PAINTING PREVENTS WARS

The painting 'Guernica' is painted by a famous painter, Picasso. As you can see, the painting is hard to understand. It looks like he painted it, then cut it in many pieces, then put it back together at the different places. This shows how Guernica, a quiet village in Spain, was attacked violently and harshly. Just because they disobeyed the General Franco, they had to be bombed and 60% percent of population in Guernica had to be killed or wounded. The painting has people screaming, trying to escape from somewhere or someone, everyone in despair to get helped. I think that Picasso intentionally put them with these actions, as to express how painful it is and that many people are sacrificed during the war.

I think that Picasso wants people to understand that the war should not happen again. He painted it with only black and white, as to express how depress it is and how right or wrong it is to have a war. Also, he drew a light that looks like an eye at the top of the painting ,which I think represents that we should open our eyes to the wars and shine the light on the world: Look what is happening in the world. Which has the idea of torture inside. Everything in the painting is in pain, injured and wounded. Even the horse and the cow is hurt with the spear on their body, horse has a big wound, hole, on his body. When I saw that painting many times, I realized that it might be the same situation that Fatmire Feka had to suffer. Feka had to lose his family, escape from the war and just walk until she could find a place to stay.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI, THE REAL HERO

Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of pro-democracy in Burma. She had to be house- arrested for 15 years, even worse, she would have had to be house arrested for 21 years without the early release. She was finally released from it in November 13th of 2010, which made the world all pay attention to her. Because of other countries' pressures, Berma had no choice but to let her go for the time being. She was a true hero both for the world and herself. For a long time, 15 years, she never lost her mind and her control. She was not afraid of sacrificing herself to save others. Although it was not all her fault, she decided not to object to it, but just went with the flow. She was confident and was open-minded all the time even when she was interviewing. For BBC, she was telling how it has been, and answering all the questions, just as if nothing happened to her. That means she wasn't afraid of the punishments she might get again such as being re-arrested, or be kicked out of Berma. She believs in the truth and values the people and safety. And by watching the link of Aung San Suu Kyi's interview before she was re-arrested, I realized that I have never stood up for the justice and just let the bad things happen. As well as that, I learned that being a true hero can be the most challenging goal to be achieved. And to be involved, you have to be brave, fearless, and emotionally strong to overcome them all. Again, Aung San Suu Kyi, is a real hero in the world and she does qualify to be the hero.

I think this story has a similar connection between Arn Charn Pond. They both had to go through the isolation, how Aung San Suu Kyi was house arrested and Arn Charn Pond had to be suffering from the isolation because of the language. Also, they both have overcome the obstacles and had to go through the suffers they had during their hard time. Aung San Suu Kyi was prisoned in her own house for 15 years, which is a long time to bear, and Arn Charn Pond had to fire the guns when he was only 9. He also barely survived by playing flute well and he had to lock down his feelings about what he feels and sees. I think that there shouldn't be any more of suffer and fearing in the world.

ANY MAN'S DEATH DIMINISHES ME, BECAUSE I AM INVOLVED IN MANKIND - JOHN DONNE

No man is an island

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

I think that this poem is telling the readers, that all people are interconnected together. If someone diminishes, whether it happens to be death, loss or suffer, everyone is affected by it and other people will be suffering more because of it. The poem is saying that we should know how people are interconnected all together and that we should treat all of them kindly, as you can guess what the consequences will be, when you lose or let someone suffer. 'No man is an island' by John Donne, has a similar connection with the idea of theme that is in 'The Blokes', written by Alan Gibbons. 'The Blokes' is about a group of bully, who blackmail and pick on others' weakness, give orders to them and basically, controlling the whole school. In page 22, 'That's how they work, playing kids off against each other, divide and rule.', shows that they always go against the weak students and bully them. The Blokes wouldn't have been able to bully, graffiti and cause other naughty incidents. And this poem has the similar meaning. The theme of this poem is, that even one of the man is out or lost, it would be harder for them, the chain reaction occurs. So, if there were not a lot of people in the Blokes, they wouldn't have done that. Also, the poem tells that if you are altogether, you can be strong, which relates to the Blokes again, how they worked together for the same goal.

DO WE STAND AND DISCUSS ITS ODDITY OR DO WE IGNORE IT?

The poem, 'What Do We Do with a Variation?' has a connection with Jesus Colon's story and 'The Island' by Armin Greder. The first sentence, 'What do we do with a difference?' is the one that makes the connection. Jesus Colon, black, who was afraid of helping the white woman as he thought he would be misunderstood because of his difference between the white, made a very wrong decision about helping her. Just because he had different skin color from the white woman, he still could have helped her. He was not brave enough and step back from her. And he was thinking all kinds of bad words that she might say if he asks her for any help. Also, 'The island', has a connection between the poem. The guy in the island was discriminated and protested against the society just because he was different from others and had to suffer from it. I think that from now on, there shouldn't be any more racism happening in the world.

Resources: http://www.alldaybuffet.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/racism-workshop.jpg

DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER'

In real world, nobody can actually know what they are. You might view yourself as a kind, caring and responsible person, but sometimes that might be truth or not. Yourself always changes as the environment changes. If you are in nature, you get to be quiet, unstressed, relaxed. But in city, it is always loud, noisy, dirty and discomforting. And as the environment affects you, the point of view from others also change. How you act, live and reacts with the environment. Will you go with the environment you live in? or will you deny and live differently? Their perceptions can affect they see ourselves too. There is a famous English idiom, 'Don't judge a book by its cover', which means do not judge something without knowing well about it. So if they only SEE us that way, they even think what kind of person you are, but if that thought was not true, they might be more disappointed and define people badly. And these happens a lot in society, which can break a lot of people's relationships by saying bad things about them, and others. Environment changes everyday. Global warming, and other environment-related problems. They all change our environment. As the ice glacial melts, the animals die and the important part is that, people in the world use that to earn money and that makes our world full of buildings. And that is how we live with the stress, annoyance and noise.

Black and white, that is how Jesus Colon labels the groups. As that labels existed, he couldn't help the white woman and had been hesitated and decided to not help her, which means it affected a lot for Jesus Colon. He had regrets because he thought he made a very wrong choice and he feels sorry for the children and the woman. Just because he was not brave enough to stand up and help her, he was acting like a coward and not helped her. He would have helped her if he was American. He wouldn't have to be afraid of nothing, as he is also white and he wouldn't be acting like a coward and not help her. The victim in the story is woman and the children, as she was desperate for help and suffered as there were a lot of children, and she couldn't even get any help from anybody else.

Resources : http://www.toonpool.com/user/562/files/racism_190835.jpg