Reflection Paper

You don’t want to stay in Union House till you graduate from sixth grade, and then go to the middle school the first day and see all these people in groups of their own.” My dad pointed out. “Huh, that is true.” I thought about it, how it will be hard to make new friends when everybody’s catching up on the summer news at middle school. So, I decided it would be the best for me to switch schools. Union House kids are supposed to go to Jackman, and from there to Valley High. All I knew was that Edward Harris’s students go to Monterey Trail. I had no complete idea about other elementary schools. ”What school will I be going to?” I inquired. “Roy Herburger,” my dad proudly stated. “Oh, and, don’t be so hung up about losing your current friends and worrying how to make new ones. Have you met yourself?” I smiled. Yes I have met me, and I like me. But will other people do the

“I have told you theses things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 14:13. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your god; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10. Theses are the words that god has spoken. The lord christ has helped with so many things you may not know about. Have you hear of miracles he does the little miracles in life.

Growing up, my vision appeared to get worse and worse every year. Until I was in first grade I never thought to told my mom, considering it never caused any problems. It was until I would find myself squinting at the board everyday did my teacher wonder if something was wrong. Shortly after, I found out I needed glasses. From first grade to tenth grade, I went through multiple pairs of glasses, and my vision continued to deplete. I never complained about having glasses because they rarely got in my way. That was until high school, when I started running. Trying to sprint with glasses on can be extremely challenging. It took me two years to finally get the courage to get contacts. As someone who struggled with getting contacts in everyday over the summer and struggles now, I want to help those who go through the same conflict.

“The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender.” (Booth, William) This was said by William Booth a famous British preacher. The problem with people in today’s society is our innate desire to control everything. “Playing God," as it is sometimes referred, suggest that an individual must control all aspects of their life and sometimes others; possibly stemming from frustration or insecurity, this poor practice only hurts the individual. I had to learn this lesson the hard way my junior year in high school after joining the varsity football team. I attended Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Raiders, their mascot, are known nationwide as a high school football juggernaut. Aware of this fact when I came in as a freshman, I saw this reputation as an opportunity to be in front of numerous college scouts. Despite that, I would not have foreseen the challenges to my character and personal strength I would soon be facing.

For most of my elementary and middle school career, I averaged about two or three absences in a given week. I hated class, didn’t understand why I had to be there all the time if I could come every other day and still get A’s. While this may have been true, albeit arrogant, I now see how I had misunderstood. It took me until my sophomore year of high school to realize how passionate I actually am about it. It was then, with the aid of two specific teachers, that I realized how the most noble and honest thing one can pursue in life is knowledge and education. These two history teachers, good friends to each other, not only taught me about the history of the world and how relevant it is to life today, but also taught me the two most important lessons I’ve learned up to this point.

Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am” has been one of the most debated questions in Catholicism. Over the past few years of Theology, I have consistently been taught that the Catholic Church believes “Jesus Christ is God the Son, who became man for us.” According to the Church's teachings, we are encouraged to live the way Jesus did, as He is our Lord and Savior. This means we must respect our “enemies”, ourselves, and for that matter all people we encounter in our everyday lives, just like Jesus did. Throughout the Scriptures, we are also reminded of the way Jesus helped people to believe and made them better people with each encounter, even if they didn’t realize it at the time. All of this made Jesus the person that many people view Him as today. So, in agreement with the Catholic Church, I believe that Jesus was the Son of God who saved our lives and saved us from our sins.

On September 11, 2001, my life was involuntarily changed permanently. As a New York native, more importantly, a Queens native, I’ll never forget the tragic events of that day. I will also never forget the three weeks following the tragedy that I was off from school. We were not give off because of physical damage to our infrastructure, but because of the emotional toll that day had on my city, my country and our families. I will never forget the wakes and funerals for people, some of whom I had never met. But I attended to show support for the numerous classmates of mine who lost a parent or other close relative. The steadfast resolve of New Yorkers in the following weeks, months and even years is nothing short of inspiring and I’m so proud to be called a New Yorker. However, the one thing that always stuck out to me that was negative was the misunderstanding of what had happened. People I loved and respected told me that we were at war with Islam, that it’s a ‘dangerous ideology’. I never for a second believed that irresponsible statement and I have plenty of Muslim friends to this day who demonstrate day in and day out what it means to be an American. I did this for them.

For an organizational analysis of my current context, I decided to select Option A: Adizes: Focus on Organizational Lifecycle. Everything has a lifecycle, from geological formations to people, societies, and civilizations. Of course, organizations, too, go through different stages – they grow, change, and then, they disintegrate. Even though none of this comes as a surprise to anyone, yet some organizations and their leadership may not be ready to embrace the change and still be sustainable and efficient. As Ichak Adizes boldly suggests in his book, "The challenge of leadership on any level – individual, family, organization, and society – is to change continuously and, nevertheless, always remain together" (1999, 9). As organizations go through different stages, each time they are presented with the peculiar challenges. In many cases, new difficulties cannot be resolved with the old methods and attitudes. Without abandoning their old customs, organizations can be at risk to stagnate or even fall apart as they advancing through numerous transitions. The majority of organizations would encounter similar lifecycle stages; however, they would need to develop certain abilities in order to advance forward in the lifecycle.

I was asked to choose an incident or a personal experience that changed my perspective on the world or me as a person. Personally, I not only had an experience that would just change my perspective, but it changed me as a person and helped me grow into who I am today. Roughly a year and a half ago an event occurred that taught me an extremely important life lesson that everyone should know and learn throughout their lifetime. All too often, people take many things for granted in life, whether it is incredibly important in our eyes. When we reach the point in time where we are so comfortable with something or someone, we begin to take it for granted and seldom realize that until it’s missing. I began to realize very quickly what I had and how I was taking it for granted when it hit me, literally.

Throughout our discussion there were several intriguing and engaging questions that were asked and sparked a good conversation among our group. One moment where I believe I was most successful in the discussion, was throughout minutes six through sixteen. Throughout this time, we discussed how the Party’s control in 1984 can be seen in the world around us today such as in North Korea. This question was first prompted by Leo but what I feel made this our groups most engaging point was how everyone added to the question by rephrasing it, or adding additional information and perspectives, or incorporating it into aspects they are most passionate about in their lives. From this point, I related it to history and how history can be rewritten to correct ways a nation or person has morally failed. I used the example of slavery to show this point. Starting from about minute eight I discuss with my group how according to an article my English class read last year, Texas history textbooks teach slavery based on how it economically impacted the South rather than by teaching the dehumanizing and awful treatment of other people. This question and the points brought up by this question were what I found to be most engaging. Our group spent nearly ten minutes on this point, because this point took a personal side and everyone had something to discuss from it. I believe the passion developed from this point is what made this not only my most successful moment but one of our groups best

This past year has been a learning experience that has led me to where I am today, attending Citrus. I graduated from Glendora High School in May of two-thousand sixteen with the intention of moving away to school and attending the University of Arizona; however, within the week post-graduation I decided it would be in my best interest to take some time away from the books. I love education and every ounce of learning. My school work, grades, and attendance have always been a top priority, but I began to feel as if I was a car running out of gas, I knew that if I went into my freshman year at a university with the mindset I had and the drive I was lacking, I probably would not be very successful nor would I get very far. For me to figure out myself and where I desire to be a break was needed from not only school, but also this town. Unfortunately, my gap year wasn’t filled with any crazy stories of finding myself while lost backpacking or traveling, but it was filled with personal growth amidst new coworkers, a newer environment, and a boyfriend as well as some family. I moved to Arizona anyhow and that is where I did most of my recent growth. Now you’re probably wondering how I landed myself back in Glendora, a question I now have the confidence to answer. Arizona was great, I love it, and it holds such a large part of my heart however I could not muster up an ounce of motivation to go back to school. I felt too comfortable with what I had and feared going back with

Unfolding is not simply teaching, but rather meeting (Stewart, 73). Doing so requires believing in the other person, which can only take place by making the personal present. Seeing someone for who they are and completely accepting them. Only when one can truly see someone, can they believe in them or see their true existence. Likewise, “the educator…committed to his care…sees each of these individuals as in a position to become a unique, single person, and thus the bearer of a special task of existence” (Stewart, 73). When presenting the personal one is able to see one for who they are, in the context of unfolding, as an educator whose role is to teach others about the world around them. When one makes the personal present, they are open to these new viewpoints, which can make one’s life more meaningful with the increase in answers, opportunity, and so on.

Everyone has at least one point in their educational life that has shaped them into the student or person they are today. For me, coming together after being separated as the “Germantown” and “Farmersville” kids for the first six years of school changed the way I built myself as a student. Becoming friends with new people, having new teachers for every subject, changing up the routine, and actually having to switch classes has taught me a lot of different things.

From the early moments of my childhood, I remember seeing my parents go to Russian Orthodox Church a lot. They would explain to my younger brother and me what was right and what was wrong from the religious perspective. On my 4th birthday, my grandma gave me the Bible for kids as a present, and I remember my mom reading it to me before going to bed. Back then it was just another interesting story that happened somewhere very far away. And yet mom would always find a way to tell these stories in such a manner so they translated really well into the reality we were living in. The more I grew up the more I realized that there was something missing in the big picture of my understanding of the world. I saw a lot of suffering that was happening everywhere, death, natural disasters, and I thought there must be a reason for all of it. Otherwise, the God does not care about any of us. I started to look for the answers everywhere: in the philosophical and religious books, movies, wise counsel from the people who lived a long life. I could not find the truth in church because the whole purpose of its existence with all its rules and restrictions, its idea of God who is something or someone out there, separate from us, and the only being that knows all the answers, was totally alien to me; mainly so due to my unwillingness to accept the fact of transferring all the responsibility for everything one does to someone else. I believed it to be a weakness to acknowledge one’s bad thoughts and deeds as something natural, as an external influence of the evil spirits. For me, it sounded like people who agreed with this concept simply wanted to escape the punishment for what they had done, choose an easy way out.

In this world everything happens for a good reason but the result of everything that happens in our life is not a joyful. In order to find happiness and joy in this world even in the most sad or lowest point of the chapter in our life, we have to pay attention to the universe in the present moment. The universe has voice and it tells us the truth, so for us to find happiness we need to pay attention to the universe at that moment to find the true reason behind everything. The true reason behind everything that happens in our life brings us peace. The major focus of the teachings of the Buddha in Life of Buddha, the book of Ecclesiastes, and The Alchemist is the need to exist in and pay attention to the universe at the present moment in