Revenge

After answering the discussion question about revenge this week, I kept thinking about revenge and the awful things that it can cause. I have now finished "A Tale of Two Cities," and there are so many great examples of revenge in the book. The character of Madame Defarge becomes so caught up in repaying the aristocracy of France that she turns herself into an evil, bloodthirsty woman who cares about nothing else. The want to have revenge on the noblemen completely overtakes and consumes her to the point where she only wants to kill everyone that has anything to do with that class of people. I have found some great quotes about revenge and what can happen if we do not forgive. After each one I will explain what they have to do with Madame Defarge and and what the price of revenge can be.

 “Revenge is sweeter than life itself. So think fools.”
-Juvenal

  Throughout the book, Madame Defarge tries to convince herself of this statement and that her life will be happier if she takes revenge on the aristocracy of France. She is turned into a fool by thinking this is true.

“There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.”
-Josh Billings

 This quote is so true, but Madame Defarge is too proud to realize that forgiveness might be a better option for her bitterness. She has buried herself so deep into the revolution that she thinks it is much too late for forgiveness now. She is not willing to forgive the children of the people that were awful to her family. Even though Charles Darnay is innocent, she can't see past the fact that he is a descendant of the Evremonde family.

 “By taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing over it, he is superior.”
 -Unknown

This quote tells us that we can be the bigger person if we forgive and forget the wrong things people have done to us. Madame Defarge is not in the least bit willing to forget the things that the Evremonde brothers for the pain that they caused her to suffer as a young girl. She would rather become even with her enemies by causing them to die rather than become superior to them by forgiving them.

 “Those who plot the destruction of others often fall themselves.
-Phaedrus

There isn't a quote that could come closer to resembling what happens to Madame Defarge at the end of the book. She is so caught up in causing other people to fall that she never thinks twice about the fact that she could be killed herself. She is consumed with taking revenge and so like this quote says, she falls herself from being shot by Miss Pross.

Reading "A Tale of Two Cities" has really helped to see how revenge can kill just as strongly as a gun shot. The revolutionaries in the book want to take revenge so badly that they are driven by repaying the aristocracy, and they can't think about anything else. The French Revolution is an event in history that I hope we can learn from, and that we won't be so bloodthirsty for revenge that it will take over our lives. 

For Good

          Last November, my mom, my sister, and I took a girls trip out to San Francisco to see the Broadway play, "Wicked."  It was not only a really fun trip because of all the fun things that we got to do, but it seemed that after walking out of the theater, I felt changed in a way. The whole play has many different lessons that it teaches us, and I learned a lot of things while watching it. I have to say that there is one song it particular, "For Good," that taught some very important lessons.  The lyrics have some very important messages to share. I found them and have now copied them down onto this page:

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good


It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you

Because I knew you
I have been changed for good

And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for

But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share

And none of it seems to matter anymore

Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better

Because I knew you

I have been changed for good

I have thought about these lyrics over and over again in my head. It isn’t just about the similes, the rhyming words, and the bitter-sweet phrases that it contains. This song tells us many important things about choosing our friends and how to treat them if you want to keep them. At the beginning, it has some important lines, including the following, “I’ve heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn.
And we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them,
and we help them in return.”

          I believe that certain people are put into our lives for reasons. A lot of those people are here to teach us the lessons that we need to learn in life. This may be true, but I think that it’s hard for us to realize that these people are here to help us. We may get annoyed by these individuals who want to make us better and teach us what we should do, especially when those people are our parents. It also says in those lines that we will only grow if we help those people in return. I think that we all could do a better job of realizing what people do for us each and every day and giving back to those who sacrifice for us.

          I also like the very last lines that read, “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.” These words have so much that they can teach us. I hope that we can all try to do a little better at being nice to people and helping them out. I know that I want people to be changed for the better because they knew me. I think that we can all want to be better each and every day, so that we can change other for good. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to go to San Francisco and see this amazing musical because it reminds that I can be better every day.

Biology Essay

In my wonderful biology class, one of the options for our term projects is to write four essays on scientific magazine articles. This option sounded better to me than finding science comics and writing a paragraph about each. It also sounded more enjoyable than reading a book about a disease that made people have giant sores and gaping holes everywhere on their bodies. This sounded like the best option to me, so this is one of my fantastic science essays that I have written. It may not be perfect, but then again my biology teacher will take one glance at it and if it looks like it has five paragraphs, I will probably get a perfect score.

October 2010                  

Amber Angelle

Hurricane News

            Can you believe that the wind can travel over 150 miles per hour? All over the world, places get completely destroyed from these winds that come from the sea called hurricanes. Hurricanes can be extremely dangerous and can demolish hundreds of miles of our earth's surface. Scientists have been studying the ways that hurricanes start, what happens while they are happening, and possibly some of the factors that cause hurricanes to start.

            The scientists that have been researching this topic of hurricanes have found many different things. They have learned about the eye, which is the center of the hurricane and is in the middle of everything that's happening. The next part outside of the eye is called the eyewall. The eyewall is actually much more powerful than the eye itself because the eye is in the middle and does not carry much force. The eyewall is full of heavy rains and extremely fast winds. Scientists have also been studying whether the temperatures of the earth have any affect on how frequently hurricanes occur. They have found that heat will not cause more hurricanes, but when they come they will be much more powerful than normal.

            I believe that it is very important that we have recorded some of these facts that will help us to learn more about the danger of hurricanes and how serious they are. This information could help us with safety in the future when hurricanes are going on around us. If we learn more and more about them, then it will be easier to protect ourselves and fight against them. There are some very interesting things that have been found in this research, and some of the stuff is things that we should know.

            There are things called Cyclone Cylinders that are found in the eyewall and they stir the hurricane up to be bigger and more powerful. It gives the winds an energy-boost and when Cyclone Cylinders are helping the hurricane, the storm can be intensified to become a category 5. It is very interesting that the eye of the hurricane isn't the strongest point, but that the eyewall is much more powerful and can do more damage to the area that it is destroying. I hope that we can use this information and learn even more in the future.

             This new information from scientist's research can help us immensely with our knowledge about hurricanes. We can't stop these terrors from coming, but now we know how they work and what their plan is. 

Computer Tech Essay

I decided to take Computer Tech during the second semester of this school year. I thought I should do this so that I don't have to take it at the end of my senior year because I completely spaced it in previous years. The class isn't too bad except for the timings that we have to complete by midterm and the end of the term. We did a timing at the beginning of the semester to see where we stood. I wasn't thinking about how we had to improve, and so I went as fast as I could. I now have the problem of not being able to boost my words per minute. I hope I can solve this problem by practicing typing at home. In Computer Tech, we study computer programs in sections. Right now we are doing the Computer Basics unit. For extra credit, we could write an essay on a person who has changed the world of computers. I decided to do this, because I am assuming I will need the extra credit later on when I don't improve on my timings. This is my essay that I wrote about Steve Jobs, the creator of Apple.

Steve Jobs

          Think about waking up every morning and knowing that you have millions of dollars from your accomplishments. Steve Jobs wakes up with this feeling every morning. Steve Jobs has made endless contributions to the world of computers and technology. He has made his mark and will never be forgotten. He is the CEO of the Apple Computer company, he has participated in Disney Animated Pixar, and he has received many important honors for his accomplishments.

          First, Steve Jobs is the Primary Chief Executive Officer of the Apple Company. He was one of the co-creators of the company starting back in the late 1970s. In the early 1980s, he and his co-workers created the Apple II. This Macintosh, created by Apple, was a huge breakthrough in the computer world because it was a mouse-driven computer. He left Apple in 1984 because of a struggle with the board of directors. The company was bought out, and this brought Jobs back into the company.

          Next, Steve Jobs has also contributed his talents to the world of Disney. Pixar made many great movies in the 1990s and the early 2000s, but in 2004 Pixar's contract with Disney was almost up. Steve Jobs stepped in and Disney ended up buying Pixar for $7.4 billion dollars. Jobs is now Disney's biggest shareholder with 7% share in stocks. He continues to help with Pixar's movies, and he earns a lot of money from his contributions to the company.

          Last, Jobs has won many great awards for his accomplishments. He was named the most powerful person in business by Fortune Magazine. He also received the Nation Medal of Technology by the president Ronald Reagan along with the co-creators of Apple. Jobs was named person of the year by Financial Times in 2010. Jobs has earned many awards for his great contributions to the world of technology.

          Steve Jobs is an extremely intelligent man when it comes to technology and computers. He has made many discoveries and helped the business of computers grow. He will always be remembered as one of the people who made it possible for us to use computers each and every day of our lives.

Teachers vs. Athletes

Every A day I come in early to see my math teacher Mrs. Corry, to ask her questions about the homework. Mrs. Corry is always willing to help me with anything I don’t understand. I deeply appreciate the time she spends with me and all of her students in need. It makes me sad to know that she will be paid less money throughout the whole school year than some professional baseball players will make in one inning. This pay difference is a problem in our world that needs to be changed. Professional athletes should be paid less money, and school teachers should be paid more.

            There are a few reasons why this should change, but the first reason is that teacher’s pay should increase so that more qualified and gifted teachers would go into the field. There could be so many more great teachers if it was a higher paying job.  It’s as simple as this: if you want good teachers to teach, then pay them more money. Many qualified teaching candidates feel they cannot choose teaching as a career because they can’t support a family with a teacher’s salary. For example, my dad is great at teaching and would have loved to be a law teacher. However, there are six kids in my family, and so my dad had to choose a different career to support our family. While some teachers have financial problems, athletes are making more money than they can spend. It was reported that at one point, Michael Jordan was making $160 per second, which means that he was paid about $78,000,000 that year. If you compare this to a teacher, who makes about 43,000 per year, there is a drastic difference. Can you imagine how many amazing teachers would choose this as a job if they could make $78,000,000 a year?

Even though the pay is low, some teachers still choose this career, but they have to become qualified by going to college. The second reason that teachers should be paid more is that teachers make a financial investment to become teachers. They must pay for the training and education in college to qualify them for their job. Professional athletes, on the other hand, rarely spend any money on their college education (if they go to college), when they begin their professions, professional athletes make millions while teachers make relatively little. There is a saying that tells us, “You’ve have to spend money to make money.” In most cases this is true; however, teachers spend the money to go to college, but are paid much less money than those athletes who didn’t spend a penny. Not only are teachers giving up their money, but they also spend four or more years of their time in college. Since athletes don’t need anything but skill to qualify them for their jobs, they don’t have to put any time into college.

Although people may say that athletes play a big role in children’s lives, they don’t contribute nearly as much to society as teachers. School teachers spend time with children every school day teaching them math, science, English, and history. They are educating them and helping prepare them to be contributing members of society. On the other hand, professional athletes are not usually good examples to children and don’t teach them good principles. If teachers are contributing to the betterment of society while athletes are merely entertaining us, shouldn’t we pay teachers more than professional athletes?

As shown above, teachers should be paid more money, and professional athletes should be paid less. More good teachers would go into the field, teachers make a time and money investment by going to college, and teachers contribute more to children’s lives than professional athletes. Teachers play a big role in our lives as students, and I hope that more of our world can understand this so that by the time I go to college; I can choose to be a teacher like I would love to be someday.

"Salary for All K-12 Teachers." Payscale. Payscale Report. 2010-2011. Web. 1 Jan. 2010-2011. <http://www.payscale.com/research/US/All_K-12_Teachers/Salary>.

The Clasroom of Carter

          "Smup, cuss, splain, HDIC!" The language you just read is called Carter, and it is only spoken in one place around the world. That place is in Mr. Carter's classroom at Fairfield Junior High. Mr. Carter is my favorite teacher and has changed my life throughout junior high. There is no one else who can be quite as unique or as clever when it comes to Mr. Carter.

          Each day that I have Geography, I look forward to going to school because I get to go to class with Mr. Carter. He is one of the only teachers I know that can have the perfect balance of learning and fun. He lectures the whole class period, and we take notes on what he says. You would think that after just listening to the same man for an hour and a half it might get a little dull. This is not the case because he will always do something that will catch you off guard, and it will make you ask, "Is there something wrong with him?" Whether it's singing, dancing, or scaring you with a blow horn, Mr. Carter always has a way to keep Geography interesting.

          Mr. Carter not only keeps class entertaining, but he is very clever as well. Each day when we go to class there is what he calls a "Carterism" up on the board. A "Carterism" is one of Mr. Carter's words that he changes up the meaning a little bit. For example, in his class, the term Utter Destruction is referring to a female cow that got stuck on a fence, and a crowbar is known as a pub for black birds. As I mentioned before, the words smup, cuss, splain, and HDIC all mean something as well. "Smup" means to pass 'em up, and he tells us this when we need to pass our assignments up. "Cuss" means to discuss, and "splain" means to explain. "HDIC" stands for the Head Dude in Charge. This is referring to the president or leader of a country.

          In Mr. Carter's class we learn new words and funny jokes, but we also learn a lot about Geography. Last year, he was my teacher for U.S. History, which is my favorite subject. I love learning about the Civil War, and I already knew a lot about it. I couldn't believe how much more I knew about the Civil War, and everything else in U.S. History by the time the year was over. This year in Geography we are learning the location of every country in the world, the major rivers, cities, and mountain ranges. This is a great skill to have, and I am grateful that he is putting us through the pain of learning all these places. We also learn some very important life lessons and just some crazy trivia that nobody knows except for Mr. Carter.

          When I think of amazing teachers, only a few names come to my mind, and Mr. Carter is definitely at the top of my list. He is a fabulous teacher because he makes learning fun, I have learned a whole new vocabulary, and I have learned a lot about history and Geography. Looking back on Junior High, Mr. Carter has definitely made his mark in the my life, and the lives of many students.

Child Soldiers Essay

 

Sarge P4

Child Soldiers

            It is estimated that right now, at this very moment there are 300,000 children under the age of 18 fighting all over the world. These children are taken from their homes in the cruelest and unusual ways to fight for a cause that they don't even believe in. Many of the children are forced to kill their parents when they leave their homes, and then later they are commanded to shoot their personal friends.

            Imagine being one of these poor, helpless children who are dragged into this misery at such young ages. Here in America, all we are worried about is if our outfit looks cute, or what we're having for dinner. On the front of my scrapbook there is a boy, and the quote says, "And in America, violent video games come with an R rating." This shows us that we have no idea what these children go through every single day of their lives. These kids have nothing to think about but fighting and death. They wake up every morning and wonder whether they will stay alive that day, or if they will follow many of their friend's fates. These poor children have no choice where they go, or what cause they are fighting for.

            It is not right that the children are taken and mistreated in such ways. It is awful to think that many of the young girls are raped, and they become pregnant. They are still used to fight even in such circumstances. The children are used as cooks, spies, laying explosives, and in serious combat.

            You might ask where these awful things are taking place. The answer is almost everywhere in the world. The most common places are Rwanda, Uganda, The Congo, and many places in Asia. Children are taken thousands of miles away from their homes to fight and most of them will never return to their mother and father.

            Will they be forced to stay in the army for the rest of their lives? Sadly, the answer is usually yes. This doesn't mean that they will always be called child soldiers. Once a teenager turns the age of eighteen, they are no longer considered a child of war, and their past is completely forgotten.

            There are very few wars right now where children are not participating in the fighting. When you imagine war, you probably think of lines of men they are in camouflage dress with guns. This is definitely not the case for most places in the world. Children are a big part of the fighting, even though many of them don't know how to use the weapons. Thousands of children die from the misuse of weaponry each year. Many of them also die from disease and infection.

            We have many great resources that are trying to stop the use of child soldiers. The symbol that represents this groups is a hand with a small child holding a gun inside. These groups are helping to make people aware of the dangers and horrors of child soldiers. Their job is to inform the public about the awful things that are happening around the world.

            As you can see, the use of child soldiers is a very big issue in our world today. I hope we can all be more aware and do everything we can to help these children who have no choice but to kill, or they will be killed.