November 3

Indiscriminant Bonds

There is always a tale between every school and every student who attended those schools, that includes judgement about anything distinctive and unique about someone. This can turn into bullying. The victims often lose enough self-esteem and end up separating themselves from the community around them, if the community had not done that already from all the commotion and rumors that float around like an undiscovered, contagious virus. However, in the case of unfortunate situations, this changes. In the visual provided, where there are three children in an unfortunate situation, they willingly include and help each other out rather than discriminating because they all have a mutual goal to accomplish.

The Philippines just had a school in a horrible spot, where students on one side of the river that attended that school had no bridge to cross. That school is still getting funded, so education continues. For the children attending that school, they definitely need to write on paper. They have to keep their textbooks, notes, and blank paper dry. They have to keep their food clean. They have to keep themselves warm and comfortable by trying not to submerge themselves in water. They have to keep themselves clean and away from bacteria all over the river water to avoid getting sick. Those children, while growing up, were likely taught how to utilize the river and take care of themselves along the way to get to the school on the other side of it. Being on the other side of the river, they were not often exposed to the idea of leaving others out who are also in need of help. They were definitely not taught to leave others in the dust and fend for themselves only either.

In most social interactions outside of the Philippines, everyone often tries to some extent, to fit in with groups of people because it could lower their chance of being excluded. In some schools, some children are already excluded right away just because they started out alone. The usual motive for this is based off the priorities and the type of life that each child lives in and grows up in. The ones that judge and exclude others for immoral and minor reasons, typically tend to be focused more on hoarding attention or hiding their own insecurities with a false sense of ego.

In the Philippines, however, these three children focus on a common hardship. The river, being the common hardship, technically blinds children from attacking the lives of others for the sake of attention or just because they had insecurities that they wrapped some makeshift ego all over. Those children who worry about their own condition while crossing the river are able to easily understand the other children struggling to cross the river, and would provide a helping hand if they needed it, and if they were able to. 

If a wandering adult sees three children with backpacks and smiles on a raft, what would they be thinking? Aside from them going to school, they are probably friends. They are probably having fun. They definitely do not seem to be upset, scared, nor bothered about the fact that there is no bridge to cross the river if they are smiling. It is because they have a common hardship they are dealing with together, that they can understand each other better, and that they could begin forming a bond with each other that is free of spiteful judgement.

Category: Henry, Sept 2019 | 3 Comments on Indiscriminant Bonds
November 28

Dreaming of the future

Why are the things we love Always so hard to get?

This gives us a chance to prove how bad you want it.

There are always going to be other people that want the same thing, it always comes down to who wants it more.

 

Without the challenge of discovering the things we love, life would be boring. As a human we are made to discover our interests. This is achieved mainly through school and extracurricular activities. Allowing for our minds to discover the things we love. Most of the time these things turn out to be classified as  dreams. A Lot of people give up on these dreams as they seem simply unattainable. But nothing is unattainable. There is one simple answer to why things are so hard to get. And that is to prove how bad we want it. This allows for us to define who the best of the best is as not anyone can make it to the NHL or NASCAR. If these things we admire came across as easy we would not have them same respect for them. This all in all creates for a challenge that we all admire. Getting to this level of excellence takes some serious skill and dedication. If you want to achieve your dream you must put in some serious effort and not let anyone hold you back. This is possible but you must never give up, never stop practicing and never back down. Once done you will have done what you were made to do reach for your dream and jump out and grab it. In the end you will not be the only person striving for a dream there will be many other competitors that you must outwit and out match to become the very best that the world has ever seen.

 

If you have ever had a dream like i have the key is to be patent it’s not worth rushing and everything normally goes better if you are able to relax prepare and take your time. No matter how impossible things seem to be there will always be a way to get around the obstacles you see before you.

 

Category: Nathan, Sept 2017 | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 9

Tata <3

You mean the WORLD to me.

Like, rain makes rainbows

In the naked sky

Like, spring makes flowers  

Bloom in the sun

The same way

You made me feel alive

You are a cozy blanket for me in the winter

And a soft breeze of air in the summer

You are the love of my life, my hero, and my guardian angel

My strength and

My weakness

 

My life is dedicated to my best friend, my hero, the man I love most.  He means everything to me. The years where he could reach out and hold my hand have faded, and he only lives on in my memories, my words, my soul.

You know how someone will tell you that you don’t realize the value of things until they disappear? That what you take for granted in the morning is never seen of again by night?  I have never stopped and thought about what I have done to deserve his love,

and his unceasing support. He is someone I have looked up to and will continue looking up to for infinity and more, both figuratively and literally. He is my guardian angel.

I miss him. Maybe I miss him a little too much. I didn’t speak to him every day when he was alive, but I guess just knowing he was there was enough for me to go through my day with a smile on my face.


I miss him because of his smile. I miss the way I could talk to him about just the most random topics on this planet. I miss the fact that he was just there for me. I miss the little gestures he made whenever he wanted something. The way he turned his index finger when he wanted me to turn off the fan for him. The way he played air piano with one hand when he needed the remote. But what I really miss? Love.

He loved me more than a father, took care of me better than a mother, protected me better than a brother and stood by my better than a sister. He never let me feel like I was rejected and unworthy. He gave me a voice, a life and everything I am today or ever will be because of his love and affection. He wasn’t the most educated person in my life but he still taught me some of the life’s most valuable lessons. He taught me to love myself, he taught me to accept myself, he taught me the difference between right and wrong, and most of all he taught me to believe in myself.

He loved me more than I think I will ever love myself. He took me in when the entire world rejected me. It was the two of us against the world and yet I felt the most powerful with him.

I guess that’s the power of love.

 

He showered me with unconditional love. And now it’s something I feel incomplete without, yet I still feel his presence. I still feel him smiling at me from the stars above. I feel empty without him in my life; it was like darkness fell over my life within seconds, to the point where now I am blinded by the light. But I’m learning to live again, to live happily without him in my life and I know that he will always be there for me.


If there is one thing I’m proud of is being called his granddaughter.

Category: Sept 2017, Suhaani | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 11

The Life Philosophies of Zaha

Welcome to my blog! My name is Zaha Khan. Through the adventures and experiences of my life these are the few things that I have learnt.  

My first life philosophy is ‘No Matter What Situation You Are Faced With Education Is Always Important. This philosophy is my narrative so get ready to read a lot. It originates from the life of my niece, Emra Waqqas, may she rest in peace. She was 19 years old when she passed from brain tumor. I feel that is it is important for you all to know her story, which starts all the way back in 2013, when I was in eighth grade and she was starting in the tenth grade. Emra was always joyful and filled with energy, just like me, but there would be days when she would have really bad headaches or she would be doing something and she would pass out. Since her parents lived in the U.S. she lived with my aunt in Toronto. My aunt took her to the emergency room and that is when they found out that she had a tumor. They took her into surgery within that week. The surgery was successful, however, the right side of her body was not functioning at all so she was in the hospital for more than a year. She did complete grade 10 and she was almost done grade 11 in the hospital as well.

She was back to her normal routine for more than a year but then all of as sudden one night she went out completely, this was around when I was in grade 10. They took her to the emergency immediately. The doctor found liquid surrounding her brain. Obviously they had to perform surgery right away and remove the liquid but there were two options they could either go into the surgery with giving her anesthetics but there was a chance that she might not wake up and the other option was to give her no anesthetics at all. Her parents obviously wanted her to wake up so they decided to talk the chance and not give her any anesthetics. During the surgery her heart beat would spike up and down, but thankfully the liquid was taken out. After this surgery she got a scan done and the doctors found that the tumor had come back, it had spread and it had gone deeper. Emra’s original doctor said that either they could do surgery now but it was way too much of a risk or they could just put her in therapy then see what happens. He straight up said to my cousin that she did not have along time to live, at most three months. My cousin decided to get a different from another specialist. The new doctor said that doing the surgery would be a risk but in a while after therapy.

During this time Emra was finishing up grade 12 and applying for university. She got accepted into McMaster University. So after a many weeks she went into surgery and came out tumor free. When she gained consciousness she couldn’t move at all. Not even her fingers, her toes, NOTHING. She couldn’t talk or eat! She was fed with a tube. My dad went to go visit her a couple of weeks after her surgery, around the spring of last year. She knew that my dad was with her but she had no way of acknowledging it. The least that she could do was put one finger up then down. But as time went on she could talk and move parts of her body, however, she still spent all of her time in the hospital bed. We all prayed for her and all still do. A couple of weeks after my dad came back we got a call from my uncle telling us that she didn’t make it. She had passed. I didn’t know what to do or how to react. I ran to the washroom and cried all my tears out. When her high school found out about her they name a scholarship after her. They are calling it the Emra Waqqas Scholarship. I’m proud to have her as my niece, to be related to her. To have her inspire me to go to school. 

My second life philosophy is ‘Make Life Easy.’ Especially in this new generation we want to make everything incredibly difficult, long, and filled with unnecessary things. We want all the attention when we do something. I have many examples, but I will only give two. The first example is one that I have been a victim of. When we have a party whether is is with family-friends or close friends. I always see five appetizers, a five course meal, then to top it all of ten types of desserts. You only eat like one out of each thing or two at the most. The amount of food that is taken away is unbelievable. Then there are the decorations: of the table, the chairs, the room, everything that you see. Usually all of those decorations end up in the garbage. There are not a lot of people who actually save them. The amount of things that we waste is unreal. I know some people are not like this, but you have to agree there must be someone that you know who does this. I’m not gonna lie I do this whenever my friends come over.

My final example is about the weddings that I go to. I am from Pakistan and in that area, including India, we have weddings that are USUALLY four to five days long. In these five days this is usually what happens: one evening from the groom, one from the bride, and then the next couple of days are from both sides. Within these days there is a lot of dancing, laughing, and eating. I find this to be the best part, but my main problem is with the dresses that we have to wear. Many people wear a separate dress each day. People spend hundreds, or sometimes even thousand of dollars on dresses. WHY? You only really need like two or three really. Then there is the money that the hosts spend on the food, the lighting, the decorations, and the locations. All for people who show up every single day to each event. You don’t have to spend that much. Majority of your money can go towards an important investment. The money you spend its yours. You get to decide as to what you get to do with that, but there are things that don’t have to be very extravagent. They can be as simple as 1+1=2. 

My third life philosophy is ‘Our History Creates Our Present.’ I believe that our ancestors have a part in shaping our identity. Their culture is our culture, their language is our language, their religion is our religion. For example, my last name is Khan. This means that my ancestors are originally from Afghanistan, which means that I am classified as a Pathan,  but then they came to India. Then a part of India became Pakistan, and our ancestors lived in Pakistan, however, it is the area now known as Lahore, which is the capital city of Punjab. All of this makes me a Punjabi-Pathan. However, I am more Punjabi than I am Pathan. Our family has adapted to the Punjabi culture. We don’t wear Pashtun clothing, we don’t speak the Pashtun language, we do not have the same traditions as them. All of it is Punjabi. Yes I am Pathan, but only by name not by me. I believe that we should celebrate our history, with our country, and our family. Our history is the reason as to why we are here today. 

My fourth life philosophy ‘Be A Diamond.’ I came to FFCA when I was in fifth grade. I was surrounded by people who were fake and rude to me. I was bullied. I didn’t realize this right away. Then in grade six I decided to show myself as someone who I am not. I changed who I was so I could get people to actually like me. But then I met one of my really good friends in grade seven. She caught me acting and told me not to. She said that people can accept me for my true self. I slowly distanced my self from them and got closer with my new friend. I began to shine my true colours. I wasn’t just one fake colour. No. I was and am filled with many different colours that are ready to shine. Everyone should have their own colours that they are not afraid to show. Colours that they should be proud of and show off to the world. I believe that everyone should be able to be themselves without being judged. Everyone should surround themselves with friends that love them for who they are. I am proud to say that I have finally found the perfect group of friends. People that have accepted me for who I am. 
My final life philosophy is ‘The Most Important Things In Life Are Priceless.’ I have asked a decent amount of people what they find they think the most important thing is, and majority of the things that people said were things that you would have to buy in order to achieve it. For example, cars, a house, food, or a pet. I agree that they are important but are they the most important. I believe that the most important things come without a price. For example, your family. Did you buy them? No, they were gifted to you. Your friends. Did you buy them? No, you were gifted them as well. For me my friends and family are the most important because my family is one of a kind. I was put into their hands and I am thankful for them. I don’t think anyone has a family like mine, and I don’t have a family like yours. What about your friends? Friends are people that start of as strangers and end up as people who come by your house often. Friends are people who you look forward to be around. I am thankful to say that I get up in the morning for school excited to see them and learn something new about them, and I look forward to the dumb, hilarious mistakes that we will make that we will remember for the rest of our lives. 

Credits

Picture #1: http://clipart.printcolorcraft.com/2015/11/notebook-clipart-7/

Picture #2: http://jasondrohn.com/its-easy/

Picture #3: http://stewover.com/2015/07/03/the-disturbing-history-of-much-ive-spent-on-super-mario-bros/

Picture #4: https://www.pinterest.ca/alialambert/diamond-in-the-rough/?lp=true

Picture #5: http://www.mainstreethost.com/blog/four-common-seo-limitations-free-or-cheap-website-builders/

Category: Sept 2017, Zaha | 5 Comments on The Life Philosophies of Zaha
September 24

Philosophies; The One’s That Matter

ggh

 

1. Aim for Happiness

For the last four year’s I’ve noticed that many of my value’s and philosophies have changed greatly, and quite frankly I think these change’s have originated from the fact that I’ve aged. At this point in life I honestly can say that happiness is one of the most important emotion’s that I’d like to achieve. The only emotion that I’d like to live by.

I understand that “Aim for Happiness” is a pretty broad philosophy. In my opinion that the only way I’ll truly be happy is if I avoid the situation’s, and the people who make me unhappy. Avoiding isn’t exactly the best way to go about things but it allows me to be happy, and at this point in time that’s the only thing that matters.

ggh

2. Educate yourself

My mother has four degree’s. As her daughter I’m reminded of this daily, and it isn’t a horrible reminder. It’s just something that gets mentioned a ton in order to push my brother’s and I to do better. Aim higher. Achieve more, but honestly this “educate yourself” isn’t necessarily about getting more degree’s than my mom. It’s about learning new thing’s everyday, finding out what I’m mean’t to do after certain event’s, and just living life in a non-ignorant fashion.

It just means going out of my way to treat others better. It means knowing the cultural backgrounds of every person I meet in order to make them as comfortable around me as possible. It just means learning to be better as an individual in general.

ggh

3. Accept your Shortcomings

My shortcomings shouldn’t hold me back from achieving my goal’s or hold me back from accepting myself. In fact all my flaws should allow me to work harder. Accepting my shortcomings allows me to be the person I want to be, it allows me to be confident, and allows me to step out of the box I’ve allowed to incase me for so long.

It means not feeling so guilty when people point out things they don’t like about me. Accepting my shortcomings has allowed me to just be okay with who I am, rather than trying to change my personality to suit other’s and to fit in.

ggh

4. Life is short… take a minute and observe

I think until we’ve experienced some god awful situation’s we never actually take the time to observe. We don’t just see. Don’t look between the lines.

“Why don’t you sit right here, khatira,” the nurse says as she begins to place my IV fluid bag onto the new rod. She silently looks around the room, and checks my temperature.

“36.2, she’s alright,” she says to my mother and then proceeds to walk away. 

I place my glasses on as I begin to reassure my parents that I’m fine while looking around the room. There’s about six large chairs filled with people, older people, and they all seem okay. But than I notice the boy, he’s in a bed hooked to a rod just like mine, but I can tell… he’s in a lot more pain than I am. On his right side is his father or a man I presume is his father. This older man looks tired, and I can’t possibly blame him because thats exactly what the hospital does… it exhausts you. 

“Khatira, so in a couple of minute’s someone’s going to come down and speak to you,” says the doctor who didn’t believe me just three hours ago when I first walked into the ER complaining about the pain in my right side. Not long after a doctor walks towards my chair, silently asks if she could see me in this small area hidden behind a curtain. I get up and slowly make my way towards the bed thats awaiting me, she indicates for me to lay down while she presses her hand into the area where my appendix is located. 

“So we’re going to make five incision’s,” she points towards her own stomach,” instead of the older technique where it was just one straight line through. The surgery will take about an hour to an hour and a half… Every surgery has complications…. We’ll hopefully be able to schedule in the next three hours. Maybe even earlier.” 

I slowly walk back towards my chair and sit down with a heavy sigh looking around the room again. I see some new faces but mostly the same people. The boys still laying in his bed but now he’s speaking, and I can’t help but listen… He’s talking about his MRI scans… They’ve found a tumour… The only thing I can think about now is the fact that there are no lock’s, no door’s, and no privacy. What you see is what you get and even though they’ll try their hardest to make you comfortable… you’ll never be comfortable. I’m going to be in this hospital for about two weeks, and this guy who has his whole life ahead of him will be stuck here for a while. I can’t possibly complain about anything now, I have nothing to complain about. 

ggh

5. Do Epic S***

This isn’t necessarily about the “epic” portion rather it being about memories and experience’s. I could go bungee jumping, but I wouldn’t be excited about the bungee jumping per se. I’d be excited about the reaction’s I’d get from my family, and I’d be excited about the fact that I got to experience this with them. Its the fact that these situation’s create memories, and memories bring people closer together.

 

 

Category: Uncategorized | 3 Comments on Philosophies; The One’s That Matter
September 24

Life Philosophies: How to Live Out Your Life In Success and Happiness

My Philosophies – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

With my five philosophies, I tried to choose things that concern my life very often and even daily. At first, I found it challenging to figure out more than two philosophies so I left aside for a while. The night before it was due, I sat down and really started to look at how I live my life. All of a sudden, it just seemed to flow from my mind to the Haiku Deck presentation. After I had finished, I looked over my philosophies and was satisfied with them since I lived with these philosophies in my life daily.

My first philosophy was “Keeping yourself from your full potential because of your challenges is a way of wasting life.” At first, I wanted to use the word disability instead of challenges since the story of Drew Lynch was about him overcoming his disability. Then I realized that I don’t have a disability and that disability is a really shitty word to use (Pardon my language). I knew that I did hold myself back from a lot of things because I was either scared or I was lazy, and this was a challenge I needed to overcome. Laziness and fear is something that I’ve dealt with my entire life, especially the last few years of my life. One thing that I tried really hard to achieve was working out on a daily basis. This is something I’ve wanted to achieve for about three years, and I never got up because of my laziness. At the beginning of summer, I decided that if I start working out now, in a year my body will feel and look better than if I were to start later in my life. So over summer, I went to the gym majority of the Mondays-Fridays in the week. After the first week, I started having thoughts of quitting because I was struggling to get to the gym to work out because I didn’t enjoy it. Through all of the pain and sweat, I decided that if I don’t stick with this, I’m going to be regretting not going in the future. Now, after being in the gym quite a bit over the last 3-4 months, I’m proud to say that I didn’t quit at the time I was feeling pain because I can feel that my body is a lot more strong and a lot more fit than it was at the beginning of the year.

http://www.crossfitinvoke.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/gym.jpg

My second philosophy was “There is no reason to release your anger if the thing angering you will be irrelevant in 24 hours.” This philosophy is something that should be important in everyone’s everyday lives because anger can unintentionally result in the loss of relationships with those you love. In the moment, it is quite easy to get mad and say whatever is on your mind without giving it much thought. In my life, this is something that is easily forgotten. When I get angry, I get caught up in everything that I forget to think. This is a philosophy that I’ve been trying to achieve successfully for quite a while now and over time, I have had less arguments in my life.

http://1manzstory.com/2015/06/08/anger/

My third philosophy was an emulation of Dr.Seuss’ quote “You have to be odd to be number one.” I decided that my philosophy could be written out as “The best of the best are never even.” Dr.Seuss’ original quote was something that I liked to live with in my life for a while because that quote just screams uniqueness to me. Everyone has their own personal traits that make them special and that’s what makes them unique and the person they are. Trying to be like everyone else is what makes you even, so you can never prosper over the others and become the great individual you can be. Keeping the same attitude and outlook is also a way of not prospering in life because you never open up to new realities and perspectives that could help you to become a better person.

My fourth philosophy is one that I’ve lived with since as far as I can remember. “Education is the first step to happiness.” I have been constantly reminded of how important it is for me to get high grades in order for me to get into university. University has been my ultimate goal for at least the last five years. I’ve sat through many lectures from my parents and grandparents about how hard I need to work in high school, but I never took it seriously until now. I knew that from the starting of grade 10 I really needed to start studying and hunker down into learning. I never started to study until the end of grade 11. At the beginning of grade 12 I knew that I really needed to study and start planning out the rest of my life since time is limited and my whole life depends on this last year of my childhood. Education is all dependent on time. Time will take me to where I need to go and I need to put in the effort to get myself there.

http://globalgurus.org/Blog/what-is-real-education/

My last philosophy concerns memories. “Remember the moments in your days, not the days itself.” When we look back at our lives, we don’t look at the bigger picture. We look towards all the fun little memories we had with our friends. When we grow up and look back at our high school years, we are going to remember the specific memories we had from every grade of high school, not the bigger picture of high school itself. Having these memories in our lives also connects to our happiness as I mentioned in my previous philosophy.

In my five philosophies, I tried to find a way to connect everything together. The one theme I kept in mind while thinking of my philosophies was happiness. Happiness is a state in which you are satisfied with yourself and your surroundings and enjoying everything that is thrown at you by life. Happiness is the key factor that makes you want to live life and experience it.

Category: Raman, Sept 2015, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
January 18

Women’s Right to Education

 

Women’s Right to Education

An ancient Sanskrit saying says, “woman is the home and the home is the basis of society. It is as we build our homes that we can build our country. If the home is inadequate — either inadequate in material goods and necessities or inadequate in the sort of friendly, loving atmosphere that every child needs to grow and develop — then that country cannot have harmony and no country which does not have harmony can grow in any direction at all.”

To me, that is why I believe that women need education not in just one country but all over the world. Women deserve to have the right to free access to education because they are the ones who build what we call a proper home. Without education ones family cannot go anywhere in life especially the children. When a woman is left uneducated both she and her family will suffer due to lack of knowledge.

In today’s society women are facing a lot of problems that they sometimes can’t overcome such as poverty. One main problem is the lack of education. Many women across the world are having difficulties to maintain a proper life due to lack of knowledge. With the help of education women are able to claim their rights and realize their potential in the economic world. It also helps them to gain knowledge that they can use in life problems such as health or simply to get a proper job to earn money. Education is the most powerful way to lift people out of poverty and be able to live a life that one can dream of. Education is proven to help improve women’s life extremely because of the fact that they will be able to support their family.

When a girl has been educated, it is said that they are likely to marry later and to have smaller and healthier families. Educated women will be able to recognize the importance of health care and know what to seek for themselves and their children. Education helps females to get to know their rights and be able to gain confidence in them. If a women is married and has education they will be able to help their spouse to pay off the mortgage faster than their spouse doing it all themselves. By doing this, women will be able to build a proper life for both her and her family. In order for the family’s life to go ahead in life, the women in the family need to get some sort of education so that they can be able to support the family.

I also believe that women should get an education because they can’t always depend on their spouse. What if their spouse gets some sort of serious sickness or gets into an accident and lost a part of their body? They no longer will be able to provide for their family. If a woman is kept at home for majority of her life, and is randomly sent off to provide for the family, she will not be able to. Due to the lack of knowledge of what’s happening. She will be overwhelmed and clueless on what to do. She has no sense of education that will help her to find a way to provide for her family.

All across the world women struggle to fight for the right to get an education. We women should have the access to free education no matter what country we live in. With the education we get, we will be able to teach our children and make sure that they get the best education that they can get so that they won’t have to suffer later on in life. We women need education to be able to enjoy life to the fullest. Now a day’s jobs are now requiring that individuals should have their high school education in order to get the job. Also our world is changing very quickly. Technology is also becoming a big hit. If women don’t have education, how are they supposed to catch up with the changing world we now live in?

If men have the right to free education, women should also have free access to education as well. We can both work together to make our world a better place. Both men and women will be able to be heard and make choices that can be best for them or everyone else. It is said that women with access to education and are married will have a more successful marriage because both the husband and wife will be providing for the family. This proves that women need education in order to help provide for her family.

 

Category: Fatima | LEAVE A COMMENT