Crazy

Seven rather odd things I've noticed lately (not in any particular order).

7: How can both my dad and my brothers be super obsessed with some silly racing video game? It sure gets annoying to me. ;) I think if someone gave them a choice between the game and a million dollars they'd choose the game in a second.

6: How in the world could anyone espouse something like abortion?

5: Why do I still get about 10 million pop-ups on my computer when I'm supposed to have this "wonderful working" popup blocker?

4: How can people still believe in Evolution when all the evidence is against them?

3: Why can't the weekend come faster? =]

2: Could the next few months for me be anymore crowded? Bell festival next month, voice starts back next week (which means voice recitals unfortunately), piano recital, plus other random annoying things....haha

1: And finally why do I happen to be typing this? Good question.

Snow Goose

Since I really have nothing to say about my life right now (except that I'm already exhausted and wish it was Friday), I thought I'd post one of my recent school papers. This one's about the little story The Snow Goose which I recently read. To warn you it does have a few plot spoilers (don't want to get sued or anything) so if you plan on reading the story you might want to stop reading. If not, then read away. ;)

Critique on The Snow Goose

The book The Snow Goose tells the story of Philip Rhayader, a despised, ugly humpback who lives alone in a huge lighthouse surrounded by his beloved birds. Philip spends his days in the 1930's painting the lonely British channel marsh around him, until a young girl named Fritha comes to him requesting his help to heal an injured snow goose. Though horribly afraid of Philip, Fritha comes to the lighthouse anyway to visit the snow goose. She soon develops a friendship with Rhayader. As the years pass, Fritha soon realizes her love for this despised man, and she begins to look past his outward appearance into his spirit.

In my opinion, this book emphasizes the themes of love, sacrifice, and beauty. Philip shows great love to Fritha and all the birds that he takes care of, including the snow goose. Philip tries to be kind and welcoming to Fritha, even when she wants to have nothing to do with him. He shows her the wonderful companionship of a true friend whenever she visits, and she soon discovers who Philip truly is. Fritha realizes how one’s spirit and not one’s appearance make one truly beautiful. Philip’s love toward her allows her to finally see this. After Philip sacrifices his life rescuing British troops trapped at Dunkirk, Fritha realizes Philip’s inner beauty and how much she loves him. Even the Snow Goose returns Philip’s love towards it by traveling with him when he ferries the soldiers back and forth, refusing to leave his side. The author’s message shines clear: Love and inner beauty can triumph over anything.

The powerful messages and characters in this book can touch anyone. Nearly everyone at one time has felt ugly and unimportant like Philip. Philip’s predicament as a humpback and his triumph over it provides a moving, challenging story. The loyalty of Fritha and the Snow Goose truly challenged me to look at someone’s heart over their appearance as God challenges us to do. I Samuel 16:7b says, "...Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."This story reminds everyone of the importance of seeking inner beauty over outer beauty.

Review

Since I'm stuck with the remainders of a sinus headache, I have nothing better to do than give a book review I suppose. Sooo here's one for The Legacy of Lillian Parker, a book I just read that is a nice break from rigid school reading. ;) hehe.

This story revolves around Lillian Parker (surprise), the daughter of a deseased millionare. When she discovers her father embezzled his own company (Michigan Technologies) out of much money, she finds herself removed from her position in the company and feels deserted even by her own finance. While contemplating suicide, she finds a verse in the Bible which gives her new hope and a desire to start afresh. She heads to the mountain retreat of Compton Gap to get away from everything, and there meets Dave, a talented park ranger. While at Compton Gap, she finds out much about herself, her future, Dave, and the fate of her brother Scott who was taken prisoner during the Vietnam War.

This book struck me as very different from most romance novels I have read, and I enjoyed the Christian content. The characters were very congenial, however a few aspects of the plot were a little bit fake. Things move a bit too fast between Dave and Lillian for instance. However, overall I truly enjoyed the book, and would give it 4 stars out of 5.

Life

A few things that I've been doing lately.

*For school I've been reading The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Let's just say that it's not my most favorite book in the world. ;) It has a bit too much fishing terminology, (not the most interesting) and the amount of literature questoins is nearly hearbreaking. *sigh*. Luckily I finish it tomorrow. But don't let me deter you from reading it. You might love it for all I know. ;)

*This past week I was appointed to be in charge of our church's sign. Oh joy. haha. just kidding. It's actually rather interesting. However, when the wind is blowing, it's absolutely freezing, and you're hands are turning red and puffy because you didn't bring gloves, it's not so much fun anymore. ;) hehe.

*Last night I was trying to convince my parents to let me sit up till 11 to watch the end of the Kentucky-Tennessee basketball game (and yes KY won thank you very much. ;) ). I attempted to explain how sitting up till 11:30 last Sat. night had resulted in me waking up refreshed, rejuvenated, and bursting with energy early the next day. Yeah I can see why they didn't buy that one. ;) Then I tried plain out begging. But that didn't work too well either. School nights can stink let me tell you.....hehe

Oh Beautiful Weekend

So far I have been enjoying a very relaxing weekend after a pretty tough week in school (it felt more like a month of school to me). Not that I didn't enjoy it of course, I'm just not quite used to such a rigorous schedule as of yet. ;) hehe. Anyways, today I have been doing absolutely doing. I actually slept till 10 (which is pretty darn late for me), and then went to the coffee shop and stuffed my face. ;) *sigh* I just can't regret that act though. haha.

The weather is being a big tease today. It's been a pathetic mix of rain and snow (we're supposed to be getting about 6 inches of snow. Yeah right). But one can always hope I suppose. Not that I want to get snowed out of church tomorrow, but going to handbell practice at 8:30 AM doesn't sound very appealing at the moment. ;)

Well that's it for now. Later my friends. ;)

Random Things

A few random thoughts.

*It actually snowed here today (definitely not normal). The only bad thing? We didn't get school off. Darn.

*I hate geometry. And then when I start doing okay I love it.

*Pop-ups that get rid of all my windows open on my computer drive me nuts.

*I am attempting to learn Spanish. Unfortunately, I would probably use this phrase all the time to a spanish speaker, "No entendi bien. Me puede hablar un poco mas despacio?" (I didn't understand very well. Can you please speak a little slower?) They do talk terribly fast. ;)

*Mississippi State can be a very annoying basketball team.

*One reason I never go on the youth ski trip: I always imagine myself flipping over and either landing on my face or breaking my neck. Yeah you get the picture. ;)

*One of my favorite quotes from Wintson Churchill: "A member of Parliament was giving a long and boring speech when he noticed Churchill's eyes were closed. 'Must you fall asleep while I am speaking?' the man asked. 'No', replied Winston with his eyes still closed. 'It's purely voluntary.' "

*One more quote from Churchill. "During my life I have often had to eat my own words and I have found them a wholesome diet."

Back In School

As the title suggests, we started school back up today. Yes, that's pretty much a good thing seeing as how we've been out four weeks, but I'm not complaining about length of vacation time. ;) (Oh and for those of you who say that's not fair we got such a long break, we are denied a spring break to make up for that. hehe). Anyways, I had a pretty good first day back until I got to measuring angles in geometry. Don't get me wrong, I normally enjoy this subject, but angles just about get me every time. I try to convince my mother that I will probably have no need of the knowledge of how to measure angles when I grow up, but it hasn't worked well so far. ;)

Besides school, things aren't so busy at the moment, but in the next few months things are going to be pretty hectic (at least by my standards). Our church is going to a handbell festival next month, I'm probably going to have to be in more voice recitals (oh joy), and a retreat in March. *sigh* I guess I'll just have to take things as they come. ;)

Jews During WWII

Here is a paper I wrote about the Jews and Hitler last semester. Not one of my best, but thought I'd post it anyways. ;)

The Jews During WWII
World War II affected people all over the world, but harmed no one more than the Jews. They received horrible treatment at the hands of Adolf Hitler– the dictator of Germany– whose Nazis attempted to take over Europe. My question is,"Why did Hitler treat the Jews this way?" The Jews never caused harm to anyone and certainly had no reason to be treated like animals. I simply do not understand how someone could be so evil to this peaceful group known as God’s chosen people.
No one bothered the German Jews until Hitler came to power in the 1930's. For some strange reason, Hitler hated Jews and always tried to make their lives miserable. As his reign progressed, he made up ridiculous laws to suppress Jewish freedoms. Jews couldn’t participate in political elections, couldn’t raise the German flag, and couldn’t marry other Germans. I don’t see Hitler’s reasoning here. I can see how he might not want Jews to vote, since they would almost certainly vote against him. However, they might not have voted against him if he hadn’t treated them so badly in the first place, which brings us back to the original question of Hitler’s horrible treatment of the Jews. Maybe Hitler knew that the Jews would be the only Germans who could see his true evil self, so he wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible. After all, when Hitler first came to power many Germans viewed him as their liberator and as a great man. I doubt the Jews ever did. They looked to God as their leader; not Hitler.
Hitler soon began ordering the sterilization of those "imperfect people" in society, and most of the people Hitler sterilized turned out to be Jews. Hitler seemed intent on wiping out the Jewish population and establishing a perfect Aryan race in Germany. Why did Hitler consider the Jews as less perfect than everyone else? Just because the Jews believed differently from everyone else in Germany doesn’t make them any less human. If we’re "ranking" humans here, the Jews seem to be better quality than Hitler and his "perfect race". After all, at least they have morals. Perhaps this reason encouraged Hitler to get rid of them in the first place. Maybe he felt guilty for not having morals, (though that’s really hard to believe).
When war broke out in 1939, the Jewish plight worsened. Hitler threatened not only German Jews, but Jews all over Europe. After Hitler invaded Poland, he killed many of the Jews there and sent others to concentration camps. Reporters uncovered the atrocities of one of Hitler’s worst Polish camps in 1944. Many of the people there (many of whom were Jews) were herded into small rooms and gassed. The Nazis recycled their ashes into fertilizers for German farmers. How could anyone be so base as to do something like that? How could any human have the heart to act this way against an entire group of people? Perhaps some Nazis didn’t actually want to participate in these activities, but simply followed orders as a means to survive Hitler’s reign. Maybe the ones who actually enjoyed torturing Jews had had the idea of the Jewish race being evil drummed into their heads much of their lives, and thus acted on these beliefs. Perhaps Hitler had deceived still more into believing that exterminating the Jewish race would help "purify" the German race.
Besides being treated badly by the Germans, the Jews found themselves treated badly by other countries as well. Boatloads of Jewish refugees that turned up at the United States found themselves turned away. No one wanted to accept the Jews or find a place for them. It seemed as if everyone had a little bit of anti-Semitism about them. Of course they didn’t treat the Jews like Hitler did, but the prejudice seems to be there. Why? Maybe some people thought of Jews as nuisances who couldn’t do any good in the world. Maybe Hitler’s anti-Semitism rubbed off on a few people. Though most people claimed they abhorred Hitler’s practices, maybe hearing so much about Hitler’s attitude toward the Jews planted the same kind of idea of Jewish inferiority in their heads as well.
After thinking back over all the reasons I previously mentioned, I believe Hitler abused the Jews because of his pursuit of power. Once he got the Jews out of the way, he could have earned almost unlimited power since the rest of the country would probably back him up. I’m sure other minor reasons probably played a part in Hitler’s treatment of the Jews, but I believe Hitler’s thirst for power mainly caused his base actions.

It's Me Again

We finally made it back from vacation yesterday, and I finally have access to the internet once again. (No I didn't even bother with my grandfather's dialup) ;). Anyways, we had a great trip, and we actually saw some snow (a truly miraculous sight for those of us in the south). I also enjoyed lying around and doing absolutely nothing (except laughing my head off about once every day), which I will not be able to do starting next Monday when school starts back up. *sigh* Don't get me wrong. I normally enjoy school. I still have to complain a little about it though. ;)

Well that's it for now. Hope everyone had a great New Years, and I'm sure you're all loving getting back in routine. Aren't I right about this? ;) Ttyl