Bullying Can Change the World

The video I watched today was about awareness of the power of bullying. At the very beginning of the talk Joel told the story of about 4 children, and their ages. All the stories ended in suicide. In all these stories were also about teens who were bullied because of their sexual orientation. To me this seems unreal. I can’t even imagine kids being so mean, and saying such bad things that make someone else want to die. It makes me so sad that some kids feel that way, because to me, there is nothing I treasure more than life. It makes me want to help kids that are being hurt. I want to help all the kids that are struggling just because they are different. I believe that each child is amazing. No matter the color of the skin, their ethnicity, or their sexual orientation. I wish that everyone would not judge, I wish we could go back to kindergarten and be friends with whoever will color with us that day. It does not make sense to me why people have to be so mean. When I entered high school, everything changed. The biggest change was my friends. One of my best friends decided that she wanted to be “cool”. Being cool did not always mean being nice. I have become a better person from seeing what she did. I don’t care about what people think of me anymore, I care that I make a difference in others life and I care that I am nice to everyone and that I make them want to go on in life. Throughout the talk Joes was very emotional. He is gay, and experienced firsthand what the bullying was like.  Because he was so emotional it made me feel it too. In my TED talk I hope that I can make my viewers connect with me like I could connect with him. I wish that everyone could see what Joel sees. I also wish that one day we could live in a world where no one cared about how people were different. I think if we could apply that to schools, children would be much better off. Maybe they would enjoy coming to school, and enjoy being who they are. I hope that one day we can move past the titles and everyone can see that they are amazing in their own special way.

Dave Eggers: Once Upon a School

After watching Dave Eggers’ video, I have begun to think of so many ideas. The first thing that really amazed me was how much better children can do in school if they have to one on one time. I am very lucky because I can get that time whenever I need. I can go see a teacher on an off hour, or before or after school to get help and have that one on one time. I know that not all students have these privileges and I think his project is amazing. This shop that he created is amazing in so many different ways. The first being how much fun it is for the children that go there. One of the coolest parts is that it is not decorated like a school. They are very fun and help to make learning fun.  The pirate shop or the superman store is a great idea and it will make children want to come each day.  I also really liked how they did not give it some name that implied that children were getting school help. It was simply an address and applied no titles to the child. This has really made me want to get involved and help kids younger than me. My sister volunteered at the elementary school, and that got me thinking how much fun I could have doing something like that. I thought it was amazing that they had so many volunteers that wanted to donate their time to help their community. Like we talked about in class, donating time is so much more important than any check. It just shows that you don’t need to be rich to help others. Dave’s style was very different. He talked very fast and rarely ever paused. He seemed very fidgety and not very confident. It was not in a bad way he just seemed more like a writer and not a public speaker, which is true. At times it got a little hard to follow and watch because he was all over the place. He also added a lot of humor, which made the video easier to watch and enjoy. This really relates to school, because it just shows how well children can do when they are given the time and encouragement they need. It makes me wonder what our world could be, if every child was living to their full potential.  If every child got their special attention, how could we change the world? It really has made me want to help children in schools because I think it really could change the world and make it a better place. I hope one day, every child gets the attention they need, and their ideas can help change the world.

Roz Savage- Live the life you want

The TED talk I watched today was very different from the others I have watched. This was about a woman, Roz Savage, who rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, and is now trying to row across the Pacific Ocean. At the beginning of the video she told us why she wanted to set out on this journey and it reminded me of something we did in class. Roz talked about how one day she sat down and wrote two obituaries for herself. One with the life she had, and one with the life she wanted. She wanted a life of adventure, and she wanted to be remembered. This made me think of the sentences we wrote that we wanted to describe our lives. It also made me wonder what our world would be like if everyone was living the life they wanted, and was living their full potential. Roz did not only want to live a better life for herself, but she wanted to make it a better world. She set out on this adventure to provide awareness about garbage in the ocean, and what it is doing to the creatures that live there. I think that humans have gotten careless and have taken over the world. I think we need to be more careful or we will ruin our environment and all the other creature’s that were here first. Roz had a very powerful story to share, the biggest thing I took away is that you can make life anything you want it to be. I have realized, being rich and having a beautiful home is not the most important thing, being happy and living the life you have dreamed is what really matters. Roz had a different presenting style. She seemed very nervous and it made it almost uncomfortable. I got a little bit bored in the middle and drifted away. I think during my TED talk I need to make it seem like I am not nervous one bit and I truly believe in my idea. If I make it seem like I am very into my talk, then others will be too. This video makes me want to follow my dreams and do whatever I have to do to get there. It makes me motivate myself to do the best I can do in everything, but it also makes me aware that I am in control of my life and it can be anything I want it to be.