Thankful for a Classmate

          On this Thanksgiving morning as I spend some quality time with my lovely (yet slightly crazy) family, I think of other people in my life that I am also thankful for. There are a lot of people in the school and out of school that I am tremendously grateful for, but since I am restricted to a first period English class, I can only think of one student that I am truly grateful for. This student is Tikal, we met this year and she is very nice to not only to me, but to everyone. We also share another class in which we both try our hardest to make it through together (the struggle is real). Mostly I am grateful for her because she is funny, and very helpful. Tikal was the one who was kind enough to tell me about completing   this blog post and any other work I was missing when I was unexpectedly absent on Tuesday. This among other things are why I am grateful for Tikal. 

A Principle We Should Keep

     The book The Road  expresses the difficulties of sticking with your principles in extreme situations. Challenges come up in many parts of the book that make it difficult for the characters to follow their principles and beliefs.  In the real world, almost everyone follows their own principles and are encouraged to stick with them no matter what.  One principle I think is important to follow is to treat others the way you want to be treated.

        Treating people the way you want to be treated is usually taught at a young age. It is known as the "golden rule." If you live by this principle, you will likely do good by others. I also believe in karma, so if you do bad unto others, it is all going to come back to you. People should treat each other with respect no matter what, be civil and polite to other people no matter what your preconceived ideas are about who that person might be. Treat people as if those people were all copies of you. I don't think anyone would want to disrespect themselves or treat themselves badly. Following the golden rule is very important beacuse it allows people to be more empathetic and compassionate toward one another. This golden rule would eliminate a lot of problems in our society.

Hemingway (10-26-14)

   
      Ernest Hemingway was known to be the greatest writer of his time. I believe his work is rather impressive and unique compared to other authors' writing. Perhaps that is why so many believe him to be one of the best authors in American literature. One aspect of his writing that is impressive to me, is that all of his stories follow the "iceberg theory". The iceberg theory is that in a story there is the surface, this is what you read and what you are told in the story. However, there is something beneath the surface the deeper meaning of that story in which the reader has to figure out what that is. I think that this a genius theory that he created and help get a deeper understanding in not only his stories, but any other stories that the reader is required to think deeper about the text. Ernest Hemingway was a great writer, however how he is as a person is a very different story. 
      Ernest Hemingway was not a bad person, however there were some choices he made in his life that are rather questionable. Those life choices he made are of course heavily influenced on his childhood, in which he didn't have the best relationship with his mother. This might be why so many of his relationships ultimately failed or why he had so many affairs. The way he treated his children based on what the       documentary said, was that when they came he would give them his full attention and take them to do many things. However when he doesn't see them they no longer exist, he didn't try to talk to them or contact them at all. The balance of how he treated his children was a little off, one extreme to the next, which could show that there was something in unstable in Ernest Hemingway as well. Either way for those reasons, his own personal struggles and experiences that are reflected in his writing is what made him so legendary and unique. Ernest Hemingway told stories about life just the way they were, that is why I think Ernest Hemingway is a great writer, but a man who sometimes not always did the right thing.