This I Believe: How To Survive Life's Tests

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100338235

              

 Kendra Jones is a professor at Wallace Community College. She is well known as being the though, mean and cold blooded. Most students see her as just another teacher who loves to “push students harder than they want to be pushed”, but behind all of this toughness is a woman with a very difficult life experience; an unbelievable but true story.

                Life experiences made Kendra the way she is; her father taught her to be strong and brave. A family of three; little Kendra was the only child also “the son” her dad “never had” she was the one “he took to the gym, the one who could run faster than the boys, the one who played all day with a broken collarbone” they spent much time together that built a strong bond. Being with her dad all this time made her tougher. The power to not give up also made her get through many complicated situation like almost getting raped, the brave Kendra writes “left an imprint of my phone on his face. I memorized details of his face and clothing. Determined to keep other women from being violated, I identified him, testified against him and made sure he went to jail.” She also saw her loving father die from harsh cancer.  This memorable character has been through so much that you should never judge a person by what they seem to be. You never know until you have been in their shoes, no one knows what they could be going through.

                In my opinion this woman was very brave by telling her great story and I think it could teach many a very valuable lesson. After reading this I thought about my life and compared it to hers and realized that I should start valuing things more and not taking all the things I have for granted. The other lesson Kendra Jones taught me was that you should never give up, there might be some hard times but I know I will get through them. No matter which way you look at her story you will learn something because Mrs. Jones is truly a woman hero. 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Super Smart Note

In “The book Thief” by Markus Zusak, Max Vandenburg is very mysterious character. He is a Jew; Jews are thought to be weak and to always stay in the dark shadows where they are unnoticeable, this is what people believed in the time of the Holocaust. However, not all Jews are the same; Max is different in many ways, he is not afraid to be who he is and he is very special, “Not many people who come from his neighborhood were fighters and if they were, they didn’t do it with their fists. In those days, they said the Jews preferred to simply stand and take things. Take the abuse quietly and then work their way back to the top. Obviously, every Jew is not the same. He was nearly two years old when his father died, shot to pieces in a grassy hill. When he was nine, his mother was completely broke. She sold the music studio that doubled as their apartment and they moved to his uncle’s house. There he grew up with his cousins who battered, annoyed and loved him. Fighting with the oldest one, Isaac, was the training ground for his fist fighting.” Max has had a very harsh past, with many difficulties and devastating events. This has probably made Max the fighter that he is today, since his father died when he was just a little boy that must have been very difficult also the fact that his mother went completely broke and they lost their home must have really affected him and led him to fight. The influence of his cousins made him a fighter as well, because they battered him and taught him how to be strong. His past makes me understand why he truly is who he is now. This is very important to the story because it helps me to figure out what kind of person Max is and why he is this way. This passage taught me that Max Vandenburg is a fighter, because of his cruel past and experiences.