Personal Narrative: Why Some People Die For Beliefs

On 09/12/2016, I Deputy Daniel Pruitt was dispatched to 52455 West Highway 16 for an unattended death compliant. I arrived on scene st 6:45pm and meet with Creek County EMS unit 40.

I’m a ball of sexual tense need. He stares down at me for a moment, measuring my need, then he grabs me suddenly and flips me over. It takes me by surprise, and because my hands are tied, I have to support myself on my elbows. He pushes both my knees up the bed so my behind is in the air, and he slaps me hard. Before I can react, he plunges inside me. I cry out-from the slap and from his sudden assault, and I come instantly again and again, falling apart beneath him as he continues to slam deliciously into me. He doesn’t stop. I’m spent. I can’t take this…and he pounds on and on and on…then I’m building again…surely not…no…

Summer was coming, and the sun was going down later and later every day, and Spike felt the minutes get longer as he waited. Visiting hours were only from 2-6. In a few days he wouldn’t be allowed to visit her at all. Not like he couldn’t break in or something. But she wouldn’t like that.

Why am I torturing myself? Enclosed in a 3 sided cage with only the illusion of freedom out the steel framed front door. The mirrors on the walls staring at my jiggling fat from all angles. The dingy ceiling tiles are stained from countless roof leaks and the floor littered with pebbles and rubber from a busted medicine ball. The sting of body odor and bleach fills my nostrils. Head splitting music ravishes my ears through the chaos of weights clashing and ropes smacking the floor. My classmates glare at me with their squinty hypocritical eyes.

The majority of my life I grew up believing that anyone who was deeply religious was that way because they were incapable of finding their own path in life, but instead needed to believe in some supernatural being to do it for them. I believed that their mind was so chained down, and that one must be so ignorant to believe in something that has no evidence in truly existing. Throughout my life I had been introduced to religious ideas, but the concepts never seemed to resonate with me. Ideas that could not be proven through empirical evidence and rational thought, to me seemed absurd. How could one be so naive to life by such concepts? It was very evident my mom's side of the family held much value in religion

Dec 17- Ive stayed at the warren home for one month now. the peupl are very kind to me always looking after me right and never making a fuss when i mess up. but i have yet to make any friends. today we were in the art room making paintings i wasnt able to finish so the teacher allow me to stay when the class was over. after the teacher left i started painting my picture a pretty sky blue. the window was open the cold air bothered me when i went to close the window i saw a bag there were a pack of smokes in it the box . one time i saw my teacher putting one to his mouth and he made smoke. i know im not supposed to touch other peoples stuff but i wanted to know how he was able to make smoke by just putting paper in his mouth. i took the box and popped out a smoke put it in my mouth and blew. nothing happened i was confused did i do i wrong thot. thats right i didnt find have fire. i looked for the stick that made light the smoke. found it hiding in the box under a lot of paper. i put the fire towards the smoke and there it was i made smoke. i went to the window copying what the teacher would do. i coughed when i first started but got used to it. it felt weird like some worry left me and i sat there watching the sky. after that i started stealing smokes from my art techer sometimes.

It’s late April 2015, not long after my 65th birthday and I woke early after another night of not sleeping well. Not unusual for the past 46 years. I lay in bed looking at the clock having a hard time reading the extra-large display but as my eyes focused; the clock illuminated the time at 3:30 a.m. I closed my eyes and repeated the names of everyone in the platoon who’d died while in Vietnam: “Tufts, Ramos, Reynolds, Ofstedahl, Swindle, Wellman, Ponce, Mitchell, Anderson, Carey, Morris, Kidwell and Matson.” For most a familiar face appeared when saying the name, but for several of the platoon members, I couldn’t remember what they looked like, only a shadow instead of a face. I can’t forget the fallen, and don’t want to forget! They deserve

As a person that had a religious upbringing, I think it is interesting to view myself where I was and where I am at this moment in time. I do not have a religion; in fact, ever since I was around 15 years old I rejected religion immensely. My mother and the rest of my family used religion as a way to “put me in my place” as they would say. Right now, I see religion as just that; a way to keep people in order. I’ve always been an inquisitive person, someone that strives for the truth, and anything that hindered me from doing so I refrained from putting my trust into it. With that said, I went into this interview with low expectations. I’m not too keen on things that put me out of my comfort zone, but one thing that being in college has taught is that in order to grow sometimes you are going to have to be uncomfortable. Since I got to Old Dominion in 2014 there has been this Christian group on campus that has been more than persistent in harassing me and some other people on campus. I never considered giving them the time of the day until this assignment required me to interview someone from a culture group that I do not share a membership in.

After having a great understanding on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and learning about the psychology of war, I can proudly say I’m a liberal. This foundation was first planted in me after reading the Melian Dialogue. In fact, I knew I was a liberal the moment I read this: “If we are on friendly terms with you, our subjects would regard that as a sign of weakness in us, whereas your hatred is evidence of our power. Those who preserve their independence do so because they are strong, and that if we fail to attack them it is because we are afraid” (Thucydides 2). To a realists this would make sense, but to a liberal it’s baffling. It makes no sense to even think of International Law in that aspect, and the absence of cooperation is prolonging

Have any of your family feuds gone out of hand? I still remember the hot summer day in 2010. I was eight years old and just wanted to swing. Earlier that day, my mother drove my sister Passion (who was twelve years old), my brother Franklin (who was ten years old), and I to my Aunt Rosa’s house. We arrived at the same time as my cousins, Jowell (who was nine years old), Kianna (who was eight years old), and Henrique (who was seven years old).

The one thing we must constantly remind ourselves is that death is not the end of our life. We cannot and we will not forfeit what beautiful and precious time we have left wallowing in the darkness of a life ending. I know that the pain is real and I know that sometimes the everything is just too loud and enormous and overwhelming. But we must carry on and we must endure and we must live without ever being held back.

What is death? Why do people die? How can learn to accept the fact that one day we will die? Death is something unexplainable. Everyone has a beginning and an end. Some people cope with death differently, through sadness, anger, and confusion. The death of a loved one hurts so much, words can’t explain the feeling. Although that pain is not physical some can say that emotional pain hurts as much as physical pain. Once a person dies it’s a chance for people to reflect on what they did while they were alive. How many people they helped or how friendly they were to people. On June 18, 2016, I experienced death for the first time. I was not very close to this person but he was someone who really impacted my life and my families. I just never realized how much he meant to us until that second Saturday of June.

“Goodnight!” She had shouted from two doors away. “Night, grandma…” I whispered. She had suffered from cancer many times before, but this one could be the end. I never thought about it that way, I just thought she would live forever. That everyone could live forever. I not at all thought that death would hurt this much or that it would happen at all. But I was way wrong. Death does happen. To everyone. Even the nicest people you meet could die the next day. And that’s what happened.

No two cultures are the same since every religion as its own customs and beliefs. The best way to get a better understanding of different faiths then your own is to interact with someone of a diverse belief. I recently discover amazing facts about Indians I never knew about by just spending an hour talking with my Indian friend’s mom.

Your title intrigued me as I have always wanted to parasail. I enjoyed how you opened up to the reader by saying that you are afraid of heights as it makes first person even more personal. Thinking about the worst possible scenarios that could happen is a natural thing for humans to do when they feel uncertainty and I liked how it was included. I could easily picture the cityscape and the ocean with the help of your imagery. I love the part when your mood changes to liking parasailing and reflecting on this experience with no regret. Your entry shows the importance of taking opportunities on that are new and frightening. Nice work!