I Wish...

I wish there wouldn't be any bad. Only good.
I wish there wouldn't be any sorrow. Only bliss.
I wish there wouldn't be any pain. Only comfort.
I wish there wouldn't be any hate. Only love.
I wish there wouldn't be any murder. Only life.
I wish there wouldn't be any jealousy. Only compassion.
I wish there wouldn't be any war. Only peace.
I wish there wouldn't be any fear. Only courage.
I wish there wouldn't be any prejudice. Only understanding.
I wish there wouldn't be any lies. Only truth.
I wish there wouldn't be any need to wish. Only reality.
I wish there wouldn't be anything left to wish for. Only utopia.

But then life wouldn't be the same.
I guess there's nothing wrong with wishing.
But then life wouldn't be the reality it is.
Sometimes it's nice to get away and dream of the prefect world.
But then life wouldn't let you go, you'd have to come back sometime.

Lost and Found

Lost.
Lost in space.
Lost in time.
Lost in thought.
Lost in love.
Lost in hate.
Lost for eternity.
It's so easy to get lost,
But what about being found?

Memories into Ash

Everything you own about to be devoured.
Racing against time to save all you love.
Not wanting to leave a single thing behind,
At a moment like this what's really important?

Your whole entire life condensed to one suitcase.

What would you do? What would you take?
Which photos are the most valuable?
Which letters the most important?
Would you cling to your childhood memories?
Or save all you can of your life today?

Your whole entire life condensed to one suitcase.

Would you save everything to memory?
Or photograph every last moment in your house?
Tears streaming down your face,
Can't bear to leave a single thing behind.

Your whole entire life condensed to one suitcase.

You realize how much you love that special drawing,
How meaningful that one birthday card really was.
The picture on the fridge you put up in 2nd grade,
or the teddy bear you've kept since you were five.

When all you can keep of life is a suitcase,
You realize how much everything means to you.
You understand that your house can be replaced
But those memories will turn into ash, never to appear again.

All that's left to do then is remember, remember those special things,
those special pictures, those special gifts, those special drawings,
the ones that can be brought back only by memory now.

When All You Can Do Is Hope

The candle flickered for a second.
A gust of wind. Then all was dark.
It was as if hope had entered for a brief second.
As if it lit up the room of despair for a moment.

If only that hope could've stayed longer. Just a bit.
If only that hope could've lingered. Just a while more.
If only that hope could've been savored. Just for forever.
If only that hope could've been everlasting. Just for me.

There are some tough situations in life.
Situations in which the only thing to do is hope.
Hope is the only thing that gets you through them.
These situations aren't hard to find, they happen all the time.

But sometimes hope is hard to find,
it taunts you, leading you in circles.
But in reality all you have to do to find hope,
is reach into your heart's desire, and there.

Clear as day, you'll find it. You'll find hope.
All you have to do is trust your heart.

I tried my best, that should be all that matters...

One of my longer posts, it might be similar to an essay. The subject is so broad and branches off into so many topics that I could probably ramble on for pages, for now I’ll just ramble on for a couple paragraphs. If you manage to read it in its entirety please comment on areas of improvement.

Competition. It's everywhere. It’s seen in offices, in classrooms and even in playgrounds. Many people believe competition to be a major factor that helped shape the advanced society we have today. I completely agree with that. If there was no competition then would we ever have better technology, better lifestyles, or better standards? No, I don’t think so. But is competition getting a little too extreme, especially on the education level? Yes, I think so.

Whenever anything is done and all the requirements checked off, there’s always one last thing, something that can never be fulfilled perfectly. That requirement is to do better. For instance, take a school project. You have done all the criteria, checked the teacher’s grading rubric, made sure everything’s in order, what’s missing? Suddenly a thought comes into your mind. What if everyone else is doing the same exact thing? I want to be original, I want the teacher to like mine the best. The project would already receive a 100% just the way it is, but that one last requirement is missing. Once you perfect an already perfect project, it’s time to turn it in. You walk into the classroom, proud of all your extra efforts, the countless hours you’ve spent; proud of the feeling of just knowing yours’ is going to be the best. Suddenly, you stop dead in your tracks. You come out of your self-confident bubble and look around you. Gape in awe at the amazing works of others. Suddenly that bubble, the one that contained confidence, reassurance, pride, pops, and is transformed into a bubble of longing to have done better, despair, and disappointment.

Many of us can agree to this feeling, the one where we put out ‘life and soul into something, whether it’s when we do a spectacular project, accomplish an unbelievable goal in sports, or even work hard get an expensive new cell phone. Pride and confidence turned into despair and disappointment. Thinking you have the best when someone out there has better. It could just be high standards set by you or maybe the high standards set by society itself. According to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, it is human nature to compete, but all competition should have limits right? No competition should cause someone to lose their self-esteem or lose value in them self.

This is just one simple example of what competition causes. It could be in sports, school, clothes, cell phones, anything. We are now living in a society completely absorbed by competition, good and bad. I hope we can keep the competition that motivates us to do better and get rid of the competition that demotes us and causes us to feel nowhere near perfection. As for now, I guess I’ll have to keep up with this ever changing world of striving to do better.

What makes us who we are?

What makes us who we are?
Is it our picky taste?
Or our varying outlook on life?
Is it the way we dress?
Or is it the way we carry ourselves?
Is it our passionate dreams and goals?
Or our miserable nightmares and defeats?
Is it our deepest darkest secrets and desires?
Or is it our most upfront words and actions?
Is it the way you think of others?
Or is it the way you think of yourself?
Is being you the normal thing to do?
Or is it the one thing you have to work at most?
Is it all of the above and much more?
Or is it none of the above and something completely different?
What really makes us who we are?
Is it individuality or is it fitting in?
We are what we make ourselves ... who do you want to be?

The Sky Is Falling

If you turned on CNN and pictures were flashing of the sky falling, or the universe ending, would you believe it? Probably not, right. But consider this, when H.G. Wells's War of the of the Worlds was first broadcasted live on the radio, people ran screaming out of their houses, believing that aliens really had taken over the world. As ridiculous as it seems, people do believe things like that, even now. It all depends on the reliability of the source. The media, whether it be television, the radio, or even the newspaper has such an unthinkable impact on society today. If TMZ.com says Brangelina broke up, the majority of the world would believe it. Okay, maybe we've come far enough to doubt celebrity gossip, but people believe pretty much everything else. Wikipedia.org, a mostly reliable source, even has an article on reliable sources, what to trust and what not to trust. But what if one day these reliable sources weren't so reliable? How would we know? We put our faith into the reputation of the source and put our faith in an unbiased source. I just realized what a big responsibility it is to write a newspaper article. At first it seemed like, whatever, just write it, who cares about the details. But facts matter so much in public sources like these, even one minute error can tarnish the reputation of the whole newspaper. Being able to portray your thoughts to the public comes with a big responsibility, next time I write an article, I hope that I'll be able to take that into utmost consideration

-Sabrina