Power is an object, person, or thought having a mental or physical advantage or influence, creating a controlling aspect, over a grouping of people; intellectual or physical strength or force used to condemn certain desired behavior.

Chapel Talk

I spent hours sitting in my bed, kicking off sheets and blankets in frustration, to leave me staring at a blank word document on my computer screen. I struggled to write this essay more than others; it was like I couldn’t think for my self anymore. I was stressing about topics to make my teacher happy, ideas that would give me a good grade, and perspectives that weren’t my own. It hadn’t fazed me until then that I was writing for acceptance. My complete paragraphs weren’t something I have felt extremely passionate about; they echoed what I had been taught in the past to care about. But it’s a funny thing to write what you want, I can feel somewhere that I know what I want to write about, but it is never surfaced for the fear someone will hear my own opinions and disagree with them.

            I’m not angry with the fact I couldn’t come up with words for myself, I angry with myself suppressing all of the thoughts I hear rambling in my head all day long, the ones that I never allow to slip past the barrier and out of my mouth. So many times I keep what I’m thinking to myself, and I don’t think its because I’m embarrassed about what I have to say, but I think that if someone tells me I’m wrong, I’ll never share what I have to say again. So in efforts to preserve my ability to speak, I have become selective about the things I allow myself to say. But in years of closing myself off from the disproval from others, I have silenced my self even further than I imagined disapproval would. It’s a rare sight now to see my hand waving in the air to answer a question in class, for me to walk up and introduce myself to someone first, or for me to engage someone in conversation.

            For my eighth grade graduation, I had the help of a teacher I had only met twice to write my speech. I wrote three and a half pages about how wonderful our class was, how well we behaved and how I had faith that even after years apart, we would still all remain just as close; I didn’t believe a word about anything I said. I reiterated what I was told was expected of the presidential speech, as I’m sure was told to the previous speech givers before me. I still regret not saying what I wanted to say in front of my class and all of our parents; so I’m going to say it now. Thank you for ten great years together as a class. Some of us are going to hold onto these years for as long as we can, but I don’t recommend that. Don’t take these years for granted, because they don’t come back, but don’t be ashamed to move on with the rest of your life. I’m going to a different school than most of you, and there’s a chance I’m not going to see some you again, but you have all altered my life in some way or another, and I probably haven’t told you, but thank you.

            I regret not saying what I believed in that gymnasium every time I bump into a former classmate. I had the un-wavering attention of a few hundred people all at one instant, listening to what I had to say, and I used my minutes echoing what my teachers expected me to say in fear of disappointing people.  Although I still struggle expressing what I’m feeling and thinking, I realize now I shouldn’t hold back what I think, and slowly I’m getting to a point where I no longer worry about these thoughts anymore.

Admiration

Throughout the ages people have always felt a strong connection with animals. Humans have encountered wild animals since they first walked the earth, and before the B. C. era ended, humans had already domesticated their first animals. Not only are animals mans best friend and companion, we admire them for qualities they have.

            Humans can admire animals when admiration to justify the jealousy they feel towards animals. Animals are often described as free, giving them the power people feel they lack themselves: choosing their own paths or not having anyone to tell them what to do.  In contrast to admiring animals in a form of jealousy, some people admire people for their pure beauty. The same society people live in has not distorted animals; they are pure compared to people.

            Hoagland and Woolf both choose to talk about one animal in each of their essays. Hoagland admires turtles for being the complete package of all animals. He thinks they have al of the best qualities of other animals combined into one. Woolf admires the simplicity of a moth’s life. After struggling, a moth ultimately accepts its fate, its death. Nothing is over complicated in the moth’s life.

            An animal that I admire is a bird. The reason I admire the bird is because the bird has the potential to fly wherever it chooses, but it may also choose to stay in the same place. I admire the bird because out of all of the animals, I feel the bird has the most opinion, choice, and chance.

Thursday 10-9-14 11:10

Total Solar Eclipse

        

           When reading the story Total Eclipse, the passage that caught my attention was this one:

“If you were to glance out one day and see a row of mushroom clouds rising on the horizon, you would know at once what you were seeing, remarkable as it was, was intrinsically not worth remarking. No use running to tell anyone. Significant as it was, it did not matter a whit. For what is significance? It is significance for people. No people, no significance.” – Total Eclipse by Anne Dillard

This passage contained a concept I had never thought about before: significance. What Anne Dillard said, that significance is only relevant to people, is a scary thought. This idea is something people fear, and choose not to address or talk about. People crave significance; have the desire to be important and revelevant in a larger picture. I liked how bluntly Dillard made her point. She did not beat around the bush and to reason why this was such a feeling humans crave. She simply stated that significance is something only humans feel. A tree does not see or feel significance in another tree, or a bird. They don’t run away to tell their friends about something significant that happened to them.

Although I like this passage because it evokes a lot of thought, I don’t like the feeling that everything is insignificant to everything other than humans. I think Dillard’s goal in writing this passage was to help add to her story of the total eclipse she experienced. It emphasized the idea that without people witnessing the total eclipse, just as the cars that continued going to work, nothing would change. There would be a solar eclipse, but it would not be significant until it was witnessed and acknowledged by a human, just as she and many others did on the hilltop.

The passage by itself can create a gloomy thought, but when placed in the story, it becomes inspiring. Without people, no event is significant. Her point is to stop and witness the significant.