It is about the passion you show for others, and how you can help them with their needs. More people than you can think don’t get showed this love. Instead, they receive disgrace and hatred. The main reason why we take for granted these important things is because what surrounds us has control of our lives. For example, if your neighbour bought a sensational car, you would get envious…and BAM, it has as impact in your live.

There are some things in life that we just want to have. Like I wrote before, expensive cars, colossal houses, etc, but what we can’t forget is our loved ones and our health. These are the true things that we can’t consign to oblivion, fail to remember, and lose sight of.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Inspiring Quote

"Be great in act as you have been in thought" William Shakespeare

My class needs to write about a quote, and I chose the one above because I could make a connection with what William Shakespeare was trying to say. This quote means that we should all try to follow through on and thoughts and turn them into actions. There are millions of people that haven’t done this, therefore this quote impacted me. An illustration of this is when you might have thought of getting ahead on your homework. Sure it might be boring, but in a few days you would have wished that you had the work done. A person that converted his thoughts into actions was I person that I not only admire, but also look up to. His name is Martin Luther King Jr and he is exceptional example of a person that followed Shakespeare’s quote.

There will always be times when you think of doing something but never do it. So what I say to all the readers out there is to translate your thoughts into actions. I too will try doing something. Frequently, when you think of doing something and actually do it, you will get rewarded in one way or another. Therefore, whether it's a big or small thing, make sure you follow through with it.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Poverty

About 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. Nearly a billion people in developing countries have little access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic necessities. It’s a sad fact, but it’s something everyone must admit. The truth is that we have a habit to avoid, even outright ignore the cold hard facts when it comes to such a bleak topic as poverty. We read an article, listen to someone on TV and maybe sometimes we pause and reflect afterward on how hard it must be to live in a cardboard box. We think about it and frown, but in the end we move on.

Part of the problem is that when we look at poverty and those harmed by it, we don’t feel empathic because they are not people we know. Like when the media says that in the U.S. 17 percent of children live in poverty, that is only a statistic. We don’t fell the way we should fell, therefore we don’t do anything about it.

I think the biggest hurdle in our way even when we do choose to act on the feeling of empathy is a question we often don’t have an answer to. Can I really make a difference? If I do try, will I really help? I think the answer is a big fat YES. We need to understand that we can’t do this alone. We have to work together. An ant doesn’t move a cookie to its anthill by itself. What they do is break it up and each ant plays its own part by taking a small piece back to the hill. Little by little the whole cookie gets inside the anthill, and everybody has enough to eat. It’s the same way with poverty and how we can get rid of it. The least we can do is try.

Poverty is a global issue, something we all need to work on to fix. Please think about doing anything you can do to help. Some ideas are donating your old clothes, and contributing what you can to a food bank. Again, it doesn’t have to be a huge contribution to make a difference. If we can all play a part, and work together, we can make a difference.

Oh, and by the way, please don’t read this and forget about it. Act on it. I’m trying to make a conscious effort to find things I can help out with. I don’t know what or how I’ll do it exactly, but I am certain that I will play my part however tiny it may be.

Alex G