The Affair

In this section, you continue to see how the main characters, especially with the Katie and David. You really begin to be able to see what their personalities are like, and how their life got into the position it is now. Katie is obviously unhappy with her marriage, but it is not only her relationship with her husband that upsets her. It is her life as a whole. I think she thinks it is all so routine, and has been for much too long. David, while also unhappy, would never get a divorce. He is naturally pessimist, and I think he may be scared that he will be unable to find someone else that he could settle down with who would put up with his constant dry, sarcastic humor.

Katie has no one, and even her closest friend, Becca, is too full of herself to really listen to Katie. After Katie tells her that she is having an affair, Becca does not notice or even recognize the fact that she told her that until the next day, and by that time, Katie does not want to talk about it anymore. I think that if Katie had been able to talk to Becca the night before, when Stephen showed up at her work the next day, Katie would have been able to deny him, and then she would have been able to move on. Well, that could have been a possibility at least.

I do think it was good though that Katie agreed to meet with Stephen. She is so unhappy, and this gives her something to look forward to. She even says "But i couldn't tell her that Stephen's interest in me, his attraction to me, seems like the only sense of future I have."

Atonement

Atonement is basically redemption or reconciliation for the bad that one may have done. I do believe that you are able to achieve atonement for past sins and mistakes because everyone makes mistakes, and if no one was able to be forgiven for those mistakes, then they would live their life in permanent regret. Their life would be miserable and they would probably continue to sin. Everyone should be given a second chance, at least. In order to the atoned though, the person must make some sort of an effort to fix the wrong they have done. Otherwise, if they act like they do not care, they will not be forgiven. I personally have a habit though, of if someone does something bad to me that hurt me, or something of that nature, I do not wait for them to try and fix what they did. Instead, I simply forget about it. It never truly fixes anything, but to me, it takes too much energy to be mad at someone. I would much rather just forget it ever happened. This is bad for both me and the other person, because the other person may not feel like they did anything wrong, or worse, if they do feel like they did wrong, they may feel bad that they never made it up to me. It hurts me because I never truly forget I never bring it up to that person, but if a person continues to hurt me, I begin to be sick of it, and will get upset. Instead of working it out with them earlier, I let everything build up inside, which is not a good thing to do.

Amir seeks atonement for not helping Hassan, being jealous of his father's love for Hassan more than himself, and for framing Hassan, so that in the end, he lost his closest friend. In all cases, I think you can put what he has done under the category of envy. When he was watching Hassan being raped, I think he was scared of being hurt, but in away, he wanted to get back at Hassan for being more well liked by Baba then his own son was. I think that in a way, he could gain atonement, but it is going to take more than just becoming "good again". I think, in order for Hassan to give Amir forgiveness, Amir would have to, in a way, be willing to stand up for Hassan, and do basically whatever Hassan wanted, just as Hassan did for Amir when they were younger.

Have you ever made a mistake that you regretted? Briefly describe the incident, how it made you feel, and how it affected those involved. Were you able to make-up for what you did? Why or why not? How?

Can you find an image to enhance your post?

If you're not comfortable sharing your experience with everyone that's okay! Just write your response in a Word document and save it to your desktop or H-Drive.

The one biggest mistake that I think I have made that I regret the most is that I didn't try harder in high school to get better grades. Honestly, high school is not hard. I always just didn't feel like doing whatever it was that was assigned. At the time, sure, it didn't affect me much, and I always sailed by, but recently, I haven't been able to do that, and I know I won't be able to do so when I am in college. Now that I have applied to college and realized I don't have the grades in order to go to colleges I wanted to, I feel pretty bad. I am also worried about my future. I don't think that am prepared to work in college because I am so used to slacking off.

The Chase

Shots ring out behind me, as I sprinted through the jungle. Where I was, I could not tell you.

All I needed was a sign.
A plane.
A river.
A town.
Anything that could help point me in the direction of safety. Or at least out of the hands of the mongols chasing me.

I can not see my hand in front of me, the brush is so thick, but I think I can hear the sound of a river; It's low, steady rumble clashing with the miscellaneous gun shots, that are slowly growing stronger.

I am more tired than I have ever been, but I force my feet to move faster; each pounding step in sync with the racing of my heart.

How did I get myself into this situation? Only one year ago, I was happily living at home, in Alabama, without a care in the world, and looking forward to life after graduating from college. I easily could have gotten a job, anywhere almost. So, what in the world made me decide to enlist in the marines?!?! Sure, it was noble, fighting for your country, but why would I, someone with no military background or training, throw everything away to voluntarily put my life on the line all to blindly follow what my government asked? That is a good question. I have to admit, nowhere else, would I ever have gotten the experience or skills I learned from y one year in the marines, but still...

Woah! It got extremely bright all of a sudden. Is that a stream? It is! Finally! Alright, so, f I follow this upstream, it should take me back to camp, right? God, I hope so. I hope the rest of the guys find this too, but no use going back. They are all too close now...

I think that a lot of peoples' decisions are based on morals they hold close to their hearts or that are serious to them, and what decisions they were faced with in the past, and how what the consequences were from those decisions. I personally, make a lot of my decisions based on how my friends and family, or anyone in general, will be affected. I hate hurting people, so most of my decisions may not necessarily be the best for me, but I usually try to compromise. For example, when I had to make my decision on where I wanted to go to college, I had to choose between the college of my dreams, that I had always wanted to go to, but it was also way out of my price range, and a college I liked, but it was A LOT less expensive. In the end, I decided to go with the college I only liked because I did not want to stress my dad's finances.

Afghanistan's Finest

• Mix:
• 10-15 mountain ranges
• 3-5 plains
• 34 provinces
• 33 million people
• and 1 religion

• Add:
• 1 civil war
• 1 serving of European influence
  
• 2 groups of Soviet soldiers
  

• Remove Soviet soldiers, and add 2-3 terrorist groups
• (Taliban and Al-Qaeda flavoring is ideal)

• Finally, add 2-5 battalions of American armed forces and mix.
  

The mixture of Taliban, Al-Qaeda and American forces gives makes this recipe a bit unstable, but it sure gives it a nice kick!

Best if served cold, but in the months of May to August, served warm makes the dish all that more authentic. We recommend serving with a nice big glass of oil (petroleum is best).

Sink or Swim

Overall, I did not do much over spring break, but it was quite relaxing, especially Easter Sunday though. Yesterday, my father and I went to our close friends, the Echevarria's house. They have three sons, the youngest of which is my father's godson. Patrick is thirteen years old and is a typical, crazy, obnoxious boy, but I always enjoy spending time with him because he always likes to have fun. While we waited for dinner to be ready, all of the guys started talking about fishing because the season had just opened recently. Patrick said that he really wanted to go fishing, but he did not want to go alone. All of the older men though, wanted to finish watching the Masters. Now, while I enjoy playing golf, I could never understand how men brought themselves to sit around for four days to watch people play golf. I guess it is a guy thing, but still. Now, throw in a goalie at the hole and some screaming fans, and maybe, just maybe, I could be able to bring myself to watch golf. Otherwise, no way. So, while the men of the house watched Tiger blow his chances, I offered to take Pat fishing. Now, I have been fishing my entire life, because my dad is an avid fisher, but I have always gone deep sea fishing and never actually fished in a river or at a lake, so this was going to be quite an experience. Pat was extremely excited in order to finally try out his waders that he had gotten for Christmas, and me only ever have gone deep sea fishing, trusted his judgment and figured he was supposed to have waders. I was wrong. We spent five straight hours at the reservoir and did not catch a thing. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong, or using the wrong bait, but then it hit me that maybe, just maybe, it was because my little godbrother was splashing around in the water and scaring the fish away. At first I was frustrated, but then I realized, it was fine if we did not catch anything, because at least we weer having fun, no matter how many dirty stares we got from the other anglers. Overall, it was relaxing and fun, and while others may have thought of it being a waste of time, I definitely thought otherwise.

Peru Do Now

So far in Che's journey, he has come into contact with many different people. How have Che's interactions with the people in Peru influenced him, or helped him realize something about himself?
I chose this because Peru really seems to be the section in which Che changes from old Che to new Ce, or so it seems, especially with his views on poverty, which I am sure had a huge influence on his socialist ideas.

Who Did Che Want to Be?

Ernesto Guevara (the young Che) did not seem to want to have a huge impact on the world around him, other than he wanted to help people. He wanted to become a doctor and seemed to have a positive demeanor towards those who were underprivileged, but on his trip on La Poderosa, he seemed more focused on himself, which s understandable considering he was so young. I think back then, he wanted to make a difference in peoples' lives, but individually and in a small way. Later though, when Ernesto began to become Che, I think he started to realize that he wanted to help people on a much larger level. He still wanted what was best for each individual, but he wanted to do it on a larger level. He realized he had a knack for leadership, and could easily lead a revolution in order to help many. He knew he could have a larger impact on the world around him, and took every chance he could get to increase his influence and spread his ideas.

Chile in 6 Words (1952)

Campo "sweeps" radicals with womens suffrage.

America in 6 Words

Definition of Free Speech: Patriot Act.

Don't Judge

Personally, one of the values that is extremely important to me, is understanding. I was raised to be understanding of other people and their beliefs, and that even if you completely do not agree with their beliefs or actions, you have to be understanding of them. Everyone is different, and especially when you enter different countries or parts of the world, people are raised with different beliefs and understanding. For example, people who support the KKK or are racist, usually did not just wake up one day and chose that way of thinking. It has probably been instilled in them since they were young, and honestly, they had very little say in thinking that way, and unfortunately, it will probably not change unless they are re-educated. It is hard for us to understand how they can think that way, and we view them as terrible people, but that is how they grew up, and they do not think that same way we do. While I do not believe what they do is right, who am I to judge them? It is important to understand that they are not evil people, they just think differently than I do, and it is not necessarily their fault.

Are We Following Che??

I definitely think that there is some similarity between what the US is doing in Pakistan and what Che was trying to do in Bolivia, but kind of in a backwards way. In both cases, someone is coming in from the outside, who has maybe more experience and skill to help train militants in order to help get something accomplished. In the US case, though, we are entering in order to help support the government and fight the Al Qaeda and Taliban forces, who are rebelling. With Che, he was training rebels to fight against the government. Also, in both cases, those entering this new terriory, in some way do get something in return. The US hopefully gets a reduction in terrorist attacks and obviously more and stronger support against our enemies. Che, while he did not exactly want anything in return, was in a way going to support Cuba, but everything with that case is a bit sketchy.

The Death of Che Guevara

Obviously, the Bolivian government played a large role in the death of Che Guevara, because they are the ones who captured him, but I also think that the US government had a big part in it too, especially since the documentary said there were US CIA agents who came to where Che was being held. Felix Rodriguez may have had a lot of influence in Che’s fate, because I am sure they did not get along whatsoever, since Che spat in him face, and possibly, Fidel in a way played a role in it because he sent Che to Bolivia. Lastly, Regis DeBray and Ciro Bustos helped by giving illustrations to the Bolivians of their fellow rebels, including Che.

After watching the documentary, apparently, the actual person who killed Che Guevara was named Mario Teran, but many people were a part of his death.

There is Nothing Lonelier Than Adventure

There is nothing lonelier than adventure.

Adventure helps you find yourself.
In order to do that,
you must lose yourself.

There is nothing scarier than not knowing who you are or what your purpose is.
There also is no feeling better than when you finally find
what it is you are here on this planet to do,
and find who you truly are.

Adventures test you.
They force you to look deep inside yourself,
and sometimes you may not find anything.

That is when you feel lonelier than you ever have
or will,
because if you do not even understand who you are,
how can others?

You are lost until that moment in which you find yourself again...
Or for the first time.

That is why there is nothing lonelier than adventure.

Ideology of Che

I think that Che’s personal ideology is obviously that of utopian communism. He believes that all people should be equal, and everyone should share what they earn or make. When he was asked, “Are you an economist?” his response was simply “I am a communist.” He is not a communist in the sense that Fidel Castro I though because Castro, while all for the equal sharing of wealth between the people he rules over, he does not want to share that with other nations without some gain to himself. Che believes that it is important not to expect anything in return, and to just do what he believes is right, and help out other countries in similar situations that Cuba was in, and not follow the path of the Soviet Union. This way of thinking can not only be seen in the dislike for the USSR that Che had, but also in how he encouraged Cubans to voluntarily work to change Cuba’s economy even though they may not have seen the profits of their hard work and labor directly.

"Jimmy John" Thorpe

If I could make a documentary about any topic, I think that I would make it about one of my firefighting instructors "Jimmy John" Thorpe. He is the craziest, most outgoing person I have ever met, and even though he is like 70 years old, everything he says is traced with humor. He has been the World Ropes Champion three years in his lifetime, and has been all across the world. The stories he tells are absolutely amazing, and he has so many experiences from inside the fire service that no one else on Earth has to tell. I think that it would be extremely interesting to learn about not only his life in the service, but also outside of it, and even if you have no interest in firefighting or ropes training, he is an extremely interesting person, and everytime he speaks, he captures your attention.

Che: The Documentary

If I were making a documentary about Che's life, I think that I would focus on the time period after 1954, when he had seen the overthrowing of Jacobo Arbenz. That was obviously a huge turning point for him and his life, and I think it would be interesting to concentrate on what he saw there, and how it affected his life afterwards. I also think it would be important to spread the message of what Che really did in his life, and show both the good and the bad acts he had committed so that people can come up with an opinion of him on their own, and based on facts, especially since his image seems to be so distorted now.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Usually, if it is not a book I am already looking for, the cover is what will catch my eye. A lot of the times, how the covers looks gives you a pretty good indication of what type of book it is. While the actual illustration on the cover can hint as to what the book is about, I tend to look more at what the style of the cover is. From previous experience, what style the author/illustrator used for their cover, matches what style the author writes with. For example, The Motorcycle Diaries seems like it is going to be a factual journal-type story because that is the feeling that the picture on the front gives me. One book that caught my attention early and kept it while I was reading was A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. The cover definitely caught my attention, and the title seemed interesting to me.

Glen Beck on Che Guevara

I do agree with Beck in that Che Guevara is a terrorist, and unfortunately, he has been given this image after this death that he is a huge hero and icon to counter-cultures. While counter-cultures are important, the way that he went about protesting was unnecessary and unethical. Unfortunately, people do not understand that, and continue to wear shirts and such as a way to show their protest too. I think that Beck was trying to get the point across that this image of Che Guevara is not what he has been portrayed to be, and while the people who advertise his name and face may have more innocent motives with their rebellion, they are truly supporting a person who was worse than Hitler. Beck gets this message across by keeping his statements short and blunt, so they are easily understood, and he uses a lot of emotion in his voice, which keeps the audience alert and listening. Mostly though, he almost seems to insult the followers of Che by making them seem stupid for doing so. He also repeats his major points in order for them to really stick with the listener. He uses facts and gets support from credible people too, which helps make his thoughts more legitimate seeming.

Welcome to my blog