26
January
2007
Decisions like this have no right answer. I hate to say it but what one person says, another person will argue the exact opposite. So answering this question is purely a matter of opinion. My opinion is that you should protect them while they can’t protect themselves, but after that you should let them learn through exploratory trial and error. But the line that divides the time when they can’t protect themselves and when they can is very blurry, as it is dependent on the maturity of the child. I agree ENTIRELY with Silver Lining’spost on this same question. I think a lot of people know (not to over generalize) “those” types of people. The people who can’t make any decisions or make decisions that have serious consequences because they have never learned how to make decisions from the start. It’s entirely a judgement call by the parent as to when they let the child figure it out on their own and when they shield them from mistakes. Now i’m not talking about the big stuff like kids/teens trying drugs, smoking, or little kid’s running out in the street or putting their hand on a hot stove, because the consequences of those “explorations” are two permanent and serious to be an experience. What i’m talking about is stuff like should they let the kid learn that if they start their homework at 9:00 they will stay up late and be tired or should they tell them to start their home work at 7:00 so that doesn’t happen, or if they see their driving age child speeding should they put one of the many tracking devices avalible in the car and yell at them every time they speed or should they let them get a ticket and make them pay for it with their own money. To me (and I think most teenagers) parent’s yelling at me/arguing with me get’s no result. It’s when they use something that I am invested in back as a threat, then I start paying attention. When something of mine is at stake then the situation becomes different. I think the best teacher is your own mistakes, but in order to learn from them you must have a consequence that affects you directly, not someone else.
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17
January
2007
I sat on the cold, blue and white checkered floor of the ICU ward of Oakfield Plaza Hospital. Doctors, nurses, and attendants walked by me carrying stethoscopes, pills, and worst of the bunch, needles. The sharp fluorescent lights lining the ceiling sent flashes of light off the needle tips. I shuddered and closed my eyes to try and block it out but it didn’t work, the chemical and plastic smell cut through every defense I had. I was feeling squeamish and my stomach felt weak. I got up with the thought of going to the restroom and ran straight into the doctor. “Oh I’m sorry,” I apologized. He had a needle. I gulped and looked away.
“That’s okay, I just need to medicate your father with 2 cc’s of morphine to take him out of pain.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“We don’t know yet, but we are working on it.”
He put his hand on the door and pushed it open. I saw the bed with my father in it. He was hooked up to all these tubes and machines, but he was still moaning and struggling to breathe. The machines and smells seemed to be surrounding and suffocating me. Irealized the doctor was still waiting for me to say something. “I’ll see you later I uhh…have to go eat something” He nodded but I was already walking away, I had to get out of there.
Posted: Uncategorized
12
January
2007
Is it ever okay to lie? The “golden answer” is obviously no. But I think 98% of the people who say that (including ME) are hypocrites, because they have made AT LEAST one lie in their life, probably many more. Now if you catch someone in the act of lying they will either deny it, of justify it with reasons such as, “I was doing it for your own good, It’s okay because everyone does it, I had no choice,” etc.,etc. Like I said I’m technically a hypocrite, but I think that even though people always come up with a reason of why it was okay to lie, that it is never really acceptable to lie. I may sound like a teacher/your parent/ whoever else lectures you but, YOUR LIES WILL ALWAYS COME BACK TO BITE YOU (trust me on this it has happened to me to many times to count). Think of this, you lied to someone, so now everytime you see them or interact with them you have to remember what you lied about and keep up that lie, If you keep doing this all your energy will be taken up trying to remember every lie youv’e ever told anybody. What unnecessary stress! So on the whole you CAN lie but you shouldn’t, you CAN justify it but it’s not really okay, and you can say you believe in something but that means you should practice it.
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2
January
2007
1. Read a book with over 225 pages and write a good book review
2.Follow a training/fitness program for my horse and I and place in the top 5 at our first competition in May
3. Learn the correct use of commas and Quotations and write a mini-lesson summurizing how to use both
What I need:
For Project #1:
- Libraries/online book finder
- A book review outline/plan
- Examples of good book review
For Project #2:
- Training books for the horse
- Fitness books for the horse
- Fitness books for me
- Trainer
- My horse
For Project #3:
- Many (at least 3) sources educating me on the correct use of commas and quotation marks
- A computer
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