Best Friend Award

Best Friend Award

Ben Tanner had just learned that his neighbor Haven Peck had just lost most of his land that he farmed, meaning that he had lost his job. He had heard this from his wife, Bess Tanner who was friends with Havens wife. The women had talked about how the government had noticed how Haven was not paying his taxes and so the government decided to take most of their land and the house. When Ben had first heard this he knew that he must help his neighbor out. He knew that he had to have been living off of the money that he had gotten from selling the animals that he had to sell because there wasn’t enough room for the animals that he owned. He just hoped that Rob was able to convince his father not to get rid of Pinky, the pig that Ben had given to Rob about three weeks before. He slowly walked to the house that the Peck’s were staying in for the time being, hoping that someone was home. When he reached the front door he was relieved to hear talking coming from inside the house. He knocked on the door loudly, anxious to speak to Haven. When Rob answered the door, Ben kindly asked to speak to his father. As he waited for Haven to come to the door, he was thinking about what had happened to the Peck family. When Haven got to the door the first thing that Ben noticed, was how the quality of his clothing had gone down. Sure his clothes were dirty and torn before but now they seemed to be not have been fitting. Ben guessed that it was because they were not making enough money to make or get their own clothes anymore. Ben asked how he was doing and how the family was and exchanged pleasantries. Then he asked if he would like a job at his farm. It didn’t take long at all for Haven to say yes and then they walked back to Ben’s house and sat down at the kitchen table to discuss details of Havens new job. Then after about four years of working and saving money, Haven was able to buy back the land that he lost and got his old job back.

The Clearing

The Clearing

Have you ever known a person that you didn’t like at all? Such as someone who you didn’t interact with other than in an argument? In the story The Clearing by Jesse Stuart is a great example of how something good can come from something bad.

Have you ever had a prolonged argument with someone? It is harder if you are friends with the person because you just want the thing to blow over so you can just be friends. But on the other hand, if you don’t like the person then you might not really care about the dispute. One example of an argument is in WWII. The U.S. had issues with Germany and Japan. We declared war on Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and, on Germany because of the things that Adolf Hitler was doing to the Jewish people. That is an argument that affected a lot of people. In The Clearing the neighbors had an argument that was on for so long that the people didn’t know each other’s names.

While some arguments like wars can be violent, some could be very short and painless. If you have an argument with a friend then most of the time you know that in a while you will both be friends again so the argument is over quickly. Like in the book Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams the two characters, Will and Chester, are arguing over whose fault it is that they are captured and being tortured while they are underground. It was a very quick struggle with no winner.

Although some arguments may be very minor, every quarrel hopefully has a resolution sooner rather than later. In the story, the main conflict is resolved by one of the neighbors helping the other neighbor out, and then the neighbors who were helped before help the other neighbors out when something threatens both of their homes. Similar to the end of WWII when we ended the conflicts with those who we were fighting. We bombed Japan and, Germany surrendered during battle. Both of these things resolved the conflicts.

Examples of how good things can come from bad things are found in The Clearing. War and other stories, are similar to The Clearing in different ways.

The Trooper Lyrics by Iron Maiden

You’ll take my life but I’ll take yours too. (no one wins)

You’ll fire your musket but I’ll run you through. (no one wins)

So when you’re waiting for the next attack. (waiting)

You’d better stand there’s no turning back. (defend yourself you can’t go back)

The bugle sounds the charge begins. (start of the battle)

But on this battlefield no one wins. (defeat for all)

The smell of acrid smoke and horses’ breath. (smell of war)

As I plunge on into certain death. (not coming back)

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh 2X

The horse he sweats with fear we break to run. (sprinting)

The mighty roar of the Russian guns. (being fired at)

And as we race towards the human wall. (thousands of troops)

The screams of pain as my comrades fall. (your guys dying)

We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground. (bodies piled up everywhere)

And the Russians fire another round. (still shooting)

We get so near yet so far away. (close to objective)

We won’t live to fight another day. (not living for long)

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh 2X

We get so close near enough to fight. (in range of firing)

When a Russian gets me in his sights. (the gun is aimed)

He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow. (He is shot)

A burst of rounds take my horse below. (horse is shot too)

As I lay there gazing at the sky. (dying slowly)

My body’s numb and my throat is dry. (starting to fade away)

As I lay there forgotten and alone. (moved on)

Without a tear I draw my parting groan. (?)

Essay 2

Stolen Day Austin Witthun

Although some people think that fishing is a pointless boring activity, fishing for many is a very pleasurable activity. Some may fish on hot days, raining days or, even ice fishing in a complete enveloping blizzard. People might even lie to get out of things to do something they enjoy. Maybe even to go fishing. From the story Stolen Day by Sherwood Anderson, you might learn that when you lie, there are always consequences.
Fishing is a sport enjoyed by a lot of people. Once I was canoeing in Rice Lake with my grandpa and we brought our fishing things. I casted when we were at the mouth of a river then waited about three minutes. Then as we started paddling into the shallow I started to reel in my line and there was something huge at the end of my line. After fifteen minutes of the reeling in my line and thinking that there was just weeds at the end. Then all of a sudden this giant fish jumped into then out of the boat and let go of my line. It’s times and even just the stories that make people want to fish even more. Even pictures of big giant fish do to. There is a great example in this story.
Of course with every fun thing to do there is someone who wants to do it. Sometimes it is just ever so tempting to tell a lie to do whatever it may be. You could lie to get out of work, school, or if they had something scheduled to do that they did not want to do. They could lie about being sick or having to go somewhere else. Like in the story the boy lies and says that he has inflammatory rheumatism to get out of school so he can go fishing like the other boy who actually has inflammatory rheumatism. Pretending that you have a disease to do things is illegal unless of course your only a child then you wouldn’t know better. But if you were an adult that’s just not mature to do and that would also be setting a bad example and it’s not good to start a habit of lying.
Fishing is a great sport that is great to do with family. My favorite part is to eat the fish I catch. There will always be consequences for every lie you tell. It might not come up right away, but it will come back eventually.

Essay 1

The Circuit 10/11/10 Austin Witthun

When a child’s parents don’t think education is important, they don’t enforce homework or punish for bad grades. The parents might let them skip school which will lead to bigger problems. Plus the cycle will continue with their kids and their kids’ kids and so on. In the story “The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez is a perfect example of how getting a high-quality education is so unbelievably important.
“The Circuit” tells about the life of a boy named Panchito. Panchito is 12 or 11 and his family is migrant workers (which mean they move to wherever the work is or moves to). In the story they move to Fresno California to pick grapes. They didn’t make a whole lot of money. I’m not all too sure when this took place. Also on their first day of work Panchito and his brother had to hide from the school bus driver so that they wouldn’t get in trouble for not going to school like they should be. That’s pretty bad that they know instinctively to hide from the school bus. But eventually after the grape picking season is over, Panchito luckily gets to go to school. It’s good that he is going to school at all even if it’s for a short time. When he goes he doesn’t know anyone or hardly any English, and he even has to enroll himself. That is something students do not regularly do. He then meets his teacher Mr. Lema who helps him with his English words and, becomes his one and best friend at school. That’s a start but it’s still kind of weird. Mr. Lema even promises to teach him how to play the trumpet. But as soon as he gets home he sees all of his possessions packed up meaning he is going to be moving again. Panchito sees the boxes as a sign of defeat; he just made a friend that he is going to lose.
The only way this could be avoided is if his parents’ parents or whoever it was would have valued education more. If Panchito had gotten an education he would not have to work for a living at 11.

Does Patriotism still Matter?

Patriotism is a love and devotion for your country. For those heroic people in the armed forces and the courageous veterans who have served in previous conflicts, it is a way of daily life. It is a way of life they choose to live, as people we look up to as heroes. Patriotism has, does and, always will matter.
We should be thankful that we have the rights we have in our country. In other countries the people there have not many rights all. Rights like freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and that women have as many rights as men. They can’t own items they want or need, do things they want to do,or even go places like other countries. Some countries still have more rights than others but I don’t think that is right to do. Sure in America we have some laws but they make sense. You shouldn't be able to steal something if it’s not yours or hurt other people and not be punished. It should be known that American laws don’t take away your human rights.

If patriotism didn’t exist our great country would be more like the Middle East. We wouldn’t be able to do things such as drive down the street without worrying about bombs, people who might hijack your car or riots. There would be a bunch of renegade groups trying to take power. There might even be a powerful dictator. There wouldn’t even be a country to fight over. Then there would be no rights at all. We would literally have to fight to survive,just like a soldier. Try to imagine what that would be like if that was everyday life,or if you were born thinking that was normal. For some of the Middle East countries that’s how life is and has been. If patriotism was as strong over there as it is here, we might not be stuck fighting this hopeless looking conflict.
Patriotism is extremely important,and it should be to everyone in every country. Even though a country may not treat its people correctly it is still important. It is almost vital to a countries survival. Our country should set an example to the rest of the world. Patriotism will be exceedingly important forever.

short story 1

A man and woman were waiting at a worn down train station. They both were waiting for the `12:00 train to Utah. In the black smog filled sky, all that could be seen were the lights of the occasional aircraft. It was obvious that the station had not been renovated since it was built. The weeds stretching through the cement slabs were almost three feet tall. The whole place smelled of the smoldering ashes of tobacco. It was completely bare except for the few light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Outside it was just a medium sized brick shack with a small box looking device for refueling. The side of the wall opposite of the fuel tank was completely scorched and burned. Only two windows were placed in to the walls. The glass was encrusted in dust letting no natural light in the building. One of the windows had a small fracture while the other was hardly there at all. The whole station was beginning a rat infestation, as they had tunneled right through the cinder blocks it stood on. Needless to say it was a wreck.