Anthropomorphism

Meet my best friend, Jeffory, the giraffe.
Although he looks like all our other giraffe friends with tall long legs covered in a bright yellow coat with brown spots, he's actually quite unique.

Jeffory the giraffe loves to dance!
He loves putting on a show for me and all of the other safari animals.
Jeffory dances day and night.
He dances in the beautiful sunshine and the pouring down rain.
Jeffory the giraffe loves to dance!

As Jeffory finishes his last dance of the day,
 I stand on my own long yellow legs,
Throw a rose at his feet,
And give him a standing ovation.

Responsibility of the Cost of Life

I believe that all living creatures, humans and animals alike, have the responsibility to help each other when the situation calls.  We are all responsible for another's life in some way or another.

Drowning is my worst fear and I would probably not remain very calm if I was ever in that life or death situation.  However, I still believe that the people on the ship Titanic had some responsibility for one another. Whether it was giving up their spot on a lifeboat for somebody else or it was just helping somebody into a lifeboat, I feel like it is our duty as humans to help others if we can.

In the book The Call of the Wild every dog in Buck's dog team has a responsibility to protect and help each other.  The dogs had to work as a team constantly if they had any chance of survival in that cold terrain.   If the dogs had only cared about their own well-being they would have all been dead in a week.

Just like a vicarious mother will do anything to protect her child, so should we with everyone around us.  Even if that person is not our family or friend, we should feel that call as humans to provide ministrations to one another.  If the situation called you, would you put another's life above your own?

What Does Being Human Mean?

When asked "what does being human mean?" many things come to mind.  However, the one that stands out to me above all the others is our ability to love one another.

Every girl dreams of the day that she will walk down the isle and marry the man of her dreams.  Later dreaming of the little children she will have to hold when they are scared, make multiple birthday cakes for, and tuck them in at night.  Yes, animals do have babies and yes, animals do travel together most of the time in little "families".  Both of these though are for survival, not because they have that deep compassionate love for each other.

Humans and animals alike connect to each other on that basic level.  Humans, however, are able to connect to each other on a much deeper level.  How we connect to our families is like none other.  We share things with the ones we love that we would never share with just anybody.  Animals just rely on each other for protection and food.  They don't spend time getting to know each other to find out their fears, their dreams, or who they truly are.  Humans spend mostly their whole life trying to find that one person who they connect to the most.  Animals just travel with whoever will keep them safe and increase their chances of surviving the longest.

I have a dog and she wants to be loved.  How could you tell me that they don't care about being loved?  Its true.  Animals love to be loved.  The only difference is they don't care who that person is as long as they are feeding, petting, and taking care of them.  With humans, not everybody gets along with everybody.  We don't just fall in love with the first person that gives us attention.  Where humans are very picky, animals could really care less.

How is the Monster More Human Than Frankenstein?

Ironically, the monster in the novel Frankenstein shows more human qualities than his human creator, Victor Frankenstein.
Humans take care of each other.  From day one, as soon as Victor saw his creation's hideousness, he abandoned him and let him survive on his own.  The monster had to learn to survive alone in the world.  He quickly learned about fire, shelter, and food that he could gather to eat.  Doing all this with no help from his creator.

The monster took full blame for his actions; accepting the fact that he had done wrong.  However, Victor never took the blame for his creation.  Even after his friends and family were killed by the monster's own bare hands Victor never said a word.  Frankenstein even let innocent Justine be hung for being charged of the murder of William when he knew for a fact that the monster had done it.

Time and time again the monster proves himself to be more human than his own human creator, Victor.  This proves that being a monster does not mean what you look like from the outside, but what comes out from within.

Would I Create Life?

If I had the choice of creating life like Frankenstein did, I would choose not to.

Creating life for Frankenstein took years of studying the human body and other sciences.  Frankenstein did nothing but stay in his room experimenting, keeping him separated from the outside world to create this monster.  I would not have the patience for this.  Staying in a semi-dark room everyday all day would make me go crazy.  Also, my friends mean everything to me and if I stayed home all day I would never get to hang out with them or have any social life.

I believe the only person who has the right to create life is God.  I have no right to go creating something that he did not intend to be created.  If He wanted it created, He would have created it.

Obviously creating another life form is not on my list of things to do within the next year.  I do not have the patience to learn everything needed to know to create life and I do not believe I have the right.  Like any other teenager, I like hanging out with friends almost more than anything else.  So why would I want to separate myself from the outside world?

My Thoughts on Frankenstein

When I get to be nineteen I can't imagine myself writing a classic novel that people hundreds of years from now will still be reading.  For someone to be able to do that at such a young age is mind blowing to me.  I struggle with writing a paragraph for English class, let alone writing a whole novel.

Does man have the right to create life?  In my opinion, we do not.  God created the heavens and the earth and everything else in it.  If God intended for there to be another form of life in this world he would have created it.

I do not believe in immortality on earth.  Nothing you get or do will make you live forever.  With my religion I've been taught and believe that after you die you will either to go heaven or to hell.  Here you will live for the rest of eternity, either in paradise or in torment.

Monsters reside in us if we let them.  A monster can be something such as you hating something about yourself, something that you let control your thoughts and actions like an addiction, or something that possesses you.  People deal with their "monsters" in different ways.  Some go to counseling, some go to the doctor, and some pray.  Even though we all deal with it different ways, we all have the one thing in common.  We all want it gone.

2012 Theme Word

Spontaneous.

I chose the word spontaneous because I want look back and know that I made the most out of my last few years in high school.  Doing random things with my friends will be the memories I will remember forever.

A lot of people will dare there friends to go up to random people and have a conversation with them just for fun.  This year I want to be the person they dare.  For my whole life I have been the one sitting there telling my friends it would be funny if they went over to that table or that group of people and just start a conversation with them.  Sometimes I wish that was me, but I have never gotten the courage to just do it.

I want to learn from this that I should not take life too seriously.  To just live in the moment, have fun, and laugh about it later. Most of the time I will never see these people again, so why not?

So go ahead, dare me.