Take a Second Look.

Today, like every day for the past 8 weeks, I went to my first class and waited outside for my teacher to arrive. Next door to my classroom is a Spanish class whose teacher I have always found to be rather odd. Every morning, like clockwork, she stands outside her classroom with an amiable smile on her face awaiting the arrival of her students. As they begin to show up, the teacher greets every student with a friendly "İHola! Buenos días" and shaking their hands as they enter the room. Of course the students just brush her off, shaking her hand as limply as possible and not even looking her in the eyes. Every morning this happens. Every morning the teacher waits outside and greets each student with a smile and a handshake and, in return, all she receives is a grumbled "hola." They all think what I used to think about that wacky teacher: Is this woman for real?
At first, I thought that having a teacher stand outside the classroom every morning greeting me in a foreign language and shaking my hand like a business associate would annoy me immensely. Although as I took another look at the situation, I began to realize that the teacher was not trying to embarrass them, but rather she was trying to show her students that she respects them as people and that she truly is excited to see them each morning. I would be grateful to have someone express their respect for me when no other teacher has.
As teenagers, many of us have those common, arrogant attitudes that we use to put a wall between our outside appearance and our true emotions. I speak for myself when I say that the person I project on the outside is not always in sync with the "me" on the inside. Sometimes when someone, say a zany teacher, graciously attempts to treat one as a mature young adult whom she respects, the natural instinct of many immature teens is to portray themselves as "too good" for her opinion. Believe it or not, I used to be like some of those superior (or so they thought) teens, constantly assuming I knew anything and everything and that I didn't need a teacher to respect me. Thankfully, I have changed for the better. I've always been a nice person, but the inner "me" would always scream in her little voice, "You know more than these idiots. Ignore them!" I absolutely hated that part of me a few years back. But now, I'm glad that I have changed and that I can see the benefit of having a wacky teacher like the one next door to my classroom that will always respect me.

Never Have I Ever...

Never have I ever...

1. eaten sushi
2. sneezed because I looked directly at the sun
3. been drunk/high
4. traveled to Ireland, Australia, or Spain
5. failed a class
6. felt hungry enough to eat a horse
7. hurt someone's feelings on purpose
8. been against gay rights
9. deserted my friends when they needed me
10. gone an entire day without smiling at someone :)

Leave your "Never Have I Ever" list in the comments! :-p

What Happens?

Random Questions:

What happens when you fear something that you cannot stop?

What happens when you are excited for this unstoppable moment?

Please answer - because I do not know.

Old Soul

Weird Thought for Today:

For some (weird) reason, I feel like I should be older than my mind tells me that I am. In my heart, nay, my soul – I feel differently than I do on the outside. Sometimes my subconscious mind informs me that I'm an 80-year-old woman in the body of a sixteen year old girl.

…

…

OK, so maybe not 80 (I don't want to wish my life away)

but just older than a teenager. Deep down in the artistic, free-flowing vicinity that is my soul I know that age is but a number to calculate the thing-we-call-time that I have spent on this earth. But some part of me believes (and I know this sounds crazy, but I did warn you in the description of this blog to be prepared) that my soul has been alive separate from this body for a period of time much longer than sixteen years. Whether it (or I if you will) was floating around in heaven or buzzing around the galaxy for millions of years until God decided to put it in the body of a newborn baby girl, I believe that my true age is infinite. You're floating around in heaven, you're placed into the womb of an angel on earth, and after living a lifetime however long or short, you pass away. But, I believe that after your human life span is up, you do not die. My reasoning is this:

Nothing real ever dies.

Now, believe me, I know what it's like to lose a family member and think that they're gone forever and that that hurt in your heart will never go away, but really that's not true. You still have the memory of their smile, the sound of their laughter, and the joy from your time spent together. That is what's real – that can never die.

The reason I say that I must be older than sixteen is, since no one ever dies, we all (our souls) must be somewhere – maybe heaven. And, after some time, we may be placed into another body. Then, the continuous cycle of life begins again. Now, keep in mind, I'm not saying that everyone should believe this and this is the only truth behind the meaning of life, I, myself, find it hard to believe; maybe even impossible. But there are those moments in my life, those unfathomably beautiful days where I think, "This moment will never leave me. It's real. Nothing real ever dies."

9/11

So.

 It's been 8 years since that horrible day. Whenever I think about the terrors that occured there, I can only imagine how the people who lost family members must feel. And then I start to consider what it would have felt like to have been in the towers that morning. The calm, quiet peace before the first plane hit. In my mind, I place myself in the position of someone in the towers to attempt to understand the split-second shock of seeing the nose of the plane staring you in the eyes. I can feel the curly hairs on my neck stand up and the goosebumps rise on my arms; that rapid intake of air just before a scream lets out. It disturbs me immensely - contemplating the idea that gets into someone's mind that tells them to hijack a plane and crash it killing thousands of people. I wish and beg and hope and pray for there never to be a day like 9/11 again.

Blast From The Past...

Today was not a bad day; today was not a good day. Although, I began to feel a lot better as I stumbled upon this Blast From The Past...

Three, Four, Five, Six...

By: Adrien S.

I had no choice

To live with

My dad they sent

Me to my new

Home California

Isn't that bad but

I was only

Three

Three, four I

Don't remember how

Old I was we

Took a trailer and

Old Cadillac drove

Into a graveyard

But he was there he

Was with her but

How should I know I was

Sleep but of course I

Was only three... Scruffy Face

Locks of short hair

Shaved beard he was

There I wasn't.

Cigarette breath tall

Black man saved us from ghosts

Five

We live with brother

Not mine or hers, trapped in

Darkness

Left alone with Junk, not alone

But feeling Alone

He wasn't mean

He wasn't a clown

I never knew who he was with

Us born into us took

Us in one room, one

Day maybe more, one feeling how

Should I know I was only

Five, five, beer, trash, garbage... it's

All garbage... Do we need it all?

What's it all for?

I cry, I die, Do feel it?

But then it comes.

It's over, he's back.

He's not there, no

It's us, we

Aren't there,

There we are in Garbageland.

We are stuck

In the Projects! Beggars,

Killers, attackers,

It's over!

Six

Six, running, I don't want them.

B-day, Yeah, I guess I want it over.

Bro's back, he's really back, but

What do I know? He's not paying...

X-Box, bakery.

He works in the bakery; X-Box he plays,

But he's my bro. He's

Related to me. I

Love him. He makes

Me happy. My bro,

Jason George, he's here, but guess what

I'm 12! I love him

So much... He's here and

Happy. 3...2...1. Yeah, darkness

Away, garbage, away, Westwood Village here.

Car, school, I'm no longer 3, 4, 5, 6,

But 12!

Is it wrong to stand up for what you believe in?

SO... first post. I had this whole idea for my first entry; I would tell you everything that went on in my life today and not skip even one little detail but that would've bored me to tears. So, for now, I'll start out with my first random question (or rather, questions):

Is it wrong to stand up for what you believe in?

What if your beliefs differ from those around you and your decisions hurt them?

Is it your fault or do they just have to live with it?

Personally, I say "to each his/her own." Your beliefs are just that- Yours! And anyone who begs to differ needs to discover the word compromise! Whether its gay rights, religious beliefs, or a debate between who's hotter- Zac Efron or Robert Pattinson (hmm... hard choice) it's all up to you! No, I'm not saying you should completely ignore everyone's thoughts. I'm saying that their beliefs are as important as your own and you should respect them. So, even if you're talking to someone you are completely incompatible with and you find that you disagree with them 100% - that's okay. That's just human nature. We're not supposed to agree with each other each and every day. That's why we have debates. I see little 6-year-olds arguing over which Hannah Montana song is better. But you know what else I notice? Those six-year-olds who probably can't even spell the word compromise will still be friends at the end of the day even though they disagree with each other.

Why can't we all be like that?