There is an old proverb that says, basically, if you cannot ask you cannot live.
Well, it sounds deeper and more profound than that but I can't think of the exact wording.
In preparation for your This I Believe presentation, please carefully consider the questions below, and do your best to reflect and answer them as honestly as possible.
1. What am I grateful for?
2. Am I honest?
3. What do I need to change about myself?
4. Do I know what my talents are and do I utilize those talents?
5. When I help someone, do I think, "what's in it for me?"
Again, answer honestly--no one will judge you, especially me. In fact, I will answer them too.
Recalling a blog from a few months ago, we have all already thoroughly answered the question of what it is we are thankful for. I hate to bore you all with the same answers again today, but what I am grateful for hasn’t changed in the short period of time since the Thanksgiving blog. So here it goes, I am extremely grateful for my ability to learn, and the tremendous privilege of being provided with a substantial education. Often times I find that AP kids complain a bit too much about the copious amounts of work that all of these classes entail. But every once in a while we should all stop ourselves and think just how lucky we are that we have the ability to be in AP classes, thriving and doing well. And I am equally as grateful for the opportunity to be able to wake up every morning and have a school to go to, where I can receive a quality education that will build the foundation for my future. I am also tremendously grateful for the wonderful gift of being able to move on, to leave the past behind and stay focused on the future. The hard times I have been faced with recently have alone sculpted my profound appreciation for the ability to persevere and keep my eyes focused on what is to come rather than staring in the rearview mirror.
ReplyDeleteI like to think that I am an honest person. But honesty can be tricky; it requires much gentle care and skillful reasoning. I am not particularly opposed to offending people, but I do believe there are specific times when being 100% honest is not utterly necessary, especially if it is at the extent of another person’s feelings or well being. I am honest when I feel the absolute need to be honest, but I strive diligently to decipher situations in which honesty is not the best route to venture.
One of the biggest struggles I have within myself if my extreme detachment from any sort of emotional relationship. I find it very difficult to connect with people beyond a certain level of deeper bond, and if I could change that about myself I most definitely would do so. I believe that this quality (I hesitate to call it a fault because I don’t want to make myself feel bad) hinders me in many social situations, not only with friends, but my family and also any sort of romantic encounter. I don’t necessarily feel the dire need to change this aspect of myself, simply because I have learned to come to terms with it, but it would definitely ease a great deal of my stress and make my life much more uncomplicated if I could reconcile that problem.
With that being said, I have a very difficult time recognizing my own talents. I have been cursed with low self esteem from a very tender age and I have not changed one bit over the years. I am constantly battling myself against my awful self esteem and that absolutely thwarts my ability to utilize my talents to the best of my ability. I’m sure I could accomplish so much more and do so much more good in the world if I was able to recognize my talents, but I suppose that is something that I need to work toward. But although I am often held back by my inability to see my own skills, I do very much enjoy helping others in any way that I can, and always with a selfless mindset. I cannot recall a time when I entered a servile situation with ulterior motives wondering “what would be in it for me”. That attitude entirely defeats the purpose of helping one another at all.
Giving us the same answer doesn’t “bore” us, I think it just shows us that you really know what you’re thankful for and appreciate the opportunity to be able to learn. This made me think of how lucky I am to be given the opportunity to have a good public education here and to be able to take AP classes. Back in the Philippines, going to a private school is really the only way for you to get a good education and there’s no AP classes or anything that’s similar to it. We’re lucky to be able to be in a situation where we could learn. It doesn’t matter how much work we get, at least we are learning. I like your positive outlook in education and hope that others will start to think of education this way too.
DeleteWell, having to relate every problem with the same answer that not bore any one. if I am right, most of our responses are quiet similar in terms of ideas and personal affairs. looking at how expensive private schools are and the cost of having to take a college class it is important to appreciate our public schools and being able to take college prep classes. there is always competition but life is not a race. however, I agree with you that attitude entirely defeats the purpose of helping one another at all. Great Job.
DeleteI really love that you brought up education in yours. I accidentally omitted that in mine. Education in this country may not be the very best, but it's an equal opportunity free education. Some places don't even let women go to school, here we make it against the law for them not to. Education and the ability to use that education wisely is something to be very thankful for.
DeleteTo start with, what am I grateful for? Sure, I'll start with the cliché sentiment that I'm 'grateful for my friends' but it goes a bit deeper than that. I'm grateful that I can talk with friends who live several states away, who live on the opposite side of the country, who live in an entirely different continent. I'm grateful I've grown up in a world were long distance relationships are possible and that you can meet so many diverse people even if you yourself cannot travel. That's another thing I'm grateful for: the fact that I have grown up in a world where information is readily available and I am aware of so much more than my parents probably were at my age. I'm glad that I know so many of the problems and issues our society faces, even if it may be depressing. I'm glad I am not hurting anyone out of ignorance and that I have an opportunity to realize this.
ReplyDeleteThen there is of the question of 'am I honest'. There is no hesitation when I say that no, I am not a very honest person. I lie a lot, sometimes to my friends and family but mostly to myself. I guess I'm not honest to myself because I really believe the lies I keep repeating- that I'm annoying, that I'm ugly, that I have no talents, etc. I think a lot of people tell themselves lies like this because there is no one out there who enjoys all aspects of themselves. So they lie to themselves so they can reflect how awful they feel they are. I can't take compliments because I'll just find a way to twist them around and convince myself that the other person was lying to spare my feelings. So while I may tell some white lies to people I know I think the biggest victims of the truths I make up is myself.
After that whole spiel I think it's pretty obvious what I need to change about myself. Mostly, I need something that magically gives me self-confidence. I want to be able to have an appreciation for who I am so I can stop comparing myself to others. I could also benefit from the ability to self-motivate. A whole lot of my problems could be solved if I stopped lying around staring at my cats and actually did work. I mean, life is a constant trial of self-improvement and learning but at the current moment those are issues I feel that are impacting me in the most negative manner.
As for knowing what my talents are... I guess that requires a sort of self-awareness and confidence I lack. I can't really point out any talents I have because I don't feel I am actually talented at anything. I like to draw a lot in my spare time but my estimations I am purely mediocre at best, so could I really classify that as a talent? Things I am good at, such as pretending I know what I'm talking about starting dozens of projects and never finishing them aren't exactly talents. Essentially, I don't feel like I'm a very talented individual or a very memorable one at that. So I guess the answer is no, I am not aware of my talents at all if I do indeed have any.
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ReplyDeleteThe last question was the one that was the trickiest. I think it really all depends on the situation- there have been instances where I have seriously helped a person out thinking 'what's in it for me?'. I mean, I think that in a lot of situations even if it is a tiny nagging sensation I never really put words to. Don't we all do something like that? We go out somewhere because maybe we expect to be treated to dinner or we invite people over expecting them to bring things. I think there's countless situations every day we get involved in because we expect some benefit for ourselves, whether we realize it or not. But when it comes to my friends and their troubles I am always, always trying to help them without any benefit in mind. The only thing I ever want then is for my friend to be happy again. I guess life is usually about how it benefits you until it comes to helping someone important to you. After all, it is a few rare people who are willing to stick their necks out for a stranger unless it's under extreme circumstances.
Paige, I find the fact that you labeled yourself as essentially dishonest to be disturbing. However, I do agree that you lie to yourself and inadvertently harm the growth of an all-around genuine person that I'm glad to call friend. Aside from that, you are probably one of the most honest people I know. Your integrity is unparalleled and it's difficult to watch you essentially become disturbed by the dishonesty that surrounds us on a day-to-day basis.
DeleteHaving been absent from the “This I Believe” lecture/exercise in class, I feel I may be unaware to how integral this blog might actually be. But I will go about it as if I was back in sophomore year doing Ethics Alley with Mr. Costal and Mr. Sera.
ReplyDeleteDetermining what I am grateful for was a very daunting task that required more introspection than I had originally thought. Being in AP Lang, it would be a “gimme” to say I value education. But to what extent do I value it? Upon staring at my adjacent bottle of Pepsi, (a beverage I refer to as “Work Juice”) I came to the conclusion that I really do not value education as much as I had originally thought. Obviously, I am aware of all of the benefits of schooling, but the satisfaction that comes out of hammering out TS/TDs and RRLs cannot be traced back to some profound infatuation I have with going to a prestigious college and becoming successful. Rather, I value the sheer work and effort that it requires me to do. Trimming off the loose ends of my understanding in chemistry topics gives me the same satisfaction of trimming my lawn. Pardon that very Hank Hill-like statement. But the overall feeling that I accomplished something because it was assigned to me is pretty much across the board. In addition to hard work, I also value the core tool of all overly stressed workers, social interaction. It never seizes to amaze me how much I can learn or how much I can laugh every day despite having dealt with the same people for years on end.
One of things I have never particularly valued is honesty. Not to say that I am openly dishonest or enjoy dishonesty. To me, the decision to tell the truth or to tell a lie is completely contextual. Many lies can be substantiated. So to say that I am honest or dishonest is pretty much to ask whether or not my life demands that I sometimes lie. Overall, I don’t see myself as either. When I lie, it is often to protect someone or to avoid a complicated situation that no one would enjoy. But at the same time, I have a respect for brutal honesty and sometimes exercise is it at horrible times. I guess you could say that I am a moderate.
One thing I need to change about myself is the weight that I assign to important tasks. My virtue of “hard work” is also a curse. I often find myself up at night stressing over things that are miles down the road of life. One such example is the anxiety of shoveling snow while it is snowing. Since it conveniently only snows in the late evening to early morning in New Jersey, it has deprived me of a lot of sleep. This is the most substantial thing that needs to change before I can really begin to experience any kind of remnant of consistent happiness.
As far as my talents, I am not sure if I know what all of my talents are but the ones I do recognize are hardly used. One of my little used talents is one in the field of music. It’s impossible to sound pompous in this case but I consider myself a fairly good blues and rock guitarist. Maybe I consider myself that because blues guitarists in particular are pretty rare among people my age. But I have never really capitalized on this talent I have. I always play in my bedroom and it’s where I always feel most comfortable when even thinking about this subject. As far as other talents I might have… let me know when you find some.
Unfortunately, I am a strong manipulator of social capital so the ultimate answer is yes. There are things I do out of the goodness of my heart but as my life seems to grow more stressful and complicated, I don’t feel the need to concern myself with somebody else’s bull unless it will be advantageous down the road. I know of all the evils that this can be released because of this attitude. But it’s important to note that though I may be related to Stalin, I myself am not Stalin. As long as the “what’s in it for me?” factor doesn’t deprive someone of an essential need, I rarely have regrets about being self-interested.
I giggled when you said the whole part about being awake all hours of the night to shovel snow. I have to shovel the snow to for my family except I'm the exact opposite, I try to sleep as much as possible because I know I'm going to be faced with hell. Kinda funny topic!! I enjoyed everything else:)
DeleteThe constant stress about the future is something I definitely feel as well. Sometimes I'm stressing out so much about future events that I fail to focus properly on things I am supposed to be doing in the present moment. I know college is a huge stress for all of us Juniors and I think we could all benefit if we were given the chance to just focus on the work assigned to us any given week. But it can be hard to do that with parents breathing down your neck and even the school slipping in constant reminders. Worrying about things that are months or even years down the road is just too overwhelming and stressful and to continue like that can not be good for anyone's health. So I agree that it's a thing you and everyone else should work on- and maybe try to enjoy a moment of rest after the work is done wouldn't hurt?
DeleteDave, I loved your King of the Hill plug in (that show is bananas). Lying to protect someone reminds me of my parents. Maybe not the both of my parents, perhaps just my mother. My dad is the kind of person that will tell it how it is, no matter how ridiculous his answer may seem. My mother's maternal instincts tell her to sugar coat things in order to soften the blow. I think it's wonderful that you are keeping others in mind; sometimes people forget that others have feelings and just open up the verbal flood gates. David, thank you for keeping others and mind and showing them that you care.
DeleteDave, I laughed when you mentioned that Hank Hill reference. I think that you are a person who doesn't care about hurting anyone and will tell the complete truth. I find your example about shoveling snow to be ironic and very true towards anyone's life.
DeleteHard work pays off in the end and the fact that you enjoy hard work will get you far in life. I also like to assign myself something then once I accomplish it I do satisfied. Achievementttt. But anyways, I do value honesty and I have seen your brutal honesty on many occasions and while it may not be called for sometimes, it is hilarious to hear. So good post bro
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ReplyDeleteThese specific kinds of blog posts always put a dramatic amount of stress on me because you can’t just write a response to these without thoroughly digging deep into ones mind and emotions. However, I love them nonetheless because they force me to express my feelings in ways that actually help me understand my own self just a little bit more.
My answer to what I’m thankful for is always the same; my parents. Although they push the wrong buttons one to many times, and drive me utterly insane, I love them with all I have. Family plays a major role in my life and while sometimes my parents actions are unjustifiable, I know that their intentions are pure and that they truly only want what is best for me. My mom and my dad have ultimately shaped me to be the person I am today; determined, caring, stubborn, overachieving, and a tad melodramatic. Others have their own things to be thankful for but my answer remains constant; my mom and dad.
As for honesty, no, I am not honest. I very often always tell people the honest truth but when the time comes, as they say, a little while lie never hurt anyone. Honesty is a virtue that can never fully be mastered. Being 100% honest is never a good thing, for honesty can and DOES hurt others. But being dishonest almost always hurts others too. Finding a balance between telling the truth and tweaking the truth is the real challenge. I’m saying I’m not honest because, although I am honest to others, I am almost never honest with myself. My mind is always at a constant battle with itself telling me to feel a certain way or another. I always second guess myself and although this may be labeled as indecisive, I consider it lying. I tend to bottle my deepest, darkest emotions within myself and lie to my mind that I am happy. It’s my achilles heel for while I may be sporting an enormous smile, I’m slowly crumbling on the inside. Being honest with myself is something I truly struggle with and there comes a point where I don’t even know that I’m lying to myself.
People know me for being this notoriously outgoing, bubbly person, and that’s how I want them to perceive me. But sometimes, believe it or not, I do get very upset and depressed and that’s solely because of my ongoing pessimism. I always put myself down. I always think that everything I do is never good enough and that there is always someone better. What I need to do, however, is start telling myself that sure, there might be better people, but there is only one me. I need to accept myself for who I am and only I can change this perception of myself. I need to learn that I should not do things for the purpose of others, but for myself. I’ve pretty much mastered the pokerface so rarely will you ever see me truly upset, but I hope that one day I’ll be able to change that and that I won’t need a pokerface because I’ll always be happy (unrealistic but a girl can dream).
Part 2
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I pride myself upon is my ability to make people happy. Although I’m terrible at making myself feel better, I’m great at making others frown turn upside down. It’s an innate ability that I have where I know exactly what words to say to make someone who’s crying chuckle out a small laugh. I’m not particularly funny, more like cheesy, but it works. I’m not a doctor, I can’t save lives, but if I can make at least one person smile every day, you might as well consider me Superwoman.
As for my answer for the final question, I’m not going to lie, I have from time to time said to myself, “What’s in it for me?” when helping someone. It’s a terrible terrible thing to think of but I’m almost positive everyone thinks this at one point. However, I can say that the times I do recall thinking this is when I don’t want to do that helpful deed. When I’m being forced to help my brother do his homework by my parents for example. But whenever I willingly take time to help others in anything, I never ask myself what’s in it for me. I choose to do good deeds because it gives me a sense of satisfaction. I think that when we’re forced to do something we don’t necessarily want to, we think this way. However, when we choose to do things voluntarily, this thought never pops up in my our minds.
I'm glad you brought up the point that being honest all the time is not a good thing, even if it does show tremendous discipline. I think we all tell lies to avoid hurting each other's feelings and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If it's avoiding some truths to spare a friends feelings then I say maybe we shouldn't be honest all the time. And as I touched upon in my blog, I understand the sentiment that people are often not honest with themselves more than anything else. So you're definitely not alone in that feeling; it seems a lot of people struggle with this self-deception problem. And your idea of learning to do things for yourself and not others is something that a lot of people need to work on too. I know my own life would be better if I could stop worrying about what others think for two seconds and actually just legitimately enjoy myself. I actually related to a lot of things you said in your blog, which was a nice feeling!
DeletePaula, I definitely feel your discomfort when you mention how these types of blogs give you a "dramatic amount of stress." It's difficult to reach into your mind to pull out things when their demanded. I also took notice of how bluntly you said that you aren't honest. I admire that since many find it hard to admit such things in fear of how others will look upon them. Overall I enjoyed reading your blog.
DeleteI'm grateful that I have a mom and a brother to take on life with me. When a hardship occurs in our house, sometimes the strongest sense of comfort and emotion is silence. The bond shows more than us talking about our feelings or asking if we're okay, we all feel the same and think the same, and we know that- so we choose to stay silent and let one another be. Despite the fact that I get nagged 24.7 (no exaggeration) about my grades I am so thankful that I have a mother who cares that much about my grades and my future. Because not a day goes by where I don't think that I'm so glad I have that rather than somebody who doesn't care at all. I am so grateful to be alive every single day. I have witnessed too much death in my life and although it is tragic, it just helps me realize that everyday is so precious, life is so precious and at any moment it can be taken away. I am so grateful that every single morning I can wake up and say "I made it. Here's to a new day."
ReplyDeleteAm I honest? I would have to break that down in order to explain what type of honesty I provide and provoke in my everyday life. I am honest about everything where I don't lie, and I will tell the truth about everything. However, I am not honest about my feelings and I'm sure that's a trait that most of us can say we hold. I do not tell people how I'm feeling, that is the one thing I will lie about, and I know all of you do too. "What's wrong?" "Nothing, I'm fine." Classic and typical lie about your feelings.
There are too many things to name that I need to change about myself that I can even think about. Just to give a brief list it would be I need to have better work ethics, get less angry about things, accept the ways of the world, and overall just be more calm and not get all worked up all the time. I wish that there was a switch in my brain that could help me understand things as fast as some of you, and just work better. I don't know if that means my work ethic is horrible, but if that is the case I'd like to change that.
Talents- this is the big one that scares me. I have never been in a talent show nor do I plan to be for the simple fact that I don't have any talents. I'm a drummer, a runner, and well that's it. But I am not good enough for either where somebody can say "Damn." or "Wow." So I don't consider either a talent. Physically there's nothing special about me. However, I do consider myself a master at giving. I am never one to give and expect something in return, which also ties in the next question.
The question "what's in it for me?" doesn't even cross my mind, nor do I think it ever has. I don't want anything, I'm lucky to be able to have what I have, why should I take anything else even if its something so minuscule and simple. But, I love to give. I don't know why but seeing others happy makes me happy. By making somebody else happy I am instantly happy, just because I know that they're okay and that they are in a good point at their life.
Aubs, I would have to agree with you when it comes to lying about your feelings. I don't feel like being a burden to my parents and when they see me sulking around the house, I tell them that I am just tired. Nothing more. Even though people may not be saying "damn" or "wow", all of the things you mentioned are considered talents. (Your mentioning of your drumming ability reminded me of when you used to play the baritone in elementary school and it put the biggest smile on my face. It seems like just yesterday we were in Mr. Rushmore's room learning to play our instruments for the very first time.) If you still feel as though all of these things are not talents, then tell people that giving is your talent. A lot of people in this world are selfish and refuse to help others in need. The fact that you are willing to help others around you sets you aside from the rest of the lot and that is what a talent is.
DeleteAubree, I really liked how you mentioned your family because everyone has a family, whether the family is biological or not, that helps anyone go through a very difficult situation. I also liked how you clarified your honest. That seems so true.
DeleteAubree, to be honest, I don't think there are as many things as you think that you need to change. Even if there are, you shouldn't focus on that, if you divert your attention to the things you do best, the things that define who you are, those negatives just fade away.You seem to have a pretty close family, so focus on that bond maybe. Maybe, you should include your ability to have such close relationships as one of your talents because I know I certainly am not capable of such things with my family. Like you said, appreciate everyday, when you do, the bad will just seem to go away.
DeleteI can relate to your what-I-want-to-change-about-myself list a lot. Especially the "get less angry" part. I'm a hot head. When I don't like something I make it obvious that I don't. I get angry over the littlest things and it consumes me to the point where all I can do is think about it and suddenly my whole day crumbles to pieces because all I do is try to simmer that anger brewing inside me. I'm terrible at letting things be. For example, I'm known as the rebellious child in the family. I talk back to my parents, I yell at my mom, and frankly, I do it too often. But don't get me wrong. I don't yell at my parents just to yell at them. When I know I've done nothing wrong or when I know my parents are being unfair and unjust, I speak out about it. I don't like the idea of people telling me what I should think is right and what I should think is wrong. My parents want me to grow up to be this independent person with correct morals but if they keep pushing me to be this perfect person that I can never be, they only set themselves up for disappointment. I wish my parents would just leave me in silence and let me ponder over my faults (because I do have them, I am human) but I can't do that with them hovering over me like I'm sort of wild animal ready to be injected with chemicals to calm me. Like you, I'm thankful to have parents who care and I never take them for granted, but sometimes I wish they'd accept me for me. I already have enough trouble of my own doing so. With that, I could really relate to your blog post, and I really enjoyed having read yours. Wonderful job!
DeleteAubree, I like the way you addressed our feelings sometimes. it is obvious that we do not want to be dependent on our family and friends. Even though it hurts and you would rather keep it to yourself, it is important to tell people you feel comfortable around. May be they could be of help. Just like you there are many things I need to change in my life since we are constantly aging not just an increase in size. Great Job. I appreciate the thoughts.
DeleteAubree, I found it very sweet that you are grateful for your mom and brother. Like you I'm also very thankful and grateful for my family. Also I agree that we aren't all honest about our feelings. But sharing feelings with another isn't exactly easy either especially when it's negative feelings. So I see people being not honest to somehow keep them protected and to keep a peace. It's easier for some to not be honest.
DeleteI like the way you mentioned not being honest about your feelings because it reminded me a lot of myself. There are many times when under the surface I'm steaming with rage but when asked about those feelings I act like everything is okay but really its not. It makes me wonder if at some point every thing that's bothering me will just come tumbling out without filter or will I always be the type of person who hides her feelings.
DeleteYour occupation in drumming genuinely interests me. It makes perfect sense since you seem to be the kind of person that has a lot of anxiety to bang out. Your talent of giving seems to be very symbolic of that occupation. All energy with you seems to be external.
DeleteI have to agree 100% with you on being thankful for having parents who care so much about my academic success. Although sometimes the perpetual nagging and routine speeches are rather tiring and redundant, we should be so extremely grateful to have parents that actually care about how we're doing in school. More than often I think that kids who struggle in school are not strengthened by a strong support system at home. I accredit much of my academic achievement to my parents, as I can tell you do also.
DeleteAs I was reading your blog, I was taking mental notes of the things I wanted to say to you in response to your blog, but then I got to the talent portion of it. I was so stunned that I forgot everything. You have to great talents! You are a great runner, and you are probably a great drummer, too. Being a participant in a talent show isn't what says you are great at what you do. Hard work and good results say that you are great at what you do. You've probably never gotten those compliments because you never performed for a big crowd before.
DeleteI'm thankful for a lot of things. Of course, I'm thankful for the support system of my family. I'm thankful for those select few friends that I trust my life with. But I also am very thankful for lessons these people have taught me growing up. What I mean is, all throughout my life, my family and friends have given me pieces of advice that I have made into my own and always carry with me. At one point, I hated my parents for not letting me quit soccer. I also hated them for not letting me drop difficult classes. I wasn't ever allowed to quit anything. But now as I grow older, I have found that the determination and perseverance they have instilled in me through all these years have opened up so many doors for me and opportunities to succeed. I don't flake out when things get tough because it's second nature to keep moving forward. In addition, my friends aren't only good for the laughs and the fond memories. Through the years, my closest friends have taught me that in order to love anyone or anything else, I must first be content with myself. I can never be more thankful for these words of wisdom that I have been provided with.
ReplyDeleteAsking myself if I'm honest is a very two sided argument. Yes, I am honest with other people. Sometimes, I am too honest with my opinion, and I regret my words. However, I have found that especially during this year, I haven't been very honest with myself. I am very hard on myself. Very, very hard on myself. So in turn, any accomplishment I may have or good thing that may come to me, I tend to shy away from the idea that I did something right. I am not honest with myself in the sense that I do not always give myself the credit I need to boost myself up when I really need it. Nevertheless, this all goes back to the encouragement from my loved ones, picking me back up and making the reality clear, and why I am so thankful for them that they do so.
What I need to change about myself, is very clear from the other information I have provided about myself. I am very critical of myself. I have a hard shell, but the littlest things can get to me, because they are magnified in my head to a much greater scale. While this habit pushes me past my comfort zones and boundaries, I would love to change this about me because sometimes I am too busy, preoccupied or upset to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, and I feel as though I am missing out. I'm supposed to be young and carefree and ready to make mistakes now, but I am so afraid of shaping myself into a person that won't make it in this world.
However, I have a little bit of an idea of what my talents are. I am musically gifted. People seem to enjoy hearing my voice, and I was able to be accepted into the All South Jersey ad All State Chorus for a few years now. After singing in church, many happy old people come up to me and tell me "how beautiful my voice is." I also know that in some way, I can keep up with many talented athletes. In addition, I know that I am relatively smart. I try to use my strengths and weaknesses to the best of my abilities to reach past expectations and to make other people and myself proud.
Because I have always done a lot of things for other people, I don’t really think it has crossed my mind to expect something in return. The most I could ever want is a new friend or maybe an addition to a good first impression. However, I don’t see the point in wanting something back for one’s services. I enjoy seeing other people affected in a positive way as a result of my kindness and I repeatedly make it an effort to brighten the day of someone else without wondering what could get.
Maggie, I agree with your frustration at your parents. Although parents mean well, they are not the ones enduring the current stress of difficult classes and jam packed schedules. You are a very gifted singer. The first time I heard you sing, we were in middle school. Your voice made me question why I was even a soprano, let alone in choir. Keep up the fantastic work with your beautiful voice and maybe one day I'll be downloading one of your albums from iTunes!
DeleteJust like you, I do get pretty frustrated at my parents. I complain about the A LOT, but I know that without them, I wouldn’t have the same drive that I have to do well in school and I wouldn’t be involved in the activities that I’m in. They’re the ones that push me through, but they don’t exactly know how it feels to get through all the classes that we go through. You are an extremely great singer. Your voice is angelic and I love how you just seem to float through all the high notes. Never stop singing and maybe one day I’d be buying a ticket to your tour.
DeleteI share a similar family trend with you in that my parents also push me rather aggressively to work hard, study hard and be the best that I can be. Sometimes I just want them to be sympathetic for a moment and ease up but overall, I know they are hard on me for a good reason, and that cushions the reality they throw at me. I also share with you the fault of being critical of myself. While usually relating to my performance in school, I too realize that I need to ease up on myself. Not knowing you very closely however, I can say this, I haven't found much in you that deserve criticism, just keep being who you are.
DeleteCan I get an AMEN on the whole, I-hate-my-parents-but-I-don't-really-because-without-them-I-wouldn't-be-the-person-I-am-today thing? Our parents are one and the same. They make us want to pull our hair, run away to Never land, and cry the Niagara, but without them I don't know where I'd be. My parents push me over the edge, but just enough where I don't actually fall off it. I always, ALWAYS, complain about my parents but deep down I am honestly so thankful for all they've done and what they continue to do. It's that parents-children syndrome; you love 'em, but you hate 'em.
DeleteMaggie, I completely agree with your view on parents or who ever loves us enough to make us hate them because if we do they are doing their job right. I love my parents more and more everyday and I'm beginning to realize how hard they have it and I should not be giving them crap because with out them I would probably be a bum who just watches Netflix for hours. I also like how you said you were grateful for all of the lessons different people have given us, I never thought of this but I like it.
DeleteI like the way you talked about your talents because when talking about ourselves it's hard not to sound self centered but you said it matter of factly like it was not big deal. But I also like it because really your talents are a big deal which is why we should feel comfortable saying it.
DeleteJesus Christ, this parade of parent talk is gigantic. That being said, I want in. As much as I'd like to bash on my mom, because I can't even lie, she is extra hard on me, but in the back of my mind I always know that its for my own good. My mom has been at the bottom of the barrel, and scratched her way out and wound up being able to support me and allow me to thrive in the way that I have, and if she didn't push me like she pushed herself, I am certain that I would be nowhere near the person that I am today,
DeleteIn the spirit of the "This I Believe" papers i am going to keep this blog short...much like most of my other blog responses! Lets gooooooo. Like I've said in previous blogs, I am very grateful for each and everyday. I know how cheesy that is but it is true, every day is a present as far as i am concerned and I am very grateful that I get to receive that gift every day! As far as honesty goes, I am not the best at it. I find that i lie very often to either keep people out or just to avoid having to interact with others, it is my defense mechanism for just about any situation I get myself into. This next one is tricky because i am not a big fan of altering one's self. I believe very much in accepting and owning who you are the best way you can but for the sake in the blog I would have to say that I would probably change my tendency to judge people very quickly. Now this isn't to say that I am often wrong when i make my judgments but i should still probably give people the benefit of the doubt before i right them off completely. But even with that I don't see it as a bad thing, it keeps me away from people I'd rather not associate with or be associated with. When it comes to talents and good qualities I like to think that I have at least a few but the trait I enjoy the most out of my talents is my ability to be the honest person for my friends(yes i knew like two seconds ago i said i lie but whatever!) when it comes to my friends, the people i trust, it is easy for me to be honest and I always tell them how it is even thought they don't often enjoy that. But it is something good to have, the ability to take emotion out of a situation and just be honest. I love helping, despite my distaste for being too social, I always love lending a hand. For me it isn't about the benefit of helping, it is just about being a good human being. Helping out, no matter how little or menial the task is always something that feels right and that is why I help out.
ReplyDeleteI like that you blog is short and sweet. You made me realize how important everyday really is. Just like you, I do believe that lying has become basically a defense mechanism to me. I’d do it if it was to get me out of an awkward situation or if my lying would benefit someone else. It’s not always the best thing to do, but it does happen. I’m glad that there’s someone like you who wouldn’t think twice about lending a helping hand. I’m pretty sure that people appreciate you for your kindness and I hope that you don’t stop being the helpful person you are.
DeleteI know where you are coming from when you said that you change how you judge people. I have the same problem, and I really wish I could change that too. I think that your talent makes your honesty a huge paradox, but I see what you meant because there is a difference between people who lie for good and people who tell the truth for good.
DeleteWow, I wish I had thought of using the spirit of "This I Believe" to write a shorter post. For all the words I wrote, I feel like you said just as much with half the verbiage. I hate it when I over-write! Anyway, I absolutely agree with you on your response to the third question about changing yourself, in fact, that is it pretty much exactly what I said in my response. Additionally, you are not alone in using lying as a defense mechanism, I find defense is exactly the reason as to why people lie on the first place, it is because we want to avoid the consequences of the truth and therefore distort it to protect ourselves. I really liked your blog overall, but that was one of my favorite points.
DeleteI think we all have our individual ways of defending ourselves from people. I, in particular, used to be a very open person (I still sort of am, but not to the extent I used to be). Sometimes I found myself telling a stranger my life's story. I trust people too much and it's often put me in situations in which I find myself hurt and alone. Unlike you, I'm almost always wrong with my first impressions. I may think one girl is the sweetest person yet they are actually this conniving, back stabbing, dishonest person. I think that's why I hate liars so much. I understand why people lie at the expense of saving a person from hurt and pain, but lying with the mentality besides that is just so baffling to me. If you don't like someone, why pretend to be their friend? I've been in situations where I put all my trust into someone only to find them use my deepest darkest secrets against me. I kinda wish I had your sense of judgement. But, I do think that I've found my true friends, particularly those who don't shove a knife down my back (in a metaphorical sense). We all grow up learning from our mistakes. It's all about whether or not we apply that new knowledge instead of repeating the same errors.
DeleteYour blog made me remember something important when it comes to lying. And it was that some use it as a self defense mechanism. No one wants to know the bare truth all the time so lying helps to prevent that. I believe that's an important part to remember and reflect on about some people in order to try to understand why some people lie and whether or not we should forgive them after lying.
DeleteI completely know what you mean when you mention lying as a defense mechanism because there are many times when I shield myself by way of keeping everyone else out. Which means that I never say too much about myself whenever I do have an answer to those questions it's laconic that way I've answered the question without having to reveal to much.
DeleteVincent, you are one of the only people I won't call BS on when you claim that you help others without the internal self-interest question. There seems to be a cult following that trails your charisma. There's something to be said for that. But I don't really know how to say it. I guess you can now consider my a Vincent-ite.
DeleteWell we're twins despite our polar positions in the classroom because yet again i find my blog similar to yours(more or less) But I agree with not changing who you are but not fearing change and learning from your mistakes.
DeleteFirst of all I do not think that being thankful for the ability to wake up everyday and enjoy life is at all 'cheesy'. That is a completely legitimate thing to be thankful for, life is a gift, and as you said we should try out best to treat it as such. In regard to your response about what you would change about yourself, I totally agree. I have tirelessly trained myself to be content with who I am exactly the way that I am, so the idea of changing myself at all has become an uncomfortable area for me. And to add to that, I know that I can always go to you for your honest opinion, and that is something that I greatly appreciate.
DeleteCheesy or not, I really like your idea of every day being a gift. I was actually considering my life to be what I'm grateful for because sometimes I feel like I take it for granted. You're right though. Every day is a gift. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed.
DeleteFinding what is best about me is probably the hardest thing to do. I would say I am grateful for everything. I am grateful that I have a life where I can love my family and have people who love me too. I am grateful for the people that surround me, even though those people annoy me or make me happy. I am grateful for the water I drink constantly and the air I breather too. I am grateful that I can learn from my mistakes and try to accomplish my goals. I try to live a true life without any lies because I like to get things off my chest, even though confrontation takes a while. I think that being honest is one of the most important things in life because I think that lies get you two steps and may denigrate your reputation. Even though I know that the truth hurts, I like to know the truth about myself and everything. I don’t like when people try to cover the truth with a bunch lies so that the truth be a bit sweeter. If someone has something to say about me, I rather know the truth than a complete lie. The things that I need to change about myself are too many to list. I would change my attitude towards many things because it always seems to make people angry. My attitude or emotions get the best of me, and they always ruin things or me because I always get my hopes up for nothing. I would also change my critical mind because it also ruins thing and makes people angry. As soon as there is something that I see that I find trivial or dumb, I roll my eyes and make a horrible face that ruins the mood. If my critical mind was changed, I think that I could be more positive and my attitude would be happy all the time, which will probably make challenges a bit easier. Whenever I try to lend a hand, I never think, “What’s in it for me.” I am not a selfish person who thinks that everything he or she does should be compensated. Everything I do is voluntary and is motivated by my attitude at times. Even if I look like a complete fool doing the “voluntary” things, I would never assume that I would get expiated because if you want to do something and if that idea comes from the heart, then that thing is done well and voluntary. As far as my talents, I assume that I have none. I think that talents are unique and are done best by a few people and not the whole population. If someone noticed a ‘talent’ and there are other people who do that ‘talent’ better, then I wouldn’t consider that a talent. So, if someone noticed that I had a talent that was unique, then I would laud that person.
ReplyDeleteinterestingly, many people in the world do not appreciate the regular activities of the day, apparently because it seems automatic to wake up everyday, breath, drink constantly hopefully "water." your blog response is awesome. it is important to always learn from our mistakes. I agree with the belief that talents are unique and done best by a few people. Great Job.
DeleteDavid, I try to also life my life honestly because it is something I would want from others and I am grateful for things like my family and luxuries others do not have. I too need to work on my attitude and the way I express things. Its a little strange how similarly we think.
DeleteDavid, I agree with your view on honesty. I don't like being lied to so I would rather hear the truth straight up. Though the truth sometimes hurt it is better to know it and possibly fix what is wrong if need be. As for the voluntary work, I think it's great that you wish for nothing in return. I feel the same way, I just want to make other people happy I'm not asking for anything out of it. Great blog post!
DeleteSo far in my life I have found that I am most grateful for the most random things. It is hard to appreciate the things we face everyday partly because we take them for granted and partly because they aren’t all too special to deserve special recognition. But there are still random things that happen every once in a while that make you stop and be grateful for it. For example, today when I walked outside toward my ride home from school, I noticed that the air smelled like spring. With that moment I became grateful for the occasional breezes that pass through the air. It’s not a normal thing to be grateful for, but that’s what makes it worth our appreciation. It is these little things that I notice, consciously or unconsciously, that create the summary of what I am thankful for.
ReplyDeleteAm I honest? That’s actually a really hard question to answer because it brings up a dilemma in my thought process: what exactly does it mean to be honest? Does it mean only telling the truth, never I lie? Does it mean simply recognizing the truth in your own head? Or does it mean being realistic with yourself and others? These could all mean that I am an honest person while being in conflict with each other, so I guess I will answer each question. To the first...no, I am not honest because I do lie (no paradox intended). To the second option, yes I am honest in that way because I believe I have a relatively decent conscious that lets me recognize the truth. And to the third, I guess I have to say no, I am not honest in this way because I do think I am on the side of being more of an idealist than someone tied to reality. So overall, by a tally of two to one, maybe I am not an honest person, but luckily for me, I don’t think you need to be honest to be be a good person, but that is a whole other topic.
This brings me to what I need to change about myself. I don’t find many things about me that I want to change because with further reflection, if I were to change things about me, I would have to change who I am and am not about to do that. For those of you who got to hear my OP today, I am pretty satisfied with myself. I guess the only thing I would change would be to try to put on a more happy face once in a while, after all, I pride myself in appreciating the small things as I explained earlier.
In order to be proud of who you are and not want to change anything, you have to know what to be proud of, otherwise known as your talents. I know what my talents are for the most part, I mean we have something hiding inside us that we will discover later, it’s part of growing up, but overall, I know what subjects are my forte. As to whether or not I utilize my talents, I do to the best of my ability. What I mean by that is, while I can’t paint on actual canvass like I can in the summer because during school I have no time, I do try to make a sketch here and there. Basically, I use my talents when I can but probably not as much as I should so my answer to this fourth question is yes and no.
As my answer to the final question posed to us in this blog post, I have to answer yes. I do think about what benefits I would receive if I were to help someone. Look, I am being honest, but before any judgements form in your brain, hear me out. Just because I think about the benefits doesn’t mean I act on them. What I mean is, if I think doing something for someone will help me too, I will do it because ultimately I am helping that person. In other words, yes, I think about the benefits, but my actions are not persuaded by the result of my pondering on what those benefits are, I act because I am helping someone. So there, the results of my contemplation of these blog questions, interpret them as you will, just know I was trying to be as honest as possible because my answers are just as much of a shock to me as they may be to you.
It's a good ability to be able to appreciate the smallest sorts of joys. I think those moments in life where you experience something that is normal and commonplace for you and suddenly see it in a different way and find new appreciation in it. One of the strange things about childhood memories is remembering how differently you used to look at things that have become familiar to you. So in a way, suddenly seeing a new side to something is like experiencing it brand new as a child again. And I think we all have greater appreciation of something the first time we experience it.
Deletei love how confident you are in you as a person! It says a lot about you as a person. This blog was very well written!
DeleteStarbucks girl Tommi, pointing out particularly on your gratefulness of the breezes, I have to say I absolutely love that. Sometimes it's the small things that really matter, but sadly I feel like I miss out easily on catching the smaller things. The breeze of spring arriving is so exciting and I would be grateful for that experience as well because trust me I'm so done with this winter haha.
DeleteI agree with your whole honesty paragraph, well mostly everything lol but i also love appreciating the small things in life. I kind of said the same thing in my blog :) nice work being Tommi lol :)
DeleteI agree that the small random things are always the best to appreciate. Kids, especially kids like us who are constantly going all about the place never take time to just stop and smell the roses. That makes the few moments where everything just gets quiet and the little things are just right there for you to appreciate the most magical times, and the fact that they seem to come out of the blue, oftentimes when you need them the most is what makes it even better.
DeleteTo begin, I’d have to start with being grateful for my health and especially my mother’s health. After being in the hospital suffering through a deadly infection my mother has finally been home for about a week now. And though it’s been hard for everyone in my family her healing process has been prenominal. The doctors and my family believe it to be a wonderful miracle and I get goose bumps every time I’m reminded. I will forever take another step further to ensure my health and especially the health of those close to me is always taken good care of. Simple pains should receive care and attention too.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there are times people tell a white lie to overlook and hide things like simple pains or other things. I’m most certain that everyone in this world has told a lie. Everyone no matter the implication has told one. Even I have used a white lie in my life. It’s simply a part of learning and growing from our mistakes in order to mold ourselves into people with unique views and ideas. And I try hard to be as honest as possible, but I am human and humans are definitely not perfect. I will have my own personal moments where lies your spur uncontrollably to the front lines. But I’d like to believe I’m relatively honest.
Even though my honesty is mottled a little with dark spots it doesn’t mean I should change myself. There’s no changing me because I’ll always be me. Changing me though isn’t something I’d ever really want to do. I’m still very young with a long life ahead of me where I can discover my true core. Changing myself this early in my life could affect my discoveries. But for this blog I would say I’d like to change my time management skills. More than once I have found myself losing precious time or even wasting time. It’d be nice for this issue to just evaporate and I’d be able to somehow manage every second of my days perfectly. I’m aware there’s no immediate solution to this issue, but it’s something that I would want to remind myself so I may improve.
That aside I’m not aware of any talents I may have or may not have. You can thank my lack of confidence for that. Even in surprising moments where I find myself accomplishing something great I have trouble repeating it. I spend a lot of excess time thinking about what would happen if I failed. Although my confidence isn’t the best I still find great joy in helping. I find it easier to help someone with their own issues or concerns rather than my own. But I’ve never wondered “what’s in it for me?” while helping someone. When I help someone, it’s to help them not to think about myself.
Sotiria, I completely agree with you its a miracle your mother came home and I'm very glad she did. But I also agree that everyone has told a lie, even though I try to be honest I was not always this way. Oh and time management skills that's a rough spot for me too.
DeleteThis blog was very well said and i am glad you will never change yourself because you are a beautiful, smart girl and are perfect just the way you are!
DeleteTime is a precious thing and it seems to slip away so quickly and as we grow older i think we start to realize how short our lifetime really is and better time management would be amazing instead of thinking about things and worrying like your blog said, your blog has inspired me to not waste time and do what i want to regardless of what that little voice in my head says, So thank you for that, you really are helpful lol
DeleteHealth is definitely something you should be grateful for especially after going through such a stressful experience with your mother. I'm happy to hear that she is well. Sometimes we take our health for granted and we don't get to appreciate it as much until we're in a situation where one of the biggest necessities at life is at risk.
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ReplyDeleteBlogs like these are the ones that make me thoroughly examine myself, there is no way to get around that because of how in depth we are looking within ourselves. I have a love hate relationship with this blog because of the fact that I am giving myself an examination but I do not prefer to do such a thing because then I always think is this really how I am and it makes me question all of my actions, so in turn I second guess myself with every decision I make. When it comes down to it though I never question my philosophy on honesty, which is to always be honest. Honesty is one of the top three traits I look for in a person when I’m getting to know them because if one isn’t honest then I can’t trust them, and if there is no trust there is no real relationship in my opinion. Knowing how strongly I feel about honesty and sticking to the second grade saying “treat others how you would want to be treated” I try to be honest in every situation even if the truth hurts. I feel so strongly on the topic because I have been lied to and being led into believing one thing while I should have believed something else is not something I like to experience. When a person is willing to lie straight to my face it shows disrespect, and that is one thing I do not tolerate. This relates to one thing I am grateful for which is being able to recognize who is a good person to be involved in my life and who is not. This just begins the list of things I am grateful for because when I think about my life in comparison to others there are so many people in the world who are much worse off and just knowing this makes me think about how lucky I even am. For example when completing the current events that were due I read about an seven year old boy who has had four different types of cancer since being born and has had multiple chemotherapy, radiation sessions, and surgery’s. The boy has contracted the common cold but for him it’s a million times worse, he does not receive the drug to cure the illness until sometime in the next 48 hours and at the end of the article it says his wishes for his eighth birthday, one was a simple wish to walk. This makes me reexamine my life because I take for granted things as simple as walking when there are others who will never be able to again. Now of course I’m grateful for things like family, friends, and having simple luxuries but I’m more grateful for the current mindset that I have. I’m glad that I am able to persevere no matter how much I want to give up, I’m glad that I am as responsible as I am now because I can only get better, and I’m glad that I’m a pretty laid back person despite of the fact that I care about everything. (Kind of a contradiction) One more thing that I’m grateful for is one of my few talents, which is making people laugh.
Laughing is one of the best pick me ups and knowing I can make someone feel just a bit better even in the toughest situation makes me as well as them happy. For example last Friday night a friend was distraught over a family problem and she started to cry but I quickly turned those tears into laughter, which makes me happy. Knowing that I believe in the philosophy “treat others how you would want to be treated” I try to help others whenever I can whether it be picking up a pencil for someone or helping someone get through a tough family time the littlest thing can brighten up someone’s day. With this in mind I think if I was in need of some assistance I would hope that someone helps me without expecting a reward because that’s not help that’s called a job. I would never go into a situation where someone needs some help thinking I better have some sort of compensation coming my way because I think its rude, this person needs help not an assistant. After this thorough examination of my persona I zeroed in on some of the things I need to change because none of us are perfect, so why not try to be better? The thing I need to work on the most is my expressions I hardly ever express how I’m feeling so emotions just stew and stew until they finally just boil over, this in when I flip. Usually it is the bad feelings I let take me to the breaking point and I need to change this because I usually go into rage or the breakdown where I just cry until I have no more tears which is really unhealthy, but I need to find another person to vent to or maybe just something like my kitty. I also need to work on my attitude usually I just look mad but I am in a whatever state so nothing really bothers me but then there is someone that can take my attitude from nothing to a very big something, but this might relate to the venting of the feelings.
ReplyDeletei definetly agree with the fact that if you are going to help somebody it should be a expense, you should do it for plainly being a good person or a good friend!
DeleteAlonna, your source of happiness runs parallel with my own. I find a great deal of happiness in peoples’ smiles and I found now in reading your post that I also find a great deal of happiness in laughter. I suppose smiling and laughing are a given in going together but for some reason I didn’t realize this at first. Thanks for pointing that out to me without even knowing you were! ;)
DeleteIt's nice to hear that someone appreciates laughter and happiness so much because it truly something beautiful. Bringing joy to someone's face can bring joy to your own and then eventually the jubilance becomes contagious. I think there should be more people in the world that actively enforce laughter and happiness.
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ReplyDeleteThis blog was created to be brutally honest with not just everyone but yourself. Being grateful is something I don’t have to think about. I am grateful for waking up every morning and having food to eat and friends and family to make precious memories with. Those are things I feel I can’t live without. Now, when it comes to honesty that’s a tricky one. I can’t say I am the most honest person in the world. The things I am dishonest about are things I think are extremely stupid and unnecessary like certain rules and such. I am not a big, fat, ugly liar but I am not a little angel. The question I always ponder before I go to sleep at night is what can I do to make myself better and make other people I love happy? People always say don’t change yourself for other people but I feel if I change things about me it will benefit me as well. I would want to change my desire to make everyone happy. I realized when doing this I end up hurting myself more than anybody and that isn’t how it should be. When it comes to having talents I hate saying I do. I hate when people ask me if I am good at a sport or something because I always say I don’t know come watch me. Aside from sports I feel that I haven’t a talent when it comes to making somebody smile. I try my best to make jokes or just give good advice and I feel as though I am pretty talented at it. I hate being sad myself so why should I sit there and watch somebody else be sad when I know I could help in someway? When I do help people with giving advice or just motivating them I never once think, “What’s in it for me?” I could never be that selfish and it makes me sick when I see people that have the audacity to even have that thought. You should want to help someone to benefit their lives and situation not yours. I am actually really happy we had this blog because I feel as though I learned more about myself by just answering questions that I thought were simple but I soon realized I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteEven though no one can better describe me better than myself, the points of others have both the positive and negative impacts on my life. There are a lot of characters that come to mind when ask what am grateful for? Perhaps I am grateful for the public education in terms of equality of man or free secondary education. Or the most important I am grateful for a wonderful family even though I sometimes wish my family was the Hollywood family. I might as well be grateful for the opportunity to have friends who I can rely on and vice versa. I might also be grateful for America, the government, not with the aim of mocking other countries. Perhaps, I must be grateful for everything but I am scared that it must be arranged according to other of importance. However, I believe once I am determined for greatness and to live the legacy of most of my heroes like Malcom X, Rockefeller, it is important to grateful for my life each day. Am I honest? The devil is a liar. So, if I am not honest, I am a devil. Honest to me is something I really admire in people not because I see myself to be honest but it would a key role in distinguishing between two people. I would consider myself to be honest on the daily bases because people say things that would make them sound great in the eyes of people which might be the opposite. I would choose to be honest than pretend in the eyes of people. On the other hand, lying would somehow seem like given a mouse a restraining order from cheese, it is impossible. I have lied occasionally that if heaven is to come, I would probably be given a visa to hell or full ride scholarship. I think HONESTY HAS LIMITS and much as I try to be honest, I can’t always be honest. Well, no human I guess is perfect but I have something’s I need to change about myself. As a growing young boy, I always wanted to mutate myself and develop powers like wolverine, Spiderman and many others but at age seventeen my dreams have evolved. I need to change my negative perspective about things and hope for the best. I have always questioned every single thing I do because I am scared to make mistakes and I need to know mistakes do happen but I must learn from them. This is the truth, people who think I am athletic (lol… perhaps not) might be right but I used to love watch athletes exhibit their talent and as a source of inspiration, I also wanted to exhibit my talent, which is perhaps playing soccer, running, eating (MAYONNAISE OVER EVERYTHING), singing, watching movies (sounds stupid but honestly it is a talent or call it addiction) and basketball. What’s in it for me? I have asked myself these types of questions but people like Mandela and others, who once lived a legacy that, instead of asking what your country could do for you, ask what you could do for your country. This has however redirected the way I used to think, even though one good turn deserves another, I try to always offer my help just because I try to be like my heroes. I believe that blessings are from above.
ReplyDeleteStav, though your whole post was great, I want to comment on one main topic I am happy to hear you say. Changing negativity into a positive side is honestly one of the best things you can do for yourself. All the stressful negative built up inside needs to be let out and only bring in the positive. Make the best of everything, it may seem hard at first but don't give up, stay positive!
DeleteI'm not perfect. I don't always say the right things, I don't always get A's on my tests, I'm not always 100% of the time a sweet, caring person. I've told my share of little white lies and I've disrespected many things throughout my life which I hope to have learn to respect now. I've taken things for granted and haven't always been honest to people or to myself. But being able to point these flaws out is a great way to start to fix anything that may be wrong. In any case, I have a lot to be grateful for and still seem to not show as much appreciation towards certain things as I should. I'm grateful for of course my friends and family. I understand they are the most common things to be grateful for, but I for one would do absolutely anything for my friends and family. My family tends to go far and beyond into supporting me, and making sure I'm always doing well. If I'm ever stressed out I know my mom and mommom are always there to turn to for advice and are there as people to calm me down. My friends guide me through school along with piles of stress of work and any drama. If I'm not my smiling self in school or out hanging with them, they do whatever it takes to put a laugh and smile into my system. I'm grateful for the ability of my education as well. Not everyone is fortunate enough to get the best of schooling such as kids in less fortunate countries. Many children have a disadvantage where schooling is limited. Where as for me I have options beyond options on what types of classes I want to take and what I would like to learn. I'm grateful for the ability of being a gymnast. Gymnastics is a hard sport to get through physically and mentally but some how I often try to overcome different things and have the freedom to flip through the air. As for honesty, I would rate myself a 9.8 out of 10 when it comes to being honest. In my past I know I have told those few little white lies and have not fully told the truth of somethings. But I'm the type of person that doesn't have the guts to lie to someone. I for one like hearing the truth, sure the truth may hurt sometimes but it's better than finding out later that you were lied to about something.
ReplyDeleteAs I stated before, I am not perfect but I'm okay with that. There are some things I need to change about myself though. I have low confidence in myself, I don't trust myself very easily and it effects me in my school work and at gymnastics. Not trusting yourself is honestly a major flaw to have because you are at lost with part of you, empty in places of your mental body where you seem as though you're unable to find your way out. I trust my coaches, and the equipment; I trust my teachers and the material I am learning, but it's me I get stuck at. I don't trust myself and it gets scary sometimes how lost I can feel. I would want to change that, to find myself in the emptiness and be able to trust that I'll be able to do whatever I set my heart to. As for talents, I find defining talent as a very difficult thing to do. Something you are good at naturally possibly I could agree with but people also can train to become great. "Champions are not born, they are made". A talent for me is working hard and even through the roughest days never giving up. I could say being a gymnast I have talent of flipping around which yes I guess that's true because I worked and practice in order to get these skills but it took talent of dedication and positivity to get me through it and I think that is what matters most. Then there is giving, me I want to give, I don't expect to receive. When I help someone I'm doing it because I want to, because I want to put a smile onto their face or make their day a little bit easier. I don't question "what's in it for me" because I just want to make other people happy and if I achieve that goal then I received the greatest gift.
I really like that you said that before we fix something about ourselves we first have to identify what it is that needs fixing. By realizing that you should change something negative about yourself it is easier to fix the issue. I also really like that you said that you’re grateful for your family. Family is very important and it’s awesome that you love your family so much and that they give you a lot of support. I also liked when you said you were ok with not being perfect. No one is perfect and it’s ok to have some flaws, everyone does and it just makes us who we are. If everyone was perfect we would all be the same and that’s just boring.
DeleteThough you may not see yourself as perfect, you are truly a perfect best friend to me. I wouldn't change anything about you, but I suppose a boost in self confidence would be a very positive thing to be able to possess. And I know that I can always go to you when I am craving the 100% honest truth from someone.
DeleteOh Mickey, you're too hard on yourself sometimes! But I guess that humbleness is one of the many things I admire about you. I could go on to describe everything, but I think I expressed it pretty well in the valentine's day card I wrote you (I wrote that with sincerity!)
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ReplyDeletePart One:
ReplyDeleteOut of all the things that I have in my life, I can say that I am thankful for my mother and my father. Even though they tend to ride my nerves like a broken down horse, I appreciate their concern. I have always been the only child and I guess my parents thought that I would need "extra care" because of this. From an early age they had me playing educational computer games, reading educational children's books, and spoon feeding me knowledge. Of course I did not mind because it was fun and it kept me entertained. As I grew older, they continued to instill in me the importance of education, that it was more than okay to have nice things, and that the world is a strange place. If not for my parents, I would not have been motivated to do my school work. I would have given up on myself long ago. I thank them for their dedication to me even when they felt like leaving me to my own destructive devices.
I would like to consider myself a fairly honest person. With that being said I consider the feelings of strangers more so than I would a close friend. If a stranger were to approach me in the store and ask for my opinion on a dress, I would sugarcoat my opinion to no avail. Conversely, if one of my friends were to do the same thing, I would have a completely different response. "Yes dear child. We shall take the clubs by the midnight hour"! I'll be brusquer with my friends because I care about them and I do not want them going anywhere making fools of themselves.
One of the things in my life that I need to change is how I view myself. I have days where I think I should live a lavish lifestyle and conquer the world and make my very own Jasmine Empire. Those are the days in which I feel utterly invincible. If one of these days happens to fall on a weekend, you will find me floating around in Macy's. Then, I have days where I am the polar opposite. On those days I want to hide away for the rest of eternity and focus on fixing my eyebrow (yes, that one eyebrow). I don't really want to leave the house because I feel as though I am the strangest looking creature in town. I just want to sit in bed or at the dining room table (they are not the same place even though it feels like it) and just exist. This feeling also arises if I look in the mirror for too long. There have been days that were simply ruined because I stared to long at my reflection. I want to have a consistently positive view of myself. I want to wake up every day, look at my reflection and say, "Who is that chocolate fox in the mirror? Oh wait. That's me"! I even want to do this when I KNOW that I look like I haven’t slept in two months.
Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine… I seriously am beginning to believe that we were separated at birth! I also feel as though the way I view myself needs to be changed. I know this is strange but I actually find it comical that people have these waves of contentment and then total despair. We never seem to be able to make up our minds. I try and focus on the root of these personal opinions and come up blank. Whether it’s a lack of confidence or just our need to isolate ourselves occasionally I think it’s something all people deal with and it’s reassuring to know I don’t stand alone in this. By the way your eye brows are perfect don’t fret!
DeletePart Two:
ReplyDeleteI was not aware of my talents until one or two years ago. When I was about two or three years old, my parents bought me a Barney banjo and a keyboard for Christmas. As you can all guess, the noises that were coming out of these instruments were anything but musical. On and off for years, I would just fool around on the keyboard just to hear myself play nonsense. In the third grade, I found out that Tommi could play the flute, so I decided to try. So yes, Tommi is the reason why I even became involved with the flute, but I haven't told her this (I just texted the message to her). Learning to play was difficult, but I took the book home and practiced until I got it just right. In fifth grade, I remembered that two older girls knew how to play the flute AND the clarinet, so I taught myself how to play the clarinet. Later that year, I taught myself how to play the alto saxophone. In the sixth grade, I taught myself how to play the tenor saxophone and in the eighth grade came the baritone saxophone. Freshmen year of high school I heard John Lennon's "Imagine" for the first time and cried. I had to learn how to play it on the piano or the keyboard. I went on the computer, printed sheet music, and turned the noises from my toddler years into something that I could be proud of. Later that summer, I started to play the ukulele and the guitar. All I have to say about them is that stringed instruments are not for everyone. The moment I figured out that I had a knack for music, I kept pushing to learn more instruments. In the past, I taught two girls how to play and perfect their flute skills. In the end, the flute was not for them, which is fine by me seeing as we all have our fortes. Regardless of all the instruments that I have taught myself to play, I feel the most at home with my flute. Seven years have gone by since I started playing the flute (I've gone through three flutes; the seven year mark represents my second flute that has carried me until sophomore year). Little does anyone know I wanted to play three more instruments than the ones listed: the trumpet, the violin, and the piccolo. This was all years ago, I feel like I am getting to the point in my life where if I tried another instrument, I would explode.
Out of all the people that I have helped, I can say the only person I asked for something in return from is my dad and I do it just to hear what he says. "Never mind, I'll get it myself. Just remember I used to change your stinking diapers and pampers, Jasmine. Jas. I never met a baby that had a poop that stank like yours. Your poop was SO STIIIIIIIIIINNNNNKKKKKKKK. Just remember that. Just remember that". All jokes aside, I am more than willing to lend a helping hand without receiving anything in return. I have volunteered in the past and it makes me feel wonderful to know that I was able to assist someone. As long as I am in my right mind, I would like to continue helping others. If I were in a position where I could not help myself, I would want more than anything for someone else to help me.
I've always admired your musical talents. I think if you'd been the music teacher at Davies instead of Mrs. B. i actually would've gotten around to learning how to play the flute. As it stands I just watch you in envy. You're kinda awesome and stuff I guess. You, my chocolate fox, are brilliant. Despite what your father may say about your. Um. Bowels. :P
DeletePart 1:
ReplyDeleteNow that I really took the time to think about what I’m grateful for I’ve realized that I take a lot of things that I have for granted. I complain like everyone else in the world, and I always want bigger and better things. I want a new laptop, a bigger bed, a nicer house, a new tv, I want all of these things but I’m not grateful for the things that I have now. I have a computer and bed and a house, they may not be the biggest, newest thing but at least I have these luxuries that many other people don’t have. I have realized that I am wrong for taking all of my belongings for granted and not being grateful for each and every thing I own. So to answer the question I am grateful for everything I have. Whether it’s old or new, big or small, I’m grateful for at least having these things when others don’t. Along with these materialistic things I’m also grateful for the things that you can’t exactly see. I’m grateful for the love that my family and friends give me, my education, dance, and countless other things.
Honesty. When I first read this question I thought of course I’m honest, but now that I think about it I may not be honest 100% of the time. Everyone tells their fair share of little white lies to get out of trouble or to not hurt someone’s feelings or even to hide something they’ve done. Just today a girl did her dance and she asked me if she did good. She messed up all over the place but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that. So I replied “yeah, you did great!” I wasn’t completely honest but I didn’t hurt her feelings and made her feel better about herself. I believe that sometimes in certain circumstances stretching the truth a bit and not being completely honest is ok. But ultimately my answer to this question would have to be no because I’m not completely honest all of the time, but who really is? I realize that this can be wrong but I’m trying my best to be honest all of the time.
I think about this question almost every day. There are plenty of things that I would like to change about myself. I’d like to change many characteristics about myself but the keyword here is “need.” I don’t need to change these things. I like to think that I don’t need to change anything about myself and that I’m a fine person just the way I am but that isn’t necessarily true. I’m not very patient, and patience can be very important. I’m not very motivated all of the time which makes me become lazy sometimes. I’m not very responsible; I act like a kid a lot. I’m not as respectful as I should be to my parents and other elders. The list of things I should change about myself can go on and on. But in reality if I were to change these things about myself I wouldn’t be me anymore, I wouldn’t be Kassidy. I think I would be a pretty boring person if I fixed all of the things that are wrong with me and changed myself. Sometimes it’s good to have flaws and have things about yourself that you can change but you wouldn’t be who you are today without these mistakes and flaws.
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteThis question is hard to answer because I think I know my talents but I’m not exactly sure yet. I feel like I’m too young to know exactly what my true talents are. I definitely know some things that aren’t my talents, like teaching. If someone asks me to help them with a math problem I cannot teach them for the life of me. I can do the math problem on my own but when I go to teach someone I just make them more confused than they were to begin with. So I think one of my talents is learning to do things independently. I do utilize this talent every day when I go home from school and do my homework. I teach myself the things that I was supposed to learn in school but didn’t understand it when the teacher first explained it to me. I’m sure I have more talents that I utilize everyday that I don’t notice or haven’t discovered yet.
It may not seem like it all of the time but I do like helping people. I like helping people and seeing the smile on their face after I’ve helped them. I think when you help someone and they smile at you and say thank you it’s seriously the greatest feeling in the world. I actually feel like I’m a good person and that my life is worth living. The act could be holding the door for someone or helping someone pick up their books when they have dropped them. It feels good to do nice things for others without anything in return. I believe in karma so if you do something nice for someone else something good will happen to you and that is my motivation for helping others without anything in return.
A few months ago, we were asked about what we were thankful for and what I’m thankful for today isn’t exactly different from what I was thankful for a few months ago. I’m sorry for being repetitive, but I am grateful for being able to live the life that I live and my family. I am grateful for still being alive today after going through the Dengue fever. I’m glad that my mom stuck with her gut and got me tested for the sickness. If it weren’t for my parents, I wouldn’t be here. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to have the chance to study in the US. I wouldn’t have been able to try out all these new activities that I’ve learned to enjoy. I wouldn’t have experienced the “American life.” We all get so caught up in the business of life, but sometimes we should just sit down and appreciate what’s around us. We should also thank everyone that’s helped us be where we are today.
ReplyDeletePeople always say that honesty is the best policy. However, I have to admit that I am not always completely honest. There are times when I lie to help get my friends out of situations. There have been times when I’ve lied in order to avoid an awkward situation or just avoid doing something. I also don’t think people really need to be honest all the time. If your honesty is going to hurt someone else, you might as well not say it. I do try to be honest as much as I can though.
There is no one that is perfect and I sure am not close to perfect at all. I’m full of flaws, but one flaw that I think I really do need to change is my tendency to quickly judge others. Yes, I know, it’s not exactly very nice to judge a book by its cover, but sadly, I tend to do it. Most people carry around certain reputations around and I tend to judge a person due to his or her reputation. It’s a trait that I really hate, but sometimes don’t really mind having. However, I do wish that I wasn’t as judgemental as much as a person has claimed before.
Finding my talent or really accepting my talent isn’t exactly something that’s easy for me. I don’t really have faith in myself and always think of someone that’s better than me when it comes to things. People say that I have a good voice and am a good singer, but it’s not really something that I believe within myself. I always compare myself to other friends that I think are much better singers than me. However, this doesn’t stop me from doing what I love and singing for my church and joining our school’s choir. Yes, I might not think that I’m the best or fully acknowledge this “talent,” but it won’t stop me from doing what I love.
To give is better than to receive. That is one thing that my parents have always told me since I was a little kid. It’s something that I try to follow. As long as I know I could help that person or that I could perform the action, I will do it without regard to any reward. However, I do have to be honest and admit that I sometimes do think about what would be in it for me. A friend might ask me to do a favor and I do admit that I sometimes don’t want to do it without thinking about if it will be good for me too. I also think about if I would regret this decision and if it will somehow be beneficial to me down the road. I don’t think that this thought should really matter as much, as long as we are able to help the person in need.
Driving me to practice, paying ridiculous fees for crew, giving me money when I need my parents are the people that are always there for me and would do anything for me so that I don’t go without and they don’t have to. Which is why I’m grateful for having parents that care about my wishes, my aspirations, and not just my needs because I am smart enough to know that my parents provide me with plenty that I don’t need. Actually when I look at all I have cost my parents over the years I feel like I should be thanking them every day because I am sure that I have cost my parents thousands of extra dollars some on crew alone but they pay it all or raise it all so that I get to fulfill my dreams and it makes me realize that they don’t ask for much in return. Honestly, realizing this will only curb my reluctance to do chores for a while before I realize just how much I hate cleaning. I try to be honest but I don’t like to hurt other peoples feeling so I sacrifice my honesty on behalf of the feelings of others but to tell the truth I don’t lie to others about the mundane nearly as much as I lie about myself. If I’m upset I lie about my feelings or if I don’t feel like talking I keep my answers curt to avoid conversation no matter how much I may have to say on the subject. No matter how much I vow each year to be different, to be open with people, to make new friends it never happens which is why I would like to change how jaded I am. I am continuously hiding who I am on accounts of being too shy. Which is why if there is one thing I would like to change about myself it is to be friendly. I’m not good at much I play an instrument but I’m no prodigy and it’s only on account of crew that I’m semi athletic. But one talent that I do have is that I have a pretty good memory. I can remember vocab in like five minutes but I don’t think I’m using my good memory to the best of my abilities because I could be using it to remember things for my other classes like history or using it to memorize math formulas (which is what I really should be doing). I do have a lot of flaws but one flaw I don’t have is that of thinking about my own self-interest because when I do help I do it because I should not because it has to benefit me in some way. Which is mainly because I wouldn’t want someone else to be weighing out the pros and cons when helping me so I guess in a way it does come back to myself.
ReplyDeleteTamirah, I really admire the fact that you focused on your parents for what you’re thankful for. They do so much for us and yet they are most likely the people that we neglect the most. It’s encouraging to remember all they do for us and know that despite whatever we may argue about they are always in our corner and there to help us through life. We don’t thank them enough and I think it is definitely something that should be done daily, hourly, minutely… whatever works best ha-ha. Great post!
DeleteEveryone is making me feel a little bad about not mentioning my parents, not that I aren't grateful for them. They're just a little different I suppose. And you keep making me wish I did crew. Ah. Honestly I miss sports. This weather needs to stop. But I do think we're kind of similar aside from sports with using the ability to memorize mostly for vocab. It's pretty helpful. I believe you when you say you don't think about benefits when you do things. And on that note just thanks, because I know I bother you for things a lot. Hahah. Sorry.
DeleteTamirah great job on the blog. Grateful for your parents is wonderful. I truly respect anyone is grateful for their parents because they raised us and shaped us into who we are today. I feel ashamed that I couldn’t mention them in my blog but I am grateful for them. I enjoyed that your talent was memorizing vocab cause that is amazing but I can’t do it. So that is a wonderful talent. So great job tamirah.
DeleteWhen growing up I never really knew how to answer what I was grateful for because I never really knew what truly mattered to me so as we went around the thanksgiving dinner I always said generic answers. Now it’s different and I know exactly what I’m so grateful for; being human. I am overjoyed to be a human on this amazing planet. To be able to comprehend and feel and think and move and have so much freedom and the power to thoroughly enjoy things that other species can’t. I am also amazed to have these innovative ways of protecting ourselves, like lying. Which brings me to my next point: I am completely honest when it involves other people, however I lie a lot about my feelings and opinions to protect myself against judgmental and unsympathetic people. I wish I wasn’t so meek. I’m working on it, friends. Just like a lot of other things, I change myself constantly. I always analyze myself in pursuit of being the best Danielle I can be; still unsure if it’s working but at least I’m happy (except for that meek thing, still trying to overcome that). Right now I don’t think I have any talents and I used to be ok with that but recently I’ve searching for something to poor my heart into, something I am really good at and love. So for now I’ll just keep trying new things and wait until something clicks with me. Lastly, I am a very selfless person, I know that for certain and I am always willing to help someone no matter what because everyone deserves honest help.
ReplyDeleteI always love reading your blog posts because of the nature of them. Being grateful to be human is something many others seem to lack. Some are even ashamed to be human, with good reason. Humans can be messed up creatures but we can also be some great things. On another note, you are always the best Danielle you can be. That's a fact. Good post homie g
DeleteAhh, this makes me think of that time not too long ago where you asked me to tell you all your problems. I think that is the best testament to your claim that you are constantly working on improving yourself and trying to be self-aware. And of course I agree with you, being human is wonderful.
DeleteYou always tend to have a fairly positive outlook on life and living in general. We take the abilities that make us human for granted and it is quite a phenomenon. I also lie a lot about my feelings and I'll often claim to be emotionless as a joke because there are terrible people out there who are unsympathetic. I understand why you may be afraid to express your emotions because I am too but it really shouldn't be that way. The best way to go is to keep being yourself (as corny as it sounds) and care less about the judgement of others.
DeleteI think that it is really great that you are so self aware. I find it very admirable that you are able to examine yourself and find what needs a bit of touching up. And, I'm really glad that you are happy with yourself and who you are becoming.
DeleteDanielle I really enjoy all your post. This one really shows how genuine your positivity is. Many people wouldn’t generally say they are grateful to be human but you did and that is amazing. A lot of people hate being human or lost faith in human from so many inhuman acts of terror. It shows how passionate, optimistic, and original you are and that is a great trait to have. So great job on this blog Danielle.
DeleteWell to start this off, I'm going to say something that I am grateful for that I feel like I have said before, although maybe not necessarily through this medium. I am grateful for all of the friends that I have made over the course of this year. I have never been happier in all of my years going to school, because I have found a steady friend base where people appreciate me for the weirdo that I am. I vividly remember not having many people that I could entirely trust, and now having those people, as well as ones as close as I have now make me just overall happy to be alive.
ReplyDeleteAnother question posed here is whether or not I am honest. To that I pose another question: is anyone ever 100% honest all of the time? This world is one that is not black and white, but an assortment of grays, and for every honest statement or outright lie, there are a million half truths or twistings of a phrase or loopholes, to the point where honestly is just a vague concept at this point. That being said, as an individual, I try to tell as much of the truth as I can whenever possible, because a bit of twisting really can't be helped a lot of the time, because very few people can handle the whole truth a lot of the time, including me.
Now, if there is anything that I feel that I'd need to change about myself, it is my penchant on getting attached too easily. This is a problem I've found myself to have on various occasions, and it makes it difficult at times for me to develop relationships with people, both romantic and otherwise. I could name a multitude of times where me getting to accustomed to talking to someone strained my relationship with them, and I could even name a few times where this problem very nearly reverted my relationships with people back to square one. All in all, I feel that to make myself a more quality human being, I need to be able to function alone sometimes, and stop being so clingy to people.
The thing about me though, is that I'm aware of the talents that I have. I can sing, I can act, and I can write in an archaic form of English only decipherable by world class cryptologists and mr. cervi. That being said, music and theatre are two things that I genuinely enjoy doing, and working to be better at those things and seeing my efforts pay off is incredibly rewarding. I like to think that I use my talents as much as I can, and i would hope everyone else would too, because doing something you enjoy doing is a million times better when you are good at that particular thing.
And for the last piece, I feel that it is completely natural to ask "what's in it for me?" when considering helping someone. But it is the true mark of a person when they help even when the answer comes up as "nothing" or possibly worse. I try and help people whenever I can, regardless of whether or not I'm inconvenienced, to a reasonable level, I mean I'll give you a ride home, but if you drop the bomb that you live in Philly five minutes in, you'd best know you'll be back to walking again. Helping people is an essential piece of living, and I strictly believe in helping others, because I know that when I'm in need, I'd sure as hell like some help, and so would everyone else, as far as I know. If you don't help others, no one will help anyone, and I'm not really liking the whole concept of social anarchy, so for god sakes help an old lady cross the street asap or something!
Okay so for blogs I always attempt to be as honest as possible. It's just easier and simpler that way. So yeah, here goes. The things I'm grateful for are uncountable. I have so many blessings in the forms of friends and family to be thankful for. I'm grateful for the roof over my head and the legs that carry me from place to place. For now, however, I'll just focus on one thing. A person actually. You see, I have this friend who is my best friend. If you know me well enough (or just see me in the hall), you know exactly who that is. If you can't figure it out, it's the girl I make fun of all the time. Anyways, I'm grateful for her because time and time again she has been there for me no matter what. No matter how trivial or how large the problem, she'd helped me through it. It's not just that though, it's also the fun times we've had together that I'm grateful for. I'm not gonna go into details because she'd read this and hit me for embarrassing her or something. Anyways, specifically, she's someone I'm really grateful for even though I may hate her (I don't actually hate her) (yes I do) (shhh).
ReplyDeleteSpecifically, am I honest? I try to be. I don't believe in lying but I understand that it happens. Sometimes, it just can't be helped. At times, we lie to help our friends or at times we lie to keep the DEA from finding our drugs. (Is that just me?) Honesty is one of the best virtues a person could have, no matter what the situation honesty is the best policy. I believe I'm an honest person, if you look fat in that dress, you can rely on me to give you the weight watchers number.
Well, I never really liked my personal qualities. Hence the reason I'm in to changing them. Through my own eyes, I think I need to change my work ethic. At times, I come home, look at all my homework and choose to nap instead. This causes me problems later but I don't care at the time. At the time, sleep sounds good. Future me tends to hate past me quite often, mostly because future me gets stuck with all the work. So if I got to change anything, my work ethic would definitely need some renovations.
My talents? I'm an athletic guy. Just naturally I've grown to be able to do any sport I set my mind to. So how do I put these talents to good use? I obviously do sports, I volunteer for any physical help I can do in this school and I run. I run a lot. Another talent I think I posses is the ability to adapt to situations quickly and clearly, so I can jump into things I've never done before and easily pick up the ropes. This means things like drama and academic competitions which are things life just kinda dropped me into.
Yes, I do think that. For a split second I always think about what could helping this person do for me but then I drop that mindset and just realize that someone genuinely needs my help. I am guilty, however, of feeling like the universe owes me something. Like I've helped so many people in as many ways as I can but the favors are never returned. I shouldn't think that way though. Helping people should be done because your heart is telling you "bro, go help that old lady carry her bags. Be a good dude." And you listen.
I think your post has an uncommon degree of self-awareness. Firstly, I greatly admire your propensity for candidness. But I truly do think you have this amazing adaptability that allows you to thrive into nearly anything you are thrown into. It is an amazing talent to have. One word comes to mind when I read your post: genuine.
DeleteDan great job on the blog. It is amazing that your have a great friend. Friends are important because when someone is down then the only thing that can raise their spirit is a good friends or someone really close. It is great that you have someone like that in your life. I truly enjoyed your response for honesty. I am just like you in that I wouldn’t want to hurt t my friends so I will lie to protect them instead of making them sadder. So great job on the blog Dan.
DeleteMy first glance at this blog response varied extremely from the consecutive ones that followed. At first I thought this would be simplistic and breezy to write. However, as time elapsed and the Microsoft page remained blank I began to rethink my initial impression. I had a preconceived notion of what I perceived my answers would consist of. However as usual I thought more deeply than I should and became overwhelmed with so many choices that all possible answers seemed to escape my thoughts. Frankly, my thoughts still aren’t fully developed however I will answer this blog as fully as I can express them. First off, I know it may sound strange but I am thankful that people have the ability to smile. There’s something so precious to me about smiles. They represent all the words a person cannot express, they’re uplifting in dark times and they’re a connection between even the most diverse people. They remind me that though life may be hard joy can be found, even in the most diminutive ways and from the most unsuspecting people. As far as honesty is concerned, I would like to consider myself an honest person though I haven’t gone through life unscathed. It would be lying indefinitely if I were to say that I have never lied (What can I say I’m human, there’s no escaping it). However, if and when a lie may escape my lips a twinge of guilt pangs my core and instantly I feel disgusting. That being said, I don’t prefer to live a lifestyle that reflects the opposite of what I feel and I don’t want to harm others. I respect people to much to want to degrade them in such a way. Therefore I always make an effort to be truthful and give information or opinion in that way. If there were one thing I would prefer to change about myself, it would be the way I tend to view myself. I have a tendency to be hard on and tear myself down. I become fixated on a personal opinion that is often meager and detrimental to me mentally. Therefore, I would like to see myself from a different perspective and see not only the things I deem to be wrong with me but focus on the good qualities instead. This unfortunate truth has made answering the next question especially hard because I don’t view myself as a talented person. That being said, for this question I’m stretching my answer in listing my talents as the ones that others have seemed to comment on. I am talented at being a good friend and lending a hand or piece of advice when needed. I have apparently found a new talent in being able to sing well (which I am skeptical of but have nonetheless heard). I am talented at being a good sister and I am athletic. Aside from these few things I honestly am not sure what my talents consist of because I really don’t fixate on them. I perform them without acknowledging that I am. Therefore, I utilize them I just am not aware of the fact that I am. Finally, I make an effort to help those that I can see are in need. I do this simply because I don’t like to watch others struggle. In addition I love how I feel knowing that I made someone’s day better. That is the only thing I look for when helping others that I know will benefit me. I aspire to leave the world better than I found it so knowing that someone has been changed for the better gives me all that I need to get out of helping someone. Well…“That’s all I gotta say about that.”
ReplyDeleteI can certainly assure you that you are a very good friend if that helps any. In the what seems incredibly short time that I've gotten to know you this past year, you have helped me through a decent amount of problems and personal dilemmas that I got myself into because I'm a giant dumb sometimes. Also, I don't care how skeptical you are about it, I'm going to keep reminding you that you can sing until it eventually sticks in your head :p all in all, I really liked reading this blog, great job!
DeleteIt is without question that in the frantic life of a teenager, where the simplest issues seem like existential crises, it is in unavoidable that I will take things for granted and marginalize those things I should be celebrating and rejoicing about. To see what I am truly thankful for, I need only examine my prayer before sleep to see what constantly express gratitude for. I am thankful for my family, my background, my culture, my way of living, my religion, the planet and universe I exist in, the personal identity that I possess, and the rights, opportunities, and freedoms I am afforded as a citizen of the United States.
ReplyDeleteHonesty, in its pure moral form, does not mean never telling a lie. In my mind, the most important kind of honesty is the honesty we express towards ourselves and our most intimate friends. To accept who we are and not commit perjury against this unique identity is the true test of honesty and a test of honesty that I believe I would pass, if only by a small margin. I still have room to go on this front and as I continue my journey of personal growth, I am optimistic that I will reach this coveted pinnacle that seems to bring with it unlimited self-esteem and happiness.
There are so many things I would change about myself and in the process of changing. I almost have this Benjamin-Franklin-esque obsession with self-analysis. It consumes me sometimes to an unhealthy level, but is for the most part a positive force. I would ask myself to of course become less stubborn, more accepting, more focused, and less preoccupied with other people.
I do have the luxury of being reasonably self-actualized with my abilities, as it was a certain part of my personality that my parents worked diligently to cultivate. My dad’s number one goal when raising me was to make sure I had confidence and faith in my abilities, while not giving way to the deadly hubris that plagued all the great heroes of history. I try to utilize my talents to the highest degree I can. I have already accepted that I have an uncommon intellectual capacity that can be applied to a lot of things due to its raw plasticity. I am in the process of becoming actualized with those other talents of mine that perhaps I do not acknowledge.
Perhaps my mother’s greatest goal when parenting me was to ensure that I did all acts of charity and altruism free from self-interest, the unifying principle that our government policy postulates makes our entire society function. In the end, I think I can confidently say that I do not expect any type of compensation when I do a nice deed. Having this mentality makes all my engagements in service far more rewarding, as it contributing to my own spiritual energy rather than to my worldly goals.
Part 1: I am grateful for many things, but some stand out more than the rest. Besides the typical answer of friends and family, I am grateful for every little experience that has occurred in my life. Saying that life is a roller coaster would be an understatement. Roller coasters are either at a high point or a low point but life is filled with different, defined levels of both conflict and concord. It is more like a boat in the middle of a vast ocean. Sometimes you get the opportunity to sit back and bathe in the sun’s rays as you slowly sail by with light winds to carry you. Sometimes those oceanic winds start to pick up speed, causing the waves to become a bit rough. However, these waves don’t tend to cause any harm; nothing more than a splash to the face. Other times you will find yourself caught up in a huge storm. This time the rough waves start to engulf your entire body, the entire boat for that matter. The lightning will scream, and so will you. The winds will race at inhumane speeds, and so will your heart. No matter how much we would like to avoid these storms, we are sure to face them occasionally throughout our journey. Although these storms can be a burden, it is good to appreciate them because they have had such a significant impact to your life. I am grateful for my accomplishments as well as my failures. I am grateful for the neutral occurrences as well. Every single event in my life has made me who I am now. Every single moment has strengthened me in some way. Every single success stemmed from other successes, as well as failures, and everything in between. It’s fascinating that all the happenings that may appear to be seemingly useless adds up over time to create someone undoubtedly unique and individualized. Whether it was filled with laughter or filled with tears, I am grateful for every single milestone within my short-lived life.
ReplyDeleteHonesty is much more complex than some of us may make it out to be. Due the abstract nature of honesty, I don’t believe it is possible to be completely honest at all costs. Lying can act as both a positive and a negative in the same way an amphoteric substance can act as either an acid or a base. I try to be as honest as possible but there are definitely times when dishonesty is the better way to go. Sometimes being a little dishonest can save you from hurting others feelings. Under fatal situations, lying can even save your life. Dishonesty is wrong when the intentions behind it are indecent. I am still working on being a bit more honest but at the same time I would still like to stick to my original beliefs. Dishonesty is something that can only be judged through it’s context but it has become something that is almost always presumably immoral. In all honesty, dishonesty is abused most when one lies to his/herself. The lies that I tell myself hold a great amount of power and that always ceases to amaze me. It’s fascinating to think that you can mentally convince yourself to believe the lies that you tell yourself. Usually the lies that I tell myself are negative and that’s when dishonesty starts to become unhealthy. Overall, there are situations where honesty is necessary and there are also situations where dishonesty is necessary. It is all just a matter of properly identifying the proper circumstance.
Part 2: My flaws are like mirrors always glaring back at me. It’s as if I can never escape them. There are so many things that I need to change about myself, one of them being my poor self esteem. I often encourage people to love themselves but yet I am incapable of loving myself. Over the years, I have taught myself not to compare myself to others because it is so unhealthy for me. Even though I am slowly progressing, I know that deep down I am still self conscious about multiple things. I usually assume that I am a burden to everyone which is why I am a generally quiet person. I assume that no one wants to hear anything that I have to say because it doesn’t matter anyway. Even though I have gradually become more talkative, I tend to beat myself up inside because I regret half the things I say. This is probably one of the worst ways to live. The negative thoughts I have towards myself can get so out of hand that sometimes I can feel myself get physically sick, it’s as if my insides are slowly deteriorating. I make it a goal every year to be a little more confident but I still find that my pessimism outweighs my optimism even when progress is made. I guess I just need to start looking on the brighter side of things.
ReplyDeleteI will admit, I have a couple of unique talents but I don’t think I have any that are meaningful or beneficial to others. In relation to the previous paragraph, I guess you could say that I am fairly good at encouraging others to love themselves. Because I am incapable of ignoring the meaningless flaws that I wear upon my sleeves, I often get concerned about the hatred that others have towards themselves. I hate seeing people beat themselves up over the little glitches that we all have. It brings me joy to make people feel better about themselves. Since I am very well aware of what it’s like to think so negatively about myself, I am always on board with making sure no one else feels the same way. I’m not sure if you could call this a talent but I guess in a way it qualifies as one. It is a talent so simple yet it holds so much power. With just a handful of kind, positive words you can somehow instantly brighten up someone’s day. Not only is it beneficial to others, it is beneficial to you.
In response to the final question, I cannot give a straightforward yes or no answer. In general, I am always willing to help those who are in need because I am aware of the different strengths and weaknesses that we all possess. If someone truly needs help then I am willing to assist them. There is also a great feeling that comes with helping others out whether or not they return the favor. However, there will be times when I will start to expect a returned favor after helping someone out with the same thing multiple times. Sometimes I will put others before me so often that I start slacking on my own personal tasks. When it gets to the point where I am actually hindering myself by helping others, I will find that I am hesitant to assistance. Either way, I try to make voluntary actions whenever I get the chance because there is a sense of pride and gratitude that comes with taking actions that benefit others.
(part 1)
ReplyDeleteSo this is a cop out, but maybe the honesty I say this with will make up for it. I am thankful for all of the people that have chosen to put up with me up til this point. The one true blessing in my life is the fact that I’ve been lucky enough to have people that will deal with all of my constant anxiety, complaints, and awkwardness that isn’t always the adorable Kenny – waddling kind. I’m not saying that just because, I mean there are some pretty good things about me too, but in my own opinion I’m kind of obnoxious. The fact that anyone deals with it and then goes through the effort of calming me, listening to my rants, or making me yell “I’M A LITTLE HOTTIE” while sitting in my kitchen is kind of mind-blowing. I’m also grateful for the limitlessness of the internet and the fact that it’s gotten to the point where I can usually just get away with doing whatever I want. I don’t mean that in a spoiled way, but that as random as it seems I enjoy having self-responsibilities even if I’m bad at managing them. If I want to I can spend 4 hours on the internet looking at pictures of cute puppies, and no one is going to say it’s wrong as long as I get my work done. More on that, I don’t usually get anything done, at least not in a timely manner, but I like the fact that I can say whatever happens is my own fault.
I can’t really answer the question of if I’m honest or not because I don’t really have a very concrete definition of what lying is. The white lies or big ones are all just lies, so if I’m going off that then I lie a lot. People have all kinds of reasons for lying, so while I guess in one sense they’re never really justified I think they are. To tell the complete truth in everything all the time would be terrible. I just try my best to never be dishonest by staying quiet whenever I’d have to lie, or saying something ambiguous. I don’t really think I’m alone in the practice and I don’t have a problem with it, while I do value honesty. It’s just not always necessary. Lying is just too easy to do and it makes things easier. I tell lies to myself or to others usually just to help situations along, or I just say things in accordance with whatever mood I’m in. I exaggerate not just situations, but how I feel about them just because, so I know I lie a lot. On the important stuff though, I try not to. I’m as good as anyone in lying to myself, but I can’t justify things. I’ve found that I have a pretty terrible guilty conscience and unless absolutely necessary, I don’t really want to deal with it. I usually just try my best to tell some version of the truth, even if it’s still kind of a lie, and still a terrible thing to say.
Part1: In all honesty, I’m not a big fan of myself right now. Though it would be easy to blame it on the stress that school and life have instigated and teen hormones have encouraged, only I am at fault for allowing those things to get to me. There it is: the base of all of the things I need to change about myself. That lack of self confidence dug a hole in my brain deeper than the height of Burj Khalifa, but the restoration of that patch of confidence shifted to the number one priority on my list. The main thing that dug that hole was my grades in school, but they represented my terrible work habits. I could go through the endless list of what I need to change about myself, but there is no reason to dig a hole that doesn’t need to be dug.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, despite occasionally lying like a normal human I know that I am a fairly honest person. Now, that I think about it, maybe it’s not a matter of how often you lie or tell the truth, but the extremity of your lie or your truth. That not to say that lying often isn’t detrimental-because it is as proven by “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”-but what should be taken into consideration is the intention. I’d rather not lie because that would require remembering the lie, and I have a terrible memory, but also (depending on the situation) only bad things can come from lying. So because of the complexity of lying, I find it easier to just avoid lying and the risk of hating myself for lying.
Life throws many great and positive things at you; it’s just a matter of seeing them. Those things may be friends, music, or successes, but for me, it was mainly my friends and music. Over this last year, I have gone to my friends one too many times crying because of how much life sucks sometimes. They were there for me regardless of how annoying I may have been, and I’m very grateful for that. When talking wasn’t enough to calm my nerves, music (Twenty One Pilots, Panic! At the Disco, Vinyl Theatre, Watsky, Kid Runner...) always seemed to fit my mood perfectly whether I was feeling doleful or beatific. I am always able to find some sort of outlet for my emotions, and for that, I’m thankful.
Going to Catholic school for nine whole years of my life taught me a few valuable lessons. One being, you shouldn’t do things for other people expecting something in return. Rather, you should just do it out of the kindness of your heart, but one day my classmate brought up a very valid point. If people are simply doing good deeds out of the kindness of their hearts, they are most likely doing it because of the good feeling they get afterwards. So the question is, are there really any true “selfless” acts of kindness or are they all just lies? Personally, I try to do things for other people because I care about them and their happiness. But even that can be seen as selfish. I want the person to be happy, so I try to make them happy. There is just no winning in this situation.
Recognizing the potential of my talents is a struggle let alone using them. I suppose I have the potential to be a fairly good singer, dancer, and pianist which could help me in my acting career. Other than those two things and possibly acting, I’m not really sure what talents I possess, but I don’t really think that matters all that much. Those four talents still need to be mastered which will take a lot of time and effort and most of my attention. I’d have to say that I would be perfectly fine with that because I actually enjoy and care for those activities, and I’m willing to dedicate myself to those things so that maybe one day, I can be the role model to other little kids aspiring to be actors and actresses.
(part 2)
ReplyDeleteWhile the fact that I’m fairly honest is something that makes me happy with myself, for the most part I’m not that great. I’ve realized recently that while I don’t mean to be, I’m sometimes kind of a critical person of myself and others. I don’t think I’m really judgmental of others, but sometimes people just do things that disappoint me and I have to take a moment to remind myself that it usually has nothing to do with me. And of course, I give myself way too much crap over all the things I do wrong and I think I experience more random anxiety than 90% of the world’s population. If I could just get rid of all that it’d be nice.
As far as talents go, I don’t really think I have any. I think I’m a lucky person, but I don’t think it’s really the same thing. I just happen to have a habit of being pretty okay at things that I try for the first time, or that I don’t work for at all, in school and sports. I have not put it to good use. It’s just one of those things where it’s like wow. Imagine if I really tried. But that’s just not how it works out. The things I care about most I have no actual talent for, and I just deal with being mediocre about instead. In the last blog I talked about how much I loved tennis and people that have their one true calling, but I don’t have much talent in that either. It’s just something I do that I enjoy.
Like lying, I think sometimes it’s automatic to think about the benefits to doing things for others, but I don’t think it really effects whether or not I’ll do something. However, sometimes things may not directly benefit me, but if you think about it enough they will anyway. It’s normal to think about the effects of anything done, so favors for others is pretty much the same, and even if I don’t really go out of my way to do things that would make me seem better it does occur to me. I guess sometimes I do do things just for myself, but I can’t really think of any examples, so if I ever have it’s rare. It might not be from any kind of innocence on my part though – I’m just sort of short-sighted. If someone needs something I just do it. It might not even be out of goodness. Just habit. When I was younger I used to pray for God to make me the kind of person that would do good things just for the sake of being good to others, but maybe I should worry more that that probably didn’t really come true.
Part 2: At that point, I think I would be content with myself. I would be living my dreams and utilizing my talents to inspire the future generation. Although my reasoning may be selfish, I still think that what I plan to do makes up for it. I want to let kids know that they should do what they love when they grow up no matter what anyone else says because I would be living the dream. School work would have become a thing of the past in my life and I wouldn’t have to worry about that stress. Stress from life in general would also be nonexistent for the most part because music and friends would be everywhere around me always. However, lying would most likely still be present because of the nature of humans, but there is always room for redemption. All of these flaws and mistakes and talents make me who I am, human.
ReplyDeleteI think at first I was kind of surprised by your acting dreams, but I don't think I can imagine you doing anything else. I grew out of wanting to be a singer because of my parent's disapproval, and I'm kind of glad you were never really subject to that. I think. But even know I still get that look because I say I wanna be a teacher, and teaching sucks. But whatever that's too bad. We do have kind of similar thoughts on complete selflessness. It's just impossible, even if we're both pretty good people. But there's nothing really wrong with that I think.
DeleteFor me the thing that I am grateful for is the fact that the sun rise everyday. The sun serves many purposes such as illuminating the world, providing nourishment for plants, and motivating me to get out of bed. The sun serves many purposes that are important and free such as providing life to our planet. Even though there are days where I am sad or tired, I will always get through the day knowing that the sun is up providing much function. I am just grateful for my way of life and it wouldn’t be possible without the sun so I am grateful that the sun rise everyday.
ReplyDeleteI am honest a lot of the times when I am talking to people but I have problem being honest if it will hurt someone. I believe that people should be nice and honest to each other. But if the truth hurt someone than I have to lie because I don’t want to hurt anyone feeling. If the truth is not important than why make someone sad instead of making them happy On the other hand if the news is serious than I will have to tell the truth regardless of the consequence because of the nature that it is very serious. So overall I am usually honest with people especially when it is very serious however when it is not serious than I will have to lie so I wont hurt someone feeling.
During this school year I have studied myself for many occasions and as such I
have come to know more about myself. I known most of my qualities and as such I will have to change my time management. Even though I have gotten better at time management I still have trouble in some areas that required a little bit more time. I get overwhelmed sometimes and as a result the quality of my work decrease and I don’t want to happen again. So if I have to change than I would want to change my time management.
My talent is still a mystery for me. I don’t really know my talent but I have a general answer in that I have some talent in sports and academic but I am not really sure that it is my talent. I want to believe that I am truly using my talent but I am not sure. I really don’t believe in talent because even though talent might help as long as someone is trying their best and working hard then that all that will matter.
I truly believe there is an ulterior motive to helping people. I believe that most people aren’t looking for immediate gratification but long time favors. I help people from small tasks to large tasks and even though I am not looking for something specific I am looking for something that will last a while. I personally don’t think “what in it for me” before I help someone but I have been helping a lot of people in hope of people liking me more. So over all I am grateful for the sun rise up everyday and I am honest most of the time except when the truth will hurt someone feeling. I would like to change my time management and I don’t know my talent but I believe in hard work. I never think of the “ What in it for me” but I do want people to have a good image of me in term of likeability.