Some Advice

6. If you were to look back on your high school years, what advice would you give to someone beginning their high school career? (Simmons)

Approaching the end of my junior year, has left me with a lot to think about. I've spent almost 10 years at Woodstock and I have learnt a lot from it. I have had good times, and I've had times when I've gotten in a lot of trouble. It so turns out that the times that I have gotten in trouble, have allowed me to reflect on myself as a person. I have come to realize that Woodstock is the one and only place that will allow you to test yourself, allow you to challenge yourself, and allow you to be your own person. Though a lot of my high school career went by reflecting on improving myself and gaining something out of every experience that I encountered, there were a few circumstances that helped me define these things; trust me, they were not all good. Though most of my advice would be for students starting school at Woodstock, I can generalize a few things and say that, the best advice for a student starting high school would be that:

1. It is not important to care about those who will not care for you.

2. It is important to find something you feel passionate about.

3. Be kind to those who will return the same favor.

These were probably not the things you were expecting. You were probably expecting me to say something like "study hard, play sports, be engaged, become student body president" and blah blah blah. You have your whole life to do all these things. I'm not saying you shouldn't study hard or play sports or gain a leadership position; what I'm saying is that you have your life to work hard, be healthy and become a good leader of society. High school is probably the only time you can find yourself and solidify your background, your personality, and your attitude towards life. These are your crucial "formative years" that will make you a better person.

There will always be people in the world who don't give a damn about you. They will try to deceive you, they will try to hurt you, and they will try to take advantage of you. The only way you can beat these people is by proving to them that you don't care about them, that the things they do don't affect you. You need to learn not to be affected by these things because there are 7 billion people in the world, and there will be someone among these people who will be the right kind of companion for you. So what if you haven't found that person in your high school years; that doesn't mean that you won't find this person. High school is only a small portion of the world and there is so much for you to learn through high school. It's not that one thing that will define your life forever. If it does, then you're just a fool. I was so focused on caring about all my friends never stopping to realize that they stopped caring about me eventually. I was distraught about the fact that I had friends from elementary and middle school who weren't the people they used to be; they weren't the people who genuinely cared anymore. I beat myself up over the fact that it was my fault my friends stopped caring about me and I was the only one left caring about them. But I soon got over it, and now, I have friends who care about me, who tell me things that I may not want to hear but are good for me, and who allow me to be my own person.

I also believe that it is important to find something that one is interested in during one's high school career. These are the four years where an individual has a countless number of opportunities to find what they really care about. When a person goes out in the real world, they will be unable to find an opportunity to do many things they want to do. So I believe that it is important to engage yourself in many things to find out what you like and what you don't like. That way, you will be able to understand yourself better and understand how things one is passionate about could potentially turn into a career. But I want to stress the fact that all these extracurricular activities shouldn't just be to get into a good college. I knew this girl who graduated a couple of years ago from the States, one of my dad's friends, who did things just so that it would be put on her transcript. She was involved in 11 extracurricular activities and tried to run for school president. She didn't win. But that didn't stop her, then she became the NHS head and sought out to attend an Ivy League school. She applied to three Ivy Leagues schools and was rejected by all 3. She then took a gap year and attended some other college. She was so devastated that she couldn't complete college and ended up doing something else. I haven't really heard much about her since.

The last advice I can give you, I'm sure many others have already given you. Be kind to those who have helped you and who would return the favor to you. I spent so much time being angry at my friends for not caring the way I did, that I started being to rude to everyone around me. I didn't want to associate with anyone, I didn't want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to be left alone. It was a very difficult time to me but there were only few people that I could tolerate. I was kind and gentle to them. I told them everything that was going on my life and they just listened. But one friend of mine told me that it was important to be kind to those who have helped you. In my time of disappointment, I saw many who were genuinely concerned, and I just treated them poorly. I didn't know how to behave, and the best way I knew wasn't the right way at all. After that day, I tried to be good to people. I tried to help out those that have helped me as much as possible. I said please and thank you, and I just showed them I really appreciated what they did for me. Now, I can call them my closest friends.

These are  not the things that will get you through high school completely on a high note, What I do know is that it will get you through a lot of tough times, and you will look back on your high school career as the most memorable time of your 
life.


Number of Words: 1166 

The Sprained Ankle

54. Discuss how some negative experience (disability, illness, failure) has had a positive influence on your life.

Just last week, I hurt myself playing basketball down at Hostel, the dormitory where I live. I was playing against a couple of friends of mine, and tried to take the shot, and landed on my ankle. Though I hurt myself while playing, I had made the shot. It was an amazing moment. I felt relieved and felt back on the game. I hurt myself so badly that I thought it was a broken ankle. I went to the Health Center the next day, to be taken to the local hospital in Mussoorie, Landor Community Hospital, to have a cast put on. I was told that it was a third degree sprain, and that there was no need to worry because nothing was broken. My ankle felt fine, and I was walking on the injured leg. But after keeping that on for a day, my toes were starting to bruise up. I went to the hospital to get the cast taken off and my leg checked. I ended up feeling disgusted by what I saw. My leg, right above my ankle, had started to bleed from the inside. I didn’t know what was happening, and the doctor just explained that the cast was on too tight. No duh! It was his fault that my leg was like this and he was trying to console me by stating his mistake in the diagnosis? I didn’t even understand why he put a cast on an ankle which was swollen up. Nothing was broken clearly, so I didn’t see the point. But him being a doctor, and me being a 17 year-old, I had to hand over the certificate of knowledge to him.

Even sitting here like this now, I can imagine the days that went by after I got the cast on. I didn’t understand how to go about my daily routines. I didn’t know how I was supposed to shower, I didn’t know how to use the crutches with hurting my underarms or my legs, and I didn’t know how to feel happy about the fact that I had hurt my leg; the one thing I thought was the strongest part of my body. This year has been a really bad year of health for me. I sprained my ankle really badly; two discs in my spine slipped out from over exercising at home, I got sick for a week or so, and had a cold for what seemed like all of monsoon. I am usually someone who doesn’t get sick very often. I take pride in my health. I feel like one of the few people I know who doesn’t get sick on a regular basis. For his reason, I seem to take advantage of everything, especially my body. That’s a first: someone taking advantage of their own body, rather than someone taking advantage of it. Anyways, back to the topic. I would wear a thin quarter sleeved shirt to school in the month of November. I would open the windows and sleep at night; I usually feel very claustrophobic at night. I take shower with cold water after playing sports, even in the winter. I over exert my body and try out different exercises at home to make up for all the times I didn’t work out at school. I try to do all kinds of different things which test the limit of my body. It really shocks me to know that this is the first time that I have every injured my body in a physical way. Until now, I have only gotten sick. I have never broken a bone, I have never cracked my skull open, I have never tore a muscle; I have felt like Mr. Invincible. But this year has shown me that I’m human and that I need to take care of myself.

I’m usually someone who goes out of his way to prove to himself that he is capable of doing anything and everything under the sun. Though I may not be adrenaline junkies or the extreme sports kind of guy, I definitely am someone who tries to push his limit. This year, I have been able to prove to myself, not intentionally, that I am a human being. I am capable of getting hurt and I am capable of feeling hopeless. This experience has definitely taught me a lot. I was so interested in looking like the best person I can be, by exercising so much that I hurt my back. I would run 12 km in the morning, and 12 kilometers in the evening. Many people don’t see me exercise in school, and that’s because I don’t. I do everything I need to at home. I don’t eat much at home, and drink a lot of green tea. Many of you may sit here reading this, thinking that wow, this guy is so self-absorbed. The only thing he cares about is how good he looks in those pair of jeans and how slim he is. And yes, that did matter to me … a lot. I was obsessed about looking good. But after hurting my back, and my ankle playing an innocent game of basketball, I have come to realize that there is no point in doing all of that, if in the end, it could potentially make me paralyzed. I no longer think that my legs and my back are as strong as I used to think they were, I have tried to be careful with everything I have done after getting the cast off. Though I don’t really listen to the nurses and wear a crepe bandage around my ankle, I have definitely learned to be very careful with the things I play and the way I play it. I would never think about becoming paralyzed because I was doing something as stupid as running 24 km a day. I’ve come to realize that that was completely insane. Never again will I ever push myself to that extent.

Yes, all of us believe that we are invincible at some point or other in our lives, but this “negative experience” or “disability” has shown me that I am important to myself. This experience has shown me that I need to be careful with myself and that there is going to be no one who is going to tell me how I just act and what I should and should not do. I am old enough to realize all of this myself. Yes, there are going to be times when the little child in me comes out, and I want to do the craziest things under the sun, but this sprained ankle has shown me that I need to be careful if I want to live a long life. It has taught me that I am not invincible and that I need to be able to control myself and my desires.


Number of words: 1167

The Generation Gap

87. Do you believe there's a generation gap? Describe the differences between your generation and others. (Denison University)

Today’s generation gap is the one thing that is making children move away from their parents. Children do not like to be ordered about what to do, or be interrogated about their personal life. The society in our parent’s time was much slower than the one today, and this has caused us to adapt to the fast growing society. Before, things which were considered luxuries are today considered necessities like iPods, phones and laptops. We, the newer generation, do not take much time to take decisions as our parents took things slower. The respect factor between most children and their parents has gone, as children want things and parents try to show that they care about their child through buying them the latest things with guilt. This has caused a huge gap between children and their parents and this is what the parents and kids refer to as “generation gap.” Due to this generation gap, we feel that our parents do not understand us. Our parents have had to come up through the ranks while everything is served out to us on a platter. We do not find reason to work as hard as our parents as we are used to them giving everything to us. This is the reason that we are perceived as the spoilt ones, and the ones who do not know what life is all about. The generation gap has become so big that teenager’s think that they can do better off than their parents if they put half the amount of hard work as their parents did when they were kids. Parents today are forced to trust their kids since their kids can do what they want and the parent does not have much control over them. This causes kids to whatever they want, like drink alcohol or smoke. Many families stop having dinners on the table together and either let the kids have it in their room or go outside with friends. These all reasons cause problems in families when the parents do not have control over their kids. Both of them start fighting and the situation becomes worse.

My parents have always told me that my jeans look better if I wear them higher, or if I comb my hair. I tend to disagree with them when it comes to such things. They don’t like to believe that technology is a good thing, but that it is only a distraction. I believe that the cause for this is the age difference or the generation gap. Today, teenagers keep up with the latest trends and technological devices, while older people think that technology is spoiling us, and that we are getting too distracted with all the gadgets we have. My dad used to tell me about the times when he was younger, and there were no gadgets which a kid could have, and how it has changed today, as kids have everything they want; from laptops to phones from a very early age. This clearly is a big difference compared to when my dad and mom were kids. Parents hate to believe that things have gotten much more expensive compared to the past and argue with their children saying that it should be much cheaper. They hate to believe that a T-Shirt could cost Rs.1200 and then they tell us that in their times it only cost Rs.20. What they tend to not realize is that we are not in their time anymore but our time. Things have changed so much that it is unfathomable. Who would think that there would be so much change like iPods and the capacity to put songs, movies and pictures? We don’t mind watching movies on that small screen but out parents think it is stupid and that they would rather watch on a much larger screen. They are not willing to realize that, things have changed a lot and that people have changed a lot too.

                Due to the change in trends which is taking place constantly, it is difficult to keep up with what is the “latest” thing. Parents think that it’s dumber while we think it is cooler. Our parents did not have cell phones at the age of 12, but now many young children have phones. They text each other and keep in touch with friends who only live a block away from them. Parents think that it’s stupid to be texting all the time, while the kids think that it’s good to keep in touch with friends. Kids always want something or the other because there is always a change. We want the latest iPhone, the latest computer and the latest iPod even if we already have an iPhone. Many kids today have both iPods and iPhones which is ridiculous because the phone has everything the iPod does, but I too sadly am a culprit of this. We have the feeling that we need it for some unknown reason. It’s like we want our satisfaction for these products to increase, but the thing that we, teens, do not seem to realize is that our marginal benefit of each extra product we buy, is going down.  We do not want to believe this but it is the case. By doing this we have caused a gap between our thinking and our parents thinking which helps form what is known as a generation gap. We have made too big a gap and it will not be easy to close it since people have become very independent when it comes to what we want in our lives. When it comes to making a decision, we turn to our friends rather than to our parents while our parents would do the opposite. That respect which was there is gone, and it has helped us create a big ego when it comes to taking a stand. Our arrogance has changed families which were happy, into families which are trying to survive.


Number of Words: 1011

Hell Is People

32. Sartre said “Hell is other people,” while Streisand sang, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” With whom do you agree? (Amherst)




My blogs are meant to be about the people or events that influence me in my life. This question strikes me as particularly interesting that the whole human population, especially those that I have come into contact with, have influenced me in my encounters with them to agree with Sartre and say that "Hell is other people." 


We can always dream of a utopian system and society, but we all know that there is no such thing as one. There are so many different types of conflicts going around the world that it is difficult to keep track of them. Let's take two examples that have recently struck my attention. I recently watched our spring play "Around The World in 80 Days," where a woman was forced into a sacrificial ceremony called a sati. This is when a wife is sacrificed along with her husband when he dies. It's supposed to be a good thing so that the man and wife can be together for eternity. Though this sacrifice is one that is voluntary, the play showed one woman being forced into the act by a group of saddus, or Hindu priests. She was yelling and screaming, begging them not to sacrifice her, but no one listening. The protagonist of the play, heard this, and attempted to save her, but his servant was ahead of him, and saved her himself. The second example, I give you is about a man named Joseph Kony. You all must have heard about him and his horrible deeds, but if you haven't, here is the sneak peak. His rebel in Sudan, who is trying to overthrow the government of the country. He is the leader of the militant group and has "recruited" child soldiers into working for him as his militants. What is so cruel about him, is that he abducts these children late at night from his families and takes them into his own custody, justifying that he will be able to give them a better life than the children's peasant parents. He brainwashes these children into massacring thousands of people, forcing them to kill their own parents. The boys are used as soldiers in his army, and the girls are used as sex slaves for the older soldiers in his militant group. 


These two examples can clearly give you an idea that "hell is other people," but if you don't believe me, take a look around yourselves. Ask yourselves whether you've ever been talked about behind your back, whether you've been left alone or ditched, or whether you've been hurt by a group of friends? I'm sure all of you sitting here reading this can nod your head at least once and relate with the idea that there are people out there who have hurt you, betrayed you, or disappointed you. There isn't many people that you can rely on because people always think about themselves first. The survival of the fittest clearly show us that this is true. Nature and evolution has clearly shown us that the organism that is more fit to survive in the ever-changing world will be more dominant and be more likely to make offspring than the weaker one. 


We seem to have grown up in a world where we've learnt to need people. Yes, you can say that we want them. We want companionship, we want friendship, and we need love, but more than this, it can be shown that we need companionship, friendship, and love to feel part of the world today. We need others to feel "alive" and we need others to feel a sense of security. Hell is only made other people with the idea that we need them in the our lives. The more importance we give to them, the more the things they do and say affect us. So, in fact, hell is other people, but only because we make them so important. 


Number of Words: 652

The Best Conversation

29. Tell us about a conversation you’ve had that changed your perspective or was otherwise meaningful to you. (Stanford)




Both my grandfathers passed away before I was born. I never knew them, just of them. I would hear stories about their humility and their willingness to give back. When I was a little boy, I would always dream of getting to know them. I would always try to be like the stories about them. I was adventurous and as a little boy and tried to discover things on my own. I was told that my maternal grandfather had a knack of inventing things, and fixing things on their own. As a young man, he was always interested in taking things apart and putting them back together. He always wanted to be in control and wanted to be sure of everything he knew about. Whereas, my paternal grandfather was a man of logic. He was good at everything that he could put to a logical test. He wasn't very much interested in the idea of the fine arts, except when it came listening to his classical music. He always wanted to come up with some valid explanation for things that couldn't be explained. He always believed that things could be explained, and if it couldn't, we hadn't been able to find the right answer yet.


I remember the day when I asked my parents about my grandfathers. I was so used to being around my uncles and my father's friends, that I never felt a sense of loss of my grandfathers. I didn't think about it much until I saw my friends' grandfathers. I never understood why I didn't see them around, but I never ever managed to ask my parents where they were, because honestly, I never felt the need to. But before arriving at Woodstock, I faced my own questions, and demanded an answer from my parents. I was a stubborn child, and I believed that my parents were keeping me in the dark about this matter, and so, I threw a tantrum and demanded they tell me everything. I thought I was big enough to handle everything they had to tell me.


I was already in the second grade before going to Woodstock - I arrived second semester at my new school - and I felt that I had known enough about death to ask my parents such a controversial question at such a young age. I knew that death was when people are called by God to go to heaven and stay with him. As you can all see, I was a very naive child. But I still believed that I knew enough to face the reality of what death actually is, besides the fact that God has called you to stay with him. It was a sunny day in Hyderabad, and I was just starting to adjust to the summer heat of the Deccan Plateau. My parents were taking me out to buy my first toys and clothes in India. You see, I had just arrived from the States a couple of weeks ago to start getting prepared to study at Woodstock. So, to do my back-to-school shopping, my parents took me to the nicest mall in Hyderabad. They told me that I could choose whatever I wanted because they wanted me to be happy and not lack anything while I was at Woodstock. But now that I think about it, I think they just felt guilty that they were sending me off to boarding school at such an young age. 


So, I entered the air-conditioned mall with my hopes up high, and the first place I entered Archies store to buy that huge yellow teddy bear I set my eyes on. I entered the store and I saw a little girl looking at the same toy. There was an old man standing next to her, telling her that she can buy whatever she wants. The girl picked up the bear that I wanted and walked away with it. I turned to my parents and told them that someone had stolen my bear. But, in fact, all she did was take the same thing I wanted, and paid for it. My parents told me that I could buy the same one and I told them I didn't want the same one. We looked around the whole store and tried to find one similar to the bear the girl took. We looked everywhere but nothing was as good. Frustrated, I told my parents that I wanted that old man instead of them as my parents. I didn't know that my words would have such an effect on my mother.


She looked at her husband and broke down in tears. I ran to my mother and hugged her. I told her I was sorry and that I was angry and didn't mean what I said. She told me that it wasn't what I said but the fact that I did have someone like that I never got to meet. We went back home after that incident, emptied handed. 


In the car, my mother told me about my two grandfathers and how excited they were to know that there would a boy in the family. Someone they would talk to, someone they could share their hobbies with, and someone they could buy teddy bears for. I didn't understand what was so upsetting and where they were. I asked my mom what had happened to them, and all they she said was that they were looking at me right now. I looked around and saw no one. I didn't want to further that question, I though my mother was going crazy because she felt so bad. But it was me who was acting crazy looking around. It was only later that I realized that she meant my grandfathers were up in heaven looking down at me.


Just recently my parents had mentioned that I had the determination and drive my grandparents. I heard the story of how they came into the city with practically no money and became very successful with hard work. I was told that I have the knack of needing to know everything and about everything that I come into contact with. It makes me a very well-informed and composed person. 


This conversation just reminds me of the fact that even though I never knew my grandfathers, it is good to feel that they are still a part of me with my determination and drive. 


Number of Words: 1069

Post # 53

53. Discuss a significant experience or achievement that has influenced your life.

Just a couple of days ago, while talking to a friend, I was told that I have “mellowed down a lot.” I didn’t know what that quite meant, and instead of saying anything to him, I just nodded my head. I didn’t think much of it until one of my friends told reminded me of the first thing she saw me do when she arrived at Woodstock. She reminded me that she saw me pick up a guy from our grade, and throw him on the fence. I was a bit taken aback at first, as I hadn’t recalled this incident in a long time. She sat there describing it to me as I continued denying it. She told me that she was scared of me then because she saw me do that to a guy; she told me of how she was afraid to say hi to me even when I said hi to her. I started remembering then. I remember getting in trouble and being dorm gated until quarter break in the first semester of my 7^th grade. I was finally out of the “underdog” status as I wasn’t in 6^th grade, and then I was classified as a “bad boy” – well at least by that friend of mine. I remember being so angry about small things then, and I remember being agitated and always needing to do something about the anger that had bottled up inside me. I didn’t know how to get rid of it, so all I ever did was take it out on someone else.

That’s when it finally struck me. I had mellowed down, as that friend of mine said. I finally understood that I had stopped being rowdy and angry in a physical way, and I was really happy. Yes, of course, I’m a growing boy, and I will be rowdy at times, and I will get angry and will want to punch things, but it wasn’t like the way it used to be before. That experience with me pushing someone on the fence, clearly ended up reflecting in a positive way on me. I know that I will still get mad, and I know that I have gotten mad in that way after that incident, but I have always tried to control myself and stopped from harming someone else.

This is experience may be common and something minor to talk about to many of you, it has been one of the few significant experiences in my life that has changed me. I have become a calmer, more collected person after that incident. I have tried my level best to be kind and generous to everyone. Though that fails at times, and my human instincts get the best of me, I still try to be as good as I can possibly be. I have tried to be gentle and caring towards everything around me – be it animals or humans (if you think about it, they are pretty much the same thing). I used to think that being gentle and mellow was a power of weakness, but I have come to realize that it is only a question of strength. This shows how much control I have over my feelings, which makes me more powerful than the strongest person there is.

Number of Words: 560

Travel Experiences

56. Discuss how your travel experiences have affected you as a student and a citizen of the world.

A couple of hours ago, I went to watch our annual spring play. This year, the drama production decided to perform the comedy, Around the World in 80 Days. This play is about a man who gambles with people in his society who states that it is impossible to go around the world in 80 days. It was given in the newspaper, and everyone was saying that it was impossible to do such a thing. The man who stated that he would do it was bold and ambitious – for this reason, he had very few friends and was more or less isolated. A very punctual and articulated man would find it rather easy to go on such a journey but you all would be gladly surprised. This man faced many obstacles ranging from a typhoon to saving a woman from a sati, a Hindu sacrifice where a woman is burnt after the death of her husband. I found this play quite fascinating and had an overall thoughtful message. Though it was funny, it taught me something, and allowed me to also reflect on my travel experiences and how it shaped me as a person.

Travelling is one of those things that is never a waste of time or energy. You are always learning something new with every place you go. There is always the culture to experience, the language to learn, the food to eat, the sites to see, and so on. There is so much you can learn from different people and different places that you can never have nothing to do. There is too much to be done; it’s impossible for one to just sit around and sunbathe on the beach during a vacation.

As for me, I have always taken this idea to heart, and have tried to experience everything local in the countries that I have visited in the years. I have always tried to act like a local and experience everything with someone from around the place. After all, people who live in an area are the best tour guides.

I’ve studied in an international school all my life. My teachers have always taught us that learning about different cultures is a good thing and that you can only learn from meeting people from different places. I never understood that until I got to middle school. 6^th grade is a time where many new students arrive at Woodstock. It’s the beginning of a new school system – one moves from elementary school to middle school – and people want to start fresh rather than join in the middle of something that is already going on. I met a lot of people from different places that year. Though it is true that the school was mostly still filled with Indians and Koreans, people from different parts of India started coming. I got to know a lot about my country with the people I made friends with. Though I am an Indian by heart, I was born in the United States, and only arrived to India when I was six years old. I didn’t know much about India then, except that it was dirty and smelly, and not as nice as America. Clearly, my views have changed since then.

I came to acquire a lot of knowledge about Asia and other parts of the world, not only by education, but also by the school I attended, the friends I made, and the places I travelled. I have travelled so much that I have lost complete interest in the journey unlike the way I used to feel when I was younger, but I still haven’t lost the interest about learning of new cultures. I think that my travel experiences have somehow helped me adapt to the idea of an international boarding school. I was able to make friends easily with all types of people as I was always keen in learning about new things and had a deep respect for all cultures. I think my easiness to adapt to new things was because I travelled a lot, and for this, I am grateful – this made my time at Woodstock so much easier.


Number of words: 710

Kobe Bryant

78. If you could travel through time and interview any historical figure, whom would you choose, what would you ask, and why? (Hood)

For the past few years, I have been unable to play basketball the way I used to before. I was so passionate about it, I loved the court, and my mind was always on basketball. I couldn’t think about anything else but that. Now and for the past few years, I have been unable to feel that passion. I want to play competitively and as a hobby, but when I step on the court, I don’t find that passion that I used to have. I don’t know whether I’m motivated enough or not, but I do know that I need some kind of sign to show me that I have what it takes. There are so many people, my friends and my family, who say that I have what it takes, but I don’t find that within myself. It’s not that I think that I can’t do it; I don’t have the drive that I used to. So, if you ask me to interview a “historical” figure, I would be unable to give you one, as the one I do want to interview is not yet deceased. 

If I had the chance I would definitely interview Kobe Bryant. Though he may not necessarily have reached the “hall of all-time fame,” he definitely is one of the key contenders. He is one of the rising stars in the basketball world, and without a doubt, he may be one of the most amazing players out there today. I remember being a kid and watching him play in the NBA. I would only dream to be as good as him. Though he may not be Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan, he definitely has the power to be as amazing as them. He has the desire and the drive.

I wouldn’t like to interview him in present though. I would definitely want to go back a bit in time and interview him when he was just starting up as an NBA player. I would want to ask him how difficult things were to start off with, whether he ever lost his desire, how much work he put in, and what it actually takes to be as good as Kobe Bryant. Though I don’t want to play basketball professionally, I do want to regain that drive that I’ve always had. I guess high school’s work stress brought me a bit down, but I don’t want to lose something I love because I wasn’t able to manage my time well.

I want to do anything in my power to get back what I loved. I think having a chat with Kobe Bryant would be the best way to get it. I would choose Bryant above any other basketball player, because I started loving basketball and gaining a passion for the sport after I watched him play his matches in the NBA. He is my inspiration and my hero when it comes to this sport. I aspire to be as good as him … or close enough anyways. He was the one who made me love the sport with all the passion he puts in the game. If it’s anyone who can make me realize how great of a game basketball is, it’s got to be Kobe Bryant.


Number of Words: 564

"Tweaking Memories" May Help Drug Addicts From Relapsing

Researchers at Peking University conducted an experiment to support their theory about the idea that memory can be "rewritten." They conducted an experiment with 22 heroine addicts, who on average, hadn't used the drug for 11 years, to explain that showing cues relating to the experience of taking heroine, several times, can make reduce the cravings, and in turn, reduce the chance of relapse. The mind is fragile and "malleable" during the time when we recall experiences. When this memory is accessed, the memory can be rewritten. The experiment done, has shown us the possible success this technique could have. The first group of people were shown videos of things relating to heroine abuse. Then ten minutes later, they were shown other videos relating to heroin use. The other group was shown videos of the country side. The results: the first group had decreased cue-induced cravings while the second group had higher cue-induced cravings. This was because the second group didn't initially watch the heroin video which in turn, didn't "access" the memory. Since the memory was unable to be accessed, it couldn't be "rewritten." Many researchers and scientists are finding this an interesting and prospective technique to slow down, if not completely stop, addiction relapsing as it isn't much different from the other techniques that were being used. Also, it doesn't involve a heavy use of different technologies, making it something that could be useful and inexpensive for all.

Though none of my relatives are heroine addicts, or addicts at all, there are some who are heavily dependent on alcohol. They find the need to drink alcohol everyday, and are trying to reduce, but most of their methods don't seem to be working. They are trying to reduce the in take of alcohol on their own, but probably need a more firm, and direct technique to stop drinking alcohol on a "dependent level." I found this article quite inspiring because it contains this glimmer of hope. It shows me that it is possible for people to get help in any way they can. I want to become a doctor and I want to try my level best to help as many people as I can. This article just goes to show how much the world is developing around us - the economy, the medical field, the standard of living in most places, and so on. It gives me to hope and it makes me feel proud to be part of the upcoming generation who can contribute more to the way the world is working and developing into a place where everyone can be helped, in some way or the other. 

Number of Words: 461

  

Relaxation and Recuperation

46. If you had a day to spend as you wish, how would you use your time? (Carleton College)


This question got me thinking for a while. Though I would like to say that I would spend my day doing something productive like helping out the unfortunate, studying for an upcoming test, read the newspaper, and so on, I cannot say this with my full heart. This week especially has been so stressful for me. I know that many of you think that I don't know what stress is; adults out there, you know what I'm talking about. You probably feel the same way I feel when 6th and 7th graders at my school say that they're stressed out. All I say in my head is, "You have no idea what stress is. Wait till you're in my place." I give them a scornful look and turn away. But this week has been hectic to say the least. I have had so many assignments, and quizzes, and projects due that I don't even know where to begin. On top of that, we just had Chapel which took away 2 hours of my time. The getting dressed part and walking down took an hour alone, and the service was another hour. Though totally unnecessary, I was forced to go as the rules state so in the Woodstock Student Handbook. I don't feel like I have much time to relax and recuperate. I am always on my toes do this thing and that thing, I forget to give myself time. I forget to see the things I have deprived myself from. Clearly it's not food, water, or a place to stay, as the school provides that already for me, but I feel like I've deprived myself from happiness and rest. Both these are interrelated to say the least. If I don't get enough rest, I am not happy, and if I'm not happy that means that I haven't gotten much rest, 35 hours of sleep in a week only, when I should be getting 63 hours as I still am a growing boy, whether the people assigning me the work load believe me or not. 


The a bit of context to the things that go on in my life almost every week, I can proudly say that if I had a day to spend as I wished, I would definitely sleep early the night before, get up at a regular time, which means around 8:30 to 9 am for me. Too much sleep isn't good for your body either. I would then cook myself a nice breakfast of omelets, bacon, hash browns, and warm toast, if not go to the dining hall and eat the same thing; some might say the taste is a tad off in the dining hall. I would then take a nice shower and energize myself with the cold water rushing down from my head to my back. Refreshed, I would come out and watch a movie. Maybe play a bit of sports and move around during the beautiful day a bit. I would come back and sleep for a few hours, maybe read a few chapters of a book. Order dinner and treat myself for all the hard work that I've tried to do over the past few weeks. I would have an early nights rest and wake up energized, then, for a productive day at school. As you can see, I haven't mentioned anything about spending time with friends or family. The reason for this is, I feel like I'm always surrounded by people at Woodstock. Whenever I try to be alone, I can't, there is always someone or the other around. We don't have enough time as it is to do anything with the work load and all the chapels they plan for us at school, I don't even have time to reconnect with myself and with the things I'm interested in doing because I am always satisfying other people's wishes and demands - whether it is my parents, my teachers, or my friends. I don't have enough time to do things for myself. 


I only long for a day where I can do all these things and not have a care in the world. 


Number of words: 691

Telepathy: Power of Good or Evil?

21. If you had the gift of telepathy, the ability to read other people’s minds, would you use this gift or not? Explain. (Middle East Technical University/93)


There are always two sides to a story. Usually it comprises of the good guy and the bad guy. The bad guy is usually portrayed as one with evil intentions to take over the planet, destroy mankind, take all the money in the world and become even more corrupt than the character already is, while the good guy is usually portrayed as one with a kind heart, compassionate, empathetic, always trying to the do right thing, and so on. Well, at least most of the stories have some version of this or another. Both the good guys and the bad guys are given a situation in which they have to act upon. Let it be something as big as world domination, or something as little as saving a cat from a tree, it is, stereotypically, always the good guy who saves us all. So, if I was given the gift of telepathy, I would, undoubtedly, be the good guy in the story. Though it does sound appealing to have the gift of telepathy, I would definitely not use the gift of being able to read other people's minds.


In some cases, I would be helpful to have the power of telepathy guide us in our decision making process, in helping those in trouble, and helping ourselves as well. But we will soon turn selfish and read minds just to know what they are thinking. We would want to hear there juicy lives, we would want to know about what they did the night before, we would want to know everything. We humans tend to use the things we have respectfully and honorably for a while. But then all of that changes when we see that one advantage that will make us a better person than the person standing next to us. We are always ready to one up another person and show the world how great we are. Using the gift of telepathy will only do that for us. We we see how good it is for us to have it as we are able to help people around us, but then we'll start taking advantage of that and start using it to find out gossip and secrets about others. But the worst thing is, we would feel like it's the right thing to do because we will be so used to this seeming like a good thing for everyone.


We try to turn all the good things we have in life to our advantage, and those things instantly become not-so-good anymore. Though the idea of reading people's mind seems quite intriguing, I am a human being, and I know that I will use this power for wrong some point along the journey. For this reason, right off the bat, I would decide not to use this power at all, so that I can save myself and those I care about from misery. 


Number of Words: 483

Alcohol - Some Think It's a Gift From God

 18. What invention would the world be better off without, and why? (Kalamazoo)


My father told me a story about a young girl who first tasted alcohol in her life. He told me that the day she graduated from high school, her father sat her down and brought all kinds of alcohol on the table. He got her the best beer, the best whiskey, the best vodka, the best margarita, the best gin and tonic, the best rum, and the best wines that he could find in his town. She was confused when she saw all these things in front of her. She asked her father why he decided to have all these alcohol bottles set in front of her. He then explained, "If you are ever going to get drunk, I want you to get drunk in front of me first." Confused she asked him why he felt necessary to explain to her. He told his daughter that he understood that she was growing up and she would have cravings and would succumb into peer pressure. He told her that he wanted to be able to trust her and he knew that she would get drunk many times with the friends. But he wanted to make sure that his daughter would get drunk in front of her before doing it anywhere else. He wanted her to experience the way it felt to get drunk with him so that she wouldn't find the need to go experimenting with her friends. She wouldn't feel the need to go and get drunk with her friends as she would already know what it would feel like. He was hoping that she would never feel the need to do it again. She was moving far away from home, to a different continent, where she knew nobody. This girl's father felt that building her foundations would keep her strong and steady during her time away, until she can find herself. 


I asked my father whether the story ended well and the only thing he did was laugh. It took me hours to get the rest out of him. I guessed these stories to be some sort fusion between Aesop's Fables and fairy tales where there was a moral and a happy ending. It was quite the opposite actually. Though it did have a moral, it definitely did not have a happy ending. The girl moved away to the States only to be found dead a year later. She had gone to her end-of-the-year freshman party and had gotten drunk. She was celebrating the end of her freshman year and awaiting the beginning of next year. She was the most drunk girl at that party. Her friends had tried convincing her to let them drive her home, but she insisted that she drive alone. Cautious, her friends drove behind her hoping that she wouldn't get into a car accident. But where would fate let that go? She sped past her friends, and crossed an intersection without seeing that the red light was blinking. She crashed into a car which was coming from the left, killing both the girl and the driver in the other car. 


Writing this story now still sends chills down my spine. It's amazing how much parents do to protect us from all the wrong and bad in the world, where we, children, just go and throw it all out and defy them. Even with caution, some children just find it wild and dangerous to ignore everything parents say to them. There is a reason why they go through all the trouble of teaching us values and morals.


So with this story, if I could ban anything in the world, I would definitely ban the creation and the use of alcohol. Though it's "fun" to drink alcohol occasionally, there have been, there are, and there will be too many times where people can have gotten hurt and can get hurt with excessive alcohol use. We are all humans, and we all want to be a part of something. Sometimes that means we need to do not so good things to be a part of a crowd. Alcohol is one of the things that make you part of the "in crowd" even though it is something that harms an individual, another person, and society. The use of alcohol, even with age restrictions, is too freely available to be a good thing. That are too many lives lost and there are too many ways that it can harm people. In many traditions, it is normal to drink alcohol on a daily basis, in some cultures, it is even used in rituals and sacrifices. There are more number alcohol abuse related deaths worldwide than there are people dying of cancer or AIDS. Though alcohol use is not as negatively effected on your body in comparison to AIDS and cancer, the effects it has on the surroundings is much worse. 


It can kill the individual drinking alcohol if the person drinks too much and it can harm, if not kill, those around them as alcohol use can cause the senses to be disrupted. There are people who have low alcohol tolerance levels, which means that they get drunk quicker than those who have a higher alcohol tolerance. People drinking alcohol the first few times will not realize their alcohol tolerance and can drink so much that the body is being poisoned with the amount of alcohol being taken in. This can slowly cause the body to degenerate and shut down it's organs, finally reaching the brain and killing the individual. The people surrounding those who drink alcohol can be hurt and killed as well. Drunk driving is a major contributor to deaths in the United States. People who drink and drive are not really in control of their senses. They can hallucinate and they can also not be aware of the things going on around them, in which case, they harm those around them. They can crash into a car, crash into a person, crash into a tree, for example, and harm themselves and others. 


Number of Words: 1005

New Set of Blogs: Influences

The proceeding blogs are going to be about people or events that have influenced my life.

Gandhi - An Eye For an Eye

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

-       Mahatma Gandhi

            We’ve always been taught that we should love our enemies, respect their choice of disliking us, and let them backstab you because there could be a possibility that we have done something to harm them or hurt them in some way. But we are all human, and there have been times in our lives where we’ve decided to take the best of our emotions, and let it get to us. We’ve gotten to the point where we’ve become so mad that we’ve decided that the only way we can feel better is by taking revenge on those that have hurt us. We’ve decided to either hurt them in the same way, or hurt them in a way, which is much worse. Though it’s not something that should be applauded, it should be let go from time to time. I’m not saying that revenge is something sweet, even though it feels like that for a time being; I’m saying that though it can be excusable sometimes, it should not be a habit and it does make the whole world blind. We become too caught up in the “getting-revenge-process” that we don’t realize how much the hatred has blinded us. This makes us forget the good things in our lives and it makes us feel like the only thing that is good is getting revenge. Mahatma Gandhi is right when he says that taking revenge on one another on makes us forget the good things in front of us, as World War II has shown us that revenge destroys bystanders, not only people involved, and as the war between Harry Potter and Voldemort has shown that we forget the good things in our lives when we are too preoccupied with the idea of revenge.

            World War II, especially the time of the Holocaust, was a period of great loss for the majority of the world. There was the ongoing conflict between the United States and Japan, when the atom bomb had landed in the world. Thousands and thousands of people were killed as United States; with Republic of China, and Great Britain send an ultimatum to Japan asking them to end the war. Japan didn’t listen and continued on its way, and for this reason, the Allies, dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima, and Fat Boy on Nagasaki. Because of the atomic bomb being dropped, there had been a lot of radiation going around the country, concentrated on those two areas. The radiation killed around 166,000 people just within that short time span. Innocent people all over the country were killed because the two country governments were trying to take revenge on each other. They didn’t realize what a major impact it would have on the country as a whole. Around the same time the Holocaust was in place. Hitler was so preoccupied with taking revenge on all the Jews were claimed to be of the Aryan descendants, but weren’t. He massacred people country by country; leaving many places across Europe no choice but to declare war on him. Having no conscience of already killing millions of people, Hitler continued on his way to gain the utmost power that he could possibly gain. He continued killing people and wasn’t even worried about how many he killed. He only cared about gaining his power, and taking revenge of those who were of impure souls and those who were “trying to take his power away.” All of those millions of people who were killed were innocent, but his rage and his vengeful mind only made him angrier, seeking more revenge and destroying the lives of those around him.

            The beginning of the Harry Potter series started with the introduction of a conflict between the “boy who lived,” Harry Potter, and Voldemort, the immortal death master, which would continue until the end of the last book. We all know the story of how Harry’s mother, Lily, protected him from Voldemort with her love, and how Harry and Voldemort always have this connection because of this scar; this has only resulted in the an even bigger conflict, when one has to out do the other. One has to take revenge on the other if they are unsuccessful in taking out the other person. Voldemort’s mignons have stayed with him throughout the book series, and until the last book, he hasn’t been able to notice the loyalty that his Death Eaters have provided for him. The way they’ve stuck with him throughout and the way they’ve carried out his every command, is like a dog connected to his master.  Voldemort wasn’t able to see the power that he withheld because the only thing that he could think about was taking revenge out on Harry. On the other hand, Harry was ungrateful at times. He wasn’t able to see what the fortunate childhood he had grown up with; though he lost his parents, he still had loving family and friends who seemed to sacrifice their lives at every turn for him. He was to preoccupied with destroying Voldemort and taking revenge on him for killing his parents, Harry wasn’t able to have a normal childhood and was suffering from the idea that the only thing he lived for was taking Voldemort down. He wasn’t able to enjoy the company of his friends, as he was always worried about the next danger or the next move that Voldemort was planning. He knew that he had to take Voldemort down, but he wasn’t able to ever get past that, and because of this, he lost the few precious moments that he had as adolescent.

             We are human, and the things we do some times are just unforgivable, but there are times when we know that we need to stop and realize that the things we do are not doing us any good. Gandhi believed that violence and revenge were one of those things. He explained that taking revenge out on everyone that has wronged you is only going to make you blind; it’s going to make your forget your life and only worry about the way you can get someone back, and is going to hurt, not only you, but those around you as well. It is, in these times, when we need to be careful, and when we need to know when to stop and when to hold back. Revenge is one of those times when we need to hold back, and just take a deep breath, and let it go.

1094 words

Martin Luther - Hope and Accomplishment

“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.”

-       Martin Luther     

            When I first arrived to Woodstock School in second grade, my parents were the ones who made the decision. I was a kid, and I wasn’t really in any position to make a difference. They had asked me what I thought for boarding school, and I told them that it seemed like fun. Though a naïve kid, I was excited to experience the new life that had been set out for me. I arrived to India ready to attend my new school and begin life without my parents. But after the student orientation at the beginning of the school year, it finally struck me that I was going to be away from my parents. They dropped me to Edgehill, the dorm in which I would be living in for the next 3 years, and started saying their goodbyes. It was hard for my mom to let me go, and it was even harder for me to let her go. I didn’t want to be away from my parents; after all, I had lived a life with them and I was not used to living along without them. Tears started rolling down my eyes, and I was wailing telling them not to leave me. But my mother sat down and explained the reason why my dad and her were sending me to Woodstock. She told me that they wanted me to become independent and become someone who could stand up on his own two feet. Though I was small, and didn’t quite understand what she meant, I just nodded by head and continued listening to her. She told me that she hoped I would succeed at Woodstock, and she told me that she hoped I would become the best person I could be here and find myself. I can agree with Martin Luther and say that everything in the world is done by hope, as Solomon from Blood Diamond does everything he can to get his family back during the civil war in Sierra Leone, and as Elaina from Vampire Diaries tries to take on Claus, the vampire from the Original Family, to win back Stephan.

             Blood Diamond is a movie about the Sierra Leone civil war that revolved around the diamond trade. Many rebel groups would capture innocent children and men, after terrorizing their village, so that they can go and hunt for diamonds. The women and young female children and either put into camps or are used as sexual objects to gain pleasure from. Solomon, the main character in the story, had the same thing happen to him. He was captured to search for diamonds in a river, while his family was taken away from him. The first day at the river, he discovered a pink diamond, which was worth more than the other diamonds. Not wanting the general to find out, he secretly went to hide the diamond behind the bushes. The general caught him while the government party army had come to attack that region. Solomon wouldn’t tell him where the diamond was and in return, the general turned his son into a child soldier. Solomon then sought help from Leonardo Dicaprio in the movie, to find his family and get the diamond. Solomon tried everything to get his family back. Solomon hoped to get his family back, and went to any extent. He dodged government armies fighting against the rebellion; he dodged the rebel group armies searching for him trying to find the diamonds just because he hoped to get his family and his whole life back. He did everything in his power to bring back his family. His hope for a normal life drove him to such extremes. This hope made him risk his life to get his family back, made him face the biggest fears of his life, and made him a stronger man by the end of it.

            Similarly, in Vampire Diaries, Elaina is a doppelganger from the ancient vampire era, who is in love with a vampire. When she finds out that he’s a vampire, she explains that she will still love him no matter what. After a series for events, the Original Family come in Mystic Falls and realizes that the doppelganger is among them. They know they need to kill her in order to survive forever. They need Elaina to break the sun and moon curse that binds Nick Claus to both the moon and the sun together. Nick Claus is a vampire by day, and on a full moon he is a werewolf. When the doppelganger is sacrificed, Claus has the ability to shift into a vampire when he wants to. Stephan tricks Claus into thinking that Elaina is dead, where Claus extends a hand of friendship towards Stephan. Stephan follows, and Elaina finds out what has happened. Stephan changes into a bloodsucking vampire, which he isn’t. Elaina is distressed to see this and tries to do everything to get Stephan back to his old ways. Elaina tries to fight Claus by playing tricks on him, unleashing is own father, Michael, who eats vampires as a diet, and takes away Claus’ family just to get Stephan back to the old him. She hopes for a new light, which Stephan will see, and she hopes that he will realize his mistakes and go back to being the sweet, and caring person he is. She hopes that things between the two of them will go back to normal and that they will be happy, and this is why she tries everything to defeat one of the strongest vampires. She wants him back and she hopes for a happy ending, making her more determined to do anything to get him back.

            Hope is something that drives all of us to achieve what we want. It’s something that we dream about and is something that we want in our lives. Hope is something that will drive us to any extent to get what we want. Whether it is my parents hoping that I do well at Woodstock, whether it is Solomon hoping to gain his family back, and whether it is Elaina hoping to show Stephan what a good person he actually is, hope is one thing that makes us all strive for that one thing we want.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martin_luther.html

number of words: 1059

Semi-autonomy for Eastern Libyans

Ahmed Zubair al-Senussi, a 79 year old man, has recently been elected as the leader for Eastern Libya. Though around 4000 to 5000 people had nominated him to rule the region, when it came time for decision-making, many were apprehensive about his role as leader. Many people feared that someone ruling one region of the country would only result in the division of it. But Senussi explains that he doesn't care about the oil of the country as he believes that the "oil is for all Libyan people." He believes the first thing Libya needs is stability and security in the country after the end of Qaddafi's rule. Al-Senussi explains that Libyans have the right to oil will be written into the constitution. Al-Senussi is also part of the National Transitional Council, and along with the government, has decided to make Libya a decentralized nation with more than local councils, so that all decisions are made on some sort of equal ground with fair votes. With all these good changes happening for the country, leaders are skeptical in heading towards the "international community" with this new idea. People don't want Libya to become divided or undemocratic as this "puts the country in danger."

This article really stuck to me after reading the article about Kony. It's amazing to see the progress some countries are making and the way some countries are moving in a backwards direction. Some countries are self-destructing while others are moving forward after their own disastrous episode in history. The idea of making Libya a decentralized state seems to be a good idea, but after witnessing corruption around the world, it's difficult to say whether Libyan leaders will be loyal to her people. Though Al-Senussi claims that he isn't interested in the oil that Libya withholds, it is difficult to say whether he actually means it or not. The world has already seen to much of governments promising one thing and then doing another. The article states that Al-Senussi was jailed for 31 years after failing to conduct a coup d'etat while Qaddafi was in rule, while gives us a sense of hope that he will do good to Eastern Libya and the country as a whole, as being part of the NTC.

Number of Words: 376

Kony 2012

In October of 2011, the United States claimed the Lord's Resistance Movement, lead by Joseph Kony, to be a terrorist group. Since then, people all around the world have been aware of his atrocities and have tried to take a stand against him; this movement is called "Kony 2012." Hilary Whiteman of CNN claims that, when she met him, Kony was a man "very afraid of meeting people." But she explains that his "shyness" was more paranoia and anxiety than anything else. The story of Joseph Kony goes like this: He was an Ugandan guerrilla group leader, who lead the Lord's Resistance Movement (LRA). He was also a spiritual leader, known as a healer to the Acholi people in northern Uganda. He gained much of his power from a spirit-medium called Alice Lakewena. This is when people started believing in him. Those who believed in Lakewena and Kony, believed that smearing Shea butter in crosses would result in protection from bullets, and also believed that "stones would explode like grenades" (Whiteman). Lakewena fled to Kenya after the government chased her out, but Kony remained and took up the remaining supporters of Lakewena and used it for himself. Many believe that Kony recruited people through his "mystical powers" but then had them captivated by fear. Kony captured children all throughout Uganda; he took in small boys and turned them into child soldiers, and he captured girls and used them for sexual slavery. He conducted brutal attacks on many just to show the that government of Uganda wouldn't be able to protect them. Around the mid-2000s, Kony fled to Sudan and as far as people know, hasn't returned to Uganda yet. Though he is not present in the country, his followers are probably terroizing a group of people all over the country.

Kony claims to be a "spiritual leader" half the time he doesn't pretend to be a "military leader." There are many corrupt governments around the world stealing money from its people, use it for themselves, and live luxurious lifestyles, but I believe that none of that compares to the way Kony has treated innocent people. He stripped innocent children of their childhood and has turned them into deceitful, immoral human beings. He has destroyed lives of those pure, good citizens of the world. Though all these things are disgusting to think about, Kony took advantage of those who believed in him. Whiteman explains that there were many mesmerized by his words and truly believed him to be a leader. There were many who looked up to this disgusting and inhumane man because they thought he would be able to make a difference in the world in which they were living in. They looked up to him to change their lives and help those who weren't able to help themselves. But instead, he took their beliefs as a weakness and terrorized innocent people. Instead of helping them, he turned them into his minions and sabotaged them. After learning about Kony's misdeeds, I can say that I'm proud to have a corrupt government; I would never want to put my freedom in the hands of a man like Kony. 

Number of Words: 527

104. What is your favorite quotation and why? (Princeton)

"People judge you by your performance, so focus on the outcome. Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected." - Steve Jobs


This quote was said by Steve Jobs which makes a lot of people think, wow. What I understood through this saying was that you have to get past all the crap and realize that the outcome is what is mainly important. In the real world people will not care about the second person but rather the first. If for example you don’t do well but you say you worked really hard, it doesn’t matter. You have to meet the standards and achieve what you can and go that extra mile to actually reach your so called outcome. I feel that the first sentence in this quote gives me the idea that at the end of the day my grades are what matter rather than me saying that “I could have done better.” Rather I should do better than making such a useless remark. The rest of the sentence makes me feel good because it wants to make me stand out. You feel like you want to actually achieve something and prove everyone who is putting you down wrong. Steve Jobs says this with a lot of experience and knowledge. He clearly showed that he went through a lot just to achieve what he did. Taking this whole quote you get the picture that you have to work hard to achieve anything and while you are at it there will be up’s and down’s which you will face, but at the end of the day people will look up at you and say that what you did was worth it, and that you are something people look up to.  Steve Jobs said this quote to give people an insight of what life is actually about. When he says , “ Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected” he is clearly saying that people may hate, or be ignorant of you, but you can still achieve what you have set out to do.

 Number of Words: 325