Battle of Courage

          This year in English class our theme is the significance of courage and hope.  There are so many topics that support our theme with plenty of evidence. A girl in our class started to talk about cancer and it gave me a great idea to due on my blog because I have tie with cancer in my family. When I was four years old my grandfather had cancer in his pancreas and liver. Being four years old you really don’t understand what is all going on and your parents can’t really explain it to you. I was always just told my papa was very sick and that I couldn’t go see him today but mommy was.  We went to Disney land the Christmas of 2000, my family and my grandma and grandpa, my mom was 5 months pregnant with my brother at the time. That is one of the only and last memories I have with my grandpa. That following March my grandpa had passed away and my mom was 7 months pregnant. My mom went through a bit of depression and being 7-9 months pregnant it was very difficult for her. But she dug deep down within herself and found the courage to pick herself up for my little brother, father and I. My mom was so courageous in my eyes now that I understand I honestly don’t know if I would have been able to be as strong as her. During tough situations you have to be able to pick yourself up and still be there for your family and that’s exacually what my mom did.  She is my hero I hope one day I can be the person that she is.

Cancer is an awful sickness and it has taken lives of many but there are also survivors. Everyone one of those families that have been affected by cancer can all stand together.  They have all shown courage by going on and living for themselves and their family members. It puts such an emotional toll on people if members of their family or even themselves are diagnosed with the illness. There are cancer awareness websites and chat room for people to become more educated, aware, just needing someone to talk to going through the same situation as you or even closure. Here are two websites I found and you can check them out if you wish one is a cancer chat room and the other is about cancer awareness it shows how you can get involved and become aware.

- Jozie Rempel

http://www.healthfulchat.org/cancer-chat-room.html
http://www.cancer.ca/en/get-involved/events-and-participation/awareness-weeks-and-months/?region=on

Taking a Flight

       We have all had our fair share of childhood dreams, what we do between then and our adolescent stage is what will dictate whether we reach them or not. It is important to have aspirations, but it is also important to be realistic. Not to be blunt, but generally speaking, most of us do not reach these goals due to the fact that we do not believe in ourselves, we do not have the self-confidence within us to achieve these goals. We fail to realize our full potential as human beings. I recently watched an interview featuring one of my greatest role-models (Capt. Pollen), among the many things he said in the interview, he mentioned that he had always wanted to be a fighter pilot. It was a boyhood dream of his. As we grow up, we become more and more aware of the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to achieve those dreams, and some people, having gained this knowledge, choose to set those dreams aside and pursue other, more attainable goals. This is not what Capt. Pollen chose to do, he knew the risks, he knew the amount of dedication it would take, and instead he ultimately pursued his dream. He achieved his ultimate dream because he had the motivation, the hope, and the courage, that, through hard work and commitment, and a willingness to never give in, he would get there. It may not have been as easy as he initially thought it would be, but he got there. No matter the caliber of the obstacles we face in our lives, the grandest of those obstacles we face is ourselves. It is almost as if we set these artificial barriers on ourselves. It’s this very phenomena that little stare in the face and overcome. Capt. Pat Pollen demonstrated for us that, with knowledge, courage, and sheer determination, these artificial barriers can be overridden. While it is a whole lot easier said than done, the only thing preventing us from reaching that ultimate pinnacle is ourselves.

I would also like to add that, each and every single morning when I wake up in the morning, I have to motivate myself for school each and every time. Though I may perceive it as a bit of a pain in the rump at the time, I realize exactly how important education is, and how it is really the only thing in this life that will stick with me, throughout. The knowledge I attain now will be beneficial to me in multiple different ways throughout the course of my life (especially Mathematics and Physics), it will ultimately help me live a successful life. I am thankful for my education, I am glad to have a quality education available to me at little cost. Why am I glad? Perhaps because there are millions of kids my age and younger in third-world countries who would give their teeth for an education of this caliber. I give it my absolute all each and every single day of the school year, because I know I would feel guilty if I just sat back and procrastinated the entire time wasting away a quality education others would die for. Though some days I may be feeling quite exhausted and out of it, I still strive to put in as much effort as I possibly can, because it’s really not all that bad. I believe it is our duty, as the next up-and-coming generation, to commit ourselves to the general prosperity of this planet. Our education will play a fundamental role in this duty. We all possess our own unique sets of skills and talents, and I truly believe that if we use these to our advantage, not only will our great nation prosper, but our great planet Earth, so large, yet so small and fragile, will prosper as well. Achieve your dreams!
– Caiden Closs
 

The following link is a very inspirational speech given by Larry Smith (Professor of Economics at University of Waterloo) on “Why you will fail to have a great career.” This speech is blunt in nature, and it may even come across as somewhat pessimistic, though it is intended to provide the viewer with the awareness that we are our biggest nemesis.
http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_smith_why_you_will_fail_to_have_a_great_career#t-145531

Fight Day

To be courageous is to go out your comfort zone and be able to stand brave, fearless and bold. To have hope is to have your mind set on what you believe to be is your way out; your way of performing or pushing through whatever obstacles stand in your path. I am who I am because of the choices I’ve made and that is why the goals I have still stand. I hope for better days and to be the best in what I do because I know exactly what I’m capable of. Self determination takes me a long way because I’ve become the man I am due to the choices I’ve made and how I handle any hardship or rough patches in my life. I take pride in thinking I’m a man because of this and training in MMA shows me I’m capable of putting all emotions aside and becoming better and even relaxed and calm and being able to move on with my day.

Physically my body goes through daily routines of grinding my body to the limit. I’ve gotten injuries and have been sidelined because of those, having the vulnerability of not doing anything and becoming weaker. It shows me though that no matter all the times I’ve gotten hurt, I’ve amazed myself and came back. I figured it out early that MMA is what I want to do through my challenging barriers due to the expenses of the health of my body. Training calms me down to look forward to another day because when training you feel as if you are separated from everything else and are just there for you and to improve yourself. It helps me to feel calm and to help others when they are down.

I have high hopes for myself to make myself something that many people dream and hope of doing. To walk out across an entrance and hear the noise of the crowd and lights flashing on the ceiling walking down to the cage to meet with your opponent - Fight Day. To be able to walk out to the biggest stage and have my name called out would be something  that I only dream of now, but I have high hopes and the courage to prove everyone who takes it as a joke or says I won’t; Ill prove to them that I can make it. My courage shows through proving all the doubtful people wrong; I can make myself successful in whatever I put my mind too. I’ve been told time and time again that I couldn’t become big and as physically impressive as I could, but I did and I put every ounce of sweat, and blood to become bigger and stronger than most people. I’ve proved people wrong when they have told me I couldn’t overcome any barrier in my life. No one has more hope and faith in me than I do, and time and time again I’ll show everyone that I am capable of what I say and I keep my words very personal when I say I can prove anyone wrong.

- Nader Dleikan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HM2kXsQwGY