“The past is never dead, it’s not even past.”
What does this quote mean to you?
I think this quote means that what happened in the past will not stay in the past, that just because something happened a long time ago doesn’t mean it won’t happen again. For example in the book “The Wave” the problem from Nazi Germany returns and causes problems in their school. In history past has repeated itself as well. For example huricane Katrina and huricane Rita. They both happened in the States just a few months after eachother. An example of a man-made event is the Titanic and the Titan. The Titan was built to sail to New York and it set sail but sank. Then the Titanic was built and named after the Titan to sail to New York but it sank as well. I think the past often repeats itself so we always need to be ready.
The Wave | Comment (1)Discussion Questions Chapt. 9-12
Have you ever been forced to join something against your will?
I haven’t ever been forced to do something against my will, except maybe clean my room, but I have done something I might not wanted to just to be part of the group. If you think about you are influnenced alot, and by alot of people. From the clothes you wear to the food you eat to the places for go. I’ve done alot of things because my friends said it was ‘cool’. But I wasn’t actually forced into doing it but if I didn’t I would have been excluded.
a.How should we behave if we see someone being taunted or bullied by a group of people? Should we try not to get involved or should we intervene?
If someone is being taunted by a group of people, we should stop them because no one likes being picked on. It’s important to stand up for someone in need, because if it was happening to you, you would want them to do the same for you. But you need to be carfully when you intervene because it could be dangerous. You should get help from an adult or something so you don’t get in the middle of it all.
The Wave | Comment (0)Chapter 5-8 Discussion Questions
David tries to convince Laurie to forget the events that took place in Nazi Germany, “forget about it. It happened and the world learned its lesson. It’ll never happen again.” Do you agree? Should we try to forget evil events, and trust in the goodness of human nature? Is evil an outside force, or are we all capable of evil acts?
I disagree with what he is saying but I don’t think we should dwell on it all the time. We need to be aware of the inhumanity of the human race. If we forget it completely something that cruel could happen again. We need to learn about what happened but then put it aside and focus on what’s happening now, because it’s no use dwelling on something we can never change.
I think we should remember the evil events that have happened in our past so we can learn about them and their causes. We can’t trust in the goodness of human nature because sometimes goodness is put down by power. Goodness isn’t in everyone and is sometimes less important than power, money and greed.
I think that evil is something that is in all of us and something we are all capable of. Everyone has something inside of them that keeps that evil from showing, but sometimes there is something we want or something we want to do and that will push aside the goodness and the evil comes out. For example if a little girl has a doll and another girl wants it, her evil will come out and get the doll. If one ruler wants more land, his evil will come out and take land from someone else. We are all capable of evil acts, because we control most everything that happens in our life.
The Wave | Comment (1)Power
“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutly.”
I think this quote is true, to a certain amount. A little power, like control over your dog, won’t completly corrupt you. You’ll pretty much be the same. Power over your house maid or gardener won’t corrupt you. I think the second part of the quote is more accurate than the first. I do think that if one person has so much power, like power over a country, they will most likely end up corrupted. It’s important for certain people to have the right amount of power. TV companies and advertisment companies have too much power over its viewers. People with power have been known to lose control. Power has a way of persuading people to do things they usually wouldn’t do. I think it’s dangerous for one person to have too much power. For example Adolf Hitler, he has so much power which led to deaths of millions of Jewish people. We need to be careful with the power we have. Power has ruined marragies, friendships, jobs, etc. So we need to be careful about how much power we let control us.
The Wave | Comments (3)This Week In Class
We talked about sustainability and we watched a video called Did You Ever Wonder. It was really interesting and inspired me to write a post about it (see below). This video made me think about our school and how it teaches green but doesn’t act it. We also created a google reader account that will help us learn about new blogs our friends have posted. We also started reading to book, The Wave. In the process of introducing this book Mr. R told us to make a power pyramid and do a free write on the quote “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutly.” I though this was an interesting thing to think about. We talked about how everything has power over something, but I don’t understand how this could be possible. I mean there has to be a bottom of the food chain. If everything had power over something then it would be a circle, which means the bottom would have power over the top, which means the bottom would have power over everything. For example if the government was at the top and animals were at the bottom then animals wouldn’t have control over anything.
I learned that I have opportunities that more than half the world doesn’t have. Students in the United States have a 1 in 14 chance of learning in a rich and supportive learning environment, and everyone at our school in part of that 1. I think we are all extremly lucky. I also learned that since I do have those opportunities I have to take action to improve the education of the people who are in the other 13.
I daydreamed about, actually I can’t remember. I tend to daydream about alot of things but I was probably thinking about the weekend, softball and my load of homework i’ll be stressing over during the weekend.
I said everything I wanted to, like usual.
This Week In Class | Comment (1)