Good Leaders Consider. Bad Leaders Don't.

This is my last official blogpost of 7th grade. Wow. It's weird how fast the year went, but it just happened too quickly. Hey, I did say I couldn't wait for summer again (apologies to all my teachers this year.) I only use honesty in these posts. Mostly. :P

Right, this post is about what it takes to be a good leader, and that being a good leaders means that you'll consider other peoples' opinions or wills before you go on in your choices. Currently studying the Medieval Unit (with a huge test around the corner, ouch), there will be references to the Medieval Ages - so stay or don't.

A king is a leader, basically the leader of his country. In the medieval times, kings used to be allowed to do anything they wanted. Seen, but not touched. Allowed, never hesitation. He could do whatever he wanted, whether it was good or bad. The king could even make laws against people, or laws for his own benefit - at the cost of his peoples' misery or against their will. That is definitely bad leadership - ignoring your peoples will. A real, good leader would be accepting others' opinions. A good leader, would not be running the country by how he wants it - he would run the country by others' wills too. That is exactly what the Magna Carta did, lessened the king's power and got a constitutional government running - so everyones opinions could be heard, and taken into account. A king leads a country. A country. It is the peoples country too though, and the people have a right to be heard and the leader should hear them out. Basically, a good leader would hear their peoples wills or opinions and consider them in their decisions for the country, a decision for everyone.


A short blog post for the end of the year? Impossible!
I will be making one more soon, just to thank all the teachers. It's not an official one, meaning a teacher didn't tell me to do it. Mr.Peters, let me write the post, it's a thank you to the teachers. x)

*Update: So that 'thank you' never came, yes I'm a bad person for not writing it up but I guess time just flew by. Alright, I'm making excuses - I'm sorry. There'll be big post at the end of this year though, so be prepared. :)

Leave It To Godwinson, He Deserves The Throne

Alright, does anyone remember the three men that battled for the throne of England, who went through a couple of battles to get to it? No?
Those men were Harold Godwinson (whom King Edward had given the throne to), Harald Hardrada (a Norwegian king who believed he should have the throne due to his ancestor being a past ruler of England) and Duke William of Normandy (who claimed to have a 'promised' position as Edward's successor.)

Honestly, I'll just say it all out (like my title) - Godwinson deserved the throne. He was English and was directly handed the throne after Edward's death. Who could argue with that? Apparently only two men could, but barely with good evidence. Hardrada only had some old ancestor (King Cnut) who once ruled England, and tried to use that for a claim on the throne (a bad claim too, I'm sure there were quite a few with ancestors ruling England but you don't see them claiming the throne.) Now, William? He had a claim, who no one could really say was true. William claimed that he had the right of the throne as of a 'promise' from King Edward. Harold Godwinson, had been directly given the throne after Edward's death and he was a true Englishman. Which are honestly great reasons to have the throne and he already had the throne anyways. What is really the point of fighting for something taken? Yet it happens.

Alright, so out of those three men, I support Godwinson all the way. :)

The Bullying Experience

Hey guys - it's been a decent spring break, long enough for me to miss it so let's hope that this post can be up to my standards (which I'm not sure of.)

Today, we're talking about bullying. Alright, no, I won't give a long lecture on how it's wrong, the different types of it or make it sound like a counselor does, which is "very bad and it should stop." Honestly, I agree but to say it like that doesn't get the message through to most, as they will get a picture but it won't be strict to them. I will say, that bullying is just wrong, some people just can't take it and to be true, it happens on accident too, but it's our jobs to try to prevent it.

I, myself, used to be pretty involved with bullying. People would usually say that I was the perpetrator, but in my defense - well, I was defending myself. I didn't like nick names, so I returned the favor in something worse. Hey, I was too immature to know better, but once the war started - I didn't stop it. So it went on for a few years. Now, I'm older, got a lot more life lessons and I know how to get out of these situations, unless I do want to stick around to help (which varies.)

Though I think this school I'm in is decent, I won't say that there isn't bullying. In this particular example, it would've been peer pressure and bullying, or some type. There are always a few kids, that see when you have some money, they'll take it 'teasingly' and start to run around with it. Of course, you'll see the kid chasing the bully for their money. I've been in this position myself, and most watch (finding it amusing or just not wanting to step in.) Honestly, I have to say my reaction to this type of bullying, varies as it depends on the people, if they're okay with it and their personalities. Some really do just like it as teasing, thinking it's funny and punching each other around. If it's my friends, who I'm not fully friends with, think it's just teasing and having fun - I will standby and 'laugh' about it. If it's one of my friends that's really not comfortable with having their money taken, I would step in and ask for the money back, if not, take a physical approach (even if it's not wise, but sometimes words aren't enough.)

In terms of bullying or exclusion in texts that our class has studied this year, I would be relating to the shadow of the minotaur and the holocaust. In the shadow of the minotaur, the main character had been bullied for being different, in the fact that he had originated from out of town. Physically and verbally, later in the book - virtually.

Exclusion had happened in the holocaust as Jews had started to be excluded from many places, from homes, businesses and people - just for being Jewish. It was more extreme that just your simple exclusion of a new kid at school, yet both are bad to some degree.

After watching a video, I started to think a little about it, and how I would respond, as well as what Eve herself did.

"Differences between us did not cause hatred. Hatred caused the differences between us." - Eve

The familiar thing out of everything, was that Eve wasn't really pressured but in being desperate to be part of the 'In Group', she had turned to mock someone who was outcasted like her. This happens often, as I've known people who weren't really 'in', they were somewhat decent or not really, as they just tried too hard to be 'IN.' Surprisingly, out of all this, Eve had the nerve to do that. You would think she understood what it meant to be an outcast, while instead she was making it worse for another outcast, but she continued on. Eve's story was really all about bullying, or exclusion as she was an outcast herself, being somewhat bullied by others but later, she had turned into a bully/bystander as she had been involved it making it worse for the fellow outcast but still let it happen.

Eve was desperate to 'belong', the chance to mock someone else (that wasn't her), she definitely took her chance, not thinking twice about it. Her response troubles her now, cause as she looks back, she realizes she shouldn't have, as she did understand what the other outcast had been going through but there was no thought on bullying the outcast further. Now that I think about it, I, myself would've just told the popular girl to 'back off.' If I were more brave, I would stand up for the fellow outcast and retrieved the diary for the outcast, but I'm not.

“Often being accepted by others is more satisfying than being accepted by oneself, even though the satisfaction does not last." Now. What would that mean?
It feels good to be accepted by others, much better then being accepted by just one or yourself. Though the feeling of being accepted by others, or the in group, is great - the satisfaction doesn't last as long as if you were to accept yourself or be accepted by one (since being accepted by one brings you way closer then to be accepted by a jumble of people.)


So, hey, thanks for reading. I threw in some personal experiences and made some connections, so hope that made for a somewhat interesting post.
I know there's Kony going on, so I'm just going to go along with the 'STOP KONY' and 'KONY2012.'
So, I'm just going to throw this out there.
'STOP BULLYING2012.'
How original. :)

Le Mysterieux Nazi Major

Happy Leapday everyone! Make this day awesome since it only happens every 4 years! Today, everyone in class got a reading based on true readings involving the Holocaust, more about the people. I got the reading about Julian Schmahling - a typical major of Nazis, yet apparently also a savior of his enemies - the two timing major savior. As the reading went on, we found the main reason he decided to become le major: When a little boy had interrupted his class, Schmahling reacted in anger - calling him something along the lines of 'you little jack...', silencing the child for the rest of the year. As he had cruelly crushed the boy, he realized he didn't want to be cruel anymore, not to crush anyone anymore. This Nazi Major crushed the wanting of cruely, the day he crushed that little boy into silence. Now, relating this to how the Nazis, who had too changed something in the people they ruled - in both these situations, freedom of speech was taken away. The Nazis give consequences to whom who speaks against them while Schmahling had immediately stopped the little boy's speech, just by interrupting. When freedom of speech is taken, so is confidence, happiness as well - and suddenly, people with no free speech are filled with fear from the ones who had stolen their free speech, once happy ones have turned miserable with the consequences of the Nazis rule, as well as one little interruption ruining a whole year into silence. Well, that's my smaller post on Julian Schmahling, Le Mysterieux Nazi Major. I saw 'le major' in the reading and I couldn't help it - had to do it. ^^ Anyways, everyone, HAVE AN AWESOME LEAPDAY! :)

GI Level: The Black Messiah

Hey everyone, today has been a tiring yet weird day - let's hope I can write this post in my right mind. The title is already strange enough, with just a touch of internet humor (not getting into that.) In class, each of us (the students) had to choose one out of three poems created by Sonia Shreiber Weitz (a Holocaust survivor), of course, involving the holocaust - all from her point of view. One being about Sonia's mother, the other being about Sonia and her father dancing together, one last time, the third poem was about her savior, whom had rescued her from a camp.

Though the other two were touching, the one that caught me most was the third poem, 'The Black Messiah.'As I slowly tore apart the poem to look for the meanings behind its words, I found a bunch: First, was the surprise registering in Sonia, to see a black man (has never seen a black person), to know the black GI was going to free her and than to begin to see the horror written on his face. Horror, shock and terror painted his face as he looked at his surroundings, an extermination/concentration camp. The holocaust. Yet underlying, underneath all that horror, was pain: to know that something like the holocaust was possible and to feel the pain for all the lives taken. Though Sonia and this black messiah, who had come to save her and other survivors, had only maybe met for a day, never had kept in contact - a special bond was shared. The bond that only happened, since the two of them, both Sonia Weitz and the black GI messiah, remain to live a good life without ceasing to forget the holocaust. As you can see from my annotations, what pulled me into this poem was the drastic mood change: from curiosity, a dim hope to a form of somewhat success and happiness. Another fact was how well the feelings in this poem were portrayed as well (the GI's facial expression) as how this poem is never completely full of happiness, but instead hope. Though it might not always be bright, there's always hope.

Now that I think about it, there is a personal connection I could make to this poem, specifically the part about a special bond. About a few years ago, I had been dealing with problems at school and at home - my brain was going in to overload. It was annoying, aggravating and some part of me was scared about a few issues - making it one of the low points of my life. After everything had cleared up, I knew quite a number of people older than me that would be all dramatic, Gothic and go commit suicide (yet never did.) I always felt that they were too weak, even though the things that happened were bad - I vowed to myself to keep moving. Keep living life, laughing, having fun - LIVING. And a part of living is to not run away from things, as things happen and I never let myself forget anything bad that happens, while never keeping a tight hold of it.

Overall, 'The Black Messiah' leaves me with a lump of mixed feelings. To feel pity for Sonia as she had been caught in the holocaust too young to even see a black person, to not be able to be out exploring the world and being free. The curiosity that came upon me as I read the next few lines of being able to understand without words. The knowing of the feeling of horror, such deep horror that you can't speak, and you just become vulnerable. Yet the worst, is knowing the pain under that horror. The last feeling the poem brought me was some type of comfort, as even though Sonia and the GI didn't actually know each other, they shared a bond over being able to still live good lives, just like I had (and still am.) Alright, everyone - that's it :P I know, that was pretty long and I'm kind of wondering how it is this long. Oh, well - things happen. Rest in Peace, Sonia Weitz! :) I know, I'm 2 years late for her death. Also, welcome to the world, young cousin!

Hitler Taking Germany

Hitler's rise to Germany had seemed like luck, chance and his wit in choices and honestly, his rise might have all been just luck and opportunity. There are plenty of events that happened, contributing to the rise of Hitler in Germany, though I can only explain the top two most contributing events. Hitler had began his own party, the Nazis, which had just stayed one out of many parties that were waiting to be voted for. They had not received many votes or much attention. After going to jail and writing 'Mein Kampf' he was back on the streets but this time, he was more known via his book. Not long after, markets begin to crash, creating a worldwide depression. A main contributing event this was, as Hitler and the Nazis were able to get louder, to capture more attention by claiming that they could save Germany from the market crash, as well as the economy crisis. This had definitely been a wise move for Hitler, as many more people were getting to notice the Nazis and a lot more votes were starting to roll in for the Nazis. Soon, the Nazis had received 33% of the vote and from this, Hitler became a chancellor. Though he had not taken over Germany yet, he was close. The greatest contributing event to Hitler is next, the Reichstag Fire. In this one fire, the building was destroyed and Hitler blamed it on the communists, and as chancellor - many believed him. Since President Hindenburg had already passed, Hitler became president as he was now a trusted man who had his goals set for the good for the country. Or so they thought. Otherwise, that is my explanation of Hitler's rise and the top two most contributing events in my view.

Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany

Back in the times of Nazi Germany, you didn't have to be Jew to be defined as a Jew. All you needed was 3 or 4 grandparents born Jew or are Jew, to be defined as one. Though you may be a Christian German, your grandparents were Jewish converted to Christian - you still count as a Jew. Though the definition of a Jew was quite strange, it was used anyways and many who didn't believe in Judaism at all were defined as being Jew anyways, due to their grandparents.

Aryanizing the Jewish business was basically one of the Nazi's ways of making Jews suffer their lifestyle and slowly degrade themselves in the eyes of non-Jews. They began to lose their jobs as Nazis began to set new rules involving jobs, specially for Jews. The ownership over Jewish businesses were sold off to non-Jewish Germans at fixed prices (made by the Nazis) and Jewish workers/managers started to be dismissed from their jobs. Though this is just for common workers, the professionals were still allowed to work, just with restrictions. Jewish lawyers could no longer practice law and Jewish doctors couldn't have any non-Jew patients. Basically, everything got tougher for all the Jews involving their jobs.

Everyone in Germany is required to have an ID card and carry it with them, with Jews it's the same except for one thing: their ID has to specifically say that the person is Jewish. On every Jew's ID card is a red J stamped on and new middle names for those who don't have first names that tell that their Jewish, for boys it was 'Israel' and girls, it was 'Sara.' This made it easier for people to identify if the person is Jewish or not.

"The Law for the Protection of the Hereditary Health of the German People" is basically the requirement for all to-be-weds to have a certificate of fitness to be able to marry. These certificates can be given to anyone but those who are suffering of contagious disease or hereditary illness, as well as any marriage in violation of the Nuremberg laws.

My PE blog is up, but empty yet I'm sure I'll be updating it soon, as it is near to the end of Trimester 2. Thanks for reading :)
Oh, and...
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! :D