Willingness to learn

                         When people ask me do I like school I comply and answer with the up-most enthusiasm and state yes I love going to school. As a child I completely hated school and all other aspects that came with being in school. I would pretend to be sick for instance having a stomach ache or holding the thermometer up to the light and right before my mother would come back into the room I would stick it into my mouth . That method only worked a few times, my Mother started catching on. When my dad would be at home and I would try and pull one over on him it didn’t work so well. My mother was always the more sensitive one. As I continued to grow up I began to form a certain liking for school after I figured out I was actually pretty good at it.

                     As I reached middle school my family and I moved to Decatur, Alabama where I had to start from scratch and make new friends and form new bonds with my teachers as well.  I had a great time at the beginning of the school year when the work load was minute, but as the years moved forward the workload increased dramatically. It did not make it any better that my loving mother signed me up for the hardest classes offered.  I had to balance being an athlete as well as an honor student.  My willingness to learn was really tested. The experience of having to juggle several important things to me really taught me responsibility and in a sense forced me to grow up. Through all of my trials and tribulations of tackling so many different things at once I succeeded exceptionally well. I as well as my parents was very proud of myself.

     High school was one of the biggest challenges I have had to face in my short life time. I attended Austin High School also in Decatur, Alabama. High School for me was an awesome experience. My willingness to learn was really tested. On top of me having a part-time I played AAU basketball also ran track. Now one would say that I was in over my head. But in my mind I was setting the foundation for my future. Going through all the experiences I did in high school really made me a better-rounded person. Today when challenges arise like completing assignments I revert back to that drive that I had in high school and use those specific traits to complete the certain task at hand, my willingness to learn I feel has grew tremendously from the beginning of my schooling career to this present moment.

 My question to you is HOW STRONG IS YOUR WILLINGNESS TO LEARN?

Authority

 

              

           How does one classify authority? For this post I actually sat down and did a brief questionnaire with some people on my specific topic. Now one of the questions that I asked was what was the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word authority? Some answers that I received were; power, teacher, God etc. I thought those answers were very interesting.  I proceeded with the next question which was how do you classify authority? Some answer were someone with control, an entity above others, and again God. Last but not least I asked do you have respect for all authority. Answers were yes, no, and depending on who is in authority.  

                      This study really made me think of what thought process individuals went about to come up with the answers they felt were the best.  Other people that I did not account for gave me answers like. I do not believe in authority, they felt as if your over a certain age then you were capable of making your own decisions. I was very intrigued by all of the responses I received. So with being so intrigued I went on a hunt to see how other people actually classified authority. In my searching I stumbled upon a famous Poet and dramatist named Oscar Wilde who was born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland to an eminent surgeon. Wilde was also widely known for his wit and flamboyance. Wilde being the vastly educated man that he was still did not agree with authority. Stating there is no necessity to separate the monarch from the mob; all authority is equally bad. When I read that I wanted to dig deeper into the web to find as to why he felt so strongly defensive about authority.

                 So I found out that Wilde was arrested for sodomy and convicted in a trial that became internationally notorious for his actions. He wrote a recriminatory letter to his lover that was edited and published as De Profundis (1905) that was later turned into a ballad. After being released Wilde moved to Paris and worked on his ballad which was about inhumane prison conditions. So I finally began to understand why he made such strong statements of that magnitude about that particular subject.  On the other hand I wanted to find someone who actually agreed with authority and accepted it as well.

                       On this excursion I found a man that in mind was much respected and had a lot of followers in journey for civil rights. Mahatma Gandhi born October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India at a young age Gandhi was a much respected young man. At the infantile age of thirteen he was to a girl his same age. This union was an arranged marriage. Gandhi started young on building his empire of prosperity and unity in the Indian community, by him being such an outstanding young man I totally understood why he made the statement Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.

         After all of this research I have come up with one question, HOW DO YOU CLASSIFY AUTHORITY ?

Heaven and earth

"Earth has no sorrow that the heavens can not heal"- unkown

        As a child my upbringing was heavily influenced by religious views and religious people. With my father being a preacher and my mother being the youth director at our church , being a infant in the church I really did not understand why we had to get up so early every sunday morning, rush to get dress just to sit and watch my father talk some man that he knew. I often got in trouble in school for questioning my parents motives for their actions. I got in a greater magnitutde of trouble when I question my parents about this man that it seemed everyone had meet but me. They tried repeatedly to explain everything to me but my feenle mind was incapable of grasping the total concept of actually who this man was.
      
       As I got older I actually started to sit and listen to what my father was saying on those early sunday mornings. As I started to relize that this great man my Father was talking about actually died and rose again.'Now when he rose early on the first day of the week , he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils"-Mark 16:9 . That pretty much freaked me out, but intrigued me to the point where I just had to know about the zombie person. Over the years i have relized that the man is the farthest from a zombie. This man was the greatest man on earth, this man did not have the ability to stay dead. My father gave me this scripture "Ask and it shall be given unto to you ;seek and ye shall find ;Knock,and it shall be opened unto you"-Matthew 7:7, when I ask could he could tell me more about the great man . After I read that picticular scripture almost fifty times ,I finally had grasp just what my father was telling me. So I began on this endevour seeking to finf all the answer to my questions. I must say , it has taken me up until this year at 19 years old to fully understand all those stories my father was talking about. In the world today I am faced with a lot of difficult decisions and/or situations but through all of that I am going through pricks my heart aswell as my mind and brings me back to something my father said or one of his sermons.

       I feel taht by me haveing such a rooted background this world better watch out ! Because I strongly think and feel that i can do anything if i set my mind to it . The question is CAN YOU ?

"I can do all things through christ which strengthens me"- Phillipians 4:13