Never Give Up

In Positive Thinking Every Day, Norman Peale also discusses the importance of perseverance and willpower. He stands behind the motto "never give up" without budging throughout the writing. First of all, he says "never talk defeat" and he tells everybody to "use words like hope, belief, faith, and victory." Furthermore he tells us all to "cultivate willpower" in order to make it through all of the hard times that try to bring us down. Most importantly, Peale reminds us that a heart "warmed with the fires of enthusiasm" will never be shaken by "life's blows". Therefore, if everyone holds onto his or her will to carry out a happy and successful life by cultivating an enthusiasm to achieve, the world will have a much stronger foundation from which to evolve and flower.

"It's always too soon to quit!"

-Norman Vincent Peale

Peale wants everybody to know that giving up is never the right choice. Where there is a will, there is a way, and there is always a reason to have a will, or to persevere. The hard times only make us stronger. That's why we all have to struggle to mature and grow into adults. Just as breaking down muscles by lifting weights eventually rebuilds stronger, healthier muscles, fighting through life's many obstacles without giving up, while maintaining a positive outlook on life, guarantees a stronger and healthier adult life for all human beings. Peale tells us all to forget about giving up, because everything in life is worth fighting through in order to better oneself in the future that awaits everyone.

Positive Thinking Every Day- Norman Vincent Peale (pgs. 1-163)

Happiness Is What You Make It

In Positive Thinking Every Day, Norman Vincent Peale discusses the advantages to approaching life with a positive outlook. This book speaks to me in many ways due to the fact that I tend to look at the downsides far more than I look at the positives. By always looking at the negatives, I realize that I'm only ruining my chance at happiness. Norman Peale states that happiness is a choice or an approach, rather than an effect caused by the luck in life or good memories. Therefore, everyone makes his or her own happiness, or sadness. Sometimes, when I'm sad, I can recognize that it's my choice and my choice only to have that frown on my face. Consequently, it should be easier for me to turn my frown upside down, because I can make happiness my choice at all times. In every bad situation, I can look at the positives, instead of dwelling on the ifs, ands, and buts, or telling myself that I could be better off. Peale states that "our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate."

"Thoughts of a kind have a natural affinity.

While the negative thinker tends to draw back to

himself negative results, the positive thinker

activates the world around him positively."

-Norman Vincent Peale

The happy person is happy because he or she thinks positively and is capable of handling failure and defeat calmly and collectively. Sometimes, when someone hurts my feelings or shows me disrespect, I feel like the whole world is against me and I either lash out or go quiet. Maybe if we all followed Peale's advice, we'd all be able to smile at the people who try to get us down, because we know that we all have the power to be happy in every situation life presents to us.

Happiness is a state of mind.

You Can't Win If You Don't Take a Risk

Earlier in my entires I discussed the likeness of poker to life. After today, I would like to further that discussion, because I feel like I have some more key advice.

Today I folded a great hand because I was too afraid to take a risk. After folding, I realized how big my opportunity to had been, and how haunting my mistake would be. I still cannot let it go, even though it happened hours and hours ago. I could have taken my friend out of the game. Instead, he went on to win.

My preceding rant might seem random, until I implement it as a metaphor for life. Basically, in life, everyone has to take risks to get to where they are. When I folded my hand, I was too worried about the possibility of losing to imagine the benefits of calling the all in and taking the pot. This works the same way in my life, and the lives of many others. I did not take a risk that was presented to me, and now I feel sick to my stomach, despite the fact that I did not lose too much in the process. When I play for the Homestead soccer team, I never seem to play as well I as I do for my travel team. On Homestead, I am always so afraid to make a mistake that I am incapable of taking risks. This not only obliterates my confidence, but it stops me from succeeding and standing out. Instead of going out to the fields and playing my own game, I seem to worry too much about the possible downfalls of making a mistake or a bad pass. In poker, you can't win a hand if you never call the bets, and in soccer, you can't score a goal if you never shoot. I am trying to teach myself that there's no point in dwelling on your errors and playing timidly in order to prevent further mistakes. Nobody is perfect, therefore, everyone makes mistakes. If nobody ever took a chance, we would be nowhere near where we are today in every aspect of our society. I say, from now on, if I am dealt the hand, I should take the risk. Whether I have a solid hand in poker, or I have a solid skill set in soccer that I am unable to use due to my fear of failure, I need to make the best out of what is given to me. It's better to take all the risks and shake off the failures, then to take no risks at all, because, if you don't take any risks, you'll look back on your life and kick yourself for all the good things that could have come from the risks you could have taken. If you don't risk anything, you give yourself zero chance to succeed.

Making Mountains out of Molehills

So I just got back from my soccer tournament down in Columbus, Indiana, and for one reason or another my last post did not register on the day that I had entered it from my dad's laptop. Anyway, it's re-entered so I'm satisfied, and I hope my loyal subscribers can forgive me for postponing their main source of entertainment.

In this segment of "Getting Thematic" I'd like to discuss my third theme that I have selected from I Know What You Did Last Summer; the capability of a short moment of weakness to cause a massive downfall in one's life. This theme ties into the designated driver's accidental vehicular manslaughter of the strange man in the road. Had the driver been paying more attention, something of that magnitude would have been easily avoided. Because the driver was in a state of mental and physical disillusionment, being drunk and thinking about other things, he hit the man and may have drastically altered the lives of himself and his three friends. Such a small amount of time may have changed his entire life in an ineffable way. This goes for everyone. Everyone has done something stupid in their life, and some have been affected by this stupid action or decision. Before the fact, we all feel invincible. We go by a crash site on the highway and we say "that sucks for him, but what are the chances of that happening to me?" Well, technically, the chances are the same for everyone without putting drugs, alcohol, or disabilities in the picture. This is how Rodney Thompson died, in fact. He was looking down at his phone and he crashed. The slightest moment of weakness took Rodney's life and caused an emotional breakdown throughout the groups of his family and friends. In I Know What You Did Last Summer, the driver's bad choice in drinking too much at the party and getting caught up in the spirit of the late night car ride led to an event that has the potential of destroying the lives of four striving human beings.

Karma Police

Because I had already the first 150 pages of I Know What You Did Last Summer, I have decided that I should discuss more major themes in order to save some more reading for next week. Today I'd like to discuss the evidence of karma in the the story.

When the kids first encounter their problem, it's obvious that the problem will come back around full circle to be a pain in their sides. I do not quite no how, but anyone reading this book would be able to determine that their crashing into the man and secretly disposing his body without notifying the police foreshadows a dark future for the kids. I see their dishonesty as their downfall, because I, personally, believe in karma. Karma means that everyone will be even in the end. It means that one person's sinning in order to better themselves will eventually lead to a problem in their future that will put the person back where he or she started. It can also mean that someone's misfortune despite his or her good intentions will eventually be counteracted by a phase of luck. In this case, the four friends made an unlawful and immoral decision in throwing the dead man whom they had killed into the ocean without taking responsibility for their actions. Because, they did not take any responsibility for their actions, karma will most likely take care of their punishment for them. They were too afraid to turn themselves in, but they did not realize that karma is a force far stronger than the local police.

Karma ultimately defines the superfluity of dishonesty and cheating. If karma was a known force, everyone who cheated would end up prospering less than those who stick to virtue and morals. Having accepted the presence of karma, one would never cheat and lie, because one should know that one will suffer a punishment and harbor feelings of hopelessness equal to or worse than the feeling of satisfaction one attains from cheating or lying.

To Conform, or Not to Conform

In I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan, a group of four friends is caught in a precarious quagmire (two etymology words in a row) when an ominous occurrence augurs a climactic catastrophe.

Four close friends are out partying late at night. After hanging around at the party, drinking, and talking to friends for a good amount of time, they decide to head back home. Unfortunately, the designated driver is drunk, and they find themselves in a sticky situation. Due to a lack of good judgement, they permit the drunk designated driver to operate the car. Upon making a sharp turn around a bend in the road, the driver finds himself in a collision with a person who had been standing in the way. Needless to say, the person is dead after the impact. The four friends get out of the car to investigate the corpse that had been breathing just moments ago. Two of the friends decide that it's best that they all cooperate and dispose of the body in the ocean. However, Julie, on of the friends with a different idea in mind, says that they should report the accident to the police to avoid conflict with karma and any future investigation that could be carried out to find the man whom they had killed. Julie argues her point for a while, until she surrenders to the majority and agrees to put the body in the trunk, from which it will later be deposited into the ocean. The four friends decide to make a pact to never tell anyone about what had happened that summer after the party. The incident gives a hint that it is a precedent for the unfolding of the plot and the suspense leading up to the climax.

The theme discussed in the first 150 pages of the novel is, most significantly, conformity. Sometimes it is better to conform, and other times, it is best to stand up for what you feel is right. When a problem persists, one must take a stand as a nonconformist, but if a problem is a mere peccadillo, there should be no necessity to take up arms. In this situation, Julie seems to have the morally correct idea of how to go about the accident in her head. She gives in to the group and allows her morally correct idea to fade into the background behind a plan that could lead to problems for the friends in the future. Although the book has not yet explained these future problems, I can only imagine they will result from the accidental murder of the strange man standing on the road late on that ominous summer night. Perhaps if Julie would have stood her ground and protected her moral principles with pride, the friends would be able to face their problems now. It seems like karma's payback becomes gradually worse the more we all put off our problems and dissemble our mistakes. Therefore, we should be nonconformists first.

I Know What You Did Last Summer- Lois Duncan (Fiction- pages 1-154)

Truth

Why is it so important that Dave Cullen gets the story straight for all of the skeptics of the Columbine shooting? It's because truth is one of the most important principles known to man. Even the smallest white lie can come back and stab someone in the back when he/she is at the end of his/her rope. Truth is vital specifically in relationships, but it needs to be valued at a constant level throughout every stage of life. If everyone was to go on thinking of the Columbine shooting in the way it was portrayed, we would all blindly believe that only crazy kids commit mass murders. The fact that Dylan and Eric were not noticeably mentally ill until the shooting is vital knowledge for making schools safer and always being ready for the worst. Therefore, truth is key not only in people-to-people relationships, but also when dealing with the facts.

Without truth we would all assume that only a select few kids are capable of carrying out such a violent act, when, in truth, every kid is capable of doing anything at any time, depending on the way they feel and the people whom they are influenced by. Dylan and Eric seemed like average high school kids, but their growing anger, which was dissembled from the view of others, led to their sudden decision to try something new at the expense of many children's developing lives. Consequently, Dave Cullen's clarification of the event and the many assumptions that people have about it is key in maintaining trust, and protecting schools that are capable of protecting themselves by preparing for the worst to happen at any moment in time.

Truth is vital everywhere: in the home, in fact, in fiction, in business, in love, and in friendship. It is the most substantial infrastructure in our world as far as maintaining stability and protecting against unfair or ill-advised assumptions.

Appearance vs. Reality

After finishing Personality Plus I decided it was time to pick Columbine back up so I could try to finish off what I had started. As I continued reading, I decided to look further into a specific theme that shared by a plethora of novels and short stories. Appearance vs. Reality ties into almost every single one of the books that I have been assigned to read this year for AP Literature. For the most part, it ties into fiction novels, but, because many things in life are not always what they seem, such a theme ties into nonfiction novels as well.

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet dissembles himself behind a mask of insanity, exiling himself from reality and his friends and family. Consequently, his appearance of insanity masks the reality of his intention, which is to avenge the "foul and unnatural" murder of his father, who was killed by Hamlet's "incestuous" uncle, Claudius. In the same sense, Dave Cullen makes sure to compare the appearance of the Columbine shooting to the reality of the event. As I have surely mentioned in earlier entries, Dave Cullen portrays the actual events of Columbine in his nonfiction novel, in order to clear up the common misinterpretation of the event. The common misconception that the two shooter were secluded and socially inept is shot down by the reality that the two boys were, in fact, slightly popular among their classmates. Both Eric and Dylan were described as popular and full of school spirit. Before the shooting, nobody who knew either of them would have been able to predict the ineffable occurrence. Furthermore, the appearance that the shooting lasted for a long time and was planned out to the last detail by the shooters is cleared up by the reality that the shooting lasted only minutes, and was thrown together by the shooters at the last minute. Finally, the most common misconception that both Eric and Dylan wore trench coats around school everyday and lived in a twilight zone is obliterated by Dave Cullen's evidence from a primary source stating that both boys were fairly down-to-Earth, despite Eric's slightly edgy personality.

In the end, it's always important that we do not make assumptions, because, if we do, the reality hits us and we either feel stupid, or disappointed. Appearance vs. reality is everywhere. We might as well just assume that what is, is not, and move on with our lives.

The flower in the picture is a columbine, so it isn't just a random picture. I just needed to clarify.

Columbine by Dave Cullen (Nonfiction- pgs. 112-223)

The Roots of Disappointment

This week, the theme for my once-a-week personal entry is disappointment. Most significantly I'd like to define it, and search for its source. Trust me, this entry will not disappoint, but do not hold your expectations too highly.

In my opinion, disappointment is the feeling we get after something we were anticipating to go a certain way, results differently from what we had expected. For example, athletes disappoint when they are expected to have a great season and they put up weak stats. In the same sense, businesses disappoint when they prove unworthy for investments.

Most significantly, the source of disappointment is expectation. I decided to blog about this specific topic because I'm known to expect something to go a certain way. Then, I'm more prone to become disappointed when it doesn't work out. If we accepted this as the truth, would disappointment be eliminated if we all lowered our expectations? While this may be true, I think disappointment can also result from regret. Regret results when a person looks back on his/her life and decides that he/she should have done something differently. Although lowering expectations may defend against expectation-rooted disappointment, one may be more disappointed later in life about the risks they did not take. Although this type disappointment is less common among other cases, it is far more serious, because we can all cheer ourselves up with a bowl of ice cream after our expectations are disappointed, but nobody can go back in time and take that risk that they were to afraid to take. Essentially, fear of disappointment may be worse than disappointment itself. We can all move on if our risks or expectations disappoint, but we cannot go back in time and take the chances that we were always too afraid to take.

Sometimes I try to lower my expectations in order to feel happier if things go right yet content even if things do not work out. Although this satisfies my immediate emotional needs, it simultaneously injures my aspirations to be successful and my ambitions to be the best that I can be. Life is short, so we all need to reach for the stars before our bodies are buried in the ground. We all need to have goals, and we should never let the fear of disappointment stand in the way. Things will almost never go exactly how I plan, so I should simply accept that. Disappointment is an important part of becoming a mature and upstanding adult. As we experience disappointment more and more, we learn to take it with a grain of salt, and we do our best to dream even when we feel defeated.

Putting the Pieces Together

So apparently my entry that i typed up and entered didn't go through. Oh well, here goes my best replication of the entry...

After finishing Personality Plus, I realized that I had learned more about myself and others. I had learned more about my friends and families, along with ways to better my own image, and my relationships with my friends and families. Personality Plus may seem like a far-fetched analysis of a general and wildly fantastic subject area (the human mind and thought process), but even if it is not entirely factual or statistically accurate, the book still serves as a vital tool for all those who read it and truly think about its contents. I feel like I have learned how to take my emotions, as a perfect melancholy, and turn them into more positive emotions that will make me more fun to be around. By knowing myself, not only with I be able to more easily harness my emotions, I'll be ready to learn more about others. Some people go through their entire lives trying to find themselves, but if we all just accept who we are from the beginning, imagine how much more time we'll have to enjoy ourselves and our company. Consequently, by knowing oneself, one will be able to appreciate the good things in life.

After learning more about myself, and my personality type, I'm ready to affect the lives of others in a more positive way. I'm now ready to take that step towards the likeness of an Aaron Kee; someone who changed the lives of others with his hugs and vibrant smiles. I feel ready to convert my negative emotions and insecurities into laughter and self-confidence. After getting through the storm, and seeing the Sun, I know it will only be up from here. I also know the type of person that I'm naturally inclined to fall for, in knowing my personality type, and the requirements of the many different types of personalities in every unique person.

I might feel like I know myself now, but I'm sure there will be more to learn every single day, because change is the only constant. At least, by knowing how I think and process emotions, it will be easier for me to pick up the subtle changes that do occur.

Opposites Attract

During this rough AP testing week, I didn't have time to choose a book to dive into, so i decided to take a look back into Personality Plus...

Initially I had looked into the perfect melancholy characteristics, but upon second glance I noticed the balancing effects of the relationships that form between two people at opposite ends of the spectrum. I noticed that the perfect melancholy, who is normally over-analyzing things or staying away from trouble, if balanced well by the popular sanguine, who is the life of the party and is always bubbling over with laughter. The more laid back and thoughtful mannerisms of the perfect melancholy are counteracted by the outgoing and impulsive mannerisms displayed by the popular sanguine. In this same regard, the popular sanguine's inability to show emotion is counterbalanced by the depth of emotions that the average perfect melancholy possesses.

For these reasons, the book reveals to us that opposites truly do attract. It is not only a saying, but it is psychologically proven. The characteristics of the average perfect melancholy are ideal to create a healthy and positive relationship with the average popular sanguine. As I read even further, I notice that there are even sections that tell the popular sanguine how to cheer the perfect melancholy up, in order for the healthy relationship to flourish.

This just goes to show that everything really is a give and take. In relationships, each person has something of equal value and importance to offer to the other. If this was not true, the relationship would most likely become one-sided, or entirely unhealthy.

Leave an Impact

I suppose I've been entering one personal entry a week, so I might as well continue the trend.

I didn't know Aaron Kee, but during this school week, I noticed how important he was to the students at Homestead. I heard all of the kids who talked about Aaron on the announcements, and I realized that Aaron Kee had a powerful impact on the lives of many different people. He touched people in a number of ways, all positive. I talked to a few people about his passing, and they mentioned how his hugs could always make them feel better, or about how his smile could always brighten their day.

After thinking about this for a while, and praying for his family and friends to whom he meant so much, I started to think about death in general. Next year is our year for the senior curse. We're all hoping that we can break the curse, but I started to really think about the possibility of one of my close friends dying, or even me dying. Have I affected the lives of others in a positive way? Have I left the impact that Aaron Kee left before he passed? If i died, would I be remembered?

This actually served as a form of motivation for me. Death is inevitable. Nobody can beat death, and nobody has the right to choose when someone dies, so it could happen at any time. Nobody is invincible. Consequently, I decided to make it my goal to benefit as many people as I could. Then, when it's my time, I can die happy, knowing that I won't be simply forgotten. If I have the opportunity to help someone, I'll always try to do just that. When I'm being pressured to make fun of someone, or to hurt someone else's feelings, I'll always do my best to resist peer pressure, in order to resist hurting others. Aaron Kee made himself memorable. While he was alive he brightened people's days, and comforted people who were upset.

We should all be motivated by Aaron Kee; motivated to live each day as a new chance to touch the lives of others. Every day is another opportunity for us to leave our mark on this Earth. Every day of our lives should be a legacy.