Unsung Heroes

The term “hero” refers to a character who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, displays courage and the will for self sacrifice for some greater good of all humanity. However, when general people think of heroes, they probably think of super-humans that have extraordinary talents and gifts. They might think of people that can lift super heavy buildings, can fly, or people that have saved the world from flaming asteroids that are hurling towards earth at thousands of miles an hour. But very, very seldom is that the case. Heroes are everywhere, all around us. In fact, they are just like us: they are people.

For most of us, it’s hard to imagine being raised in a family in which you have 26 brothers and sisters. It’s even harder to imagine being the parent of 27 children, especially when 23 of them have special needs. I think it would be an honor to be in that situation, though an extremely hard one. The Murphys felt that they weren’t doing enough for the special needs kids around the world that didn’t have families, so to help fix this problem, they decided to start adopting. This family is a hero to so many different children. They have offered a loving, caring, and safe environment for these kids to be raised in, a thing that most of these children would have never experienced otherwise. People like these are the true unsung heroes of the world in my opinion. We should never take for granted the situations we are usually in and the families we have, and we should always remember the families and people that sacrifice so much in order to help even more.

Lasting Words

I have asked you all here today to honor the final requests of my dear friend and client, Doctor John M. Watkins. He asked me to share this letter with you which has also been duly notarized as being his final will and testament. Before I begin, I would like to again offer my deep condolences to you, Isabel, and your family. John was a great friend, not only to me, but to everyone who had the great pleasure of crossing his path. Having shared my piece, shall we begin?”

　
“ I am fully aware that if y’all are hearing this, I’ve passed on to meet my maker, The Great Physician. Though I am absent from you in body, I am with you in spirit for all eternity. I wish you not to cry or mourn over my passing, for I have merely gone home. I have never doubted that you love me dearly, and that that love is now being reflected in grief and sorrow, but know this; Life will go on and you will laugh again. In my many years working with patients, I’ve found that the human spirit is resilient and stronger than the worst pain, sorrow, or heartache.

Roy, you rascal, who would have ever thought that two rowdy boys like us would have ever become the sheriff and a doctor. Certainly not our parents! Remember the time we snuck out and went coon huntin’ all night? You thought that since you were older that you had all the answers but you sure didn’t have much to say when Pa caught us trying to sneak back in to the house early the next morning. It was a long time before Pa finally let us have our guns back ,but I must have learned my lesson. I never tried to sneak out again; I kept up with that gun all these years. I’m leaving you that gun and I pray that your kids are more responsible than we were at their age. But thank you for everything. For loving me even though I was a constant pest, for teaching me everything a big brother should, and for making our relationship one that has continued to grow and remains one of friendship.

And now Rosie, my precious daughter.. You are so young, you may never remember me, but know that your daddy loved you more than the world. I can remember the first time I held you in my arms, just a bundle of pink blankets like a new spring flower.  You were so little, way smaller than your brothers were, and I never forgot that face of yours when it looked up into mine with eyes that shined like the stars at night. I’ve never admitted this, but from the first time I saw you, you’ve had me wrapped around your little finger. With a flash of your beautiful smile, I’ve always cracked and forgotten what I told you not to do in the first place. I want to leave you my rocking chair in the hope that you will always remain as sweet and innocent as you are now. I want you to, even if you cant remember my face, think of me and what we would have had. Know that I stayed up countless nights rocking you to sleep, almost not wanting you to because that would ruin my excuse to hold you a few minutes longer. My wishes for your life is that you always love your family unconditionally, you remain happy and hopeful, and that you marry for love, not for money. To help you with this, I’ve also left you the cabin and the stretch of land at the base of the mountain.

To you, Jesse, for the last time ‘Slow down, boy!’ You’ve always been my little firecracker, finding (or most of the time, creating) excitement at every bend in the road and I’m constantly amazed by your ability to find happiness and laughter, even in the darkest of times. However, you may never fully understand how dearly I loved you for it no matter how many times I told you to calm down. I’d like you to have the opportunity to explore and experience this wonderful country firsthand, so I’ve left you a trust fund that will allow you to travel for a year after you’ve finished your schooling.

To my steady rock, Jedidiah, I leave you with my gratitude for watching over the family while I’ve traveled to see my patients. I value the times you went with me, and all our good talks we shared when we would make rounds. Always questioning, always learning, always striving to be better, I have always known that you would make a great doctor yourself one day. I know you feel that all your responsibility lies with continuing watching over your ma and the rest of the family now that I’m gone, but we want you to travel back east so you can attend a good medical school. There you will be able to fulfill your yearning and thirst for knowledge. If you ever wish to return here to practice medicine, my partner Dr. Connor will happily oversee my investments and turn them over to you when you’re ready.

And finally to my beloved wife for eternity, Bell, I leave my remaining worldly possessions. There is enough there to take care of you for the rest of your life. You will find a letter in my bible that I hope will bring you some comfort and happiness in the weeks and months that are to come; I’ve recorded some of my favorite memories of our friendship and love. I hate that I have left you with the burden of raising the rest of our family alone, but remember that you are surrounded by friends and family that love you and are always willing to help. You are by far the strongest and sweetest person I have ever known and since the moment we met I have awoken each morning both honored and humbled to be your husband. And for the love of pete, the next time Saddle thinks he’s cornered a coon and ends up getting sprayed by a skunk, please don’t scream and try to whack him with the broom again; just have the kids keep him out of the house for a while and pray that he gets a little less rambunctious as he grows up. Remember, the boys did vote him the best pup in the world.”

Compare/Contrast Folklore Essay

       I’ve always thought of most folklore being about the same, but it turns out they can be very different. Something that distinguishes one piece of folklore from the next is the culture that it comes from. There are a few very large differences in these cultural works, as well as some similarities. In the following paragraphs I will compare and contrast three folklore's that come from different cultures: “The Arkansas Traveler,” “The Bleeding Sink,” and “Eavesdropper.”
        The Arkansan piece of folklore, the “Arkansas Traveler,” takes place deep in the Ozark Mountains. The characters are a tired, hungry, lost traveler that’s looking for shelter and food and a old grumpy man that wont give the traveler any food or help until he realizes that the lost hungry man can play the fiddle.
       In the American work, “ Bleeding Sink,” a young man begins courageous and stubborn, until he finds a ghost in an old haunted upstairs bathroom of his college dormitory. He ends terrified and a believer of the old ghost story rumors.
       “Eavesdropper,” a classic Canadian folktale, happens on Christmas Eve and like in the Arkansan piece, has an old grumpy man as one of the main characters. Unlike the other pieces of folklore, this one is much more light-hearted and has talking animals as the other characters. This man also begins stubborn and ends a believer when he dies exactly when the cows said he would.        These three different works of cultural literature are different, and yet contain some of the same themes. It amazes me how folklore that comes from different places can have some of the same qualities, and yet be so different at the same time.

Talk About Amazing

Talk about feeling excited, this is amazing.  You're flipping, spinning, twisting through the air so fast you can’t tell which way is up. It’s exhilarating to know what this feels like. When I look at this picture, I see so much more that what at first meets the eye. I don’t just see the gymnastics gold medalist Hollie Dykes doing some sort of a back full, I see beyond that. I see a girl so nervous she feels like crawling in a cave and staying there, but also so excited and happy that she wouldn’t miss this moment for the world. A girl who knows that the rest of her gymnastics career depends on this one tumbling pass. If she lands it, she could win gold… if she has a crash landing or forgets one tiny, miniscule detail of the flip, it could all go up in flames and not only would she knock herself out of any chance of getting a good score, but she would also ruin her teams' chances for winning. I know what this feels like. Granted, I’ve never before competed in the Olympics, but the rush of emotions before every meet is the same, only escalated for the larger ones.
Having the ability to control your body that precisely and being that strong is a joy that sadly most people don’t get to experience. Being in gymnastics is more that just running around dancing in a leotard, it’s an extremely physically and emotionally demanding way of life that can show and teach you things that you’d never even imagine was possible. Pshh, talk about amazing.

My Day at the Beach

If there was ever heaven on Earth, this has to be it. The softly cashing waves hitting the sandy shore, the bright, shining, last single golden ray of dazzling light slowly threatening to duck underneath the ever distant horizon of endless blue, and the warmth of the blinding white sand surrounding me. As I stand here silently, unable to move even if I wanted to, the quiet sound of a hopeful, anxious young man proposing to his only love with subdued eagerness floats my way carried by the humid, salty, ocean air. Over all this, the gentle roar of music comes from a nearby restaurant, sweeping me away with it. The calmness that seems to linger in the air takes away every last worry I’ve ever had and leaves me with complete content.

Journey Back to Life

Life is a beautiful thing. Living life is about being able to love, hope, and dream, not just eat, sleep, walk, and talk.
    When I think about things that could destroy my life, things that would make me have no hope or dreams for a future, many thoughts pop into my head. Thoughts of losing my friends or family, of not having a house, of moving far away...but never of obesity. In the short video, "Prepare to be Inspired," I came to a sudden realization of how hard an obstacle obesity is to overcome.
    You know, nobody thinks that they will grow up to be very overweight and feeling helpless when they are four. Nobody thinks that something as simple as being a few extra pounds overweight could lose you something as dear as a friendship or earn you a broken heart.  
In this video, this man feels like he has lost everything in life, and that he has no purpose. But then, towards the end of the video, I can feel him gaining extraordinarily higher feelings of hope. I got to see how he gained his life back, and it brings me such a great sense of joy, I can’t explain it.
    Even though this man’s journey back to life was amazing and awe-inspiring, it’s something I feel confident I don't want to put myself through. Since watching this, I have decided that I will not hurt or take my body for granted and I will try my hardest to not let my loved ones do the same.
    But then again, who knew something that miraculous could begin with just one step?

A Season of Devastation

Can you even imagine? Can you imagine losing everything you have ever known, in the course of a few days? Going from happy, safe, and protected, to being devastated? Not knowing what tomorrow brings, or where you’ll be? When you’ve forgotten what a normal life feels like, what your home looks like, and when you don’t remember what being sure of something, anything, feels like? When i saw this CBS news picture titled “ Pakistanis trapped by Deadly Floods,"I couldn’t even imagine what the people this monsoon flood affected must be going through and feeling.

    It reminded me of what all I take for granted. Who’s to say that some horrible devastating tornado won't come crashing through town next week? Or like in this photo, a horrible flood? What would I (the person who seems to take little, minuscule, unimportant things as though they are life altering, and yet looks at the worlds' major problems and doesn’t blink twice,) do if that were to happen? What would I feel? Would Isuddenly discover some secret hidden strength that I have, deep within me, and be able to handle the pressure? Or would I stay the way I am, feeling sorry for myself, and just wilt away?
    I’ve always shuddered at the thought of moving to a different town, even if it was for the better. Leaving my friends, my family, the only place I've ever known, to travel where I'd be alone. But I try to imagine if i had to travel to another country, where I didn't know the language, and didn't have anything to take with me, because everything material I had, had been destroyed? How alone would I feel then? And to believe that i worry about some of the stupid things i do, when there are people out there who need so much help.

"I, Too, Sing America" paragraph

In Langston Hughes poem "I, Too, Sing America," the tones of rejection and pride reflect his disappointment to be constantly cast aside and his certainty it will change. Even though he knows there's not much he can do to stop the oppression now, he keeps hope because he knows it wont last forever. He cant wait for the day that he's looked at as an equal, and not treated unfairly just because of his color.