More Than Winning a Sporting Event: Part II

The men underground were all heroes. Each and every one of them proved to the world a unique ability found only within our species. The ability to have hope. There were some of the stories that struck me hard.

    Of the 33 men underground, one was a physician and another was a physical trainer. This may have been one of the multiple reasons the men survived. The physician did a physical check up on each male every day. This checkup was to ensure their health and make sure no one got sick. One of the miners was diabetic. The fact that he survived to be healthy is incredible. The physical trainer, kept the miners in shape. Being in such a confined area, the miners spent much of their day sitting. By making all of the men do a workout each day, the trainer kept their muscles working and capable of performing tasks. The physical trainer helped in the weight loss part for some men to make sure they would be able to escape through the canister that everyone else would ride to the surface in.

    In the face of all the events with the miners, there is one story that made me question whether experiences like this bring out the good. Supposedly, all of the families of the miners would hold their pictures. The wife of one of the men, realized that another lady she did not know was holding up a picture of her husband. The wife asked the lady how she knew her husband. As it turned out the other lady was her husband's girlfriend of five years, that she did not know about. This situation must have been extraordinarily depressing for the wife. Learning that not only her husband was stuck underground, but had been cheating on her for five years, she must have been furious. It was clear that her husband was lying to her, but did this situation bring out such horrible news? Needless to say, the wife was nowhere to be found when her husband was rescued.

    Then again, there were heartwarming stories. One man's child was born while he was underground. Being unable to witness such an important part of his life, the man did make some remarkable decisions. He decided to name his daughter Esparonza, meaning hope. The only thing he wanted, was to be able to eventually meet his daughter one day, that day eventually came.

    The miners were told they would not be rescued until at least Christmas. The workers prevailed against the dangers of our earth and were able to rescue them much sooner. When deciding who was to go to the surface of the earth first, numbers were drawn. A member of the rescue team was descended into the ground to help with the rescue efforts below. What if he was to be stuck under there forever? What if the machine broke and multiple more months passed before seeing daylight again? Good thing these things didn't happen, but they had to be crossing the worker's mind. And as each individual person was rescued, one at a time, an hour for each, the men resumed their lives.

    The events that occurred with the miners is a milestone for our world and the people involved. The rescue process shows the technological advances of today's society. Even closer, the rescue proves to the world that anything is possible. The miners proved to the world so much more. They proved that hope truly can make a difference. They showed us the result of never giving up this quality. The miners are all heroes. Enduring the impossible, at the time, to live. I really hope to confront one of the miners one day. So that maybe someday I will meet every person, especially the ones who have showed so much to the world.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2010/10/13/ps.miner.33rd.final.rescued.cnn

More Than Winning a Sporting Event: Part I

They said it was like winning a sporting event. But it wasn't. The event in history was more – so much more. As you may be aware, as it is all over the news, the Chilean miners who had been trapped underground for 69 days were just rescued this last week. Let me reiterate that concept. MINERS WERE UNDERGROUND FOR 69 AND SURVIVED! Crazy, right? The stories they told were even crazier.

The miners adventure began on August 5, 2010. Although the details or reasoning of the trap has not been investigated fully, they miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground with no way of escaping. This is half of a mile. As a cross country runner I'm thinking, "Oh, that is not too far," but as soon as I remind myself that this is depth and not width or laps around the track the distance seems so much longer. There were 33 men below the surface of the earth. These men were not found for 17 days. They had no idea if they would ever be rescued or escape. Let's just imagine this for a second. You are underground with your colleagues. Many of them you may not particularly care for or get along with. And you are stuck. There isn't another room you can escape to or someone to tell all of your feelings to about how much you don't like this fellow colleague. There is NO escape. To me this sounds like a nightmare, and for many of the men, it was.

After 17 days, they were found, though. Although the hole through the surface of the earth they drilled to get to the men was small, it provided the men with food and nourishment. I was told by one of my teachers that the men were only allowed to have liquid nourishments as they had to A, lose weight in order to fit in the canister that would come to rescue them and B, they were not allowed to bend over while in the canister and if they had solids and got sick, they would bend over to vomit and break the canister.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/22/chile.miners.day/index.html

Leadership: Step Up

As a cross country runner, leadership is hard to come by on our team. Runners usually are a certain caliber. We all tend to do quite well in school and most of us are the top of our class. Many of us are also quiet, though. And those of us who are not quiet, are not very fast. So the top runners tend to lead by example. This is fair enough, but when it comes to meets, a runner who is vocal is needed.

    Our coach takes the initiative to appoint a leader. And leadership is not a position that can be appointed. A person either has good leadership skills or does not. It is as simple as that. The girl he appoints is a horrible leader. She is a senior and thinks she is all that. She treats us as if our opinions don't matter, and whatever she says our coach agrees with, which only encourages her to make us even more mad. Let me give you an example. Before one of our races, when getting off the bus a bunch of us had to use the restroom. She told us all to hold it and we would go after we warmed up, and of course our coach agreed. Well about a fourth of the way through the warm up, a bunch of us ditched to go use the restroom. Within five minutes she came to the restroom too. This got us all really mad because she was the one who said to wait until we were finished to use the restroom. Even worse, when she was in the bathroom she told us to wait for her, but once she was done she wouldn't wait for some of the girls who weren't finished. All of us being mad at her during the race didn't help, as we were so frustrated we couldn't concentrate. I'm not putting a blame of our performance on anyone, but it just seems that one of the girls who is a leader, should step up and not let the situation continue. It's that easy.

I will…make it.

In the end, I will work my butt off. I will try to find scholarships that I can apply for. I will study for tests that seem worthless. I will be involved in everything. I will not get any sleep. And with all this, I will make it into college. One that I want to be at and will one day help me to meet more people that encourage and change my life.

This Leads Me To…College

All of this leads me to the stress over college right now. College is not cheap. Especially when you plan on going to an out of state school. And although scholarships out there are plentiful, there are not as many as they make it seem. And even with those scholarships they have all these strange requirements and you have to be a certain ethnicity or you have to play a certain instrument, none of which usually apply to me. In all this categorizing, I feel though as if segregation is as strong as ever. By telling someone they can't apply for something just because they aren't a certain skin color… doesn't that seem a bit racist?

All of the financial need stuff is also driving me crazy. My mom works hard and has worked hard her whole life. Growing up in a poorer family and being the first to graduate from college was a big deal. She makes a fair amount of money and I will most likely not qualify for financial aid. For some reason they schools think that if a child's parent has enough money to live, than the child will have plenty of money to pay for school. This is WRONG. Just because my mom could pay for my school doesn't mean she is going to. So the children who get a bunch of financial aid won't have loans to pay off once they graduate but those who have more money to begin with still have to get loans that will need to be paid off after graduation. This situation could be detrimental to their future. Is this really right? Like I realize that people need help in paying for college and I think it's good that the government will help, but there comes a point where discrimination is all throughout the process. And the process seems altogether corrupt.

Choosing a college is hard. There are so many colleges out there that I could go to and would probably work for me. When trying to decide what college will be the right fit, I have no clue. Everyone says when I see it, I will know. But to be completely honest, I don't think that will happen. I've spent way too many hours of my life on my computer doing research. I do realize college is four years of my life I will never get back, but I can adjust. I think I know exactly what I want to do with my life. And I'm a flexible person. I make friends easily and am capable of fitting into most situations. So why is this so hard? Is it because my mother had heard way too many "my daughter hated where she was at so much she had to come home" stories? I don't know. But whatever it is, life should not be this complicated.

Everything I do in high school seems like it's necessary for college, but once I get into college none of it matters. I can be the most involved person, but when I get to college people look at me with new eyes. No one will know me and my reputation I have worked so hard to build. Yet, I wouldn't trade everything I'm involved in now for anything (well maybe some more sleep would be nice, but still). Everything I do and accomplish makes me a stronger and better person. Yet, I just don't understand why so much hard work is required to get into college. Is studying for the ACT and SAT really worth my time? When in the future will what I study for those tests be used. I mean come on. The least they could do is give us a test over how to drive or something that you actually need to know in order to survive in today's society.

Insight for My Future

    So my journey of meeting new people continued throughout the summer. Through different learning opportunities I experience, there are, of course, mentors. The mentors in the programs have this burning passion for the program and have this unconditional love for what they teach that typically isn't found in the classroom. (This is the case, usually, because these teachers are teaching kids who want to learn and be there.) One mentor I had this past summer was not the typical teacher type (I will refer to him as C).

    First off, let me describe to you his appearance. He was extremely tall and extremely skinny. Like so skinny that it was most likely dangerous to his health. He was also a vegetarian, which might have something to do with how skinny he was. C had longer hair, as for a guy. The hair was long enough to pull back into a pony tail, enough said. His clothing was the hiker type. Like the lets throw on a t-shirt and cargo shorts with hike boots in the morning before I go to work. This style is also known as the "I like to wake up five minutes before walking out the door." And when first meeting him, I seriously thought I was talking to this really laid back guy, almost hippie. Like someone who loved nature to the extreme and couldn't have a care of anything else in the world except for nature.

    When working in the classroom with C, he liked to ask questions. His questions were not to make us repeat memorized information, rather to make us think. This kind of thinking would further be used to solve problems later in life. Finding C as an admirable person for his teaching strategy, among other things, I decided to ask C about his career path; I would like a profession such as the one he holds someday. Before I knew it, we were talking about college.

    C told me how during his senior year of high school he didn't really know what to do with his life. He had always been interested in nature, but beyond that had no idea. One thing he did know was where he wanted to go to school. Not remembering the name, we will call it School A. School A, C had visited multiple times and fell in love with its location and the activities around it. When C finally sent in his application to School A, he was put on a waiting list for acceptance. Devastated, C ended up going to School B. A smaller school and not in the location he had wanted to go. Turned out, though, C fell in love with School B. The people who went to the school were right for him. C fit in well and having a lower teacher to student ratio, C thrived. Needless to say, C loved his college experience and realized it was a blessing in disguise that he did not get into School A. This, in turn, led him to tell me that when looking at schools, look into all the aspects of the school, because the least likely one may be the one you fit in best at.

Mr. Smiles

I currently hold a job at a local grocery store. A main goal at the store, as in almost every store, is to pay attention to the customers and to greet each one with a smile. Working is not always fun, and I find it hard to smile at every customer, especially the ones who have a particular way they want their groceries packed, and complain about the smallest things. Somehow I force a smile on my face for everyone.

    There's one guy, though, that whenever I'm working goes through and yells out to all the employees, "Put your smile on!" Of course all of us immediately smile, not at the sense of this old guy telling us to, but at this funny situation that an old guy seems the need to tell us all to do this simple task. We all kind of laugh at him too. We imply in our laughter, "What is this crazy guy doing."

    One time while walking through the store, the same man made a comment to me like, "How are you doing today beautiful?" I was kind of shocked at this as not many people go through stores calling each other beautiful. I didn't really know how to feel. Was this guy just clearly a creep or was he actually trying to be nice. Looking for the best in everyone I came to the conclusion that this elderly man was just being nice and trying to brighten my day. But further on, I realized that smiles and a happy attitude are contagious. For instance, I try not to surround myself with any people who have negative outlooks on life. Why be upset when you are capable of being happy.

    Doing further research into the subject, I found this NPR posting:

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=97848789&m=97848772

So as it turns out, smiles really do spread to others. The more you smile the more the person next to you will smile and the happier the world will be. Smile – it takes less muscles and energy.

Let’s Be Different: Part II

As I rode the bus with T daily, we grew closer in our friendship. I learned that she was a vegetarian. When explaining how she made that decision, I was encouraged to do the same. Being the meat lover that I am, I'm not sure I will ever be able to make that choice, but I will continue to limit my meat consumption. T was the first to introduce me to thai food and the culture of the city. For instance, one weekend she decided to take me to a street fair and get henna tattoos. Although I never anticipate on getting a real tattoo, it was a fun and new experience for me. Another evening we went to this Moonlight Fire Jam, where people within the city congregated at the beaches and watched as professionals twirled fire.

    I think the most influential thing T did for me was introduce me to her friends. Of course she explained her friends as different and of a wide range of backgrounds, but coming into contact with them was a whole new scenario. One girl I met was from a big Mexican family. Being of this decent, everyone was hugged and smiled at. No judgments were made and everything I said was important. Another girl I met was a shy and quiet individual. She didn't really talk in big groups but really opened up when we sat next to each other on the bus. And another girl I met was rambunctious. She didn't care what people thought of her and felt the need to share how she felt about the actions of other people with me, with no mind filter at all.

    After meeting all of T's friends and their different personalities, I came to realize that the differences in each one of us is what makes the world go around. Who cares if everyone is different? It is my choice of who I want to be and everyone else's choice of who they want to be. So let's be different, and cherish each other's true identities.

Let’s Be Different: Part I

M was one incredible person I came into contact with, but so was another girl who made a lasting impact on me. My first day of this camp, I was late. Being a perfectionist and always being early, walking into a room full of unknown companions late is not the way I like to start out my day, I feel it immediately gives me a bad reputation. Of course this situation was not what I had planned as the Taste of Chicago was going on and the buses had been rerouted and I ended up seven miles past my destination. After arriving 30 minutes late, I was embarrassed to walk into the classroom. Of course no one said anything to me about my late arrival, but judgments were already being formed. There was one girl in the class that seemed extremely nice. Throughout the morning I didn't have an opportunity to talk with her. She gave off this positive vibe. As if she was a comforting person and accepting of everyone.

Let me step back a second and explain to you this weird characteristic I have. This characteristic is strange, maybe it is hindsight bias, but when walking into a room, I can pick out people I will get along with and others I will not. I often can walk up to a person and within a minute know if I will get along or become friends with that person. This is the feeling I received about this girl (we will call her T for the purpose of this blog).

Anyways, as the day wore on I finally was able to talk to T. We were doing some sort of experiment and we were matched up as partners. As we began talking, she mentioned how she had seen me this morning and thought I looked lost but she had no idea I was going to this program too. We later figured out that we had the same direction of travel and she got off the train system one stop before me so it would work great to travel back together. This made my day, being I was extremely frightened of getting lost once again in the crazy rerouting of the buses.

Traveling back with T I learned quite a bit about her. She had grown up in Chicago and went to probably the biggest high school in the city. Her parents had divorced when she was younger and her father was not the most positive influence in her life. Her mother had recently had a hip replacement surgery that failed and was forever scared with a limp. The limp required her mother to carry a cane at all times. The high school T attended had a diverse range of people in different economic levels. T told me all about her friends and how different each one of them was. As we passed by the graffiti in the city, T explained to me about how beautiful it was, and how it made the city of Chicago, Chicago. Being a constant rule follower and always abiding by the law, I guess I had never really noticed the graffiti that way. Looking at the city through the eyes of someone who has had different experiences than myself gives me new thoughts to keep in mind.