The old man and the sea, struggles and difficulties

 

The definition of difficult is not easily or readily done; requiring much labor, skill. In life we face many challenges that we have to work so hard to get through. Sometimes it doesn't work out, sometimes it does. The one thing that we should never do is give up on ourselves. In the book The Old Man and the Sea the main character, Santiago faces many difficulties and struggles. He faces them with all his strength and life.

Santiago faces many struggles in the story. One major difficulty that he faced was everyday. How would he get food to eat to keep him alive. He did not have any money and he had bad luck with fishing.

“There was no cast net and the boy remembered when they had sold it. But they went through this fiction everyday. There was no pot of yellow rice and fish and boy knew this too.”

He faced such things as lying to his friend just so he isn't embarrassed to say he can not afford it.

   

The biggest struggle that he faced in the story was about the huge marlin that he caught all by himself. He never gave up and never quit to catch the huge fish. Even though the fish was bigger then him and much greater than his own boat he still never let it go. When the sharks ate it and all that was left was the skeleton he still brought it back. He knew in his heart that he had accomplished something bigger than anyone has ever seen. He believed he could do it and that's all.

   

As you can see the old man had many struggles and difficulties he faced in this story. He faced everything all by himself. The old man was very strong and never ever gave up. Even when times got tough and he didn't think he could do it, he did it.

Tuesdays with Morrie

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Broadway books new york, 1997. Genre: Nonfiction

This story is about a man who discovers he has a disease called ALS. Its an awful thing that makes you lose every muscle in your body one at a time starting with your toes and ending with your brain. The two main characters are Morrie an old professor and a yound man named Mitch. Mitch had Morrie as a professor in college and him and Morrie connected like no one else before. When mitch graduated Morrie was very upset and cried. He asked Mitch to come visit him again and to never forget him. Mitch said that he will and that he will never forget his loving, inspiring teacher. Years later when Mitch was a succesful athletic writer for a newspaper in detroit he turned on the tv. There he was his old professor he hadn't gone to see sense the day he promised to come visit again at his graduation, but he never did. He watched the channel as Morrie explained to the world that he had this horrible disease.Mitch felt awful. He needed to get in touch again. He did. He went to his professors house and that day was a tuesday. From then on every tuesday for 14 tuesday he visted his professor. Many other things happened but you'll just have to read this book yourself :)

" Mitch Albom's book is a gift to mankind." - Philadelphia Inquirer
" An extraodinary contribution to the literature of death." -Boston Globe 

Mitch Albom has written other books but i have never read any of the others. To tell you the truth i have never read such a great book in my life. No other book is like this one. Its unique in some way that i can not describe. Its fantastic and intreaging. I recommand it to anyone willing to cry a little bit.

" Weren't you ever arfaid to grow old, i asked ?"
    " Mitch, i embrace aging."
       " embrace it? "(118)

I am deffinitly a fan of Mitch Albom's work. I think he is a fabulous writer. This book has tremendously changed the way i look at life. It makes me releize that i should not hold onto the stupid things in life. I need to apprciate what i have and embrace it. I need to enjoy life. Live life like there is no tomorrow everyday.

5 paws!!!!!!!!

Make a change

The clock struck 10:55 a.m. I was dreading the rest of this day so much. I didn't like this school. I didn't like these teachers and i don't like the people here. Why would my parents make me come to this rotten school? Why cant i just go with my friends at White brook high school. The worst thing about this school is that there is no freaking Girls basketball. My life is this game. I forget all stress, pain, weakness when i play my game. I have no friends and i kinda feel alone. I don't really show my feelings much but to tell you the truth i really don't care anymore. I just wanna be myself and make friends and try to get a girls basketball  program running here.I know its going to be hard but i have to make a difference somehow and stand out in the crowd i need to do this.

The next day i was sitting at lunch all by myself when i heard the announcements come on. “ Boys basketball tryouts in the main gym next Wednesday at 4:00.” i was furious, i never knew that there was a guys basketball program and there wasn't a girls. The first thing i did was marched right on down to the principles office and gave him a piece of my mind. “ Mr. Evans this year i am new to this school and i have a huge complaint to speak to you about sir.” “Well of course go on” , Mr. Evans responded. “ There is a boys basketball team and not a girls team? this is ridiculous, and very unfair”. “ Well I'm sorry but this school does not have enough girls interested in playing basketball and also the school does not have enough funding to have a team.” “ Well I'm going to do something about this sir, ill be back tomorrow”. I walked out of that office with a little bit of hope and dignity and i knew that there was something i could do to play my game.

That night i felt determined to find something to prove that somehow i could play for the guys team or make a team up for myself. I knew i could do but had to find something that explained everything well. After about 4 hours of searching and typing and writing and reading i found it. Title IX , what this means is that the law states that "no person in the United States shall on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. In high school terms meaning if you are a girl and a guy at your school  can play basketball and you cant that is against the law. Everything needs to be equal. if they cant afford a girls basketball team, i guess ill have to play with the big boys. I can do it i know i can.

The next day i came to school with confidence to show that i can do anything i put my heart to. I went into Mr. Evans office knowing I'm going to change how this school looks at me. I walked in and put everything i did last night on his desk. He looked at me and smiled. I knew i would be playing ball  Wednesday at 4:00, and i was right he called me down to his office at the end of the day and told me 10 words. “ You better be ready to play with the  boys”, and boy was I. Wednesday came so fast like a a shooting star. I walked into that gym with confidence and a little bit nervous. A deep breath and a red bull was all it took for me to make starting varsity on the boys basketball team. Well also alot of running, bruises, water, sweat, and teamwork and hardwork.  i knew i could do something to change what i wanted.

The first game came and i was so nervous. I knew i got the guys respect and i knew they had my back. Nobody knew i was on the boys team yet. Only the boys did and we all wanted it to be a surprise when the whole school went to our first game at the high school at 7:00 p.m. sharp. When the announcer called the 5 starting players each one went out one by one out of the locker room. “ Lizzie Maxer” , everyone in the crowd was quiet for a second and then i ran out and they looked at me and went crazy. I never knew people could go that crazy ever.

That game i made 15 points including 2 free throw shots, and one 3 point shot. That whole season i made 153 points. I felt like this one season changed my whole perspective  on this school. I had 20 guy friends and made a lot of girl friends too. After that season, we had an annual banquet. That night was probably the best night of my high school career. They called my name out and i stood up. The whole team went on stage and gave me something no one else could have, a girls basketball team. I actually inspired so many people that i changed this school and they presented a girls basketball team to me. From then on i played basketball till i graduated. After that every year till now i come back to coach. I never gave up on my team. I always tell people to never quit, never give up, do what you love, because one day you'll change something that means the world to you.