To me, a hero isn´t someone you simply idolize and admire. It´s someone who has touched your life, who has done something for you to strengthen you as a person. This person for me is my father.
My dad wasn´t a perfect person. He had his faults and he did nothing especially spectacular with his life. But my dad was my hero. I knew he loved me not just because he said so, but because everything he did was for me. He took care of me when no one else would. He never brought me into his own problems. No matter what he was struggling with, he made sure I would be safe.
But he´s not just my hero because he took care of me. My father went beyond that. We had fun together. We always knew how to make each other laugh. His sense of humor brought me out of the deep sadness I still often feel. He knew how to comfort me, how to listen without judging what I had to say. He gave me advice and hugs that made me feel like everything was okay. When I was sick and had to be hospitalized, he visited me every weekend so that I´d never feel alone.
He saved me from falling deep into my sickness. I still think of him when I don´t feel okay, and I know my dad is still watching me. He still takes care of me in ways I´ll never know. He´s my hero. But he´s my angel now, too.
Green means life to me. I love the greens of the leaves of plants – especially trees. Trees are amazing to me. They give life to so many other animals, including us. Seeing trees in the spring gives me a sense of safety – like everything is as it should be. I’m reminded of summers in Boise when I’d run around in my grandparents’ backyard, picking leaves and climbing trees.
I remember driving around in the forests in Idaho mountains in winter, either to ski or to play in the mountain snow with my dad. Green pine needs covered in fresh snow is one of the most beautiful things in the world.
This could probably be expected of me: I would love to see a wolf in the wild. One would think wolves would do fine in captivity because they’re so closely related to dogs. In reality, a caged enclosure is not a happy place for a wolf. Wolves have huge territories in the wild, often as large as 200 square kilometers. They have amazing stamina and move around constantly. Seeing wolves in caged environments only makes me sad. They’re usually in the back of their enclosure pacing. I would love to see a wolf pack in the wild because I believe that’s the only place where these animals can be happy. Even seeing a wolf from a far distance would make my heart soar.
I heard about Earth Hour in a brief segment on the news, but I wish I knew more about it, because maybe I would have encouraged my family to participate in some way. It’s very important to realize the state of the environment, and I used to keep myself more aware of it than I do now. I remember as a child being extremely concerned that my dad and I didn’t have a recycling bin for our paper and plastic trash. Lately, I haven’t paid much attention to what I’m using and what I’m not reusing. I’m ashamed of myself. I guess I haven’t seen the point in being conscious of those things since I’m just one person. If I could clean the world with the wave of my hand, I would.
But when I thought about it that day after the news, I realized that I do a lot of things subconsciously to help the environment. I toss my empty Pepsi cans in the recyclings boxes at school, I save and reuse plastic grocery sacks, and at home I’m sure to wash out my yogurt cups. And even if I’m not making a huge difference, maybe what I am doing will rub off on the people who see me do it. It’s important to care about the world, and to do your part to protect it regardless of how much you think it’ll really help.
i wish last year was here again
i’d see you blue-eyed smile and then
our laughter’d echo through the nights
dancing with the christmas lights.
instead i see your wooden urn
imagining your body burn
eyes are glass, my heart is stone
for you’re with Him and i’m alone.
I listened to a podcast about a book I read last year, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It always seemed to be to be the kind of book that would only appeal to a few people, so I was excited to see that someone enjoyed it enough to create a podcast about it.
The blog is set up like a therapy session—a dialogue between Charlie, the main character and narrator of the story, and a therapist. The therapist talks to Charlie about his life, asking him questions about his feelings and giving gentle advice. Charlie’s responses are well depicted and true to his actual character: quietly thoughtful. Music was used about halfway through the podcast and again at the end. I thought the music was relaxing and made “therapy session” pleasant to listen to.
Though monotone at times, this podcast gave just enough of a preview to draw its listeners to The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I recommend listening to it and then picking up the book if it interests you.
One day, I was at the park across from Thurston with some friends in the morning before school. My friend Kaulin was just downing the last of his Monster when his eyes lit up, trailing to the telephone pole a few feet away. My friends and I flashed curious glances to one another.
“You know what? I’mma climb that telephone pole,” Kaulin announced. The rest of us struck up a chorus of “oh gods” and “what the hecks,” uncertain of how else to react. I wasn’t sure if he was even serious.
However, before I knew it, Kaulin leapt onto the telephone pole and began to shimmy up it like a cat up a tree. We all watched in wonder as he reached the top and sat, triumphant and smiling. Passerby gave him bewildered looks, and I even heard something like, “What is that emo kid doing up there?” I simply could not stop laughing – none of us could. He climbed back down, still grinning, and walked casually to school.
It was one of the funniest, most random things I have ever seen.
I used to have the attitude that the economic recession could never effect me. I hear about it on the news – about how people all over the nation are losing jobs and frantically scrounging for money to support their families. But living with retired grandparents who were, as far as I knew, very “well-to-do,” has led me to believe I’m immune to the recession’s effects.
In the past two months or so, that belief has changed. I’ve been wrapped up in my own issues and haven’t noticed what’s been going on around me until recently. One day, I came home from school to my grandma, Marty, holding a bill in her hand and looking worried. I asked her what was wrong and she showed me the bill. According to what it said, I’d run up my cell phone minutes way, way over what was expected. The money I’d spent shocked me.
Marty explained that she and my grandfather needed that money for more important things. They couldn’t just pay the bill right out of their pockets. This surprised me more than the bill itself. When I paused to think about it, I realized there had been fewer trips to the grocery store, more coupons saved, fewer Christmas gifts… And that realization caused me to cry. It left me speechless save for my repeated apologies to my grandparents.
I’m going to pay my exorbitant cell phone bill, of course. The fiasco taught me an important lesson, not just about my own selfishness, but about the state of the country. Everyone has been affected, even the wealthy. People need to be aware at all times of what they’re spending, because it inevitably has an impact on more people than just themselves.
