Christian Gerard Eleria

2-12-18
9-5

CL
Reflection

“ The Journey”

It has been an wonderful and epic journey in this school

year, it has been full of ups and downs, mysteries and
unexpected outcomes that I’ve accepted whether not it was
good nor bad it was fine for me, I never wanted a life that I
was like the smartest kid in the room but in reality I’m just a
regular student that works hard everyday and serves the
mission of God that is to bring the good news and be an
inspiration to all society. I’m satisfied that I made
contributions for my classmates and my teachers, I don’t let
anybody down because I will work hard and strive for
greatness because the future is now!, It was also a second
coming for me like a Renaissance school year because my
grades improved, shop grade a little improvement but I am
grateful that little sacrifice can take me to the top step by
step. But the most important thing is that I always put God
and my Family first because I don’t just do this just for me
but I do this for our Lord our God and the people that have
helped me to become a better person. It also made me think
that I should keep this going because I never had an
experience that every way that I do it becomes an outcome
 of success, We all do things in life that we regret. We also
do things in life that make us proud of the people that we
are. Still, there are things in life that we hope to someday be
able to do. All of these things make up who we are and how
we've come to be ourselves. Occasionally we'd like to
change the past because of regrets, though this would
completely change who we are.
The past few years have been very trying for me. A
lot of events had taken place, and sent me down a road I
should never have gone down. The events themselves need
not be spoken of; the affects that occurred due to them are
the focal point. I had become severely depressed. I could
have cared less about what anyone thought of me or what
would happen to me. I became careless in my everyday
decisions that should have come easy to me. My friendships
suffered, my relationships suffered, as well as my career as a
student. Now, I can say that I have turned my life around.
Some things from the past few years still haunt me to this
day, but I'm able to cope with them thanks to the help I
received from people who do care about me. I have been
going to school on as much of a regular basis as possible
considering my low immune system, I'm doing my school
work, I've become social again, and rekindled the bonds
between my friends and myself. High school is an
experience memorable for a lifetime, only if it is made
memorable. One thing I regret about high school is not
having enough fun, and truly savoring my youth. The
constant constraint of freedom was another nagging issue.
Maybe I should have embraced a few extra curricular
activities just to spend time with friends. This year in
college, I am taking up something daring and new. This time
 no regrets slip by me and I hope that I can compensate in
college with my newly gained freedoms.
In addition to learning, and working, I will make a
better effort at having fun. This includes girls, parties, and
taking advantage of my new "college age". When I grow up
and my children ask me, "Daddy, what was college like?"; I
refuse to disappoint them with another average reply. Sure,
college is all about majoring in a subject that will eventually
take over your social life, as youth begins to decline, but it
should be more than that. It has everything high school
offered, except no parents, and everyone is more or less on
the same level of maturity (as adults).
Having fun is something that never gets old and
depending on how it is done, it can be very daring (nothing
wild though). I need to seize the opportunity of students
being away from his or her parents for the first time in their
lives. This type of opportunity is once in a lifetime.
Reflecting on my high school years, maybe I will have the
courage to ask a couple girls out, or get off my lazy bum and
join a futurity. One thing is for sure, if I want a social life
other than work, and a strictly academic schedule. I will
need to get involved with the local campus community.
Reading Reflection: “The Span of Life” Reading Reflection:
“The Span of Life” Although only sixteen words long, this
poem jumped off the page and into my head, heart, and soul.
As I read “the old dog bark backwards without getting up”
(Clugston, 2010, What literature contributes to our lives,
para. 11) for the first time, I thought of the literal meaning of
the sentence. It’s just an old dog on the floor barking back at
something it is bothered by. Then it hits me after I read “I
 can remember when he was a pup” (Clugston, 2010, What
literature contributes to our lives, paragraph. 11).

This is not just about an old dog on the floor. This situation
will eventually happen to every single one of us. I then
began to imagine myself as an old man, looking back on my
life and what I had made of it. Am I happy with what I have
become? Could I have done it any differently? Did I make
all the right choices in my life? At this point I can’t change
anything, as I am on the way out of the life I have created for
myself. I am now having feelings I can’t place words on. So,
how does this work of literature cause me to go to such a
place in my mind so vividly and powerfully?

How do I account for the feelings that I am having? This

paper will provide my reflections and insights into the poem
“The Span of Life” by Robert Frost by describing why it
caught my interest as the reader, and then evaluating the
meaning of the poem using the reader-response approach to
literary criticism. This work immediately captured my
interest because of the powerful image that Frost creates of
an old dog on the floor. I am a dog lover and I have always
had them around. I know what an old dog looks like laying
on the floor; tired, grey, and frail.

Frost has “given us first a sound picture of the dog near the
end of his life” (Wood, 2009, para. 4). With this image I am
free to determine what that dog means to me as the reader. In
addition, after reading the next line I am completely drawn
in by the powerful symbolism that is used to represent the
actual span of life that we all shall experience (Clugston,
 2010). This is where all the emotions kick in. So, what
aspects of this poem make me feel the way that I do about it?
The following will describe that process. The reader-
response approach to literary criticism focuses on making
connections and reflecting on them. In ddition to making
connections to a work of literature, the feelings that are felt
must be accounted for. According to this approach, I must
never solely depend on my feelings and opinions; they must
be linked to the literary aspects within the work (Clugston,
2010). This approach offers endless interpretive possibilities
by the reader and there is no right or wrong way to interpret
a literary work (Reader response criticism, 1997). Clugston
(2010) suggests that I use “connecting” questions to help
develop a critical analysis of the poem. According to these
questions, I should first consider what captured my
imagination.

As described above, it was simply the powerful imagery

and symbolism. Next, I should consider if what I felt was an
emotion, a curiosity, or an aspiration. With the particular
poem I was overtaken first by curiosity of what this poem
could mean, and then by emotion, especially when I sat back
and thought about what Frost was trying to convey.
Imagining the dog barking backwards I see myself looking
into the past. He used that image of the old dog to evoke
thoughts and emotions about the “inevitable life cycle that
both the dog and the reader face” (Clugston, 2010, What
literature contributes to our lives, para. 4). Now, it must be
determined if the above mentioned involves a desire to
escape the past or present. In this case, I want to escape both.
I don’t want to deal with my death moving forward, and I
 am questioning what I have done in the past. So, what
motivation or change did my connection with this piece of
literature create in my thinking and my relationships? “I can
remember when he was a pup” had me thinking about my
past and the life I have already lived. Then, I immediately
begin thinking about my mortality. Have I lived enough and
in a way that I would want to be remembered if I die
tomorrow?

Do the people that I love know that I do? Moving forward,

how can I make my life better? This poem brought about so
much thought for me. Now, what connections can I make
between this work and others that I have read and do those
connections reinforce things I know or add new insights? In
this case it was more about adding new insights than
connections. With those sixteen short words I was brought
into a world that I really have never experienced from the
written page. Experiencing the emotions from this work has
a lot to do with my life at this time.

It was easier for me to relate to death and dying more than I

ever have. This poem added new insights to my life more
than anything else as is evidenced by all of the above
analysis. In conclusion, “The Span of Life” gripped me, held
me close, and brought me to a place in my mind I have never
experienced from the written page. This paper provided my
reflections and insight into the poem by Robert Frost by
describing what caught my interest, and then evaluating the
meaning of the poem using the reader-response approach to
literary criticism.
 Heb 12:1-4
Ps 22:26b-27, 28 and 30, 31-32
Mk 5:21-43

"Do not be afraid; just have faith." - Mark 5:36

The readings can be viewed as a spiritual wake-up call.
They ask us to refocus and ensure we are living a life of
faith. We often find ourselves pulled in countless directions
and sometimes forget our common vocation to become
righteous servants of God. Therefore, the readings remind
us we must continually place faith in God and trust his
guidance in our daily lives.

The first reading shows us we must maintain trust and faith

in God in times of trial and persecution. During these
difficult times, we might feel as though God has forgotten us
and there is no point for having faith. However, the reading
tells us we must “persevere in running the race that lies
before us” (Hebrews 12:1). In order to help us on this
journey, God sent Jesus to the world as an example of how
one can give his or her whole life to God. Through the
example of Jesus, God shows that we are not alone when we
encounter challenges or struggles to our faith. Jesus
experienced great suffering in his life devoted to serving
God, and the reading reveals that Christ will continue to be
present in the suffering we face each day. As we continue to
try to live out our faith, we must realize Christ will ever be
with us, even in instances of intense hardship. Therefore, we
are called “to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2)
 while we persevere on the path to become true disciples of
God.

The Gospel carries on the theme of the importance of faith

by providing two great examples of people placing great
trust in the power of Jesus. First, there is the woman who
has been afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
Twelve years is a long time to have a painful disease, and
this part always struck me when I read the Gospel. It would
be understandable for the woman to have given up. She
could have just accepted the fact she was always going to
have the disease and would never get better. Therefore,
when the woman trusts that she could be healed just by
touching Christ's cloak, she shows a form of complete faith
in the saving power of Christ. Even though she probably has
had no previous experience with Jesus, she is still able to
believe that Christ will be able to help her, and Jesus
responds to her great faith by completely healing her.

After we see the saving power of faith through the

hemorrhaging woman, the Gospel presents another
seemingly hopeless situation with the death of Jairus’
daughter. While others think the situation is a lost cause,
Jairus does not lose faith and pleads for Jesus to help him.
Jesus again responds to this act of faith by raising his
daughter to life. The readings reveal that faith is a needed
part for experiencing God in our lives. Faith helps us
remember that God will forever be with us, no matter how
dire the situation. Therefore, we should strive to live out
Jesus’ proclamation in the Gospel when he says, “Do not be
afraid; just have faith.” (Mark 5:46).
 Someone hearing this story could consider me a bad person
for doing what I had done, which I have no disagreement
with, but they must also see that those events have made me
who I am today. Granted, I could have become who I am
through other means, but I don't believe that they could have
made me as wise as I am. My reputation was scarred
severely by my actions, and many people hate me, but
regardless of anything, I still can change for the better things
that the systems needs to move on and get over, I know that
as an individual I can still make shock to the system by
being low key, teaching students the right way and path to
God and to give them a responsibility that one of them can
be inspirations to the people that is in need of change and to
be given a second chance that they can prove that they too
still have faith with God and they can continue the mission
that is being passed by generation to generation, we must not
stop now because the glory of god can lead us to the promise
land and to our destinies that awaits us. And since let is near
upon us these are my insights about lent: F- idelity
( Having fidelity in your life is important because you
remain loyal to your country, family, friends and to God in
any situations.)
A- bstinence ( With abstinence you can stop what you do
because it’s best for your well being and to move forward to
a better future.)
I- dolized ( Before being idolized you must work hard,
make sacrifices, help the people in need and strive for a
better tomorrow.)
T-rust ( Having trust will make the persons around you
bring out the best of them because you trust at their abilities
and you give them a sign you trust them no matter what
happens.)
H-onesty ( Honesty can cool down a situation that when
you did something wrong and you tell the truth to them with
confidence and not lying to your misdeeds.) From these
writing classes, I realized that how we love or hate writing
does not determine our skills. There is always a room for
improvement if we are bad at something. We would receive
negative feedbacks and failing grades sometimes but we
would also receive passing grades or medals other times.
What is important is we keep on learning and improving.
And I know that writing gives us an opportunity to express
what we feel on a certain situation or someone, it gives us so
many ideas that gives us the direction to write it on a paper,
It may take awhile a bit but it is worth of doing when your in
the mood of writing an reflective essay, F or me right now
who is writing an reflective essay, I don’t mind that I do this
because it’s not just for my own benefit but it’s also for the
teacher’s benefit, I love that they would read this because I
poured on everything, my time, sacrificed gaming, social
media, basketball and food. I know that I can risk anything
just to passed because behind the scenes I’m a risk taker that
will do anything just to succeed and get the recognition that
resulted of my hard work and the determination to look at
the better picture and to aim higher than Mt. Everest, nothing
is stopping me to reach my full potential and I will bring it
alongside my faith with God and my Family and friends thus
teachers that to show them that how much I’ve improved.
And also to cap it off, I know that death can’t be side step or
to escape from it’s presence but I belive on my own saying,
Belive in life before death, never lose hope of living your
life to the fullest instead of thinking the end, and also take
care of your health so that in will never be in a situation that
can hurt your body. The objective relieve/alleviate pain and
suffering,prevent added/further injury or dangers and
extend/prolong life.

Be….
Gentle
Resourceful
Tactful
Emphatic
Respectable

May god be the glory.

FIN.

Christian Gerard Eleria

9-5