Empathy Writing

“Dead. The word echoed through my ears, like someone’s yell echoed across a lake. They were gone and were never coming back I told myself. I would never see them, or hear their voice again. I wouldn’t be able to cope with this. It felt like that at any moment I might shatter into a million pieces and I new that when I did, nothing would be able to put me back together again.”

That is what I think a good example of empathy writing is. It is way better than just saying, “I am sad that they died.” The other one is powerful and most people can relate to this kind of agony. If they can’t the writing makes you feel like you can. I think one good way writers make their readers feel empathy is by making a character that everyone can relate to. So you want to create a realistic person. Someone who makes mistakes, and someone the reader can identify with is ideal. That is one way a writer can make their readers feel empathy.

Another way is to make your writing descriptive and powerful and captivating. It can’t be dull and boring. You have to really make the reader understand what your character is going through. Whether they are happy, sorrowful, disappointed, or infuriated. You have to make the reader understand the different levels of emotions your character has. That is an additional way you can make the reader feel empathy.

So again two different ways writers make readers feel empathy is to make a character that everyone can relate to and to have descriptive writing. I hope that one day I will be able to follow these to very important rules of making readers feel empathy and create a story that has some great empathy writing in it.

Wearing A Burqa

The other day I was walking through the streets and I feel again. I live in Afghanistan and it is the law that all women must wear a burqa. I hate the burqa. It gets in my way all the time, every day. Since the law was made that all women have to wear a burqa, I only leave my house on the odd occasion, because in the house I don't have to wear one. I only leave the house when I absolutely have to. I miss the days where I could walk the streets freely and not have to worry about being beaten for doing nothing except being on the street without a man.

At least that's what I would be thinking if I really was a woman who lived in Afghanistan and had to wear a burqa. I am actually very lucky, because I don’t have to wear a burqa. This would bother me because I would have to lead a life that meant I could never be seen. Which I guess had one advantages: you wouldn’t have to worry about your hair or your overall appearance.

It would make me angry, because I wouldn't be allowed to talk in public, which would be very difficult because I love to talk. Though most importantly I would hate it because I would not be aloud to leave the house without a man. It would be like having all your freedom taken away from you and being left under the total control of someone else. I would rather die than have that happen to me.

I would hate to say this, but if this happened to me, I wouldn’t be able to make the best of it. I wouldn’t be able to stand it, because I am so used to what my life is like now, where I can come and go as I please, I couldn’t imagine it any other way. I just wouldn’t be able to live like that, and I feel so bad for the women who have to live like that today. I hope one day I will be able to help them and change that.

The Holocaust

The Holocaust. It is a horrifying event to hear about, so imagine living it. Well Eva Olsson did and she came to talk to us about her atrocious memories. I think she was the best speaker I have ever heard. They way she told it, it made you feel great empathy towards her and all the Jewish people who had been killed. She made you feel like you had been there. She had great pictures and even though her speech was very professional and even though she had probably said it a million times, it still felt very personal and like it was hard for her to talk about it.

Her speech started with her describing her family and where they lived and how much money they had had before they had been taken away. She then moved on to talk about their walk to the train. Their seven mile walk. She said that the bystanders just lined up and watched them get taken away like a Santa Clause parade. She said that in other countries simply would not let the Nazis - or the Nazis bullies as Eva said - take the Jewish people. They would physically not let them. She said that the bystanders were just as guilty as the Nazis themselves when they would just stand and watch the Jewish people get taken away.

Eva then talked about how all the Jewish people were told to line up and this man at the front of the line would tell them weather to go to the left or to the right. If you were sent to the left you would be sent right to gas chambers to be killed. The people that were sent to the right were then sent to concentration camps where they would eventually be killed. Eva said that her mother had been sent to the left, as well as the rest of her family, besides her sister and dad. Her dad only survived four months after he was sent away. That was only the beginning of the horrendous things that she told us about.

The thing I liked most about her presentation was the messages she had for us. One was never lose hope because in the end, it will turn out good. Another was never use the word hate. It is okay to dislike someone but never hate. Another was never ever bully someone, because that was how the war started. Also that being a bystander is just as bad as a bully. I think she taught us all some great life lessons, some history and she was a memorable speaker. I hope to follow her courageous example for the rest of my life.

Norval

I think that something my group did well was that we all contributed very good idea's. Like when we were doing our first activity we had to stand on a triangle thing and organize ourselves into alphabetical order by middle name. We had to try and pass each other and keep our balance at the same time. It was very hard to pass people because the thing we were sanding on was only wide enough for one person to stand on at a time. Damon and Jenny came up with the idea of going to the corners and the person who had to get past would pass them. I came up with the idea of lying down and then the person would pass them, so it wasn't all just one person who would come up with idea's, it was all of our idea's put together. That's what I think my group did well at Norval.

I think one of the things we didn't do to well was when we had to do this thing where we had to get across these thin lines without losing our balance. When we did that we had to have spotters on each side of us and sometimes people wouldn't pay attention and the person they were spotting would fall. No one ever got hurt though and that's good, but it's not very good team work. Also another challenge we had was when we had to get a tire over this big tall pole. We had some really good idea's like a pyramid, lifting people up, we even put Jenny on the tire and lifted her up to the top, but we just couldn't get the tire to the top. I think something we could have done better if we had just all been quite and listened to everyone's idea's instead of trying to scream over each other, which is what we did. That is what our group needs to work on.

I think that Norval mostly it was fun. Sometimes it could get a little boring, like when they were explaining things. Though other times it was lots of fun, like when we were doing the low ropes. I liked Norval way more last year. When we did low ropes in the morning and high ropes in the afternoon. I didn't like the drum circle. It was way to loud. I think the drum circle would be better if it wasn't that loud and not so long. Other than that Norval was fun!!! That is what I thought about Norval and how our team did.

Do Clothes Shape Who You Are?

Do clothes shape who you are? I think you get to chose weather you want clothes shape who you are. I think this because say you saw someone walking down the street wearing designer everything, then you'd know they cared what people thought about them, and that they had a lot of money. If you saw someone who was walking down the street in just a plain shirt and pants you wouldn't be able to tell anything about them. You wouldn't be able to tell weather their nice or rich or poor or weather their cool. You'd only be able to tell that they decided to wear that today.

If you saw someone who was wearing a shirt that said "Go Green" you would be able to tell from that that they cared about the environment. Like sometimes when i go to the mall after school or the dentist or the hair dressers, everyone knows what school i go t0 because of the uniform, but we don't get to chose what we wear. They also know that i go to a private school. I don't think clothes can diffine who you are, beacuse mostly i think you get to chose. That is what i think about "Do clothes shape who you are?"