A Long Way Gone

Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.

Current Events

As every minute passes a new moment is documented, and posted online.  Yet today I saw an event thatcaught my eye.  Well I was on CNN.com I saw an article called "Baseball final forfeited because of girl at second Base."  This intruiged me, as the society we live in today is very accepting.
The story highlighted how Paige Shultzbach, is good enough to play with the boys, since he school no longer has softball.

It also talks about how the team was undefeated and about to play their championship game, against another Catholic schoool whom they had played twice before during that season.
Paige had sat out those games in respect to that school, especially since it was on their home turf.  Yet when it came to the Championship game on a nuetral field, Paige wanted to play, which is understandable.
The opposing school saw Paige, and decided immediately they would not play against a girl, it was against their ideals of seperating boys ang girls, especaillyin sports, therefore Paige's team won.

I have two questions from this story.
1.) In this day and age, isn't this considered sexist?
2.) If the teams had played together before wouldn't they have noticed Paige in uniform on the bench and been curious, wouldn't someone on the team have noticed her, and how did the students feel about it?

And here's a discussion question for fun:
How would you feel if you were in Paige's shoes, what would you have done?

Google

In the game of Monopoly when I recieve a "Get out of jail freen card" I tend to save them.  I like to think there will always be a moment that is more necessary than the current one.  Then in some games I never even end up using the card, or I end up selling it for some extra cash, in hopes of winning the game.  The latest question I was asked brought up the same type of reaction, " If I could "Google" any question in in the world and get the answer, what question would you ask and why?"

My years of knowledge are limited, and I'm unsure of my futures goals.  The vast questions that Google can already answer are overwhelming.  Which makes me wonder what a truely brilliant question to ask would be.  This seems like one of the times where you would want to ponder the questions for days, maybe even wait until an unexplained moment occures or even sell it, and make millions.  Yet, if I were to pick, I might want to pick an unexplained occurance that has happened in  the world. A moment that google couldn't already explain. Or maybe I'd pick somethingand figure out how to cure cancer, or aids or maybe even how to get world peace.  The possibilities are endless.  I could also be greedy and ask a question that only pertaines to me, for instance, what does my future look like?  What is the best way for me to get famous? What is the answers to the ACT?  The possibilities are unlimited, yet only one question can be asked. So which to pick.. The answer is, unknown. At this point in my life, I don't know which route to go, what question to ask.  Any of these questions would change the person I am, define me in a different way.  That's not what I want, I want to survive off of who I am today, and what I have accomplished by myself.  This is a Monopoly moment, where I will wait for the necessary moment.  Maybe later on I would sell or maybe I'll never use it, who knows.  Whatever my decision is, to me it will be right.

America's Beauty....

America's beauty is different for each person, and can be determined by how each person interprets it.  I am inspired by a beuatiful place that can only be found in America.  Door County, Wisconsin.  This can be found on a map, off the shores of Lake Michigan. 
                                                    
Door County is a place special to my heart, its holds several memories with myfamily, and my cousins.  The condos we stay at is known as Glidden Lodge, a rustic yet temporary, simple cozy space.  Tenniscourts, bike trails and a pool can be found.  As well as the gorgeous Lake Michigna, on a clear day the Lake is almost clear and you can find the sand bars, the spots out in the lake where it's surprisingly shallow. These were the destinations my cousins and I made.  Now I was probably about seven years old, and it was the first time I had ever been to Glidden Lodge.  We had just unpacked and from our patio you could see the lake not even a hundred yards away, it was the most spectualr site ever.  My sister, cousin and I knew instantly what we were going to do, go swim. We change as quick as we could and ran our litte bodies downto the beach, we hadn't brought towels or even considered the consequences yet, we justwanted to get into the clear water.  We ran in and the water was soon up to my hips.  Only then did we realize what we did.  Lake Michigan felt like a plunge into Artic water, we had never felt anything so cold.  We instantly ran out, that's when we realized we didn't have towels.  We were shivering and knew we need to get warm, my sisters lips were a slight shade of purple.  That's when we noticed our parents wathcing us, and laughing.  Although within a second our mothers disappeared and reappeared with towels.  Together we raced our little bodies up the trail and ran for them each grabbing a plushie, thick, warm towel to wrap up in until our bodies returned to the natural body temperature.  Still to this day, when I look out at the lake I think back to that day, I also think how majestic the lake still looks a decade later.
   

    

The Poem In My Pocket

What hope means

Hope is bright shining light which keeps darkness at the bay
Hope is gentle cold breeze on a hot summer day

Hope is to remain positive when going gets tough
hope is seeking more when others think u had enough

What hope means

Hope is dreaming of tommorow
Hope is simmering under sorrow

Hope is sparkles when tears in our eyes
Hope is a beautiful thing & beutiful things never dies

What hope means

Hope is as light as a feather
Hope keeps all of us together

Hope is ubiquitous and free of cost
Hope is the last thing ever lost.....

Vineet Bansal

Injustice

Many times in a single day we experience injustice. Although, many of us don't view it as injustice. It can be from a single comment you overhear, to judging someone based on the color of their skin. Racist, and sexist comments are part of injustice in this world. Moments that aren't fair to evreyone, that's injustice. Excluding someone, ignoring someone, bullying someone, these are all forms of injustice. Acts of injustice are truely in the eyes of the beholder. The world we live in is very unfair, and I have seen acts of injustice, several actually. Although many times, I don't think realize it's injustice.

Plus, standing up for injustice is hard. A couple times I have stood up for injustice, although those times were typically cases of bullying or comments I didn't like.  Nothing too extravagent.  One major injustice I do stand for, or would if I got the chance is animal cruelity.  Animal cruelty a vulger act, taht should never have existed.  The stories are sickening and the animals are helpless, they couldn't protect themselves at all.  I have been fortunate and never seen true animal cruelity, therfore I've never showed my beliefs about it.  Yet, if I recieved the chance, animal cruelty is one injustice I will always stand against.

The Necessary Words of Life

Life...

ImageChef.com Poetry Blender

Words to Survive by

The Best Advice Ever

Now, there are countless pieces of information I have been told over the years that are fantastic.  Yet, only one piece of advice has truely remained in my mind, its from my Uncle Randy.  "Don't worry if you screw up, your a Welser, its what we do.  Plus we've all screwed up so much, we won't ever know if you screw up.  So go for your dreams."  Now, I know it's a common thing to hear, don't worry, go for your dreams, yet this time for me it wasn't just about the saying, it was also about the speaker.  My uncle is never a serious person, he's the kind of guy who does the things we all see on T.V. the things that say, Do not try at home.  When he said this, I could tell he was serious, and I was having a bad day and questioning some choices I had to make. He assured me no matter what, my family will always be there.  And to me, family comes first. That day I decided that as long as I'm happy people's opinions don't matter to me.  Now, to an extent people do matter, but I realized I can't please everyone, there's alwasy going to be at least one person who disagrees. 

Now, I've actually had the pleasure of meeting one of these people, and I could tell she wasn't truely happy because she spent all of her time worrying about others and their actions.  Even though she says she is happy, you can tell she's not happy at all.  She never really went for her dreams, and worried too much about screwing up.  She doesn't know that her family will be with her, standing behind her the entire time either, and she lives in a world of fear.  I know I will mess up at times, and I'm prepared for it, or at least as much as you can be prepared, and because of it, I don't live in a world of fear, I live in a world of my dreams. 

The Life of Zen

Recently, I have had the fortunate discovery of stumbling across the Dalai Lama's A to Zen of Life list.  Now for those of you who have never actually seen this list, it's a simple list that starts with A and ends with Z.  For each letter the Dalai Lama has created a different phrase or saying to follow, to create a more positive life for oneself.  The Dalai Lama is an inspiring person, who strives to make our life better and help to create a happy environment for all to enjoy.

One this list, there are many statements I could say relate to me, and even more I could say that I need to work towards.   Currently, I could use more help in the Zen area of my life and I would like to pursue more of his sayings.  However, there were two statements that especially stood out to me.  The first was letter B- Believe in yourself.  And, the second, I- If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.  Both of these were truely inspiring and something I would like to keep with me for the rest of my life. 

Believe in yourself- This is a simple principle, yet it is truely powerful.  If you don't believe in yourself, why should anyone else?  This statement means a lot to me, because life is going to throw me down.  Yet, the only thing I can do, is get back up and prepare myself for the next time it domes around.  The only way I can accomplish this is if i do believe in myself.  Otherwise I'd still be on that ground, trying to avoid life.  Everyday we face struggles, some more than others, we have to fight for what we want and stay strong.  The best way is to believe in yourself, so that way if your on your own, at least you know you have got yourself.  And thats what I tell myself everyday, that I'm the one who's going to be standing at the end of the day, not flat on my back, because I believe in myself, enough to stand up and take on life.

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door- I have never heard this saying before, until I read this poster, yet I beleieve this is mandatory for life.  In life we all have to take chances and this is one way to do it.  Every opportunity you will get is not going to be held out to you on a silver platter.  Your going to have to fight, and put yourself out there to get what you what.  People are aggressive, and you can't be the one sitting on the sidelines, you have to put yourself out there, and build that door.  That door leads to your future, and it's not there on its own.  When I hear an opportunity I like, I go for, head first.  I try to take out my competition and prove that I'm the best option, and sometimes I get the door slammed in my face.  That's when I get my self a new door and find a better choice for my life.

My Hero

Recently, I was asked the question "If you could travel through time and talk with a prominent figure in art, politics, religion, or science, whom would you choose?" After a large amount of time spent contemplating this question I found my anwser, Elvis Presley.

Now, you may be wondering why Elvis?  Yet the answer is simple, this man is an international legend, one whose music is still successful today.  A man who never gave up on his dreams, no matter how ludicrous they seemed.  His sound and style combined diverse music influences from his youth years and changelled both social and racial barries from his time.  He was the beginning of a new era, one that held American music and pop culture.  He was a star, an actor, a solo artist, a symbol of rebellion, a record-breaks, grammy-winning, a noble armyman, and an American hero.  He stood up for what he thought was right, even as many criticized him, and helped to share his gift with the world.  In the end he sold over one billion records globally, the most from any artist yet.  Yet, why would I want to meet with him?  Well, for starters, I want to ask him several questions from "What made you do it?" to "How did your first performance feel?"  I would love to hear it from a personal view and how he overcame any fears and stood up for his style and music.  Plus, I'd love the chance to be able to sing with him, and maybe gets some tips in case I ever wanted to get into that job field.  Elvis Presley, the man that did it all, that's who I would meet.