Finding the Heart-Shaped Shells in Life.

                         

There are big things to be thankful for. I am grateful that I am alive. I am grateful that I have a place to sleep tonight. I am grateful that I have a family that cares about me, and wants the best for me. I am grateful for my best friends, my friends, and God. I am grateful for a school and teachers that want me to do well, and to be successful and achieve great things. All these things are great, but when you look past them, there's the smaller, subtle things that in some way, manage to surpass them all. I am grateful for the chair that I am sitting on right now. I am grateful for the fact that flowers are colourful, that grass grows, and that it rains for these things to be true. I am grateful that I have celebrated Christmas every year of my life, as well as my birthday, New Year's, and Easter. Sixteen things just of the top of my head, and yet I complain about my life immense amounts, along with the other 7 billion people on this planet. So why can't we slow down and be thankful? Someone by the name of Hailey Bartholemew is way ahead of me.


Like you, like me, Hailey was once in a state where she felt as if she had everything she needed, yet didn't appreciate it. She was a normal, middle class mother and wife from Australia, and was fed up with her life. It was then when she started to take counselling lessons from a nun, and discovered through her that the key to true happiness in life was reflection and gratitude. She started to slow down, and appreciate the smaller things in life. It was then that Hailey started the 365 grateful project. Everyday, no matter how crammed her schedule was, she would take a picture of one of the small, more subtle things that usually she wouldn't notice. In doing this project, as well as benefiting her whole life, it benefited her in three major ways. She feels like she now appreciates and is more connected with her husband, her children, and nature. After this project, Hailey strongly believes in being thankful, and fights for others to be thankful as well by starting her campaign, '365 grateful.'


First, Hailey felt as if her and her husband benefited as a couple. "He's a great man, and a great husband, but he was just never very romantic! And, I had kind of labelled him as that. Doing this project, I started to see things I otherwise would have missed." Before, as mentioned in the quote, she had undermined him to be unromantic. On the list of things that she was building up in her head that she wasn't happy with, he was one of them. Their relationship was suffering because of this, because she didn't appreciate all the things that he did for her daily. Kind, romantic things that she wouldn't have noticed otherwise. When she started the 365 project, she started to notice everything that he did for her. Some of these included a foot rub to wake her up in the morning, or a heart of rose petals on her bed at night. Once, he even brought her ice-cream on a really hot day during work! Once she started noticing these things, her whole view of him changed. "There were some beautiful moments, and things he was doing, that I, in the business of the day, wouldn't have even seen!" This project that she so eagerly fights for, helped her relationship with her husband.


Through the 365 grateful project, Hailey also thought that she became closer to her children, appreciated them, and when she slowed down her life, had more time to spend with them.  She recorded in her photo diary when she was completing the project: 'A small hand. I lifted her up to the top step and she turned around and offered her hand. Warms my soul!' Small things like this, seemingly usual things would have provoked little happiness, but with the project, she felt as if she slowed down and relaxed, focused on the smaller things. "Otherwise, I would have been rushing past and going, "Oh cute, yeah..", but doing this project pulled me right into the moment." Doing this project really helped Hailey to stop and reflect, and that benefited her life in huge amounts.


Finally, she started to feel more in touch with nature. "I noticed was how connected I felt to nature. These little beautiful bits of nature, that I otherwise would have rushed past." By taking pictures of the things she really truly appreciated in nature, she started to notice things like a beetle landing close to her, or the collection of heart-shaped shells you could find on the beach. She stopped to appreciate things that usually would have passed by her. She took a break from the business of life. Instead of just rushing past something, she learned to be aware of her surroundings. "I should watch where I'm stepping, I should honour the earth that I'm on, I'm so grateful to be here!" By stopping to appreciate nature, she started to be thankful of where she was, and what was around her.


By reflecting and being thankful, Hailey’s life has been benefited. She now wants to share this discovery of hers with others, so they can benefit as well. Ever since her project has been getting some publicity, she realized her chance to share this with others, and is fighting for that chance. She has appeared in two different magazines with her project, and several TV shows have had segments about her work. Seizing this opportunity, she started to create smaller projects for others to do, like '30 day gratitude challenge', and workshops for people to participate in to learn all about it. Hailey is focusing completely on the project now, and the 365 grateful project is on its way to touching all ends of the globe. Because Hailey tried out this project, and because she is so grateful for the effect it made on her relationship with her husband, her children, and nature, she is now fighting to get that message across to the 7 billion other people in this world that need to recognize what they have.

Hailey is making a documentary about 365 grateful, you can follow it here.
Hailey’s blog is here.
The pictures at the top are from her original 365 grateful project.

Don't Lose Who You Are.

Today we live in a world where you are constricted. The way you act, the way you dress, the way you talk or look, has to be in the lines. Few have the courage is to step out.  And often, those few give up and are forced to follow the crowd. This all is too much for us to handle. It changes us. Our minds adapt to the restrictions. In the end, it is important to overcome this conformity and fight for our individuality.

Jessie J and I have several beliefs in common, but one stands out far in front of the others. We believe in respect of the individual, and we fight for this daily. We believe that if an individual wants to do something that others don’t with the caveat that they will not cause harm to another, then they should be respected and should be dealt with fairly. She addresses this with her song 'Who You Are'. This song is about being yourself, and being individual even if it is not easy to do so. In Jessie's song 'Who You Are', she makes obvious three main points under the heading of individuality that she supports: Trying to fit in to somewhere you never will, accepting your imperfections, and finally, being down to earth and real.

Let's talk about the blunt truth for a moment here. Being in middle school, I take part in this, and witness this everyday--trying to be someone your not. For example, Jessie J fights against this by singing "I stare at my reflection in the mirror. Why am I doing this to myself? Losing my mind on a tiny error. I nearly left the real me on the shelf." With these lines, she is saying that don't try to be someone fake. Don't try to "fit the mould", like she later sings in her song. I agree with Jessie J completely. I believe in being yourself, and being the same person all the time, whoever you are around. Be individual. Be yourself. No "fake shows", like she mentions. Jessie J is also a very good example of this. In her song "Who's Laughing Now", she tells the story of when she was a kid, even though all the other girls wore pretty pink dresses and made fun of her because she was different, she didn't try to be someone she's not. And this is the is the message she is fighting to get across to everyone. 

Imperfections are something everyone has. Even the prettiest girl in the world has insecurities. But you shouldn't let them get you down. People do not understand that if you just ignore it and have fun, most probably no one will even notice the reason your insecure. People spend hours trying to perfect themselves. As Jessie J suggests when she sings "Brushing my hair, do I look perfect." But often, by doing this, they get so self involved that in the end, "The more I (they) try the less its working." With these lines in her song, you can tell that she wants nothing more than for this not to happen. She gives all she has, she fights, or rather sings to her last breath trying to get this message across. And being a receiver of this message, I understand how much it is needed. Like all middle-school girls, I am extremely self conscious. Nothing ever seems to be right. My hair, my weight, my leg shape, the size of my feet, all the way down to my eyelash length. So yeah, you could say that I needed this message Jessie J teaches. It is fine to be imperfect. Without imperfections, you wouldn't be a real person.

Last, but not at all in the least, is the message she gives off about being down to earth. It is slightly silihouetted throughout the whole song, but comes apparent in the last bridge. "Yes, no's, egos, fake shows, like WHOA! Just go, and leave me alone! Real talk, real life good love, goodnight." So many people try so hard to be cool, that they lose sight of whats important,  and Jessie J fights hard to bring it back into view. You have to be real, you cannot put on a big front and then not live up to it. Being a superstar, Jessie J lives in Hollywood, and you can only imagine how many people she meets that are completely fake. And this comes through in her music. In "Whose Laughing Now", the song I mentioned earlier, she goes into great detail imitating the fake people she meets daily, and how she reacts to them. She fights hard to promote not being fake in her media life, and her personal life as well, in doing this, she even more important role-model in this subject.

Jessie J fights for individuality. No matter who you are, where you are, or what you look like, you can hear Jessie's message loud and clear.  Jessie J teaches us to be ourselves, to step out of the boundaries too clearly set out for us daily. Jessie J fights for awareness of individuality, which is important to her. Jessie J fights for awareness of individuality, which is important to me. Jessie J fights for awareness of individuality, which at the end of the day, important to everyone.


Picture:

I chose this because even though not one flower is exactly the same, they are all individual, and it makes something beautiful.

Inarticulate- Give Me the Root, Morphemes, and Definition.

In case you hadn't noticed,

it has somehow become uncool

to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

Taylor Mali's Poem- Totally, Like, Whatever

Talking Lips by Ricky Gagnon.

Presently in the world right now, there is a pandemonium that has been left unrecognized for too long. This was one of the biggest problems in history, this is one of the biggest problems now, and it will be in the future. The majority of teenagers are inarticulate, and do not have the ability to express themselves. One of the few people that have identified this is Taylor Mali, and he voices his opinion is the poem, 'Like, Totally, Whatever.' His poem encourages us to be articulate by explaining to us what is happening, warning us with the severity of it all, and then showing us how to fix it. Mali shows us that over Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, speaking with conviction and articulacy is worth fighting for.

One of the biggest reasons why teens are not preventing themselves from becoming inarticulate is because they do not know what it means to be inarticulate. Most 'normal' teenagers wouldn't even know what the word inarticulate means! Taylor Mali explains this for them in his first two paragraphs, but mainly in this line, 'In case you hadn't noticed, it has somehow become uncool to sound like you know what you're talking about? Or believe strongly in what your saying?' and 'What has happened to our conviction?'--Have you ever called someone a nerd? Just because they went more in-depth within a subject, or knew something when someone else didn't? That should be celebrated! Since when has being ahead put you behind? This is what that line means. In this line Taylor Mali shows us what is really happening, and brings our attention to the subject at hand. When teens know what is happening, they have a better chance of understanding, that speaking with articulacy and conviction is worth fighting for.

An even bigger reason teenagers of this generation are not speaking with conviction or articulation is because they do not care about it, they do not know how this could truly damage their future. Right now, to them, their life might be amazing, but soon, after high school, reality breaks. No one cares if you have the most friends on Facebook, no one cares if you're the hottest guy or the prettiest girl. For the 'real' world, you need 'real' speaking skills, which Mali highlights in the line 'It is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY, you have to speak with it too.' He is saying you have to have communication skills, so be careful. Don't get sucked into the internet and its addictions, stay true to the things that matter, and are worth fighting for, like articulation and speaking with conviction.

The final reason teenagers do not speak with conviction is because they have already fallen into the trap of inarticulation, and do not know how to get themselves out. A usual teenager spends 31 hours a week online, according to TechCrunch, and whether that includes school work or not, is still much more time than needed. Taylor Mali addresses how to get out of this sticky situation sayins this:'I entreat you, I implore, I exhort you. I challenge you: Speak with conviction. To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks the determination with which you believe it.' That is his advice. It may be hard, but it is worth fighting for-- so fight for it.

Speaking with conviction is one of the most important things that someone can aim for, and as a teenager I see people abuse the right to learn to do so all the time. I have always been interested in Humanities, and I love to share my beliefs and opinions with others, but many people find it 'uncool' to be smart, like I mentioned before, and that is where the problem lies. I think that Taylor Mali's poem 'Like, Totally, Whatever' is a really good insight into how bad these problems really are, and I think it will be used in some place to end this never ending pandemonium we call inarticulation.


The Painting.

To represent this blogpost, I showed a simple mouth, but with a variation.-The mouth in the middle. Just like we can talk and talk and talk like everyone else, but very few actually speak with conviction. It also shows how important the mouth really is, and the words that come from it, as there is nothing else in the painting.- Its worth fighting for.

Reality Checks.

Generation Z By: Zarina Angell

Have you taken a reality check lately?

Well, in case you haven't noticed, it is uncool to...

Think.

So you don't.

You don't and you don't until you can't.

Why be illiterate when you can be literate?

Why be unsuccessful in life when you can be successful?

Enough with the interrogative tones!

Enough with the disarticulation!

Enough with the like, totally, whatever's!

Stop contradicting yourself every time you speak!

What is wrong with our generation?

Don't you want people to know what you believe in?

Haven't you ever been personally invested in your own opinions?

I have.

And its worth a try.

Generation Z is the group of people born from the late 1990's to the 2000's. This is what age group I belong to, and being part of it, I have noticed a really big problem arising. No one fights to be successful in school anymore. In fact, if you are, you are typecasted as a nerd. We do not fight for the best possible outcome for ourselves, we satisfy for second to last, or last. We think we are to cool for school, and this is what my poem is about. We have stopped fighting for our right to an education, and when we are so lucky to be having one, it should not be abused, we should be making the most of it. It is worth fighting for an education, because it will take you farther in life than fighting for your beauty or anything else. I want my poem to encourage our generation to fight for their education, so that we can keep this world going and live up to all we can be.

Taking Good Intentions Too Far~ Aldof Hitler.

Is being a leader that creates jobs, instills pride, and in the end rebuilds a community worth brutally and violently fighting for? Aldof Hitler thought so. So, by killing nearly six million Jews, and creating a bad reputation for Germany all over the globe, he achieved this. Hitler showed us almost unnecessarily that by doing these three things, there can be a lot of consequences. But, he also showed us that if a leader can add these as additional goals, than that is what you would want to aim for. We just have to live with the hope that other leaders do not have the same ways of thinking like Hitler did.

Hitler fought violently, and this led to creating jobs. He achieved this to great lengths. In the course of World War 2, Hitler had close to 12.5 million people working for him, and even more supporting him. World War 2 started in the midst of a financial problem for Germany. The economy was going down, and had no hope of coming back up anytime soon. The country of Germany was in a time where it was cheaper for them to burn their own savings (money) to keep themselves warm, than to buy firewood. Hitler provided Germany with jobs when they most needed it, and who wouldn't say no to that? If Hitler had approached this with a more humane motive, this could have been respectable.

Hitler was very proud of his German bloodline, and wanted to ensure that after the humiliation of the Versailles Treaty and World War 1, his fellow Germans felt the same way. When a group of people are going through extremely hard times, it is easiest to look for someone to blame it on, and, Hitler chose the Jews. Desperate for an explanation to their troubles, people looked to Hitler. He wanted to raise his country up, to show them that they could proudly show the German flag again. Being patriotic is definitely not a crime, but in trying to create pride in Germany, he went overboard.

Hitler was proud of his German roots, and fought to the extreme for them. He constantly brought forward the message of unity in his country. Any leader that does this is usually on the right track. He claimed to always be fighting for the benefits of Germany, and that everything he did was for the his people. Hitler attempted to rebuild this crumbling nation, and in doing this, he rebuilt his community.

Because he fought for these things, people respected Hitler. And with the power these supporters gave him, he abused it. Sos, is it really worth fighting for to create jobs, instill pride and in the end rebuild your community even if there is no short of six million murders along the way? Hitler thought so, and he fought for his beliefs till the very end. These three things that Hitler somewhat accomplished highlights that because Hitler fought for the right things violently, we can learn from these unfortunate events, and make sure that we are not fighting for these things in the same way.

**Germany as a country is talked about in a whole here, but during World War 2, there were large amounts of Germans that aided the Jews. Some more famous names are Corrie ten Boom, Oskar Shindler, and Irena Sendler.

Doing it Your Way.~ My Utopia.

Today we live in a world where you are constricted. The way you act, the way you dress, the way you talk or look, has to be in the lines. Few have the courage is to step out. And often, those few give up and are suppressed back into ‘shape’. This all is too much for us to handle. We shouldn't have to deal with this.

My utopia would have no judgement, and in doing this, everyone would be allowed individuality. Individuality that would allow them to express themselves however they wanted with nothing holding them back to do so. If this happens, this place would result in kindness and equality.

In Jessie J's song, 'Price-Tag', she highlights one of the main points I would want my utopia to have-- no currency. 'Nothing to kill or die for', as John Lennon's 'Imagine' says. If there was no money, what would set apart the rich from the poor? Or the celebrities to that kid that lives down the block? Nothing. And everyone could just get along and be their true self.

Just take a moment to understand. Some people LOVE to sing. Thats their true self. And some people LOVE to play with mathematical equations or economy. And thats their true self. Which one will do better in life? Even if they try as equally hard as one another, there is a much less chance of the singer making it big than the student becoming a business man. My utopia would have none of this. There is enough on this earth to share, and we can all have equal money, food, and shelter. There is no reason for superstars, or for politics. People can make their own decisions. An entire group should agree to something before it moves forward. No one should be outcast for their decisions. And that takes me back to individuality. No one is better than one another, but we should not be all the same.

In my utopia, every single person would be different. But if someone did not agree on the way that they dressed, talked, or believed in, they would keep it to themselves. Middle School would be completely different. There would be no grades, so no one could compare their scores and put others down. There would be no cliques, no popular people and no nerds. Everyone would be accepted.

Why are we living the way we are when we can live like this? We should be doing it our way.

The artwork was painted by a woman named Thaneeya McArdle. It is one of her abstract pieces and shows how a bunch of different and individual things can come together and make something beautiful.

"Make sure it never happens again"~Kristallnacht.

The quote above is from a lady named Susan (Strauss) Taube. She and her father who escaped from Germany were survivors of the Holocaust. She retells her story of Kristallnacht, which sums up how most German-Jews felt. She woke up on the morning of November 10th, and got ready to go to school, but was stopped and told to go back to her house. While she was out, she saw the nearest synagogue smashed down, with smoke still coming from where it had burned the night before. After she returned home, Nazis came into her house and destroyed everything, from books all the way to cutlery.

This event was the turning point for all that was to happen in Germany. There was no turning back now. As many as an estimated 1668 synagogues were destroyed and and 91 Jews killed. Although, the Nazis said there was 275 synagogues destroyed and 100 Jews killed. Kristallnacht was a huge part of the escalation of persecution of Jews. The worst part about this was that at this point, no one reacted. Sure, it was too late for an individual to stand up, but what about the countries? Where were France, Spain, Italy, or the US? Surely they had heard about it? We don't know why no countries stood up by that point, but how come individuals hadn't before? How had everyone fallen so quickly under Hitler's spell?

One of the reasons was the Nazi's Propaganda. Propaganda is, according to the dictionary,'information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation,...' One of the things the Nazis did really well was persuading people with their propaganda. The reason that Germans accepted the way the Nazis were treating the Jews was because everywhere they turned it was drilled into them- that Jews are bad. Are they actually? No. They were just picking on the minority. Joesph Goebbels (the leader of propaganda for the Nazis,) once said that "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."