What should be said at graduation

If I were to give the commencement speech at my graduation this year, I would tell people that the most important things to remember, no matter where you go in life, is to find something or someone to care about, because that will make you a better person. And to live life the way you wish to. Whether that be living in the moment, drifting along to wherever the wind blows you or analyzing every scenario before you go through with something. Being able to care about someone other than yourself makes you able to have feelings that could not be felt any other way. Carpe Diem is one of the most overused latin phases but it makes a valid point. Living in the now allows you to experience life through different perspectives and makes you a more rounded individual, not afraid of new ideas.

Ind. Read Promt 1 (Last Lecture)

The main character in The Last Lecture is Randy Pausch. The whole book is circled around him finding out that he had developed pancreatic cancer and only ha so long to live. The book describes how he went about living his life once he knew death was just around the corner. What I have noticed most about him through what I have read so far is that he has really accepted the fact that he was going to die and he did not stay morbid over it. He attacked the life he had left and he wanted to leave his mark on the world that he was leaving behind. He also wanted to leave memories of him around so that his three children, all under the age of six, would know what their father was like. To me, I feel like this is a great inspirational story that is easy to read and true to the heart.

Atonement in Kite Runner

Atonement is amends or reparations for past wrong doings committed. I believe however that full atonement cannot happen unless you were to feel the same emotions as the person you affected before. That is something that is hard to achieve. Yet, by making mistakes we are able to learn and progress. No matter what you do, something has changed after that incident that will affect someone forever. You look at what happened with Hitler and after the Allied countries won the war, Germany had to pay reparations for the damages they caused. However, nothing can be done to bring those millions of people he killed back to life.

To me, I feel like Amir has many things to make up for. First off, I feel Amir needs to become more humble and less jealous of other people around him. Next, I it was completely wrong of him to read to Hassan but teaching him the wrong meaning of words was just flat out cruel. Then you have when Amir tries to frame Hassan for stealing money. Finally the most important is when he stood aside and allowed Assef to rape Hassan. To me, Amir was just a rich selfish brat that could not live up to his fathers expectations and could not find his niche in the world. I feel like he will never truly find atonement for his sins but it will, I feel become easier to live with, especially if Hassan were to forgive him.

Missing a goal

Ok, so just this past weekend I made a mistake during my soccer game. The score was 0-0 in about the 70th min. I got a pass in behind the defense which gave me a one on one with the goalie. I went far post with my shot but the goalie came up with the save. Then they were able to catch us off balance and go on a counter-attack which almost lead to a goal. The reason I chose this was because I have not scored a goal yet this season. However, I did make up for it because we scored a goal after I drew a corner kick and off the corner kick I volleyed the ball back into the middle where someone else on my team put it in.

The Last Lecture Book Preview

The author of The Last Lecture is Randy Pausch with the help of Jeffrey Zaslow. It is a story about an engineering professor from Carnegie Mellon who finds out that he has cancer and only so long to live. The book gives insight to is true beliefs and gives inspiration to people everyday. The last lecture he gave to his students was about living life to its fullest and making the most out of every moment you have. The book is broken down into six chapters each with interesting chapter titles. The story is a national bestseller and I am sure it will make me evaluate life and what I am making of it.

What's going on?

From the journal of Marc Tyler: The year 1969











It was the forth of July and I was heading back to the helicopter that was going to transport us back to base in Vietnam after a routine perimeter sweep, when all of a sudden, my party got ambushed by a pack of guerrilla fighters. They came at us from our right flank with the bank of a riverbed to the left of us. There was no place to take cover from the body piercing rounds being hailed down upon us. We got into formation and began to fire back at our assailants. Right away, we were down to three men of our five man convoy due to the surprise attack from the guerrilla fighters. Johnny was to my left and our team leader Scott was in front of me shouting orders to fall back. So I started moving down into the riverbed. As I turned around to make sure Johnny and Scott were doing the same, johnny dropped to his knees and it was over. I turned and looked at Scott, once again he yelled to me fall back. I was given the order and was not going to disobey him. When I got down the bank I here an explosion from above where Scott had been crouched and knew that I was the only soul left. I knew that down here I would be a sitting duck just waiting to be picked off from above. So I began high tailed it out of there. Bullets began to rain down all around me. Then I turned the corner and saw the helicopter. I was able to make it inside under the cover fire given by the soldiers in it. We were able to take to the air and get out of the jungle.

When Evil Prevails

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing."

I believe this quote in a lot of ways is true because if people stand by and let bad things go on around them, it is just as bad as the people who are performing the actions. I think it relates to Kiterunner through when the boy Assef discusses Hitler and his own philosophy for what Afghanistan should be like. The world allowed Hitler to parade around Europe and do what he wanted without anyone standing up to him. Well, Assef takes this and says how Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns, and alludes to the fact that he feels the Hazaras should be abolished from the land.