To Try or Not to Try?

-I've always wondered about this, but even more so now than ever. Why do people give up before they even try? Why are people so easily discouraged and influenced by others who say "you can't"? It seems that everyone is giving up on their hopes and dreams much more easily now. I can't stand it!

My Spanish teacher of last year told us an interesting story. His Spanish teacher in high school told him something to the effect of he would never be able to get anywhere. He was so enraged by this that he went on to do really well in school, Spanish in particular, and is now a Spanish teacher himself. (And a really good one at that.) He told us never to let anyone tell us that we can't do something, because chances are, we can.

Yet I know people who have been told that they can't do something, and they listen and don't even try. It's saddening, because I know that if they tried really hard they could do whatever they wanted to.

Another example that I see often: Let's say that someone really wants to go to Princeton University because it is a prestigious school. They've always wanted to go there, it has what they want to study, and it's in general their dream school. Then, come second year of high school they realize how competitive college admissions are and that school's like Princeton and other Ivy Leagues are extremely selective. At that point, they decide not to even try for Princeton anymore.

The thing is, people are afraid of rejection. I am, too. I don't necessarily want to go to Princeton or Harvard, but I've got some pretty big goals in mind. There's no harm in trying to get into a university like Princeton. Even if one doesn't make it into Princeton, the hard work will show to other good colleges. If someone doesn't try their hardest to reach their goal, they're not going to make it anywhere. There's no harm in trying, especially in a situation like this. And rejection is a part of life. It makes us stronger. It teaches us a lesson.

I don't think that people who work really hard get rejected in any sense because their best wasn't good enough. It was fine, but perhaps they would just be better off with the end result. We don't have total control over what happens in life, but we can control how we end up in the future. Deciding to pursue a dream can be the difference between extreme misery and extreme success. If we don't try, we'll have to live with the question of "what if?" and the regret of lost opportunities. If we do try, we can at least say that we gave it our all.

-Clearly, the mood of this blog has changed...

Of Rain and Snow and a Plague

"When it rains, it pours."

-I write this for a reason. The first is that it actually is raining outside. Another snow day, due to snow followed by rain, which led to icing on the roads and general icky-ness outside, but led to a nice day off for anyone involved with schools. Not only is it raining, it is pouring. It was pouring at 5:30AM when I was outside de-icing and shoveling. It still is, and it won't stop for awhile. So in a way, when it rains, it does pour, at least for today.

-The second reason for writing it was to use it as a metaphor (in that geeky English way of mine). What I mean by that is, when one thing happens that is bad, many more bad things follow until the world seems to fall apart. Now, this happened once before during November and December, though the whole year of 2007 from April onward was involved. This time it's (much) smaller scale, but still aggravating. Start with my mother leaving the country on a business trip, a terrible thing in itself, for a week and a half. During that week my sister gets strep throat and my dad injures his back rather badly. The following week almost everyone in school gets sick with either strep throat, mono, or some sort of fever/cough thing. My two best friends are sick now, one with a weird disease called tonsillitis, I think, and another with mono. In addition to that, because of the mono my birthday plans have been altered. The problem: we're staying in a ski resort with nothing else around it, and she can't ski. The solution: I don't know, but it's somewhere within 30 miles of the resort (or else we're in trouble).

Throughout this plague that has hit our school (or, more specifically, my class), I haven't gotten sick yet, which is amazing considering every single one of my friends has been sick in one way or another within the past two weeks. Nothing ever goes around my school, but this is the first time I can truly say that something is going around.

It's kind of funny to hear someone say "I'm going into school no matter what, even if I'm sick, and I don't care who tells me to stay home" only to be home sick for a week or two. I'm on the verge of a mental breakdown, and I even found myself teaching math. Math is my worst subject, and if anyone should NEVER teach it, that person is me. Luckily, winter break is next week, so the madness will hopefully end then and there.

Funny Teacher Quotes Part 1.75, and Snow Day

-Here's a good few from last year's Religion class:

"I asked my mom when I was younger if I could have an ouiji board and she actually said yes!"

"They used to circumcise choir boys. They'd say, 'I like your voice little choir boy. Let's keep it that way, snip snip!'"

"I think God will forgive you if you do something like stub your toe and go, 'Shit, that hurt.'"

-My school had a "snow" day today. I didn't even know there was a storm. It turned out to be an ice storm. Now the trees look really pretty. And driving is really dangerous. But we get a day off out of it.

Though they might push back report cards...again.