Napoleon...the theme park

Napoleon...the theme park

Above is an amusing article about the future” Napoleon Theme Park” in France. After reading, I am very excited about the new theme park that planned to be open in 2014. If I have the chance to visit France again, I would like to take a tour in the park. Reasons are that, first of all, I just love the design of the park! I really like its layout that includes many geographical and historical locations, includes Russia, Corsica, and St. Helena Island. The layout shows the lands Napoleon’s footstep printed on throughout his life, including his birthplace, battlefields and death place. The organized park layout is a remarkable biography of Napoleon, and it will help the tourists learn about the saga of France’s national hero. If finish establishing, the entire park will be colorful, new and appealing to all age groups, especially the younger generation. The brightness will lead us to discover more about a nation’s history. Through this way, we will learn more about Napoleon Bonaparte—not only his glorious battles, but other trivial facts as well. Lastly, I want to visit to the park because I think it will be an amusing, memorable experience that I will never forget!

Courage: born to obtain or learn to obtain?

When we were infants sleeping in our warm cradle, or toddlers trotting in cute small sneakers, do we obtain courage? To me, the answer is negative. Courage is not a certain aptitude to be born with; it is an ability that needs various experiences in life to learn and master. Perhaps you are visualizing “courageous” images of little kids playing with fire, running around roads with heavy traffic, or even teenagers riding motorcycles in a speed of wind—but no, that is not courage. That is called mischief and ignorance. Risking of your life is not more than making dangerous jokes and being irresponsible to yourself. If so, what is courage? Courage is a broad, complex concept. It includes of fortitude, consideration, patience, love, care, empathy, and taking actions. Such positive qualities cannot be obtained without time and experiences; therefore, the thinking of being courageous since birth is an unrealistic idea.

If courage is not something you can be born with, then can you develop it? Definitely. Ignorance is the first barrier toward a state of courage. However, as we grow up, we learn variety of knowledge that influences our decisions and choices. Gradually, we obtain the power of challenging ourselves through the process of learning and experience. That is how we develop our courage. Helen Keller is an example that developed intellectual, emotional and physical courage throughout her life. When Helen was younger, she was not a courageous girl. Because Helen faced deafness, blindness and the inability to talk, she was having a difficult life, along with her bad temper and negative attitude. Later in life, she met her teacher Miss. Sullivan. The teacher not only taught her how to read and write, she also guided the handicapped girl to feel and love the world. I think learning and being positive toward life is the first step in developing courage; without learning and being happy, Helen Keller would never have the courage to make her accomplishments. As you can see from many real life examples, courage doesn’t come with birth; it needs to be developed through your life.

             

Community service: A day in blind school

On Friday’s field trip, we went to Father Ray Blind School in Pattaya. In that school set up for blind kids, we played games and do many activities with the blind children. First of all, we shared our information and thoughts with each other through asking each other’s names. Next, we built teamwork by singing songs and dancing in circles. Finally, some of our classmates blindfolded their eyes and played ball with the kids in the school. However, compare to those trained blind kids that can sense slight sounds, our classmates always threw the ball in slanted directions or miss catching the ball, because they’re not used to the situation of not seeing anything. On conclusion, we have a fun time with the blind school kids.

During the activities, we needed to talk to the blind kids. My Thai languages still needs improvements, so sometimes I could not understand the directions. I tried my best though, to catch up with the Thai phrases and translate them to some of my friends. I participated in the activities of singing and dancing, and I frequently talked to the kids in blind school. However, I think I could be more engaging and active when playing with the kid. Instead, I was a little unnatural and shy, and sometimes I have no clues what to do. On general, I placed efforts on this community service, but I think I can do even better if we go again next time.

 Our trip to the Father Ray Blind School was a new and unique experience. We communicated with children of the same ages and learnt about their life—which is totally different from ours with healthy eyes. I had thoughts that we’re very fortunate kids compare to the kids in blind school, and we should appreciate that instead of being dissatisfied and complain about our life. I was also inspired by how good the kids are at playing ball, even though they couldn’t see anything. Now I understand how efforts make differences, and anyone can become successful by trying their best. Overall, I had a great time in Father Ray Blind School, and I hope that we could do more community services in the future. I believe we can make the world a better place just by extending our hands to anyone, like a cold stranger, or a blind child with a bright, sunny smile.

American Revolution: Patriots = terrorists?

Boston Tea Party of 1774

In Social Studies class, we are now learning about the American Revolution. Today, we discussed about the Boston Tea Party that happened in December 1774. To protest against the taxation on tea, the patriots, or supporters of American independence, sneaked onto British ships and threw all the tea into the cold water of Boston Harbor. Were the patriots terrorists? From this questions asked in class, we discussed and made some connections to the modern world on the topic.

Terrorism, accord to the dictionary, refers to “the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.” In my opinions, toward the British government of the colonial times, the patriots were terrorists threatening the English rule on their colonies. This was revealed through the Boston Massacre three years before the Boston Tea Party. Accord to historical records, in 1770, the patriots armed themselves with clubs and other weapons to protest against the British army. I considered the act violence. Even in the Boston Tea Party, the patriots hurt those folks who tried to gain the tea. By reading, I can see that the patriots are angry people who can do anything for their political aim—gain independence from Great Britain, and this was an illegal act under the British rule. That is why to the British government, the patriots are terrorists.

The “terrorism” of the patriots reminded me of the Southern Thailand Insurgency. In some provinces of Southern Thailand, insurgent groups against Thai government performed many cases of violent terrorist acts, and that resulted in many deaths. The terrorism threated the Thai government and local public safety. The purpose of those insurgent groups is to change the political systems; they’re aiming for their political objectives. From connecting the term from what we learn in social studies to current events, I discovered that political protests happened all the times in history, because a government system is impossible to satisfy all people. Since some people are angry about the political situation, revolutions were launched, often through violence. In this case, the American Revolution we learnt about is a good example of insurgency, or “rising in active revolt.”