Sacrifices

Sacrifices Are Present In Our Everyday Life

“Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.” - Mitch Albom

We all have to make sacrifices everyday, big and small. In the short story, Through the Tunnel, by Doris Lessing, Jerry is focused on a certain goal, so he practiced and each time came home with a bloody nose, but he realized it was a sacrifice he had to make. “His nose bled so badly that he turned dizzy and had lie limply over the big rock like a bit of seaweed..” This material may be protected by copyright.When Jerry first tried to make it through the tunnel, he lost his breath, almost got stuck and drowned. He continued to try though, he wanted to achieve his goal. Jerry saw the older boys going under water and coming up a little while later on the other side of the wall. He he decided to try himself once they left. He jumped off the rock and swam toward the bottom, but he each time he ran out of breath before he was able to find the tunnel. He came back the next day with a new strategy and practiced more and more until he felt confident to try again. He jumped in, let the rock bring him down, found the tunnel and went for it. He began to make his way, counting his breathes as he went, “Fifty, fifty­one, fifty­two…” He pulled himself through banging his head on the top as he went. He pulled himself up and made his way through and floated his way to the top with his pain filled lungs. He felt accomplished, but he payed a price,

He could see nothing but a red­veined, clotted dark. His eyes must have burst, he thought; they were full of blood. He tore off his goggles and gout of blood went into the sea. His nose was bleeding, and the blood had filled the goggles.

Jerry knew it wouldn’t be easy, he knew it might cause pain, and he knew it was a sacrifice he would have to make. “An immense, swelling pain filled his head..”. While practicing he struggled to breathe and pain filled his lungs, but he kept trying. During his final test; however, he bumped his head and his nose started to bleed, “His head knocked against something; a sharp pain dizzied him.” The kept pushing and kept going through the long way. He was beaten up, he made a sacrifice to achieve his goal. Not everyone wants to sacrifice something, but sometimes it’s the price we have to pay. 

Failure

A Little Help Never Hurts

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently”

- Henry Ford

I didn’t do good enough. It’s never easy to accept failure, but it makes it easier when the people around have been in the same position and are willing to help. When I came up short on my goal and it seemed like I couldn’t catch a break, my teachers and friends were there for me. There the ones who I can’t count on to always have my back and the ones I can always turn to for help. It was the last day of actual school in seventh grade and we were getting our Latin exams back. All I needed was anything above an 85% in order to move up into the honors class. I was so fixed on achieving this goal, I hadn’t thought about what might happen if I did fail, until I saw my test. An 80% not good enough. I filled with disappointment and sadness. I thought about everything I could have done better and all the mistakes I had made. I was disappointed and Ms. Libby noticed and so did my friends. My friends left my alone and kept to themselves, but Ms. Libby knew how bad I wanted to succeed and saw how upset I was. She pulled me aside and basically said everything will be okay. I forgot most of what she told me that except for what she said last. She said, “Everything happens for a reason, you need to move on from this, you will be fine.” I didn’t think much of this back then, but now I’ve really taken it to heart. I’ve really thought about what she said. Everything happens for a reason has stuck with me since that day, it’s made me think about how I can do better in all aspects of life and how this can lead to something positive. What she said wasn’t the only thing that stuck with me though, it was just the general gesture of how she was willing to help me out. If you surround yourself with people that have your back, you can’t go wrong. 

A Mothers Day Gift

A) Mother’s Day is right around the corner
B) Each year she receives the same exact gift
A) I know it’s Mother’s Day, weather is warmer
B) maybe we will give her something we craft

C) She said something about a certain ring
D) sometimes we play golf and go out to eat
C) i don’t understand why gifts are a thing
D) but each year we get them and they always repeat

E) I want to give her something that she likes
F) I am not sure what I have no idea
E) she definitely does not want a kite
F) She will never want a trip to Korea

G) Maybe she doesn’t want anything at all
G) I will think about this later, time for baseball

Thoreau’s View On Work And Money

Money isn't everything. Do you get married because of money? Do you have kids because of money? - Walter Payton

    Money isn’t everything. Henry David Thoreau believed that life was to precious to work all the time. He wanted only wanted to work as much as he needed. Thoreau writes,“For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands, and I found that, by working about six weeks in a year, I could meet all the expenses of living.” He found the concept of work to be set back and that it often slows people down. He said that in a race between a train and a man on foot, a man on foot will always win. He states this because in a race from Concord to Fitchburg a train ticket costs one dollar, which is about as much as a days work. So, instead of working a full day and riding the train later he argues that its faster to just walk. Thoreau writes,

“I start now on foot, and get there before night; I have travelled at that rate by the week together. You will in the meanwhile have earned your fare, and arrive there some time tomorrow, or possibly this evening. Walking may be more tiring and more painful, but instead of wasting money and waiting an extra day you can get there on time without wasting money.”

Thoreau is correct, the man had to get one days work of money to pay for the train ride. By the time he had got the money, Thoreau would already be in Fitchburg. This feeds off of the idea of money isn’t everything. People only need as much as they need to live. People may work hard to pay for a lovely vacation but of course this isn’t necessary. Going back to the first quote, six weeks could pay all of the expenses of living. Money and work can be done quickly and the rest of the time being free. People may choose to work more to buy fancy and cool things but Thoreau knows this aren’t a necessity and those things aren’t part of his lifestyle. Living like Thoreau is not a lifestyle that most will choose but it is a way of living. There is more to life than money and work.

The Bus

“You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.”
-Alan Alda

I am from the bus. The rides to hockey, lacrosse, football, class trips, and service projects. I have made endless memories from the fenn vans, although it may be an unexpected place it is a place I am comfortable with and one that is with all my friends and teammates. I usually take the bus from sports games and it allows me to connect with my teammates in ways I never could have before. The rides are always fun and memorable and I know I will miss them. I remember during the hockey season before practice we used to make a lot of noise and rock the bus before coach was on it and before we left Fenn. We would blast the music and start yelling to the song and singing with it, then Teddy would run from one side of the bus to the other rocking the bus. Another tradition we had was to always tape our sticks in an odd way that was unique to each of us. I remember Andrew Pesce had a tape job he called the mega sock and taped from the toe of his stick half way up the shaft. Nobody would show their tape jobs until they were done and when they were revealed everyone went crazy and it got us pumped for the game. Even though some people may not have had fun or disliked the bus rides I feel that it brought our team closer together. It made everyone on the team closer and they helped me get to know everyone on the team. These bus rides were important to our success and undefeated season because of how close we all were. They made us want to help each other in the corners and in battles all over the ice, we had each other’s back. The Fenn bus hasn’t always been an eventful place, but I look forward to it every time because I’m with my best friends and it makes me happy.

Nature

My wish is to stay always like this, living quietly in a corner of nature.

Claude Monet

             I walked down the rocky path through the woods with one goal in mind, just get to the lake and relax. Just get their and fish, don’t worry about school or homework don’t worry about anything, just relax. I walked out onto the long wood dock and I noticed a tall oak tree leaning over the water looking like it may fall. I saw its reflection which pointed to directly at my rod and reminded me I came here to fish and relax. I sat down, dipped my feet into the ice water, tied my lure and casted, disturbing the perfectly flat water. I watched the ripples spread and it made me feel like i was home. My mind shifted and I wasn’t thinking about anything, i wasn’t worried about anything, and i wasn’t stressed about anything. I was just sitting on the dock waiting for a bite. It was just me and the beautiful scenery enjoying everything it has to offer. I had distanced myself from people, technology, work. I got a nibble and my rod shifted, a bigger bite and my rod bent toward the water, I yanked my rod back and I felt ahold of the fish, I knew I hooked it. I started to reel and I saw the fish surface about 10 yards out. I relied harder and noticed the fish was within an arms length, so I reached out and grabbed the line. I pulled up the fish and realized it was one the biggest bass I’ve ever pulled out of the lake. I quickly grabbed my phone and took a picture documenting it all. I was able to relax and enjoy one of the most peaceful days I have had in a while. 

What We Need VS. What We Don’t 

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth

- Henry David Thoreau, Walden

           Not everyone needs what they have. In Henry David Thoreau’s first chapter of Walden, “Economy”, he considers life’s necessities and how people spoil themselves. To him, necessities other than, food, water, and shelter, shouldn’t be clothes we don’t need or house we work extremely hard for when it’s not worth it. I agree that people shouldn’t work and slave themselves for half their life to have a fancy house. I also agree not everyone needs clothes to just have and let them sit in their closet. We shouldn’t work extra hours or put in extra time just to waste money on things nobody needs or things we may never use more than once.

Most Valuable Parts Of Life

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.

Dalai Lama

Food, water, and shelter are the necessities of life, but there is more to it. Sure, you may be able to survive and function, but your life wouldn’t be any fun and you couldn’t do anything. On my list of life’s necessities, imagination is right behind food, shelter, and water. My imagination can take me to millions of places and has no limits. Our imaginations can create fun when we have nothing to do and they can keep us entertained for hours and hours each day. Just last week I was playing street hockey in my drive way when it turned into game seven of the Stanley cup final. I was the heart and sole of my team and I was carrying us through the playoffs and we were closing in on a Stanley cup. I was out there for hours just playing and using my imagination to put in a position in which I could have more fun and enjoy my time even more. This is just a small example and experience, but I was able to stretch a couple of misuse of playing around in my drive way into hours of fun playing in the NHL. Our imaginations are overlooked and we use them more then we actually think. It is one of our greatest skills and are a lot fun when we use them. Food, water, and shelter are life’s key necessities, but without an imagination you would end up driving yourself crazy and not enjoying yourself. Our imaginations open up endless opportunities and can take you places nothing else can. 

Seasonal Haikus

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
― Albert Camus

Spring Haiku

When I wrote these Haikus I was thinking about what happens in the spring and how I could translate it into a haiku. For example I wrote about nature and animals returning from hibernation. I wrote about this because I feel it sums up spring in an accurate way and would make a nice Haiku. 

The afternoon light

sun was shining ice melting

The birds start chirping

The flowers blooming 

The leaves begin to grow

Spring is in the air

Mud begins to soften

Water ruins the yard 

But it means springs here

The squirrels running

The acorns begin to fall

Winter is over

Summer Haiku

For my summer Haiku I thought about what I do during the summer and what the summer is like. I wrote about baseball, the ocean, and my alone time out on the water. I felt like these were great Haikus because I wasn’t always talking about summer, just what I like to do durning summer. 

Warmer weather

Ocean breeze and sand

Fun and memories

Popcorn fills my nose

The crowd shouts and roars

Baseball’s back and so is summer

Boats humming

Friends laughing and screaming 

Water splashing sun shining 

The smell of fresh air

Fishing alone and savoring the alone time

The best part of summer

Fall haiku

Fall is my favorite time of year. It means hockey is beginning to start, the leaves are changing color, and it’s the most exciting time for sports. Fall is a pretty season and I wanted to portray that in my Haikus. 

Baseball postseason

Footballs opening day

Means fall is here

The leaves change color

Cool air hibernating animals 

Fall is here

Water freezes

Leaves fall grass turns brown

The best season

Winter around the corner

Hockey season in full swing

Bare trees and brown yards

Winter haiku

For me, Winter is one of the most fun times of the year. There are so many possibilities for fun, like making snow forts, sledding, and making hockey rinks our on the pond. I have so much fun in the winter and I wanted to express that is these Haiku. 

Animals in hibernation 

The ponds begin to freeze 

Warm smells fill the air

Snowflakes start to fall

None similar to the others

All are unique 

Plows guard the streets

Kids begin make to make forts

Sledding season in full swing

Frozen ponds 

Makeshifts hockey rinks

Endless fun for the whole season