Pain

The most pain I've ever felt was when I was a younger teenager. I had a pretty tough relationship with a girl and dealt with very bad trust issues. Not a kinda of relationship a 15-yr old should go through. It would drive me nuts. Fits of rage, hours of crying, punching walls, the whole show. I felt like a caged animal at points. Nowhere to go, nowhere to run, no escape from the pain. I experience both physical and emotional pain. I was trapped and full of anger. I wouldn't say that pain is just weakness leaving the body because there are still some people that can become even more weak after feeling so much pain. I think that's why lots of people commit suicide. I think you can become stronger after feeling so much pain, but only if you learn how to the right way. I would say that I've become a lot stronger after experiencing that of a relationship and that much emotional stress and anger at such a young age. I don't think pain is always bad. Think about the people who are paralyzed. Quadriplegics for example. The sensation of pain in their arms or legs would more than likely make them very happy, just because they know they can feel it. So in a sense, I guess pain could bring hope to certain people. I don't think the pain you feel makes you any more or less alive because you can feel pain when you're dying, or when you're having a normal day. I think it just makes you more aware. Humans aren't the only ones that feel pain. Whether it's emotional or physical, I believe that animals also feel pain. I would even go as far as saying perhaps even plants and other small plant-like, microscopic or just living organisms in general, could feel pain. So I don't think it would make sense to say it makes you more human.

Nineteen Minutes excerpt

While reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, There was a part in the book that caught my attention. Page 55 where it says, "It wasn't until Patrick had stepped out of the cell and turned the key in the lock that he heard peter speak again. "They started it," he whispered.'"

That sentence stuck out in my mind because until then, Peter didn't want to speak to Patrick. He claimed that "they started it", leading me to think that he felt provoked. I don't believe Peter actually wanted to kill anyone, but he was at a breaking point, and snapped. He knew what would happen to him if he was caught by the cops, and I think that's why he didn't speak until he was already locked in the cell.

Response to Excerpt #4

EXCERPT #4
Ask a random kid today if she wants to be popular and she’ll tell you no, even if the truth is that if she was in a desert dying of thirst and had the choice between a glass of water and instant popularity, she’d probably choose the latter. See, you can’t admit to wanting it, because that makes you less cool. To be truly popular, it has to look like it’s something you are, when in reality, it’s what you make yourself.
I wonder if anyone works any harder at anything than kids do at being popular. I mean, even air-traffic controllers and the president of the United States take vacations, but look at your average high school student, and you’ll see someone who’s putting in time twenty-four hours a day, for the entire length of the school year.
So how do you crack that inner sanctum? Well, here’s the catch: it’s not up to you. What’s important is what everyone else thinks of how you dress, what you eat for lunch, what shows you TiVo, what music is on your iPod.
I’ve always sort of wondered, though: If everyone else’s opinion is what matters, then do you ever really have one of your own?


1. Is popularity more important than anything else…dying of thirst?

No. I don’t believe popularity is important in most cases in life. But most high school students tend to make it a priority. They tend to let the hunger for popularity consume them. And most of the time they are hungry for the wrong reasons. People want to be popular so that more people will talk to them and hang out with them. Sometimes they want it so much that they’ll do anything to get the attention of their peers and increase their popularity. Unless your trying to gain popularity for a good reason or to possibly make a positive difference, I think it’s  waste of time. Popularity isnt worth the effort if you’re losing your real self in the proccess. Being yourself is important. If I was dying of thirst and I was given the choice of instant popularity or a glass of water, I’d choose the water because in the end, your popularity can’t save you or anyone else.

2. What is the difference between being popular and belonging to the group?

People try too hard to be popular. When you’re popular, you’re most likely completely aware of it. From what I’ve seen, Most people try so hard to achieve a certain image that if and when they ever do, most of their image that they gained would not have come from genuine personality. Popular people want it more than the ones that actually belong to a group without trying. I think that you belong to a group when that group fits you. A group that relates to you when you’re being yourself. How can you belong to a group that only fits the traits that you purposely give yourself to achieve an image? You can’t. That’s just the group you want to be in.

3. Can everyone be popular?
Sure, anyone can be pop
ular if they work for it. But what’s the point? Why are you popular? Do you know in your heart that you didnt purposely try to become popular? Are you happy? Are you being yourself while still being popular? If not, then it’s pointless
Everyone can be popular, but not everyone is true to themselves.