Reflection Paper

My friends and I were speaking on our past relationships from high school and earlier semesters. Reflecting on those times, a lot of effort and devotion went into making golden moments with someone I care about, and it’s a shame that things didn’t work out. Although I have graduated high-school a mere two years ago, I ponder why I stay up late nights thinking about those moments, grateful that I had the chance to experience something so wonderful. Yes, love can be an amazing thing; laughter, comfort, and friendships are all products of love I deeply care for. Despite this, it can be our strongest obstacle when trying to find happiness.

Being in a life or death situation, or at least believing you, can radically affect how you feel about the world, and everything around us. To unknowingly shake loose your repressed feelings and thought, through the rush of adrenaline and reflection on your own actions, is a truly freeing experience. While such a freeing experience comes with a terrifyingly dangerous cost, I was able to find a refreshing outlook on life.

Writing is like a fine wine, it only improves with age. Through this semester I have meticulously learned the art and appreciations of writing. Over the long semester, I have improved through long sleepless nights. Which in fact were worth it in the very end, upon receiving my grade through the last 3 essays. My last essays that have enhanced my knowledge of writing of summarizing an article, defending a claim, and an op-ed piece. I’ve ultimately used my writing to not only learn, but also to critique and analyze my works, and use them to successfully thrive in this class.

"A failure isn’t a failure if it prepares you for a successful tomorrow." This quote by Lolo Jones has kept me calm for the past two years because if I gave up after every failure I’ve overcame in track I would not be sitting in this class or even attending Slippery Rock for that matter. As cliché as it sounds, everything does happen for a reason. I learned this the hard way during my junior and senior years of high school. Even though most of my experiences from being on the track team are positive, I ended my junior and senior year with the same feeling; regret and feeling like there was more I could’ve done to prevent myself from having to end my season earlier than I initially intended.

April 11th, 2014. It was the day that I can remember in which a teenager such as me must take a big step through the next years living in a new country. My mother, my sister, and I arrived thanks to the petition my dad applied for in order for us to immigrate to the US. I was stunned when I see people with different ethnicities walking outside the airplane to the tarmac. It was a long wait in the airport due to the long lines of immigrants. I was beginning to be impatient when my mother explained to me to be silent or else we’ll face an altercation with security. As soon as the process was done, we walked outside and at first glance, I saw my father smiling at our direction.

“Hooah! Oohrah! Hooyah!” The United States Military is full of brave men and women who swore an oath to defend the constitution against all of its enemies. These men and women were different before they enlisted; they were changed by their experiences. The brave souls who commit to serve in any of the branches of the military are transformed into disciplined, confident, courageous, considerate, and motivated members of society. These men and women who have served, changed for the better thanks to their involvement in the United States Military.

Life represents a culmination of unforeseen events that eventually lead to success, and in the minds of the majority college symbolically defines the first major obstacle one must overcome to continue that journey. Every year, high school students across the nation eagerly anticipate the coming of their senior year and the rapidly approaching adventure to follow, but for many it simply reminds them of the heartache that is soon to come. My own personal experience began with the blinding influence hope cast over my judgement as inner levels of excitement exponentially increased and my emotions became steadily influenced by the people surrounding me. However, little was I aware that my future had already been decided and no external force would have the necessary impact to reconfigure my current course. In a sense, my ship had already sailed and was leading me in ironclad chains to foreign lands of which my presence was to be forced. College, to me, would soon become an indescribable burden where reality would suddenly become brutally clear and all hopes for a productive future existed upon the fate of an unstable pendulum.

Last summer my cousin and I were enjoying a meal with our families in China. It’s been 7 years since I last saw my cousin. We are about the same age and my favorite memory of her was celebrating her 11th birthday. I remember my uncle and aunt sitting to my right and my grandparents sitting to my left singing happy birthday as she blew out her candles. It has been so long I almost couldn’t recognize her when I arrived at the airport 2 weeks prior. My mom receives a call and leaves the room to pick up her phone. She comes back 10 minutes later in tears. She breaks the news to the family and that our trip would be cut short. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the following week, we pack up our bags and head out to the airport. She had to start treatment as soon as possible. I knew I would become the man of the house to take care of my mother and brother, who has autism, while my dad worked in New York.

Today, November 16, 2016, my perspective altered drastically. The hot humid air of Honduras made my skin sticky and my hair damp. The sun beat down on me as if I sat in an inescapable sauna. Houses made of tin and cinder blocks flew past us as the police escorted us to the clinic. 10 minutes later my dad and I reached the clinic and gratefully exited the bus and rushed inside. “Ahhhhh...air conditioning! What a blessing!” I thought. We expected 10-15 patients to come to our dental chair to get their dental work done for their mission papers. I look around at the church gym, full of rickety makeshift dental operatories. The stark white walls, the dusty tan floor, and the porous off-white ceiling engulfed me entirely. My heart beat out of my chest as I felt completely inadequate for the tasks lying ahead of me. Patients began filling the church bench, which acted as a waiting area. Each patient shared a timid smile, offered to speak their best english if possible, and expressed their gratitude for us coming to their country to serve them. Even though Spanish is not my first language, I knew how to speak kindness. Gratitude knows no language barrier. I finished setting up our tools, chairs, and trays for our first patient. Giddy and anxious, I raised the lime green flag high above my head signaling for a patient. Almost immediately after raising the flag my stomach plummeted further, I’m nervous again! Why am I so nervous? Pull it together Cambrie! This is the fifth day of

In December 12th , 2014 , we were in church listening to the pastor preach about helping others. After church we talked to the pastor about taking up for the homeless people in Anderson County. Instead of having church that night the whole church came with us to give them the stuff. I like that i help the homeless people. One of the people that we help was cry like a baby because she was so happy to see use.The little thing we did make them happy. They look like they were going to cry. The homeless were delighted to see the stuff we gave them. I could hear the sound of happiness in the room because they were laughing. The room was as happy as a child with it’s mother.

Not too long after arriving in Texas I committed myself to being a Christian. In retrospect, I understand I didn’t fully understand my actions, but I knew that my aunt, uncle, and cousins were different and I wanted to experience the love, joy, and freedom they all have. As a result, on a June summer night in a hotel with my extended family, I prayed to the God “Come into my heart Lord and be present in my life.” At that exact moment, a feeling engulfed my body that is hard to explain; it's almost like a wave that crashed over my head and moved down to my feet. Even though I was surrounded by my extended family, I understood that like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego we weren't alone but another had entered into our company. The mountain top experience of my salvation was brief and sadly inconsequential in my life for a couple of years. Life moved on and as a ten-year old, I didn’t want change to consume my personality despite my recent conversion. I had just been introduced to this concept of the church being enjoyable and fun; anything that stood against that idea was put to the wayside. Relationships between my brother became tense and strained. Life during the spiritual transition from an immature child and a growing one is reminiscent of James chapter three verse six through nine,

In 1994, my parents immigrated to Canada from Vietnam to seek better living conditions and a promising future for their soon-to-be children. However, to live in a free nation filled with opportunities, the two left everything behind. While living in rent, my father worked full-time at a factory while my mother had found a job as a cashier. Although they had a sustainable income, my father understood that raising a child would cost them more than they were currently making. In 1997, my father decided to study computer science at Langara in search for a better-paying job while working part-time as a security guard. Meanwhile, my mother took up housekeeping, working at two different hotels to earn more money for their coming child. Understandably, my parents had made their lives much harder immigrating to Canada, but their sacrifices - I can say - has paid off.

Every student deserves the best chance at getting the highest level of education they can, however, some students need a little extra support that others may not. A student, Axel, who is currently in my classroom has had a hard time keeping his focus and is often avoidant when it comes to his work. It has become clear that his avoidance becomes a distraction to the whole class. His behaviors currently include but are not limited to: rolling around on the floor during rug lessons, yelling across the room, walking around the room talking to friends, sharpening his pencil five or more times throughout the day, asking to go to the bathroom at inappropriate times, spending fifteen to twenty minutes in the

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.

It is extremely difficult to estimate the amount of knowledge in existence today. While knowledge is flowing in incredible pace, extraction and application of the relevant information from the bulk of knowledge is vital for many aspect of our lives. As an IMBA student in Florida International University, I have never thought that there was such a strict distinction between the information and the knowledge in today’s technology driven world. However, after taken this course, it is quite clear to me that gathering the beneficial information is not an easy task as it seems before. There are crucial elements to obtain valuable information for the businesses. Every business is unique so the strategies for them too.