Sport Narrative - 12.16.15

     Experiencing a tennis match is something like no other. Listening to people grunt, cheer, and the "ping" sound that the ball and racket make when they have contact with one another. You may have heard boring things about the sport of tennis. But let me tell you, when you are in those stands, or on that court it is something that you will want to experience. The sport of tennis may seem boring at first, but once you are their for a while you start to cheer on a certain competitor or maybe you are just cheering on someone who comes from your country.
     Tennis is a sport that is played all across the world. I will agree with some that the sport is kind of basic as it is simply two people, two rackets, and a net. However, it is not just that. While playing tennis the competitors have to have precision and accuracy with every hit, not only that, they must be quick on their feet and quick with their hands in order to not let their opponent gain a point. Being a former tennis player, I know some about tennis, but only to an extent. The scores go from "love" and go upwards in intervals of 15 until 40 (which is not an interval of 15) and then onto advantage (which is also known as game point). Being at a tennis match is very exciting, not only does the player feel a sense of emotion and competitiveness, but the spectator also does. As I said before, when you are in those stands or on the court you are definitely going to want to root for someone.
      Being in those stands you listen to the pings of the rackets and the grunts that the competitors make with ever swing of their racket. It is kind of exciting to watch. After every out they will hydrate or wipe themselves off with a towel. Watching them do this you will realize that the sport of tennis is in fact not actually boring, but extremely active. In those stands you watch the player lift their racket into the air, throw up the ball and the match begins. After every hit the player moves back into the center of their area (if it is a singles match, doubles would be entirely different) and back into ready position where they prepare for their next hit and devise a strategy to work with.

Sports - 12.11.15

     Personally, I have had a mix of positive and negative experience of sports in the family, however, I do not play sports at all so it does not directly affect my well-being but rather my sibling’s. 

To begin, when my brother, Glen, was a junior in high school he played a variety of sports. Those sports being wrestling and football but then he had an injury in his wrestling sport more than once.          He had torn his ACL and had broken his collar bone. On the negative side this caused my brother to not play sports ever again in his high school career which obviously was saddening to everyone in the family. But then again, to be more positive at least, he then figured out what he wanted to be when he was older, a physical therapist. By working with a physical therapist for more than once a month he had grown attached to the profession and he later decided to do his senior project on physical therapy. After my brother had figured out what he wanted to do when he was older he got his life together. His first year at college which was at East Carolina University he had no distractions such as sports so he had made all A’s and got onto the dean’s list. 

     My other brother, on the other hand has had no awful experiences with sports. He has been playing lacrosse and football for as long as I can remember. Throughout high school he has been the most sporty one in the family, always getting lacrosse equipment for Christmas and his birthday. This year he is a senior and plans on going to college to play lacrosse and major in psychology. This is really positive as he will be receiving money for both his academic and athletic skills. These scholarships, grants and financial aid will help assist Bryan into having the least amount of debt coming out of school as possible. Therefore causing my brother to (hopefully) being successful. So with all of the financial aid that Bryan will receive I will have more money to go towards where I want to go school! 

     In conclusion, my family has had an obvious experience of positive and negative experiences with sports, mainly positive though. All of the positive experiences have impacted my family and I for the better. 

Responsibility - 12.8.15

     In my opinion I do not believe that someone should have the responsibility to help someone in need. People may feel compelled to help someone but I do not believe it is required to help someone. In some cases if you give money to a homeless person they will go out and purchase drugs and whatnot, so in most cases the person should give food or clothing (durable or consumable items) to someone who needs it. Then again, if a teenager or child sees someone being bullied they will feel like they should step in and take action, but most of the time someone won't. So I guess what I am trying to say is that people should feel compelled towards helping someone but they do not necessarily have to help them, although it would be polite and courteous.

A Letter From Birmingham Jail - 12.1.15

     Personally, I do believe that Martin Luther King Jr's claim that groups of people can be more immoral rather than just individuals can be correct in many circumstances. For example, King talks about how there was a negotiating between he and merchants of Birmingham to remove racist and humiliating signs. The merchant group as a whole had said that they would remove the signs, but they never ended up doing it. The merchants stuck with one another and decided to stick to the immoral ideas that they have come to know as correct. "In these negotiating sessions certain promises were made by the merchants, such as the promise to remove the humiliating racial signs from the stores. we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. The signs remained. " (King 1) So, in conclusion, King's claim that groups are more immoral than individuals in themselves can be seen as correct through the example of the merchants not fulfilling their promise of removing humiliating racist signs that are inside their stores and/or restaurants.

The Lowest Animal - 12.1.15

     I do not believe that Twain was fair in his commentary on human behavior in The Lowest Animal as he did not give humanity a chance to stand up for themselves. Humanity in all of its glory is very well. Personally, I did not even realize that this was satire until writing this blog post which changes everything, basically. The idea that Twain is trying to get across is that humanity is bad but it is definitely not as bad as it is when he writes it.