Post by Friday on Nov 22, 2008 14:45:16 GMT -5
In my life, I've come across many faces. Each one leaving behind a little bit
of themselves in my memories and actions. But one stands out more distinctly
that the rest. My aunt Sandy.
Never has anyone in my life made such a lasting impact on my thoughts and
goals. It has been 13 years since she took her last breath, but she lives on
in my heart and thoughts.
She has to be the strongest women I have ever met. She battled breast cancer
for years before it took her life, much sooner than anyone expected. She
stayed strong until the very end. Keeping faith in God and the people around
her. I remember distinctly one day. No one knew exactly how long she had
left, but I think she did. I noticed that I got to see her less and less.
That she was letting me see her less and less... I didn't understand.
I just wanted to be with my aunt Sandy, who always gave me ice cream and read
to me and played with me.
I didn't know this till after she died. But she was doing that for a reason.
She thought it would be better if I didn't see her in the state of illness she
was in, the chemotherapy ravaging her body. She was trying to make it easier
for me so that when the time came that she wasn't there, I wouldn't take it so
hard. But even still I miss her, but she has done a lot for me and she lives
on through me.
I give her credit for my love for animals. Her three children were always
bringing critters home and she never turned one away. I've heard she even took
in a skunk. She is the one that inspired me to want to be a vet. To care for
animals and help them the way she did.
Not only do I give her credit for my love of animals, I also give her credit
for my love of reading. Whenever I was at her house, it never failed that we
would read one of my favorite books still to this day, Don't Forget the
Oatmeal. Yes it was a Child's book, but her reading inspired me to read.
Which has led me to reading what I am now. Reading has given me a whole
different look into the world. It has helped my studies and enhanced my
vocabulary. So for my academic success, I thank her.
I think of her so much. She is what keeps me going through problems. I think
of how much she suffered and didn't show it. How she held on to the very end.
I know she did her best to try and survive. But when it came to the end it was
her time to go.
I can only hope that one day, I will be as strong and as caring as she was
throughout her brief life. I want to be as strong and as brave as she was. It
is her I look to when I feel like no hope is there. She has made me who I am.
And I wouldn't have any other way.
Some issues, are not always out in the open. Issues can hide in many places.
Even in things that we think are good. Even right now as I type, there is a
huge issue just in these words. Technology.
Technology is perceived as a wonderful thing. And it has made the world a more
connected place. Internet allows us to talk to people thousands of miles away,
and look up information that used to just be in libraries. Cell phones have
mobilized the world. You can now access the Internet from anywhere. You can
call anyone at any time. And while these things were around 10, 20 years
ago... They weren't near as relied on as they are now.
But new technology such as phones and computers have changed the way people
communicate. No longer do people meet in person, it's just a text message.
Calls are rare now too. Most just prefer to send a text. But these are just
words. You can't really truly get to know someone by just words. Only the
extremely gifted can convey their personality and voice into mere text. You
never truly get to know someone.
You can't see emotions, you can't tell if someone is lying, or how they are
feeling. Technology is slowly destroying face to face social skills. Some
people don't know how to act if they are facing someone face to face, they are
lost in the body language and inflections of the voice. It is so much easier
to type words to others. So much more anonymous. Less personal.
You can see this especially in my generation now. Constantly hands are glued
to phones texting without stop. People go home to chat on MySpace or Facebook,
instead of actually hanging out. These cyber relationships are starting to
rule to extent of our communication.
My biggest concern is that people will let themselves get to the point where
they never leave their homes. Strictly carry on relationships with computers
and cell phones. What will life as we know it come to then?
How will we be able to meet our future husbands or wives? How will we be able
to stay fit and healthy? How will we be able to truly gage the truth of
someone's words? You will never know if everything is just lies.
While technology has been wonderful for some things, such as medical advances
that save lives and more efficient energy sources, it is slowly destroying
physical, face-to-face interactions. I fear for future generations and can
only hope that we see the danger of our actions before it is too late.
Four thirty in the morning, too early to be awake, and yet I still found myself
standing in the Austin Airport surrounded by 40 other excited teens and their
worried parents. What parent wouldn't worry if they were sending their
teenager to Europe, for three weeks, without them? Good-byes were exchanged,
some teary, some not, and we boarded the plane. All 41 students of the People
to People Student Ambassadors were here with their maroon polos that marked us
for what we are. We had gone through the initial choice of eligibility, the
interview process, all the meetings, we had completed all the projects. We had
worked hard to make this trip a reality and now here it was.
When we landed in Athens almost eighteen hours later, nothing felt real to me.
Waking up in Athens and not in my own bed, certainly couldn't be real. But it
was.
I was finally here. All those months of saving every penny and planning every
detail came down to these three weeks. Where I would be working to earn the
title Student Ambassador that I now proudly wore. As a Student Ambassador I
met the Governor of Morano Calabro, a small town in Crete. From her we learned
of the many struggles they faced trying to remain a traditional style town in a
fast modernizing world. We helped clean the streets there, doing our part to
help them out. In Sicily, we helped out a sea turtle rescue organization. We
learned about the loggerhead turtles and helped relocate some nests that were
in dangerous positions on beaches. All 41 of us with People to People were
doing our part to make a difference in the world.
Not only did we help out, but we also saw and experienced many aspects of their
cultures. I remember trying to talk with Crazy-Lafeal, and Italian, and his
friends in a water park in Naples. They knew Italian and French, while my
friends and I spoke English and limited Spanish. We took traditional Cretan
dancing lessons, and later that evening, participating in a festival where we
were privileged to dance with the villagers. Making our own pizza in Italy,
laughing together as the dough fell apart. Daring each other to eat muscles,
which were amazingly tasty. I went swimming at beaches, some more modest than
others, and saw the ocean floor under the water. But could not able to touch
the sandy bottom because of the great depth. We played with sea urchins in the
rocks, trying to avoid getting poked by their spines. I haggled over the price
of a shell necklace. We enjoyed eating gelato at the trevi fountain, tossing
our Euro in to ensure our return one day. In those three weeks, I got the
experience of a lifetime.
My love for other cultures has deepened. In those 21 days, I had done more
than I had done in a year, and I loved every minute. I met people who I now
consider best friends. I saw the world from someone else's eyes. Saw life
without computers and the Internet that dominates America's society today. To
see the world like that was amazing. Learning how to live without parents
watching your every step. Having the responsibility to keep up with your own
belongings. Finding confidence as you navigate your way through Rome, with
just simple map and the help of the locals. I came home a different person
than when I left. I have more faith in myself, and have opened my eyes to a
different world. This one trip was my opportunity to see the world, and I took
it head on and with great assault. It gave me a new outlook on life, and now I
never see or do anything the same.
of themselves in my memories and actions. But one stands out more distinctly
that the rest. My aunt Sandy.
Never has anyone in my life made such a lasting impact on my thoughts and
goals. It has been 13 years since she took her last breath, but she lives on
in my heart and thoughts.
She has to be the strongest women I have ever met. She battled breast cancer
for years before it took her life, much sooner than anyone expected. She
stayed strong until the very end. Keeping faith in God and the people around
her. I remember distinctly one day. No one knew exactly how long she had
left, but I think she did. I noticed that I got to see her less and less.
That she was letting me see her less and less... I didn't understand.
I just wanted to be with my aunt Sandy, who always gave me ice cream and read
to me and played with me.
I didn't know this till after she died. But she was doing that for a reason.
She thought it would be better if I didn't see her in the state of illness she
was in, the chemotherapy ravaging her body. She was trying to make it easier
for me so that when the time came that she wasn't there, I wouldn't take it so
hard. But even still I miss her, but she has done a lot for me and she lives
on through me.
I give her credit for my love for animals. Her three children were always
bringing critters home and she never turned one away. I've heard she even took
in a skunk. She is the one that inspired me to want to be a vet. To care for
animals and help them the way she did.
Not only do I give her credit for my love of animals, I also give her credit
for my love of reading. Whenever I was at her house, it never failed that we
would read one of my favorite books still to this day, Don't Forget the
Oatmeal. Yes it was a Child's book, but her reading inspired me to read.
Which has led me to reading what I am now. Reading has given me a whole
different look into the world. It has helped my studies and enhanced my
vocabulary. So for my academic success, I thank her.
I think of her so much. She is what keeps me going through problems. I think
of how much she suffered and didn't show it. How she held on to the very end.
I know she did her best to try and survive. But when it came to the end it was
her time to go.
I can only hope that one day, I will be as strong and as caring as she was
throughout her brief life. I want to be as strong and as brave as she was. It
is her I look to when I feel like no hope is there. She has made me who I am.
And I wouldn't have any other way.
Some issues, are not always out in the open. Issues can hide in many places.
Even in things that we think are good. Even right now as I type, there is a
huge issue just in these words. Technology.
Technology is perceived as a wonderful thing. And it has made the world a more
connected place. Internet allows us to talk to people thousands of miles away,
and look up information that used to just be in libraries. Cell phones have
mobilized the world. You can now access the Internet from anywhere. You can
call anyone at any time. And while these things were around 10, 20 years
ago... They weren't near as relied on as they are now.
But new technology such as phones and computers have changed the way people
communicate. No longer do people meet in person, it's just a text message.
Calls are rare now too. Most just prefer to send a text. But these are just
words. You can't really truly get to know someone by just words. Only the
extremely gifted can convey their personality and voice into mere text. You
never truly get to know someone.
You can't see emotions, you can't tell if someone is lying, or how they are
feeling. Technology is slowly destroying face to face social skills. Some
people don't know how to act if they are facing someone face to face, they are
lost in the body language and inflections of the voice. It is so much easier
to type words to others. So much more anonymous. Less personal.
You can see this especially in my generation now. Constantly hands are glued
to phones texting without stop. People go home to chat on MySpace or Facebook,
instead of actually hanging out. These cyber relationships are starting to
rule to extent of our communication.
My biggest concern is that people will let themselves get to the point where
they never leave their homes. Strictly carry on relationships with computers
and cell phones. What will life as we know it come to then?
How will we be able to meet our future husbands or wives? How will we be able
to stay fit and healthy? How will we be able to truly gage the truth of
someone's words? You will never know if everything is just lies.
While technology has been wonderful for some things, such as medical advances
that save lives and more efficient energy sources, it is slowly destroying
physical, face-to-face interactions. I fear for future generations and can
only hope that we see the danger of our actions before it is too late.
Four thirty in the morning, too early to be awake, and yet I still found myself
standing in the Austin Airport surrounded by 40 other excited teens and their
worried parents. What parent wouldn't worry if they were sending their
teenager to Europe, for three weeks, without them? Good-byes were exchanged,
some teary, some not, and we boarded the plane. All 41 students of the People
to People Student Ambassadors were here with their maroon polos that marked us
for what we are. We had gone through the initial choice of eligibility, the
interview process, all the meetings, we had completed all the projects. We had
worked hard to make this trip a reality and now here it was.
When we landed in Athens almost eighteen hours later, nothing felt real to me.
Waking up in Athens and not in my own bed, certainly couldn't be real. But it
was.
I was finally here. All those months of saving every penny and planning every
detail came down to these three weeks. Where I would be working to earn the
title Student Ambassador that I now proudly wore. As a Student Ambassador I
met the Governor of Morano Calabro, a small town in Crete. From her we learned
of the many struggles they faced trying to remain a traditional style town in a
fast modernizing world. We helped clean the streets there, doing our part to
help them out. In Sicily, we helped out a sea turtle rescue organization. We
learned about the loggerhead turtles and helped relocate some nests that were
in dangerous positions on beaches. All 41 of us with People to People were
doing our part to make a difference in the world.
Not only did we help out, but we also saw and experienced many aspects of their
cultures. I remember trying to talk with Crazy-Lafeal, and Italian, and his
friends in a water park in Naples. They knew Italian and French, while my
friends and I spoke English and limited Spanish. We took traditional Cretan
dancing lessons, and later that evening, participating in a festival where we
were privileged to dance with the villagers. Making our own pizza in Italy,
laughing together as the dough fell apart. Daring each other to eat muscles,
which were amazingly tasty. I went swimming at beaches, some more modest than
others, and saw the ocean floor under the water. But could not able to touch
the sandy bottom because of the great depth. We played with sea urchins in the
rocks, trying to avoid getting poked by their spines. I haggled over the price
of a shell necklace. We enjoyed eating gelato at the trevi fountain, tossing
our Euro in to ensure our return one day. In those three weeks, I got the
experience of a lifetime.
My love for other cultures has deepened. In those 21 days, I had done more
than I had done in a year, and I loved every minute. I met people who I now
consider best friends. I saw the world from someone else's eyes. Saw life
without computers and the Internet that dominates America's society today. To
see the world like that was amazing. Learning how to live without parents
watching your every step. Having the responsibility to keep up with your own
belongings. Finding confidence as you navigate your way through Rome, with
just simple map and the help of the locals. I came home a different person
than when I left. I have more faith in myself, and have opened my eyes to a
different world. This one trip was my opportunity to see the world, and I took
it head on and with great assault. It gave me a new outlook on life, and now I
never see or do anything the same.