Intelligentsia: Mr. Wass's Social Studies Blog

Life is short, and can go by in the blink of an eye. So many things to do, So little time. IN the movie “The Bucket List”, Two men, played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, fulfilled their bucket list; things they wanted to do before they ‘kick the bucket’. What are the top ten things on your ‘bucket list’? What do you want to do before you die? What things do you want to do in order to make your life complete? Are you one of the people that wants to go sky-diving or do you want to go see the seven wonders of the world? Or maybe you just want to realize what it means to ‘Live’.

“We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round.” – Jack Nicholson as Edward Cole. The Bucket List (2007)

Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned
and the last fish has been caught
will we realize that we can’t eat money.

Cree Proverb

Why is the word can’t in our vocabulary? The word can’t is like the curse of words. Back in New York, as I always went to my baseball trainer during the winter, there’s a sign that says, “never say can’t.” My reason why that sign is there is to let the baseball players in the training facility never say the word can’t. My trainer always told me, ” never say you can’t do something unless you’ve tried it” This is true. A lot of people always say I can’t do something but the question they get in return is, have you tried doing it? My father always tells me never but the word cant in front of my dreams, because then my dreams won’t come true. I have found inner talents that I never thought I had. The way I found those inner talents was by trying and not saying the word can’t. This word is not very helpful to most people. Just try doing something and if you can’t do it, then you can say i can’t do that. Never say I can’t do something unless you have tried it.

This question is hard to answer for some students. If any students have gotten into an argument with their parents because of friends, this is the question that they ask you. Your parents would always like to know who your friends are and they want to know if they are respectful and care about their work and stuff like that. It is your job to choose your friends wisely. If you do not chose your friends wisely, they can bring you down along with themselves. Choosing friends may be hard for some people and it may not be hard for others, but who do you consider your friends? Who do you consider people that are not your friends?

How does it feel to be living on campus. How would you feel if you were living on campus? Would you be home sick? Will you miss your parents? How would other people act since thier from different countries and states? How would you be different from these other people? All of these questions are what a boarding student at Rabun Gap or any other boarding school will ask themselves befroe commiting to boarding school. In my opinion, I think I love being away from my parents. Yes I do miss them a lot, but it was thier decision to send me away to boarding school. I also wanted to come to boarding school. It is really fun to be a boarding student at Rabun Gap because you have the different ethnicities that we can all mingle with. It is not like back at my hometown where I have a group of people I only talk to. There will be a lot of fun and games when it comes to the weekend activities, but when that Monday hits, it is all focus time. We have to put that fun and games away until school is over. My question to you is, if you had the chance to become a boarding student, will you board? Why? What are the reason for your decision? are you going to miss home? Do you think you will grow up in a boarding school and become a well talented and intelligent young man or young women?

The shots are fired,

And we all go down.

The pavement cracks,

Without a sound.

I don’t understand,

Why the hate us so much.

Their eyes so cold,

No love in their touch.

The tears are coming fast,

I pray that I’ll last.

But the evil overwhelms me,

I’m screaming now,

Why won’t they let me be?

I’m fading fast,

I know I can’t last.

Can they not see?

What they have done to me?

Everyone has heard of Miley Cyrus, former star of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana. She has a new song called, “Party in the USA”. I personally like the song. So one day, I went on Youtube. I watched the music video and was astonished (youtube link below). Here is a role model for many teens and pre-teens and under dancing and wearing what she probably shouldn’t wear because of that fact. So I started to look at the comments and I saw one from an aunt who had concerns about the video. She had said that her niece looked up to Miley and was starting to act like she did in the video.

“Party in the USA”

How many celebrities (other then Miley) are role models to kids and are having an impact on the way they act? Should celebrities be expected to be role models for kids? Are the actions of Miley in the video acceptable, assuming that she is a role model?

What if there was something so beautiful that there was nothing in the world that could compare to that one thing? It became your first priority anything else had to come second. In your eyes it was so important so precious; there shouldn’t be anything in the world that should even try to compete with it. And when something or someone did try, it made you insanely angry. Because you knew that nothing could make you happy except for that one thing. It was the one thing that defined beauty. And therefore it becomes the beast. Slowly with time this one possession became the reason of your whole existence. It makes you filled with disgust for anything else that cared for you. This possession has no love for you, but yet you love it like a thirsting man would love water. This is what makes it so revolting, just like money. There is no end to the insatiable desire for it. No end to the ugly green piece of paper that controls not only us, but America. In the United States, money can buy happiness. So I ask if money is happiness than why are we so miserable?

When people see some things as beautiful,

Other things become ugly.

When people see some things as good,

Other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.

Difficult and easy support each other.

Long and short define each other.

High and low depend on each other.

Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master

acts without doing anything

and teaches without saying anything.

Watts, Allen. What is Toa? Novato: New World Library, 2000.

Can we teach without using words? Are our actions more important than our words?