Patriotism

There is nothing like it. Nothing can have more of a tole on family and friends alike. People risk their lives for America. Very little people have to go through the pain of veterans. People don’t realize what a sacrifice it is to go to war. To fight for your country. To fight for what you believe is right. We don’t appreciate veterans enough. Of course patriotism matters. We don’t realize what veterans do for us. Veterans are the heart and the soul of our country and they should be more appreciated than they are today.

People don’t realize what veterans have to go through in the world that veterans live in. They have a concrete image in their mind of what the war was like. The images of their friends and family dying right before their very eyes. Veterans go through so much. People don’t realize that the most of the troubles that veterans face isn’t in the war, but after the war. The things that veterans go through after the war is sometimes much worse than what they do during the war. Half of the reason is during the war, the people around them appreciate what they’re doing. Once they get out of the war, people don’t appreciate what they have done. Veterans should be appreciated more in this great country of ours.

One thing that people don’t understand is that patriots aren’t just navel officers or people that have been in the army. Everyone that does something for this country is a patriot. I think everyone in this great country is a patriot. People like bus drivers, sewage treatment plants, firemen, etc. Just the little things that people don’t seem to notice make the United States possible. People assume that just army or veterans are patriots but we forget a lot of people in our country and we leave them out. We need to be more appreciative of all of the people that do the little things in this country, that make our lives easier, and possible.

All in all, patriotism matters. People don’t appreciate patriots enough. We take our patriots for grant it. We take them and just throw them under the bus when really, they mean much more than a lot of the people in this world. We don’t appreciate what some people do for us. This luxurious life that we our living, could not be possible without these patriots. Many people are patriots, and they are truly the ones that matter in this country.

A Day in the Life of Patrick

Author's Note: This piece is from experiencing so much doubt in the world as we know it. I see it all around now I can pronounce what and when I see doubt. What I feel when I am in doubt or when I see a person in doubt. What I see is more of an inspiration to write this piece and not as much what I see is what I am writing about. Hope you enjoy the piece!

I look outside on a rainy, cold Monday morning. I think to myself, what is the point in life? Is there one? Why am I on this earth? Every day is a struggle. I pull myself out of bed and wind myself up for the day. Nothing is nice. Nothing is good. The world is black whole that sits and stares and laughs at me. Another day in my life. Another struggle. Another doubt of what good will happen.

"Patrick," my mother cries. "Breakfast is ready." "Coming," I say with a moan and groan. I am Patrick McCoy a 12 year old boy that lives in Gernie, Illinois. It's another day of school. Another day of doubt. I can barely make it down the stairs without thinking, what good does the world do? I sit down at the dining room table slowly eat my cereal and slowly go to the bus stop. What do you know. Bruce is waiting for me at the corner. "Hey pee-wee!" Bruce shouts. "First day of kindergarten I see." Although I would like to just walk back to my house, I know that is not an option now. Bruce is the school bully and also the strongest guy in Woodland Middle School. As I walk to the bus stop, I take a quick glimpse up and the bus is sitting at the end of my street about 20 yards away. I start to run and just as I am about to get on, the bus takes off and splashes water all over me. Another typical beginning to the life in the day of Patrick.

Now that I am at school, I luckily make it through the first three classes of the day without any trouble. That all comes to an abrupt stop as I walk to my locker and I meet none other than James, the football team's top quarterback and the rest of the team. They take my glasses and pin me against my locker. I plea for them to let me go but they just keep on pushing me and shoving until luckily Mr. Mays tells them to back off and I am set free, for the moment. I make it through the next class with only a kick on the legs and a punch to my right arm. Now time for lunch. I get my lunch, eat, and as I am going to dump my tray, Bruce shoves me into the garbage and him and his friends dump their fully loaded trays all over me. As I walk to the office to get a new set of clothes, I get a chant of "Loser, loser, loser," from all down the hall.

I make it to the principle's office and through fifth hour and resource. I walk home and this time, I have no defense against Bruce and his gang. I sprint to the woods and go to my secret hide out. Bruce is sitting right there waiting for me. He takes me and throws me in the woods and walks away. I have scrapes all over my arms and legs and a huge bruise right on my rib cage. I run, though it is painful, all the way home for I know Bruce doesn't go away for long. I make it home and think, why am I on the earth, for there is no reason for me to be alive in this tough world that I might call home.

Control

Author's Note: This piece is about what I see in control. I mixed some fact in with opinion. It is the blend of the two that I think really makes it my writing. I feel like control is sometimes regretful and I think of that throughout this piece. Hope you enjoy.

Control is something everyone wants, but one thing that is still unsure is how the person will proceed in getting that power. Some are more graceful than others and some are ruthless rulers. The only problem is you can almost never predict who those ruthless rulers will be. They come and go like waves in an ocean and sometimes overrule all and drive everyone back on their heels. They will push to the limit to get what they want but not what they need. These are the people who will overrule people with not what everyone else wants, but the threatening aspect of their character.

Control is what draws the line between dystopia and utopia. Although our world is not a dystopia, it is creeping more and more towards it every day with the thought of complete control. People will do anything for control and some may go to drastic measures to get it. For example when Snowball got chased away but Napoleon's dogs, Napoleon was willing to kill the leader that was there at the time so that he could have single control. Another incident is when Napoleon and all of the farm animals were at the annual Sunday meeting and Napoleon's dogs bit the pigs in the ear and dragged them to Napoleon's feet and were murdered on the spot because they were in touch with Snowball and had to do with the planning of the downing of the windmill. There were plenty of other animals that had been in touch with Snowball and had also been murdered on the spot. This is a proven point in the book at which Napoleon will do anything for power and this was the method of scare. He is vicious in his actions as a message to all of the other animals to not go against anything he say or that's what will happen to them.

When people are so possessed to be in control, nothing that is good comes out. They become not the people that they are, but the people that they become possessed to be. They don't have free will at times and control gives them free will. Control is something that possession controls and feeds upon. People can be so powerful if they just get a hold of control and once they do, possession takes the advantage and grasp the person so tightly that they can't let go. Napoleon is so possessed at some times, that instead of doing things for the better, he does things that will make him more powerful. For example, even though he thought that the windmill was a good idea inside, he went against it because Snowball liked it and he had all of the plans and everything. The windmill would make everything better on the farm but because he wanted all of the power, he disagreed with Snowball. Possession can take control of anything and everything. It takes you in and never lets go and yet people still try and challenge it.

Control can always be a good thing but with a quote by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton said "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Control can always help but at times, it can corrupt. It is the point that power can always lead to a world of confusion and hurt. For example, in the book when Napoleon took complete control, he started slowly turning against the seven rules that had been set at the end of the rebellion against the human race. They were:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

3. No animal shall wear clothes.

4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

6. No animal shall kill any other animal.

7. All animals are equal.


Napoleon slowly started to fade towards these rules as not bad, but good and eventually changed a lot of them to fit his standards of what he wanted to live like. Complete control corrupts and leads to no good. Control can grasp you into what it wants to bend you into what complete control is. Everybody even though they have seen all of the warning signals, have ignored what it really means and push right through the barriers of right and wrong. They are too ignorant to what might become of them and go right through without reading the warning that has just been cast upon them as they pass the barrier.


Control makes everyone want. They get what they want with control but is it really what is the best? People get so pulled into what is at hand and what the quick way out will be. Control then pulls them in and doesn't let go. They cross the barrier of good and evil so obliviously that they don't look at what could become of them. The stakes are set and are never set lower than what is complete control.

Romance: The Guide to Happiness

When you step on your front porch, you think, “Today is going to be a good day.” Romance is embedded in our life every day of our lives but it doesn’t always affect our everyday lives. Romanticism is what keeps the drowsy days run. It gives you the hope that it will get better or tomorrow will be a better day. When romance is taken out of our life, we will fall apart on the bad days, and the wheels might stop turning.
The book Tom Sawyer is a very romanticized book but yet, has its ups and downs. Tom, who is an uncanny and gaunt boy, has his days but always seems to no matter what, make it turn out good. We have our ups and downs in life, but they don’t always come out the way that we want them to. When people are so possessed on what their choices are now, they don’t think about the life that they have in front of them. The book Tom Sawyer has a romantic view on this to the point where Tom doesn’t think about what is ahead of him but what is here right now. He thinks about what can make his life better and more enjoyable for him not in the future but right now. Whatever the choice may be, he will always be loved by his aunt and his brothers and sisters and everyone in the town of St. Petersburg.
Romanticism leads everyone to a happy ending. If there is no romance, life isn’t as enjoyable as it is meant to be. When people are pressured every day, they are forced to use their extra boost of happiness that is stored away to help boost us up. Tom Sawyer lives in a world that romance dominates all forces. Tom can’t go wrong in the book. Even when he discreetly runs away from home, he doesn’t get punished. When he appears at his own funeral, he is flourished with hugs and kisses but his aunt takes all the blame for his running away. He can’t go wrong in his life. He is always on the road to happiness and can never be put down.
The book Tom Sawyer is an adventure of happiness. Happiness should be the guide of our life every day. When greed or want or need steps in, we are almost lured into what not that makes us happy, but what we want to be at the top of the tree. Greed and happiness don’t coagulate. We are so caught up with money and our level of power. Tom Sawyer doesn’t care if he has money or toys, he just follow his heart. That is why he is always ends up on the right end of the stick. He doesn’t care what it might impact him because it is what makes him happy. He is never down and always has belief because he always has that little extra happiness in him.
Tom Sawyer is a book of happiness and romance. When your life is guided by power and money and things that you may think is good, but doesn’t make you happy it isn’t to its full potential. The guide to life is happiness. Everyone needs the happiness and they need hope for a better day. When people don’t have that hope and happiness they can’t resume after a tough day and it starts to wear away at their soul. Tom Sawyer is guided by a life of happiness and everything turns out the way it is suppose to. He has that little bit of extra happiness in him and his soul is filled with joy.

Essay Response to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

When you step outside on your porch on a sunny yet rainy day, do you think of a new day or an old day, a happy day or a sad day, or do you feel like one tiny speak out of billions just sitting, staring and not caring how the day rolls along. Your like a tree that had its ups and downs but keeps growing no matter how hard it is to do. You keep gaining knowledge and experience even though bad and good, hard and easy, dry or wet. It’s a tough grueling world that is unforgiving yet gives you hope and makes you believe that anything and everything is possible.

Love is strong, but yet an undefined word yet we think we know what it is. We think we know the definition but love can be described in so many ways that no two people have the same definition. When Johnny gave the flowers to Francie when he was already dead, he had something in mind. That would be considered love. But the difference is he had a certain thought in mind when he bought those roses for Francie. It was that thought that he put into it is what made it love.

Think of yourself as a tree. You need things to survive, but you also need things to succeed. You start as a seed but start to sprout into a tree. You grow bigger and bigger along the way. But what do you gain. Do you gain satisfaction? What we don’t seem to see as we grow up is the world that is growing around us. There are many things that happen the way that we want them, and don’t want them but the thing is, we always pay attention to the things that don’t go our way. Francie really paid attention to when Johnny died but she didn’t pay attention to when she got a job, or got to go to a different school when she wanted to. We take for granted what we do have, but always find a way to complain about the things that we don’t have.

Believe is a very powerful, yet costly word. You need to have thick skin, and perseverance to keep a belief for a long time. When Francie and Neeley want one certain Christmas tree, they knew that the only way to get it was to have it thrown at them and they would have to stay standing to get it. They stayed standing not just by their strength, or their will power, but they also believed that they could. If they would have went into that battle thinking that they were going to lose, they probably would have. When they say “It’s half heart, half body,” they mean it. It’s not by your strength or your mind that people judge you by, but by how big of a heart and soul you have.

In the shift from innocence to experience, many things happen including mind, body, and soul. Many people would say the first thing you need for success is a good mind but if you don’t have a love, or believe in the thing you are trying to step up to, you will never succeed the way you wanted to.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Response

Strength is a word that everyone in the world that we know it, has to use at some point in their lives. Everyone uses it in their every day lives, they just might not realize it. You have to have at least a bit of it to persevere when the times get tough. Strength is not just measure by the muscle in your body, but by the toughness of your soul.
Strength is something that Francie hasn't quite found out all about it yet. For example when the killer was coming out at her, she didn't have the strength to talk let alone move. She is going to find that strength on her way from innocence to experience. If she doesn't, it could be a tough going later in life when she really needs it.
She has the will to get that little bit of extra strength that she needs but right now, she needs a little help and a push to get her going. She has had to go through many tests of strength already like at school when she got sat in the back. She had to have the strength to get through those tough days. But again, she didn't have enough strength to stick with the school, and again, she needs that little extra push that Sissy gave her because she came in and she was the one who got her to sit in the front.
Francie is one of those persons that needs those people to help her through her struggles and when she is an adult and has children, she isn't going to have those people to help her through her struggles. She will not only have not as many people to help her through her struggles but she is going to have to help her childeren through their struggles.
She is going to have to go through some tough times to put her to the test before she moves all the way to experience because otherwise she might not be able to change her ways that she has been living through all of her years. She is going to have to have the strength to do things on her own that she might not normally do. She must prepare herself for not just the struggles that she has had, but the struggles to come.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Response

Francie is learning how to have perserverense. She has had to go through hard things already and still has to go through many more. She is begging to learn that to survive in this cruel cruel world, you have to have perserverence. Perserverance is many things including to get through hard times or to stay calm when it is hard not to. She is begging to see the world as it is and not how she would like it to be.
Perserverence is a strong thing in this world and she is finnally learning how to use it to her advantage. If you can't figure out how to use it to your advantage, it will be a rough time and she is figuring that out. She has plenty of perserverevce built inside of her, she just needs to learn when and how to use it. She is very inteligent and has been through many "tests" already including her old school. She went through many rough times in her old school and made it through them.
The one thing that she is not sure about are her abilities. As it said before in the story, the rough and tough kids don't think that she is roudy enough but the kids that are the teacher's pets, don't think that she fits in with them either. She needs to find that inner peace inside her and fit the pieces of the puzzle together and find the pieces that she is missing. Once she can find those extra pieces, she will be more inteligente and have more of the knowledge that will get her through life as we know it.
She still doesn't have what it takes to really persevere as well as she could. She makes it through the tough times but she has a hard time doing that. She still isn't to her full potential and is starting to figure out what she needs to do to get there. She is starting to go through the big change that starts the road form innocense to experience.