#13 Happiness

The happiness for me is normalcy. Being able to live with my family, attending school with friends, spending weekends goofing off and doing all the assignments at last minute. Living "normally" is surprisingly hard. A family or friend of ours could pass away all of the sudden; people could get ill and be deprived of the quality of life. In the future, I could be struggling to get a job after graduating from the post-secondary school, my parents could be ill, or someone could have fallen victim to a cruel fate and killed by an accident or murder! It would be great if everyone could enjoy those little moments of happiness in our painfully routinely life.
All in all, everything probably boils down to being able to find what makes you happy. If one finds their circumstances unsatisfactory, one is responsible for pursuing the solution for the source of their dissatisfaction. Sitting and moaning on the floor won't do any good to anyone.

#12 Article

I think the college took things under control a little too soon. You can never judge someone before you have been through the same thing they'd went through. Especially for such a serious crime like child molestation, it would have been hard for Paterno to report his suspiscion to the police when he was a friend of Sandusky. Many people protested against Paterno's firing and that should already prove how much he was loved as a coach. He could have been arrested for disobeying Good Samaritan Law of the States if he did not stop Sandusky molesting the minor, but there aren't enough information on news.

#11 Keith Taylor's Story

For one thing, I guess karma does exist, seeing how Dr. Taylor had all three of his wishes come true. It's surprising how one of his dreams was to be a philanthropist because people are generally happy with making a donation when something pops up from time to time. A really caring person, he must be!

#10 Marc's Story

Craig's story was more impressive than Marc's because taking that initiative to found an organization from the scratch appears to be more challenging in my view. I wonder how Marc earns living, though, now that he goes around volunteering in hospitals. It's just that I can't understand why Marc didn't just work the big jobs, earn lots of money, and then use that money to at least pay back his student loans. He could also have donated money to the hospitals to get them better treatment. I guess I'm disappointed that Marc would be wasting his Harvard education to volunteer in a hospital -when he doesn't even have a medical degree! His future then was probably the most difficult decision he had ever made in his entire life. Although I admire Marc for having been able to follow his heart between the two choices, I find Craig's achievement more impressive, perhaps, because it's something I would less likely be able to accomplish. I just can't see myself choosing to volunteer in a hospital after earning a degree in Harvard.

#9 Book of Awesome

A Cup of Coffee
You are in Starbucks, scrunitizing the menu for what seems like hours trying to find something. Something that would warm your body to the core after a long, tiring walk in your trip back home in a chilly weather. You approach the cashier with your order in mind, finally asking for a grande vanilla latte. The machine is malfunctioning, he says, and so you wait. The guy at the cashier finally brings the cup of latte that you've been waiting for to the other counter to your near the exit. But, wait, you haven't paid, yet.
"It's alright," the guy shrugs. "It looked like you could use a cup of coffee."
Just like that, the coldness in your limbs evapourate, replaced by warm and fuzzy feelings of happiness radiating into your hands and to you heart. AWESOME!

#8 A Thanksgiving Idea

It's late, but anonymously writing down and putting it up was a great idea. I thought we could have all the students say these things to each other in perhaps next year, but I guess it might be a bit too cheesy for high school children? It kind of makes things really awkward to get all emotional in the middle of a random conversation, you see. As for me, I returned my parents some of their favours by giving them massages, doing chores, and being nice to my brother.

#7 The Power of Half

It might sound disrespectful, but I think, despite how admittedly noble the idea of the girl was, she might have been a bit too selfish on her part. Eight thousand dollars can't be earned, even after a decade of a part-time job, and all the girl gave away was only earned by her parents. Her and her brother would be moving away once they grew up, but her parents who had actually dedicated their fortune to buy that house would stay with the house they bought. It could have been inherited by their future generations, and yet they gave up on such a nice house only for their daughter's whim. I guess to make a huge difference, you need an equivalent amount of sacrifice from you and those around you. Either way, it doesn't seem to me that their family had planned anything before they donated their wealth other than selling their house and buying another. I think it would have been better if the girl had worked to earn the money herself and then contributed it for the cause. It would have been something she had earned that wouldn't inconvenience anyone else around her, like her brother, for example.

#6 Kim's Story

I have to wonder, how did she manage to return to being a public speaker after that experience of being a spokesperson of Vietnamese government under their threats? As a child, it must have been such a traumatic experience to fall victim to a war, and then being used by the government afterwards. Just imagining my skin melting from a third-degree burn gives me shivers. I can't believe that her husband was willing to abandon everything at the spur of the moment and up and illegally immigrate to a country they barely know anything about. It's great that she found what she could do to help get over her trauma and educating the future generations of the horror of war. I do wonder, though, why can't the governments think of a better way to compete, other than trying to obliterate everything into bits and pieces, with their genius strategists?

#5 Craig's Story

I admire Craig Kielburger the most for being able to put his thoughts into action because many people can dream about such ideal goals, but most will not be able to act upon those awesome thoughts. Also, I think Mr. and Mrs. Kielburger deserves every ounce of my respect towards them. I know I would not be able to live with my house turning into a mini headquarters of an organization; and I'm sure that not all parents would be able to support a project of such magnitude. It's really hard to believe that it was a twelve year old child who had started this idealism, this movement of changing the idea of "Me" to "We". It saddens me, on the other hand, because it means that the adults and the leaders of the world were so busy with our materialistic world that they didn't have the time to make an effort to solve the problem that even a twelve-year-old found immoral. The adults should not overlook the children's voices just because they are weak and less experienced.

#4 My Best Leadership Experience

My best leadership experience was when I went to Aroland, Ontario, in my first mission trip. It was the first time I'd ever considered what I had done as a true leadership experience. There were many other leaders than I, and we were the ones who operated the entire mission; while the adults kind of stood around for supervision. We taught them morals and values of the society, and befriended them while doing so. While it was touching to see that a few of them trusted us enough to share their problems, I found difficulty in counselling some of them. Organizing skits and preparing for the next day every night were what I found really delighting because it was during that night time that we got to mingle and gather everyones' ideas together. I think we were very responsible for everything that went on in our trip. Teaching and playing with the native children in Aroland had been as enjoyable as it was enlightening. I learned a lot in how to acquaint complete strangers, to supervise and encourage others. As hard as it was to not have an access to internet or music for ten days, it was worth it; and I would go again if the same opportunity were to come up.