orphan train post reading

“I learned long ago that loss is not only probable but inevitable.”

Just by looking at this quote you can tell that this comes from a person that has had an unfortunate past. And this person has lost so much that when you think about losing something it’s not likely to happen but it’s certain that you will lose what you were thinking about.

In the book Orphan train Molly and vivian (the main characters) both had troubled lives. Molly was a foster child, her father died in a car accident and her mother turned to drugs because she couldn't handle life after his death. Molly also turned to something, and that was making bad decisions. Vivian was an orphan and was put on the orphan train (a train that travels you from town to town hoping that along the way you will get adopted by a “loving” family) where she went through families like you wouldn't  believe. and later on as Vivian grew up she married a man named Dutchy who was killed in the war. Vivian and Molly both suffered losses of their loved ones but they also had experiences where they didn't have mothers or fathers.

    What I'm trying to say is that Molly and Vivian altogether have lost a lot in their lifetime. And when it comes to losing anything else they don't have hope because all of their love was for the people who they can no longer be with.

    When I was 5 my family had this dog that was loved by all who met her, her name was Sally. She was a huge chocolate lab that would always give me piggy back rides (back whenever I was really little and hardly weighed anything) all throughout my grandmother's yard. I always enjoyed playing hide and seek with her, it seems only yesterday she was still here cheering me up and being my little buddy. Not only was she my friend but she also was a hunting dog for my grandpa, he has so many stories about fishing that only him and sally have witnessed. Sally was ten years old but I didn't know that in dog years that was 70, I also didn't know that her time was soon to come. I remember going to my grandma's after and Sally wasn't there to greet me so i thought she was in the woods or something. That night my mom told me Sally went on a adventure to the man upstairs and one day we will see her again. From that point on when i thought about losing other pets i was always certain that they would either run away or get sick and die, but tha never did happen.

    After you lose something or someone it’s hard to gain you hope and faith back because we all know everyone and everything and to go at some , we just don't know the time.

pre reading- the orphan train

Read the attached article titled "Orphan Trains."  Orphan trains brought orphans to the United States and stopped periodically for individuals to "adopt" the children.  After reading the article, write a blog describing what it would be like to be an orphan on an orphan train.

“Orphan trains” is an article that tells you how life was like for the orphans and the process they had to go through if they didn’t have a loving family to care for them and provide a child’s basic necessities.

As I was reading the “Orphan train” I imagined myself as an orphan and on that train. I would’ve been scared, nervous, upset, and tired. If you were on a orphan train they would stop at all these towns so that every orphan would have the opportunity to be adopted. Being on that train and knowing you're leaving your family for a new one would make me feel scared and upset, because you don't have a choice of who you get to live with anymore. So what if you end up with a family that makes you work and abuses you? The children's aid society (an organization that provided a new home and families for orphans) had one job after all the kids were adopted, and that was to check up on them once a year to see if they were doing alright and remove children from bad situations. “This system failed sometimes” the article said, so if you were in a abusive family you had the options of running away or hopefully being saved by the society. Another feeling I would express is to be extremely upset because I would miss my old family, even if they weren't around enough, and it still takes time to adapt and cope with your new family to where you can at least say comfortable in your new environment. It says in the article that the train rides transport you to new families would last around a day to a week. The reason it would last that long is if you weren't picked by a family along the towns it stops at. It stated that in the article a child would stay on the train until it got picked by the right family. Now think what if you didn’t get by a family in a week, all that time you’re seeing people get picked except you? With this happening would you develop ideas or feelings that no one wants to adopt you?

    These are the effects that I think I would have if I was in an orphans position and went through that process of being adopted.

borderline - post reading

"For better or worse you'll find out everything you want (or don't want) to know about this world."

This quote means that regardless how shut out or open you are to this world, your always going to find the truth.
In the book "Borderline" Sami wanted to know the truth about who his father really was. Sami's father was described as a very strict, religious, and uptight man. He was also very organized and determined in his work. In the book Sami's father was accused of being apart of a terrorist attack that was going to take place. With evidence ,his father had no explanation to he was handcuffed and put on the news to give a warning to others. All Sami's life his father never acted like what the news made him out to be, until Sammi started noticing the little things about his dad that seemed off, like pouring coffee not caringly. His father always took everything with care. If your dad was accused of being a terrorist would your trust be affected?
  All our lives our parents raised us to be prepared for all the troubles and hardships in our lives and to come face to face with the real world. An example of facing the truth about this world is as a kid your parents may have told you about Santa clause and how he goes around the world on Christmas eve giving presents to every child. I to was told the story of old saint nick and believed in him till I was 10 years old. On Christmas eve I saw my parents putting down the presents that they said were from "Santa clause". Whether I wanted to find the truth if he was real or not I found out anyway and it took the fun out of Christmas! 
From both of the examples I have given you they were to prove that your always going to find out the truth regardless of what you to keep yourself from it. And with finding out the truth, you may be affected in various ways. For Sami and me it was to limit who we trusted with our secrets or beliefs.  

pre reading - borderline

1. Write a blog post that defines the difference between the "truth" and the "whole truth."

When I think about the word “truth” I think about an argument or you’ve gotten into trouble and you need to tell the truth and what you did to cause the disagreement. The thing about truth is that it has many perspectives. To some people explaining the truth involves what the other person did instead of including what you did to partake in the situation, so basically you're saying the truth just not the full story (half truth).

    I think we can all agree that when you gotten in trouble and you know that it was partially your fault you try to blame all troublesome onto that other person so you don't get into trouble. I have a little sister that is constantly getting on my nerves ( but that’s what little sisters are for), anyway one day she had spilled nail polish all over the floor and she turned to me acting like I knew what to do but I didn’t. So when my mom entered the room the first thing my sister said was “KINLEY DID IT” after that my mom saw the mess she demanded answers ,well since my sister was already yelling that I did it. She blamed the whole thing on me. Now I know you're thinking how is that the truth but just know this “every lie has to have at least a little bit of truth in it”. The truth of this was that she said that there was nail polish on the floor when there really was but the whole truth was that SHE made the mess instead of me.

    With my example and explaining of the meaning truth, you should always be aware that regardless if you're telling a lie you still have the truth in there even though it’s not the whole truth it’s still your side of the story that DID happen.

 

Post reading- The other wes moore

1. “I guess it's sometimes hard to distinguish between second chances and last chances.”

The definition of a mistake is an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong. With people making mistakes everyday you sometimes get a second chance. When you get a second chance some people look at it “oh I know what I wrong I’ll just do this instead”. They don’t really take the opportunity for what it’s worth and think about their next decision and whether it would be right or wrong.

             In chapter three pg 54-55 Wes says “my mother had begun to threaten me with military school if I didn’t get my grades and discipline together… But I knew there was no way my mother would allow her only son to be shipped off to military school. Regardless of the suspensions I had. It was too remote, too permanent. Maybe she shit me to a school closer to home, maybe a public or catholic school, but not a, military school”. Wes’s mother told him if you don’t get your act together I’m going to send you to military school. With this being said she basically gave him a second with a hint you need to get your act together or this will happen. Wes was just making excuses for himself so he would make himself think that he wasn’t going to get switched. As Wes kept thinking this his mother had no other choice but to eventually switch him to military school.

             I’m always horrible with taking tests and I guess I always with be. When I’m taking a test I just want to get it over with so if I don’t know an answer I will take my time on that question. Usually after tests you get the choice of making tests corrections or stick with grade you have. Once you get your test back and see the answers you got wrong you tend to rush through it. You do this because “you believe” that you know the right answer just because you got the question wrong.

            With my personal experience and the example from the book I hope that I showed that you shouldn’t always take your second choice for granted. You should also use that second chance more wisely and responsibly so you can do what you know is right      

Human nature essay

You live with it, surrounded by it, and there’s one name we call it by, evil. You're used to making mean comments rude hand gestures or people doing the same thing back to you. Which shows that humans are naturally evil.

How are humans evil? Humans are evil because their actions, language; personality. Everywhere you go you get discriminated. If you're not wearing the right shoes, clothes, even hairstyles you'll get stared at and even laughed at. You'll also get random attitudes, even if you were nice people don't care  they just give you attitudes, hands on their hips or rolling their eyes, they'll also use a hand gesture that is hurtful and mean. All these actions make people assume and have a very hateful opinion about you and what you may seem like.

How does society treat people? society treats people horribly today. Like i said in the paragraph above if you're not wearing the right clothing or shoes you will get made fun of no matter where you are. I was always told treat people how you wanted to be treated. All the time you'll often come across someone that is more unfortunate than you and can't afford what you can get and have. Due to the fact they can't afford barely anything they have to wear clothes that are too small for them and wear shoes that maybe belong to their parents or that they have for two years straight. And because of this people stare and whisper into another's ear and start laughing making it quite obvious that they were talking about you. I've always treated someone nice at first because i didn't know there back round. The only time i'm not nice is because you personally stated mean comments or you're just plain out rude to me and make fun of me.

What's the personality of an evil person? Many people have their personal account and perspectives of an evil person. I was at the Concord and Kannapolis game with my family and there was this married couple in front of us also just like anyone else really into the game. His wife however couldn't find it comfortable sitting on the bleachers because the man’s seat in front of them was broken. We told the man and the wife that she could move up here next to us if she wanted to get comfortable, She said thank you but continued to stay down there with her husband. The husband started yelling out of nowhere yelling “If you don't know how to sit down right then you don't need to be sitting here at all”. I thought to myself “If you wanted someone to move it's unnecessary to scream at them all you have to do is ask them nicely, and what do you expect at a traditional game everyone cater to you?”.

With the examples given and personal encounters would you consider yourself and your surroundings evil.

Pre reading - the other wes moore

"Humans often do what others expect of them" write a blog that explains what others around you expect of you. In your blog post also discuss the impact that others have on you. Do you meet their expectations, do you exceed them? Do you try to do what others expect? Should you?"

Other people expect me to always be happy, cheerful, be at school, be trustworthy, and have their back whenever they need my help. Theses expectations are nothing compared to the rest of them, but out of all of those expectations these are the main ones. I cant always meet these expectations cause everyone makes mistakes so i sometimes exceed these expectations but not all the time I also don't succeed the expectations because that's not really who i am.

 Exceeding these expectations aren't always the easiest thing in the world and there not always the best decision to do for yourself. I personally try my best in putting as much effort as i can to strive for success. If i feel like i'm only trying to succeed for my friends expectations than i wont put any effort and i will tell them that "if you don't like my personality then you don't have enough respect for who i am to be my friend". 

My whole family told me ever since i was little that i was "perfect just the way i am". they told me this because they didn't want me to change just for some friend or a boy, because they knew how cruel and judgmental this world can be if your not a certain way or if your not the way they want you to be. You should never change who you are for someone. I can not stress it enough when people make fun of others just because your not a certain way. We all have our insecurities but that doesn't mean you have to show them? Stand for who you are and be proud because there's no one else like you!