This I Believe (Seth)

Peace on Earth


I believe in global peace, but peace starts with individuals and then the house and community. Eventually it will spread to the cities , countries and eventually the world. Think about it, a world without famine and civil strife, a world without hunger and war and terrorism, this is what I believe. I believe in our community to start with peace, there are many different things that could make peace within the community of my school and city. I will start with school! Some days in the International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL) I see bullying, taunting or even racism, and it is because of this that I believe in global and community, but there are many things that are very good like peer helpers, friends and charity runs that can achieve peace within the school community.

I had some problems with bullying. For example in the school year of 2009-2010 there was a kid named Jakob who decided he wanted to be cool and to achieve this he picked on other kids, so in climbing me and one of my friends were measuring out these pieces of plastic chain to hook onto some poles to make a fence of a sort. It seems embarrassing and insignificant now but here comes Jakob and he shakes them off and cuts one link and pulls the two pieces apart and punches me in the chest when I told him he should not break something someone was working on, and, you know the rest. This is just one of many examples of bullying at my school and I believe in peace so for school we should tell people what is not nice and you don’t like it, Stop people stealing from lockers, Stop racism and include others in your games, groups, conversations, and friendships. This will help achieve peace within the school and in turn the community.
Peace within the community will probably always be hard in a multi-cultural and multi-racial community and so you will probably need at least three different groups of people working for peace already for it to become an idea, then a motivation. As this motivation spreads more and more people start working for it and the more likely it is for people to join and slowly it will go from school communities at peace to the city community. One example of this in my community are people who are the charity and give many different things from pencils for their school to food, water and medicine. Sometimes they even adopt orphans or build a community shelter for refugees from Burma and such.
I was in math and we were having a competition on who could bring the most goods for the chin refugees [From Burma] and whoever won went to their school to meet the refugees. My class won and so when we went there and the first thing I noticed were children running and playing inside an apartment where they were schooled. This made me think that they were at peace and safe in the knowledge that their country could not hurt them anymore. You can make a contribution to my petition and I beg you to do so by giving away something you don’t need, giving food and water, recycling and by giving vaccines and medicine to those in need.
As peace take hold in the community I think we should look outwards towards other communities and if what I believe happens then we will find other communities doing the same thing and then what started as an echo would then become a roar for peace very quickly and when we achieve peace between communities that could if used the right way can make peace between countries.
When a country is peaceful that inspires peace to others and if this process is repeated then another country will be at peace and as they make peace with others and help make peace in a country, it will spread like a wildfire in Australia and it will be seen globally as the coming of peace, and that roar will become so loud that when there is silence afterwards that will be the true coming of peace and this is why I believe in global peace.

Kristalnacht and German Propoganda

Kristalnacht "The Night of Broken Glass"

Kristalnacht "Chrystal Night" was the burning of all Synagogues in Germany on November 9th, 1938. Hitler, the chancellor blames all of Germanys problems on the Jews and says they are behind our enemies. They were also blamed for the loss of WWI. Hitler and the Nazis gradually spread hate and anti-semetism throughout Germany. Before Kristalnacht, Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda expert orders a country-wide boycott of Jewish buisiness in 1933, Kristalnacht is just the peak of anger that destroyed over 1,000 Synagogues and killed 2,500Jews. Kristalnacht was just an expansion of the boycott of 1933, just on a much wider scale, protesting Jews were sent to concentration camps.

Nazi propaganda told the population that the Jews had actually only been moved to a different location, IT also reinforced Nazis position of power by portraying Hitler as the savior of Germany, it showed communists/Jews as being the source of every problem and people, not recognizing Hitler's danger, went along with it and the boycott caused huge economic loss. Jews were portrayed as fat andcorrupt, Hitler sent his political enemies to Dachau and also sent 30,000 Jews to concentration camps, still maintaining his shield of propaganda Hitler releases them from 1936-1939. This sent a message to Jews that they were not wanted in Germany and most tried to leave, few would succeed.

Dominant Profile

I usually work best under a mild form of pressure. The reason I procrastinate for a while is because it builds up stress and I use that stress like energy, usually making my work a little bit better. In class I could probably use being called on every so often just to make sure that I am paying attention because even I have notice that my attention has been divided between focusing and certain distractions. Not mentioning any names. I usually only do well when I have a big motivation to do it because it is fun, so right we are doing the holocaust and WWII, I already know most of this stuff so what I think could help me do better is act some scenes from books, movies and passages from a textbook even.

I really need focus my attention away from people and entertainment, to study and friendship. My major problem is Humanities, most of my close friends and more distant ties are in that class and provide a huge distraction. I need a quiet area in every class like in math or else my grades will slip badly in all classes. I have have fallen into the same cycle as last year; earlier than last year also. I also need to make some reforms on my work habits. I usually procrastinate to create pressure but there are other ways, less risky like asking you dad to grille you about whether or not you have done your homework. OBviously not the case currently but a good way to ensure you don't 'Forget.' as I would like to call it.

A good strategy for me, mentioned earlier would be to be called on to answer a question periodically. If I haven't been listening then that creates a tight spot for me, quickly ensuring that I am listening at all times and am actually learning. I could use plays as a potential way to learn also, successful in the past this could reinforce already learned material. A Socratic circle could also set concrete in steel and with that I could use almost any strategies from my learning styles. I am all three major styles blended into one. With this knowledge almost nothing should be to challenging because I can think of multiple ways to solve problems, physically or mentally.

I would like my teachers to know that I always need some kind of motivation and my motivation is bipolar, swinging from really high motivation to astronomically low motivation, knowing this I hope that you now know how to teach me better and to direct my mental attention.

Light in the Dark

“It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”

This symbolizes that the tree is the Burmese citizens and the sun shines
through and spreads it rays of light like Aung Sang Suu Kyi and the
Junta is the Earth being pressured by the rest of the country when they are
stretched thinly and destroyed by the Democracy.

This quote is a masterpiece! Not only does it look good but I captures the military government's way of ruling and in here own quote Aung Sang Suu Kyi is the scourge of power and the Junta are afraid of her as they are the have power and fear for losing it. The Junta must also see her as corruption to the people because the people of Burma are subject to her speeches. Her own words could be turned against her but even the Junta won't do that to her. Sure they might lock her up for fifteen years but they would never turn the entire country against her, and why? Because she is the scourge of power and if they go against her she will bring her full will to bear and woe betide any who is subject to it. This one saying could undo all that she has worked for if played right but they can't because they are scared. Its called being gun shy and that is why she is still spreading her influence to take control of the Junta and have peace in her country and I believe that she will succeed. Whether it be tomorrow or not until the end of the world, she will succeed in her long journey to freedom and love.

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

This picture really touched me because of the face
speaking to the world, I thought of the face of John Donne
speaking and think it symbolizes a spark, just like Fatmire Feka.

Is mankind no island? I don't believe so. It says If a man dies mankind is less and I agree with that but in this part it says Europe is the less. Europe! It only says Europe which implies that Europe is and island and with its history it has reached out to other countries. So this poem made me think "If it only mentions Europe, what about the other continents?" Well I think this means that mankind should be one but it will take a while to get to other continents. Mankind is not a continent but if we were a continent it would be a better world because we are always fighting, murdering and committing Genocides. Mankind is an island but if we commit to world peace, every last one, then John Donne will have had his dream come true at last.

What is Identity?

This picture is merely a summary of white people and black people. Like in the blokes white people  are the center while black are the outliers but when Jesus Colon intrudes it creates quite a bit of confusion and generates the red in this picture.

Jesus Colon, a man on a train who turned away. One night Jesus Colon was on a train and was wondering if he should help this white lady or not. He chose not to because he is black. I believe that he had good reasons and bad reasons to help that lady. Was it because of ethnic difference or racism I don't know but I know that I have been in the same situation, not ethnically but just personality difference. Last year there was a boy named Jakob, he always undid my work and when I finally hit back he responded with all his strength. Was it right of me to hit him, no but there is a saying and it goes 'To pardon one offence is to commission many more.' This quote i'm not sure where it came from but it sums up the fact that Jesus Colon has probably had experiences like this before and when he chose not to help it was merely and act of caution, of course he could have asked to help her and that would have helped but the fact that he is self aware is enough for him not to help, even if it was the wrong thing to do.

10 Things Important To Me

With a book, a video, birthday cards, a planner, an American flag, a snow globe, coins, sunglasses, and a guitar, I think I have just about summarized myself.

I chose a book because I spend most of my free time reading, and also because I don’t have to many alternatives. It shows that I like fiction or alternate realities. One of my favorite books and most recent books is called The Red Pyramid and is by the same author of the Percy Jackson series. What really got me hooked into this genre was when my older brother read Eragon aloud to me. [when I was younger.] I had always disliked reading but my older kept on saying “Once you start, you can’t stop!” and he was right. He read the first two chapters of Eragon and all of the sudden I was racing through books that I thought had sounded stupid before, and some were but most were even better than the last. My older brother really set me off and I still am reading anything I can.

I have a video game as one of them because like most boys, we really like video games. I chose this because it was a gift from my brothers who knew I was researching WWII. When they gave that game I was really happy because not only had they given me a gift but it was something that helped me with my research about WWII [especially tattics] I got interested about it when I saw Saving Private Ryan and realized just how bad war is. I had always thought war was cool before, that they were just playing with blank rounds and faking death. Know I know its worse, much worse than that and that is what got me going. To start I read band of brothers, and citizen soldiers which are accurate recounts told by WWII veterans. I got Band of Brothers [T.V. show] for my birthday this year and that is very accurate.

I placed Sun glasses as one because it shows that I like the outdoors and enjoy challenges. These also mean a lot to because I went through many challenges including Malaysia Week[MW], Mt. Kinabalu, Slim river White Water Rafting, and relaxing on the beach. It has survived from beaches to vertical cliffs on Kinabalu to volcanic craters in New Zealand. These sun glasses are important because more than just playing or hiking. These sunglasses have come to symbolise what I love. The outdoors: the ocean, mountains, forests, and my favorite: glaciers. These have been all over and they symbolise my love for the outdoors.

There are some birthday cards in the picture above and I chose them because my family means a lot to me. It also shows that my family thinks the same of me. I value these all the more because I only see my uncles, aunts, great-aunts, great-uncles, and cousins once a year. This also makes me think about them a lot and I think that’s because last year my grandad died of disease and my grandma had a stroke last Summer. I have had a lot of relatives die lately and to tell the truth I have been pretty sad for the last year and maybe that is what made me value my family and friends so much in the last year.

I have a miniature American flag in the picture because I am proud to be part of that country. It shows that I am American. I always think of myself as a little patriotic but that might just be me and this brought back the memory of the 4th of July celebration in the U.S. and launching fireworks with flags built onto them. I remember the hot dogs and hamburgers along with a big firework going off on the ground and sending everyone running, which was really funny. The events leading up to that firework going off on the ground were pretty funny also. In the U.S. its illegal to set off fireworks within the city limit but this police officer didn’t know that so he came up trying to confiscate our fireworks and started writing a ticket but my uncle dug up some book telling what was legal and not [don’t ask] and proved him wrong. He looked at us and he just smiled and his entire face went bright red as he walked back to his car and must have been doing 20mph over the speed limit.  :D

There is also a planner in the picture which shows that I care about my school and education. It also shows I go to the International of Kuala Lumpur [ISKL] My planners have meant a lot to me because without them I would be repeating 6th grade because I know that when I forgot to write something down I would never remember the homework. This isn’t the original planner I had obviously but I had started to forget to write in my planner near the end last year and when that happened my grades in humanities, science, band, math, and health dropped to B’s and C’s and an NP in band. Also besides my planner my parents forced me to write my homework and I know that without them I would be repeating 6th grade.

I chose the snow globe up on the picture because it is a gift from my best friend Stefano who live in Quatar. It shows that friendships and Stefano are important to me, even though the Stefano part isn’t obvious. Friendship means a lot more to me than probably a lot of people because to tell the truth I don’t actually have many friendships aside from Dylan, Stefano, Sam, Austin and Amin. I also never forget any detail about them [Stalker!:D] and I know its true because I remember my best 5 year friend who moved when I was 7 years old. Over the course of my life I have had maybe 20 friends and most of them only okay friends I’ve only ever had 5 good friends in my life and that has made me value friends a lot more than the usual person.

I have a guitar and it shows that music is a big part of my life and is very important to me. I have done many different musical instruments in my life and it has gotten even bigger from my dad telling what he likes and suggestions. I’ve played the Piano, Alto Saxophone, and Recorder. I also have a huge library of almost 9,000 songs. [I am a rich cracker!]  It started when I was begging my parents for a guitar when I was a lot younger. After a year they finally bought me a very nice guitar, that was almost 1.5x the size of me at that stage and although I hadn’t understood at that time but everyone except my brothers were laughing hysterically.  

Finally there are the coins in the upper right of the picture which shows I hoard as many souvenirs as possible to remind me of all the trips I have made. mostly I hoard them because of their reminders, but also because at least 40% of them are gifts from relatives who bought them for me. I first started my hoarding when I went to China and saw an approximation of a Chinese coin from the ancient times. I keep them all because as you already know. Family mean a lot to me. My uncle is a major adder to my collection of stones animals, coins, masks, art, and different types of money.

These ten things are the things that define and colour my personality and life.