Chicken soup Chapter 6 - What's happening out there? blog question

From what I can understand, these types of Teenagers were derived from the quiz ‘How do you cope with what’s going on in the world out there’. I did this quiz and I got 2 As and 3Bs. Therefore, I am a type B teenager.

Question 1 - The US was involved in an overseas conflict that I don’t like, and I am also afraid that it my affect my older brother. I will always stand up for my family, and, I am not alone! There are several student rallies out there that I can just join. Someone will pass me a banner or tell me what to do. We will be united and be able to persuade the government to stop the conflict, therefore preventing my brother from being affected. 

From this analysis, I have learnt that we must stand up for what we really want, and to take action, not just to live inside your own cocoon and not care about what is going on in the world out there. We can learn how to accept things as they change, either for the better or for the good. If we strongly disagree with that changed thing, then we should change what we can.

Question 2 tells us about the reactions of our school when a school shooting plan is uncovered at a neighboring school. They install mega metal detectors, cell phones are prohibited, and all Internet searches in the library are monitored. I feel that the school is overreacting, but it is better to be safe than sorry, so I would prefer to just abide to the rules. Also, sometimes being over prepared may just save us from the incident just in case we underestimated the dangers, or missed out on one of the minor things that may just render all other installments useless.

We could not have prevented the shooting plans from being discovered. We could have made a student led watchdog organisation, but, does the school trust us? In fact, the one leading the watchdog organisation may be the very person who is planning the shooting spree. Also, being the teenagers that we are, most of us will give in to peer pressure. The school may be overcautious because they do not trust us, but that does not mean we need to hate them for that, nor do we need to try to earn their trust if we did nothing wrong, honestly speaking.

For Question 3, The US government has raised the terror alert warning one level for New York City, during New Year’s Eve, asking citizens to be especially vigilant. I live in Little Rock, Arkansas, more than a thousand miles away. I agree that being cautious is extremely vital, but sometimes we cannot control everything. Since I am so far away from New York, there is a small probability that something serious would happen right here. So, I decide to go on with life as normal, and not let such a minuscule matter ruin my mood for the day.

Raising a terror alert so far away does not mean we do not need to be vigilant at all, but we do not have to be so tense to expect to be attacked any moment. It is normal for most people to be tense at first, but they will get over it almost immediately, and life will continue as usual. We just have to be mentally prepared for an attack, but we can continue our lives just the same. Being paranoid may be an advantage, but it can also cause a duller perspective on life, and you will not enjoy as many things as others as you feel you are unable to take risks.

In Question 4, you are asked what you do when a natural disaster similar to Hurricane Katrina hits the Southwestern United States, where thousands of people are killed and injured, and countless others are homeless. Seeing it all on CNN, I would feel very sad for all those people, but I disappoint myself by saying that I do not really feel sad for them after it wears off, as I am not there to experience it, and therefore do not feel much for them. Also, I remind myself that I do not have such expendable time to spend raising funds just to help those people. I may have exams coming up, or need to raise my subject scores by revising.

Okay, I admit. You may say, “Yes, all the more you should help them. If you manage to help them while managing your studies, it will all the more show how passionate you are about helping people” I agree, but no thank you. Why? Because I do not want to risk flunking my exams, nor becoming a laughing stock all because in the end I could not manage what I told others I would do. I am not overambitious, and all I want is just to be decent enough to get through life easily.

Finally, Question 5 tells me about a major political scandal that has the whole government in an upheaval. Even though I am not old enough to vote yet, I know that what happens in the government today is going to impact my future. I want to take a stand about it, but I just do not think it is such a good idea, as it may be futile. In fact, It may just earn me extra hostility from the government, and I may also have to suffer humiliating consequences like being rejected by the newspaper, who is trying to get on the good side of the winning party.I never understood politics and never really cared about it. I also do not like standing against changes alone. 

If there are many others who are also rejecting this change, I will join them to make a difference. But if I am the only person against the change, I will not do anything and accept it as it comes (unless I am totally against it and not accepting it at all). If that is so, I will give it all my effort and believe that one person can make that tiny difference. I may not be able to change anything, but I can be the one to spark the change. That tiny difference I make may inspire others to take the stand. Only then can we achieve what we set out to do.

The best altitude anybody can have is to balance caution and risks, to know when the risk is too great, or where your limit is. By doing this, you will not be so paranoid such that everything scares you to hiding in your home, nor will you be so reckless it may seem you can get yourself killed anytime. Knowing how to enjoy things in life yet be able to prevent harm from coming to you is the most efficient way to spend your life. Thank You.


TSW

Chicken soup Chapter 5 Blog question - Stabbed in the back

Blog Question
Do the five-questions quiz ‘Can you handle being stabbed in the back?’ on page 175. For each answer you have chosen, say why you picked it, and what the expected consequences would be in making that choice and how you might handle those consequences.
Remember to elaborate and expand on your answers where possible. If an explanation or an example is needed to make your answer clearer or illustrate it better, please use it.
Also remember that this is a forty-five to fifty minutes writing exercise. By the fact that you are given this much time to response to the question, your answer should really be more than just five lines.
Also try to write it like an essay question and not treat it like a comprehension short question and answer exercise. You will need to organize your paragraphs by making sure that each new idea is in a new paragraph. If there is too much information, it might be better to use more paragraphs to separate out the information.
You could start with the following introduction or write your own version:
I did the quiz ‘Can you handle being stabbed in the back?’ on page 175 and answered the questions as honestly as I could, given the three answer choices. For every answer, I will endeavor to say why I chose that answer, anticipate the consequences for choosing it as well as how I would handle these consequences.
You could then proceed to answer your questions sequentially. First, by reframing the questions into an answer form before you proceed to give your answer:
For first question that asked me about how I would react when my friend and I were told by my teacher to stay back after class when she thought we were cheating at our science test, I said I would…
I did the quiz ‘Can you handle being stabbed in the back?’ on page 175 after reading finish Chapter 5 - Stabbed in the back.


The first question asked me about how I would react if my friend and I were told to stay back after a science test because she suspected us of cheating, so I said I would talk with the teacher after school and explain what happened, and tell my friend to confess if she still wanted to stay as my friend. I felt this way because my friend should not have been copying my work, but instead should have used what she could remember to answer the questions. Therefore, I saw there was no need to just suck it up, as I did not do anything wrong, only she did, so she should be the one trying not to make a big deal out of it, and apologize to me.


Next, the second one was about your best friend always acting like you’re number one until a new cool girl starts at your school, which makes your friend treat you like a second class citizen. I don’t like to be ditched like that, so I will do my best to stay friends with them all, maybe even the new girl. I may nearly have picked option C, but I decided that there was no reason to be hurt that badly. If things worked out, and you became good friends with the new girl, your old best friend may sincerely say sorry to you, or try to be good friends with you, If you can tell that she just wanted to get closer to the new girl, then I would tell her about how her actions have hurt me.


The third question asks me how do I feel if I see one of my closest friends making out with a girl I have a crush on, and he knows that because I told him about it all. I would call him next time, and then tell him that if he wanted to gain my trust back, he should explain what happened and do what he can to make things right. He should have been more sensitive towards the feelings of his friend as he should have respected ‘me’ instead of making out with the very person his friend had a crush on. If he still does not repent, you should just let it go, or make new friends.


The fourth is about your best friend following everything you do in school, not just that, but she even competes with you, even resorting to sabotage just to make herself look better. I will just focus on doing my own thing, without making it personal, as it is better to just go along than to break up with your friend just because of such a minor incident. I would just tolerate it. In fact, due to the incompetence she sees, she may just find it childish and give up on such immature thoughts.


The alternative is to drop out of some things, to let her win over you, and perhaps she may get sick and tired of it, or understand that you want her to stop. My best option though, is to help her when she is in need, despite the fact that she may be competing with me, as she may finally see that friends do not need to compete. They can achieve better results just by working together.


The Final question states that you tell your closest friend some painful and personal problems of your private life, but when you notice another friend letting it slip, you realise that your friend has betrayed your trust. Naturally (and predictably), I would be seething with anger, with all my hate directed at her. I would just tell her how I feel, then dump her as a friend. But no. In this life, we must be able to forgive and forget.


Remember how many times we wronged our parents, whether it is hurting their feelings, or wasting their effort (for the really serious, playing truant), they always - for some, mostly forgive you, over time. Now, we also have to learn the ability to forgive and forget. Fuming and ditching aren’t going to get you far in life. At work, if the boss treats your badly, you immediately throw in the towel. Now, if you continue at this rate, you will never get a stable job. Same for your friends. This is why, we must pick option C, to let your friends know your feelings. If they are really your friends, they would understand and be sincere in their apologies, knowing how you put your trust in them.


But, anyway, I have to say… I got 3Cs, 1B and 1A. 120 points… So, I have to speak up more? Ok. I have learnt that we must be able to forgive our friends, if they are sincere. Also, we should respect our friends and not invade their privacy nor spread rumours/secrets from or about them. Taking question 4 as an example, I think that we should play fair and go by our own intellect or skills, instead of playing dirty. It is, after all, friendly competition. Even when your friends join others, you can try to befriend everybody, but always be prepared for the possibility of getting new friends.


We know that sometimes friends do something special for each other, like giving tuition, but if you know that it is morally wrong, from giving an answer in exam to smoking a cigarette to consuming drugs, you must not give in to peer pressure. But you can say ‘I won’t give in!’ but look what happened to some people when everybody started getting iPhones. Anyway, that’s beside the point. The point is, listen to yourself. Even though everybody says smoking is cool, you know the consequences, so you give it a miss. And, if you have some sway in the school, try to stop others from having wrong mindsets, like implying to them that gaming in school is not cool or something.


Thus, I end my analysis of the quiz results for ‘Can you handle being stabbed in the back?’.


TSW

P.S. Sorry if I went slightly out of point for the bit about the iPhones