he didnt want to practice writing essays, so instead he just SAT in the corner.

Another SAT practice essay I wrote in English. I have to say that I definitely liked my first one better. I give this one a 4. The other one a 6.

What do you stand for?

What is the most important thing to you in your life right now? What do you value most? What are you morals? What do you believe in? It is hard to state your morals when you don't really understand what they are. In many schools, morals are hardly discussed, and social issues scarcely brought up. If schools don't help students to decide what they stand for, how will they know what to do when they are faced with making important, moral-based decisions later on in life? This is why I think that moral choices and social issues should be discussed in schools.

I have been to a school that allows discussion of morals and social issues and a school that doesn't allow it. after looking back on challenges I have been faced with at each, I know that attending a school that makes moral discussion a part of their curriculum really helped me to make better decisions. For example, a couple of weeks ago, I visited the World Trade Center grounds in New York. After my visit, I was able to discuss the sacrifices made and all the feelings that must have been felt during the tragic event with my friends from school. I was also able to talk about what was happening now with the resulting war, and my moral standings on it. I felt proud that I knew where I stood with the social issues our world is confronted with.


At my previous school, when the September 11 tragedies occurred, all we got was information. We were never even presented with the idea of sharing our feelings or reflections on the event. I know that if I still attended that school today, I would not know where I stood or how I felt about September 11 or the war in Iraq.

On the other hand, education is important. If people did not have educations, how would jobs be determined? We need academics to help us advance on to the next level. But at the same time, academics cannot help us to determine what kind of world we live in and how we live in it. Thus, while academics are important, a moral education is absolutely necessary to lead a proper life.

analyzing a passage.

For this post I had to choose a passage from the "Judges" portion of Poisonwood Bible and analyze its meaning.

The passage:

All my life I've tried to set my shoes squarely into his footprints, believing if only I stayed close enough to him those same clean, simple laws would rule my life as well. That the Lord would see my goodness and fill me with light. Yet with each passing day I find myself farther away. There's a great holy war going on in my father's mind, in which we're meant to duck and run and obey orders and fight for all the right things, but I can't always make out the orders or even tell which side I am on exactly. I'm not even allowed to carry a gun. I'm a girl. He has no inkling.

Some background information:

In this passage, Leah is analyzing her father and her relationship with him after he has made the decision to stay in the Congo even with all the excitement and potential danger that is coming with the independence.

Analysis:

I think that this is a turning point, or a "center of gravity" quote for Leah because all this time, it has been as if she had set up a cover for her father that allowed her to see past his anger and imperfection as this perfect man of God and role-model. Some people call it "being blinded by love". But during this quote it seems like she is finally able to remove that cover and see her father as a real person, one who is not so perfect. She is able to finally see that he in reality is not a very good person or father, and starts to depend on herself and less on her father, which is good because it shows that she is starting to mature more.

Being able to see her father for what he really is allowed Leah to see that God and her father are two different things, and that she can depend on the Lord without depending on her father. It also allows her to be her own person, and to pursue the things she enjoys doing rather that restraining herself from them just because her father didn't do them.