DIARY ENTRY 4

26 November 2011

Its 7:30 pm here now, and I don’t think I have endured a longer day.  I haven’t done anything except sit in a corner and keep to myself, only taking a break when my mum gave me the usual granola bar to much on. That was my meal for a day. So it was pretty much natural that by now I was starving.

My sister was getting worse with her longing to get out. My mother frustrated with her and with herself, spent most of the time trying to soothe my sister. I also caught her crying a bit as she put my sister to sleep. My father just mostly sat round trying to keep himself busy. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to get rid of the unvarying panic from his head. Sometimes I wondered if I was more like him than my mum even though I had been told by everyone I ever met that I was a carbon copy of my mum. There is no one now to make comparisons, no one to even laugh or talk to. Somehow even though we are the only ones left for each other, the silence amongst us had intensified rather than diminish. I think,

Wait, I hear something. I don’t know what. There should be no sounds here. Noone comes here. I…………………….

DIARY ENTRY 3

25 November 2011

I can feel the tension rising in this confinement. I don’t know if it is the constant, never ending fear, or the frustration in not knowing what is happening out there in the world. We have had no communication with the outside world for 2 days and the silence has only scared us all the more. Sometimes I wonder if I could just slip out of her for a few minutes just to know what is happening. But my survival instincts tell me to stay put.

I have only heard or seen on television the horrors of being captured and tortured. It feels like a lifetime away; times when fear and terror were no better than fiction; when life went on in a breeze. But today, I have wondered already countless times as to how it would be if w were found out. I wondered how much it would hurt. If it was sometime before this incident, such a thought would have been laughable. But now, it seems like a pretty solid ending to my life. I haven’t set much on nightmares being the rational person I am, but now I feel a growing sense of dread.

I can see my sister getting annoyed in this captivity, her restlessness, her urge to get back on with her normal life. For her this is something beyond her understand-she doesn’t get the need to flee from a neighboring country. But she is only 5- I cannot blame her. But today I saw my mother tensing over a lot too. I myself feel trapped and confined in this small space. But we have no other way out and we all know that.

I wonder how many people out there feel the same way too. If there are any. 

DIARY ENTRY 2

24 November 2011

Sitting here in this cramped space, i wonder how normal NORMAL would be for me. I don’t think I will ever be able to look at anything in the same way again. It’s one of the more stranger ablilities of the human mind I think-it learns how to adjust, and how to forget, in time.

It’s been an entire day and a half since my family and I took safety in this shelter, but it somehow feels like I have been here much longer. Not because I have adjusted to the place like my second home or anything. But because I realize now that I have no other option. It seems like I have hit a dead end with life; like all I have left to do is inch by every second more, desperately trying to keep myself alive, waiting for the souds of footstep on the other side of the tiny wooden door.

The whole day passed at the same slow pace in endless monotony; my father and my mother sitting on one end of the room, talking quietly, my sister crying noiselessly in mom’s lap. We had given up trying to contact my relatives; dad suspected that the invaders must have bombed the entire communications line. Again, there is noting for us to do but wait.

It is 11:42 pm; my watch, which I never take off, is the only source of time in this place. I think I will sleep now, because that seems like the only way to escape this constant fear- fear for yourself, fear for the ones you love, fear for what will happen to the world you spend your entire life building for yourself.

DIARY ENTRY 1

These diary entries are part of my english assingment : Imagine your city has been invaded by a foreign country. Write 4 diary entries for the four days following the invasion.

23 November 2011

It’s ironic how unsafe safety can sometimes be. Even now, hours after that horrific incident, a chill goes down my spine everytime I hear a sound. It is very cramped in this small shelter, and my hands are still trembling as I write. But I have no option but to stick through this for how ever long it may last; an event that may have probably changed my entire life…

I woke up today morning elated-it was the first day of my midterm break, the assessments were just done and I had a glorious 4 day extended weekend before I got on with my IGCSE preparation. I was just pulling on my clothes when the entire apartment shook violently. Not knowing what to do, I ran out of my room just as another fierce shudder rattled the floor. My mother, came running out of nowhere, holding my crying sister’s hand and yelled at me to grab anything important I could find and run. I looked back at my room saw my wallet and cell phone lying on my table, grabbed both of them and ran towards my mother who was waiting at the end of the room with my dad.

On reaching the ground floor, all 4 of us ran out to the street where chaos reigned. People were running haphazardly all over the place, not knowing what to do. Some were crying, some were caling out to their families and other were just running, trying to find some shelter. I was just about to ask the person next to me as to what was going on when a jet flew right over us. We were under attack. Our country had been on the brink of war for quite some time and things may have just gone wrong. My father quickly ushered us into the car, and then he drove as fast as he possibly could to this shelter.

Even now, so many hours after that fearsome episode, im confused and not able to gather my thoughts together. It is extremely late and I know I should be sleeping. I don’t think I can. I don’t think I'll ever be able to. My mum is singing my sister a lullaby. I can hear her voice shaking though. I wonder if I or anybody who witnessed today will ever take comfort in anything ever again.

LEADERSHIP

My father always tells me that leadership should be one of the most vital personality traits in an individual. He prides himself on having being descendant from a cast to whom leadership have been thrust upon for generations. “Leaders are born, not made. And I believe you are a leader.” That’s the first thing he’s ever told me every time whenever I approach him with an application for a post in school. And although I respect my father’s opinions and I do pride myself for coming from such a distinguished family, I disagree with the statement “leaders are born, not made.”

I strongly believe that leadership is one of those many human attributes that are developed during the course of a life span. A person’s environment and the people in his or her life influence their, in this case, leadership qualities more than anything else.  More often than not, leaders have responsibility handed over to them by force. People who actually take up responsibility of their own accord are generally very few, such as my father. But even then, I highly doubt that it is because they were born with it. There could be a lot of external causes such as certain affection for said matter.

Nevertheless, this is just an opinion – simply another approach to a well versed topic. Whatever said and done, it still remains essential for a person to develop and hone skills and abilities as a leader.

AWE- wait for it - SOME!

Before I write anything further, I want to make myself very clear. I absolutely ADORE How I Met Your Mother, and yes, I do think Barney Stinson is the “awesomest” person living. Just so that, you know, I don’t get any hate mail in future. : P. Because this isn’t about the show or its characters. It’s just about the word AWESOME.

I can confidently say that on an average, most people, including me, use the word AWESOME to describe just about anything. “Oh did u see that movie? It’s AWESOME! Have you seen my new shoes? They’re AWESOME! I just scored full marks in my assessments. Isn’t that AWESOME?” and then awesome this and awesome that, and it just goes on and on and on. Personally, I think that awesome is a fantastic word to express awe, admiration and amazement. But that’s exactly my point. There are so many other words out there, wonderful words that can describe awe in countless ways, but all we do is narrow ourselves to one single word. What happened to the times when people would use such gracious words such as excellent, fabulous, impressive, brilliant, striking, superb, etc.? And it doesn’t help either that one of the funniest characters (in my opinion at least) use it as his pick up line.

So, in conclusion, I would like to say that we should all try and use a more varied vocabulary - not just in replace of awesome but other words in general. Fun fact? I just used the word AWESOME ten times in about 200 words. Isn’t that AWESOME?

OVER PLANNING = DISAPPOINTMENT?

I think that it’s pretty fair to say that we all plan something or the other everyday of our lives. I, for one, am obsessed with planning and preparing just about EVERYTHING all day. And a couple of days back it just hit me that maybe, just maybe, that is the reason I feel disappointed and dissatisfied almost all the time.

I’m not going to lie here and say that I’m the happiest person alive and I have everything I’ve ever wanted and so on. I haven’t. I am honestly unhappy with the ways things turn out most of the time and I can recollect exactly two occasions when things have gone the way I’ve planned. But that may just be the problem. I plan everything in my life to every minute detail, be it on paper or in my head that all that ends up happening is that I remain malcontented. And this isn’t just for me but it is for all the overly organized people out there.

On the other hand though, you absolutely cannot disagree with the fact that planning is necessary. Many people I know tell me off every day for planning so much because for them, “the best occasions are the ones that haven’t been planned or prepared”. And to an extent, you could agree with them. But think about it – what would be the relied success rate of unplanned events? Personally, I would go with 30%. But that’s just me.

In conclusion, I feel that planning is a vital part of our everyday lives. But sometimes, we tend to go overboard with our heads, and ultimately all that happens, is that our head produces an event in paradise, and what we face finally is, well, an event on solid earth.

IS IT ACCEPTABLE FOR TEACHER'S TO INTERFERE IN A STUDENT'S PRIVATE LIFE?

This is something that has been a big issue in school recently what with students all over the place complaining about how teachers interfere too much in their personal lives. This, and one of the blog posts on the English blog about how school faculties in the U.K. are given permission by the Education secretary to discipline pupils "any time, any place, anywhere".  I personally think that this is maybe going a tad too overboard.

During school hours and in school premises, it is the duty of a teacher to supervise and maintain discipline at all times. But that doesn’t mean that teachers can monitor or step into what are students private time. About two weeks back there was a huge issue in school about students being caught smoking outside of school. I’m pretty sure everyone must have heard about how these students were not only threatened of being followed after school, but also other pupils who had absolutely nothing to do with it, was involved and questioned. This is just wrong. It would be understandable if these students were smoking in school uniform or anything, but just otherwise because the teacher simply recognizes the student to be of the same school is just bothering.

The same goes for students who are “advised” to not keep friends with a certain people in the fear of being badly influenced. I have been personally told by a teacher that I shouldn’t be hanging out with a friend of mine because he comes off as “bad”. I mean, if a parent came in with a  complaint or if a student’s grades/attitude has been receding, then it is perceivable, but just because the student doesn’t have a good reputation with the staff in general does not mean that they, the teachers, can tell us who or who not to hang out with.

I know that if any teacher were to see this they would give me the cliché of “But we do it because we are concerned”. And I totally get that. It’s just they shouldn’t go overboard with it, for example to the extent of threatening, with it.

UNDERGE SMOKING

What is it in a cigarette that is so addicting and makes it unputdownable? Well the answer to that is pretty obvious, the nicotine. And not is just addictive but it also wrecks your lungs, stains your teeth, makes it hard to breathe, causes various types of cancers, etc. But even after knowing about all the innumerable health hazards why is it that not only the number of smokers are rising every year but a considerable portion of those numbers tend to be minors?

So what is that draws a teenager to smoking at raw ages of 12-16? The government of the UAE states that 18 is the minimum age at which tobacco can be sold and so do the governments of the majority of the countries around the world. Yet almost 70% of students in high school smoke and the numbers keep rising. In most cases, I feel that it is peer pressure that constitutes the major cause of this. At such vulnerable ages, students can tend to be influenced by their friends and they may take up smoking to keep up with their friends. Another leading cause is when children pick it up from their parents or family. There are umpteen cases when children start smoking at very young ages because the parents smoke and in some cases even encourage smoking among their kids. Other reasons include being curious or a desire to try it. But what they don’t realize is that they try it once and then again and again and again until they get addicted.

Personally I feel that smoking should completely be banned. There are absolutely no positive effects to smoking at all. People all over the world are aware of the disadvantages and health concerns of smoking but they prefer to turn a deaf ear and continue smoking. But this is just one of those farfetched statements as banning smoking completely is not something that we are going to see any time in the near future. But taking strong actions against underage smoking will go a long way in benefiting their lives. Smoking is just one of those things that profit manufacturers and corporate staff and that is also a vital reason as to why it is encouraged promoted.

IS JUST BUYING A PINK RIBBON ENOUGH?

The national breast cancer awareness month is an annual is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention and cure.  In different parts of the world, national races and fund raising walks as well as whole buildings have been alit with pink light to support the campaign. Dubai itself is also organizing a walk-a-thon on Friday the 5^th of November in support of the breast cancer campaign. It is also very gratifying that our school is putting in their share by selling pink ribbons and bracelets and organizing a pink day in school. But the ultimate question is that is just buying pink ribbons enough?

“Pink washing”, which is the term given to describe the practice of products with little or no donation to the cause is seen almost everywhere. There are tones of people who sport pink ribbons on them and who take part in charity events but very few realize the actual importance of it. Furthermore, many of the donations from pink products that are sold off store shelves do not go as charity as businesses, in reality take very vague steps to support the cause or because the products aren’t listing a legitimate organization.

Breast cancer is a serious and a very common disease in women and rarely men, and their cause shouldn’t be exploited. As global citizens, we should try and make a better effort at such a worthy cause and support and make aware of such a malignancy as effectively and positively as possible.

Elections At School

The student body at a school is not made of one person or several people. It is formed in the presence of hundreds of students and a faculty of many academics. So in such a case, how is it possible, or even fair for an elite group of teachers and heads on basis of an interview to select a student council for class representatives or sports team captains? Personally, I feel that this where a student election should be conducted.

An election based on the perspective of students will definitely be more accurate and it will also benefit the students. They will be given the advantage of choosing their own leaders and it also imposes on them the importance of voting-the chance to determine a leader for themselves. It puts students in a position of power where they can bring about a change for themselves because of their own opinions. 

But however, thinking from a teacher's point of view, an interview might seem more appropriate as, after all, we are still teens, and maybe not old enough to make decisions for ourselves. While this is a valid point, we must also remember that it is through experience that we learn. Given such as opportunity to vote will decidedly make a difference in a pupil's life, teaching them to make decisions for themselves and enhancing their ability to think for themselves. 

To sum up, I go with student elections being an important part of school life. If elections can be conducted in college, then why not go a step earlier and have them in schools as well?

CEL PHONE MANIA!

Cell phones.  Just something we all can’t seem to live without. Ironically, that is precisely what I have been doing for the last 15 years of my life. I haven’t owned a mobile phone in like forever and yes, it has raised some pretty shocked eyebrows.

But really, despite being in a school surrounded entirely by people who own mobiles, occasionally even two, I still haven’t found the need to keep one. It might just be out of habit but the need hasn’t ever called forth and God forbid my parents ever offer me one!

On just going through a few articles on mobile phones, most people have argued that they are necessary; not only is it more convenient than using a land line but nowadays cell phones have enhanced into something that offers just more than calls - texting, games, and cameras are just some of the other features in its varied options.

Nevertheless, we went on for thousands of years with the only forms of communications being messenger pigeons, notes in corked bottles, and letters. People then would have probably labeled you as “insane” if you even suggested the idea of a telephone.

I guess this topic is just one of those debates where all you end up with a lot of valid reasons to both sides and never a conclusion. As for me, I’ve never known what it is to own a cell phone and I’m quite happy. What do you think?

“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”

-George Washington.