My Sisters Keeper Post-Reading

"the safety of the rescuer is of higher priority than the safety of the victim. Always."

     To me this quote means you can't put someone in danger to save another. Many times when I'm watching Tv I see that quote in action but most of the time it some one saying that to a cop and they never listen, they put themselves in the line of danger because they care. They care about whether this person will get to live a long happy life with their family. To me the reason you get a job in law enforcement or as a Fireman is because you want to help people and I personally than them for the service they have done for our country.

     Although it does make sense that the rescuers health be taken into full perspective. you never know if the person you rescue is going to survive any way and if it put the rescuer at high risk it really would be for nothing, the morality of it though I think makes it worth while instead of having that on your shoulders you could know you tried which is almost as important as saving someone.

      In the book Anna and Kate's father is a Fireman and he goes out and he saves peoples lives. In the end of the book Anna becomes brain dead in a car accident and they give her kidney to Kate which saved her life.

     In conclusion......

You should always try to help someone.

My Sisters Keeper: Pre-Reading

     I chose to write about what "fair" really means. There are many different definitions of the word fair. A fair isn't just some place where you ride on Ferris wheel and wait in line for a ridiculously long amount of time, I'm talking about what follows the rules kind of fair.

     Many people use the word fair different ways in may different situations , but it think what often comes to mind is equality, the freedom to speak up if you oppose something, the freedom to say what you want to say (at least this it what comes to my mind when I hear the word). In the book my sisters keeper the main character Anna feel that she is denied these freedoms because her sister Kate is sick with cancer and she is the only one in her family who is able to donate some of her bone marrow to help Kate, but her family does this without Anna's consent and it kind makes her feel like they are just using her, which seems pretty unfair. I think Anna is ok with giving her bone marrow to Kate she just wants to do it of her own free will.

     My mother often tells me whats right isn't always fair. But what does that really mean? That in life you have to chose between either being right or being fair?


     One thing I can conclude from this is that....

Fair isn't equal...

and it probably never will be.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Post reading

"It is so much easier to find the answers when you know what you are looking for."

     

     I think this quote means that its never easy to find answers because you never know what you are looking for. Life is full of unexplained and almost unreal things but most of the time people shrug it off because they find it normal. There are very few people who go looking for answers and find them because that's how life works. Mystery's are just weird occurrences that no one has the answer to which is what went on throughout the book. The main character Clay finds a job at Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour book store working the night shift and many weird visitors appear at odd hours checking out even more stranger books containing thousands of random dots on the pages, but it turns out they were looking for answers to something they though they knew, but they really didn't.

     

Mr.Penumbras 24-Hour Bookstore: Pre-Reading

      I think the key to immortality would have to be love. Love transcends space and time. Without love many people would be lost. Love can never die. We may never find the secret to Immortal life but we sure will try. Many of these people are in love with the idea of living forever, but what would that time be if you could never share it with someone.
      Our endings are inevitable, but we could at least go on knowing we had done something in our lives if we have love.
      Love is a once in a lifetime chance to be happy and I think people should try to find love instead of getting this "immortal life"(which is not what its cracked up to be and if people knew what it was like they would give anything to have their normal lives back).
      I know not many people actually find the love of thier life but they gave it their best shot and deserve something so special.
      Theres actually this old Greek myth about Love:

       When Zeus created man he gave them two heads and four legs which none of the other gods  thought looked right so he sent forth his lightning bolt and split them in half. These people had a desire to be with the person they were seperated from thus created love (and is most likely where the word "Soul Mate" came from). They knew that person was out there that they belonged with and they found them(which is something I find courageous).

Little Brother: Post-Reading

"Terrorists don't hate bridges and planes. Terrorists love terror"

     This quote to me means that its not that they hate the things they blow up it's the fact that the thing they blew up probably belonged to someone they hated. It's not very literal in a sense that it they are doing it because of the message it sends and how it makes them look.

     In the book Little Brother the main characters are accused of being Terrorists when they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If anyone in the book are Terrorists it would have to be the Government because they are fighting their own people who only want privacy and freedom. They are just as bad as the Terrorist they are fighting.

     Through out the book more people keep getting in trouble just because they believe they have more rights than they are given and in the middle of it all is the main character Marcus who wants to start a revolution but doesn't really get any support from his close friends which is probably because their best friend was kidnapped by the Government and hadn't been heard from since the bombing in the beginning of the book. I understand how his friends must of felt ,but they just turned their back on him because they were scared of what would happen..i also under stand what Marcus felt when his friends which had to have made him question what he was doing; was this an act of Justice or Terrorism?

Little Brother Pre-Reading

     The value of privacy to me means a lot. I think of privacy as a sacred concept. If I don't mess in your business you don't mess in mine.
   
      In the book Little Brother Privacy is very hard to come by because of all the technology being used to watch everyone they often have to be very discrete about things. The main character in the book Marcus gets interrogated by the Goverment because they believe him to be a terrorist radical who blew up an important bridge. They attempt to go through his phone and other belongings but they need the passwords to them, which he refuses to give because it was an invasion of his privacy. They then told him if they gave the passwords he would be released from their custody, they only thing was that he would be a marked man (they would watch him carefully to see if he screwed up again and be there to arrest him if they needed to).when he finally returned home he found that they had taken apart his computer and implanted a bug inside of it so that they would know about anything he typed into his computer which i find is illegal i mean he has his own rights by the constitution, he should be able to do what he wants without having to be followed or watched.

Human Nature Essay

     I like to believe people can be good but people are definitely evil. They may appear moral ,but many serious situations push us and bring out the bad inside of everyone.

     People are generally selfish. In the text the Lord of the Flies the characters are stranded on a deserted island and they have to survive. Most of them are just trying to live, but a big concern for them is the dispute between Ralph's group and Jack's group over who gets power over them all. In the poem The Cold Within none of the six characters would give their stick to the fire whether there reason be because of social indifference, race and even religion. If they would have given up heir sticks they might have survived.

     People are relentless. Jack would stop at nothing to gain power over everyone and everything in the LOTF by using his threats and lies about a beast that apparently roamed the island and in the gained control over the other boys (all except Ralph). In The Cold Within the rich man would not give up his stick because of the social status he and the poor man shared.

     People are narcissistic. Jack thought every thing he did was right and that everybody should follow his commands. Roger was also kind of narcissistic because he wanted everyone to be evil like him and do terrible things.

     People are controlling. Roger and jack used each other for their own personal gain in LOTF. Jack used Roger to convince people to join him and Roger used jack to create total chaos for everyone.

     Everyone has an bit of evil inside of them whether it as big as Roger's or Piggy's(whom was killed by Roger). People are selfish, relentless, inconsiderate and controlling even though a lot hate to admit it. you may meet some one who seems like a good person, but they really are just better at hiding their dark side than everyone else.