Journal #29- Natural disasters

One of the most obvious times when nature is in control is during huge storms like tornadoes or hurricanes.  The most recent occurrence of a hurricane that I have heard of was hurricane Sandy that hit New England in 2012.  This was a pretty large storm that did massive damage all across the coast including large cities like New York City.  The damage that buildings and trees received was the worst since the hurricane that hit New Orleans years ago.  This natural disaster left thousands of people with damaged or lost houses and caused much destruction.  I remember hearing about the problems of getting gas to the area.  This caused much chaos because people could not rely on vehicles without gas to run them.  This natural disaster was all over national television.  It also played a significant role in deciding the election.  One candidate chose a more helpful approach to the struggling citizens while the other had had some comments earlier that had offended some people.  As always when an area of our country is in need, the rest of it comes to its aid.  Millions of dollars from charities and churches were sent to help the people of New England recover from this natural disaster.  Then a few years ago in August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.  This was probably the worst natural disaster that has ever occurred in the United States.  It devastated the area of New Orleans and pretty much leveled the city.  I went on a cruise a few years after that left from New Orleans, and the city had still not fully recovered.  Many buildings were still in pieces and the city did not look like it had recovered yet.  As with Sandy, hundreds of thousands of people donated money, supplies, or food to help the people.  Thousands more traveled down to Louisiana to aid in building houses.  It is always cool to see the country uniting after such a natural disaster.

Journal #28- Cultures

Going to a foreign culture and spending time with others of different social statuses can be a very interesting experience.  Many years ago when I was in the Dominican Republic for a missions trip.  The area I was in was a very different culture from my own.  Everyone in the nearest town I was staying by lived in shacks of metal scraps and other types of material they could find.  The nicer houses were made out of concrete and every floor was a dirt floor.  The people there lived the best they could with the resources that they had.  Most of the kids did not have shoes and had to walk quiet a distance to get to school.  This trip was very eye opening for me.  I got to experience a foreign culture and realize just how blessed I am.  I also helped teach Vacation Bible School while I was there.  The kids loved to laugh and play games.  They came from up to a mile away on foot to celebrate with us.  We just set up in the middle of a dirt road and played our games there.  One of their favorite games was kind of like ring around the rosy.  I had a great time playing with them.  The culture of the children was so different than what I live in here in the United States, but many things were still similar.  The children like to have fun in very similar ways as we do here.  Another difference in their culture is the food.  Down in the tropics, fruit is a lot more common and I had many different types of fruit that I had never previously had.  When it comes to social classes, the area I stayed in seemed to have only one.  The lower poor class was the area we were helping out.  It was amazing to me to see that people can have so much joy even when they have so little physical gains.

Journal #27- Far away

It would be an honor to serve miles away from home defending my country.  I probably would not enjoy it very much, but it would be necessary.  In a time of war, if our country were to call on its citizens to take up arms, I would not be one to volunteer for service.  I love my country, but being in the military is not how I could best serve this nation.  Hypothetically if I was far away from home fighting in a war I would be scared.  Waking up every day and knowing that it might be my last is not a great thought.  Besides the fear of the unknown, living conditions would probably not be very nice.  There is a good chance that I would constantly be on the move, so permanent structures would not be where I sleep.  The food would be the worst part though.  I would not get the home cooked meals I do at home, no chocolate chip cookies, and definitely no ice cream.  Fighting for my country in a time of war would mean sacrificing my safety, my way of life, and possibly my life.  I would be willing to do it if I had to, but it would not be an easy choice to make.  The lack of family support would also be a hard part of being far from home.  I would not have anyone to rely on except my fellow soldiers.  It would get pretty lonely without family support.  Life would never be the same if I survived such a time.  The brutal training that I would first have to endure, and then the bloodshed that I would see with my own eyes would leave me a different person.  I cannot even imagine what life would be like living and fighting away from home for my country.  My motivation that would keep me ffocused would be that I was fighting for everyone back home. 

Journal #26- Unexpected Turn

I time in my life that an event turned out differently than I thought it would was this past year's cross- country season.  I came into the season in the best off-season shape I have ever been in.  I was hitting my paces and keeping up with our number one runner.  The first week of practice went great.  I had high hopes for myself and the team in making it to state.  The previous cross- country season I was number two in the conference, only behind my teammate.  We were the fastest in the area and we both had brothers that are currently freshman.  After the first week of the season I began to have tendon pain in my Achilles tendon.  After a few days of practice it did not go away so I visited the doctor.  They told me that I had developed Achilles tendinitis.  It was not yet severe, so I would only need to take two weeks off of running.  I took those two weeks off, but was falling behind in my conditioning.  I made it back in time for the first meet, but I was out of shape so I did not finish well.  About a week later I was having trouble breathing.  I thought it was just because I was out of shape so I ran through it.  Soon even the easiest workouts would bring me to exhaustion.  Finally I went to the allergist and found out I had running induced asthma.  I had also developed an iron deficiency during this time.  When I started taking an inhaler and iron supplements, I began to feel a little better.  This was one week before regionals. I trained hard the next three weeks and was able to recover enough to run well in sectionals. My breakthrough along with my teammates successes brought us to the state meet.  At the state meet I ran within eight seconds of my sophomore best time so I managed to overcome opposition and finish strong.  I was happy that I chose to push through the pain instead of give up.

Journal #25- Giving

Giving is an important part of life.  I have heard the popular saying many times that giving is better than receiving.  The longer that I live, the more true this seems to be.  I have realized that I do not get that much joy getting things because I will eventually get bored of it and want something more.  Giving on the other hand, gives a sense of satisfaction.  You feel good after doing something for someone else.  Thanksgiving is a holiday dedicated to this action.  For centuries giving gifts has been a demonstration of friendship and love.  The Indians and Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation showed their friendship by sharing food and methods of agriculture.  Then, when Abraham Lincoln instated Thanksgiving as a holiday, the entire nation began celebrating the act of giving.  Every year we get together with our families to remember everything that we have been blessed with.  Sometimes we forget the true meaning of this holiday.  We get so caught up in the food and not being in school that we forget what really matters.  Giving is an important characteristic to have.  Many people get caught up in receiving and only think about themselves that this concept is becoming rare.  I  hope that our society comes back to the practice of giving to each other and those in need.  This past Christmas, I was not that concerned with what I was going to get.  Instead, I was happy to see my family receiving my gifts. There is just something about giving that makes people feel more alive.  This is apparent in all types of occupations like missionaries and doctors.  These people give their time to help others.  This is also true for firefighters and paramedics.  They even put their life on the line to help other people.  Giving is so much better than receiving.