Monday, November 23, 2020

"One world at a time..."

Henry David Thoreau

There is no point in worrying about an entire different world when we already have so

many problems with the one we currently live in. Especially when we have no control over it.

Death is inevitable, it is going to happen to each and everyone of us no matter what. Why worry

about the afterlife if we cannot do anything in our power to stop it? Why not instead make the

most of our lives on Earth rather than wasting our time stressing about something we cannot

change. People waste too much of their lives worrying about things they cannot control, what

happens after we die is irrelevant. The honest truth is no one knows what heaven is like, or if it

even exists. To be completely honest, it doesn’t matter, even if we did know what heaven was

like, so what? That still does not change the fact that we’re going to die, so why worry about it?

Live in the moment, enjoy your life now because you never know what could happen tomorrow.

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few..."

Shunryu Suzuki

When you do not know much about a subject, you have a fresh mind on the topic and can

still decide what you think. While if you think you already know everything about the topic, you

will already have your mind set on what you think is right and will most likely not let anyone or

any information change your mind. You should always have an open mind about everything

because what you may have believed to be correct may be wrong. If you think you already know
everything about a subject, you are limiting yourself to discovering more information. For

example, if a professional basketball player just thought they were the best and didn’t need to

train anymore, eventually they would become worse or other players would surpass them. Even

the best sports players may acknowledge that they are really good at the sport, but are still

constantly trying to get better. This does not just go for athletes, you should try your best to have

this mindset with everything you do because if you're constantly telling yourself you know

everything, you're stopping yourself from knowing anything.

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

Norman Cousins

The greatest loss in life is not living our life to the fullest. We don’t have that much time

on Earth, so make use of it. Don’t waste your life doing nothing, make something out of

yourself, make the world a better place. You cannot wait around to be inspired by other people,

be the person to inspire others and more importantly, inspire yourself. A waste of a life is worse

than death, because you're never going to get that time back. At least if you die, you can die

knowing you made this planet a better place and you made the most of your time on Earth.

What’s the point in living if you're not going to do anything with your life? All we have is that

small time window between when you're born and when you die, but what matters is what you

do in that time. Don’t wait around telling yourself you’ll do it when you're older, do it now.
 Poetry is not music, it is not just words that happen to rhyme and sound cool when you

sing them aloud. Real poetry should reach deep down and bring out your feelings. Good poetry

makes you feel joyful, depressed, upset, and other feelings, but great poetry makes you feel

feelings you didn’t even know you had inside you. Poetry is a way of expressing one's feelings

through writing and in return makes the reader feel a wave of emotions as well. Poetry should

make you understand the poets thoughts and emotions as well as feel those thoughts and

emotions yourself. Poems are gifts and should be cherished.

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

What is something that has made you angry recently?

This pandemic truly sucks, because of covid my classmates and I were not able to go on

our overnight graduation trip at the end of grade 8. Not only that, but we also never got to have a

proper goodbye because we were not aware that we wouldn’t be able to see each other anymore

for the rest of grade 8. Additionally, I missed my grade 9 orientation trip and never got to have a

proper grade 9 experience. I usually try my hardest to live everyday to its fullest potential but

that’s quite challenging to do when we are not allowed to have anyone over and everything is

closed.

If you don’t know how to take a loss you will never be able to truly win. Everyone loses,

and that’s okay, what matters is how you are able to bounce back from that loss and use it to get

better. Losses help us get better at what we do so we can win the next time around. If every time

you lost you cried about it and gave up you’ll never get better resulting in you losing again. Even
the best sports players of all time lose, losing helps us because it motivates us to keep training

and get better so we can achieve our goals. If you’re always winning at everything you do you’ll

never see what it feels like to lose so you won’t have any motivation to get better. Also, when

you do eventually lose, you're going to most likely handle it horribly because you were so used

to always getting easy wins without trying. Thus, you should always challenge yourself with

anything and everything you do because sometimes setting yourself up for failure isn’t always so

bad as it builds character and makes you an overall stronger person.

Thursday, November 26, 2020

“I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if

you really want to go.”

― Langston Hughes

Walt Disney once said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue

them.” If you want something but are telling yourself you cannot do it and do not even try it’s

probably because you do not want it bad enough. I know this for a fact because if you really

wanted something you would do anything and everything in your power to get it and achieve that

goal. For example, if you wanted to be a professional soccer player but every day instead of

training or working out, you just sat on your couch and played video games all day, do you truly

want to become a soccer player? The truth is, no, you don’t. You may like the idea of being a

professional soccer player, but you do not actually want it. This is because if your dream was

truly to become a soccer player you would work your ass off every day to achieve that goal. At

the end of the day, “If you don’t try to make your dreams a reality, that’s all they are.. dreams.”
Friday, November 27, 2020

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a

lot.”

~ Stephen King

The only way you can become better at something is by practicing. Even the best of the

best are constantly practicing what they do and trying their absolute hardest to get better. No

matter how good at something you may think you are you must always aim to get better and

excel. This is because if you don’t put in the work to get better, someone else will. If you're not

training as hard or even harder than everyone else they’ll inevitably surpass you. Even the best

athletes such as LeBron James or Lionel Messi are constantly training with no days off to get

better than they were the day before. No matter how naturally good you may be, always

remember, hard work beats natural skill every time.

Monday, November 30, 2020

"The only joy in the world is to begin."

You cannot have fun in this world if you are always scared to put yourself out there and

try new things. You must never be scared to begin new things and start new chapters of your life.

For if you are too scared to start new things in your life, you will regret it once you reach the

end. For instance, if you always told yourself you were too scared to ride a roller coaster, you

will never let yourself experience the joy and excitement of riding one. Then once you reach the
end of your life you’ll regret never giving yourself that experience. So if you want to live a full

life you have to always be eager to try new things.

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

I believe it's our responsibility to show our communities the value of all people, to celebrate

different, and to take a stand for acceptance and inclusion.

J. Foudy

You should always try your hardest to give everyone a chance because you never know

who they truly are on the inside. If everyone keeps staying away from someone calling them

dangerous, mean, or they steal, eventually that will start to get to them and they’ll embrace all

those characteristics. Eventually you would have created a person who is dangerous, mean, and

steals out of someone that possibly just wanted to be included or understood.

"The human race is a very strange race."

“The human race is a strange race.” Humans are a complicated race and are hard to

understand. Not two humans are the same yet none are too different. Although all humans are

similar in some ways, most choose to exclude others and hate on them for how they are on the

outside. Many of them die to the hands of other humans, sometimes for no specific reason. All

are born to love, but many grow to hate. The human race is truly a strange race.
Wednesday, December 2, 2020

"Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it."

Death is natural. Unfortunately, we will all experience it and may see it happen to loved

ones too. Death is a part of life and is just another chapter in our lives, more specifically the last.

Although it may be uncomfortable or depressing to talk about, it is important that we

acknowledge and discuss it. This is so it will be easier when we witness it happen to others and

even ourselves.

Your paragraph inspired by 'The Gift of the Magi.'

When I had originally wanted the PS4 Pro, my parents and I had made a deal that we

would split the price. My parents took a lot of time out of their day to find one for sale even

though they had better and more important things to do. This is because it was constantly sold

out everywhere we looked. Then, once we finally found one for sale, they told me the two of

them would pay the full price for it. I tried to convince them to go through with the original deal

but they insisted on paying full price. I appreciate not just the fact that they bought the console

for me, but also that they took so much time out of their day when they could have been doing

things they actually enjoy doing. I try everyday to not only repay them for what they did that

day, but also what they both constantly do for me everyday of their lives.

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Why are you Catholic?

 I am Catholic because my parents are Catholic. Although, I do not know if I am truly

Catholic, we only go to church about two times a year but I do believe in the things in the Bible

and in God. But I do not truly know why I am Catholic. Though even if I do not know why I am

Catholic, I do still think it is very good because it gives people hope and makes us better humans

in general. For instance, the ten commandments are great moral rules and I believe it is amazing

if people follow those rules.

Who would you like to send money?

I would give money to my grandmother. Her and my grandfather cannot work anymore

so instead only get a little bit of money from the government. They do not have much and their

house is very old. Although, she still has a big smile on her face everytime I see her. Even

though she does not have much money, she always tries to give so much to us. I am so grateful

for her and everything she does and would be so delighted to help her out with some money.

Friday, December 4, 2020

Stranger than Fiction

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

“A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from

which to look back or from which to look ahead.”

― Graham Greene
 You choose how to live your life and how to write your story. Never let anyone tell you

how to live your life, be the author of your own story and live in the moment. All that ever

matters is whatever is happening now, don’t waste your precious time stressing about things in

the future or about things that happened in the past. No one knows what will happen in the

future, and you cannot change what happened in the past so those are irrelevant. The past is just

another part of your story leading you to where you are now, so live now and worry about the

future when you get there. Everyone's life is a story, only you get to choose how yours will go.

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

“The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail.”

Even the little things count. When you show that you truly care about something and pay

attention to even the smallest details, it makes whatever you are doing extraordinarily better.

This is because it shows that you are passionate about whatever you are doing and that you do

not want it to be good, you want it to be perfect. You should always try your absolute hardest to

have this mentality with anything and everything you do because why be good, when you can be

the best. This is extremely important because if you do not care enough about what you are doing

to make it perfect, no one will. Also, this work ethic inspires others to work just as hard as you

making the world a generally better place.

Friday, December 11, 2020

"A sad soul can kill you quicker than a germ."

 Sadness is one of the deadliest illnesses out there. It creeps up on you without you

knowing and before you know it you do not want to go anywhere and instead just stay alone

depressed. Sometimes it comes up on you slowly, and other times it can hit you quick and

abruptly. Despite the fact that you can become depressed quickly, sadness takes a lengthy time to

heal. The only way to heal a broken heart is by surrounding yourself with others who care about

you but this can be quite difficult when you are sad because you want to isolate yourself from

everyone. Although it may be challenging, you must fight the pain with love. That is the only

way to heal sadness.

Monday, December 14, 2020

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end.

You live several lives while reading.”

A good book keeps you intrigued the whole story, but a great book makes you feel a

wave of emotions and allows you to understand the characters as well as feel their emotions. A

great book makes you envision the setting but gives you every smallest detail so you envision it

just as the author wants you to. In a great book, every little detail counts, this is why Steinbeck

includes several details about the setting.

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

"Find the journey's end in every step."

 In every step you take a chapter in your life ends, but a new beginning awakens. You

must be careful how you choose to live your life because once you do it you cannot go back as it

will be in the past. The past is irreversible so rather than worrying about all the mistakes you

have made, you must focus on learning from those mistakes to make better decisions in the

present and future. Rather than worrying about everything in the past, you should instead

acknowledge those mistakes and learn from them. For every mistake in the past, makes a new

opportunity in the future.

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

"A man is like a novel: until the very last page you don't know how it will end. Otherwise it

wouldn't be worth reading."

There is no point in living if you live everyday the same as the previous one. Live life the

way you want to live, rather than following what everyone else chooses to do. Life is short so

there is no point in doing things you do not want to do. Instead, go out of your comfort zone and

try things you have never done before. If you never try anything new you will never have any

new experiences and will regret it when you die. No one knows when they will die, and to be

honest it does not matter. All that matters is that you do not waste any time and instead do the

things you want to do now, so when you do eventually die, you can die knowing you lived your

life to its fullest potential.

Thursday, December 17, 2020

“Having a clear mind and a clear space allows you to think and act with purpose.”
 The only way to be creative and come up with original ideas is by doing nothing but

thinking. In order to truly think you must disregard yourself from any and every possible

distraction. You need to relax your mind and allow all the creative ideas to flow through your

mind. Several people lie to themselves by saying that music or other distractions helps them

think, but this is far from true. All music does is distract your brain from discovering new ideas

because you will become more focused on the song than thinking.

Monday, January 4, 2021

“As you get yourself back to work remember that the harder you work in this life, the

higher your chances of becoming successful are.”

You can never expect to do well in life if you are not willing to give your best effort in

any and every opportunity you have to do so. What you put into something is what you will get

out of it and this relates to life as well. If you are constantly trying your absolute hardest to be the

best person you can be, you will eventually get the fruit of your labour and all that hard work

will pay off. If you wish to accomplish your goals you must always have a good work ethic and

dedication. With these two factors you can accomplish almost any goal.

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

This bridge will take you halfway there - the last few steps you will have to take yourself.

You cannot expect everything in life to be handed to you, you must earn some things

yourself. No matter how many people you have helping you along the way, those people can
only take you so far. It is incredible and important to have multiple people in your life that help

you achieve your goals and be the best person you can be. Although, some things you must do on

your own. For instance, you can have people to help you study how to drive such as a driving

instructor, family, or friends. But when it comes to the actual driving test, you must take what

they taught you and pass the test on your own. All those other people cannot help you with

everything but they can help you along the way.

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a

mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

Too many people waste their lives trying to be someone they are not. They find whatever

is considered popular and copy it in hopes of becoming popular as well or being included. No

matter who you are or how old you are, everyone wants to be included and accepted by the

people around them. No one wants to be alone or excluded. Especially now, due to social media

being so accessible by everyone, many people become brainwashed from the things they see on

the internet leading them to believe that is the way they must act and be.

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Nothing worth having comes easy.

The most valuable things in life are things you worked hard getting. Even the smallest

things in life feel so incredible to obtain when you worked hard for them. If you just have
everything handed to you in life, you will never appreciate anything making your life miserable.

I believe no matter how wealthy your family is, people should teach their children to work for

their belongings so they can learn to appreciate the small things in life. This is because, if you do

not appreciate the small things, you will never be truly happy.

Friday, January 8, 2021

"If you're brave enough to start, you're strong enough to finish."

There is no excuse for failure, you can only blame yourself. If you cannot finish

something you started, you are the only one to blame. The fact that you took the time and had the

courage to begin something shows that you truly wish to finish it. And if you really want to

accomplish something, you will. This is because if you put your mind and hard work into

something, you can do it and even if you cannot, you can ask for assistance. If you are unable to

finish something, there will most likely be at least one person willing to help you accomplish

your goal.

Monday, January 11, 2021

“How you do the little things is how you do everything.”

Despite how insignificant you may think they are, the smallest details are what takes

something from good, to great. For instance, if you are writing an essay it is important to perfect

it to the smallest details because sometimes the smallest details are what impresses the reader​ ​the

most. An example of this is making sure your essay has a good format and looks neat. You can

do things such as trying your best to avoid cutting a paragraph in half between each page or
having an attention grabbing title. Adding these small details is crucial because they end up

making whatever you are doing significantly better.

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

"If you lay down, people will step over you. But if you keep scrambling, if you keep going,

someone will always, always give you a hand. Always. But you gotta keep dancing, you

gotta keep your feet moving."

People recognize and admire others who work hard. But contrary to that, people also

recognize weakness and sometimes in order to feel better about themselves, they will prey on the

weak. If you appear weak to others, they will take advantage of those weaknesses to make

themselves seem stronger. In this world, everyone is always trying to be better than everyone

else by all means, almost as if it is a huge game of predator and prey. We all become so obsessed

with power and becoming recognized and dignified, that we forget to dignify others.

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

"To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best."

Love is an incredible feeling and can lighten up our lives. If you truly love someone,

despite how stressful it may be, you should always tell them how you feel or you will never

know if your relationship with that person would work. If you never confess your feelings, you

may lose your opportunity to be with them because they may start dating someone else. Even if

the relationship between you two does not work out, at least you will know you tried and you
will still have the great memories of your relationship together. Although if you never try, you

will never know how far your relationship with that person could have gone and will be left in

questioning and regret for a long time.

Thursday, January 14th, 2021

“Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a

world we aspire to.”

Great theatre not only makes us feel several emotions, but also forces us to think about

what the playwright truly meant about some lines as well as makes us envision the world in the

story. Some lines may be interpreted differently depending on who's reading the play. The

playwright does this intentionally to challenge our minds and make us truly think about each and

every word in the play as well as its true meaning. This way, even when we are not reading or

watching the play, we continue to think about the words spoken and what message the

playwright is trying to get across. I believe this way of writing is incredible because you can

learn a lot about yourself from the way you choose to interpret certain words. The playwright not

only forces us to think about the words in the play, but also in return think about ourselves.

Monday, January 18th, 2021

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

If we can never learn to cooperate with the people around us, we will never succeed as a

community. In order to evolve and advance our technology, we must learn to cooperate as well
as combine our individual skills with our peers. If we all refuse to get along and instead work

alone we will never get far with our research, causing us to hit many dead ends. Although this

does not only relate to modern studies and evolving our world, we must also cooperate with

others in several things we do if we wish to succeed. For example, if you are on a sports team but

none of the players are getting along or cooperating, there will be no teamwork and the team is

destined to fail. If the team wishes to win, they must set aside their differences and respect each

other. Only then can you work together as a team and succeed. Whatever you are doing, you

must always respect the people around you even if deep down you do not like them.

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021

"Many will start fast, few will finish strong."

Anyone can start something strong, but only the truly skilled ones can finish off with the

same strength. When starting something, many people try to jump in using their full strength

causing them to finish off weak or not finish at all. For instance, if you are in a boxing match and

decide to use up all your energy in the first few rounds, your opponent will dominate you

towards the end of the match if they preserved their energy. Whatever you are doing, you must

always stay calm and never get too eager. Instead, always keep your composure and analyze the

situation first, before acting irrationally. When you act without thinking you are bound to make a

mistake and fail. This goes for anything and everything you do such as a test or even a job

interview. Whatever you do, think before acting and never get too eager. This way you can start

off strong, whilst still ensuring that you finish just as great.
Wednesday, January 20th, 2021

"Keep going, because you didn't come this far to only come this far."

If you truly want to do something and you trained or practiced for it, never quit. If you

spent time training hard for something, you owe it to yourself to at least finish it. If you cannot

finish, all that hard work and training will be for nothing. Even if you fail, you must keep

training and try again until you succeed. If you want something, never stop training until you

achieve that goal. If you are not willing to put in the work for anything, you will never succeed

in life and you are bound to fail.

Thursday January 21st, 2021

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

Hope is one of the strongest things in our lives, it keeps us fighting and allows us to

surpass our limits. If you never have hope, you can never succeed and you are setting yourself up

to fail. No one else can have hope in you if you do not have hope in yourself, if you always

believe you will fail, the people around you will begin to feel the same way about you, and

possibly themselves as well. Hope and determination are contagious, if you constantly have hope

and show determination, you will start to inspire the people around you to do the same. You will

begin to not only inspire yourself, but the people around you as well. Contrary to that, if you

always give up whenever you are faced with a challenge, the people around you may lose their

hope and determination due to your negativity. You should always have hope and show
determination because you will not only help yourself, but you may also help others you do not

even know.

Friday, January 22nd, 2021

“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”

If you are constantly worrying about how much time is passing by, or how much time

you have left, you will never focus on making the time you have count. How much time you

have left in this world is irrelevant, what truly matters is how you spend that time. There is an

island in the middle of nowhere called Saba. The island has a huge volcano which the people

who inhabit the island know can erupt at any minute killing every last one of them. Although,

instead of living in constant fear, it is said that the people have become experts at having fun and

live every day like it is their last. They do not care about insignificant things such as petty drama

or hold grudges on one another. Instead, they all simply live in peace and have fun with their

lives while still having jobs to make money. I believe if everyone in the world lived with the

same mentality as the people of Saba, we could all live happier lives and not stress about things

that do not truly matter.

Monday January 25th, 2021

“Let this Monday be kind to you: be happy with what you have and accept the things

which you cannot change.”

 There is no point in wasting your life worrying about things you cannot change such as

death. Instead, we should all try to live our lives trying to fix the things we can change about

ourselves such as our health and all around enjoy life's treasures instead of living in constant

stress. Enjoy today, and cherish every moment of your life instead of worrying about tomorrow.

No one knows what will happen in the future so it does not matter, all that matters is what is

happening right now. Countless people live their lives in stress, constantly worrying about what

will happen in the future or mistakes they made in the past. No one has the ability to change the

past, or predict the future, all we can control is the present.

Tuesday, January 26th, 2021

If you don't plant the seeds of the result you want in life, in your mind, weeds will grow

automatically. What are you planting in your mind this Tuesday - results or weeds?

If you constantly think negative thoughts, calling yourself dumb or stupid and never

believe in yourself, you will begin to embrace those words and believe they are true. Contrary to

that, if you constantly believe in yourself and always have faith you will succeed, you will feel

better about yourself and have more confidence. Never let anyone else’s words get to you,

whether they are good or bad. If you constantly let insults get to you emotionally, you will never

have any self confidence and you will believe those insults are true. Also, if you always let

complements get to you emotionally as well, you may become too confident to the point where

you are arrogant and believe you are the best at everything which is not true. Never let something

as simple as words get in your way of being the best you, you can be. Instead, acknowledge

those words mentally, and never take them to the heart emotionally.
Wednesday, January 27th, 2021.

"Each morning is the open door to a new world – new vistas, new aims, new plans, new

things…Wednesday morning is no less." So, what are you going to do today, with this

Wednesday?

Each day has the opportunity and potential to be an incredible or memorable experience.

There is no point in waiting to do the things you love when you can do them today. Stop lying to

yourself, saying you will be productive tomorrow, or on the weekend. Those are all lies because

if you really wanted to be productive you would do it the second you had the opportunity to

rather than telling yourself you will do it later. By saying those phrases all you are doing is both

lying to yourself, as well as the people around you. Stop lying to yourself and do things you love

as well as start being productive now.

Thursday, January 28th, 2021.

“Thursday …Nothing more pleasurable than opening our eyes and realizing that every

day, God gives us a chance to try again. Of not looking back. To love, smile and live!”

Despite what negative things may have happened in the days leading up to now, each and

every day is an opportunity to start new and redeem ourselves. Treat each and every day as an

opportunity to be the best you can possibly be, and to make up for the wrongs you may have

done in the past. Do not worry about what happened in the past, all you need to focus on is the

present. Use the past as knowledge to learn from, and use that knowledge to do better in the
present making yourself a better person every day. Do not stress over small mistakes, instead

learn from them and move on. If everyone could always have this mentality we would all

constantly evolve and do better as a community.