Morrie Aphorism blog

An aphorism from Tuesdays With Morrie is “... Love is how you stay alive, even after your gone.” This aphorism is saying that love is how we stay alive, even if you are just a memory of love. Morrie was saying that love is what we revolve around and if people love you, you will always be in their memories and they will always love you. And, when your memory is there, you are there. So, if you were loved when you were living, you will be loved once you are dead. Because, being loved is being alive. This aphorism may not just be talking about death, though. When you are loved, you are in the thoughts of your loved ones every time you are not with them. If you are just not home, or if you are on vacation, your loved ones will be thinking of you and loving you, and in a way, you are there.

I can relate this aphorism to a personal experience of mine, as can practically everyone since it is so relevant in life all the time. My personal experience may be different from other people’s, but the idea is still the same with this aphorism. A few months ago, I had a pet die. I loved her so dearly and was devastated when she was gone. But, through my love with her, I can feel her still alive in my mind and in my heart. This shows how this aphorism is relevant and true. With love, even if someone is gone, they are still alive. This aphorism shows how if your love is true, you will keep that love with you forever.

I agree with the aphorism “... love is how you stay alive, even after you’re gone.” because I can relate it to my everyday life. I can relate it to I being the one that remembers the people who are gone, because of love. If I didn’t love someone and now they are gone, they become extinguished from my memory and they are no longer alive to me. But, if I love someone, I remember them in my mind and I know they are alive in my heart and alive in my mind, even if they are dead. I can also relate this with how I treat others. I want to make people love me, so that once I am gone, I am still there in their hearts. This aphorism shows a phenomenon of everyday life, for everyone. If someone does good things in the world, and make people love them, they will be remembered daily because love makes people alive.

“All humans have one thing in common; that they are human” is my aphorism that I have made regarding to life. This aphorism is basically saying that everyone makes mistakes and I think it really summarizes life in general. People might feel sad because they think they are different than everyone else or because someone made them feel bad, but this aphorism would show them that they aren’t that much different from everyone else. And, just like they aren’t perfect, no one else is either.

End of The Year Reflections

As I sit here and reflect on my ELA class this past year, my brain fills with information, memories, and other nostalgic thoughts that I will cherish forever. I ponder about what was the most important, though, and my mind goes blank. Every piece of information, every word that was read is important to know and I almost cannot choose. But, I can narrow it down to the important things for life, since some of it just gives me a good laugh. The number one important thing I learned to do this year that will help me in the future, is annotating. Before this year, I never annotated. I’m not sure I had even heard of the concept. But, after many long chapters annotated to the fullest, I can honestly say that I know how to annotate. I have even found myself annotating books read on my free time, not even realizing it until it’s done. I know I will find myself annotating books in the future, just to fully understand the words being read. Annotating is a skill that I will hold on to forever.

I cannot tell what the future will hold, but I can predict what might happen, and what I will remember. One thing that I think that I will remember, for possibly the rest of my life, is the To Kill A Mockingbird unit. This unit included the most annotating I have done in my life, the reading of a complex book, the making of many tedious socratic seminars, and a feast. The feast was probably the most memorable event to me, since it was the finale to the unit. And, we all brought food and ate together, which was a very rare event I will probably remember this for a long time. All of these events were interesting to me, and gave me many stories to tell and memories to think about.

This class was, in general, very nice to me and other classmates. I remember countless times where a classmate filled me in on something I missed or explained something to me that I didn’t understand. It would be unfair of me to prioritize any of these everyday kind gestures. So, I do not have a “nicest thing someone in our class did”, due to there being so many nice gestures and so many nice people.

I would like to think that I have taught someone in my classroom something this year, but I don’t know because I haven’t heard anyone mention it. I’m sure that I have taught my classmates small things, like how to do an essay if they needed clarification or what to annotate about if they didn’t know. But, I haven’t taught anyone anything major, or I would certainly know about it. Honestly, I don’t think I have ever taught anyone a life lesson or anything major like that. But, I am fine with that because I do what I can and I try to always try my best.

As I look back on this past year, I can see many aspects that I improved in. I improved in my writing, my reading, my annotating, and even my social skills somewhat. But, I think the biggest improvement I made was in my reading and annotating. Now, I can fully understand the text being read, through my annotating, which is an improvement in both of the reading and the annotating aspect. In a way, these aspects are connected because they affect each other. So, it makes sense that these would be the two areas that I improve in. I have improved in annotating from all of the practice I have gotten from To Kill A Mockingbird, Night, and Of Beetles And Angels. Now, I have noticed that I am annotating in my free choice reading books not even thinking about it. This is something that I am proud of.

This year, I experienced the perfect amount of challenges in my ELA class. I wasn’t overwhelmed by all the challenges, but I also wasn’t bored by the lack of challenges. But, even with all these challenges there was probably one challenge that stood out among the rest. This challenge is referred to as “Socratic Seminars”. Socratic seminars were really stressful to me and I always just couldn’t do them right. Since I typically tend to be a quiet person, having a conversation with the entire class is difficult to me. I always found myself unable to talk even when I had something to say. But, after many of these socratic seminars, I had my best socratic seminar of the year, which happened to be the last one with Mrs.Larson present. I talked about four times during this particular socratic seminar, which is good compared to my average of one or two times. I feel like next year, this concept of socratic seminars will be less of a challenge for me.

I did lots of writing this year, through blogs, essays, stories, etc. When I look back, it is almost unbelievable how many words I actually wrote. So, I cannot say which was my “best” piece of the year. But, in this passage I will determine which of these pieces of writing isn’t the best. By doing this, I will find out which is one of the best. As I sit here and think about my writing, I realize that the passages I wrote in the beginning of the year were not the best. I had almost no experience with writing when I began this year. I recall not knowing what I was doing, and therefore rushing through them, not doing my best. I grimace when I reread my first writings of the year, noticing so many more mistakes, and so much more I could have done. So, I have to say that my recent writing has got to be my best, since I’ve had much more experience and have learned so much more things.

Most of the books I have read this year were enjoyable to me and I cannot possibly decide which of these was my overall favorite. But, I can say that one that I would consider a favorite was To Kill a Mockingbird. I liked this book a lot because it had a perfect proportion of fiction to history. In the reading of this book, I heard an interesting story, and also learned useful facts. I also learned about the events of The Great Depression, which I found interesting. Plus, I got to read about the classic story of Scout, Jem, and Atticus, which I had been waiting to read.

Now that I have almost completed my ELA class of the 2018-2019 school year, I have so much more experience, I am so much more wise, and I am so much better at things than I used to be. So, I must give the future students of Mrs.Larson’s ELA class some advice. The first advice I would give them would be to just try your best and you will do great. I would tell them to have faith that you will do good, and you will do good. Also, check your work again and again to make sure you did you best work. And, finally, I would tell them that less is sometimes more.

Tuesdays With Morrie Blog

“The Fifth Tuesday: We Talk about Family” was the most impactful on me because I could relate to it the most. It is important to talk about family because family is always there for you and they should be the closest people in the world to you. Family is who we rely on and family is the reason we live the way we do. Our family is who impacts our lives the most and makes us become the people we become. As Morrie said, “The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand if it isn’t the family.” Family is typically who keeps you through life, and if it isn’t for your family, you will fall. Throughout this chapter of Tuesdays With Morrie, Morrie explains to Mitch that if it wasn’t for his loving, caring family, he would fall, and let his sickness take over him. “Love each other or perish”, Morrie explained. I can relate to these words, because if I feel like I am not loved, and I would surely feel like I am dying, because love is how we keep going on in life. Even through just reading these sentences, I am impacted by the words of it. I become thankful for my family and for all the love that I have. I also develop empathy for those who have no love, or have no family. This is most likely what Morrie felt as he said these words many, many years ago.

Another point Morrie brings up is how wonderful it is to make a family. He says, “There is no experience like having children.” This aspect of this chapter doesn’t relate to me very much, since at this point in my life, I am a child myself. But, the ending part of it impacted me, Morrie says, “Even though there is a price you have to pay… Because I’ll be leaving them soon.” I worry about my family leaving me in this way, or I leaving them. The fact that someone else feels this way makes me feel better in a way. I know that I have to love them and appreciate them while I can, as Morrie told Mitch in this chapter. While Mitch is talking to Morrie about family, he starts to reflect back on his own family. He thinks about his siblings, his parents, and in particular, his brother. He reflects on how his relationship with his brother isn’t what he wants it to be. While reading this, I started to reflect on my own family. I thought about my own younger brother. We fight sometimes but we know that we love each other. As Morrie said, “Without love, we are birds with broken wings.” I feel like I know what Mitch went through because my brother and I have gone through that too at times. I am just glad that I have love, or ai would not be able to live.