Jayde Ketelaar
Mr. Patin (Honors) English 10 – Period 2 13 May 2015 Living A Selfless Life The ordinary human makes about 35,000 choices a day, we choose what we will wear, eat, do, and so many other things. What if the ability to make these choices was taken away from you? In Lois Lowry’s The Giver, the ability for people to make choices for themselves has been basically revoked. The people of these communities are living a perfect life as they see it, but in reality it is a life full of grey and sameness. Jonas, the chosen receiver of memory, decided that this was something that needed to change. Through living a life of grey and sameness, Jonas realized that having the ability to make his own life choices was something his community was seriously lacking. He realized that the ability to choose where life led, was his own. Everyone should have the ability to choose. At the beginning of his adventure, Jonas is very courageous and confident. He and the Giver came up with an excellent plan to find Elsewhere. Jonas wanted to give the people the abilities that he had been given as the receiver. He wanted to show everyone things like color, feelings, love, and the ability to make choices. The Giver was in agreement with this and believed in Jonas and his capability to complete the quest. Along the way, many things occurred that Jonas had not planned or prepared for; at times he became quite anxious and scared at what might be to come, but he remained courageous and conquered through the trying events of the journey. Jonas truly shows that being able to make his own choices helped him to decide his own fate. Jonas conceptualized an idea of his future, he pondered the thought of a family, a spouse, he thinks of the things that his family will not experience, the things he will not be able to share with them. He finds that the things that he has, he will not be able to share with them. The thought of this saddens him as he questions The Giver of the rules he will face “‘So if I have a spouse, and maybe children, I will have to hide the books from them?’ The Giver nodded. ‘I wasn't permitted to share the books with my spouse, thats correct’” (129). Jonas wants the ability to share the things he has with his family, he wants the freedom that the community has not given him. Jonas is set out to change this. As life continues, the Giver proceeds to tell Jonas about the things that have been concealed from the people of the communities, the choices that have been taken away from them. This angers him past the point of return, he shares his feelings with the Giver. “‘But I want them!’ Jonas said angrily. ‘It isn’t fair that nothing has color.’ The Giver looked at Jonas curiously. ‘Explain what you mean?’ ‘Well.. If everything's the same then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!’” (123). Jonas began to realize just how many choices had been stolen from him and the people of the communities. He decided this needed to change. Jonas seems to almost mock the community leaders as he says. "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a new child's toy. But later it does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own" (17). He states the fact that his choices are not his own, the communities have total control, but this is something that is not fair or humane. How can they live a life with no choices? How can they be happy when they don’t even know what the feeling of happiness truly is? As we can see, we are all truly lucky to have the ability to make choices of our own. This novel brings a very eye opening experience. This gives us a chance to realize just how privileged we are in our lives and how crucial the ability to choose really is. Jonas was determined to make the life of his community a better one, even if this required putting his, and his family, in danger. Jonas was selfless enough to risk his own life to benefit everyone else's showing just how important something such as having the ability to choose really is. As a child of either gender we go through our earliest years wanting one thing. We want to grow up. The thing is do we really know what growing up entails?
Therefor Most of us envision growing up to be simple, we get bigger, stronger, prettier, and smarter. But, no one informed us of the productions that will be taking place inside of our bodies. As I grew up I was lucky to have one class my 4th grade year communicating to me all the things that were soon to change in my body, and of course being the shy child I was I didn't want to listen. I remember that our parents had to sign a permission slip in order to go to this class witch frankly consisted of learning about body parts and puberty, something that I knew nothing about. The fact that a permission slip was needed for this class confused me, why was learning about my body something I needed permission from my mother to do? Sexual education is a touchy subject as some people would say, but the question is why is it? By all accounts, Sexual education is not something that should not be rare and dreaded, in fact, it should be embraced and talked about we should be informed as young adults of the things that are coming our way in the future. Julie Metzger has been working for years to turn this "touchy subject" into something that is fun and informational. Julie started a class that women and there daughters can attend (& vise versa) the class enables parents and children to be together while learning about what's to come inside their body's and their future life choices. By making this class something parents attend with their children, it allows children to become more comfortable sharing what they are experiencing in their life with their parents without embarrassment. Metzger takes a more personal approach to the class, allowing the children to ask whatever questions they would like without their parents judging, the children shock her with the wonders and questions the have. By allowing these parents to hear what their child is thinking it builds a new sort of comfort ability between the two. The children discover that learning about their bodies and sex is not something to be afraid of but more of something to embrace. Metzger says that watching these children enter her class embarrassed and frightened is something that she would like to change. She wants to change the way children think about sex and their bodies. By ignoring this step we are harming our children not helping. Most of us grow u knowing that sex is something that should be postponed and shared with the person we want to share the rest of our lives with but the thing is how many of us know what really comes with sex? By teaching children about sex we are not promoting, we are informing. Because we all know that a teenager is more likely to want to do something that they have been told all their life they should not do, unless they know the consequences they could initially be facing. So overall we can see that Metzgers approach to sexual education is something that be further embraced, what good are we doing cheating our future generations out of the right to learn about their own body? Feeling good about yourself can be quite the challenge at times, we wake up every morning with the thought that we have to be perfect because this is put in our minds by tabloids and other things, this is not the case. But when I wake up everyday I preform the same daily routine. My routine includes making myself feel as if I look presentable, and making my appearance meet my own standards. For me creating an acceptable self image is an obligation, but for some this need doesn't exist. Is this something that could effect them throughout life?
Many don't realize that even though we're walking through the same doors every morning, those people who we see are looking with judging eyes even if they refuse to admit it. I myself know from personal experience that I am doing the same. When I look at the surrounding students, I see a vast variety. I watch and see all the sorts pass me by, you see the boys that may have taken 5 extra minutes to match their basketball shorts with their T-Shirt, you see the girls who obviously spent the time to create something you would like to pin on Pinterest, and you see the few who look as if they've just rolled out of bed. Now not always is this a bad thing but, there is a time and place for that and all I am saying is that maybe this is not one of those places. When walking into any high school you will see congregations of people who seem to reflect each other's appearance. While going through life I find that I surround myself with people who seem to appear similar to the way I do, as do most people. This is not a bad thing! If you practice putting time into your appearance you can practice putting time into the things you do, others will realize the time you put in and you will be rewarded in some way or another. Now this reward could vary from something as small as a compliment, or it could be the deciding factor in a job interview, maybe you will simply develop a confident skin that you didn't have before. Not only can this help you in your future but also it can be quite fun! style is something that can be played around with, be yourself and show others that its ok to be different, its oK not to wear what everyone else wears, you don't have to follow the trends be yourself and show off that pretty smile! With all this being said, I'm not saying you can't have those sweatpants days. Believe me we all do. I'm only saying, consider the way you present yourself, work with what you have and dress for the occasion. Choose to be the one who walks through the halls with the feel good Confident smile on there face! It doesn't take much, and you'll be on your way. |
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