Unusual Gifts

Having a mom as a kindergarten teacher makes me even more excited when the Holidays roll around. She always gets yummy treats that I get to steal. The candy, however, is not what makes me most excited. The random knick-knacks that her students give her always amuse me and make me wonder what these children think. My mom told me that one year her friend received a bra from her student. I thought that was the worst of them all until I encountered an article in a teacher's magazine about unusual gifts given to teachers.

The article compiles submitted entries about strange presents teachers have been awarded with. One teacher "received a pack of condoms from a student who thought they were Band-Aids." Another teacher received a live chicken from her student and had to walk it home!

Even though the gifts teachers receive are random and sometimes disgusting, my mom says that teachers still love them anyway. Although the gifts probably will never be put to use, my mom has a hard time throwing them away because they are special in an odd way. For teachers the silly gifts resemble the fun and not so fun memories with their students, and not to mention, they also give them a good laugh.

A Single Digit

10, 9, 8... 3, 2, 1! Cheers erupt, hugs squeezed, and poppers explode. The anticipation of a new year comes to a close at the drop of a shiny ball at Times Square.

New Year's Eve is the epitome of letdowns. Each year every person wakes in their bed up on December 31st looking forward to their last full day of the year. They plan huge parties with friends and family that include fun games and food to keep them awake until 12 a.m. to welcome the new year. They buy poppers, balloons, confetti and festive plates and utensils to make the day more memorable.

The countdown begins and people watch as the second hand creeps towards the number 12 on the clock. When twelve o'clock arrives, a moments worth of cheers and excitement passes within a few minutes. Parties end and people are left with a huge clean up. Everyone exhausted from the long night crawl into their beds and fall right to sleep.

The letdown always hits me the morning I wake up on January 1st. I think of the fun games and time spent with friends the night before only to wonder what difference it made. The day seems just like any other day before; I'm in my same bed, I look the same, I still have to brush my teeth. Nothing seems to have changed except for a single digit on the calendar.

Holiday Dilemma

Every Christmas I find myself putting on a fake smile as I open a gift from my relatives and graciously thank them for their it. In reality, I'm thinking, "When am I ever going to use this?" Gifts like these usually get thrown into the unused gift pile in my room or are recycled as new presents for other people. However, I keep up with the act, not wanting to sound ungrateful, and say things like, "I really like it!" or "I've always needed one of these!" I can't tell if they can see through my fake excitement, so I keep on pretending and keep on the fake smile.

I know that my relatives spent money and time trying to find me a gift, which makes me unable to find the courage to tell them that I don't like the gift, thinking that it would be mean say. However, is it more cruel to be honest and tell them the truth, or to lie and pretend the gift is what I have always dreamed of?

If We Lived Like Weasels

Recently, I read "Living Like Weasels" by Annie Dillard. Dillard compares the life of a weasel to the lives of humans. Throughout her writing she describes how weasels live by instinct and only react to things that are necessary. On the other hand, Dillard says that humans think too much which inhibit them to live to the fullest. She thinks that humans should be like the weasel and only act, not think. I however, disagree. I think our ability to make decisions allows us to live to the fullest. Humans are blessed with the ability to make choices. If our decision making is taken away, humans would be boring and all too common. Humanity's diversity makes us unique and different from the animal kingdom.

It somewhat irritates me that Dillard encourages humans to become equal to animals. Humans were created for so much more than to live only to survive. A weasel does not think about how his decisions can affect another's life, but humans can decide to sacrifice for others. Human's love and sympathy for others makes me feel lucky to be human and not a weasel who is selfish and only thinks about its own survival. If we all became wild animals and acted upon our instincts, as Dillard wishes for, the world would be a cold and heartless place.

Rain Here, Rain There

People here in Southern California really don't know what a rainstorm is. Today, I heard a girl complaining about having to practice in the barely visible specks of water falling from the sky that she called "rain." If I heard this years ago, I would have agreed with the her.  I thought I knew what rain was when I was younger. Rain meant putting on my raincoat and getting my boots wet in the "big" puddles out in my front yard. Occasionally during the night, flashes of lightening would penetrate my bedroom shutters right before the thunder would rattle the windows. This was the extent of my knowledge of a rain storm, until I experienced a one in the Grand Canyon.

As the sun set, the clouds began to accumulate. I knew a storm was coming, but I had no idea what was about to happen. At first, the drops of water that I knew to be rain began to fall from the sky. Suddenly, the droplets got bigger and bigger, becoming what seemed like five times larger than the rain I knew back home. I became drenched within seconds from standing outside while the abnormally giant sized raindrops continued to pour down.

Soon the lightening arrived. It lit up the sky just as it lit my room through my window shudders, except the bolt made it almost daytime for a split second, then complete darkness would return until the next bolt struck. The thunder that rattled my bedroom window was magnified as it rolled through the canyon. As I stood soaking listening to the thunder and watching the sky turn from white to black, I realized what I thought to have been rain was only a small fraction of it's true power.

Consumerism Gone Wild

Black Friday marks the beginning of holiday shopping. The bargains offered on Black Friday make the day seem perfect to get early Christmas shopping done, but have people taken it too far? Shoppers stake their spot in line several days before the stores are open for Black Friday shopping and even miss their Thanksgiving dinner in hopes of finding amazing deals. Once the doors are open, people go wild and stampede into the stores, losing all sense of humanity. It's as if people have become animals acting upon their shopping instincts trampling over other shoppers to get an item that's discounted. It is sickening to hear of people getting into brawls just to get a small item on sale. The other day I heard that two grown men got into a fight over a Victoria Secret gift bag filled with goodies, most likely for women. Not only was I thinking how ridiculous the story sounded, but I also came to conclusion that people have lost respect for others and even themselves over material possession.

Times Have Changed

Recently, I read Jonathan Edwards sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" for my English class. Our class had to discuss how we felt towards the text. Most people were violated and thought Jonathan Edwards had no right to tell them that they are wrong. This demonstrates the cultural difference between Edwards' time and today's time. During Edwards' time, it was acceptable for people to tell others that are they wrong because people did not have a subjective sense of morality. However today, people do not take it very lightly when someone tell them that they are wrong. That is why students in my class felt violated and did not like Edwards' sermon. Edwards plainly states that people are sinners and need God. They did not appreciate that Edwards was intruding on their personal morals. 

Today society does not believe in a universal, unalienable definition of right and wrong. Most people believe right and wrong is defined by their own standards, and not a god or higher power. If they believed in a god, the god would be able to say what is good and bad, and nobody would be able to contest to that.  However, people who do not believe in such a higher power, believe they are at liberty to determine what is good and bad. 

Today, it is not acceptable to impose one's own beliefs onto other individuals. However, I find it contradictory, that by simply telling someone this, one is inflicting their own beliefs onto other individuals.