Author: SandeeL

Never make decisions that you will regret for a long time. “The Moustache” by Robert Cormier and “Hearts And Hands” by O. Henry both show someone who made a mistake in their life and they have or will regret it for a lifetime.

“The Moustache” is about a teenage boy named Mike who is visiting his grandma who has dementia, or a memory loss illness. She mistakes his grandson as her late husband, whose name is also Mike. The grandma starts apologizing to her “husband” for the actions she did. From this, the grandmother probably had a fight or argument with him before he passed away. She now lives her life in regret as she also seemed very distressed when she talked with Mike.

“Hearts And Hands” is about a man named Mr. Easton who met an old friend while traveling as a criminal with a marshal. He was immediately embarrassed as he didn’t want his friend to know that he got caught for counterfeiting, or making/using fake money. He will regret making that decision for a long time.

Making a decision you will regret is something you should avoid, and to prevent yourself from making any bad decisions, thinking carefully before big decisions is important. Don’t live your life with regrets.

Many people may think of America as an amazing country but in reality, the system has a lot of flaws. There are a lot of long-term problems such as racism, but there are current problems happening that are getting extended such as COVID-19. Instead of looking at America as a great country, start acknowledging the issues and trying to fix them.

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic speech, “I Have A Dream”, he dreams of a world where racism isn’t a problem. 100 years ago during his time, or around 150 years now, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Abraham Lincoln to end slavery. However, that did not solve the problem of racism. People of color are still being treated badly up to this day.

Another problem that is happening is America’s response to SARS-CoV-2. After several months, the rest of the world is slowly recovering from the pandemic. However, COVID-19 cases are still rising in America.

With the continuing problems, it shows that USA isn’t actually wonderful or responsible. Racism is a huge issue, along with the coronavirus pandemic and they don’t look like something that will be fixed easily. Start looking at these concerns and how to solve them, not how amazing America is.

Who do you blame when someone goes back in time and changes history? A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury portrays the main character, Eckels, as a bad guy and the person who should be blamed, but in reality, it is the Time Safari’s fault. They couldn’t guarantee the client’s safety and also threatened Eckels into digging out the bullets even though it’s not his job to do it.

“‘Does this safari guarantee I come back alive?’ ‘We guarantee nothing,” said the official, ‘except the dinosaurs.'”(Bradbury) This shows that the safari can’t be responsible for his safety so why should Eckels be responsible for his actions? We can also infer that the floating path they walk on isn’t 100% safe. They don’t belong here so if they even breathe wrong, things may change.

“‘The bullets! The bullets can’t be left behind. They don’t belong in
the Past; they might change anything. Here’s my knife. Dig them out!'”(Bradbury) Near the end of their journey to the Past, Eckels was forced to go to the dead T-Rex and dig all of the bullets out. The Time Safari is treating their clients the wrong way and they also kill Eckels in the very end.

Some may argue that these weren’t stated in the Terms and Conditions but that is the problem that makes the Time Safari at fault. They do not guarantee the safety of their clients so they should take responsibility for the things that happen that endanger their customers. Even though it is Eckels that caused the negative events to happen, it is the Safari’s fault.

Appearances don’t always show what is on the inside. If you get a strict teacher, is she just being mean or is there something more? Graphene is a material that is super thin but is it weak? Don’t assume facts about something just from their look.

“Miss Awful” by Arthur Cavanaugh shows a substitute teacher for a 3rd-grade class. Their original teacher is very flexible and lets the students do whatever they want, but the sub, known as Ms. Orville or Ms. Awful, was very strict to them. The students hated her as they were forced to behave a certain way but we later learn that she just wanted to teach them to be less violent because of something she has been through. Having Ms. Orville not only taught them to behave but also helped them learn more academically.

Graphene is a material that was discovered a few decades ago, and it is a 2D, one-atom thick version of graphite. If it’s so thin, people may assume that it is very fragile but it’s actually many times stronger than steel. People also may assume that this material would be used in everyday materials, but because of difficulties doing things, such as mass-producing, graphene hasn’t been used as much.

Whether it’s an extremely thin material or a teacher who’s very stern, you shouldn’t judge them on what they look like or how they act with limited knowledge. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Imagine having everything you could ever want … but then have it all taken away from you! Taking things for granted is something that is common for families who aren’t in need of basic essentials. However, everything could disappear from your life at any time. Being grateful for the things you already have is very important.

“Heart and Hands” by O. Henry is about a man named Mr. Easton who is a prisoner because of counterfeiting. It is hinted that he was of the higher class in the past but because he started losing money, he made fake money to use as it “takes money to keep step with [his] crowd”. Then, it suddenly all got taken away from him when he got found out by the police. If Easton hadn’t cared about the amount of money other people have and just saved up more of his money, he could maintain his lifestyle but he decided to do the riskier and illegal way.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a famous composer in the 1700s and he kept on switching where he was in his musical career. For example, he was a musician for an Austrian prince and was in a very good place as he was being paid well and he also wrote extremely good pieces. However, he got bored and decided to quit but it (at first) didn’t go well for him. He recovered years later, but what if he didn’t? If he had stuck with the job he already had he could’ve gained more financially and also become more famous and then changed after he became very stable.

Being appreciative of the things you already have is essential as any of it could vanish at any moment. Mr. Easton wouldn’t have gone to jail and Mozart could be even more famous. Always be grateful for what you have.

Imagine enjoying music a lot but suddenly have your hearing taken away! This is what happened to Ludwig van Beethoven, a famous composer who lived in the 1700s-1800s. He created many pieces that musicians play today but many people also don’t care.

If you’re a musician, then you’ve probably heard of Beethoven. His music is very unique as it doesn’t follow the “rules” that other composers follow but it still ends up as an extremely good piece. Beethoven was also a child prodigy. He started learning at age 4 and mastered multiple instruments quickly, including piano, organ, and viola. He started losing his hearing in his 20s and this devasted him as it would to anyone with great interest in music. However, he still persisted and wrote great pieces while not being able to hear.

Pieces by Beethoven are a big part of the classical music communities He has many well known pieces that are recognized by a large amount of people and also has pieces that are famous for being extremely hard.

Ludwig van Beethoven is a child prodigy and an extremely talented composer even when he became deaf. This is an incredible accomplishment and he should also be recognized more for being hard-working and talented, not just by classical musicians.

Getting along with your team members is very important but it is extremely easy to start arguing, too. A common thing that happens is getting defensive. However, what does getting defensive mean and how do you prevent it?

When you become defensive, you are trying to hide from the fears of the situation. However, when you do this, it is harder to make the right decision. To stop this, you need to acknowledge, slow down, check negative talk, take action step, and start over.

For example, you are doing a project with fellow employees but then you start to disagree on something. While trying to prove your point, acknowledging that you’re getting defensive is very important. The second thing you can do to not be defensive is to slow down. Many times, you are thinking a lot and you just need to take a breather. Step outside, take a deep breath. Third, check negative talk. Make sure that you’re not just talking about bad things. Try making it more positive. Fourth, which is one of the more important ones, take an action step. You need to figure out something to stop yourself from being defensive; prevent yourself from talking too much, apologize, and many other things could work as well. Lastly, you should go over the situation again but in the right way.

In my opinion, training yourself to not get defensive is crucial when you are working in an environment where you interact with other people often. Taking time to learn this skill is beneficial. Either you’re in high school, college, or in your professional career, working with other people is a common thing and if you tend to get angry or defensive, this can be negative to your relations with people, your career, and many other things.

Is daydreaming good or bad? Growing up, you may have been told to “get your head out of the clouds” but is daydreaming actually a negative thing? In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, Walter Mitty is doing his everyday tasks, except that we get an insight of his daydreams. Doing this doesn’t affect him majorly while doing something except it makes his day more interesting.

According to Live Science, adults were tested on working memory and the people who said that their mind wandered often, scored higher on the test. “Working memory” is how your brain thinks of multiple things at the same time. People who daydream are “[giving their] working memory a workout”. Studies suggest that people whose minds wander more also had higher creativity.

Similarly, Psychology Today states that when kids daydream, it helps them explore their interests more and find more solutions to problems. People who daydream is also found to be more productive in achieving their goal. “Structured daydreaming” can be a technique to reach your target. By imagining the things that lead up to what you want to achieve, you’ll have an idea of what to do and basically create a plan.

Yes, daydreaming all day may sometimes be distracting, but it’s proven to have good results. It can help us be more successful in life, be more creative, achieve a goal easier, and many other positive achievements.

As the human population and poverty increases, how should it be dealt with? A Modest Proposal by Dr. Jonathan Swift suggests that they eat the children so there will be more food, money, and less poverty. Obviously, eating children isn’t an option that anyone should consider.

For overpopulation, people could be encouraged to not have more than a certain number of children. Birth control and other methods should also be more available and cheaper. Another idea is for people to be more spread out. Instead of having big cities and rural areas, have a constant suburban area. This could prevent large densities of people in areas and will also save space as big cities won’t continually want to expand. For people in poverty, the government should provide for them. Give each person a specific amount of money so they can have a house, clothe, food, etc. There can also be constant fundraisers for people in need.

There are many ways that problems in the world could be fixed but everyone needs to work together. Overall, if everyone decided to help one another, the community would be much better.

Your family will always be family no matter what happens. In Everyday Use by Alice Walker, a girl named Dee visited her mother and sister after a while on her own but it clearly shows that she doesn’t truly care for them at all.

When Dee was young, she already despised the conditions her family lived in and was even happy when her house burned down. She also didn’t seem to care when her sister got hurt. One of the first things she did after arriving at her family’s house was to take pictures. However, the pictures were mainly of the house and the areas around it, rather than the people. While in the house, she also took many things without properly asking for permission and she was also going to use them for decoration, not the way they’re supposed to be used.

This teaches us to always be grateful to your family, especially if they’ve continuously helped you a lot throughout your life. For example, I plan to visit my family often in the future and also pay an amount of money to them every month as they have spent a lot of money for me too. You shouldn’t just stop caring and separate yourself once you start living on your own.