If nothing else, our content over the past two weeks has served as a reminder of how important it is to tell our stories. Yes, our stories may be depressing and they may present humanity in horrific ways, but they are still important.
Every Friday morning during my drive to work I listen to NPR's pick from the StoryCorps project (remember, you listened to some stories too). I always look forward to these 30 second snippets of life. They are not always overtly poignant - at least not in the most commonly accepted way - but they are special moments of clarity that have made a difference with someone, somewhere. Could these stories make a difference elsewhere? Perhaps. And, of course, that is the role of StoryCorps - to record the seemingly unimportant and rather Earth shattering moments that could help someone else in the future.
We tell our stories because our lives are important. When we share elements of our lives with humanity our role on this planet becomes more pronounced. In other words, we make ourselves matter.
Wiesel could have kept his stories hidden deep inside for the rest of his life. We could have never read about his conflicts with his faith or his quest to keep his father alive. But, instead, Wiesel chose to tell his story. And what a story it is! How many lives has this story changed, even in a small way? How many other stories has Wiesel inspired?
For this week, I would like you to tell your own stories. Describe a moment in your life that was important...or not. Make us feel life we are there, right along with you on the journey.
15 comments:
A life changing moment of my life was a "typical" afternoon, when my father called the family to the living room to tell us that we were moving to Kobe, Japan. After taking in this news, my siblings and I were in a state of confusion, anger, and dread. Suddenly, we began to laugh- we thought he was pulling a prank on us! After all, what is there in Japan, a country so random, so foreign? However, we eventually accepted the fact that we were going to be leaving our hometown, Weston, where we had been living for 7 years.
Two months later, I found myself on the longest plane ride I had ever had to endure, which involved a flight from Florida to Chicago, then to California, then Japan. The result was 23 hours of airtime, during which I had to resort to the entertainment of fantasizing what life in Japan would be like. It turned out to be the complete contrary of everything I had ever imagined. Japan was nowhere near similar to the suburban public school in America that I had come from. I now had to attend a private school in a city bursting with life, but I ajusted well. From the very first day, when I met my soon-to-be best friends in the lobby of the apartment building, I fell in love with Japan.
Till this day, I will never forget the life changing experience of living in Asia. It opened my eyes to the world, and positively impacted me in unimaginable ways. This once-in-a-lifetime experience is the sole reason why I am able to say that I have long left Socrates's cave and opened my eyes to the sun.
Melissa Magalhães Period 3
nicole ramlal
It was mid-summer, one of the hottest days of the year and i was becoming restless. the minutes seemed like hours as i anxiously waited for my dads arrival.my eyes grew heavy as a sign of how bored i was and my battle against keeping them open was a lost cause. i was about to give in when i heard the gentle buzzing of the garage being opened. elated that my dad finally got home, i quickly grabbed my phone, wallet, and a water bottle and fled the house. before my dad could say, "hey nicky," i stole his keys and zoomed out the door. finally, it was my turn to drive my dad's brand new infiniti g35 coupe with a sleek black paint job that sparkled in the sun and rims so shiny, you could see yourself in them before being blinded by the sun's immense rays' reflection. inserting the key in the ignition, i became giddy like a kid in a candy store and reversed out of the driveway barely missing the gate. cruising on the highway, blasting my favorite song on the radio with the windows rolled down i noticed several fellow drivers glancing at me. as i pulled to a stoplight, i couldn't tell if they were staring because of the blaring music or because they were intrigued by the car, but when the light turned green i didn't think twice about it as i hauled down the open road. on my way back home, i reflected on my 30 minute joyride with a smile on my face. when i reached my house, my dad could see the smile plastered on my face and began asking me questions but i was still in my dazed trance that i just dropped the keys at the bottom of my staircase and sauntered up the seemingly short flight of stairs.
ALLAN NUDELMAN P3
There are numerous moments in my life that have alot of importance to me, but one I'd like to talk about is the time that I got lost in a shopping mall. I was six years old when my parents brought me on vacation to the United States. I had been to the US before, but this was the first time I actually knew where I was. We went from Colombia to South Florida for about 4 weeks so that my brother and I would learn a little bit of english. The first week of being here, my parents took us to the mall. SInce we were on vacation, they were being being really generous towards my brohter and I. I was amazed to see how grand the mall was and how much people were in it. Compared to Colombian malls, this mall was ridiculously huge, and I was a little intimidated. My family arrived at a shoe store, and my dad immediatley went to try on some shoes. At the same time, my mom was watching my brother and me, while she talked on the phone. my eye caught sight of a bright yellow ball rolling under one of the isles. With my six year-old mentality, my first instinct was to follow the ball , and so I did. I looked back up and I had completely lost sight of my mom. Suddenly, a crowd of people swarmed over me. I began to panic, as my breathing rate increased rapidly. In my home country, lost children in malls had a high probability of getting kidnapped. I was taught to always stay by my parents' side and to always be careful, so when I got lost here, I thought it would be the same way. Without even noticing, I started crying hysterically. My mouth let out calls to my mom unconsciously. In seconds, everybody's head turned towards me. A store employee picked me up and held me high saying "who's child is this?" until my mom rushed right in front of him and snatched me from his hands. I quickly calmed down ad stopped crying, but I was still very scared. Later that day, I was very thankful to have avoided a situation that could have been much worse.
My life is filled with stories of excitement and adventure but one that stuck with me was the day I cut my thigh open. I was about six years old at the time. My dad was outside placing hurricane shutters on the window, preparing for the ravaging attack that the hurricane had promised to have on our home. My grandma had just finished making dinner and I promised my dad I would try to help him as soon as I finished eating my dinner, he was fine with this because he warned me not to touch anything and only to pass him the tools. Once I finished eating I ran outside to learn from my dad and accompany him. I still remember that as he was putting the shutters up I looked up and saw black clouds surrounding the air around him. We began at the front of the house and went around slowly. I would pass him the bolts and the tools as he would line up these enormous pieces of sheet metal along the windows of the house. Then as time began to pass we reached the final shutter. My dad tried lifting it up but wasn't in a comfortable condition. He jumped over the hurricane shutter and turned around and told me don't follow me. I was young and stubborn, telling me not to do this was like saying Sebastian go ahead, give it a try. As my dad was turning around I lined myself up for the jump and gave it a go. I thought I cleared the entire shutter but I landed along the edge and as I looked down I saw this gash and I began to yell. Initially I didn't feel any pai but looking down at this monstrous looking thing gushing out of my leg I became frightened and didn't know what to do. I began writhing in the grass tattered with bloody clothing. My dad turned around at the sound of my yelling from the anguish. We ran into the car and my mom was driving in the craziest manner ever. Left and right and left and right, when we finally arrived at the hospital they layed me down in the emergency room bed. The second I layer down they began to sew together my tattered and broken flesh without any anestisia. The pain I was enduring couldn't have been any worse, as my adrenaline began to wear off the worse I began to experience this new pain that I never thought I'd have the pleasure of experiencing.
I've always liked to try new things. Ranging from sports, or just a simple way of doing things differently from other people. Around 7th grade, I had never been snowboarding before and I was very eager to go on the trip when I was told that I was going to Lake Tahoe. There is always that thought," Yeah, I'm Shawn White, I'm going to hit 360's at the terrain park." It isn't simple as it looks. The long flight was torturing on the way to Phoenix, Arizona. Then a short ride to Reno, Nevada, and then came the worst form of traveling; a bus ride into Las Vegas. The mountains were teasing me from all sides, I just wanted to slide down that stupid mountain already. The next morning, it was a two-mintue walk from the hotel to the gandola, and I had an altercation with my family because I didn't want to take lessons on how to snowboard. I was positive that I knew how to snowboard already. Anyways, I was forced to take the lessons, and I realized I still had a great deal of trouble snowboarding even after the lessons. It was another two days before I got a hang of gliding down the slick mountain with very thick snow splattering at your face. After all, I was glad that I took the lessons or else I would never of figured out how to snowboard. This sport before is one of the greatest sports I have ever tried.
-When I first moved to the United States I moved to Monroe, a bit of a rough looking american city in the north east of Louisiana, were one of my aunts lived. I was leaving my older sister behind to study med school in Venezuela. When I said good bye to her my body composed every one of sadness I could find within me. I remember looking out the window in my flight to the US; boy I really didn't have a clue of how everything was going to turn out.
-The first days at catholic school were extremely scary. My brother too went to my school, but I we didn't see much of each other in school. We were the only two Latin kids in the whole school. Not even the spanish teacher spoke real spanish; I had no idea what the teachers would asked of me. I fail to do my homework correctly the first months because I misunderstood the instructions; yet the teachers always smiled at me with compassion. It was specially hard for me because I felt like such an outsider in school.
-That year I passed as expected, and the following two years I received straight As. I remember being a bit of the schools pride. If in just one year a girl who didn't understand a word of english turned out to learn a new language and then go on to achieve high grades, the possibilities are endless. I found good friends in people I once looked at as total strangers. And after three years of being at Monroe we moved once more to Florida; although it would have been more easier on me to come to Florida at once, I don't regret those years in Monroe for they taught many things about my self at a young age.
I was about 8 years old. Sleeping confortably on my sweet cozy bed. I was in the 5th floor of an apartment in Medellin, Colombia. It was around five in the morning until unexpectedly my mom started hissing at me. "Wake up!We are leaving!" I rub my eyes and ask her what is going on. She quickly starts explaining to me what is happening. She startes telling me that we are moving to USA. USA!. It was unexpected. This was ridiculuous, I had never heard of such monstrocity. Just leaving my country without anyone telling me. Completely changing my lifestyle. I was flabbergasted. I didn't even have time to take a shower or even eat. We hop on the car and my dad steps on the accelerator and we are off. My dad was driving like a maniac, swerving around cars, trying to get to the airport. We arrive and my little brother is crying hysterically. With the look in his face, I immediatly knew he was bemused. We get on the airplane and we are off to a new country. Juan Garcia p3
A moment in my life I will never forget is probably when I went to Georgia with my family. It was such a fun experience because we had the opportunity to see a lot of different things. First we went to downtown Athens. It was right in front of the University of Georgia. They had people painting mosaics, vintage items, and different types of foods. One thing that really caught my attention was some sort of snack, it was shredded ice topped with any type of fruits or candies you would like. I got one topped with pineapples!
Later on throughout the trip we went to Atlanta. They had an underground mall with different varieties of shops of different styles and cultures. We also visited the Coca- Cola factory. The workers gave us a tour and showed us how the beverage is made. Near that factory they had an ice skating rink imitating the one in Central Park New York. The last night in Atlanta we spent it by going on a horse carriage ride. We got in a small carriage that fit two people, that carriage took us around downtown Atlanta to show all the amazing tourist places. I had such a great time in Georgia, that I can't wait to go back!
Alex Hebert
period 3
The only serious life changing moment that I can force myself to spew out was my dreaded move from Florida to New Jersey. Although I cannot truely say that I was dreading the move at the time, I was ecstatic. But little did I know it would be like going into war blind. I was unprepared for for the wrath of my phsyco aunt, but that wasn't what was on my mind. The only thing that I was thinking about was how fun it was going to be having a new fresh start, going to a new school and experiencing something totally different... I was a kid.
I was done with elementary school and was moving onto middle school. Surely I would be climing up the latter. Unfortunatly, I did not have the tools of foreshadowing that Mrs. Stoklosa has so cleverly taught us. My first step on New Jersey soil was bone chilling. I opened the door of the car previous to pulling up to a big farm style home. It was similar to being slap in the face by an angry old lady. The brutal thirty degree weather was the start of entering an icy hell.
I can ramble on for days about how horrible the event was, but my emphasis is on the extended summer of illicit activities that I would be partaking in. Because I was in another state now the schooling system is obviosly a little different and I had an extra month added to my summer vacation, an extra month to torture everything in site. I was a bad kid. And because I was off a month before my cousins; one a year older and one a year younger. I had time to explore the premises. I quickly new the area and got along great with my younger cousin.
He became my partner in crime. And drove any one mad who dared to come in our path. I gained a life friend. The younger brother i always had wanted.
A life changing moment for me has to be the time when I committed my self to the Weston warriors football club. It was the summer of 7th grade when i decided to sign up, I remember I had to weigh in and then sign up for the weight division. I barely made the 125 lb weight class but they let me on. It started later that summer where the conditioning was a pretty easy but progressively got harder. I got into great shape over that summer. Finally at the end of conditioning we got to use our pads and helmets the first week of hitting was hard but I got used to it. That summer had to be the most fun I have ever had playing football, and ever since then I have been involved in sports. That has to my life changing moment.
I can still remember the brown cardboard boxes scattered throughout the house, which had become bare and dull. My room, once a flashy hot pink with multi-colored hand prints, now was white and lifeless. I knew that moving to Weston was for the sake of Noah,my brother, and I's education; I also knew this was a positive step into realizing myself as a person.
For the first year, I would always run home, sobbing from the insults that my "friend" would announce to me. I knew I deserved so much more, but I was the new girl who had nobody to lean on. What else was I suppose to do? Things took a turn for the better when I came into contact with a girl by the name of Clara. I was in utter shock of how flawless she appeared. Her face showed no dark scars or blemishes, and her hair in perfect curls. I would have never imagined a girl like her would even take an interest in being my friend.
Through the next two years, Clara and I created a bond that became inseparable. There was rarely a moment that we weren't attached to each others' side. I looked upon her as my shield from any hateful or vial people that tried to shatter my confidence and who I was as a person. Without her, I would of became an insecure girl whose wall could be wrecked in an instant second.
The news, that Clara was moving across the nation to a tiny city called Irvine in California, bashed any hope of ever being whole again. But before she left, Clara explained to me that I had what it took to be courageous and stand up for myself. She demanded that I would never let anybody take advantage of me because I was too valuable to be tampered with. Her last promise - We are going to stay best friends forever, no matter the number of exaggerated miles between us. She spoke. "Life isn't about the destination, but the journey that gets you there. I might not be right beside you, but I'm only a phone call or text away." Since that day, we have kept our promises, and our friendship has grown even stronger than before.
OK, this story was not as important but it was pretty funny at the time. it starts off with my brother and i were installing a new intake and muffler on his Mazda 6.after we installed the new parts, we went on a test ride. so we open the windows blasting the music and go on the highway. so the highway was mostly empty with the exception of a few cars.
the sun shining, the few clouds make the moment special. time felt to slow down, we became one with the moment. well, at least till be heard some sirens. before we noticed we were pulling over. so this cop comes up to the window and does his thing. however, at the end, he asks if we knew how fast we were going. so we nodded no; so he tells us we here hitting 121 mph.
at that moment the cop got a radio call, he backed off a little and listened to the call. he came back in smiling almost laughing and he explained the situation. so he states that "we are really lucky bunch, and got to go and support another officer." so he just gets in his car and drives off.
so that when we went 121mph. on a highway got pulled over and didn't get a ticket.
Through out my life there has been many life changing experiences that I have went through. The one that stands out to me the most would be back in six grade when I really didn't care about my actions. I was a typical normal student except i didn't show much enthusiasm for school work. I attended all of my classes each and every single day but I never followed directions nor did the assignments. Tt wasn't that I couldn't to the work, I didn't see the importance of it. So one day finally my parents had enough of my attitude towards school, so my parents took me one day to downtown miami. I though I was going to Heat game but that was not the reason. My parents wanted to get the point across to me about why school is so important. they showed me the homeless people and explained to me this is what happens when you don't care about anything. At the time, I was so traumatized I was speechless and just stared through the car mirror dumbfounded. Living in wesTON, they way you perceive things is different than others outside of the city. It made me grateful for all of the things i am able to have, just the basic things , shelter, food and water. But in order for me to have these thinks I need to work hard and get an education so i could be able to get a job that is financially stable. Since that day 4 years ago, I've been trying my hardest in school and giving it my all to one day be successful.
I will never ever forget my trip to South Africa! I ventured to South Africa, on june 10th 2010. For my sixteenth birthdy I was given the choice to either have an extravagent sweet sixteen, or to go any where in the world for a week! Well, of course, I chose the ticket to adventure and discovery! I contemplated on the thought of being able to go anywhere in the world, and it felt as though I was holding the whole world in the palm of my hands. What an a amazing feeling it was! And after long, anxious nights of thinking, I eagerly decided to go to Africa! Ever since I can remember i've wanted to journey to Africa and help kids and families in need.
In my life, I have experienced several life changing events. However, the most important one would have to be when I placed 8th at the 2011 South Atlantic Regional Figure Skating Championships last October in North Carolina.
At my first experience at a qualifying competition, I was excited just to be there. Placing 8th however, was just icing on the cake. In the intermediate division, I was against 13 other competitors. Having placed 7th in the short program, and 10th in the long program, my final placement was 8th. I was the third alternate to compete at the US Junior Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah.
SImply competing here was the most defining moment in my skating career. I worked so hard that past year, training 12 hours a week, every day after school and some days even before school! My parents had sacrificed so much time and money into this that all I wanted to do was do my best and make them proud.
Being an alternate not only meant that I had a chance of competing at US Juniors, it meant I had become nationally ranked, which to me was an unbelievably feeling. Being grouped with the best people in my level is an honor.
I plan on staying in the same level for next season, hopefully to move up in rankings, and qualify for Junior Nationals this year! WIth all the hard work I have put in and continue to put in, I know I can do it.
Cory Leschel P 3
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