Slebaka's Weblog

Steven Le — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:36:38 +0000

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/mp3clips/politicalspeeches/mlkingihaveadream654321.mp3

Identity, and the American Dream

Steven Le — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:20:58 +0000

Identity is something that defines a person, something or someone as only himself, not anyone else or anything else. I define it as who you are, and someone you know best. It is you and no one has the exact same identity. Your identity is what separates you from everyone else. Someone may be similar to you, but you are the only one to possess the idenity that you have. I am me and no one else. I am outgoing, but very shy at the same time. I tend to laugh and joke to somehow block my lack of confidence, but I am always learning to build confidence. I am oddly mature for my age. I am sixteen years old with a mind of not a teenager, but a mind of a philosopher with a strong heart. I pursue of being a benevolent and kind hearted person. Many things make up my identity, even if I may not know it’s there. A story that happened in my life that was important into forming my identity is my family. My family loathed me in many ways, bring my self-esteem down and much more. It effected me and it also changed me. I learned many things about kindness, personality, and many more. I personally define the American Dream as a utopia. A place where everyone dreams to be. Everyone has their own American Dream. There is never two exact same American Dreams because no two persons have the exact same mind. I don’t know if my family has an American Dream or not, but they mostly likely do. Everyone has an ideal world of their own, even if they never actually took the time to think about it. I do have an American Dream and it is to have purity all over the world. Everyone is happy and healthy with no issues in life. No pollutions or any problems. No natural distasters to harm or destroy. No selfish thoughts or horrible acts caused by anyone, everyone is kind and outgoing with a strong mind with a pure heart. That is my American Dream. America is not fulfilling the promise of the American Dream for everyone because the people don’t have the same oppurtunities and the well-being of others effects people too. It is not possible for any american to reach their American Dream and it’s only possible for some because all American Dreams are different. Some American Dreams will never be reached because it’s actually just a dream, which will not come to reality. American Dreams that are small, that can be accomplished through shear hard work can be reached. It depends on What the American Dream is, whether or not you do it alone, and how you actually pursue it. Not all people in American have equal oppurtunites to achieve their American Dream because some are born with little, some are born with a lot. Things happen in life all the time, that can rip oppurtunites away as well. Those who are poor may not be able to achieve something something that needs plenty of wealth. There are many reasons to whether or not a person has even the slightest possibility of achieving their American Dream. It’s just how it is pursued and how it is done. If there is an American Dream that is achieved in America, then it is possible for any other country to achieve the same dream. Everyone has the ability to achieve the same dreams if they are achievable. However, they can be limited due to their number of oppurtunuities. I believe the American dream is still worth believing and pursuing because it’s motivational to me, which keeps me up and going and it’s like a purpose in life. It’s all how you see it. I do my best everyday to pursue my American Dream. I always try to help the environment and help people become kind. I as well am learning because there is so many things to learn about the world, and about people. I do not believe I will ever reach my American Dream because it is just impossible for everyone to be fully benevolent and kind. There will always be problems in the world, and there is always people who have it worse then others. There is greed and selfishness all over the world. My American Dream is only a dream, which will never become reality. However, I still keep in mind, that my American Dream is magnificent and not naive. So I continue to pursue it with all my efforts and might.

Boy Without a Flag

Steven Le — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:17:09 +0000

I believe that the narrator’s father is not giving him good advice because the narrator could not understand his words. Even if the advice may good in other’s opinion, if it is not understandable, it does not matter. Instead of helping the narrator, his father is discouraging him when he should encourage him or convince him about his dream to be a writer. If the narrator’s father wanted to give him good advice, he shouldn’t be bringing him down with disbeliefs. “‘You have to find something serious to do with your life,’ he told me one night.” “‘This if fun as a hobby,’ my father said, ‘but you can’t get serious about this.’” His father never appreciated his son’s work, nor did he become happy about what he did. As a father, he should support his child and teach him as he grows up.

In the beginning of the story, it seemed as if the narrator and his father had a great and nice relationship. As the story progresses and time passes by in the story, there is a turning point in the relationship. The father tells stories about the past and history and the narrator begins to wonder and imagine. Their relationship becomes unstable as time passes by. The narrator wrote many, many books and continued to. He tried to make his father read at least one of his books, but his father just ignored them all. “He berated my books and one night handed me a copy of a book about Albizu Campos. When the narrator went to school, he chose to not salute the flag for the Pledge of Alligiance because his father told him about how the Americans. “‘We had our own revolution,’ my father said, ‘and the United States crushed it with the flick of a pinkie.’” The narrator’s father is telling two whole different sides. To support the United States, but to also be against it. How is that possible? The narrator becomes more and more confused.

The narrator is right not to stand for the Pledge of Allegian because he should be able to choose whether or not he should stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance. He has the right to not stand up as well. He is free to choose and disobeying the school rules is not a disciplinary action. I agree more with Miss Colon than Mr. Rios about why the narrator should stand for the Pledge of Allegiance because she is more calm and sensitive on trying to help the narrator and nicely trying to convince the narrator about standing for the Please of Allegiance. She did not yell or lose her cool, so she did better.

The Narrator’s father does not give him good advice when the narrator asks, “Why should a Puerto Rican slute the American flag?” because he, himself, told the narrator that American people were the ones to destroy a revolution of the Puero Rican’s. It was clear then, that the narrator should not be saluting nor respecting the flag, but his father is giving another side. His tone of voice seemed harsh and very riggorous. I do not agree with Miss Colon’s advice about standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and saluting the flag because I believe the narrator was right. He does not need to salute the flag one at any time. Principal Mr. Sepulveda gives good advice even though it may not be helpful. He explained why it would be wise to standing to the Pledge of Allegiance and saluting it, but did not ever take sides with the narrator’s point of view. I believe the narrator’s father was no longer his father in that moment. His father just betrayed him when the narrator was expecting him to become somewhat of a savior. One who would agree and support him, but he just trashed him down, drowned with pride.

What is Freedom?

Steven Le — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:08:08 +0000

My definition of freedom is to be able to do what you want to without going too far. Freedom does mean being able to do whatever you want, but even having freedom needs a limit to how you use it. I believe neither public security or personal freedom is more important than the other, it depends on different situations. It would turn out to be a utopia if we are free to do whatever we want to as long as it does not directly harm someone else because the reason for us to have some freedom removed from us, is to protect us from any harm. I am not free to do what I want because of parents, teachers, and the laws prohibit me from doing certain things that I wish to do. Depending on your reason for break the law will make it either okay or not okay to break it. I realy believe standing up for what you believe in is more important than obeying all the rules and laws to stay out of trouble because it means you care about your choices and is not bounded by something else. You are free, and expressing yourself in your own way without no interference of another force.