After reading the story A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, I began to think about my own personal values and beliefs. This thinking was sparked by what i believe was the mans determination and will to survive. I think that this "angel" who was an old, dirty, decrepid creature really had a ton of hope to survive his ordeals. His lonesome body just layed around in a chicken coop. This made me realize the importance of hope and how I value it. Hope is what makes one hold on and wait for something to happen. This is how I view it. This feeling enables one to how a level of patience that is required to make it through a tough time.
Another topic that i can relate to from this story is the value of caring for others and doing good deeds. This can be associated with religion as well. I feel that everybody should do nice things for people when they need help. I feel that as a species we should focus on helping each other rather than hurting one another. This angel helped the family out by making them transform from poor people to wealthy people. If Pelayo and Elisenda did not respect the old man, none of this would have been given to them.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Out "sick"
Ever since I became old enough to join my father, grandfather, and older brothers to go hunting with them in the Catskills I always looked forward to one particular day each year. This was the monday in mid November in which the deer season opened. It would start off as a normal weekend going upstate. We leave home friday night and enjoy two full days upstate. Instead of going home sunday night after dinner we would stay an extra day. This day is the first day of hunting deer since the year before. This means everybody is anxious and enthusiastic about hunting.
We pack up all of our gear and load a few ATV's onto the trailer. We haul it behind our big SUV to my great uncles large property 20 minutes away. Here we meet up with several other family members and friends. A large dinner is enjoyed after many long conversations and we go to bed earlier than usual. Alarms start blasting around 4:30 am. I think of how damn tired I am. Everybody groggily dresses in warm layers and heavy insulated blaze orange pants and jackets. We eat a quick breakfast and walk outside into the frosty below freezing morning. ATV's are started up and begin disappear up the mountain or through the fields of blackness after wishing eachother "goodluck". We all sit in our predetermined tree stands scattered throughout the several hundred acre property.
Sitting in silence I think of how cold I am and hope that the tree stand I am sitting in does not crash to the ground with the next gust of wind. I listen and watch animals going by and occasionally fall asleep in the hard, cold chair. I hear the occasional distinct sound of a gunshot in the distance and think how another deer was harvested at that moment. I think of where I would be in school, listening to which interesting and entertaining teacher. I continue to sit for hours at a time sometimes waiting for a nice buck to step into view. I contemplate what is better, freezing in the middle of the woods or being warm in school. Definitly hunting any day.
We pack up all of our gear and load a few ATV's onto the trailer. We haul it behind our big SUV to my great uncles large property 20 minutes away. Here we meet up with several other family members and friends. A large dinner is enjoyed after many long conversations and we go to bed earlier than usual. Alarms start blasting around 4:30 am. I think of how damn tired I am. Everybody groggily dresses in warm layers and heavy insulated blaze orange pants and jackets. We eat a quick breakfast and walk outside into the frosty below freezing morning. ATV's are started up and begin disappear up the mountain or through the fields of blackness after wishing eachother "goodluck". We all sit in our predetermined tree stands scattered throughout the several hundred acre property.
Sitting in silence I think of how cold I am and hope that the tree stand I am sitting in does not crash to the ground with the next gust of wind. I listen and watch animals going by and occasionally fall asleep in the hard, cold chair. I hear the occasional distinct sound of a gunshot in the distance and think how another deer was harvested at that moment. I think of where I would be in school, listening to which interesting and entertaining teacher. I continue to sit for hours at a time sometimes waiting for a nice buck to step into view. I contemplate what is better, freezing in the middle of the woods or being warm in school. Definitly hunting any day.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Looking For Alaska: Map Poem
Miles sits with Colonel on a hard swing.
The hot Alabama air makes his shirt stick to him.
Just ahead is a beach and lake.
Cigarette smoke lingers in the air, his throat burns
and he begins to cough.
The sun is going down and the bugs come out.
He felt sad when his parents pulled away.
There he was, alone in his dorm room.
Finally his roomate arrives, short and muscular.
He is smart, a smoker, and a veteran at the school.
He makes miles feel scrawny and tall.
Colonel's friend named Alaska is attractive and curvy.
Miles tries hard to be funny and cool.
The hot Alabama air makes his shirt stick to him.
Just ahead is a beach and lake.
Cigarette smoke lingers in the air, his throat burns
and he begins to cough.
The sun is going down and the bugs come out.
He felt sad when his parents pulled away.
There he was, alone in his dorm room.
Finally his roomate arrives, short and muscular.
He is smart, a smoker, and a veteran at the school.
He makes miles feel scrawny and tall.
Colonel's friend named Alaska is attractive and curvy.
Miles tries hard to be funny and cool.
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