Henrik Edberg put a collection of quotes by Ghandi under his top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World. You can check out the original post at http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2008/05/09/gandhis-top-10-fundamentals-for-changing-the-world/.

Quotes are a good inspiration, a good peacemaker, a good way to make people think and learn about the subject you care about and want people to know about. Quotes often have many different ideas wove into the letters and words. They are meant to help people think about an issue, concern, or subject you feel passionate about. They can be funny, biased, and almost always inspirational. As we all know, Mahatma Ghandi was a very wise, motivating, spiritual leader that lead India in the peace–fight against the British. However, as Henrik Edberg states in his article, ‘Mahatma Gandhi needs no long introduction’.

Everybody knows (or should know) how Ghandi stopped the British with words, just by opening his mouth and speaking. He never raised a finger, yet he prevented a war. He made his country free, and he never declared war, he never threatened, and he never murdered anyone. He said he would die for what he believed, but he would not kill for what he believed. What came out of Mahtama Ghandi’s mouth were powerful words, and probably words that would do everyone a lot of good if we listened to him.

What would be of this world if nobody killed, nobody murdered innocently, and people could sleep at night knowing they would wake up the next morning safe and sound? It would be such a… dream world. It would also be unbelievably unreal. I don’t believe there could ever be a completely, 100% carefree, happy-go-lucky world, but some problems in this world could definitely be reduced, or even demolished with the help of us, the people.

Unfortunately, we cannot change the actions of other people. We can change the actions of ourselves, though. We can change our actions in a way that makes other people want to follow our actions. For example, if we wanted everybody to start recycling plastic bottles, we would have to give information about why this is an important subject people should practice, we would have to be convincing with facts ready, explain everything about how this affects our world, and more importantly, we would have to take action. We would have to set up a program, such as getting recycling plastic boxes for everyone’s house. People get inspired when another person takes action and does something useful to the world, and that inspires them to take action.

If more people were leaders as good as Mahtama Ghandi, the world would be more in power, more in touch with the great problems that the Earth is just getting set up for and the huge troubles that are going to take place in the next few decades. It seems endless when you learn about all the nonstop world problems, and how everybody always says ‘You are the generation that is going to fix this world’. And as a small person in only middle school, you might think, ‘Why me? What did I ever do to deserve all these troubles on my shoulders?’ In fact, it’s just like poverty. Every child is born into the world rich or poor, and if they’re poor there’s practically nothing they can do to change it. We were born into this slowly crumbling world that needs help, we were born with the responsibility and expectance that we would fix this world and help solve a few of the major problems that were here before we arrived. Remember how everyone also always says that small actions change the world? As Ghandi says, ‘You must be the change you want to see in the world’. That basically says it all. You do have to be the change that you want, or it’s not going to happen. So stand up for what you believe in, make this world change…for the better! If you’re thinking, “Like what?”, there are problems like poverty, rich/poor gap, global warming, hunger, pollution, unequal distribution, spreading diseases in less fortunate countries, and so many more. You can see, there’s a lot to help! Go online and there is many organizations that try and help these problems with your help!

It was a really inspiring article I read, and if you feel like some wise words to brighten up your day and to influence you lives positively, check out the link at the top of the page to see where the base of my post comes from!

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

Without action, you aren’t going anywhere.

Sin Kick Bite Punch Break Speak Drink Smoke Ignore Pretend Forget Want Stare Complain Annoy Attack Avoid Boast Compare Kill Forbid Whisper Promise Lie Terrify Agitate Steal Punish Slap Suffer Vanish Scream Yell Trust Rush Offend Judge Exclude Harass Burn Embarrass Abuse Reject Cheat Copy Cough Frown Hate Gossip Trick Deceive Betray Dream Mislead

This year, if I had to choose whether my reading ability or my writing ability improved, I think they both did except my reading had a significant raise. I really felt that in this year, my understanding of the book and the meaning I was able to get from it really improved. I really noticed this fact when I needed a book, for silent reading back in January or so and I grabbed a random book off the shelve. It was a book I had read in 6th grade, about a year ago. After just 20 minutes of it, I was hooked, and this was rare since I don’t usually read a book twice. I checked it out from the library. Last year I thought the books pretty gross, and no meaning. I thought the series were a bit stupid, the title was weird, and the characters were different than usually. So, in other words, last year I didn’t like them very much. But this time, wow, I was just captivated! I read the whole series again and they were just fantastic! I seriously didn’t think they were gross at all, and they had huge meanings to them about friendship themes, and the characters were very neatly drawn out. I really enjoyed reading those books a second time, they were just wonderful.

I guess I’m trying to say that last year I was super immature in books, I didn’t think over it, I didn’t see if I had grasped all of the themes. I read book after book without really reading it. I was a fast reader, I zipped through books like a cheetah runs, but now I realize that if I spend an extra few seconds on each page, I can understand what is happening, and I can take it to a deeper level. I’m not saying I was a bad reader all of my life, I think I did get most themes of easier books. I could read very high level books, but I just didn’t get the full meaning, I didn’t take the time to uncover the themes hidden deep beneath those letters.

Last year I was a fast reader, this year I was an understanding reader.

Hey Everyone! Sorry I haven’t wrote a blog post in so long, school is SO busy with all these tests, projects, the end of school is always the hardest!

My blog post this time is very environmental. It takes place in Costa Rica. My article is going to be on, “Why You Won’t Find Costa Rican Shrimp in the US”. It’s a very interesting article, in my opinion.The author is Alex Leff on Global Post. I chose this story because the minute I read it, I was just captivated. It was a really, good, well-written post that I think explains everything. I wasn’t left with any questions that shouldn’t have been answered. I knew exactly what he was saying, I wasn’t confused by it and it made sense.

The US State Department has banned Costa Rican shrimp because of how the country didn’t enforce any laws that prevent the shrimpers from catching and drowning more 4 types of sea turtles. The marine turtles, named the green sea turtle, the olive ridley, hawksbill and leatherback are all on the list of either endangered or critically endangered. Their main way of dying is by being accidentally caught in fisherman’s/shrimpers nets. The laws state that United States of America will not engage in any shrimp harvesting where sea turtles are at the risk of becoming caught and extinct. The US has certified over 40 countries in shrimp harvesting, including Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. (All also Central American countries) Costa Rica was not on the list.

Costa Rica’s green image is pretty harmed. The country is worried that their Eco-friendly reputation will be hurt, their tourism will go down and their economic concerns, (Costa Rican Shrimp was often on US seafood menus) I think they should stop worrying about their image and fix the problem!! They need to enforce their shrimping laws. It was kind of their fault, in my opinion, that they let their shrimping laws go down. They didn’t make sure everyone was preventing the catching and drowning of marine turtles off the coasts of Costa Rica.I really liked the story, it was interesting and sad that a few marine turtles were being illegally caught in shrimping nets because of Costa Rica’s failure to enforce their law. I think that Costa Rica should quit being so worried about their image and reputation, and instead fix the problem! And also, the US visited Costa Rica about their shrimping laws in late 2008 and Costa Rica promised to reinforce them and have it fixed by early 2009. However, halfway through into 2009 the US embassy reports that the authorities of Costa Rica had not resolved to fix it and not taken the actions that they had promised.

I wonder why Costa Rica didn’t resolve the problem, even after the US had made them promise to change thier actions. Then, when they don’t change their shrimping actions, and the US bans Costa Rican shrimp, they’re all worried about their reputation. I didn’t read anywhere that they were, “We’re going to try and reslove this problem very soon and reinforce our laws.” But I did hear they were worried about their image. I wonder if the US will ever allow Costa Rican shrimp again? And since I’m learning about endangered species for our topic groups, I know about endangered animals and how they’re becoming endangered. For marine species, one of the top reasons is because of fishing accidently-caught-in-the-net-and-drowned-or-died. Did you know the top endangered animal in the world is the Pinta Island Turtle, and there is only 1 left in the entire world? This isn’t really about Costa Rica anymore, it’s about endangered turtles. So, yes, there is one male “Lonesome George” Pinta Island Turtle left on the Galapagos Islands of the coast of Ecuador. He’s suspeced to be around 60-90 years old of age and still healthy. They still haven’t found a female, though, even though it’s been about 35 years since they found him. A couple decades ago, they called the Pinta Island Tortiouse extinct. Then, about 15 years later they found Lonesome George. Since then another hasn’t been found, although a reward that would leave you wealthy for the rest of your life is offered if you find a female for poor old George.

It’s so sad how so many marine animals are being drowned in fishing nets because the selfish fisherman and shrimpers won’t take the time to save our endangered animals!! There is so, so many animals already extinct and so many endangered animals in our world that could easily of been saved if people had cooperated. Anyways, at least the US is not allowing shrimp from places that are not being friendly to marine animals.

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Hey new 7^th graders! I know you’re going to have such a fun time next year in your second year of middle school. We sure did! 7^th grade was a really good year, with lots of new things happening and fun experiences to try. The year just whisked by; I can’t believe it’s almost summer again! 7^th grade is not super hard, but it’s way more challenging than 6^th grade and there are many more opportunities. The main thing is, don’t be worried. It’s not as scary going into 7^th grade as it was starting middle school. You already know the rules and boundaries of MS, you already mostly know what it’s going to be like. 7^th grade still has lockers and tardies, it’s really not that much different than 6^th, except you’re not the youngest anymore in the middle school.

If there’s one thing I learnt in 7^th grade, it’s time management. You get a lot more homework this year, especially in math, and you need to know how to pace your time. I suggest doing homework as soon as you can; don’t wait until 10:00 at night to start your humanities blog post due tomorrow. I realized that you need to do more quality work this year, especially in humanities, make sure your writing is always at its top best. Effort is also greatly noticed and graded, so make sure you’re giving your greatest try. J Do your math homework before Facebook, and study for your science test before IMing.

The second semester is a lot harder than the first. The teachers try and push you to your full potential; I noticed the quality of writing in humanities went a lot higher. And if you’re in Pre-Algebra, it gets more challenging. Make sure you don’t ever underestimate a test!! Study for every single test for at least 30 minutes. You don’t want your grades to fall in the third quarter!

Don’t be worried; you’ll do great!!  ~A friend~

As she was trudging home, the shimmer of the lake by the sidewalk caught her eye. She stopped and looked for a minute, at the dazzling black lake that reflected the sunset, bringing a bit of light to the blackness seen far in the depths of the lake. It was such a perfect moment; she immediately knew that she loved the lake despite its darkness; it was the perfect lake although it held many mysteries. Mysteries just make things more interesting, she thought. It was a beautiful sight, with the light shining on it, and as she turned to go, it seemed the small waves lapped quietly to say good-bye.

He slowly walked by the lake, taking in everything and appreciating even the small bird in the tree. He still admired things for all they were worth; he thought the lake was a beautiful lagoon, one of Mother Nature’s wonders but full of sadness. When he looked at the lake, he saw many stories, stories of horror and sadness, of generation piled on top of generation. He saw little children that had drowned in there, adults that had fallen off of their boats never to be seen again. Yes, his life had been too tragic already that he now only saw the bad things. The lake was beautiful, but he knew that it was just hiding the layers of events and decades that slept on the bottom of the deep, dark, mysterious lake.

He stopped only a little bit, such as a glance, to look at the lake. He kicked a few pebbles into the lake, not even wondering what mysteries that lake held, not wondering about the darkness or the depth. He was in a hurry to get home, fretting over a project due tomorrow for work and had many things on his mind. The lake barley crossed his mind, but he saw it as only a distraction. It didn’t hold any such significance; there was no real important part to the beautiful lake. It was a lake, and a lake at that. He couldn’t appreciate it because of its location; he hated cities and civilized places. It may have looked very beautiful, but through his eyes he simply couldn’t see it.

A lot of people have been saying the internet has effected their life for the better; but I don’t think anybody said that it effected their life for the worse. I honestly can’t say which side I believe is right (in my opinion). I read how so many people spend all of their time surfing the web and playing video games/Facebook. Most people said their parents were mad about them going on the computer for so long and they tried to limit their time. People said they went on the internet a lot, which isn’t the same for me. I related to some things, such as my parents criticize me for the computer, but I didn’t relate to many things spoken by the opposite gender such as being addicted to online gaming.

I usually go on the computer whenever I have free time and nothing else to do, which isn’t very often. Some weekdays I don’t have anything after school, and that’s mostly when I go on the computer if I’m not hanging out or if I don’t have a book. A few people said the computer occupies their time when they used to be reading. I would probably choose reading over internet, but that’s just my opinion. I know Internet is a part of our life, but we shouldn’t abuse it, or take a huge advantage of it. My parents try and limit me to 1.5 hours on the computer per day, and usually I only spend about 30-45 minutes. There is many things to do on the internet, of course, but there is also many things to do outside. And if you’re thinking, “Well, what ELSE can I do,” then ride your bike around (if you live in Nichida or a place like that), go play sports, join the track and field team, read a book, do your homework, hang out with people, entertain your siblings… There’s so many other better things to do than stare at a screen all afternoon. I’m not sure if this generation is taking a turn for the better…

YouTube,

“Text Comments: 60,489″

Unbelievable there’s that many people that have internet access to watch things like that and watch the same video and comment on it!! I really don’t understand why you need to repeat what other people said 20 billion times…Wow!

One more thing… I just realized about how computers changed my life… It’s really weird whenever I do something wrong, I’ll think, “Where’s the delete button?” And then I scold myself for thinking like that and wonder what’s wrong with me. I also think, “Where’s the undo?, Where’s the escape?” It’s really weird, and it always catches me off guard. Do you ever think like that? Am I alone in that catagory?? …

I’ve been observing different peoples writing in the same enviroment and I’ve come up with a lot of new ideas about the social life and technology life in my grade 7. I read a few writing pieces from these people and the results are really interesting and surprising. A lot more boys like internet gaming and how they are addicted to it; more girls seemed to write about reading and their childhood memories. It seems, sadly, how many boys (and some girls) loved reading when they were little and how it was a big part of their childhood but don’t read much anymore. It also seems that instead of reading, 13-year-old boys spend a lot of their time video gaming and on the computer. More girls have a constant history of reading, where they are still reading now and enjoying it. And every single person said that their parents/teachers/important adults had a big influence on their reading as a child. Almost everyone said that they read books like Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle and the Bearinstien Bears when they were little.

I think it’s sad how a lot of people have lost their love of reading, however it is great that people want to become better readers. I think it’s great that we have all this access to all these books in our library and a wonderful classroom and teachers that will recommend books to us whenever we want. We should take advantage of our environment, because there isn’t nearly as many lucky people as the people that attend ISB. It’s interesting how the amount of boys that have lost their interest of reading to the number of girls that lost their interest of reading. The boys is significantly higher. It really depends on your childhood, your education and environment.

It’s also really lucky that we have adults that are very patient in our lives and how they helped us develop early in our life, to love books and to learn how to read. I couldn’t imagine not being able to read until I moved to Bangkok and all of the signs were in Thai and I couldn’t understand anything! It was so annoying at first, to see stuff walking down the street and not know what it means. Eventually I got used to it, but I know just a bit at how non literate people must feel, to look at a sheet of paper and not know what it says. Something really clicked in me on how reading was such an important aspect of our lives 2.5 years ago.

Ever since I started middle school, my parents have always been on me for getting off the computer since I’ve been using it more and more. I use it for homework, yes, but I also use it for chatting and email and games. They’ve tried numerous times to come up with a system to limit my time. None of them really worked. I know it’s bad to be on the computer for a long time except it’s just a part of my life now (and a lot of peoples in the world) and though my parents don’t like to admit it; they use it even more than I do. My mom spends so much time on her email since 100 new messages come in every single day. My dad uses the computer all the time at work for practically the whole day.  My mom criticizes me for using it so much, but I don’t think I abuse my computer time.

Believe it or not, I’m also criticized for reading. My mom gets so mad when my nose is always in a book. Therefore, I have to stop reading often to do something to please her. I hate being interrupted when I’m reading, and I like to finish a book in one night. However, I do manage to fit in a lot of reading time, as long as I finish my homework and piano before dinner. I love reading. It’s pretty much one of my favorite things to do. On weekends I don’t really read as much. Weekends are always the busiest time of the week for me; I’m usually out all day.

Anyways, back to the computer, I love technology and I love the Internet. There’s so many things to do, though you can get bored when the fun is over. I don’t spend a lot of time on the computer. I know way more kids that spend twice as much time as I do on the computer. I mean, the computer is not going to go away. It’s a part of so many people’s lives now. It changed the whole world. I know a couple in their 50’s that said they were giving away all of their computers when they retire. I think that’s not such a great idea. They won’t have internet, typing, photos, news (besides newspapers), email, no way to keep in touch with people besides phones and letters, but letters are out of date and nobody uses them. I think they should just have one computer, use it once a week for email, and that’s all. I’m not sure if the computer was a good invention and if it will take a turn for the worse in the future, but right now it’s like a perfectly good communication type to see how your family and friends in different countries are doing and you should take advantage of that without abusing it.

I can’t imagine my life without a computer….Is that a bad thing??

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

I noticed that my book was a lot shorter than most books. With a short 100 pages or so, Of Mice and Men is a grabbing tale of two men traveling in America in the great depression. The author still creates a nice tale with many sections and a vivid plot. The characters are very different from each other, Lennie and George are completely different personalities, yet they still travel with each other. The author even mentioned that in that time, it was not common for two men to roam around the country together. The author also used a lot of dialog, and usually the only plot paragraphs were two in the beginning of each chapter. I thought that was a pretty good way to start a chapter. John Steinbeck would usually start out a chapter with two paragraphs of the main setting in the chapter. He didn’t give anything away about what was going to happen, but the plot mainly makes you wonder what that has to do with anything, usually because all of the chapters were different plots.

Since I have already completed the whole book, I will just name a few of the questions I had while reading the book. I wondered why Curley’s wife’s name was never mentioned, and mostly I wondered why the other men at the farm were always so afraid to talk to her. I realize now, after finishing the book, that Curley was very jealous of anyone that so much glanced at his wife. And his wife, his wife had big dreams of becoming famous and rich. Her relationship was not the kind she wanted with her husband. She hoped to make friends and to have a good life and experience here. But Curley, now in charge of her, was not that kind of man, he was evil and tormented the men on the ranch. I thought of a few more questions, but not many, and they have already been answered.

When I finished the novel, at first I was not sure what the main theme’s were. But as I thought and reflected, I realized there were so many symbols underneath that text. They were only obvious if you went beneath the surface. I got the ending though; I understood the symbols that let up to the ending. I like books that have a lot of meaning under them. It was not written in my style though, I often got bored throughout it. When I was needed and had to stop reading, I shut my book without any further ado. Usually I read for 5 or 10 minutes more when my parents call me, because they are so hard to shut to a close. The book made me experience pity for Lennie when George yelled at him or when he did something he wasn’t supposed to. When I was reading the book, my mind would sometimes drift away, and so finally I sat down for 20 minutes and read the whole thing through, concentrating hard. The other members of my book club in the last meeting had many of the same feelings I did. They didn’t really get what was the point of the book, and I didn’t catch any real theme. Well, that’s what we discussed in our last meeting. I now know better, and I know that there are some really great themes in there. Such as dreaming – everyone has their dreams in that book but very few ever come true. However, just the dream is the thing that keeps them alive and excited, waiting for that hope to come true. I am not sure if I would want to read another book of such right now. I’m not so interested in that style and that kind of reading.

This book reminded me that every place has its bully. Curley was a very cruel man, one that you’d want to stay away from. George knows that and warms Lennie to stay away from him, however it’s Curley and his wife (although his wife was innocent), that eventually cause the ending in this book. It’s Curley’s fault that George has to shoot his friend to save him from the horrors and bad things that would happen to him if he was alive when Curley caught him. The ending is just like that scene with Candy’s dog. A man said, “Just shoot him, he’s already blind and he’s not having a good ending of his life. If you shoot him, you’ll save him from himself because he’s already slowly dying. And if you shoot him right in the back of the head, he’ll die peacefully and he’ll never even know who it was.” Which causes George to do that to Lennie. I’m not sure if I liked this book. I did like the symbols underneath.