Normally at six in the morning I would be running around lake Bonny Park and only focusing on pushing myself to have a better run time for the Army physical fitness test. Or I would be there sometimes on Wednesdays to do my ROTC leadership lab. This was not the case however. This time I was actually able to just sit down and enjoy what nature had to offer at that park. The first observations were on foot with Rachel as we glanced at many different wild flower species. Nevertheless the dock that is there led only to a disappointment for many of the shrubs and shore plants were either dead and dying or they were a luscious green. But the lake itself had no attraction to my eyes for there was a ski ramp for boaters in the middle and that just turned my interest off for that part of the park. However both Rachel and I continued down the trail and passed by many interesting trees that were aligned perfectly in parallel rows to the left of the trail. We then proceeded to walk amongst those rows of trees right down the middle. It was as if we were experiencing the scene from the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie where the character Lucy walked through parallel trees in order to get to Aslan. It was quiet in there amongst the trees and very serene. As we continued down the path beyond those trees we spotted several birds and their nests. Many species of birds were present in that park. For example the Ospreys, Mallard ducks, Mocking birds, and Blue Jays. Besides the birds we even saw a rather large alligator with her babies swimming near the waters edge. Nevertheless throughout the entire trip it was very windy but this only added to the experience in a positive way. To be honest I never would have come up with my poem if not for the wind that day for I noticed that some trees such as the pine trees bent easily in whatever direction the wind was blowing, but the oaks were steadfast and immovable. Overall the trip was really worth the effort of going and I have decided to go there again just to go and enjoy the park for the sake of enjoyment from nature.

The Oak That Stood Alone

Amongst this family of towering giants,

I stand on the outer edge.

The others are not defiant;

I am.

They lean and bend with whatever comes;

I stand still and firm.

They are forever green all year long;

I become bare and naked.

They are slender and easily fallen;

I am thick and steadfast.

They bare their young in cones;

I have mine in acorns.

Their arms spread up more than out;

I spread mine out more than up.

Their legs do not run deep;

I have legs that run through the ages of time.

They are wanted by man kind;

I am not.

They stand in rows upon rows;

I stand alone.

"I went to lake Bonny Park for this assignment and I stayed there for at least 40 minuets."

While growing up my grandparents used to take my sister and I to the Smoky Mountains every summer to this cabin that had a decently sized stream running through the back part of the property. I will never forget the sheer beauty that I saw every summer as the leaves where always a brighter green while there and the color of the stream was more enchanting to the eyes. I also remember just sitting on the back porch swing and watching leaves sometimes dance as they slowly fell into the stream and how the birds just seemed to sing their songs with more glee than anywhere else. My sister and I even swam in the stream and would sometimes turn over the many large smooth rocks just to see if we could find anything beneath. Sometimes we found craw fish and small water insects, and other times we would find absolutely nothing but leaves that were trapped under the rocks and would let them continue their journey down stream. The rocks were sometimes flat and smooth and we would throw them across the water top and see them skip across to the opposite stream bank. But beyond the opposite stream bank we found that there was a horse farm and a view of some large mountains that looked like a Thomas Kinkade painting. Further downstream we discovered this old watermill building that used to grind grain and the wheel part that would spin due to the river, was not working but my sister and I thought it was still cool. Upstream we found out that the stream went under a small bridge which we got to by just wading and walking upstream. Nevertheless after the bridge the trees became so thick around the banks that they would only let small trickles of light rays through and it felt like a tunnel made our of trees that bent over to create the tunnel effect. But it was very still and calm there, that we stayed in that area sometimes for hours. To the left bank though, the tree line faded away about 5o yards out from the stream to a glorious large field of the greenest grass that I have ever seen and if there was not a fence blocking us from entering we would have probably went to the middle of that field since the view was the same Thomas Kinkade painting view that we saw near the cabin. This story, better yet my history, was told so that you the reader could see what beauty in nature I have seen in my life time so far, and I hope that there is many places like that I will see in the days to come.

State of the Planet

Many life lessons can be seen throughout this interesting poem. To begin with, the poem is both scholarly since the author speaks on many various scientific terms and yet the author has presented the poem in such a way that the reader does not feel as if they are reading a scholarly journal or some sort, but rather the "life" within our planet. Nevertheless the first implication of a life lesson would have to be that life itself is full of wonderment and all of nature, including the subatomic particles that make up all of creation, is wonderful to behold since as the author put it "it must be a gift of evolution that humans can't sustain wonder. We'd never have gotten up from our knees if we could." Another simple life lesson that can be seen throughout the poem is that we can either use our minds for the good of creation or destroy what is present today. This is seen when the author makes a list in stanza six of various things in life that came from the foundations of DNA. A rather funny life lesson that can be seen in the poem is that life can not come from rocks in the Mexican desert. But a profound aspect that the author presented that can be taken as a life lesson is that the questions of why life exists is up to poets and priests, or rather ministers. Nevertheless, even though this poem is presented from a scientific view, any reader can take from this poem a simple life lesson that life, matter what form it is, is unique and complex and should be taken care of for the continuation of the human race. Now coming from a Biblical view this poem can be walked away from with a smile knowing that despite how complex and wondrous this world is, Christians can safely know that God is in control and He is watching over the earth.

This Blessed House

My senior quote when I graduated from high school was "you can have the biggest home but you can only be in one room at a time." There are many implications to this statement I made back in high school but I think it applies to this story as well. For example Twinkle never took for granted the mystery of their new home in that she was always expecting to find a new item. She never gave up on the mystery and hope of finding random Christian objects. Her husband Sanjeev however could have cared less about what was in the house so long as it did not affect his plans for the house. She was a joyous individual who rather enjoyed finding the Christian objects and became curious about who and why the Christian objects. Sanjeev was a serious person and became annoyed over time and was rather ashamed of the objects. To be honest his annoyance seemed to be building up inside of him and the reader felt like he would eventually say something dreadful to Twinkle that would really hurt her. Nevertheless her persistence on finding the objects never waned and she even placed many on the mantle above the fire place. His persistence was about getting the house all fixed up and cleaned, not to mention he would even keep nagging Twinkle about the objects. He even was about to, during a party held at the house, grab all the Christian objects and throw them all away. He even at one point, after Twinkle discovered a window sticker of the virgin Mary, tried to scrape off the image only to scratch the window glass, not to mention he hated the virgin Mary statue outside so much that he was even willing to hit it with a hammer. His persistence at getting rid of the Christian objects was as strong as Twinkle's persistence at finding more Christian objects. In fact her persistence was so strong that despite being drunk at the house party along with several other guests, she told everyone about the objects and showed them the mantle with almost all of the objects. She also while drunk remembered the last place in the house she had not looked, and she was rewarded by her persistence in finding a large silver head of Christ in trunk up in the attic. Nevertheless despite this discovery at the end She wants to display the silver Christ head on the mantel and he knew that despite her stating it would go to her office the day after, it would never leave the mantle. But the reader is left at a lost since it simply ends with him following Twinkle into the living room while carrying the silver Christ head. A reader can't tell whats going to happen next due to a cut off ending so that leaves the reader up to decide what happens next. But it seems that despite his hatred of the object he accepts its existence and finally just moves on.

Character based story

Boom! I felt the shock wave as the explosion of dust, rock, soot, and flesh enveloped around me. I flew forwards and landed on my face with the ground scraping at my uniform and other miscellaneous items of warfare that were attached to my outfit. As I lay sprawled out on the ground not knowing what had truly happened, and not being able eliminate the loud and only ringing sound in my head, I thought back to the day when this path started.

It was May 30, 2008 and I was graduating that clear and crisp Friday night. High school overall for me was never that great, due to that I never really cared about my grades even though I knew I could do really well. But as dusk was beginning to wane and I had never really thought about my future career or what I really wanted to do in my life. Granted many teachers did not believe that I would do much, due to my lack of concern, but my guidance councilor kept pressing me to do at least something rather than flip burgers for the rest of my life. But I guess this night was a wake up call for me to get up off my butt and at make some form of decision for my life. While I sat there listening to the seeming endless names of graduates, I went over in my head the careers I could possibly do. I thought about fast food and I decided nope, that would require me to stay in this area and never really get any real job promotions due to a lack of a college degree. I then proceeded to dwell on businesses and construction jobs. Again the first choice would require me to have some form of college and I refused to go to any college, but the second somewhat caught my attention due to myself enjoying building various models and having a small curbing job between my sophomore and junior year. But I knew I still would not get any significant job promotions in this area due to yet again a lack of a college education. But I did remember my buddy Dave telling me how when he joined the army that he could rise in what was called ranks and that they came with payment increases. So right then at that very moment I flat out decided I would join the army to. I thought the coolest part would be that there was no college education needed so my rash decision to join would have to do since what else was there for me to do?

Several weeks later, after having sworn in and taken an ASVAB test to see where I would best fit in the army, I found myself on a bus to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for basic and then my Army individual training. Since I still was interested in some kind of construction work, I discovered that there was a branch in the army that was called the Army Corps of Engineers and I had done well enough on my ASVAB test to get this branch. Nevertheless I had made several friends on the bus journey. Since the military enjoys using last names, I all knew them by last name and many were interesting names like Bustamante, Sanders, Steele, Coleman, and even a long name that was weird and hard to say; so we all just called him by his first name John. Despite all the friends I had made on that bus ride little would prepare me for the coming days of basic. Every day it was always being yelled at in the face and you could not do anything but yell back “yes drill sergeant!” If someone did try to disagree it was always a group punishment with many push ups and other vigorous activities that would leave anyone breathless and in pain. But despite all this hard stuff, I learned many aspects about how war is conducted and even got to go to a shooting range and qualify for accuracy. Apparently I found out that I am actually great at accuracy despite the fact that I never really handled a gun when I was growing up. But after having made it through basic training, Army individual training was no picnic either. While going through basic I found out that several of my buddies wanted to do engineering as well as I did, so this made things somewhat easier throughout AIT since we had all developed a strong brothers in arms friendship as some call it. Nevertheless AIT was still very challenging to get through but the training was more fun since I learned how to build a bridge while being shot at in the middle of a war zone and still manage to fire back at whoever was attacking me and my brothers. Despite this training, I actually decided to sit down and think about my life now in the army one Saturday on a “break” that my authorities gave me and my brothers. The biggest thing I noticed was that I surprised myself in that I was actually doing well with all the knowledge that was presented to me, despite my laziness in high school. I even increased in rank twice since I first began this path, so I guessed I was at least doing something right with my learning capacity by finally paying attention to what authorities had to say. I also noticed that I had more to give since I had pushed myself beyond my limits a few times throughout my training. Though I wished at that moment I had done better in high school now knowing with full confidence that I had more to give, I had to not dwell on such matters and press on with the path that I had set out before me so as not to get distracted, because I learned that a distracted soldier is a dead soldier. As the end of my AIT drew near, I found out that my unit was being deployed shortly to Afghanistan so as to relieve another engineer unit. Though I wished I had some free time after AIT, I actually wanted to go since I would finally get to do all that I had trained for here over there where the real action was; and hey, I might even get a promotion to increase in rank. But I knew that I would have to face facts: some soldiers do not get to come back. Having the full realization that there always was this possibility, I decided to call my parents and let them know what was going to happen. When I was younger I had somewhat of a relationship with them, but as I got older I did not like the idea of people telling what to do or how to live my life, so I did what I thought would any sane teenage boy would do: go live with my grandparents. Boy have I changed since this all began though. Nevertheless I called them up, and I apologized for everything I had said and done and I admit there were tears shed on both sides. But I learned that even though I did hurt them both, they still loved me and been praying for me. I never really was into the idea of an all supreme authoritative God, but after talking to my parents for well over an hour, I decided that maybe one day I might give that notion a chance.

I was now leaving for Afghanistan and was excited and nervous at the same time. But as I landed the first thing my authorities told me was that “you are now within the enemy’s cannon fire range.” I was not really shocked by this idea, but it still weighed heavy on my mind and would continue to do so for the next several days. After several weeks at my patrol base and going “beyond the wire” meaning on patrol to do raids on enemy fortifications, we never had been hit by enemy cannon fire, until now……..

As I came to, the ringing was still loud in my head and several brothers were trying to get me up and speak to me. I could see that their lips were trying to say something to me but I was never really good at reading lips. They kept pointing at something lying on the ground about twenty feet from where I was sprawled out on the ground. Suddenly I realized that it was not a thing they were pointing at; it was someone. I got up despite my trauma and ran to him. He was not moving and medics were frantically working at dressing the huge gashes on his legs and part of his chest. As I looked at his face I realized that this young man was the same gentleman who was beside me when the explosion went off. I did not really know who he was since he was one of the new brothers, but I realized at that shocking moment that he had grabbed me and had thrown me out of the way of the incoming cannon fire. My very heart had hurt since this guy never really knew who I was or where I had come from, but he still cared about me enough to lay his life down for mine. I began to have tears well up in my eyes, and I grabbed his hand and I began to shake him violently thinking that he would somehow come back to this world. My shaking did not prevail as one of the bothers told me it was too late. I immediately got up and went to the barracks and cried vehemently. Some even joined me in my grief as I looked around and observed that some where there to do the same. Despite this, another new brother came in and joined me in grieving, but he had an old leathery worn out book cradled in his hands. He came up to me and gave me this worn out book and explained that it was the young man’s Bible that he had brought with him. I just cried all the more having somewhat known what its contents beheld. I opened it when the young brother before me put it in my hands, and turned to a page that had a book marker in it. The highlighted verse read “greater love has no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends.” I could not believe that this very verse is exactly what the young man had done for me, so I figured if this book had convinced this young man to believe in its contents and even put it into practice I had better do the same, for I knew this was what my parents had explained to me about God.

That night I read more and more of its contents and finally found a section on salvation from our sins or ourselves as some side notes put it. I could not deny any longer that God had used that young man that day to save my life physically, but God had already gave his life for me spiritually and loved me in spite of all my faults. So I placed the worn out Bible next to my cot and got on my knees and prayed that God would forgive me for my past and present mistakes. Even though some brothers watched me do this and whispered some spiteful remarks, I did not care for they had not been through what had previously occurred earlier that day. I knew at that moment of salvation from God, I was free and I could let go of my secret hurts and pains from my past and could finally forgive myself for what I had done to my parents and myself. From that day forward I lived my life according to that worn out old Bible, and I knew that my story had to be told. So I found out that I could become a Chaplin and tell the good news that this old leathery Bible held between its cover. And to this very day I still use that old leathery worn out old Bible when I tell my story in a chapel service, and many brothers have come to know God’s love for them all because a young man willing laid his life down for me, and I very much hope that I meet that young brother, only now brother in Christ, in heaven when God finally calls me home.

Character

Character was once defined to me as the person you are when no one is looking. However the reading assignment was on building character for a story or poem. To begin with the reading material establishes protagonists and antagonists. What was interesting to me was that I never knew until this reading assignment that protagonist comes from the Greek word for "the first into battle." Nevertheless the the first story shows the reader that the right questions need to be asked in order to develop a character within any story or comic book. The overall question that was the correct one to have asked was "why." Apparently when anyone asks why instead of what or how much more information is brought forth to the questioner. The next subject of character is on the presentation of character. Dialogue seems to be the primary presentation of character since dialogue is way to how a character in a story reacts and thinks about situations presented to that individual. Picturing character was the next form of character in that images of characters from both movies and stories can show the onlooker what those individuals characteristics. What is most interesting about this unique way of looking at character is the reactions that people write about what they can see and tell about the image. Feeling for character is the next in line on character. This section is basically asking the right why questions that are unique to what individual the reader is trying to figure out. The last section on character is on character and function. This entire section was new to me so the information learned was useful in seeing character within stories. Nevertheless round characters and flat characters are the two interesting terms in this section. Round characters are characters within a story line that have very unique ways in the way that they think and act. Flay characters have one characteristic trait but have no unique identity within a story line. Overall the way that is shown how to see characters in stories and figure out their character is different but a challenging way to look at a story and its characters in a new way.

Sonny's Blues

Sonny's Blues has many life applications to everyone. Of the many, the largest life lesson would have to be that people need to be there for each other and take time to listen. Many times Sonny just wanted his brother to listen to his dream of being a musician, only to have his brother not take him very seriously, which brings up another life lesson. People need to listen to their family members dreams and be supportive. Granted if the dream is against their beliefs then the person needs to speak up to their family member, but if the dream that is presented does not go against any belief system then by all means the person needs to be supportive of that family member. As shown in the story, a family is the most important aspect of life next to a relationship with Christ. This story only reaffirmed what I learned at a young age which is to never take your family for granted for at a moments notice they can be gone into the next life. Take for example the fact that I have two more Christmases and Thanksgivings with my family; it's not due to the death of myself or a family member, it's just that as soon as I graduate from college I have to go into training for the Army and I'll more than likely be shipped off as soon as training is over to another country. More than likely I won't see my mom and dad for years in a row for the holidays, but despite this the time I have left with them I'll cherish every waking moment of it. Anyways, I think another life lesson that can be found in this story is that life is full of hardships and pains. Granted we as Christians have a hope and peace that comes from God to sustain us, but for those who do not have a relationship with Christ try to find something that elevates the sorrows of this life, which why we should always be on the look out for witnessing opportunities. Nevertheless, this story overall shows how important family is to everyone and that when finished reading this story, we should walk away with a deeper appreciation of all our family members.