Personal Identity is Worth Fighting For

Where I'm From

I am from Pooh bear,
from the soccer games and the track meets.
I am from I Told you Sos
and every jolly word in Jingle Bells, as if I made it up myself.

I am from lasagna and the thickly cut salami.
From weekend dinners at Mr. Wong’s and steamy broth flavors.
I am from strict doctors and bubbling beer.
From Hey there shorty and My little angel.

I am from floaties and peek-a-boos,
from blonde barbies and Huggies diapers.
I am from pigtails to hair battles.
From giggling faces and hysterical crying.

I am from Mathilda and The Cow Jumped Over the Moon.
From American Idol to The Little Mermaid.
I am from World War II and the Black Market
I am from Monopoly and the Bounce game,
sunshine and summer days all year long.

Stashed away in messy folders are snapshots,
documenting forgotten times,
a reminder of the past.
I am from those moments,
the building bricks of my future,
the building bricks of me.


List Poem 

Hair tightly pulled back
Short strands of hair poking out wildly the usual
Fluffy pink scrunchy covering the average hair tie
Unpierced and bare ears hanging free
A size too large purple letterman jacket laying on my shoulders
Wide sleeves resting on hands with only the tips of my fingers peeking out
Fingernails clean but in need of a short cut
Skinny wrists hiding under the comfort of my jacket
Blue polo shirt school
Dark shorts with a small stitched panther school
Not yet worn out black comfortable converse
Clean white socks slowly slipping down my heel
Flat white laces tied my own way incorrectly
Scratched and half-gone nail polish clinging to my toes
That’s just me.




One's personal identity is worth fighting for. It's worth it because our identity makes us different and who we are. If we didn't fight for who we are, then we would all be the same and not be unique. Identity makes everyone special. Doing something we don't want to do is giving up the fight for our identity. Everyone should have faith in themselves and fight for who they are because we all deserve to be ourselves and be happy. We can change everything from our appearance to the environment we live in but our identity is the only thing we know will be the same. If lose our fight for identity then we have nothing left. Our identity is what defines us and what we can always depend on to never change.

On November 9th 1938 an event called Kristallnacht happened. It happened in Germany and Austria. Nazis, Stormtroopers, and average Germans "Aryanized" Jewish businesses. The Jewish businesses were sold at bargain prices determined by the Nazis. The main thing that happened during Kristallnacht is that stones were thrown at windows of the shops that belonged to Jews. The glass from the windows covered the ground and they looked like crystal which is where "Kristall-" came from. Since the event happened at night, "-nacht" came from that. Jews had their property destroyed and 191 synagogs were burnt down. Many Jews also didn't have time to flee so 30,000 Jews were taken to concentration camps that night. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebells were the ones who were mainly in charge of the whole event but denied later. They had Nazis and Stormtroopers help take Jews to concentration camps or just destroy the businesses. Many Jews told or wrote stories about how the experience was for them. One of the Jewish men to speak of his unfortunate story was Frederic Morton. He was in Austria and in his house when Stormtroopers barged in and looked for valuables in his house. Shortly after the troopers went downstairs, Morton's father was taken away to a camp. Four months later Morton says his father returned home in a horrible condition but was somehow alive. Similar stories were experienced by many others but some weren't fortunate enough to have their family return home.

Kristallnacht was a terrible event triggered by many smaller issues. A big contributor to the event was fear. Some people were afraid of Hitler and his Nazis. They must have been worried that if they showed they stood against his ideas, he would do the same thing to them that he did to the Jews. This fear would have lead to people either helping the Nazis or becoming bystanders. Bystanders are a huge issue because that means the people know what's going on around them is wrong but they do nothing to stop it. Nobody stood up so Kristallnacht got worse since most people who knew it was wrong, just stood back and let it happen anyways. Since Kristallnacht was directed to the Jews, it's obvious that this is anti-semitism. But what lead to that could have bee prejudice. People were quick to judge that all Jews were the same and that the Jews are evil without even bothering to get to know the Jews and decide for themselves. Most people just quickly judged that all Jews were evil, which was promoted by propaganda. Hitler was made to look heroic and the Jews to look like terrible "things" that shouldn't even be considered humans. So much more triggered Kristallnacht like the laws, scapegoating, and peer pressure. The Nuremberg laws especially were discriminative to mainly Jews. Scapegoating is about blaming the Jews for all the misfortune that has happened to Germany and its citizens. Peer pressure also comes in. If someone goes along with throwing stones at Jewish shops, they will most likely pressure people they know into doing it too. But what really pushed all these conflicts over the edge was when on November 7th 1938, a man named Herschel Grynszpan shot a Nazi official in Paris. That's when Germany strongly took action and that's when Kristallnacht happened.

I think the scapegoating of the Germans towards the Jews is ridiculous. I think the whole matter is ridiculous. Germans blamed the Jews for all the misfortunes happening to them when in reality, it really isn't the Jews' fault. Then when they were pushed over the edge when Grynszpan shot a Nazi official, Hitler had Stormtroopers take it out on all the Jews. The Jews were then fined for something Hitler caused. I think it's Hitler who should be fined. I feel extremely sad and terrified for all the innocent Jews who died and had to go through all the discrimination. The stories told about how they were tortured and so lowly thought of made me sick to my stomach. Especially when one camp had Jews run and the Commandant used them for target practice or killed them for not liking the way they worked. What makes me find things even more terrible is that kids were involved in being tortured too. Not only do I feel sympathetic towards the Jews but I'm also shocked and disappointed by the other countries around the world. they saw what was happening and knew the Jews were suffering but hardly any country let Jews in. They turned the ship around and sent the Jews back to Germany. Back to where they came from. I think Kristallnacht and the entire Holocaust was one of the most horribly cruel events witnessed by mankind.

Treaty of Versailles - Fair or Unfair

80. Germany will respect the independence of Austria.
81. Germany recognizes the complete independence of Czechoslovakia.
87. Germany recognizes the complete independence of Poland.
119.

Germany surrenders all her rights and titles over her overseas

countries.

159. The German military forces shall be demobilized and reduced not
to exceed 100,000 men.

181. The German navy must not exceed 6 battleships, 6 light cruisers,
12 destroyers, and 12 torpedo boats. No submarines are to be included.
198. The Armed Forces of Germany must not include any military or
naval air forces.
231.

Germany and her Allies accept the responsibili

ty for causing all

the loss and damage to the Allied Powers.

233. Germany will pay for all damages done to the civilian population
and property of the Allied Governments. [The figure was later set at
$33 billion].
428. To guarantee the execution of the Treaty, the German territory
situated to the west of the Rhine River will be occupied by Allied
troops for fifteen years.431. The occupation forces will be withdrawn as soon as Germany
complies with the Treaty.

The treaty given to Germany in May 1919, as a punishment and effort towards world peace, was not fair. I do believe that Germany did cause huge damage during the war and they should be punished but this treaty takes it to the next level. It isn't fair because they had to give up all the land they rightfully conquered, no other country had gotten punished like that before, and it wasn't built on the base of a treaty that Germany was told to expect.

The Germans had conquered a huge amount of land and now they are told the must give nearly all of it back. I understand that the Germans deserve to have some of their land to be taken away but the almost all of their conquered land was taken away from them. In the treaty it also explains that Germany must respect the independence of some of the other countries meaning they may not reconquer those countries. It's quite harsh to make them give back all the land they fought hard to conquer but it's even worse to know that you need to recognize and respect that they are an independent country. It's like taking one step forward and two steps back. It's not fair that Germany has to give independence to almost every country they fought to conquer.

This treaty also isn't fair because it's not the same treaty as the example Germany was first shown. The rules on the first treaty weren't as harsh as the ones on the final product. If Germany was shown an idea of what the treaty would look like, it shouldn't have changed as much as it did. The treaty would have be a lot more fair if it greatly resemble the idea Germany was shown. For some reason many thing on that lis twas changed and Germany felt betrayed by practically being lied to. The y were lied to because they were shown an idea of the treaty and then presented by am entirely different one causing the situation to be unfair for Germany.

Open Diplomacy - There should be no secret treaties between powers

Freedom of Navigation - Seas should be free in both peace and war
Free Trade - The barriers to trade between countries such as custom duties should be removed
Multilateral Disarmament - All countries should reduce their armed forces to the lowest possible levels
Colonies - People in European colonies should have a say in their future
Russia - Russia should be allowed to operate whatever government it wanted and that government should be accepted, supported and welcomed.
Belgium - Belgium should be evacuated and restored to the situation before the war.
France - should have Alsace-Lorraine and any lands taken away during the war restored.
Italy - The Italian border should be readjusted according to nationality
National Self -Determination - The national groups in Europe should, wherever possible, be given their independence.
Romania, Montenegro and Serbia - Should be evacuated and Serbia should have an outlet to the sea
Turkey - The people of Turkey should have a say in their future
Poland - Poland should become an independent state with an outlet to the sea.
League of Nations - An assembly of all nations should be formed to protect world peace in the future.

One last thing that also made the situation and treaty unfair is that no other country had been punished the same way before. In other wars no other countries had to agree to such harsh rules. No other country had the majority of their conquered countries taken away. Why did it have to be this way for Germany? It wasn't fair that Germany had to be the only country that got punished with the rules of the treaty. If it were done to a country before due to being a big destroyer during a war, it would be fair to give the same punishment to Germany. But nothing so harsh had been done before and even observing countries admitted that the punishment was quite harsh.

I believe that if the punishment wasn't so harsh, the treaty was changed s much, and the punishment been done before, then this would have been completely fair to Germany and they would have definitely deserved every bit of the punishment. But since none of it was, I believe this treaty was something that pushed Germany off the edge and really made them mad. It could have been the war to end all wars, which was what it was meant to be, but I think the treaty rules took it a step to far and there isn't world peace yet. I hope that next time a treaty will just secure everything and not be unfair.

No Man is and Island

The poems and book are about treating every man as an equal. It doesn't matter whether you know him or not and it doesn't matter if he's not your family. The point is that we are all involved in mankind and we are the same. I think "No Man is and Island" means that no matter who someone is, they should not be going through anything alone and everyone should support them because we make up one big continent. The book also speaks about isolation and the contrast between "us" and "them". The book is also about prejudice and otherness.

In the book named The Island by Armin Greder, there is a main idea about not caring for someone because someone doesn't know them or they're different from that someone. The man in the book is different from the other men on the island because he is slim, pale, and weak while the other men are tough and large. The village men isolate the new man because he isn't like them. They also are quick to judge him without even hearing his story. They didn't base their opinion on the man by experience with him, but instead on a quick look at his appearance. The illustrator emphasizes the isolation and weakness of the man by making him naked and isolated on the page. The isolated man is an outsider compared to the mob of village men who are considered the insiders. This applies to real life issues. People see huge contrasts between the words "us" and "them". When we say "us" we refer to ourselves as the insiders and when we use "them" we refer to them as the outsiders. That's how it ties into the topic of no man being an island. We shouldn't be isolating the outsiders we define as "them". We should all be united and not isolate anyone.

The poem emphasizes the idea of everyone being the same. "every man is a piece of the continent" symbolizes that we are all one and together no matter whether we are related by blood or not. We are all part of mankind. This poem also points out that no matter who the person is, people should care. That's shown in "any man's death diminishes me", proving that the writer is setting an example and saying that every time a man dies, we should at least care and acknowledge it. The idea is sticking together, caring for each other, and never being alone. This poem is letting people out there know that others should be there for them and we care, they're not alone. The idea is also that you don't need to know the person to care and be there for them. Take a second to check if they need help because we are no different from them.

The video focuses more on taking a second to help others we don't know and it really stresses the idea of nobody out there being alone. In the video, the symbol for all people out there who need help are poor people on the streets. The examples are homeless people who get passed everyday and are completely ignored until one man stops to help. That man is like the writer in the other poem. They are the people who realize that we are all part of mankind and need to show other that they're not alone. The man in the video didn't know the homeless man, which proves the point that our family members aren't the only important people. We are all important.

The main idea of the poems and book is people out there needing help and people treating them differently because they don't know them or aren't the same as them. They all have the similar idea of not isolating someone and making sure that person isn't alone. The book was an example of isolating someone because you don't know them and their different from you which is showing what it would be like to be left alone without anyone to turn to. The other poems show how people should really be caring and helping others no matter whether we know them or if they aren't the same as them. Nobody should be alone. We are all part of mankind. Another similarity the they had was prejudice. In Greder's "The Island" none of the village men listened to what the pale man needed to say and in the video nobody really cared to listen to the homeless people's side of the story or whether they need help. The poem "No Man in an Island" shows how the man isn't prejudice but cares about everyman because we are ll a part of mankind.

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas:

The Boy In Striped Pyjamas was set in the past. Why should you care about the issues raised in the book? Should we continue to study this book in Grade 7?

WE should care about the issues raised in the book because they are big issues in life. The main issue of the book is that since Bruno is Nazi (or his father is) and Shmuel is a Jew they can't be friends. The other large issue of the book is the cruelty and journey through hardship of those going through that period in time. I do believe that we should care about these issues so we can learn about how horrible and torturous those times were to others and hopefully prevent it from possibly happening again.We should also care about these issues because now we can look at the progressed world and know that it most likely never happen again.

John Boyne actually ends his book saying "Of course this all happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age." (p.216) and said that he actually wanted people to look around at the world and realize what happened then, will never happen in this day and age. This got me thinking that we should care about past issues so we can compare it to our world today and the progression the people have made. Especially with the issue about how torturous the Nazi were to the Jews. We have proof of some torturous events against Jews from Nazi such as when Kotler (Nazi) beat up and possibly killed Pavel (Jew) for accidentally spilling some wine (in the book). WE should also see how our world has progressed with the second issue about Bruno and Shmuel not supposed to be friends. We should look at our world now and realize how all nationalities are friends and there are rarely racists issues. Most international schools help encourage nationalities to be united. We should also care about these issues to realize and remember the torture some people must have felt going through this. Maybe after noticing how much pain was caused, it can strengthen the idea of never letting those issues happen again in this day and age.

We should continue to study this book in 7th grade. This book is very emotional and if we're able to handle all of it, then we should definitely continue reading and studying the book. I agree with studying that period in time in general but I strongly think we should continue studying this book. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas lets people know about what the Holocaust seemed like through the eyes of an innocent German child. It was about half seeing and half understanding for the main character, Bruno. This book is a good place to start at a 7th grade level. It introduces the Holocaust in a way maybe kids like us may have understood it and maybe we can connect better to an innocent child than an adult Jew.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is different as a 7th grade book. It shows what life may have been like a a German boy who's father is a Nazi. It's also interesting because we still have a Jews perspective sometimes because of the character Shmuel. We also get to see a glimpse of the Jewish life through another kid's eyes. As kids ourselves in 7th grade this book is quite easy to follow and possibly to connect to more than other characters. AS I said, it's also a good and easy way to introduce the book to students since it doesn't describe the brutality of some actions from Nazis towards Jews.

Kindness

Kindness is always portrayed as a positive act. But I don't necessarily believe that the result must always be positive to consider the act kind. I also know you can find it everywhere and in every person. Kindness is a choice and everybody has a chance to be kind.

I don't think the result of a kind act has to be positive every time. It's the thought and intention that counts. As long as the person meant it to be good for another, it's a kind act. He could be protecting others feelings or trying to help him, which are good intentions and kind acts. I read in an article that "kindness is an act from the heart" and I completely agree and understand it. Like I said, as long as it's a truly kind intention from the heart, the act should be classified as kind.

Kindness can be found everywhere and ion almost every person. The Dalai Lama once said "Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness." which is true. It's up to them whether they're kind or not. If they aren't then they aren't but there was always an opportunity. Everybody is born with the chance to be kind, it's up to them whether they choose it. I like his saying very much because it states the truth. He doesn't say everybody is kind, but he does say that everybody gets the opportunity.

Kindness is a choice. People are not born kind nor unkind. It's not in any one's genes, it's the choice they make that defines whether they're kind or not. It's completely up to the person to choose and every single person on Earth is allowed to make their own choice. Yes, we all may accidentally mention something unkind once in a while but that doesn't we're not kind people. If we know how to handle our mistakes and make up for them, we still have the choice. It's up to us to make the right decision and pick kindness,

I'm not entirely sure how to define kindness. It's difficult to get it exactly right but I can only do my best. I think kindness is an act from the heart and an intention to do good to another. It's an act you do because you care and mean well for them. Even if it doesn't turn out positive in the end, kindness is the act of trying to make things well for another person. Though if you mean harm yet it turns out positive for that person, that is nowhere near being kind. I believe the main idea of kindness is the big point has to do with meaning well.

Kindness is an act from the heart. We can all choose it and many people have. I'm really thankful having kindness in the world and I value it. I can't imagine what the world would be like without kindness. If nobody choose to be kind. That's why I value kindness and I suppose forgiveness is just as important. I find that it holds friendship ans kindness together.

A PROFILE

In Humanities we took a short quiz to find out which profile we are and I turned out to be an A Profile. Last year we took the same quiz and I also received Profile A. So that means I had a basic idea of how I like to learn but I learned more last class.

I'm on the Logic side of the brain so that means I like instructions and other things given to me in order and in a sequence or specific order. I'm supposed to be good at step-by-step verbal and visual instructions. I completely agree with that because I always like very specific instructions, whether they're verbal or visual. I also learn best when focusing on details, the small things are good for me to learn. I also produce good work when writing and speaking, which I think is a good balance. Language, oral or written, is also very important to an A profile person because it helps our learning. It also says I'm supposed to be an auditory and visual learner. I'm not very sure about that though because other test show I'm more visual and kinesthetic than auditory.

As an A profile person, I have a lot 0f problems seeing the big picture. I have even more troubling seeing it when under stress but it does say that I am still able to "move forward" under stress. I'm very happy to hear that because I think it's a good skill to have to be able to progress even under stress. Another challenge I may face it connecting emotionally to things. But according to the book, my biggest challenge would be to access the gestalt hemisphere especially under stress.

I need to work on looking at the big picture and understanding more about it rather that picking out the details all the time. I also need to pay more attention to my instincts and trust my intuition. I need to learn to accept and be comfortable with uncertainty in language. It seems that I have trouble with expressing my emotions, so I need to be more a ware of my emotions and express them more. I plan on working on that in class discussions. The booklet also mentions that I should speak slower and use less words, which I don't exactly understand how that will help me and with what.

There are so many strategies that were recommended to me as an A Profile learner. I'll just mention a few. It supposed to be helpful for me to brainstorm and visualize unusual images in my mind. I think this is supposed to help me see a bigger picture. Another way to help see the big picture is to use actual pictures and symbols and mind maps, instead of outlines. THis will clearly let me see this in a general way. One of the biggest strategies is to participate in more sports or arts. Things like swimming, hiking and others for sports and music, dance for the arts. This is supposed to give me a good balance.

I would like teachers to know a few things about me. First I would like them to know I am right foot, hand, eye, and ear dominant so it can help with my seating position is class. I also want them to know I prefer to have things given to me in very specific sequence. Other than that I can deal with all the other things having to do with my A Profile. I feel I agree with most of the facts about my profile and think the strategy will help too!