Teenage rebellion is obviously unavoidable. During our young ages, our parents teach us somethings that they want us to do. But as we get older those view can change or be the same. For example, if you are raised in a christian family, you would obviously get teaching about Jesus when you are young. But later in teenage years, you feel like religion isn’t important so you become a atheist. These type of scenarios are very common because I believe that teenage rebellion exist in every family.

In my personal life, I also rebelled against my parents. They believed that Buddhism is the answer to every single question. It helps you focus on test, exams, and work. It doesn’t make you stress out and do something stupid. This is what my parents taught me about Buddhism. In my opinion, I believe that Buddhism isn’t just the answer. I believe that God also play a major role in our lives too. My parent see Christians as weak minded and they don’t know how to deal with their own problems. They would just go pray and ask God for help instead of dealing it with yourself. I don’t agree with this statement that my parents are claiming because there are some dreadful problems in life that can be deal alone. Some problems but not all can be deal with alone. So in those other problems that cannot be deal with, God can help us and find us the way out of it.

To love is it just an experience?

Or is it just our senses?

Love is what we hear, taste, smell, feel, and see

We hear our own heart beating heavily

Taste becomes more edible

Anything you touch becomes more relaxing

Your world becomes more shiny and beautiful

Yes! it is also our sense and experiences

This poem is responding to the poem called Mathnawi III, 1417-1424. In Mathnawi III, 1417-1424, it’s trying to communicate to us that love is just our experience but I don’t agree with it. Being in love changes your perspective in my opinion. Love can’t be just our experiences but it also has to be our own senses too. Love can make you feel differently from right now. I wrote this poem because some people think love is a experience in life that just only make us do things differently. Like how in the poem Mathnawi III, 1417-1424 said that there will be no secrets, love isn’t just only that. Love could be a new life our a new cooked fish we tasted for the first time. It changes our view on the world including our 5 senses.

Love has nothing to do with

the five senses and the six directions:

its goal is only to experience

the attraction exerted by the Beloved.

Afterwards, perhaps, permission

will come from God:

the secrets that ought to be told with be told

with an eloquence nearer to the understanding

that these subtle confusing allusions.

The secret is partner with none

but the knower of the secret:

in the skeptic’s ear

the secret is no secret at all.

The theme of this poem is about love. Love is a relationship between two person that has no secret between them. In this poem, it’s telling us that love isn’t about the five senses. It’s about the experience of you and your beloved one instead. Then the poem is telling us that there will be no secret between two lovers. The secrets must be told to each other. The secret is no secret at all means that both lovers must be open about their secret and tell the secrets to the person they love. So in the end it won’t be called a secret anymore. So I think that this poem is trying to communicate to us that to experience a love relationship, we would have to be free from all secrets.

People believe in what they experience. This thing is common for anybody but there are things that can influence how they see things. Culture is one of the factor that may affect how you see things. And the other thing is universal moral view, sharing of everyone. There are some point in time that people can see other culture as immoral. In my opinion it is wrong to say any culture way as immoral. You might think it’s wrong but it’s right for them. Just like in Mr. Mark’s example of living in Tonga. It might seem as immoral at first, the hierarchy, but as time passed the environment will eventually make you to be used to it. So it’s wrong to think that other culture way is immoral because every culture is different and not the same so it’s not fair to judge others.

In other words I experience cross cultural things that made me think that culture may not be universal. For example in Chinese tradition, you need to respect your upper class men. But throughout my high school career I saw some lower class men respected some upperclassmen but some I just treated as their own friends. So in reality I question that my own culture might not be so universal because in this school, underclass men would also disrespect upper class men.

Human rights is the right that is believe to be for every single person on this world. There are many human rights but I think the most important of all is women’s right. In history, women have seen as a lower tier to man. And it’s wrong. Women aren’t much as different from man except for their biological characteristics. So we shouldn’t discriminate women. One of the human rights that is hard to ensure is slavery. In the past slavery is seen as a normal thing that every healthy person should have. But we might have thought that slavery has been disappear now but in reality, slavery is more than ever. The rate of slavery is more than in the past. In my own experience , one of my language art teacher told me about why she didn’t buy the chocolate brand Hershey. She explained to me that she doesn’t want to buy it because they were using slaves to make the product. It was confusing at first because I thought slavery wasn’t a thing anymore but now I understand because slavery is increasing more than ever.

In my opinion I think human rights should be considered constantly changing and society should agree from. This is my personal idea and I think it’s good because society can all agree on one thing so there wouldn’t be any problem for anyone else. Human rights can be sometimes to vague or wrong so it should be constantly changing. Nothing in this world is perfect so the rights should be kept on changing to get what’s actually right.

Moonlight days

The wind blew calmly

As the moon shines in the sky

Glimmering coldly

CHISATO ŌYE

ŌYE NO CHISATO

THIS night the cheerless autumn moon
  Doth all my mind enthrall;
But others also have their griefs,
  For autumn on us all
  Hath cast her gloomy pall.

This poem was written by Chisato Oye and he lived during the end of the 9th century. This poem is an example of a Tanka, which is a short song that usually talks about a emotional response to a personal thing. In this poem Chisato Oye talks about the season Autumn. In this particular season cast a gloomy cloud over people making them depressed. The theme of this poem is the sad season that is occurring and the tone of this poem is sadness.

Some cultural values that is being communicated in this Tanka is the depressed atmosphere during the cold seasons. This is not just East Asian cultural thing but mostly the north region of the world. Most region there has some very cold times that causes depression. Sometimes the weather can affect our mood like what this poem is communicating to us.

” Started from the bottom now we’re here”– Drake

This year is a special year. I can’t believe that I would make it here this fast. ICS has been home for me for 14 years already. I couldn’t make here without my friends that stayed by my side for more than a decade. 2 years ago I looked up to my sister when she was getting her diploma. “Wow!” I said to myself as she walk passed with lights shining on to her as if she was walking to heaven. I have made it to this situation and it’s a big milestone for my life.

In my last year at ICS, I’m excited for everything. The Carnival where all the seniors will bond and work hard for. The senior trip where we will shed our tears and step out of our comfort zone. And my last basketball trip where I hope to make the best out of it. Well these are the things that I mostly excited about but it’s also sad because it’ll be the last.

Even though this is my last year, I still have some goals that I haven’t accomplish yet in my 14 years in ICS. The first goal that I hope to accomplish is to win more games in my last basketball season. This goal is almost for everyone on the team but this goal is more special to me because its my last year. The other goal that I want to accomplish is to talk to every senior. I basically know everyone because of my 14 years here so I hope that I can catch up with everyone before we don’t see each other again. Friends have been a huge factor of why I love ICS. My friends always say that I can go along with almost every Senior, and I agree. I want to cherish and spend memories with every senior until our time here ends.

Everyone wants to defined there senior year as a happy ending to their high school years. But I want to define my senior year as a last chance. A last chance to accomplish what you want before it end. And a last chance to bond before we take our separate paths. In my 14 years here I did everything that I can possibly do. But there are some risk that I haven’t taken yet so I want to do it.

It’s our last chance before we transcend to another level and take different paths for the first time in our lives.