Reflective Essay

     Everyone has their own opinions and we all have different perspective of things that we will either agree or disagree. In this quarter, blogging was very strange for me. I didn't like it very much at first because I don't know what I should write and what I shouldn't. I had a very hard time deciding on my topic and afraid that others would not like it. It has become an interesting quarter and I have been getting responses to my writing. I think this sudden change to blogging has changed my writing greatly from the feedback I am receiving from my classmates. It has made me think more about my topic and how it can lead to other ideas. Responding to posts was fun because relating to someones post makes me feel that I am not left out and that we are both sharing the same ideas. The audience has expanded my ideas from being sheltered to being more open. From responding to my classmates blog and receiving responses helped me grow as a writer throughout the quarter. 

      The audience has helped me through my writing by explaining their opinions and thoughts. From one post, I noticed that it branched out to many ideas that i have never thought about. It was very interesting to read the responses that I received from my classmates. There were disagreements and agreements. Even though I got responses that disagree with my point, I was not upset or mad at them. It made me feel that everyone has their own perspective and ideas. I thought that the responses were rather interesting and made me think more about what I wrote. It made me think that I should have been more specific in my point and a bit more clear. There was so much confusion happening and questions were asked. I was happy to have received disagreements because that was really what that has helped me think more. They gave me feedback and things that I have to notice. The agreeing posts made me feel that there are others that think the same way as me and it was fun to read how my idea got from this to another. The audience had helped me through my first quarter and I noticed that my writing has changed greatly.

     

      An example of one of the blogs that have both agreements and disagreements was this blog that I posted in the beginning of the year. It is called : The Rich and the Poor and the second part. This was a very interesting topic and I didn't notice that I would get so much responses. All of the responses are different and they all had their own opinions included in their response. They made me think a lot about how could clear myself with clear statements because it was too broad. This would be one of the examples of the confusion that happened and my points that were not clearly made. This is one of Alyssa's response: 

"Shiyun does not really define the terms "rich people" and "poor people" so it is hard to determine which individuals she is talking about. The terms she uses can vary depending upon which individuals she is comparing. Millionaires would be considered as "poor" when compared to billionaires; however, these millionaires would also be considered as "rich" when compared to the regular "working class" or those in poverty. In addition, the terms "rich" and "poor" can even be used in areas where there is poverty." 

This was what questions were asked and I didn't think about the two words "rich" and "poor" could have so much meaning. This was something that caused many disagreements and confusion. I learned that I have to be more specific and this was something that I worked on in my other posts. I was surprised about how the responses could be so different from my ideas and expand. It was like we are all having a discussion about what we think. This is an example from Crystal's post: 

"Sometimes, poor people will attach themselves to wealthier people to gain monetary or authoritative benefits. In some cases, the poor will even overstep legal boundaries to ingratiate their 'bosses'. Also if they themselves are in need, then the probability that they will help others despite their hardships is very small. The reason is every person in nature, is selfish regardless of what they say. It does not matter if its a selfishness towards money, towards family, or towards themselves; the point is they are still selfish."

I was quite surprised when I read this and the ideas that she incorporated was very deep. I could see that there was thinking include and my mind was thinking about how ideas are born from one thing to another. In addition, the disagreements and agreements were very helpful for me as a writer.

     Responding to people post was very fun and I liked reading about what other people think. It is interesting when I have things that I could relate to. I was glad that we all shared our blogs to everyone and added out own opinion to it. An example would be my response post to Treasure. In this response post, I noticed that I started from idea and said more about it. I even added my own opinions and thoughts in things that I could really relate and agree to. I think what we all responses back from what we write and hear other peoples thoughts. I really liked how we needed to response every week because my ideas come out as I read. Responding to posts let me expand my thinking process and kind of help with my analysis. I have noticed my response post getting more better and longer because ideas come up faster now from the practices.

     In conclusion, blogging wasn't exactly a bad change. It was kind of like practicing out writing and thinking process to prepare us for assignments where we don't get to write whatever we want. I think that blogging has help my writing more and because we write about two or three post every week, we get a lot of practice. I want to keep getting responses for my posts so that I could improve more in my writing. I was very glad that we started doing blogs. At first I didn't like it a lot, but now I noticed how it could help me in my writing.

Night: Truth of Questions

    Night Essay:

       Questions can always be answered. We all come though a time were things need to be resolved. In Night, Elie confronts lots of questions form his surroundings. He starts to experience lots of answers and go through many problems. Elie's central conflict is underlining the truth about God and 

His existence.

     Elie is confronted at a point where only he can answer his own questions. Questions that he confronts. Moshe the Beadle made Elie understand more about God, “Man questions God and God answers. But er don't understand His answers. We can't understand them. Because they come from the depths of the soul, and they stay there until death. You will find the true answers, Eliezer, only within yourself,” (Wiesel 3). Moshe the Beadle is trying to guide Elie through his own life. The only thing that will keep him going is his own belief, not others. God is not everything, and he should not only count on him to live on. Moshe is trying to explain to Elie that the answers that he is waiting for is within himself. No one else is trustworthy and the only person that he should trust his himself. Elie struggles with who God really is. He starts to go through a period of time where things start to make sense.

     At the concentration camp, Elie experiences many conflicts that deals with death. Within this experience, he has lost hope in the existence of God, and why he isn't here to help them, “For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name?” (Wiesel 31). Elie starts to realize and his feelings start to develop. He doesn't have an idea who God is. He starts to question himself, why he should bless God. He asks himself, if God is really that important and if he has even done anything to help them. Elie is confused about the suffering that they are experiencing. There was a point where the his image of God has vanished, “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust,” (Wiesel 32). Elie has always thought that God was always besides him, but his hopes just vanishes like ashes. The concentration camp turned his whole life around and made him realize reality. His life just ended like there was no more hope, but just survival. His dreams turned to fear because of he sleeps, he might not wake up at sun rise. Because he trusted God so long, he doesn't know how to create his own steps to move on forward.

     Elie denies himself from God. He would pray to him, but denies that he is ever there. Where they are in trouble and in desperate need, people asked, “Where is God now? And I heard a voice within him. He is hanging here in this swallow,” (Wiesel 61). They believe he is dead and he is the cause to this suffering. The people feel that they should not worship him. How could he have let a child die like this without helping. Elie is confused about the things that were done and if they were meant to be. He experience many conflicts, and every single conflict has a connection to the questions that were asked. It was like Moshe was always beside him asking him these questions so that he could realize the truth. Near the ending, even though he has no more hope for God, he prayed, “And, in the spite of myself, a prayer rose in my heat, to that God in whom I no longer believed,” (Wiesel 87). Elie felt something, but he wasn't sure. Maybe this is Gods message to him. He might have arose in that moment of his life and in that point, God appeared for him. Elie has no more hope for God and his existence doesn't matter to him anymore. Whatever God does will not impact him. He has found his own answers and he doesn't need God to be beside him.

     Elie has discovered many answers to the existence of God. Answers are only found within himself. He has grew to understand him much more better. Elie was pulled into his own belief and he no longer believed in God. God was just an excuse. The this that can help you put one foot in front of the other and walk though the path of life is our own soul.

Emotions

     Why do we have these feelings of being sad, happy, embarrassed, nervous, and etc.? This is a question that just came up to me. Why do we experience so many different feelings? We develop these feelings without even knowing because it just comes and go. We all go through times when we are depressed and scared at a point, where did they come from?

     Why do we cry when we are sad? Why does our face turn red when we are nervous or embarrassed? We don't control these things that are happening to us. Science doesn't even explain why we cry. Maybe there is a reason, but I have not found the answer to it yet. Maybe there is something that controls how we feel. Well, I don't know why we develop emotions, but emotions are something that might be new to us.

    I think that emotions develop from out surroundings. If we have never failed terribly, we would not feel disappointed. If we did not see someone very dear to us leave us, we would not know how death feels like. If we never had a crush, we would not know how it feels to like someone. I think that emotions are things that create us; without emotions, our life would be very boring. If we have no feelings, life will not be exciting. It is like we don't like living. I think I would not be able to live without emotions.

     Emotions can also teach us life lessons in life. It can stop us from going the wrong road and make the same mistakes again. For instance, if we feel very confused and don't know what to do because you have just made a lie that started to spread, you would learn to never do that again. Another example would be when we feel tired because we keep procrastination on or work, this feeling will tell us to change our habits. Emotions do a lot for us. I have never really noticed it before either until now. I think that emotions have created who we are and how we are as humans. There are absolutely lots of emotions or feelings that I hope to go through. Emotions can be new to us and sometimes we are confused about it. I think feelings are what that make us go one, they are things that we all should have and experience. We could also overcome some of our feelings, such as being nervous in front of a whole group of people. Emotions. What are they really? What would happen if we have no emotions at all? Have they done anything to change who we are?

Response Post: "Treasure"

Treasure. What does this word mean? What do we define as our treasures in life? In Vincent's blog, I agree that treasure is not just all the money and jewelry we have, there are things that are more important in our lives that we can not live without.

"Treasure can come in all shapes and sizes; it can be anything. Different people treasure different things for certain reasons. Some of the reasons that I would treasure something are either that someone really important give it to me or it is something that I can't live my life without."

      Normally when you here the word "treasure," most people will think of something that is very expensive. When I first saw this word, I would think about the same thing, but when I put more thought into it, it is not just something that is expensive. Treasures are things that we value in out lives and something that we always want by our side. Treasures doesn't have to be a specific objects or thing; it can be memories that you have created that was very important in your life.

     For me, I have many treasures in my life. There is so much that I can't really remember, but there are some that are really important to me and they have affected my life a lot. I treasure all the friends that I have. I don't think that I would forget any of them, all the way from elementary. I have felt sad at many points when my friends had to move away, or when we just separated from the different schools that we went to. Friends are something I treasure dearly. They are like the pieces of my heart, that keeps it pumping. They are the one that supports me when I am down and accompany me when I am lonely. I will forever treasure them, and hence the memories that we have created will always be with me.

     Memories are also something that I really treasure, and they are mostly the time I have spent with my dad. I really miss him a lot and because he is not by my side cause he is , all I have is the memories that we have created. Although I am not able to derive all of them, I treasure what I remember. Memories are created every second of our lives, but I treasure the times that I have with my friends and family. Memories can come back and cheer me up when I am sad. There is so much memories that I treasure that I talk forever; there is just too much.

     I treasure many objects, such as things that were given to me by my friends, family members, etc. When I look back at the things I remember the time this happens because it creates a part of my memory. Even of i broke something that was given to me, like a watch that I received as a birthday present. I still kept it with me so that my memories will not fade away.

    In conclusion, treasures can me absolutely everything. Money is not something that I would treasure because you can not do everything with money. Friendship can not be purchased with money. The things that you treasure are things that no one can take away from you.

Jealousy

     Have you ever felt jealous at one point? I have personally felt jealous many times, but I get over it later on. Why do we have this feeling of jealousy? Is it because we think that they are better than us or we want what they have. Sometimes I have no idea why I feel jealous, but I think I feel jealous because I think that they are so lucky and so much more better than me. Maybe this is the reason why I feel jealous. Is there different types of jealousy because we feel jealous of different types of things. Well, I think that there are a lot of things that we can be jealous about things such as: relationships, friendship, money, things that we don't have, and etc.

     Have you ever let jealousy taken over you? I let this happen once and I will not let this happen again. Being jealous at someone is not a very good feeling. I felt very bad and trapped inside like I could not do anything else. When this happened, I started to develop the feeling of hatred and started to hate he/she. Jealousy just does not lead to good things and I think that we should be happy of what we have. We don't all have to have things sufficient to what others have. Having the feeling of jealousy just makes you look down at yourself and think that you are not as good. Well, when I let jealousy take over me, I would try to feel positive because I would rather be a happy person.

     When we are jealous, we do some things that we would not normally do. I think that we should be more calm when this happens. We do not always have to have what others have. If we do, then doesn't it just make us all the same. I think we should just feel happy for what they have. Everyone is different and there are other problems that we have to worry about in life. We can't always face with these little problems that we have because if we don't learn how to over come them we can not face life problems that we have in life later on. We can not let the feeling of jealousy take over our minds and bother our everyday lives. I have not felt jealous for a long time and I think that no one should have the feeling of jealousy. We need to be more happy in life and just laugh with our friends.

Response Post: "The Stupid Question"

This is something that I found in Amber's blog that I thought was very interesting:

"If you don’t understand something, then ask someone else about it and you can learn by asking the question, even if it sounds ridiculous.  Asking questions to try to understand things you don’t understand is the equivalent of opening new doors to new explorations and opportunities."

     I really agree with what Amber said. Teachers would always ask us to ask questions in class even though it is stupid and everyone know what the answer is, I would still never speak up. I don't know why I have this feeling, but I do not ask much questions in class. I would mostly end up asking my friends at the end of the class so that I could understand. Sometimes I think that I am bothering class time when I ask a question, so I would always shelter them in my mind and find out the answer by myself.

   

     I agree that asking questions can help you learn, but it can also help other students as well. Subsequent to no one asking questions in class, students would not learn a lot. Questions are mean to be asked, not kept inside. I think that we learn from each others questions because we all think different. I have personally learned a lot from what people ask in class because they would ask questions that are what I need help in. Then when the teacher explains it, I get a clear understanding of that subject. Thanks to all those questions that I am so successful in class, but I think that I have to learn how to ask questions later on because it will be very helpful.

     I think that we should not let our fear conduct our minds when we are in need. I have let my fear control me many times and I have not been able to break away from it. We should not be afraid of our fears, but our fears should be afraid of us. We have more power than them. Now I think that I should keep this thought in mind and let my questions run free. I will try to ask more questions instead of telling my friends to ask. I need to be more brave so that I could be able to speak up for myself because my friends are not always there to help me when I am in need.