My American Dream

Living A Christian Life

Enlightenment Philosopher Review

There were many philosphers during the enlightenment that have introduced new ideas to their current age. John Locke has introduced ideas for the way a government should be constructed. He believed that the people should create there own government and that government or no government at all. Democratic Government that we have today in America a government made by the people for the people. I personaly like this idea of Locke's because many countries today have a single or government controled government and the people have no right in that country and may not be able to do the things that we can do freely in America. The same thing applies to people back then, there ruler or monarch decides what the laws for his country will be and has complete control. This presents a problem because any ruler could abuse the rights of the people. Thanks to the ideas of John Locke today we have a fair and just government that gives the people freedoms and rights that not many others can have.

    Though many philosphers had different views that pointed towards democracy, Thomas Hobbes however has a completly different view towards government. His image is an extreme government that has complete control of the people and the laws that it creates. He sees human nature to be violent and unpredictable like people would kill another and if they put there gaurd down they will be shot by another. A government controled by violence will keep the peace, because if there is one ruler who has a massive army to control things then there will be peace and order will be brought. I sumwhat agree on what his idea is but the are major problems with it. People are not naturaly violent but taught to be so and if the government has complete control of the people then the laws and the citizens themselfs could be abused by unfair and unjust laws that could be changed or made at anytime. Each person wouldn't be able to choose on what they could do or what they can practice everyday. I oersonaly disagree with Hobbes idea of complete government take over and today America has proven to be a great succes and people live in peace and can do almost what ever they please. Many nations have a government that Hobbes had imagined, but are abused everyday by there rulers and I am truely thankful to live in a fair and just counry by the people or the people.

Compare and Contrast Essay

Compare and Contrast Essay

Slavery is the practice of a system based on using the enforced labor of other people. Slaves are live in poor conditions, forced to do the hard labor in, example, plantations were they receive no pay, beatings and whippings are regular. Owners have no sense of morality or equality for the human beings they enslaved.  They’re just property and possessions to the slaveholders that do their hard labor for no cost. This inhuman act was thought to have ended a long time but still continues today all over the world. The slavery back in the times of exploration is similar but different form the slavery of today.

            Today, slavery continues in every country of the world except Greenland even though the practice is illegal. Well that can’t be right because the United States is the land of the free and we banned the practice of slavery a long time ago, well that’s partly false. In the U.S. slavery still continues, people are forced in the U.S. by company owners or by other people even children to work in poor conditions and without any pay. In countries filled with poverty people are fooled by others into slavery for example; a man goes walks up to a family under poverty or a homeless person telling them if they want a job. Then those who were fooled are taken to a plantation or a work place by plane, train, automobile, and boats to do hard labor without any pay. The United Nations is trying to stop this practice from continuing. Thankfully there is a smaller percentage of slavery then from the practice of African slavery. An advance in technology has decreased the need for labor. It is hard to believe that an inhuman act such as this continues to this very day but its true and men, women, and children are slaves in most countries all over the world.

            Even though slave from the past and the present are different in many ways both have something in common with one another. Some slaves still do come from Africa to this day just like in the age of exploration and America colonization. Slavery is still a practice to this day and was a common practice then to do the hard labors needed to be done. Ships are still used to transport the slaves to other countries just like the transportation back then in small transport ship. The people who are enslaved are forced to live in poor conditions, many die because this. Along with poor conditions, slaves died by severe beatings and whippings that were commonly given out. Men, women, even children became slaves doing the hard work and dying under the harsh conditions with no pay. The two ages of slavery are much similar as they are different no matter what race or country.

            In the European age of exploration African slavery began in Portugal when they discovered life in Africa. Soon it spread to all the nations of Europe because of the need for cheap labor to do the hard labor in the European colonies. The first slaves were Natives but they died from disease and escaped from the plantations. The percentage of slaves is much higher in this age than in the modern day. Slavery was accepted as a common practice and was “legal” and was an economical need. Slavery was limited because the world was still forming into the modern world it is today and there weren’t many colonies and land conquered at that time. Slaves then were bought and sold for goods and were brought to the Americas called the Atlantic Slave Trade. Slavery then was accepted in everyday society and was a more of a business trade that what it is today.

            Back then slavery was a trade and a business, today slavery is an illegal practice. No matter what the time line slavery will still mean the same. The wickedness and inhuman of slavery divides people and destroys the lives of thousands every day.  Slavery may still continue on for a long time and may never be extinguished from humanity but if we want change in the world we all must do are part to make it a better place. I ask you the readers what will you do to help make this illegal practice be completely terminated form humanity?

Slave Trader

The Slave Traders

I feel this day is the first day of my life as a man for I have taken my fathers old boat and resumed the family business. Today I begin my life as a slave trader. I know much from my father, but I still have much to learn through trial and error on the sea.

A few weeks pass and i have found myself finally reaching West Africa. My father did not lie when he told me of the power the Portuguese have over the slave trade and it shows greatly here. I have met with a man who knew my father, he says he can help me to find some good slaves. My first attempt at the trade and I can already sense the riches that my future will hold.

After about a month I have managed to nearly fill my boat with slaves. My greed is a curse for I now feel that I could have fit more slaves onto my craft before departure. It is too late now, when I look back all I see is the shimmering blue ocean reflecting the light of the stars.

I have made my way to the Americas after quite a long and painful month. Storms have set us off course and we have spent too many a day on the ocean. I now i fear that i myself may starve. Many of the slaves have already starved to death and they have made quite a stench. I now more than ever look forward to seeing green on the horizon, signaling that i have found the land of the new world.

I feel that i made a decent deal with the colonists, but when i tell my stories to other traders many laugh in my face. It seems the plantation owners took advantage of me and i feel like a fool. I guess there is still much for me to learn about the rules of the slave trade.

As i travel from Africa to the Americas a storm rolls us over. A large wave crashes and weakens the restraints of many of the slaves and fighting has broken out atop the deck. I hear screaming as the revolting slaves and many of my men as well are taken by the ocean to never breath air again. I write this knowing fully well that i will most likely never see land again.

You're Always There for Me

You’re Always There for Me

When the world comes crashing in
And chaos rules my mind,
I turn my heart to you, Lord,
And pure, sweet peace I find.

You lift me out of trouble
You comfort me in pain;
You nourish, heal and cleanse me,
Like cool, refreshing rain.

In times of joy and bliss,
When things are going right,
You lift me even higher,
And fill me with delight.

You listen to my prayers;
You hear my every plea;
I’m safe because I know
You’re always there for me.

By Joanna Fuchs

Footprints in the Sand

Last night I had a dream. I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonged to me, the other to the Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.  “Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, You’d walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

The Lord replied, “My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of suffering, when you could see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

The Art of War

Book Review #3

Niccolo’ Machiavelli

The Art of War

          I liked this book because I enjoy tactics and strategies on wars and battles and I recommend it to anyone who does also. I looked at the cover on the book and I first believed that it would be interesting. I was however wrong and it bored me when I came towards the middle of the book. I was hoping for the book to be more exciting was it explains tactics and strategies in a more enjoyable way. Nevertheless my excitement fell like listening to a dull boring war speech for 4 hours and in the beginning you looked forward to be influenced by the words, but you end up sleeping. This book was boring, still had some good tactical strategy and it was different than expected.

          To start it off, the book had a more advance vocabulary level that to some, may have only begin to grasp. This factor can make the book harder to understand and read holding you back from the ingenious tactics and strategy that the author was trying to project. The way the entire book was molded was more of a 1^st person view, which may seem pointless and unnecessary. It also seemed he was talking to his friend and not to the people reading it. Each chapter wasn’t “to the point” and was a long explanation of Greek words and over explained every detail in battle formations and strategies. This made each page more tedious and you would soon lose appeal in the book and stopped reading the book in the middle.

          Secondly, the tactical genius when discovered can be applied to the strategies that Europe still uses to this very day. Even Voltaire, an enlightenment philosopher, quoted “Machiavelli taught Europe the art of war; it had been long practiced, without being known.” Although some of the strategy of modern day has changed to adapt to the weapons and advance in technology much hasn’t changed. The change in the formation for an army, described in the book includes pike men, Calvary, officers and others in higher command, and a large army in a close formation. The units can connect to modern armies and can be used in somewhat the same way, but advance in technology has changed that and now armies are spread out and each group of units forms its own army. Even though the time has changed tactics are still used but are adapted for modern combat.

          Also, the way the book was written was different than others like the 1^st person view and the fact that he seems to be talking to a friend of his. How he connects to what he is saying to things that seem unrelated. Like Greek terms and words that he uses in his teaching and the explanation for using them is something that you may have never really seen in a strategy book. The very fact that today they are still being used is remarkable because not many strategies are still used today. He teaches more than just military strategy, he shows diagrams of how army formations should look and how a fort or a base should be shaped. He takes the time to explain in much detail the use of each type of unit and how you can use it in many ways. He explains many other things like positions of power and how to use your recourses in and out of war. This has what kept me on my seat reading it for longer than I wanted to.

          The Art of War is an ingenious, unique, but a bit boring book and I recommend it to those who have a great love or interest in military strategy and a higher vocabulary. I rate this book 2 out of 5 for the strategy. This book’s uninteresting extended explanations really hide the pure idea of his strategy in a big explanation. What really mystified me about the book was how much the strategy is used today and how it affects the outcome of wars in the modern world. The fact that Voltaire spoke about Niccolo Machiavelli was unique in the way that his art of war must have really affected the world so greatly for him to be noticed. The book makes you think of the modern battles and wars and how greatly it compares to those of the past.

         

         

39 Clues-Maze of Bones

The 39 Clues is by far the most interesting books I have ever read. The book had my intrigued and with every page there was something new and I had learned many facts about history that I had never known about. The 39 Clues mixes a fictional story like no other with true historical facts about famous people who all are related to the Cahill family.When I first looked at the cover of the book it grabbed me and pulled me closer and closer. With each step the urge to grab it grew ever so stronger until I began to read it and never was able to stop.

The 39 Clues- The Maze of Bones is the start of an adventure and new world that has been slowly prepared for 500 years to Amy and Dan Cahill. Two siblings and who lost almost everything that was truly important to them, there parents and there Grandmother, now have the opportunity of a life time. I couldn't have imagined the pain they must have felt loosing everything, to embark on a great journey to the far corners of the Earth. Unfortunately this journey may cost them there lives and the fate of the world is on there hands.

It all started in the final minutes before Grace Cahill dies. She changes her will set a flame the entire journey that Dan and Amy will undertake by changing her will. The entire Cahill clan attends to her funeral hoping for riches and fortune. All of the famous, inventors, artists, the rich and the poor, and Dan and Amy all come and are assembled into an auditorium. As Grace’s lawyer, Mr. McIntyre,  explains to them the impossible decision that must be made. Either one million dollars or one clue to start there journey in a wild adventure that in the end will make who ever solves all 39

Clues hidden round the world will be the most powerful human beings in in human history. Everyone famous person from Napoleon to Houdini is related to the Cahills, yet the source of the family power is lost. 39 clues hidden around the world will reveal the family's secret, but no one has been able to assemble them. Now the clues race is on, and young Amy and Dan must decide what's important: hunting clues or uncovering what really happened to their parents. When the hunt begins for the clues it seems that Dan and Amy have an unfair advantage because they had no money and aren’t old enough to travel around the world themselves. Through many obstacles  in there way they were able to solve the first clue and find the second one with clever thinking and talents not known of them at the time.

I recommend this book for anyone to read. It teaches you some historical events and real facts about famous people like Benjamin Franklin, Mozart, many more. Read the entire series written by Rick Riordan, Gordan Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, Patrick Carman, and many more Authors who help create the 39 Clues series. You can imagine with each book the different feelings, actions, and the unfolding chain of events that lead up to the end of the race. Who ever reads this entire 10 book series will probably mind bottled by what the ending will be in each book up til the very last of the series.

Elsewhere

Elsewhere

by:

Gabrielle Zevin

"On, there are so many lives. How we wish we could live them concurrently instead of one by one by one. We could select the best pieces of each, stringing them together like a strand of pearls. But that's not how it works. A human life is a beautiful mess."These are one of the many quotes I have read in one of my favorite novel “Elsewhere”. I read this book on April, 2010 and I was introduced to this book by a friend. With every chapter I read I crave for more and when I finished the book my hungry still lingered and to this day I hunger for novels such as this.

The novel tells of a place where all people go when they die and what the afterlife is and what they do there. The “end” begins when a 15 year old teenager, Liz Hall, was killed in a hit and run accident and she finds herself in a cruise boat with old people believing that she is dreaming. A few days past and she begin to realize that she isn’t dreaming. When the boat arrives to its destination, Liz is met by her grandmother who tries to explain to her what and where she is.

 Liz struggles to understand what has happened to her, grief-stricken at all she has lost, and incapable of seeing the benefits of Elsewhere in. Refusing to participate in this new life, Liz spends her time looking longingly down at the family and friends back on Earth who goes on without her like a spirit who lingers on after death. In this dramatic story Liz tries to find a way to “live” in this new environment and life in Elsewhere.

As you read the book thoughts of what your own afterlife will be and what you will do there. The novel is very motivating it will make you think of how situations get worse before they will become better and overall to never give up on life and enjoy the wonderful things that you have if it be family, friends, or processions, life is something to enjoy and to live it through and not something to waste. I recommend this book to people who loose thought of what life means to you and to both men and women. It is a great book to read and it has something new on each page and great foreshadowing to what the “beginning” will be. I hope that I will read more books with similar genres as this and more great story lines as Elsewhere.   

Reading History Essay

The Seed of Literacy

Literacy is the art of learning, reading, and using words to apply it to the real world to advance ourselves and minds to a greater level. Every day we all use literacy in our culture, social life creating and inventing, and in almost everything that we do on a regular basis. In many cultures music and storytelling is an exciting event for them to listen to the words of history pass thought there ears as a fine tone. My roots of literacy were planted during my first days of school. I was one the many bright young students and my teacher fed our seeds by reading books that could be understood at our level of literacy. My parents were the gardeners who fed my seed when I first began speaking my first words.

During my time of growth in my past my parents were working hard so they couldn’t find the time to encourage me to read, but during my time in kindergarten I started to read. At first I wasn’t able to read anything that she gave the class, but  like learning the first words in a new language I picked it up. I read my first words in the books and the words on the flashcards she showed the class. I have almost no memory of what books that i was reading during that time, but fortunately I do remember one fairytale my teacher read to us “The Hungry Caterpillar”. It was a short story of a caterpillar who ate till full grown and metamorphosed into a beautiful butterfly. In my particular past the year in kindergarten was my next step into literacy.

When my mind was developing the sophisticated literacy level I'm currently have I have attended many elementary schools during my complicated past, but the only school I have stayed the longest was Loring Flemming Elementary School. The fourth grade was the time I attended the to the school and the school was a new environment for me and I was forced to adapt to the ever so changing atmosphere and the personalities of the students who attended. The work was much harder and in much more quantity than I was expecting much like the writing assignments and books I was forced to read. In my young mind I imagined the books to be boring, but they became more enjoyable to read like, The Taste of Black Berries and many more. I thank my old teachers for opening my mind to new books and new genres of books I have never known before and I now enjoy reading everyday.

After my graduation from the two great years I had in the elementary school I now moved on to a completely new environment in Glen Landing Middle School. My fellow class mates I knew have changed and so have the learning experiences that opened up to me, but that wasn't the only thing that changed me. I to changed in personality, outward appearance, and in my taste for books. My language teachers have introduced me to new more advance books and the authors who wrote them. my favorite authors were Gabrielle Zevin, Betsy Byars, and Emily Roda at the time I loved there books like Elsewhere, Pinballs, and the Dragons of Deltora Series. Well as time progressed and my middle school days were passing by fairytale books with dragons and other mystical creatures became unappealing so during the eighth grade my language teacher introduced us to book about teens and what many of us go through everyday. I became fascinated and awestruck by the words that passed through my ears and the imagery aloud me to create a picture of what was occurring through the story. These types of books became my favorite and language arts was beginning to seem more enjoyable and I dare say almost a favorite amongst my other favorite subjects.

In this current time I wish that my language teacher would throw in a few books such as these and new books that i hope to enjoy in the later future. Today I still read realistic books that other authors wrote and a few interesting adventure books like the 39 Clues series but I am looking forward to adding more to my favorite list and further expand my ability to read. I however am not sure if I am literate in a professional conversation because I don’t have much experience in communicating with real professionals, but in the Medical Arts Academic I will be trained to speak literate and proper in professional conversations in order to have new opportunities and doors open to me. My time in the program has finished I will be prepared for the real world.

Through out my life I have always loved to read and to be introduced to new books and to this very day I still have an expectation from my new Language teachers to do this and to create a new way of seeing the world. Currently I am unable to read any new books because of the fact that I am unable to get a new one. I do hope that I will find a solution to this problem and continue to read. In my opinion literacy is important because being able to speak in a literate tone will open job opportunities and open new conversations with other people. Writing is just as important when you have to fill out a job application of write paper work of what you for example what lessons you taught your students or helping to raise money or create fundraisers for field trips or to building projects. In my life my literacy helped me to be to become apart of the Medical Arts Program. Literacy grows and develops within you from the first time every one's seed was planted. We all water our trees differently with the different books we read and the way we all write which is why our trees have reached to different heights. Everyday it grows as we write, read or have conversations with others, but it’s your language teachers job and pleasure to help grow your tree to reach the height they want everyone to reach. To the teachers reading this; in your minds do you challenge yourself to extend the height of your trees beyond the your own expectations and challenge your students as well?