Touching the Untouched
Okay, so this is my final draft of "Touching the Untouched," an essay I
wrote on Thursday for Ms. Brookover's class. I asked Rod for his input
on Thursday, (LMAO Lewis.. "Hey Chris, there goes your boyfriend..")
and he sent me an e-mail with his feedback.
I just read your paper. I loved it. Very deep. You asked for a teacher's input and I will freely give it to you.
One of the things that make a paper memorable is its message. Your message is strong. But who really remembers all those stong messages out there in the world? Can you list all the ten Commandments (Judaism/Christian) or the Eight Fold Path (Buddhism)?
To deliver a good message, the deliver must be equally good. Reading your paper, I took it upon myself to write in some suggestions... just to make it flow easier, increase the its speed and deliver the good message faster.
It's up to you, of course, to accept any changes.
I will not be at work Friday, Feb. 4th. I will be at a Masonic Burial and then take care of some tax papers for the Lodge. If you need this paper tomorrow, I can make a trip to school and hand it to you. If it can wait for Monday... I can deliver it then to you. Please call me. 956.266.9837 and let me know. I will have it with me in the car. Should you call, I can deliver it. If you don't call, I will take it that you don't need it until Monday.
Please note, my cell number has changed. It is NO longer 956.266.3054.
Have a good one, Laura.
Rod
Laura A. Zamora
Ms. Brookover
English II-5
3 February 2005
Touching the Untouched
The world is seen through over six billion pairs of eyes everyday. No two minds will ever be synchronized enough to think the same way. The most popular way to change someone’s values or opinion on a certain topic is to make an impact on them. The world would be much simpler if free will could be affected. Unfortunately, life has turned out to be a bit more complicated than that - the only way that I’m aware of to change a multiple number of people’s views is to start a chain reaction.
I have noticed many changes in people, whether they are changes in appearance, changes in attitude, belief, or routine. Some people change for the better, others for worse. An impact can be received from something as simple as a form of advice and can go as complex as being impacted by an omen. It can be received by someone close to you, such as a relative, or by an anonymous person, such as a famous author or philosopher. Most impacts I have witnessed or received come from words of wisdom said by my loved ones.
A recent impact I received was from a group of people. It was an impact that taught me a lesson: be careful who you trust. I have been told repeatedly that I trust people too easily, but I find that when I put my faith and trust in people when others would dare not to, they almost never betray me. I would hope that people would put that same faith in me. Trust and honesty is an investment we put in each other; if one builds enough trust in someone else and shows themselves to be honest, that someone else will do the same in return. I have always followed these ethics but recently learned to be a bit more careful. Now I make sure that I don’t over-invest my trust in them because someone may end up disappointed. I still do trust a large amount of people, but I’m keeping an eye out on just how much I trust them. I was impacted in a negative way and know I didn’t learn this lesson the easy way out, but sometimes negative impacts are the most effective.
A deeper impact I received was at the age of thirteen. A good friend of mine showed me the worthiness of compassion, and I have cherished that value since. When all else fails and there seems to be no hope left, a little kindness can go a long way. I was in desperate need of someone to talk to, and a simple “Hello” ended up being all I needed. The boy who told me “Hello” on one of my worst days turned out to be the person I trusted most that year. He taught me to always have faith in people and to never give up on them. I became very religious because of him. He believed in me and it boosted my confidence. He taught me that first, second, and sometimes third impressions of someone can be deceitful. A few brief conversations with one person will not give anyone a right to judge them. They might be rude, but jumping to conclusions won’t help anyone. Most of the time, one person won’t truly have a deep conversation with them. They won’t know if the rude person might have experienced hurt, experienced love, had a bad day, etc. There are plenty of circumstances. I was taught to really get to know someone before shunning them. I now look for the beauty and the best in everyone before I make a judgment. Looking hard enough will help find a light in that person’s soul, and I know that if I become closer to that person, that light has the capability to grow - but if ignorance and misinterpreted first impressions keep one person from finding the beauty in everyone, this world will miss out on a lot. I had a complete transformation of personality and thank the friend who taught me those morals to this day for the compassion he showed towards me. I apply that faith and unconditional love towards my everyday life and it has benefited me in multiple ways. A dictionary definition of compassion is “a feeling of sympathy for another’s misfortune.” My definition of compassion is forgiving, loving, helping, leading, and showing mercy for others. I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same.
A chain reaction is a link of impacts from person to person. There are both positive and negative chain reactions. One example of a negative chain reaction is if one person is rude to another and ruins their day. That person may be in a bad mood after that and ruin someone else’s cheerful mood, and the chain goes on. I hope to someday start a positive chain reaction like in the movie Pay it Forward. That film showed that a simple deed can benefit someone else and make them change for the better. It also showed the effects of a chain reaction.
Everyone is human, therefore everyone makes mistakes. I took a friend for granted and lost him as a friend for ten months. I put up with people disliking me for ten months because of him, people telling me to give up and move on because he wasn’t going to forgive me, and people laughing at me for the faith I carried within myself and within him. It all paid off. He realized that ten months of agony didn’t affect my unconditional love for him and found the strength in his heart to forgive me. He was the same person who made the deepest impact on me at age thirteen. It was ironic how he applied compassion to me and I applied what he taught me right back at him. After this incident, another good friend of mine thanked me for inspiring her to always put her faith in people and never give up. She admired my determination and applies that same hope to her loved ones today. Not only did I retain my best friend, but I made my first real impact on someone.
I hope to make many more impacts like such as life goes on. I will not consider my life complete until I start a big chain reaction and am acknowledged for it. If any chain reaction is started and I am the catalyst, it will most likely be an impact that teaches people to always find the best and the beauty in everyone. Trust and compassion can truly make this world a better place to live and can make this life more worthy to everyone else. Perhaps my codes of ethics sound like a fantasy that can never be reached, but we will never know until we try. We all just have to have an open mind and a free will to reach the unreached.
I just read your paper. I loved it. Very deep. You asked for a teacher's input and I will freely give it to you.
One of the things that make a paper memorable is its message. Your message is strong. But who really remembers all those stong messages out there in the world? Can you list all the ten Commandments (Judaism/Christian) or the Eight Fold Path (Buddhism)?
To deliver a good message, the deliver must be equally good. Reading your paper, I took it upon myself to write in some suggestions... just to make it flow easier, increase the its speed and deliver the good message faster.
It's up to you, of course, to accept any changes.
I will not be at work Friday, Feb. 4th. I will be at a Masonic Burial and then take care of some tax papers for the Lodge. If you need this paper tomorrow, I can make a trip to school and hand it to you. If it can wait for Monday... I can deliver it then to you. Please call me. 956.266.9837 and let me know. I will have it with me in the car. Should you call, I can deliver it. If you don't call, I will take it that you don't need it until Monday.
Please note, my cell number has changed. It is NO longer 956.266.3054.
Have a good one, Laura.
Rod
Laura A. Zamora
Ms. Brookover
English II-5
3 February 2005
Touching the Untouched
The world is seen through over six billion pairs of eyes everyday. No two minds will ever be synchronized enough to think the same way. The most popular way to change someone’s values or opinion on a certain topic is to make an impact on them. The world would be much simpler if free will could be affected. Unfortunately, life has turned out to be a bit more complicated than that - the only way that I’m aware of to change a multiple number of people’s views is to start a chain reaction.
I have noticed many changes in people, whether they are changes in appearance, changes in attitude, belief, or routine. Some people change for the better, others for worse. An impact can be received from something as simple as a form of advice and can go as complex as being impacted by an omen. It can be received by someone close to you, such as a relative, or by an anonymous person, such as a famous author or philosopher. Most impacts I have witnessed or received come from words of wisdom said by my loved ones.
A recent impact I received was from a group of people. It was an impact that taught me a lesson: be careful who you trust. I have been told repeatedly that I trust people too easily, but I find that when I put my faith and trust in people when others would dare not to, they almost never betray me. I would hope that people would put that same faith in me. Trust and honesty is an investment we put in each other; if one builds enough trust in someone else and shows themselves to be honest, that someone else will do the same in return. I have always followed these ethics but recently learned to be a bit more careful. Now I make sure that I don’t over-invest my trust in them because someone may end up disappointed. I still do trust a large amount of people, but I’m keeping an eye out on just how much I trust them. I was impacted in a negative way and know I didn’t learn this lesson the easy way out, but sometimes negative impacts are the most effective.
A deeper impact I received was at the age of thirteen. A good friend of mine showed me the worthiness of compassion, and I have cherished that value since. When all else fails and there seems to be no hope left, a little kindness can go a long way. I was in desperate need of someone to talk to, and a simple “Hello” ended up being all I needed. The boy who told me “Hello” on one of my worst days turned out to be the person I trusted most that year. He taught me to always have faith in people and to never give up on them. I became very religious because of him. He believed in me and it boosted my confidence. He taught me that first, second, and sometimes third impressions of someone can be deceitful. A few brief conversations with one person will not give anyone a right to judge them. They might be rude, but jumping to conclusions won’t help anyone. Most of the time, one person won’t truly have a deep conversation with them. They won’t know if the rude person might have experienced hurt, experienced love, had a bad day, etc. There are plenty of circumstances. I was taught to really get to know someone before shunning them. I now look for the beauty and the best in everyone before I make a judgment. Looking hard enough will help find a light in that person’s soul, and I know that if I become closer to that person, that light has the capability to grow - but if ignorance and misinterpreted first impressions keep one person from finding the beauty in everyone, this world will miss out on a lot. I had a complete transformation of personality and thank the friend who taught me those morals to this day for the compassion he showed towards me. I apply that faith and unconditional love towards my everyday life and it has benefited me in multiple ways. A dictionary definition of compassion is “a feeling of sympathy for another’s misfortune.” My definition of compassion is forgiving, loving, helping, leading, and showing mercy for others. I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same.
A chain reaction is a link of impacts from person to person. There are both positive and negative chain reactions. One example of a negative chain reaction is if one person is rude to another and ruins their day. That person may be in a bad mood after that and ruin someone else’s cheerful mood, and the chain goes on. I hope to someday start a positive chain reaction like in the movie Pay it Forward. That film showed that a simple deed can benefit someone else and make them change for the better. It also showed the effects of a chain reaction.
Everyone is human, therefore everyone makes mistakes. I took a friend for granted and lost him as a friend for ten months. I put up with people disliking me for ten months because of him, people telling me to give up and move on because he wasn’t going to forgive me, and people laughing at me for the faith I carried within myself and within him. It all paid off. He realized that ten months of agony didn’t affect my unconditional love for him and found the strength in his heart to forgive me. He was the same person who made the deepest impact on me at age thirteen. It was ironic how he applied compassion to me and I applied what he taught me right back at him. After this incident, another good friend of mine thanked me for inspiring her to always put her faith in people and never give up. She admired my determination and applies that same hope to her loved ones today. Not only did I retain my best friend, but I made my first real impact on someone.
I hope to make many more impacts like such as life goes on. I will not consider my life complete until I start a big chain reaction and am acknowledged for it. If any chain reaction is started and I am the catalyst, it will most likely be an impact that teaches people to always find the best and the beauty in everyone. Trust and compassion can truly make this world a better place to live and can make this life more worthy to everyone else. Perhaps my codes of ethics sound like a fantasy that can never be reached, but we will never know until we try. We all just have to have an open mind and a free will to reach the unreached.