Battle Royale

The boxing match is a symbol for the struggle in a black American's life because they seem to be fighting everyone. Sometimes he doesn't even know who he is fighting;"Blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity. I stumbled about like a baby or a drunken man." "Then it seemed as though all nine of the boys had turned upon me at once," signifying that it seems as though everyone is out to get him, he has to fight to stay alive. He has to fight for his life, he takes shots and gives them, but still does not know who he is fighting. He just has to go off of the crowd screaming at him. The struggle in black america is fighting blindly into the darkness and having to fight for survival.

This I Believe

I believe in giving directions even if I don't know where the place is. It is an act of kindness. The lost person doesn't know where they are going; the least I can do is show that I do care by giving them directions.

What is the worst that could happen? If they get even more lost, they will pobably stumble upon someone who knows the right way. It shows that I care. I care enough about them that I want to help them. Out of thousands of people they asked me. It's my obligation to help them. So what if i don't know where the place is; I just answer with confidence and make sure that I don't lead them into deeper backroads.

The Atlanta rush hour traffic coming through Decatur comes to a halt. A lost family from California asks me how to get to Chamblee. I know what general area Chamblee is in. I have never been. I knew that it was off of Clairemont Road. They are really lost if they are on Memorial Drive and they want to get to Chamblee; but I didn't want to make them feel stupid. So I told them, in a clear voice and in a timely manner so they didn't hold up already backed up traffic; to turn left on Columbia and take it all the way down until it changed into Commerce. Then to take Commerce down to Clairemont and follow it until they find a familiar street. A joy came over me from helping someone in a small way. It gave me a satisfaction that I have never felt before. Helping people made me feel good. It was a forgien feeling but I couldn't help but feel good that I help someone.

Now lucky for them I knew the general area where Chamblee was. Not so for another lost couple.

Standing outside my house a couple pulls up and asks for directions to Virginia Avenue. Virginia Avenue is on the other side of another county. Southwest Atlanta. My face glazes over. It would just be easier to say,"I don't know." But they looked clueless, so I led them to I-85, and hope that they find it. Immediately after they turned around I looked it up on the map. I felt a relief when I saw that Virginia Avenue crossed right over I-85. Once again I felt that satisfaction that I helped someone. Even if it was a small thing as giving directions.

I am human; I get lost in life, and when I do, I need help. It is taken upon those people who don't want to see others fail, to help. It may be because I see myself in that same situation. I try to take it upon myself to be one of those people who helps others when they need help, no matter the problem.

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

The very old man is an angel. I know because of the carnival freaks. The acrobat who had wings like a bat could resemble one of the fallen angels; and the angel could be another one. The point of the story is that instead of treating the angel like he was from God, the treat him like a side attraction. Their faith is not any better than it was before.

Cathedral Questions

Question #1.
The irony of the story is that when the narrator's wife told him that an old friend was coming to visit, and that the friend was a blind man; he was underwhelmed. The narrator is less than thrilled to host Robert. He feels uncomfortable when his wife leaves him alone with him. He can't get good small talk started with him. Meanwhile, his wife is nothing short of thrilled to have Robert. She talks to him about past times and never gives her husband a glance. The two of them are happy to be together, while the narrator could care less.
In the end the narrator connects with Robert, when they were both drawing the cathedral, they end up liking each other and he feels comfortable around Robert.

This I Believe

I believe in telling someone directions even if i don't know where the place is. It is an act of kindness. The lost person doesn't know where they are going. the least i can do is give them directions.
What is the worst that could happen? if they get even more lost, they will probably stumble upon someone who knows the right directions. I feel that it shows that I care. I care enough about them that I want to help them. The way they look, with the puppy dog eyes, and their urgency not to hold up traffic in this new jungle, just makes my heart sink. Out of thousands of people, they asked me. It's my obligation to help them. So what if i don't know the place where their going. I just answer with confidence and make sure I don't lead them into deeper back roads.
We are all human. We all need help sometimes. When we do, don't we want someone to be nice and want to help too. So we shouldn't leave our fellow man sweating nervously because they don't know where they're going. Speak with confidence and just make them feel comfortable in this new city, and your kindness will fill you with joy and good Karma.

Damien

"The snake, the rat, the cat, the dog, how you gonna see him when your living in the fog."

-DMX- "Damien/The Omen (Damien II)"

The Cool

"... and robbed him with the same gun they shot him with. Put it to his head and said, 'you scared ain't ya.' He said, 'huslta to death, no heaven for a gangsta."

-Lupe Fiasco- "The Cool"

Differences in Interpretations

For school my World Lit. class had to read the book "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. So i read the book and was unimpressed by the way it was written and the plot; but i did get the character developments, the plot, and some of the meaning. After i read it my dad read the book just because he was interested in it. When he got done he told me what he thought of the book and said that it was not well written, and that the main character was inconsistent as the book ended. We both agreed that the main character had major ego issues and could only blame himself for the tribulations that he went through.

The part where we differed was at the end where the main character kills himself. My dad's explanation for that was the author just wrote himself into a corner and needed a scapegoat to get out of it. My dad said it should ended with Okonkwo dying in a blaze of glory while fighting the missionaries and that it would have been consistent with the character's ego and mentality.

I said to him that the author had Okonkwo kill himself because he spent his whole life trying not to be like his father who had no "title" (basically his dad was a slacker). So he worked hard and had his enormous male ego to go with it. He has an nonhuman personality and shows no pain or anything that is considered "weak." Okonkwo would always take the hard way to show no weakness; but in the end with killing himself he showed human qualities. He knew the missionaries were going to kill him and he took the easy way out by committing suicide. Thus, he did not take the difficult way to show strength, but rather he showed weakness and that in the end he was human .