Death ends a life not a relationship; Tuesdays with Morrie

"Death ends a life, not a relationship" (174)

Letter to Obama about Global Warming

May 6, 2013

President Barack Obama

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama

My name is Sophia Abi-Saad and I am currently a student at Scituate High School in Scituate, Massachusetts. The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention that without prevention, global warming will obliterate many species of animals and will affect the quality of life for future Americans. I encourage you as the President to act now, and to prevent a catastrophe to our environment.

 

In total, the U.S. emits approximately 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year, and every single day, the world emits 70 million tons. Also, in the last century the sea levels rose 7 inches, after not having changed in the previous 2,000 years. Although these facts have been released to the public, there still has not been any notable change in the way we live our daily live. 

 Awareness is not the issue; it is the lack of action. As the President, it is your duty to increase the quality of life for all. With the power you have as President you can influence American’s, by enforcing better means of production and crediting those who have stepped up to make a change. I have faith that you will not ignore this issue, unlike many other Americans. I brought this to your attention because I know with your devotion to humanity that things would get done, and you will make the world a better place.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Sophia Abi-Saad

Danger of Death

We were all condemned to the same fate

A “Die today or die tomorrow?” mind-set

Infants were tossed in the air and used for target practice

The world would never tolerate such crimes

But what can we expect its war

But to forget the dead would be akin to killing them in a second

One more reason to hate, one less reason to live

I was nothing but ashes now

I tried to rid myself of my invisible assassin

The idea of dying began to fascinate me

I was a body, or even less: a starved stomach

Our lives no longer belonged to us

I was the accuser and God was the accused

Death was settling in around me silently and gently

Man is stronger and greater than God

Chapters 7+8 of night

Prompt 3.

What happens to the world when we all lose compassion for our fellow man?

When people start to lose compassion for the ones they love, life becomes a free for all, and a survival of the fittest. When people start to only consider the best for themselves. An example of Eliezer losing compassion was when Blockalteste told Eliezer that “you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for himself, and you can not think of others. Not even your father. In this place, there is no such thing as a father, brother, friend. Each of us lives and dies alone. Let me give you good advice: stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore” (110). This shows how even how much he loves his father he has become a burden and he believes that if he didn’t have to deal with this burden surviving the holocaust would be near impossible. And when a human starts to believe this it can lead to a loss of your loved ones, and give a person no purpose in life. Although life had very hard, they were near the end of all this madness, and if he could keep compassion in mind it would have gave him more hope, and could have done much as kept his beloved father alive.

Another example of when Eliezer began to lose compassion was when he was searching for his father and he thought, “ If only I didn’t find him! If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care of only myself” (106). This shows that he was hoping to not find his father to not find the person that had kept him alive thorough these struggles. If he had not found his father we would have been relieved for he wouldn’t have to deal with his burden and wouldn’t have to give up his source of survival to someone else. This proves that once you lose compassion that it will diminish the chances of overcoming other challenges that one may face.

Night Chapters 5+6

 Question 7.

“All the earth and universe are God’s!” (67) This is very striking to me, for the last two chapters it described how much Eliezer has lost hope and how he doesn’t believe in god anymore. But then the author decides to keep bringing up the fact that we are all a piece of god and nothing can change that. I think the importance of bringing this topic back up was to change Eliezer into a believer and a preserver. Not only would bringing the topic of God change Eliezers views again it could do as much as keep his father and him alive by keeping faith and having motivation.  Since they had to evacuate Auschwitz it has given them hope that all of the torture they have endured will shortly come to an end because the Russians are liberating the area. And having another factor of hope included would allow Eliezer to do anything.

Another phrase that was intriguing was a metaphor. When Eliezer thought he was suffocating he “tried to rid himself of my invisible assassin” (94). I liked this metaphor a lot because it shows he was trying to rid himself of all the bad and the negative and only focus on the main goal of survival. This is different from before when he claimed he would never have hope again and that God crushed his dreams. That he finally realized there was something holding him back and now he can fight back and survive this madness. I think the author included this because having the main character overcome their obstacles would influence others to do the same. 

NIGHT chapters 3+4

Question 10
While reading chapters 3+4, I came across an intriguing quote “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my god and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes” (34). This quotes is significant because it shows how Eliezer has lost his hope, and perseverance and how it can affect their thoughts and decisions. Having lost faith in God and Humanity it has put him into this mind-set that life is against him and that he will only fail. If a person has this type of mind-set they would never prosper or get out of a negative situation. Without hope or goals one may be just playing through the motions with no reason to live, which can make a person depressed.

This quote plays a crucial role in the text for it shows the reader how much despair and hopelessness the character is in. Also it shows how physically and emotionally, being involved in the holocaust is and how it can drastically change a person’s outlook on life. Not only would this be a negative factor in his life it will influence others around him to have negativity in their lives. I don’t think I can relate to how much pain he is put through in this novel, but I can understand that living these stories can make one believe less in greater powers and or God. For the constant let down of being prospered would get the better half of a person and lead to a decrease in hope.  A person may be very religious but still not be prospered from a greater force, but giving up in these forces leads to a decrease in hope and would lead one farther away from their goals.