They say Valentine’s Day is the day for lovers. That is all well and good if you have a lover. Otherwise, the day can be a very lonely.

On Valentine’s Day, a few of my friends and I went out for dinner. One of my friends bought me a bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolate, and he played me a song on his guitar. After the dinner, we all decided to go out for a walk. As we were walking, we came across this homeless lady sitting alone on a bench. My friends continued to walk, but I decided to stop and say hello to her. After talking to her, it seemed like she was a very nice and genuine lady. I could tell that she was very lonely and sad because she didn’t have anyone to spend this beautiful day with. So I gave her my flowers and my chocolate. I could tell that she really did apprecitate it, but I felt that she was still missing something. So I told my friend to sing her the song that he sang to me. As he sang it to her, her face was lit up with joy. It seemed as though she had never felt or looked this happy before. Once he was done singing, she was so happy, and she said thank you to us. That one thank you really made my day. It really felt good to just spread a little love to a someone who really needed it.

I think Valentine’s Day can be expanded to embrace all those who love life and hope that their tomorrows will be better than today. This woman made me realize that the little things we give can mean so much to someone else. At this point, I feel that the things we do now lay the foundation for kindness and the building of our character that we would really need in the future. 

“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the worlds remains and is immortal.”

~Albert Pike

This is the song that my friend sang to the homeless lady and me – weak by:Passion (press the play icon to listen)

Here I lay, dying.

Choking on my dreams,

my countless dreams that I would never fulfill.

The dream of a life where I can be loved is gone.

The dream of a life where I can be seen is gone.

The dream of a life where I can belong is gone.

Why?

Why did you have to do this to me?

 What have I ever done to You, God?

Is this the sound of truth?

The waves that crash against each other,

are these my hopes?

My hopes of one day becoming something or even a “someone.”

Behind me lies another fallen warrior.

A fallen warrior whose hopes and dreams are pushing him away,

down to a place where everything just disappears with no remains.

The voice that once spoke to me and guided me has now betrayed me.

The prayers I’ve said and the promises He made are all broken by the ferocious waves that tumble upon me.

He doesn’t want me.

I am forced to die an unforeseen death by a Man who just didn’t like me.

 Is this truly my fate?

What did I do to deserve this?

When this world dies away, do I follow?

Or will a new one await me?

Does he want to bury me in this forgotten water where all is lost?

How cruel can this man be?

I was never able to live the life of my vision.

Instead, I was forced into my worse nightmare.

My blood now turns into tears that fill and make up the blue sea.

The tears of a believer, the tears of a dreamer, the tears true of a hero.

My world fades before me, as I lay here, dying.

Based on a wonderful and inspirational story of a true hero.

                        From: .net

Being nominated for the Blog of the Month award meant so much to me.  Not only did it symbolize all my hard work and dedication to my blog and to myself, but it was an honor to be recognized.  To quote Robert Green Ingersoll, “It is better to deserve without receiving, than to receive without deserving.”  This recognition, I hope, will assist me to pursue my writing for the world to see.

The brave words of a once silenced man have now been heard throughout a great nation. His strive for change has now become America’s sign of hope. The hope of a nation where people can be “judged by their character’s content.” The hope of a nation where goals and promises can be kept and reached. The hope of nation where people are unified to make the world a better place for our children, our children’s children, and the many generations there is to come.

This is an exceptional moment in U.S. history, not because Barack Obama is the first black president (although that’s certainly noteworthy) but because “we’re at one of those rare crossroads when we know the next four years will be of great importance to the future of our nation” (Alan Stewart Carl).

We all realize that the times ahead of us will be very difficult. We don’t know what president Obama is going to bring to the table. “But, today is a day for thinking about the future and realizing what needs to be done by all of us if we want the next four years to be better” (John Murphy) .

He has come so far and so long, and now, he is not only known as Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States, but as Barack Obama, the symbol of change, hope, and a new beginning.

–Sun Tzu

–Karl von Clausewitz

“War is hell.”

–Anonymous

Many believe that the purpose of war is to obtain peace. Others believe war is “about achieving political gains.” (Sun Tzu) However, does peace always have to be reached by warfare? Why can’t peace be accomplished by diplomacy and in a non-combat way? 

You have probably heard about the war between the Gaza Strip and Israel circulating throughout the news.  It all started in bible times, but their fighting still continues today. Although they faced their differences for more than many, many years, their fighting has inclined to the highest point. 

Israel made up of two major ethnic groups, which is Jewish and Non-Jewish (Arabs). There is a group of Arab refugees that are called the Palestinians who live in two areas of Israel: The West Bank, and Gaza Strip, and in both areas is where two terrorist organizations, Hamas and Fatahs, reside in. According to BBC news, “The present conflict is taking place in Gaza against Hamas. Over the years, Hamas has been sending thousands of rockets (provided by Iran) into Israel, killing many and destroying a lot. Recently, a ceasefire was made between Israel and Hamas, however Hamas never kept the ceasefire properly and recently shot around 80 missiles into Israel. Fed up with the constant rockets, Israel is mounting a full military strike in Gaza in order to demobilize Hamas. The problem is that Hamas situates itself in public areas like schools, universities, parks, neighborhoods, ect, and consequently, sometimes civilians are caught up in the fire. In order to avoid this, Israel drops flyers in these areas in order to warn them to evacuate. Often, they ignore these messages, or are forced to stay by Hamas. This leads to innocent casualties.” Many people knew that this war would only get worse and a compromise between them was far out of reach. So the U.N. (United Nations- a “platform for dialogue” {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations} where different countries can stop and avoid wars between countries in a non-combat way) took the matter into their own hands, but instead, the Israelites bombed a U.N. agency providing aid for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and on a UN school.

Although there isn’t an innocent side to this war, I believe that Hamas has the most blood on their hands.

Who called off the truce with the Israelites?

 HAMAS!  

Who originally began launching missiles?

HAMAS! 

Who endangered and killed hundreds of innocent lives by placing their “headquarters” among civilian neighborhoods?  

HAMAS!

I don’t like innocent civilians dying, but for the reasons mentioned above, I remind myself that these innocent people are dying because of

HAMAS!!!

For a more unbiased reasoning for the war between Israel and the Gaza Strip Click Here.

When I read a book sometimes I jump to the end of the chapter to find out how it ends. If I like the outcome, I’ll continue to read the entire book. If not, I lose interest. It’s not worth it. This is my approach on almost everything I do. For instance, video games. If the game looks boring and the ending of the game is boring, I wouldn’t waste my time on it. One game that did take a lot of my time was Raymond Raging Rabids. The game had all the elements I could ask for. It was funny, entertaining, challenging, interactive, but best of all the ending was awesome. To see Raymond escape from Rabbit Jail was so fulfilling because I made it happen.

Playing the piano also brings out the best in me. One of my favorite songs to play is Disney’s “When You Wish Upon A Star.” I have no formal piano training so I had to learn it by ear. I constantly practiced. I would really get annoyed when I would fumble the notes on the keys of the piano, and sometimes I felt like just giving up. What pushed me was the music. It was very inspiring. After much practice, I was finally able to play the whole piece without any mistakes. Learning to play it was worth it. I love that song and the ending just gets to me all the time.

I believe that challenges become one’s passion because it gives meaning. If you think about it, the best accomplishments were the ones with the greatest challenges; Edmund Hillary reaching the top of Mt. Everest, Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon, Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals. They were all passionate in reaching their goal and took up the difficult challenges to succeed. Definitely, life is best lived with challenges and all its worth.

Here is a video compilation of inspirational speeches from famous movies by:MBelinkie that can help you overcome the many challenges you may face.