#2 Soph journal: Writing a Conceit--POST BEFORE THURSDAY OCT. 4
POST BEFORE THURSDAY OCT.4
I'm
driving 65 mph on I-495, cars whizzing by me like I'm standing still.
Two guys darting in and out of traffic like it's some video game
chase--I can only imagine how fast they're going. I'm on the gas just to
keep up with the flow, the left foot covering the pedal (yeah, that's
old-school bi-pedal technique), just in case . . . momentarily reverting
to what Mr. Shaw instructed back in my tenth grade driver's ed class.
Then comes the inevitable question from the backseat driver, who actually occupies the other seat in the front. You know what I mean?
"Are you using cruise control?"
"No," I answer curtly.
"Why not? Doesn't your foot get tired?" the passenger harps.
It is at that point that I begin my rant on the dangers of cruise control.
Clicking on the cruise control does prevent tired, cramping feet, I say. However, it has its problems, too. For one, it lulls you into a false sense of security, and the feet usually get further and further away for both the gas AND the brake pedals. At that point, how much control do I really have?
Like my car, I don't like to put my life in "cruise control." I want to be the one in charge as much as I can be, without being a "control freak." I'm no risk-taker, so most of the time I travel the "road more taken." And that's OK with me. I like to know where I'm going, traveling at my own speed. I haven't driven further north than New York City or more south than Augusta, Georgia, but that doesn't mean I've led a boring, provincial life, either. I can make a Saturday night trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond an adventure by taking some of the back roads to see the Belted Galloway cows on Center Meeting Road (click to enjoy).
How are you navigating through life?
Do you gas up first, and then check the oil, wipers, and air pressure before a big trip?
Do you have the "pedal to the metal" or are you driving more cautiously with "both hands on the wheel at 10 before 2?"
Do you prefer major roadways like the Kirkwood Highway or would you rather take the more scenic route?
When you drive, are you easily lured into the local McDonald's at the sight of the golden arches, or can you get from point A to point B without making a single stop?
Do you use your cell phone while driving, chatting and texting away instead of paying attention to the road? It's against the law, you know.
Obviously, all of these driving situations can be applied metaphorically to situations in our lives.
For instance, the guy who gases up and checks out his car before a trip is the man who begins all his endeavors in life with preparation and a plan.
The "pedal to the metal" driver travels recklessly through life, hellbent on getting things done in a hurry without concern for safety for himself or anyone else.
The guy who
stops at McDonald's, well, he needs a little bit more self-control,
doesn't he? Can't he wait a few minutes to get home to snack on last
night's leftovers?
Hopefully, you have the idea of what makes a CONCEIT, an elaborate (sometimes far-fetched) extended metaphor. Two things that are essentially unalike, like driving a car and living one's life, are compared. The "extended" part of the metaphor means that different parts of each procedure are compared, like the examples that I've given above comparing driving a car to living one's life.
So now it's your turn.
Think of an area in which you have some knowledge and expertise. Maybe it's a hobby (reading) or activity (playing a sport, dancing, fishing etc.).
Think of a metaphor, and then extend it by breaking it down into parts.
For instance, reading a book is like developing a strong friendship.
How might choosing a book to read be like finding a friend? Examine its cover, its prologue, the reviews on the cover. How might this be similar to entering into a friendship? You can go on from here, and talk about opening the book the first time, feeling the stiffness of the book's bindings, maybe reading a few uneventful pages and then putting it down. How might this be like the beginning of a friendship, too?
Choose between one of these two assignments:
1. Make a conceit comparing two dissimilar but similar processes, like reading a book and making a friend.
Hopefully, you have the idea of what makes a CONCEIT, an elaborate (sometimes far-fetched) extended metaphor. Two things that are essentially unalike, like driving a car and living one's life, are compared. The "extended" part of the metaphor means that different parts of each procedure are compared, like the examples that I've given above comparing driving a car to living one's life.
So now it's your turn.
Think of an area in which you have some knowledge and expertise. Maybe it's a hobby (reading) or activity (playing a sport, dancing, fishing etc.).
Think of a metaphor, and then extend it by breaking it down into parts.
For instance, reading a book is like developing a strong friendship.
How might choosing a book to read be like finding a friend? Examine its cover, its prologue, the reviews on the cover. How might this be similar to entering into a friendship? You can go on from here, and talk about opening the book the first time, feeling the stiffness of the book's bindings, maybe reading a few uneventful pages and then putting it down. How might this be like the beginning of a friendship, too?
Choose between one of these two assignments:
1. Make a conceit comparing two dissimilar but similar processes, like reading a book and making a friend.
2. Tell me what your LIFE is like. Let's avoid the commonly used "roller coaster" or "box of chocolates" metaphors.
For
either choice, make sure you extend your general comparison with at
least five specific comparisons. You'll probably find yourself doing
many more. Look back to the Schoolsville archives of October 2011 for ideas.
Write and post your own conceit before THURSDAY, October 4.
posted by JTF @ 9:55 AM
47 comments
47 Comments:
The microphones have been checked. The make-up has been retouched. The lines have been memorized. The set has been painted. The songs have all been rehearsed. The costumes have been sewn. Every detail has been perfected in order to put on this professional Broadway musical. The stage manager calls for places and all members of the cast and crew respond, “Thank you places.” As each member begins to take their place, the nerves begin to flutter a little more and the anxiety seems to rise at every second. The house lights dim and it’s show time. The curtain is pulled and the show begins. In order to get to this point, many people have given lots of their time, energy, and dedication. But who is the most influential or important person in putting on this show? Is it the lead actor who everyone looks up to, follows, and relies on but can be very conceding and condescending? Or is it the ensemble member who is always there for support and to help the story along and doesn’t need to be in the spotlight? Or is it the director who makes it all happen but when it comes down to the performance has no control over what happens? Or is it the stage manager who makes sure everything runs smoothly and everything happens as it should but receives little acknowledgement? Maybe, it is even the audience, who come to enjoy the performance.
One of my favorite quotes by William Shakespeare is, “All the world is a stage and all men and women merely just players…”Every day of our life is like opening a show. We have to work very hard to improve our talents and ready them so we can share them with others. Then when the curtain opens, everyone can see all the good we have and we are able to share those talents with others. We may get nervous, scared, over-whelmed, and over-joyed, but it is all part of our story that has been written for us to perform. In this show of life, who will you play? You may be the lead actor, who is always the center of attention and looks at others as less than him, but receives all the credit for being the best. Maybe you are the supporting actor. You are always helping and there for others and don’t need to be recognized for everything you do. Then again maybe you are more like the director. You are usually in charge and do the best you can to help prepare others in what they need to do, but you really have no control in what actually happens. These people are the people who get things started and come up with innovative ideas. However, you may also be like the stage manager. You are organized and on-time. You make sure everything is done properly and in an orderly manner, but, unfortunately, never receive much credit for all you do. You are the “doers” of the world. Most of us, though, are simply members of the audience. We watch others take risks and share their talents, but all we seem to do is stand by and watch. Every person has a different role to play on the stage we call the world. Who will you play?
Great "lead-off" batter, Andrea, if you'll accept the baseball metaphor in place of your stage conceit.
Well done!
Fear is the moon.
It can creep up on us when we least expect it,
Growing stronger throughout the night.
It hits us at our weakest moments,
Hovering over us while we sleep.
Just as the moon waxes and wanes,
Fear can grow in the face of doubt,
But also shrink with growing confidence.
Some nights, it is stronger than others.
Some nights, you may not notice it at all, but it’s there.
Fear changes forms,
Will I fail the test?
Will practice be hard?
Will the person I love tell me they don’t share my feelings?
How and when will I die?
As the moon undergoes a cycle,
So do our fears.
We subconsciously continue to fear the same things.
Our fears never truly go away,
Even if we think they do.
They continue to stick around in the back of our mind,
Waiting to creep up on us as soon as we grow weak again.
Just as the moon waits for the sun to set
To sneak back into the sky
And take over.
And no matter what we do to try to rid ourselves of them,
They will never subside.
They are connected to us,
Just as the moon is connected to the earth.
The moon may someday be gone,
But our fears will live on forever
Waiting for someone to attach to,
To torment for the rest of their lives.
You are standing at the starting line of the race and the gun is about to go off. A maelstrom of emotions is swarming your mind when nervousness and excitement get the best of you. As soon as that gun goes off, you sprint ahead and find yourself running in the middle of a pack of runners from different teams.
Being a student in high school can relate to being a cross country runner in a variety of ways. Yes, you can be a student who runs cross country, but there are many mental and physical challenges that apply to both aspects. The nervousness that overwhelms you at the beginning of a race is the same emotion that many of us get before taking a difficult test or exam. The stress of the different courses that are taken in school is also similar to the stress that runners feel when trying to improve their time for the next race. Different classes also mean different difficulty levels. Just as you may struggle in school, a cross country runner also is faced with the different difficulty levels of different race courses. The more hills in a race, the harder a runner must push him/herself. In high school, a student must also learn to push him/herself in a difficult class and may need to do extra work and study for a longer period of time. In contrast to the hilly courses and difficult classes in school, there are also the flat and fast courses in which runners may race their best. Although some classes may be challenging, there may also be some classes that are enjoyable because they come easy to certain students. I feel my best and enjoy the sport of cross country the most when I run some of my best times on flat courses.
Many people know the feeling of studying days before an important test or working hard on a research paper. Because of all the hard work and effort put in, we expect to get an A. The middle of a cross country race is comparable to getting an A on that paper or test. When running, there is an important mental toughness that must be present. Many people may say that the physical aspect is more important because you must be “in shape” in order to run a 5K. However, the mental aspect is just as important. That runner must have confidence in him/herself in order to finish that race. He/she must know that they can physically handle the pain and tiredness-they train for it everyday at practice. When both the physical and mental aspects get you through the finish line, that moment of bliss relates back to getting that A.
The time has come. Your shoes are laced up. You have put in hours of dedication. You have sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears to get to this point. The countless hours of practice and the extra time you put in because you have the desire to get better and to win. You have set goals for yourself and no one is going to get in your way from accomplishing them. In multiple ways, the sport of wrestling is like climbing a mountain. Just like anything you do, preparation is needed. You can’t have no experience wrestling and expect to win and you certainly must have practice or experience climbing mountains or else the results could be deadly. You must prepare weeks in advance whether your getting stronger in the gym for wrestling or trying to gain stamina for the treacherous climb. A wrestling season has many levels of intensity and so does a mountain. At the bottom of the hill it is an easy climb. Maybe a small hill or slope stands in your way but that is nothing compared to what lies ahead. The first month of wrestling season is a lot like the base of the mountain. Practices are easy and go by quickly and sometimes you can even effortlessly defeat your opponents. As the season moves on, practices get tougher, more tiring and the tournaments and matches are more difficult. Now as your climbing the mountain the conditions get tougher, weather gets colder, and the slope of the mountain is rising. It is now the toughest part of the season. The constant need to cut weight each week so that you can wrestle takes it tole on your body as does the climbing of the mountain. Everyday you are physically exhausted, dehydrated, and hungry. You want to quit but you won’t because you want to get to the top and be the best. The best part of it all is that you know you have a team behind you that is pushing you and is going through the same problems and pains. It would be silly and pointless to climb a mountain by yourself, because you need people to help you mentally and physically. The continual threat of injuries can ruin your season or make you physically unable to finish your climb. You can now see the summit. It seems so close but you know its so far away. Wrestling season may only seem like four months but to me and my teammates it feels like four years. Finally though, the season is coming to an end and the competition shows no mercy. Practices have been extra tough and demanding. Everyone gives 150 % because the state tournament is right around the corner, just like the climber sees the dangerous and final portion of his journey. Now there is no time for breaks. Any time wasted not preparing can lead to great misfortunes. The state tournament has begun and each match you wrestle and win is like taking a another step towards the summit. Finally, the time has come. Your in the finals and you are so focused that nothing sidetracks you. The end of this wrestling season’s journey is only six minutes away. The minutes and seconds tick away and your body wants to give up, but you push yourself to the limit to win. You defeat your opponent in a close match. You are number one! You are a state champion! No one is better than you. The joy of being on top of the podium with a medal around your neck is similar to the feeling of being on top of a mountain. You conquered everything and accomplished your goal. This feeling of pride and happiness is endless. It will be forever etched in your memory. The season has finally come to a conclusion but there is no off-season in wrestling. You must continue to prepare for next season and your next climb. Who knows, maybe the next one will be tougher!
“It’s hot out there, if you are feeling sick or tired STOP RUNNING! This race is not worth your life!” I’m listening to the words of a bearded, tan, plump man lecturing us runners with a speech he’s delivered before our races multiple times. I’m drowning out this seeming repetitive talk when all of the sudden I hear “runner’s set” and just like that the shot of a gun sounds. We’re off sprinting harder than ever; fighting for that spot in the front of the pack to lead off the race. In many ways my life can be compared to this Cross-Country 5k. Is it just me or was that speech shorter than last time? I knew the race was starting but I thought I had more time. Sometimes in life we get into the same routine much like the man’s speech and tend to ignore the dull monotony. We know obstacles are coming but we can be very easily caught off guard. My heart is racing. I’ve secured a spot in the front, now the real task is how long I can maintain this position. My first task is complete, I’ve started however like in life it’s just the start of one race; it’s just a start. I reach the mile mark with a clear head, but my first negative thought comes up. I’m out to fast and I must try to forget this and continue on. More negative thoughts crowd my mind, these girls are better than me and I can feel my pace slowing. I quickly snap myself out of it and convince myself to push through, but I know I’ve lost time. In this moment I’m faced with a decision we all must face at some point in life. Do I keep this pace and accept the fact that this race will have a poor time or do I speed up and make up for the time lost. In life I try to give my best, but there are times when you just want to break down and accept defeat. I, however, push through my pain and continue on. Up ahead I can hear Coach Deej, he knows I’m hurting. “You look good Baker”. He tells me to “drop the quarters” our team’s symbol for dropping bad thoughts. Just knowing that he’s here to help push me through encourages me to go faster. In life there is always someone there to help push you through, if you chose to accept their help or not is up to you but someone is always willing. I have a mile left when I realize there is a hill. I thought this was a flat course? This hill is a surprise but I know I can handle it. This hill is yet another one of life’s surprises; I just need to push through it. In some ways I’m glad I didn’t know about this hill I would have been worrying about it the whole race. As long as we can handle them, the small challenges in life are just something we need to push through while keeping our head up. I’m on the top of the hill and the finish line is in sight. My pace quickens as I hear the cheers of fans supporting me in reaching my goal. These final strides are the hardest, the end is so close. I’m finished. I didn’t get first, I didn’t get my best time but I finished. I know I pushed myself and gave it my hardest and there is nothing I can be upset about. It was not my greatest race but it was not my worst. In life we have constant challenges like these races. It was just one race out of the many I will have to run in my life. It’s time for a cool down because I have training tomorrow to improve for the next race. In life there is no stopping. We may get brief breaks but we are constantly training in preparation for the next adventure life throws at us. Some “races” will be good some will be bad, but as long as we try our hardest and push through the pain there is nothing to be upset about.
Family is like a deck of cards. When playing a game of cards, you have no control over the cards you are dealt. You received these cards by chance. These could be great cards or they could be absolutely terrible cards. Regardless, you didn’t pick out these specific cards or do anything to earn them. In life, family is very similar to this situation. People come into this world and some of their family is already here, while others will be born during their lifetimes. Whether you like them or not, they will be your family for your entire life. Every family has a few “kings” and “queens”, or those who are the moral, more-experienced leaders of the family. Many families might have an “ace” or two, someone who is witty, intelligent, and a bit of a smart alec. Of course, every family has at least one “joker”. The jokers would be the alcoholics and the high school dropouts and every other person in the family that has disappointed their relatives majorly. In a game of cards, the jokers are thrown out at the beginning of the game. The jokers of our families are often not welcome at birthday parties, holidays, and other gatherings. And everyone else? Everyone else can be represented by the numbers, just average people trying to live their lives. We all have different families, but one thing in common: they were not chosen by us. This doesn’t mean that we should carp on all the imperfections, but that we should use them as a guide so we don’t make the same mistakes. After all, it’s not about which cards you are dealt, it’s about how you play them.
Baseball is a complicated math problem. In math, you are presented with complex problems just as in baseball you are presented with a variety of complex situations. For a math problem to work, you must go through a systematic process by taking the problem one step at a time and not working through it too quickly while thinking about the fourth step of the problem rather than the second one that you are currently working on. Similarly, for your baseball team to have success you must go through the long season one step at a time, focusing on the game that you will be playing that day and not the one that you will be playing a week from now. In order to obtain the solution for a math problem, you must push all the right buttons in your calculator. This works in a similar way in baseball. In order for your team to achieve success during a long season, your coach must push all the right buttons by making the best possible decisions for your team for any given situation at any given time. It may be by taking a player out of the lineup who is on a hot streak and giving him a rest while replacing him with someone off the bench who goes out that day and comes up big for your team. It may also be by giving a starting pitcher extended rest and giving one of his starts to an unproven pitcher who goes out and wins a big game for your team. Just as with a complex math problem there is little to no room for error, this is also true in baseball. If you commit just one small error in one of your calculations for your math problem, it can cost you the whole problem by getting a wrong answer. This also applies to baseball. In a game, if you commit just one small error that results in a run scoring for the opposing team, it can come back to bite you in the late innings when you lose by just a single run that wouldn’t have been scored if you hadn’t committed that one error. One error in your baseball game can mess up your whole game just as one error in your math problem can mess up your whole problem. For all complicated math problems, the set up of the problem is key to getting the correct solution. If you don’t set up the problem correctly, your whole problem will be skewed and you will not get the right answer. Similarly, in baseball how you set up your lineup and your starting rotation is key to getting the best results. If you set the wrong lineup of baseball players for the game being played that day, your team will not have the best shot at winning that particular game.
Pages flip as time goes by. Something different is happening from chapter to chapter. A book is like a relationship. When you first pick out a book you are excited to read it, just as you might be excited about a new relationship. Once you get more into the book, it becomes more complex. The beginning of a relationship might be all lovey dovey but when you get into the relationship more, things could get complicated and you might be getting into fights with each other. You might’ve heard someone say “It doesn’t hurt to read” but I for one, would have to disagree with that statement. Although reading is good for you, you could get hurt by getting a paper cut while reading. In a relationship, someone is bound to get hurt. Your boyfriend or girlfriend could cheat on you or you could have a disagreement that was never resolved and it just ended in a bad break up leaving you heartbroken. Books also teach you a lot and having the experience of a relationship could teach you many things as well. Books usually have themes to them and those themes teach you lessons, for instance, the lesson in “The Three Little Pigs” is good planning could lead to success. You could take a lot of things from your past relationships (even if they didn’t go well) and apply them to future ones. For example, maybe you rushed into a previous relationship and it didn’t turn out so great. Next time, before getting into a new relationship, you know to take it slow from what the last relationship taught you about rushing into things. Books usually are separated into chapters and as one chapter ends, another one begins. This is a lot like a relationship because once you break up with someone; someone else will eventually come your way, thus the beginning of a new relationship. After you finish a book, it might go into the corner of your room and collect dust, but you might choose to read it again and just like you might choose to go back to a relationship and giving another swing at it. Some books are good, and some you wish you never wasted your time reading and relationships can either be good and you end up together forever or they can just be something you never wish happened. Regardless if it’s a good book or a good relationship or not, you always learn something from them and that is the most important thing.
Becoming a distance runner is like living the first 25 years of your life. When you first start off you can't go very far without stopping. Similarly when you are first born, you sleep most of the day and don't do much. Then you get better, you run farther, longer. You start to get fast. Your first 5k race is like the first day of school. You don't know what to expect but it's pretty easy. You do more races, each time getting faster. Every year you learn more in school, and it gets more complicated. You try out for a team. Just like applying for college, your hoping that you make it in. You get in and make friends; teammates. The races you do now represent your team and how hard you practiced; studied, for a test. The Final is the State Championships. Every hardship you have overcome comes down to this. Every all-nighter at the library or every workout you just barely completed has brought you here so you can finally prove yourself and accomplish your main goal(s). The 5k race flies by and before you know it, it is over. You finally break 20 minutes-19:34. It is a sign of good things to come next year when you decide to come out for the team again. You ace the Final and graduate with flying colors. Ready for the next season of your life.
Running is a journey people begin for many reasons. Sometimes it’s to lose weight, to get ready for a sport, or just because you enjoy it. When we run we get tired and want to give up on our goals and just sit on the couch all day. Too get through the trials of running; sometimes there are friends to run with. But sometimes when we’re running we get drift apart from our friends. Whether they move ahead, or you do, you can end up alone just running. Running is a thing many people do for many reasons and through the pain and suffering there can be accomplishment and joy. Life can be like running. In life we seek to find the meaning of life we have a basic idea of how we want to live and enjoy life. Sometimes we want to be successful or to just enjoy ourselves as much as possible. When we go about the daily grind of life, sometimes it crushes us and we just want to hide away from the world. In life we have family and friends that make the monotony of daily life bearable. But things change and we get estranged from certain people and life moves on. Running and life both are long struggles we go through for many reasons, but I believe that after the race of life we will have that great feeling of accomplishment and rest.
Life is like a computer. On the journey of life you go through many ups and downs, have good times and bad times, and have slow times and fast times. In many ways this is like a computer. When you first turn a computer on it takes a while. There are those 10 seconds were nothing happens and the computer is loading. There is no sensory information being presented to the user. This is very much like when you are born into this world. For most of us, we can’t remember our first few years on this planet. During this time our brains are developing, trying to catch up with our bodies. Then finally the computer turns on, but you still have to log in, enter a password, like everyone else. This time represents our elementary years. You’re finally growing up, but have to do certain things first. Almost every child goes to school just like everyone has to enter a username and password. Once you enter in your username the computer comes to life giving you all these amazing options. Do you want to play games, write an essay, watch a movie, or play a song? You can do almost anything. This is just like your time in grade school and high school. You are given so many different opportunities and you have to choose one. Once you figure out what you want to do you open that window and begin. What you do may impact many people. Writing an essay may change science forever or a song may inspire a generation. This symbolizes your career as an adult. You’ve chosen what you want to do in life and now you are doing it. What job you chose and how you perform it can affect anything. Once you’ve accomplished what you want to you need to exit the window, cutting yourself off from the task. This is similar to your retirement. You have achieved your goal in your career and are stepping out of the spotlight. Finally, you need to shut down the computer. As you shut down the computer once again reverts back to its senseless state where nothing happens before all is black. This is like getting old and dying. Your time on Earth is complete. You settle down somewhere nice and slowly, but surely, get older and quieter until eventually you die, removing yourself from this world. We all have different computers, be it Macs or Dells, PCs or Lenovos, but we all do basically the same things on them. Just as in life everyone follows the same basic path from birth, elementary school, high school, college and career, retirement, and death. The question is: how will you do it?
There is nothing on the desk, save for some pencils, erasers, ink, paints, and the lone sheet of paper; there is an infinite amount of ideas and dreams that can come to life on this sheet of paper, and the artist is determined to make these ideas and dreams a reality. The artist has spent hours thinking, brainstorming, sketching out the marvelous drawing in his head, and he is ready to start his masterpiece. As the artist begins to make the first mark on his paper the thoughts of all the possibilities of failure race through his mind: What if he makes a mistake? What if he’s not sure if his drawing will look as good as he thinks? It doesn’t matter, the artist has one, and only one, piece of paper; he’s got one chance to make this drawing the best he can, and he’s determined to succeed.
Life can be confusing in the beginning; one questions who they are, what they can do, and why they exist. As life goes on, we discover our various talents and work hard to improve them.
The artist’s pencil makes contact with the paper, creating the sketch, the foundation for his work of art.
We take our talents and find uses for them in all sorts of ways, constantly improving them as we go through life. We like to use our talents whenever we can, whether it is alone, with friends, or with family; whilst some find keeping their talents to themselves can improve their talents, others find sharing their talents with friends and family can improve our talents and inspire us to do greater.
The artist has finished half of the sketch, and comes across a mistake. He reaches for his eraser to get rid of the mistake, and improve where he failed.
We all make mistakes in life; it’s human. If one stays too attached to his mistakes, he will never succeed. It is better to learn from your mistakes and bury them in the past. Each day is a new day, a new day where you can do better at what you failed at; if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.
The artist has finished the sketch, smiling upon the foundation for his masterpiece. He grabs his ink and brush to darken and improve the sketch, forming the outline.
Once we’ve discovered the talents within us, we work hard to improve them over time, until our talents are the best they can be. We constantly work hard at improving our talents and ourselves, so we have something to be proud of.
The outline is finished, and the artist is happy enough with his drawing. He gives thoughtful looks at the paints to the side, questioning whether he should add paint to the drawing, adding another thought of failure to his head. He thinks, and reaches for the paint.
We can choose to live our life with the talents we’ve spent so long working to improve; or we can continue working hard and improving our talents, making them even better and possibly discovering new ones. We can always try something new, add a little color here and there, and learn that we have various talents that can make us an even better person.
The artist puts his brush down, his paints aside, and takes a long look at his masterpiece. He examines every section, every inch of detail, and smiles; he is proud of his masterpiece, and can’t wait to show the world what he’s made.
Life is this artist and his masterpiece; we have one chance to use our various talents to make the very best out of life, and share our talents and gifts with the world.
Life is like music. There are so many different paths of genres one can choose and stick with, and there are several unique career paths that can be chosen and followed. There are the people who cannot listen to a single song all of the way through and who skip to the next song halfway through. Those are the ones who skip from one unfinished activity to the other, without fully immersing themselves into the project and putting their best effort into it. Others listen to songs and complete projects completely and fully, immersing themselves and spending time on it. If one enjoys a certain song or event he or she tends to replay the song or do the activity again to feel the same feelings as the first time. We can remember the last time and place we heard a certain song or experienced a certain event and we can remember and experience again the feeling we had then. Some like to listen exclusively to songs and genres they always listened to as a child. They tend to dwell on the past, keeping the same group of friends for their life or maintaining the same attitude and opinions about things. Others listen to new genres all the time, giving unique genres a chance, keeping an open mind about new or revolutionary ideas, and choosing new friends or hobbies. Some things in life are like sad songs, and some are happy. Sometimes transitions from one song to another are smooth, with fade-ins and fade-outs, and sometimes a calm, slow song leads into an exiting, fast-paced song. This is like how sometimes in life the transition between peacefully watching television to lying calmly in bed is smooth and calm, but the transition between sleeping and rushing to be on time for school can be sudden. Every song is written for a reason; they are not written simply for the sake of writing a song. They each have a back-story, just as each thing that happens in life happens for a reason and has a story behind it.
When most people see shoes all they think of are shoes. But when I think of all the shoes I have I think of different people in my life. The shoes sitting in the front are my plain gray Sperry Topsiders. I wear them every day to school so they are a bit worn out and have some stains on them. My friends at school are like my Sperry’s. I get to see them every day, but throughout the schoool year we hit some bumps along the way in our friendship which tends to leave a little bruise inside of me, just like the stains on my Sperry’s. My favorite shoes I own are my UGGs. I have multiple pairs in different styles and colors but they all hold the same purpose, keeping my feet warm. I wish I could wear my UGGs all the time because they are so comfortable, but unfortunately I can only wear them when it’s cold outside. My best friend’s, Lindsey and Shannon, are like my UGGs. They are both completely different individuals who have different styles and interests, but they both serve the same purpose: my best friend. Even though I do not get to see them every day, just like I cannot wear my UGGs every day, I can feel the warmth and happiness they bring me in my heart. In the back of my closet are fancy heels. I only get to wear them out when I have a special occasion maybe a few times out of the year. When I first put them on I feel so excited, but when a few hours pass they start to hurt my feet and all I can think about is putting them right back where I got them from, the back of the closet. I just have to keep telling myself a couple more hours a couple more hours until I can take them off. But when I take them off and put them back all I can think about is the next time I can wear them again. My grandparents in Puerto Rico are like my fancy heels. I only get to see them about once a year. I get so excited when I get to see them the excitement is indescribable. But after being with them for a couple of days all I can think about is okay when are they going to go back home. But when the time comes for them to leave I start to get sad and just have to think about what it will be like the next time I get to see them. Now thinking of shoes as friends or family may seem absurd. But when you think about it they are both actually quite similar. Just as you have to break in a pair of shoes, you have to break in a friend before you get really comfortable with the person. And sometimes you have to return the shoes if they don’t fit right just like you sometimes have to rid yourself of a friend in your life. Then there are those shoes that are one sale only that cannot be returned. Even though you don’t really want them they are still always going to be with you. Those non-returnable shoes in my life are like my family. Even though at times I wish that I could just return them they are always going to be with me no matter what. And at the end of the day I will always have some sort of use for them. Throughout my life I have had many pairs of shoes. Some of them have had to be returned or exchanged, and then there are others that have been non-returnable. But I have learned something from each pair of shoes that has been in my closet.
Throwing a football is like starting a relationship. Both are hit or miss and both can be great beautiful things or they can be a complete train wreck and waste of time. Before you even throw a football you must have a good stance much like you need to have a connection with the person you are starting a relationship with. It is much like a building block for both of them, if you start off bad you are bound to fail. The most important thing to do is stop thinking. If you think about the defense, the consequences of the throw or anything else going on during the game you will have a bad throw. You need to have a clear mind and focus and when you start a relationship, you can’t think of the failures or rough times you had before, you don’t think, you just do what you feel. Lastly, you have to follow through with your throwing arm to make sure that you get everything into the toss. When you start a relationship, you must give your all to make it work not just go through the motions. A lot of the time when I through I fail to follow through and finish strong and my throw suffers because of it. I have done the same things in relationships and that is why they have not worked out how I would have liked them to. Both processes need everything to go as planned or they won’t work out, it is a system that takes practice and failure to get right.
I would have to say my life is a complex garden of flowers. I entered the world as such a small defenseless being, depending on my mother and father to raise me up. Without their support and care I would never have survived. They are the sturdy roots of my life, keeping me grounded throughout tough times. Just like the roots of a seed anchor it into the soil, giving the seed the capability of flourishing. I was blessed with strong loving parents who would do anything for me. Some children are not as lucky as I am, their roots or parents may be unstable. Which causes the child to not know the proper way to handle certain situations. Some just need guidance and structure. These “bad seeds” represent the people I see through life giving into temptation. They are the under-age drinkers or the kid at a party offering me a smoke. The little voice in the back of my head tells me taking the smoke wouldn’t do any harm. Then I hear the hairsplitting shriek of my mother’s voice in my mind telling me I better not touch it. Just thinking about how disappointed and furious my parents would be makes me turn down the smoke. Along with the “bad seeds” I see throughout my life, there are the bigger more prominent problems. These problems could be the fear of not getting into the college of my dreams, or even a tragic family issue. All of a sudden I’m thrown into a maelstrom of emotions, feeling way too overwhelmed. These issues seem to be demolishing all the good in my life, because when I get stressed I pretty much break down. Just like insatiable weed can take over a beautiful garden. But there is a light shining in this dark time. The saviors from this bad experience are my friends. They are there to help make the stressful times more bearable. They are the weed killers of my life. They’re always trying to make me laugh when I’m feeling down. Sometimes there isn’t much they can do to help, but just their effort means so much to me. I think that’s one of the most beautiful things in life, the ability of another person to make such an impact on your life. One small thing a person says could stick with you for the rest of your life. When I was in eighth grade my favorite teacher wrote me a letter that brought tears to my eyes, and still does. I’m sure he didn’t expect the little note to bring such a strong emotion over me, but it sure did. Just like how an insignificant little shower of rain can help make the garden blossom with beauty. Even the dead or decaying flowers are contributing to the garden. They help fertilize the soil making it rich with nourishing vitamins. They never go away, just like my memories will be with me forever. My memories of my life help make me stronger, learning from my past mistakes. Some memories I wish i could relive, but they had their time to shine. Now all I can do is control my fabulous garden of my life.
“Hit the ball! Come on Todd! Be a ball player!” It’s words like these I’ve been hearing my whole life. Baseball can be much like life. We just have to take a different approach about it. Have you ever watched a game? Every single player out on the field has a different style. No two players are the same. That’s like in life. We are all unique, and have different ways of doing things. We need to stick with what’s comfortable for us, and not please others to fit in.
Sometimes in baseball you’re expecting a fastball, and in comes a curveball! You must learn how to adjust to the ball, much as in life when something unexpected happens, and you need to make an adjustment. You need to be prepared for anything at all times.
In baseball, everyone has a role on the team, whether it be starting pitcher, closing pitcher, or bench player. Everyone has a job to do. In life, we all have specific jobs we need to do, whether it be being a good student, helping cook dinner, or anything at all. If we all do our job, everything works out perfect.
Communication is always key. No matter what your doing. Same goes for baseball. When you’re out in the field, you need to talk to your teammates, call the ball, tell them where to throw it. You just need to help them out. In life, you need to communicate with each other all the time. When working, at school, or even at home we need to be helpful to each other. Communicating can easily do that.
If you ever watch a major league team, they always have ups and downs, no matter how good they are. Sometimes you might win 10 games in a row, sometimes you might lose 10 in a row. This applies directly to life because we have ups and downs all the time. With schools, our jobs, feelings, and just about everything we do. We just have to deal with it and keep moving forward.
Music has a lot of elements that are similar to driving. When you read your music, it is similar to reading a map or listening to a GPS. There are guides that tell you when to start, stop, and how fast you should be going. The notes are like roads, they always connect with each other in one way or another, and they help you get from start to finish. The rests are like stop signs. They must be followed and they tell you when to stop before continuing the piece. The tempo of the song is the speed limit. You must remain at a certain tempo for the piece to be right. And if you go too fast or too slow then it will negatively affect the other singers or instrumentalists around you. The pitch is the lanes. You must be in the correct pitch or the song will sound off. If you’re in the wrong lane, you might not get where you need to be or in an accident. These are only a few elements of music and driving, but they all must be followed in order to be successful in music and in driving. You must learn what everything means from road signs to crescendos and proper ways of executing what they mean. Warming up your voice is like learning to properly operate a car. Learning to do both can save you from harming yourself. You cannot decide to get in a car and drive without learning every proper procedure that is necessary for safe driving. It is important to successfully complete a Driver’s Education course. If you do not properly learn to drive, you could seriously harm yourself and others. If you do not warm up your voice, you could seriously strain it. They are both like not bothering to stretch or practice drills before a big game. If the rules of the road and the song go according to plan, there is nothing more pleasant.
Brick by brick, the foundation is being laid. The process is long and vigorous, but the reward is great. Doing well in school is like constructing a tall building. You are building yourself so that in due time you will be ready. You will be ready to stand strong and tall and not be shaken. As the foundation of a building is the most important part, so is the foundation of your studies. High school is the foundation being laid for college and the real world. As you do well in the class room, you are gradually building yourself to be a tall building in the world… a tall building that stands out and emits a sense of value and precedence to all passersby. You build yourself up in the classroom so that one day you can become a unique building noticed by everyone in the world of business, arts, or whatever it may be. The foundation has to be laid right now to keep you stable. When you get older and take on more responsibility, a strong foundation will keep you from tumbling over and being destroyed by the opposition. You are the chief overseer of your own building. How will you lie the foundation?
You have been practicing all summer and it’s the big day. You grab your bow and all of your stuff and hop in the car. On the way to the farm all you can think about is that big buck you have seen on trail cams stepping out of the brush and making a perfect shot. Then you think what if I miss or what if I hit it in the wrong spot, but then you assure yourself I have practiced enough and I can do this. You finally reach the farm you get out of the car and grab your bow. Then you spray yourself down with scent killer and start heading to your stand. You climb to the top of the ladder stand and get settled. Then it sets in; this is the day you have been waiting for all summer, the opening day of deer season. You have been sitting in your stand for about thirty minutes then the buck of a lifetime walks out. Your adrenaline starts pumping and you start shaking from head to toe. He starts walking towards your stand and you tell yourself I need to calm down. You grab your bow off the tree and slowly stand up. It seems like it takes an hour for him to get within shooting distance, but he is finally within range. You slowly pull back your bow and put the pin right behind his shoulder. You give a little grunt, he looks up and then you let it the arrow go. The arrow hits but you are not sure if it was a good shot, but as you watch him running through field you see him start to fumble. Then, he finally falls back and it is all over. Once you see this you are overjoyed and you think about how all that practice was worth it in the end. No words can describe the feeling of killing the buck of a lifetime.
When thought about, deer hunting is just like giving speech. Deer hunting is like giving a speech because of many things, but when one is when you are giving a speech you have to be smart about the words you say. Just like in deer hunting where you need to be smart about the shots you take. Also when giving a speech you need to be calm so you can perform your speech properly and in deer hunting you need to be calm so you perform your shot properly. Most importantly deer hunting is like giving a speech because in both cases you are going after a common goal, which is capturing a target. When deer hunting to capture the target, which is a deer, you have make a good shot and kill the deer. Then when giving a speech to capture the target, which is the crowd, you have to get their attention and keep it throughout the speech. Although, when it comes down to it when giving a speech and hunting, there is nothing better than finally capturing your target.
My Life is a Story Book.
Open me up, and take a look at my life
Read word for word or however you like
Don’t read far ahead, for it is not fully written
I’m just taking my time, I’m not rushing to finish
May be a page turner, so read chapter to chapter
Foreshadow of events, who knows what will come after
Ever since I was young, I was told what to do
You will read the whole book, and you’ll disagree too
Antagonists tend to come and go through my day
With the childish remarks and little games that they play
My entire life, I’ve searched for true meaning
But realized that this is plot is rather misleading
Page by page, I take it all in
When one chapter ends, the next one begins
Flip through the novel, cover to cover
From my best friends to breakups, to my previous lovers
Days where I’m weak, I’m just a paperback
When life’s got me down, I try not to react
Along with the book, I’ll be old and run down
Reflecting on my youth, not making a sound
What’s written is written, I can’t change the past
But I’ll look back in think, these years have gone by too fast
We all look ahead, we’ve all tried to predict
But if my life doesn’t impress, I’m okay with it
Everyone has a store, some short and some long
But as long as you’re happy, you can’t really go wrong
Friends are like clothes, something we practically cannot live with out. Just like changing a shirt, you change your friends. You may not change your friends multiple times a day or even every day, but throughout your life, you go through many friends, as well as outfits. Just as you grow out of your clothes, you grow out of your friends. Some clothing you keep for years at a time, like a good friend, until it doesn’t fit you anymore, or your favorite shirt, perhaps, is kept for decades, like a best friend that you grow up with. Not only does time change what friends “fit” you, but so do the seasons, or metaphorically the certain periods in your life. When you were young and sporty, your friends loved sports and had other related things in common with you, but when you became a teenager and exchange sports for music, you most likely dropped those friends as you grew apart. This is similar to seasons. You wouldn’t wear your bathing suit in the middle of winter, and you wouldn’t wear you snowsuit in the summer. There are different clothes that are unmistakably appropriate and suitable for varying times of the years. More specifically, you have certain types of clothing, similar to how you have certain types of friends. Some of your clothes may be pants, skirts, shirts, and sweaters, but no matter what type they are, they are all clothes and serve the same purpose. Although all of your friends are your friends, you may turn to a friend who will help you accomplish what you desire in a situation. Maybe when you’re upset, you talk to your most understanding and compassionate friend, and when you’re in the mood to celebrate, you go out with your most outgoing and social friend. They’re all friends, but they are unique like the different garments. No matter what type of friend or clothes you have, they all stick closely to you during most of your life. They protect and comfort you, and over time, you develop a relationship with them. Your “relationship” with your sweater is not the same relationship you have with a person, but if you wear your purple sweater to a party and talk to the boy you like, then you are going to associate that sweater with luck and have good memories with it. That sweater may become your favorite sweater, just like someone becomes your bestfriend. You also may not realize that you are with your friends almost every second of the day. You see them at school, at home, and at parties; you are even “with them” technologically when you text and videochat them. This is just like clothes because they are almost always with you. You may have never looked in your closet and found your friends before, but maybe you will now.
The flight is completely booked, 300 passengers, 4 flight attendants, a co-pilot, a pilot, and an air marshal. Everything seems to be going well until the engines mysteriously fail. After the plane crashes, 14 survivors are left on a stranded island. With a limited amount of food and water, it becomes survival of the fittest. The first one to climb out of the plane crash is a big strong man that is only focused on only him and doesn’t help anyone else out. The next person to climb out is an average strength, but good- willed man who helps the survivors out of the wreck. After all of the survivors are out, a good-looking man makes a speech about working together and survival that nobody really understood yet they took it as “inspiring.” A clever, yet shy, slim young man volunteers to venture into the jungle to find food. He later comes back beaten up, with only a few Guavas and some other identified fruit. About half of the group are followers, who help vote on decisions introduced by the good-looking man, but otherwise help in no way and remain quiet. The obnoxious fat lady is the first to suggest cannibalism once everyone is starving. Many of the followers agree to vote for the murder of an innocent young man who is already about to die from an unknown illness. Before this could happen, one of the followers spoke out and convinced everyone to vote against this cannibalistic act under moral standards.
Each survivor of the plane crash is different, and greatly affects the group in many different ways. Which one of these people have you decided to be? Do you live your life like the strong man that is only considerate of his own life and is not interested in any else’s? Or, are you just an average person, but put others before you and use morals rather than what is in your own interest? You may be neither of these. You could be a leader, who is admired and followed by everyone. You might always be in control of your own life and others admire your for that. Maybe you aren’t as outgoing as a leader, and live a very shy life. Are you a follower, but have your own ideas, but you’re just too afraid to speak up sometimes? Perhaps you just let other people’s lives control you, and just go with the flow so that you don’t have to do too much work. Are you just lazy? Hopefully you aren’t like the obnoxious fat lady who does not care for anyone what’s so ever and was most likely raised by negligent parents. Who could grow up so terrible to suggest someone’s murder? Maybe you like to blend in and just watch everything that occurs around you, and you are often to afraid to speak up, but when it’s most needed you do what is right. You decide, which one of these characters represents yourself the most? You might not even know, because in a situation like described above, brings out the true colors of a person.
The lights are nearly blinding as I look out into the crowd. There is an almost eerie silence in the auditorium as I stand, motionless, waiting for my cue to begin my Irish dance. This is the moment I have been training for for months, even years. These are my two minutes to show everyone what I’ve got; to dazzle them with my sheer power and grace. I can feel everyone’s eyes on me: my friends, my parents, my instructors, and the five stern-looking judges. My costume is heavy and uncomfortable, but I tell myself to ignore this and concentrate on one thing: winning. The traditional music begins and I count the beats until I can begin. Five…. Six…. Seven…. Eight. I push off into the air, putting every ounce of energy into capturing the judges’ attention from the start. The two short minutes are over quickly. I end sharply with a smile on my face, trying to mask the fact that I am completely out of breath. The audience erupts into applause as I bow and smile at the judges and the musician and walk off the stage. This is the best performance I have ever put on, and I am bursting with joy. All I can do now is wait for the results and hope for the best.
Irish dancing can be compared to my high school career. It takes a huge amount of training, but it is all worth it in the end. It seems like it goes by in a flash, with barely enough time to register what happened. During the experience, it can cause discomfort and tiredness, but the journey also comes with joy and exhilaration. I am completely focused on succeeding and giving my best effort. It can sometimes feel as if people are watching me from every angle, and my moves are extremely planned out. The judges are like my teachers, watching my every move and giving me comments to help me improve. I have to impress them and make them recognize how hard I am working to succeed. At the end of my school career, I will be extremely tired and ready to move on. However, I will also be proud of my accomplishments and ready to see how my work will pay off in the journey of the rest of my life.
Life is like a game of football. You first begin the game with the coin toss. “Heads or Tails,” says the referee as the quarter flips through the air. The visiting team calls their choice aloud, as if it really matters who chooses, it’s pure 50-50 chance. Regardless, the result of the toss decides who will begin the game with the momentum, who will begin in control. This is very similar to life. Much of life is luck, and out of you hands. Things such as where you are born and whom you are born to are no way in your control, however they affect your life greatly. Whether you are born in a safe country of liberty and rights such as the United States or a dangerous, violent country such as Iraq, or you are born to a wealthy family, or a poor family, is not up to you. However, it most definitely, decides if you will start out life with the momentum, the advantage, or will start in a hole and have to dig yourself out.
Then, all of a sudden, comes the first offensive possession. The first chance your team is given to score points, to get ahead in the game. It is all about how you execute the plays, which comes down to how many times you practiced them. It comes down to how much you have prepared. This is your first chance, regardless of your starting point, to gain the advantage. The first offensive possession is a lot like your first opportunity to get ahead in life, whether that is a job interview, or simply an Algebra test. What will decide your outcome is how well you have prepared for this opportunity, how much you desire to succeed.
It is now third and ten. Your team is in desperate need of a new set of downs. On first down there was a fumble that was luckily recovered, and on second down a “no gain” run play. Both of these were not planned, for every offensive play is designed to end in a touchdown, however, they occurred and now need to be redeemed. Yes! An 11-yard completion, 1st down! In life we make mistakes such as fumble the ball or when given a chance to score, do not capitalize, and fall in the same place as we began. This is when we need a new set of downs, a fresh start to succeed. With a new start we can move on from our mistakes in the past, however we must remember them, as well as the nerve-wracking situations in which we experienced. This way we are sure not to make these mistakes again and also increase our possibilities of success.
Now comes the unavoidable safety blitz. Nobody sees it coming including the quarterback. “Smack!” Your leader goes down hard, his face in the mud. He was blindsided, he had no preparation for impact. Safety blitzes happen all the time in life, though some are much more demoralizing than others. Being laid-off from your job or a sudden death in the family are just two examples of a safety blitz. They hit you extremely hard, they knock you down, and they force your morale to suffer. Despite the pain however, you get back up, you pick up the pieces, and you run another play, once again leaving the past behind you.
As mysteriously as it began, now the game is ending. For the clock started with just an hour to play, and time flies when you’re enjoying yourself. The coach always preaches, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” Throughout the entire game this phrase seems to be exclaimed more prominently than other commands that have been shouted out. Although it is a blowout, you being on the side of victory, it is still a question whether you should go for the Hail Mary, for a chance at one last exhilarating moment, or simply just take a knee, run out the clock and accept triumph. All life comes to an end. It is simply a matter of how one chooses to finish. You can take a shot at something exciting, possibly dangerous, and unique, or you can play it safe and just accept the inevitable fact of death. All great things must come to an end whether it is a football game or your life. It is not about where you start, it’s about facing the fears, surmounting the obstacles, overcoming adversity, and above all simply how you play the game that counts and is remembered.
Life is like a field hockey game. You may make a mistake once in a while, but you can’t give up – you have to keep on trying. You strive for success. Even though you may not always win, life goes on. You have your “ups and downs” in life, just like you move up and down the field. Your family is your support system, and so is your team. You lean on your family for moral support and face hardships with them. You rely on your teammates to do well in a game and beat your opponents. They encourage you to do your best and try your hardest. You want to make your parents and coaches proud. You get excited, and a burst of adrenaline rushes within you. We face many different obstacles in our lives. You can do a move around them or conquer them, one-on-one. During a game, there are many decisions to make – who to pass to, whether or not to take a shot, etc. In life, you are confronted with many tough decisions. Just like making a bad pass or shot, you can make bad decisions. When you make a goal, intercept a pass, or make a good decision, you feel great. In order to be a better player, you have to keep practicing. In order to be a better person in life, you have to practice strong, moral values. The objective of a field hockey game is to score goals, defend your goal, and to win. In life, you want to accomplish goals, protect yourself, and achieve excellence. Life is a battle and so is a field hockey game, but you have to remember to have fun in the process.
Life is like a long basketball season. Each day is a new game, and you learn from your mistakes to improve your game plan. There is an old expression “you win some, you lose some”, that can be applied to basketball and life. Some nights when you are on the court everything goes your way. Other nights you cannot seem to do anything right. Life can be that way also. After each game in basketball you look back on what you could have done better and you try to focus on those areas. After a nice win you carry some of that momentum on with you, and after a crushing defeat that pain can stick with you for a while. Over the course of the season you will experience emotional highs and lows. You will be tested physically and emotionally, but quitting is not an option. In the beginning of the season, you are trying to improve your game as much as you can. By the middle of the season your form will be the best. Before you know it, the end of the season comes around and you are exhausted but not quite ready to stop. In life, we begin to develop who we are, by the middle of our lives, we know exactly what we can do and all of our strengths and limitations. Then the end comes around, sooner for some than others, and we have to part with our friends, or teammates, and move on.
Going to school is like playing sports. Both require an extreme amount of preparation and dedication. Work during school is like practices with your team. Homework is like when you practice by yourself to make yourself better. All of this is done in order to be most prepared for the game or test. What you put in during school or sports is what you will get out of it. If a player does not practice, then he or she will be behind everyone else and not perform in the game just as if someone does not do their class work and homework, they will not do well on tests. Getting through a sports season requires perseverance through ups and downs; wins and losses just as getting through a school year will have its share of bad days and tests but will have its good days too. In sports, everyone is always striving to be the best player they can and if he or she has a drive for this, they will do anything to improve. In school, the students who put in the time and strive to get good grades study hard in order to get good grades. A final exam in school provides people with nerves just as a big game does the same things in sports with things like a championship game. Coach are like teachers in that they instruct their players on what to do and where to be just as teachers teach their lessons. Teammates are like classmates because both are there for each other and they are both going through the same things as each other. Playing sports and going to school also teach life lessons to people. Playing sports teaches you dedication and hard work just as school teaches you honesty, integrity, and respect along with many other things. Playing a sport and going to school both provide good things that people use in life. The most important thing in sports and school is preparation because the tests are getting harder and the competition is getting tougher.
Your team is down by one, you step in the batter’s box, last inning, last out, last chance. You have two options: get a hit and win the game or get out and lose the game. It is your chance to shine with the game in your hands. You have spent so much time and effort to get to this point.
There are countless ways that being a student can relate to being a baseball player. Both of these require a lot of dedication. In school, you need to be dedicated to your studies and spend time LEARNING your material and just going through the motions so that you can succeed. It is the same in baseball, if you are not dedicated, you won’t work hard, making it impossible for you to prosper. Being a baseball player like being a student requires you to take steps to prepare both mentally and physically. As a student you must study before a big test so that you can get an A. In baseball, you need to practice or you will not get better. You need to do long toss so you can throw harder, hit off the tee to hit better, and you need to run so you can get faster. Students and baseball players are very similar in that they need to push themselves. It is after school and you just got home from your job, it is late, and you are tired or you could be getting killed by the other team. You could easily say you are too tired to do homework or say throw in the towel and give up. But you cannot because you have to keep going because if you do not the only person you are failing is YOURSELF. You have a CHOICE to give up or not to give up, to succeed or fail. We have all had a time when we do not do as well as we think we should. It may be getting a bad grade on a test you thought you aced or not getting a hit for a few games. No matter what, student or baseball player, you must accept failure and learn from it. If you truly want to do well in baseball you must make sacrifices, like losing some sleep or not going to a party. This is the same for students. You must sacrifice time, sleep, parties, and even friends if you want to do want you want to do: SUCCEED.
If you are a good student or a good baseball player your only goal is to succeed, and you will not settle for anything less. You work so hard if you want to fulfill your true potential. Whether that means staying after class to go over something with the teacher or wake up early so you can work out before school, it is all your decision.
Life is a simple, blank sheet of paper. It's a simple thing that has the enormous potential to become complex and interesting. One can draw on a sheet of paper like a normal person would. Some can make beautiful pictures while others can do stick figures. Some can use it to take notes or create quizzes and tests. People can think outside the lines and use the paper to make airplanes or origami. People can practice at being the best they can be. Everything takes time when skills come into play. Practice can only make perfect if the practice is perfect. Doodling on the paper may be amusing, but it doesn't accomplish anything. To unlock true potential time has to be put in. Each paper that is written on is a phase of life or a period or phase one went through. When someone is tired of the phase, they crush it and start with a fresh drawing board. If someone likes the idea they are going for but the paper is smeared or the drawing isn't worth the time to erase, they can flip it over and keep going on to learn from their mistakes. Many people may have a drawing they are proud of so they get it framed, just like someone hangs a medal or sits a trophy or frames an award. It shows that there is pride in the accomplishment they have achieved. A paper has endless opportunities to be used like a human life so don't waste paper or a life because it may just have the next global changing idea.
It is used everyday by many in the world. It has different forms in each country or region. Many names are used to identify it. Some people may think it is an essential object to have and they must have it in abundance. Others may think it is important, but they can live with a small amount of it. It can be washed into the gutter or found ripped on the street. It can be treated with value and used responsibly, or it can be used carelessly and foolishly. What is the “it” in all of these circumstances one might ask? The “it” is money.
One might think it is a confusing thing to think about, but money is a lot like life in various ways. Money has varying currencies in different countries. It comes in different forms such as coins, checks, credit cards, or paper dollar bills. Everyone’s life is unique and everyone has different attributes. Money can be spent on various things, just as life can be spent doing different things and participating in various events. Money does not “grow on trees” even though many people treat it like it does. In life, opportunity doesn’t always knock on the door and there aren’t always second chances. Many people live life like thinking that they will always have a second chance. Usually, second chances are not plentiful in life.
Some people value money and spend it on things they need rather than what they want. This resembles people who cherish life and seize every moment. They live to the fullest and make sure that when they look back on their life, they will not regret anything. Money can also be used in a negative and careless way. This situation resembles people who take life for granted and may not appreciate what gifts God has given them. Money most importantly must be earned. Some people do inherit money or win a good amount in the lottery, but most people earn it by working. If one were to ask a wealthy person how they have so much money, he or she would most likely answer that it was earned from hard work, perseverance, and determination. To achieve success and be happy in life, one must work hard and diligently. Greatness is not given out freely to people in life. It is something that must be earned. God gives talents and skills to people that must be used to do good things in the world during our life. We can take advantage of these talents and make our life a great journey that is worthwhile. It all depends on how you spend it.
“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.” - Unknown
All my life I've lived with a family of sports lovers. I've grown up in an environment where Sundays have revolved around two aspects: church and football. Throughout the years I've come to realize that a game of football is a lot like a school. The students are the players. We define the game. Without the players, there's no game. There's the quarterback, the natural leader. He or she is the one whose every decision will, in one way or another, affect the success, or lack there of, of the team. The quarterback may be compared to the student council president, or the student council in general. Their decisions influence a lot of our days at school, whether it's spirit week, homecoming, or other student events. The rest of the student body is like the wide receiver or running back. The student council sets us up for success and then “passes us the ball,” but it takes everyone to either take it all the way for a touchdown or fall short. The referees are, naturally, our teachers. They call the shots. They establish what's fair and what needs to be punished. They decide whether or not we succeed, fail, or play the game the wrong way. We are essentially at their mercy. The fans are our parents. They've been cheering us on from day one, and they're probably the most loyal people we will ever meet in our lives. Whether we win or lose, they are the ones who will still be with us the next day. Their support will be with us until the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Finally, the opposing team is simply the difficulties every student faces in their every day lives. It could be anything from peer pressure to a subject in which they're struggling. It's anything that threatens to tackle us while we're running towards the end zone, or victory. In football, a team often takes some time to warm up, and in the end they're taking more risks, taking more desperate measures to ensure that they'll end up on top. In school, we may start slow, but by the end, we're giving every ounce of effort we have to be victorious.
Friends are like tissues.
Just like making new friends throughout our life is essential, a new box of tissues will forever be necessary.
Friends are there to help us clean up our problems, and tissues clear away all evidence of the mess.
Sometimes we need more than one, and if we're lucky the next one will be waiting in line.
Friends are there to support us through times of sadness as tissues are there to wipe away our tears.
Friends and tissues can either live up to our expectations or they could blow the deal.
If we're not careful, we might just reap the benefits and not truly appreciate either one.
Friends are there to lift us up when we are down, and tissues provide the same kind of relief.
New friendships and new tissues are crisp and unwrinkled. Over time, if held on to, both can become a little weathered.
Counting on a good friend is like counting on a good tissue, when we need it we can't do without it.
Both friends and tissues come in many varieties, and we all have our favorite kind.
Life is like an ever-changing piece of music. At first you must find out what chords you are going to use and the timing of the piece. This is a child taking his or her first steps, legs shaking, fingers grasped tightly around mom or dad’s hands. You must practice the piece, constantly, until the notes are embedded in your memory, and the nail polish has chipped off your fingers. As you grow older, you learn from your experiences and the people around you. Now you’ve hit a difficult portion of the music. This requires extra practice and focus and maybe the help of someone else. Sometimes you reach a rough patch in your life, maybe more than one. What is important is to not only have the strength to keep forging ahead, but to have the courage to ask for help. Do not keep everything bottled up inside. Rely on your family, the people who have been with you from the start and will never give up on you. Confide in your friends, who sometimes seem like the only ones who understand. The melody flows from your fingertips, and you settle into the rhythm of the piece. Make the most of everyday. Laugh a lot and don’t let troubles weigh you down. The music rises into a crescendo. Maybe you will fall in love and have a family of your own. Maybe your child will grasp your hands as they wobble on small feet. Then, maybe the music will stop abruptly. Sometimes our live are cut short and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Or maybe your melody will just slowly fade away. We can only hope that in the end, we made the most of the time we were given.
Before drawing a picture, a blank, intimidating, white page sits before an artist. While some people know exactly what to draw, others have no idea. As someone who loves art, I sometimes feel pressure to turn a blank piece of paper into a masterpiece. To me, this is similar to how young people can feel pressure to make their lives meaningful. They feel pressure to stay on the right track, to have a plan in life. In this way, life is like drawing a picture. People want to make their lives the best that they can so that they can look back and admire them when they are finished.
Our childhood can relate to our light sketches. Getting good grades and making good decisions will lay a foundation from which we can build, just as good sketches can be guides from which we can make darker, permanent lines. Those lines are then refined by shading parts darker and erasing the stray lines that we do not want. In life, the good sketches are similar to our positive experiences and successes. We build from those experiences, just as we attempt not to repeat our mistakes in order to become better people. Interestingly, we are reminded in life to “see the big picture.” To me, this means that we need to make good decisions to become the people that we want to be.
People make mistakes, in a picture and in life. Some mistakes are relatively small and insignificant. We can take our erasers and erase those small mistakes, leaving barely a mark at all, and know not to make that same mark again. Some mistakes are bigger. No matter how much we try to erase our mistakes, a mark is left on the paper that will never go away. In life, just as in art, we have to work around these mistakes to make our lives better.
In a picture, some parts are easier to draw than others. Some things come naturally, while other parts are difficult to create. We cannot avoid these more difficult parts, and it is important to handle them with care instead of rushing through them and making mistakes that we might not be able to fix. Even if these parts are not drawn exactly right, we can still be proud of ourselves for the effort of trying. In life, there will be challenges that we will want to avoid. However, when we deal with these challenges, we feel a greater sense of accomplishment.
When drawing a picture, we may make changes to our original plans. Sometimes we see the direction we are going and we decide that we do not like it. We may even think of a better idea. In life, sometimes we think that we have a clear direction, but then we change our minds. Making revisions can help us realize what will make us happier.
An artist may try to imitate another artist’s work, just as a person may try to live their life patterned after the life of another person. Despite these efforts, no two people’s drawings will look exactly the same. We may try to imitate the lives of other people, but no two people can have the exact same life. Everyone’s drawing style and lives are unique, and people should be proud of that individuality.
When we draw and when we go through life, there is a common goal: to have something to admire when we are finished. When we look back on our lives as adults, we want to look back with pride and admire our accomplishments. When we finish a picture, we want to be able to look at the picture and be proud of what we created from a blank piece of paper. We want to be able to feel fondness and satisfaction toward the life, or the picture, that we have created.
It is the night before your first day of school. You have picked out the perfect outfit that you may have spent many nights worrying about. Even after going to the mall four times in the past week, you are still not sure that it is quite right. Picking out an outfit is like choosing your friends. You start with the basics; classic jeans, a cute shirt and a matching cardigan. You build on it, adding accessories - not too over the top, just a little something to pull the outfit together, just like adding a new friend enriches your life. Your best friends are your essential pieces of clothing, what you need to make the outfit. Your good friends are the accessories that enhance your style. You cannot walk around without a shirt or pants, just like you can’t go through life without a best friend.
You have your outfit laid on your bed. Something is still missing. You go to your jewelry box to pick out your favorite accessories that will really bring out the small details in your shirt. This is like your group of good friends; they are always there when you need help. This is the group that you have met from various events, school, sports, church, and even parties. Just like accessories for an outfit that you find in all different types of stores, this group can really bring out that spontaneous person inside of you that not many people know is there. You may not depend on them 100% of the time, but you still need them, just like you need that belt that ties the whole outfit together. Your good friends bring together your group.
Your friends say something about who you are and how you choose them does, just like your clothing does. If you find yourself going to classic stores such as J. Crew, Ann Taylor Loft, and White House Black Market, than you don’t always associate yourself with those who shop at trendy stores such as Hot Topic and Tilly’s. If you are constantly ordering from style-conscious Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters, then you usually aren’t seen hanging out with kids decked out in Nike and Under Armour. You tend to spend your time with the kids that you will find in the same stores you are in, trying on the same skirt and picking out the same shoes. These are the friends that are your perfect fit and you will never outgrow them.
You rely on your friends more than you think you do, just like relying on your favorite jeans to hold up after putting on a few pounds. Friends are just as important to us as clothes are, for some of the same reasons. Even as you change, you want your friends to still fit. You rely on your clothes to basically cover you. You also rely on your friends to cover for you if your cell phone goes off in math class, or if you make a mistake and your friends will try to change the subject to keep from embarrassing you.
For some of us, we rely on clothes to give us confidence. Our friends are our confidence boosters. They pick us up when we are down, as can buying a new bow that will match your outfit for the party this weekend. Your friends will be there to tell you the truth about everything, even that the dress you really love doesn’t look as good on you as you thought it did. One difference is this: we can change outfits as many times as we please, but changing friendships isn’t always that easy. People can come and go just like the sales at Nordstrom’s. Changing our clothes though, is a whole lot different than changing our style. Our style is our friendships, and best friends, like clothes, will be with us forever.
Intermission is almost over. The instruments are set up. The musicians are in their proper places. The lights start to turn toward the stage. The curtains open. A single note cuts through the air like a knife starting off the act of the band in the show. Which person is the most important who helped make this happen? Usually most people give credit to the musicians on stage at that very second. No one usually thinks of the people that helped them transport their equipment or even just the people who were there to support them. Many people helped accomplish this performance. Everyone who helped worked very hard to make all of that happen. It’s just like in life. You cannot simply just take the easy way out. It all has to be completed to the best of your ability. Everyone on that stage is giving their all. You should as well. Give your all and share what you can with the world. Share your gifts and talents with all human beings you can. It will come back to you in better ways than you think. Will you be the next to perform?
Sometimes, exploring experiences is like driving through a jungle. You have to check the tires, check the spares, gather necessary supplies, eliminating superfluous items, and figuring out the cost. Once you get ready, the path ahead of you shines brightly, and it seems exciting. But of course, once you get rolling, problems arise, Oh no! It would appear that a large river blocks your path. You have to travel along to find the right bridge. It would also help to bring a native guide to help you find your way through this. Once the first problem is solved, you can now enjoy the scenery. You can exit the vehicle to take a closer look at things. You take out your camera to take wonderful pictures of the colorful fauna and scenery. Picnics are to be had. You ask your guide what foods to pick from the jungle. Perhaps you will sample some exotic fruits of maybe catch an exotic animal to eat. After all, food is part of the experience. Once you keep driving, more problems will appear. The rough terrain starts to take its toll. The tire had blown. No problem, you brought a spare, so after a fix you’re on your way again. Driving to your destination more problems may arise, such as low fuel, overheated engine, or if you’re really unlike, a busted axel. In that case you have a major problem and you need to call for help. If you don’t run into any problems, you can exit on time. You will be glad that the pleasant ordeal has ended, but you may want to do it again, or you will put it into your memory banks and never return.
It all begins with the mechanics grip, and then, a spread of the cards. The spectator picks “their card,” and the magician tells them to put it back on top of the deck, but, Oh no! The spectator puts the card in the middle of the deck. “Okay,” the magician tells himself, “no big deal.” He catches a pinky break, cuts to their card, completes some false shuffles, and finishes off with the complicated yet elegant Sybil Cut. The magician has just taken a ruined card trick and set it up to be a successful one. The deck is now set. With a simple flick of the wrist and finger, the spectator’s card flies out of the deck and lands face up on the table, with the magician finishing his trick with the famous words, “Is this you card?”
Our very life is like a card trick, the deck of cards representing life itself. In most situations, we are the magician. We are in control of our life, and we are able to deal with whatever life throws at us. We know how to deal with stress and obstacles, just as a magician knows how to deal with a spectator’s misplacing of a card. We find ways around these hardships and find a way to make things work. However, we are not always the magician. Sometimes, we find ourselves in the helpless role of the spectator. There are times in life when we as humans think we know exactly what is going on and we believe we know what the future holds in store for us. Then, low and behold, life takes an unexpected turn, and we are left with a totally unpredicted result, just as the trick’s spectator is left with a result that seems impossible: the correct prediction of what their card was. We are also the spectator in the fact that we sometimes lose sight of what’s important, just as the spectator loses sight of his/her card during the magician’s shuffling and cutting. Some card historians speculate that the deck of cards was created to mimic life. Think about it. There are fifty-two cards in a deck, just like there are fifty-two weeks in a year. There are four suits for the four seasons. Three hundred and sixty-five pips for the three hundred and sixty-five days in a year. The court cards for the upper class, and the numbers for the middle and lower, and of course, red for good and black for evil. Some even suggest that every person has their own special card that is unique to them, so, I ask you not “Is this your card,” but instead, I ask you “What is the card that represents your life?”
A trail in the mountains of a national park extends in front of you. What wonders or dangers wait ahead? Depending on which trail you chose in the national park that you were visiting, you could be facing a paved, rugged, flat, steep, short, or long path ahead of you. The sign at the trailhead gives you a brief description of the trail and some safety guidelines that seem fine enough for you to follow. As you walk through your desired trail, you see nothing but the woods ahead of you. Colored marks on rocks and trees guide you through the seemingly endless path and make sure that you do not get lost. At around the halfway point of your hike, the trees start to clear a little, and you can just spot your goal, the peak, in the distance. However, the path becomes more dangerous. You could easily trip and fall off a steep drop-off to your death, and the temptation to turn back gets stronger. After facing all of these challenges, you eventually arrive at the top of the mountain, where you are rewarded with a wonderful view and the satisfaction of completing the hike.
The trail and how it is made represents the path to making your dreams come true that you might want to follow and how difficult that path to success would be. The beginning of the trail refers to the way that our goals can be far away and almost out of sight. The colored marks represent teachers and other helpers who guide you to achieve your dream. At the halfway point, your dream becomes more visible. The dangers in the path are the impediments and challenges that try to block or scare you from proceeding with your goal. Finally, the top of the mountain represents the time when you achieve your goal, which is hopefully the point that everyone will arrive at.
My Life is like Golf.
I think of the hole as any goal in my life. If it is an especially difficult goal to accomplish it may be a par 5. If it is something easier it might be a par 3. However, no matter how easy the goal may seem, you just about always need to make more than 1 shot (choice, decision, action) to get there. You must strategize and make one smart, well-executed move after another.
Second, I must be well-prepared before I can accomplish anything in life. I must put myself in a position to be successful. This is a lot like choosing the club you will use in golf. If you need to hit a far shot you might use a 3-iron, if you are very close to the whole you may need to use a putter, and if you’re in an especially tough situation, you may need your wedge. However, no matter what life throws at me, I know God has given me the tools to do the job. I think of my talents and qualities like my clubs.
Third, I slip up often. I hit the ball into the rough, the pond, the forest. I don’t always make the best choice. I don’t always hit a great shot on to the fairway. Sometimes my slip-ups are worse than others. I could be just on the edge of the rough, or I could be taking a penalty for hitting the ball into the water. For an action I could face little consequences, or I could be punished severely. However, I must face my bad decision head-on. I don’t get a redo. I must take my situation and make the best of it.
Fourth, I need help. This is very important in my life. I can’t do it all by myself. I would be lost without my very close friends. Similar to how a golfer would be lost without his caddy. I need someone to carry my clubs every once in a while. I need someone to help me with everything that is going on in my life. I need someone that I might be able to turn to for help, so that I might be able to focus on a specific problem for a given amount of time.
Last, but not least, no matter how many wrong decisions I make, I can always complete the hole. Even though I might have got caught in a few roughs and it might have taken me a lot longer than planned, I still accomplished my goal in the end. Even if I score a 7 on a par 3, I still got the ball in the whole. I still did what I set out to do, and in my life, that all that matters. My life revolves around being successful. Success is my goal in life, and it is a goal that I know I will accomplish, no matter how many puts it takes.
It’s you and your ten other brothers all crowded into a tight huddle. Whether you are a 275lb lineman or 140lb receiver, all eleven of you have one thing in common: the desire to win and to dominate the guy lined up in front of you; to make the man at your side know that you are here and ready to give everything you have got for him, the coaches, the entire team, and the entire school. The quarterback hustles into the huddle, crouches down and says something that only you and your team could understand, “Slot left Lincoln easy on Monday, Lincoln easy on Monday, ready?” “BREAK!” bellow the other ten men in the huddle. Everyone immediately runs to where they are supposed to be and all eleven men know exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. All eleven of them can hear coach’s words ringing in their ears, “DO YOUR JOB!” The left tackle staring at the ground thinking of angles and timings; the slot receiver observing the tilt of the corner in front of him; the quarterback looking for blitzes and checking for an audible; the tailback visualizing every little move he’s going to make to fight for that extra inch. Everyone is focused and confident in their abilities and then they hear it. “DOWN!” shouts the quarterback. The six hogs up front assume their three point stances and everyone is ready. “GREEN 18! SET!” the quarterback shouts again. All eleven of their minds go clear and only those three words remain: “Do Your Job!” The six linemen are ready to explode out. The running back is ready to run as if it were the last play of his life. The receivers are ready to make a dynamic block. Then the quarterback says it, “HUT!”
Football and, I’m sure, all sports are just like living out your life. Everything matters. Whether it’s one inch or one second or one step, it all matters. Sometimes you will not succeed and it will be someone else’s fault. Sometimes luck can make or break your hopes and dreams. Maybe you’re a tenth of a second off but that one tenth a second can make all the difference. All though a football game me be much more intense and a lot shorter they are easily comparable. Effort and trust is everything. If you do not give everything you have got in life or a football game you are almost always guaranteed to fail. If you cannot count on your parents to teach you how to read or you cannot trust your teammate to make a block then you will not have success. This is how life and football are similar.
Friends are like clouds. Sometimes they’re there for you, or if something hard comes along like wind, they could go with the crowd and leave. Everyone knows that person who will change who they are depending on who they are surrounded by. Clouds do the same kind of thing in that wherever the wind blows them is where they go. If these kinds of people are under the influence of “wind,” or peer pressure, they would just go with it. These friends can be “blown away” when something better comes along and may never return. When things are going well, they might let the sun shine through them. On the other hand, if things aren’t going so well, they might block the sun with their dark anger. When they’re upset, they might come to you to rain down their tears. You could be the kind that doesn’t separate from ones you’ve been with since the beginning, or the one that goes back and forth.
Cross country is comparable to high school. The gun sounds. Your heart is racing. The nerves you had before the race have left your body. Your focus is now on finishing. High school was nerve-wracking in the beginning of freshman year. As the year progressed, the nerves diminished just like they do in races. Cross country is an individual sport, but the team aspect is comforting especially during races. You push each other so that not only the team will improve, but so that the individual will also improve. Friendships in high school are comforting as well, but for the most part, you must individually have the desire to succeed. There is always a part during the race where you metaphorically “hit the wall.” You think to yourself, “Why do I do this to myself? Why do I put myself through this pain? What do I get out of it?” You want to stop, but you keep persevering to get that personal best that you are aiming to get. In high school, there are parts throughout the year where it can be overwhelming or tiresome, but you complete everything because you know it will help you in the long run. In races, your rank is what everyone judges. Not much is different in school due to class ranking. You want to stay in the elite group; No one will pass you. You have worked too hard to give up now. The home stretch is in sight; senior year is culminating. You begin to work harder than you ever have to finish what you have started. You cross the finish line; you have graduated high school. Those questions of why you put yourself through the pain are answered with the accomplished feeling that fills your body. Now it is time to look forward to the next race, or in the other case, college.
1. It is hard to believe that these beautiful fish came from that murky water.
2. In The Little Mermaid, Ariel is the protagonist and Ursula is the nefarious villain.
3. Thomas Paine’s pamphlets were piquant and helped to spark the American Revolution.
4. The Prologue of the gospel of John begins the earliest of all the gospels, with a primordial earth
5. The propinquity of the girls’ houses made them closer friends because it was very convenient for them to be walking distance apart.
6. The popular, athletic boy showed an unwonted interest in acting when he unexpectedly tried out for the play.
7. Since the woman did not pay attention to the news or any currents events happening, she had a utopian view of the world.
8. When proof-reading my essays, I try to remove all verbiage to make my writing more concise.
9. Once our tomato plant blossomed, it seemed like it took forever for the verdant tomatoes to turn red.
10. New nail polish goes on very easily and does not become viscous like old nail polish does.
Your team is down by one, you step in the batter’s box, last inning, last out, last chance. You have two options: get a hit and win the game or get out and lose the game. It is your chance to shine with the game in your hands. You have spent so much time and effort to get to this point.
There are countless ways that being a student can relate to being a baseball player. Both of these require a lot of dedication. In school, you need to be dedicated to your studies and spend time LEARNING your material and just going through the motions so that you can succeed. It is the same in baseball, if you are not dedicated, you won’t work hard, making it impossible for you to prosper. Being a baseball player like being a student requires you to take steps to prepare both mentally and physically. As a student you must study before a big test so that you can get an A. In baseball, you need to practice or you will not get better. You need to do long toss so you can throw harder, hit off the tee to hit better, and you need to run so you can get faster. Students and baseball players are very similar in that they need to push themselves. It is after school and you just got home from your job, it is late, and you are tired or you could be getting killed by the other team. You could easily say you are too tired to do homework or say throw in the towel and give up. But you cannot because you have to keep going because if you do not the only person you are failing is YOURSELF. You have a CHOICE to give up or not to give up, to succeed or fail. We have all had a time when we do not do as well as we think we should. It may be getting a bad grade on a test you thought you aced or not getting a hit for a few games. No matter what, student or baseball player, you must accept failure and learn from it. If you truly want to do well in baseball you must make sacrifices, like losing some sleep or not going to a party. This is the same for students. You must sacrifice time, sleep, parties, and even friends if you want to do want you want to do: SUCCEED.
If you are a good student or a good baseball player your only goal is to succeed, and you will not settle for anything less. You work so hard if you want to fulfill your true potential. Whether that means staying after class to go over something with the teacher or wake up early so you can work out before school, it is all your decision.
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