HW 18

Every year that I have spent in the United States, I have received the same hype for Thanksgiving as the last. Since Thanksgiving is the only original American holiday, I have noticed that a lot of people here like getting very excited over it. This behavior is not at all weird since it involves eating and putting of your problems to another time with no immediate solution to them. I guess you can say that people deserve a break from all the problems that are going on at the moment. What amuses me is that the way Americans choose to give themselves that break. By inviting all their close relatives to a dinner that they would usually not be able to afford and then spend the rest of the day watching television or playing sports outside. How is that different from any other Saturday or Sunday? I guess the difference would be that the dinner is far more body-centered than any weekend dinner but I guess that’s justifiable since Americans could always use more comfort food.
If you haven’t guessed already, my family doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Which is weird since my understanding of the origins of Thanksgiving is; the Pilgrims and Indians sharing food. (This might come off as offensive) Even though I am not the right type of Indian, I do not recall being invited to anyone’s Thanksgiving dinner party. Maybe it was because they all know that my family would not attend even if we were invited. Or maybe it was because in the past, my family is known to ignore all pointless gatherings where the only purpose was to “have fun”. Whenever I tell this to people, they always look at my family and I as unsocial. In no way is this true. We love talking to people. When there is an actual point. Otherwise, it is just a waste of time.
I just realized that I have written what I would consider two paragraphs without even addressing the question for this blog entry. How was my Thanksgiving experience? I woke up at 11PM and spent the entire day doing SAT practice problems. At around 3PM I had a very satisfactory lunch and continued to do SAT practice until 5PM. Then I put on my video game pants and got ready for my daily Call of Duty session. I was quite disappointed since all the people I usually play with were wasting time somewhere else instead. I had to fall back to my foreign friends (It’s funny that I refer to people from my own country as foreigners now). I stopped playing at around 7PM and was getting ready for bed since I had to wake up the next day at 4AM for Black Friday. That brings me to my favorite part of Thanksgiving. Black Friday. The one American tradition that I have no complaints on.
In conclusion, my Thanksgiving was more of an anti-body experience than a body-centered one. Which means that I tried spending my time according to what would be better for my mind. In no way do I say that I succeeded, but “I tried my best”.

HW 17 Initial Thoughts on Illness and Dying Unit

Illnesses and deaths are a part of everyone’s life. Everyone I know has at some point gotten sick in their life. I do not personally know anyone that has died from an illness except my grandparents. My grandfather on my dad’s side died from a heart attack and my grandmother, also from my dad’s side, died from kidney cancer. My grandmother on my mom’s side also died from a heart attack. As for illnesses, thankfully, none of my close family members have even been seriously ill and neither have I. We all had the occasional fever and runny noise every winter but nothing serious. As far as I can remember, I have only been to the hospital as a patient once in my life. That was because I had accidently ran right through a glass door and I had to get 83 stitches on my thigh. I still have the scars to prove it! I also remember having chicken pox when I was around 8 or 9 years old. I had to be isolated inside my room since chicken pox is extremely contagious. My mom would bring me food and water and leave it outside the door. Fortunately I had an attached bathroom with my room so it wasn’t all bad. I also got to skip school for 2 weeks which is always a plus.
As I said before, my family has never been seriously ill before and therefore I have been taught to look at illness as something that you should never have to go through. If either my sister or I fall ill, my parents look at it as if it was our own fault so we deserved it. Until last year, my entire immediate family would eat the same meals when we were at home. So, if only one of us was sick, it had to be because of something that person did wrong. If anyone in my family gets sick, we still get the same care any other family would give their loved ones but we also get a lecture so we try and never be sick again. I have been taught to look at death as a stage in life that everyone eventually has to go through. Since my family and I believe in heaven and hell, I have also been taught to look at death as a judgment call. Which basically connotes to; do not be too attached to life since you will eventually have to let go.
Death is something that scares everyone. I am no exception to that fear. People try extremely hard to try and please everyone around them. Most of the students in my grade are trying extremely hard to improve their grades so they will be able to go to a good college and have a successful life. Sometimes I question these norms that everyone has created for themselves. Why are we working so hard? We all know that we will eventually have to die and none of this will matter anymore. So why am I sitting in the train right now writing this essay the day it is due? If my grades do go up and I get into of the best colleges, and lead a successful life, meaning I have a lot of money, I will still die and that money will not account for anything. “The one who dies with the most toys, still dies” I read this quote in our social studies class last week and it really got me thinking about what my life goals should be. Does it really matter that I died rich? No. It doesn’t. So I have decided to use whatever money I have earned and saved up in my lifetime for something that will benefit other people for years to come.