Our days are dynamite
You lit the fuse and left
Before the explosion resounded through
I couldn't put the flame out
You wouldn't put the flame out
But the damage is done
And I'm picking up the pieces
To make my days dynamite
Until the only thing resounding
Is the sound of my laughter;
Louder than any explosion
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Judaism And Death
On Friday, the wife of the Rabbi of my family's former synagogue passed away after a two year battle with cancer. When I heard this news, I was left with feelings of disbelief, sorrow, and sympathy. It seemed unreal that my mom and I had just seen her less than a month before. I know that humans are not immortal, but when you hear about the death of anyone you know, it comes as a shock.
The next day, someone I knew sent me and other people a message asking if we heard about the death and if we could, to try and attend the funeral out of respect. The decision to not go was a difficult one to reach for me and my mom. To visit the mourners during the period of shiva (the seven day period of mourning following the burial of the deceased) is considered a huge mitzvah in Judaism regarding kindness. My question is: if we send a card and donation to the synagogue in her memory and if she is in my thoughts and prayers, am I still not truly fulfilling this mitzvah?
What I like to think happens is that Hashem is gracious and kind and takes in effort as much as He can. That although we cannot be there in person, to keep her in our hearts and in our prayers, we will continue to honor her memory and remember her for the kind, caring woman she was.
I know this is extremely unorthodox and probably not very kosher, but I hope Hashem sends the Pressmans my prayers.
To the Pressmans:
Ha-Makom y'nachem et'khem b'tokh sh'ar avelei Tziyon viyrushalayim.
The next day, someone I knew sent me and other people a message asking if we heard about the death and if we could, to try and attend the funeral out of respect. The decision to not go was a difficult one to reach for me and my mom. To visit the mourners during the period of shiva (the seven day period of mourning following the burial of the deceased) is considered a huge mitzvah in Judaism regarding kindness. My question is: if we send a card and donation to the synagogue in her memory and if she is in my thoughts and prayers, am I still not truly fulfilling this mitzvah?
What I like to think happens is that Hashem is gracious and kind and takes in effort as much as He can. That although we cannot be there in person, to keep her in our hearts and in our prayers, we will continue to honor her memory and remember her for the kind, caring woman she was.
I know this is extremely unorthodox and probably not very kosher, but I hope Hashem sends the Pressmans my prayers.
To the Pressmans:
Ha-Makom y'nachem et'khem b'tokh sh'ar avelei Tziyon viyrushalayim.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Every 15 Minutes....
"Every 15 minutes someone dies from an alcohol related collision."
This alarming statistic is what sparked the beginning of the program in high schools to raise awareness about the importance of drinking and driving. It is to remind teenagers that contrary to the fact that they have their license and are now "free", they are by no means invincible.
At Rocklin, Ever 15 Minutes takes place every two years with Juniors and Seniors involved as the victims. Both my friends, Jon and Kate, among with many other people I know, have been involved with this program for several months. They constantly had meetings and needed to make videos and write obituaries. But... being "new" to Rocklin, I had no idea what this was for.
Today in English, two people got pulled out of class about 15 minutes apart. Two officers came in, said their name and handed my teacher a paper. As the student got up and left the class, our teacher read the paper which was in fact the student's obituary. Earlier in English, the video announcements aired a package like they usually do. Only today, it served as a prelude to what Every 15 Minutes was about to bring. In this package, it showed four people, Jon included, getting ready to go to prom. They were excited and taking pictures. Finally they get in the car. Alyssa, in the driver's seat, realizes that the seatbelt will crush her corsage so she decides "Oh well. I just won't wear it now... It'll be fine"
Then at the end of 3rd block we see another package. It's a party and everyone's having a good time, drinking a little, nothing too serious. Olivia gets a call and has to get home. She grabs Kate, Sami and David. David is the driver. Throughout the video you see each of them drink a little bit. Before Kate leaves, she puts down her "beer". Before David leaves, he grabs the cup and finishes it off. They leave the house.
Immediately after, there is an announcement over the P.A. system that there's been an accident.
In the middle of the ampitheater....there are two cars. They are smashed up and crashed.
You see Alyssa's body lying on the hood of this dented car. It is clear that she flew through the windshield on impact and is dead. Jon is in the driver's seat, unconcious.
The four people from the party get out of the car, generally uninjured. The girls are in tears and shook up. Olivia gets pulled away as she screams at David: "Do you see what you did?! She's dead. You killed her! You said you were alright!!! You said you felt fine!! Do you see what you did?!"
The ambulance comes. So do the firefighters with their "jaws of life". Slowly, they tear the car apart in an effort to get the 3 remaining passengers out of the car. At the end... the car is merely a shell of what it used to be.
This event really shook me up. It's different reading stories like this in the paper. It's safe to say to it's common knowledge that you don't "drink and drive". But...according to this statistic I mentioned at the beginning it isn't. There are still teenagers out there who drink and drive. Who make the decision to put their life as well as the lives of others at risk. Going into history, Erica and I saw Kate's obituary on the wall. We went to read it, but had to leave because it was too much to bear to even think that one of our good friends was even pretending to be dead. That's the whole point of Every 15 Minutes.
What if you thought was unreal suddenly became real?
Tomorrow's the assembly. It's only for juniors and seniors so hopefully people will take it more seriously than they did today. All I hope is that a handful of people realize what a serious issue this is becoming (as if there weren't enough...) even in "white bread" Rocklin.
This alarming statistic is what sparked the beginning of the program in high schools to raise awareness about the importance of drinking and driving. It is to remind teenagers that contrary to the fact that they have their license and are now "free", they are by no means invincible.
At Rocklin, Ever 15 Minutes takes place every two years with Juniors and Seniors involved as the victims. Both my friends, Jon and Kate, among with many other people I know, have been involved with this program for several months. They constantly had meetings and needed to make videos and write obituaries. But... being "new" to Rocklin, I had no idea what this was for.
Today in English, two people got pulled out of class about 15 minutes apart. Two officers came in, said their name and handed my teacher a paper. As the student got up and left the class, our teacher read the paper which was in fact the student's obituary. Earlier in English, the video announcements aired a package like they usually do. Only today, it served as a prelude to what Every 15 Minutes was about to bring. In this package, it showed four people, Jon included, getting ready to go to prom. They were excited and taking pictures. Finally they get in the car. Alyssa, in the driver's seat, realizes that the seatbelt will crush her corsage so she decides "Oh well. I just won't wear it now... It'll be fine"
Then at the end of 3rd block we see another package. It's a party and everyone's having a good time, drinking a little, nothing too serious. Olivia gets a call and has to get home. She grabs Kate, Sami and David. David is the driver. Throughout the video you see each of them drink a little bit. Before Kate leaves, she puts down her "beer". Before David leaves, he grabs the cup and finishes it off. They leave the house.
Immediately after, there is an announcement over the P.A. system that there's been an accident.
In the middle of the ampitheater....there are two cars. They are smashed up and crashed.
You see Alyssa's body lying on the hood of this dented car. It is clear that she flew through the windshield on impact and is dead. Jon is in the driver's seat, unconcious.
The four people from the party get out of the car, generally uninjured. The girls are in tears and shook up. Olivia gets pulled away as she screams at David: "Do you see what you did?! She's dead. You killed her! You said you were alright!!! You said you felt fine!! Do you see what you did?!"
The ambulance comes. So do the firefighters with their "jaws of life". Slowly, they tear the car apart in an effort to get the 3 remaining passengers out of the car. At the end... the car is merely a shell of what it used to be.
This event really shook me up. It's different reading stories like this in the paper. It's safe to say to it's common knowledge that you don't "drink and drive". But...according to this statistic I mentioned at the beginning it isn't. There are still teenagers out there who drink and drive. Who make the decision to put their life as well as the lives of others at risk. Going into history, Erica and I saw Kate's obituary on the wall. We went to read it, but had to leave because it was too much to bear to even think that one of our good friends was even pretending to be dead. That's the whole point of Every 15 Minutes.
What if you thought was unreal suddenly became real?
Tomorrow's the assembly. It's only for juniors and seniors so hopefully people will take it more seriously than they did today. All I hope is that a handful of people realize what a serious issue this is becoming (as if there weren't enough...) even in "white bread" Rocklin.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Emerson, Thoreau and "Trust thyself"
I've always loved English. Ever since I was in first grade with Mrs. O. I've always loved reading and writing and not to toot my own horn, but I feel I've had a natural talent. This year English is looked on as somewhat of a joke because it's pretty easy. And while it may be easy, it nothing shy of interesting and opening. I really feel that Mr. Pereira loves what he teaches and believes in it. We started our unit on transcendentalism, an American version on the European romantic era.
Contrary to what most people would imagine, I'm not as familiar with this movement as I'd like to be, thus welcoming the unit. I am familiar with Thoreau and Emerson (particularly Emerson's self-reliance). According to wikipedia (the number source for any information I seek), transcendentalism (that is a beast to type) "began as a protest against the general state of culture and society at the time" and that the core belief was ideal spiritual state that 'transcends' the physical and empirical and is only realized through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions."
Huh. Interesting.
We were interpreting a quote of Thoreau, found in our anthology textbook. The quote itself is from Walden and it reads
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
We had a mini-discussion on what Emerson could mean by this. I said something along the lines of how man has to leave behind the structure and mold that society has over the greater population. Clearly this quote has relation to the old adage "Run to the beat of your own drum".
Well, I felt Emerson was addressing that truly figure out the beat of his drum, man must, in a sense, run away from society because there is always an influence. When you find the beat of your own drum, it should stay that way regardless if everyone else is off tempo with you.
Then Mr. P introduced the idea of Aristotle with "Trust thyself". The idea is that only you know your opinions and what's best for you. It is perfectly fine to agree with the opinions of others, so long as they come from within you. Needless to say, I'm finding all of this extremely insightful. I am guilty of "liking something" or thinking a certain way because it conforms to what other people believe. Now this may not always be a bad thing, but it can be when you get to the point where you always lose yourself in the wake of everyone's opinions.
As I go through high school, I realize there is this point of accepting who you are and being OKAY with that. Embracing it. By taking that step of accepting yourself for all you are, I think that's the gateway into being able to glance into yourself to find what you truly think, truly feel, truly believe.
This in particular is important because these days, we as a society are so wrapped up in technology and staying connected that going away into nature is becoming a thing of the past. Who cares about opinions? Google it and pick one that makes the most sense. Simply because we are so connected does not mean that this should serve as any subsitution for "isolation" and the early ideals that transcendentalism that those in the 19th century yearned for. There is a reason that I am studying this in English. It had an impact. It made some sense.
Also, relating back to the whole idea about high school. The reason I brought it up was because as everyone knows, the four years you are in high school are the years that in a sense define who you. Define who you become. Some people change a little while others completely transform. Thinking about both this and "Trust thyself" makes me wonder. By changing completely... does that lead to a different discovery of your self? Or does it lead you to finding something within yourself that was simply there all along and you would've inevitably found it?
Furthermore... as you get older, do you discover more about how you think and feel?
Hmm.
This unit will prove to be very inspiring.
Contrary to what most people would imagine, I'm not as familiar with this movement as I'd like to be, thus welcoming the unit. I am familiar with Thoreau and Emerson (particularly Emerson's self-reliance). According to wikipedia (the number source for any information I seek), transcendentalism (that is a beast to type) "began as a protest against the general state of culture and society at the time" and that the core belief was ideal spiritual state that 'transcends' the physical and empirical and is only realized through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions."
Huh. Interesting.
We were interpreting a quote of Thoreau, found in our anthology textbook. The quote itself is from Walden and it reads
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
We had a mini-discussion on what Emerson could mean by this. I said something along the lines of how man has to leave behind the structure and mold that society has over the greater population. Clearly this quote has relation to the old adage "Run to the beat of your own drum".
Well, I felt Emerson was addressing that truly figure out the beat of his drum, man must, in a sense, run away from society because there is always an influence. When you find the beat of your own drum, it should stay that way regardless if everyone else is off tempo with you.
Then Mr. P introduced the idea of Aristotle with "Trust thyself". The idea is that only you know your opinions and what's best for you. It is perfectly fine to agree with the opinions of others, so long as they come from within you. Needless to say, I'm finding all of this extremely insightful. I am guilty of "liking something" or thinking a certain way because it conforms to what other people believe. Now this may not always be a bad thing, but it can be when you get to the point where you always lose yourself in the wake of everyone's opinions.
As I go through high school, I realize there is this point of accepting who you are and being OKAY with that. Embracing it. By taking that step of accepting yourself for all you are, I think that's the gateway into being able to glance into yourself to find what you truly think, truly feel, truly believe.
This in particular is important because these days, we as a society are so wrapped up in technology and staying connected that going away into nature is becoming a thing of the past. Who cares about opinions? Google it and pick one that makes the most sense. Simply because we are so connected does not mean that this should serve as any subsitution for "isolation" and the early ideals that transcendentalism that those in the 19th century yearned for. There is a reason that I am studying this in English. It had an impact. It made some sense.
Also, relating back to the whole idea about high school. The reason I brought it up was because as everyone knows, the four years you are in high school are the years that in a sense define who you. Define who you become. Some people change a little while others completely transform. Thinking about both this and "Trust thyself" makes me wonder. By changing completely... does that lead to a different discovery of your self? Or does it lead you to finding something within yourself that was simply there all along and you would've inevitably found it?
Furthermore... as you get older, do you discover more about how you think and feel?
Hmm.
This unit will prove to be very inspiring.
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