The "Comedian"

Voltaire's quote, "God is a comedian, playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.", isn't necessarily about God. It's about use of power, which is trying to maintain a Godly image, without love and compassion. This persona often leaves the authority figure unquestioned, making what they say law.

The president of Panem, a post-apocalyptic country, supports a pageant that we know as The Hunger Games. This show is watched by many, and often stirs confusion, hurt, and excitement through Panem.Therefore President Snow is a perfect example of being a comedian, that has an audience so awestruck they can't enjoy this so called "entertainment". Although some may believe The Hunger Games is merely for a good show, others may say it's a chance for the capitol to show their utmost power.Who would question someone who had the power to kill them?

 I would question President Snow as soon as I had the chance. It's wrong for someone, besides God, to try to have unstoppable power over others. And even when they claim it's a show, this entertainment should not scare the audience. The bible says the Lord is with you wherever you go. That includes questioning the comic! Don't let the comedian frighten you, put fright in the comedian!

Rainbows

Author's Note: This piece involves some references to personal faith, even though the topic given was rainbows. I hope you will enjoy this piece, even though you may not share the same beliefs I do. I worked really hard making this piece "flow". Let me know what suggestions you have, because there's always room for improvement!

Genesis and Revelation: the first and the last books in the bible. These books, along with Ezekiel, have made references to rainbows, which are often over looked. Rainbows can be very symbolic. Noah saw a rainbow when he finally was of the ark, while a rainbow was seen (upon an angels head) in a vision, which was recorded as a bible book. Coincidence that rainbows are in the beginning and the "end"? I don't  think so.

In Genesis, there were many promises made to Noah, a man of older age. He was called to build an arc, and take two of every animal with him and his family because God had planned to flood the Earth. After this plan had occurred, a rainbow appeared to Noah. This symbolized a covenant between God and Noah, meaning it's a covenant between God and us. This rainbow symbolized that after the storm, God has promised to never flood, the whole Earth again. In my opinion, that is why rainbows appear after storms: a reminder to us all that the bad is over and a promise is kept.

In the book Revelation, an angel appears with a rainbow surrounding his head, and his feet like pillars of fire. For those of you who are not familiar with the "end" of the bible, you should know that it's basically a revelation of what is to come. I found it extremely thought provoking when I realized that rainbows are in the beginning and the end; this symbolizes a key concept for me.

Ever since discovering the rainbows, in the bible, I have found a new meaning to them. They symbolize a promise, a happy promise. When they appear after storms they promise a better day.

Clocks

Author's Note: This is another writing circle piece, even though it's not finished, I had to post it. Does anybody have any suggestions on what I should do? Maybe have the intro be like a "flash-foward" or something? Let me know.

 

I sit in the room undisturbed, except the clock mocks me with every tick. Tick. What have I done? Tick. I don’t deserve to believe alive. Tick. Are they coming for me? With every tick, my anticipation begins to rise, until I can not take it anymore. I pull the knife, covered with blood, out of my jacket and throw it. The clock no longer ticks, and I hear a knock at the door. It’s the police,  delivering the news I do not want to hear:”Ms. Hollen, you are out of time.”. I have no choice but to follow them, after all I was out of time.

                     

The Hateful Cycle

Author's Note: This piece is a writing circle topic. I haven't really participated in writing circles for a while, so I found it difficult to agree on a topic. But we we all agreed on the topic hate, I brainstormed and brainstormed and then I had an idea. I hope you enjoy this piece :)

Hate. Whenever this word is mentioned, many thoughts come to my mind, although one sticks out above them all: why we hate. “It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things. All things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get”, a quote by Confucius. Hate is bad therefore it's easy to get; love is good therefore it is difficult to achieve: simple logic. An average person will come across the feeling of hate, sometime in their life. And there are many theories of how and why, this event occurs. Is it caused by a feeling of emptiness? Or possibly due to envy? A huge cycle that never ends?

You’re empty inside but not because you starved yourself. You’re empty due to an overwhelming jealousy, that causes you to forget who you are. This jealousy soon will begin to brew into a deep hate, and will grow deeper overtime. But before this emptiness turns into hate, it becomes envy.

Envy. A feeling of discontentment or resentful longing (often for other’s possessions or qualities), in other words a deeper jealousy. If you have three new pairs of shoes, and your friends has six. Your family is struggling financially, meanwhile your aunt takes a big family vacation. Envy lurks: quietly yet it can be extremely harmful when it becomes hate.

Now we are back to the idea of hate. This pattern of brewing hate seems to be continuous, a cycle that never ends. Jealousy turns into envy, and then envy into hate. There is no escape, until we learn to do the difficult: love. Love is stronger than hate, no matter how hard it is at achieve. It will break the cycle. And you will be hate-free.

Playing In Burn

Author's Note: This is another piece I was not comfortable writing. But after some revision and advice from peers, I believe it deserves a spot on my blog. Once again, I was asked to work on "Literacy Devices". In this piece it's mostly metaphors, similes, and personification. Can you find them?

The sun is beating down on me. My already reddened skin, is beginning to scream. Its burn is getting to much to bear. The only thing that can save me, is the whistle shouting the game's end. Until then, I play through the burn, awaiting the whistle and hopefully a win.

Suddenly, I am interrupted from my thoughts, as the ball flies through the air; speeding towards me. I jump up in to the air, to greet the ball, with all my strength. I barley manage to stop the ball in mid-air. The ball drops to the ground. Within the few dribbles I take, I kick the ball down to the other team's goal side: to an open player. My hopes begin to rise, as time passes in a blur of excitement; a goal is scored.

Everyone quickly lines up again. We are ahead 2-1. Coach Cod commands us to play cautiously, to maintain our lead.With two minutes left, the anticipation is beginning to get to me. My burn is on fire and I am trying to remain cool. But due to my distractions a goal is scored; on us. The score is now tied, like our hands because there are only 30 seconds left on the clock.

And to everyone's dismay, the final whistle blows as loud as a cannon shot.We have tied and I am burnt. After skaking hands with the other team, my teammates and I gather. Even though the game is over, I wish it could continue. This burn is becoming to much to handle. I need relief yet all is done.

The Earth Was Good

Author's Note: I usually prefer to away from poetic styles of writing, yet I was inspired to write a meaningful piece dealing with the temptations we all face. I focused on including "Literacy Devices". Let me know if any are noticeable, and if you think I should write more poems. 

The Earth was good,
At least in God's eyes.
Yet the serpent came,
To tempt us,
And make us die.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
At least that's what they say.
But every now and then,
The serpent comes to play.
Convincing and deceiving,
Every age and look
Until
There's self-hate brews among them
And begins to overflow

A husband and a wife,
A bond to strong to break.
They're a promise to each other,
Until
The cheating and the lying become open to all,
And their demons become visible to the big and small

It started out as a simple dislike,
After all she was rich and well off,
Until
The hate overtakes her to such a degree,
She breaks a commandment,
Murder has occured

We love the land, and the seas,
But that's not how it's supposed to be.
As a temporary home,
The world seems better
Although in reality we,
Until
Begin to forget this.
Once again,
Falling in to the serpents trap.

The Earth was good,
In the beginning before we learned to play,
The devils games.
Now we hate,
Cheat, and lie.
Wondering why such a beautiful place,
Can perceive its self as a pleasant hell.

Your Treasure

Author's Note: When I first read this short story, it made me think of someone who has helped me, Dr. Allison. But I also tried to focus on symbolic language, although it wasn't plentiful, there was still some within The Treasure of Lemon Brown. Even so, this piece I focused on my transitions, a lot. Please give me feed back!

Greg Ridley has always wanted to play on the school basketball team, yet he never got the chance. His grades weren’t high enough, and his dad was disappointed in him. However, in this short story, The Treasure of Lemon Brown, the main focus isn’t on basketball. This story also deals with having trouble with your parents, meeting someone who has changed your life, and the lesson of each man’s treasure.  Throughout each of these elements, the author also finds a way to use symbolic language.

Unlike Greg, I have been fortunate enough that I haven’t had any major trouble with my parents. While we both have struggled with math, there are still two major differences between Greg and myself. My parents would never consider taking away my sports privileges, or even threatening to do it;however, that seems to be all Greg’s parents do. The other difference between he and I is that he “ran away” from home, and that is something I would never even think about. Even though, I would never run away, I still recognized the symbolism written by the author. Running away from home, usually shows an act of rebelling, yet in this story it symbolizes running from your problems or even the truth. This author, probably incorporated this idea to show children there is always another way to deal with issues, something my third grade teacher taught me.

Someone who has greatly impacted my life was my third grade teacher, Ms. Allison, who is now Dr. Allison. She taught me to look at things differently and often encouraged me to think from a different points of view. The most impactful thing she has done for me, was allow me to realize what my treasure was, my family and my friends. This relates to Lemon Brown and Greg, because Mr. Brown made Greg think differently towards his situation, that involved his parents and his grades. Lemon Brown, symbolizes that person in your life, who often does something mentionable but is usually forgotten. His treasure, doesn’t have much symbolism to it,  yet it is something worth while to think about.

Lemon Brown’s treasure was an old rusty harmonica, that his son bought for him. Oddly enough, the neighborhood was shocked when they discovered what his treasure actually was. They assumed that the treasure of Lemon Brown would be “valuable” and would be worth something to everyone. Two men even tried to steal Lemon’s treasure. The robbers, trying to steal the treasure, teach the reader never to assume anything because everyone has their own ideas when it comes to an object’s worth. The author obviously wanted to use this idea because he wished to provoke the reader into thinking more deeply when they hear the word treasure.

The main focus in this book, when you aren’t analyzing it, would be basketball. Yet when I really thought about this story, I took so much more away from it, through the symbolism and the relatable situations.  I really focused on the treasure aspect of The Treasure of Lemon Brown, which is not to assume anything and to respect others’ treasures. Lemon Brown, a unique fictional character, is an amazing example of all of this. He helped others, much like Dr. Allison did for me. At first, I wished Lemon Brown would be in my life, and now I realize everyone has a “Lemon Brown” in their life.  Mine is Dr. Allison!