Christmas storms and sunshine

This story that I’m going to be writing about in this essay is the story of “Christmas storms and sunshine” by Elizabeth gaskell. Im going to be mentioning some things before i begin about Elizabeth Gaskell’s life. She was born on September 29th in 1810. She was born in London and lived in the Victorian period, as well as the setting of the story. Elizabeth Gaskell was the daughter of a unitarian minister and her husband was one as well. The death of her only child was what inspired her to write her first novel called ‘Mary Barton’. Elizabeth died on December of 1865, and left her longest work called ‘Wives and Daughters’ incomplete. Now to continue with this essay im gonna relate the values of citizenship and commitment to the story, but before beginning with this, it is important for the meaning of these values to be left clear. Citizenship is the position or status of being a citizen of a particular country. It is also carrying out the duties and responsibilities of a member of a particular society. While commitment is a willingness to give your time and energy to something that you believe in, might be a promise, or firm decision to do something. 

I could only see the value of commitment at the beginning of the story by the men of the family but throughout the story went on we could point out the value of citizenship in the story. 

This story talks about two families called the Hodgsons and the Jenkins. The men of these two families work and fight for different positions on a newspaper. Mr hodgson works for ‘The Examiner’ while Mr. Jenkins works for ‘The Flying Post’. They both are the compositors of 2 local important english newspapers and they work for them. Their career is what mostly tears them apart and does not let them live in peace between each other nor even be around each other from the hatred they feel. These two men are committed to their work and they both work really hard to be the best English Newspaper in their country. They are very commited to their work as we can see since their work is what somehow makes them enemies for fighting to be on the best newspaper position. Mrs. Jenkins owns a cat and Mrs Hodgsons has a son. Mrs.Jenkins envys in a way how Mary has a son she takes care of and everything while she doesn’t have any children, just a cat.

Mary gets furious and bothered when mrs jenkins cat enters her house and gets on the dining table and starts eating me jenkins food. This act led to even more problems between the conflicts of these two families. She obviously couldn’t do anything to her cat but she does complain to mrs jenkins about what her cat did. Now the two parts where i could point out citizenship was when mrs hodgsons son got very very ill that he was at the point between life and death. We could see citizenship when mrs hodgsons went to her neighbour, the jenkins, house and asked for advice and help on what to do to help her son get better. Mrs jenkins decided to help her theoughout her harsh time. Mrs hodgsons was very grateful to receveive her enemies help whom is not that much of an enemy anymore. At the end of the story we could see the value of citizenship since despite the two families conflicts and disagreements, they found a way to handle each other as citizens and leave behind all of their worries and all of their arguments.

The Lady of Shallot

“The Lady of Shallot” is a very interesting story where we can relate the values of patience and caring to the story itself. Before getting to move on with the essay, it is important to know the definition of the two values mentioned before. Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious. It is the ability to endure difficult circumstances and stay calm. While the word caring is when you feel or show concern or kindness towards other people, usually caring people think about others and give them emotional support as well. Now these two values i can clearly see in the Lady of Shallot, since she is trapped or imprisoned near Camelot, in the Island of Shallot. She has to work on weaving a magical web and can not look directly at Camelot, or she will be cursed. She hears voices in her ear at times that tell her that she will be cursed if she looks directly at the outside world. She could only see by the reflection and shadows on the mirror in front of her. A woman that has to go through all of that by herself is the definition of patience. She takes her time weaving that magical web and doesn’t look directly into Camelot for a while. One day, the Lady of Shallot was tired of seeing the shadows through the mirror that she wanted to experience something real, something in real life, and that was when she commited the huge mistake of looking into Camelot because of her curiosity. She risked getting cursed to look at a handsome man named sir Lancelot whom she saw pass by through the reflections on the mirror she had in front of her that gave her the ability to see from outside her tower. Her patience was lost at that moment. She describes sir Lancelot as a star in a galaxy. He catches her eye and heart as she was weaving the magic web and as he rides the banks of the river while singing. I believe she was not caring on herself when she did that because she already knew what was to come, and the consequences which is the curse that whispered in her ear. She may not have known what the curse would be but it still brings danger. She ran out and got into a boat to run away. She saw she was cursed when the web flew outside her window, but as mentioned before, she didn’t care about it nor the huge and bad stormy weather that the island had and went on her way. She froze to death and was found there laying on the boat and that was when people gathered around wondering who that woman was and at that moment sir lancelot showed care, he showed that he cared about the woman that was in front of him, and that was when he got closer to take a better look and held her and recognised how beautiful and pretty her face was.

A modest proposal

In this story, A modest proposal, i’m supposed to find two important values which are fairness and justice. The story does not necessarily need to have these values mentioned before. Before continuing with this essay it’s important to know the definition of these values. Fairness and justice are two very similar values after all. Fairness is an impartial and just treatment or behaviour without favouritism or discrimination. It is the quality of being reasonable, right and just. Not to choose someone after the other for selfish reasons, but to be reasonable or fair about it, fairness also means equality. Justice is fairness in the way people are dealt with, it is the condition of being morally correct or fair about something or someone. Now, to be honest about the story and these values, i did not see them in any character nor point it out in any part of the story since what it talks about is how Jonathan Swift makes a shocking and cruel proposal to the town. This proposal consists in killing innocent children, children of the poor, to be used as food for the wealthy and rich. He made this proposal as a response to the economic crisis Ireland was suffering at the time, and because of the overpopulation Ireland had as well. This story took place at around late 1720s and it was the time when Ireland was suffering for several years if poor harvests that even farmers had trouble paying the rents demanded by their English landlords. This problem is what caused Jonathan Swift to come to this decision.It is something that has no fairness nor justice in any way. Jonathan Swift is a man that has never had kids so he doesn’t know what the parents are feeling towards his proposal, and what they should have to go through because of their economical resources. These families had more kids, children they need to take care of, and feed as well that they had to agree with this proposal. They actually fed their 1 year old babies too much so they would become chubbier and have extra meat for the wealthy people to buy from the market, cook, and eat these poor kids. They also used their skins as accessories which as horrible at it sounds is true. This is not fair at all, where had justice gone to? The act they were making was just cruel and selfish, taking away a babies life for those reasons when there are many other ways to find a solution. The baby is not mature enough to make these type of important decisions, so it wouldn’t be fair at all to just take their life away and let the wealthy take away their baby from them and use them as food.

The Diary of Samuel Pepys

The Diary of Samuel Pepys has two values that are shown in this story but before naming them; the definition or aspect of these two values which are thankfulness and trustworthiness should be left clear for your own knowledge.

Thankfulness is when you are grateful or show gratitude towards someone or something for doing something you appreciate. While trustworthiness is the ability to be relied on as honest or truthful.  It’s deserving of trust and confidence, being reliable.

At the beginning of the story we can say that these two very important values weren’t shown, it didn’t make part of the characters’ traits; but as the story evolved and went on, we could see that when the fire happened, there was an act of trustworthiness since the people of the city helped each other out when they saw the houses getting burnt down. This act that was done showed me that the people living there in the neighbourhood are the type of people you can rely on for anything and are trustworthy. It was an act of empathy and compassion to help each other like that as well. Even tho Pepys just stood there watching the fire from the window and did nothing at all, not even react to it. It was like he didn’t care about it, he felt more important than his lovely and trustworthy neighbours that do have empathy.  There’s another part of the story where i believe Pepys shows some humanity and it’s when his nice wife goes inside the dining room with his plate of food and gives it to him. He shows thankfulness and he thanks his wife for preparing him that very delicious meal.

Those are the only two values i got to see in the story for those people, the people from the neighbourhood and Pepys.

Virtues a person must have

What virtues must a person have today to make Earth a better place to live in? This question is important for us to read about since it’s a way to opening our eyes and minds and realizing the things we need to make our environment and what’s around us a better place, but before getting to answering the exact question, we must leave the aspect of “virtue” clear. A virtue is a moral habit which generally results in the gaining or maintaining of your values. Your values are based on your moral standard which should be your own life. Virtue is a characteristic of man that involves choice and there are two different kinds: intellectual virtues and moral virtues. Some might say that good qualities are innate and developed through good parenting, which they are, but we’re not perfect. Virtues need to be cultivated to become more prevalent and habitual in daily life. With the habit of being more virtuous, we take the helm of our own life, redirecting its course towards greater fulfillment, peace and joy. 

Now that the aspect of virtue is clear we can get to answering the main question. If you want to become a better human being, then you are going to have to see the world beyond yourself. And if you want to see the world beyond yourself, then you are going to have to see the world from other “selfs”, which means from other people’s eyes or perspective. This is called empathy— it is seeing, feeling and understanding the world as if you are the other, and it is the most important practice you can do to make the world a better place. Our default mode and most common problem is egocentrism— which is important to own; that you are a self that exists on its own — but the primary cause of unhealth in our lives, our relationships, and the world; is our failure to move beyond ego-centrism. Consider the unjust, frustration, ignorant, or, even, evil effects you see in the world. There is a good chance that it’s root is someone or some group who has failed to move beyond themselves. So yes, begin with the good of the self, but at some point, you must also be intentional about the good of the other — seeing them, not as an object or stranger or an antagonist that you must work around in order to achieve something for yourself, but as a fellow human being with whom you move through the world with, interdependently. You want to create a good world? You want to be your best? The foundational ingredient, then, is empathy. It is the bridge that exposes and embodies the connection you have with the world around you by seeing the world around you with the same intimacy and assumptions that you see with yourself. Empathy is what many religious & philosophical traditions laud as the central virtue of being a flourishing human being. Empathy is the foundation that makes a healthy, thriving world possible. Attribution is seeing someone or witnessing something happen and attributing what is going on internally to manifest the behavior, thought, or effect of their existence.

Now, this is never completely accurate as you aren’t even able to attribute your own behaviors or thoughts perfectly because of how complex your existence is let alone someone whose identity you don’t inhabit. But the goal of attribution isn’t to know perfectly what is going on in another person’s internal state, the goal is simply what the attempt does — it forces you to see the world outside of yourself.

A better world starts with ourselves and it might just come through empathy where your interests become the interest of everyone. Where we navigate the world through a shared, collaborative perspective as opposed to our own, separate, defensive ones. 

The Monster at your Door

This legend was originally from Lebanon but it has become an international one. This legend talks about a “monster”, well it is said that its a figure that looks like one, no one has ever prooved it obviously. It is described as a big, hairy, monster-like figure and the legend talks about how it goes to families with misbehaved kids houses at about 3:15 am and knocks on the door. If the kids open the door, which most likely they shouldn’t do as they are taught by their parents not to open the door to strangers, they would be taken away by this “monster” and disappear for a while. The legend says that when the monster basically kidnaps the kids, they would disappear for about a year and come back with no memory of their disappearance, they would come back as a totally new kid with better  behavior and with respect to the elder.

My country

Colombia, the country we are living in, is a country located at the north tip of South America. It is bounded by Panama and the Carribean Sea in the north, by Venezuela and Brazil in the east , by Peru and Ecuador in the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Colombia is one of the largest South American countries at 439, 733 sq. miles. Colombia is a mainly Spanish speaking, Catholic country, but has a diverse population. The capital and largest city is Bogota. The 2018 population of Colombia is estimated at 49.46 million, which ranks 28th in the world. Colombia has an estimated 2018 population of 49.46 million, up from the 2005 census population of 42.88 million. It is one of the top 30 most populous countries. Colombia is officially known as the Republic of Colombia, it consists of thirty-two departments. Our Colombian people have a very diverse culture. About 58 percent of the people are of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry, or mestizo, about 20 percent are of unmixed European ancestry, and about 14 percent are of mixed black and white ancestry, or mullatto. The other 8 percent is made up of blacks, Native Americans, and people of mixed race. Colombia also has the largest Catholic population in the world. Colombia's 1991 constitution, which replaced a charter dating from 1886, gave Colombia a highly centralized republican form of government. The constitution is based on three different branches of government: the executives, represented by the president and his cabinet; the legislative, which is made up of the senate and the house of representatives; and the judiciary, which is responsible for the legal admisitration. The president is elected by popular vote, for a four year term. When his term finishes he cannot be reelected for another term. There is also a vice president. Senators and representatives are elected in the same year as the president. There are seats that are designated for minority groups such as the Native Americans, who have two seats in the Senate, and the blacks and guerrillas, who also have two seats. Barranquilla is my city, the capital of Colombia’s Atlántico Department, is a bustling seaport flanked by the Magdalena River. Y This city has a population of 1,218 million people. The city is known for its enormous Carnival, The Carnival of Barranquilla or as people from other countries say, “The Battle of Colors” is a unique festivity which takes place every year during February or March on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Cumbia, both music and dance, is considered to be the main essence of the Carnival. A colourful mixture of the ancient African tribal dances and the Spanish music influence – cumbia, porro, mapale, puya, congo among others – hit for five days nearly all central streets of Barranquilla, the capital of the Atlántico Department. Those traditions kept for centuries by Black African slaves have had the great impact on Colombian culture and Colombian society. In November 2003 the Carnival of Barranquilla was proclaimed as the Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Every year people from around the world come and visit our city Barranquilla to live and experience of the carnival. It is easier for tourists to afford a ticket to Colombia rather than Brazil, which is a country that is known for it’s greatest and biggest carnivals out other countries that do celebrate these sort of things. My neighborhood is a simple and quite one, i love the place it’s located in because getting anywhere is easier since everything is close by. I live a block away from my school, a block away from the Buena Vista mall, a few blocks away from home center, and from the park; which are the benefits i have of living in this section, i can go anyplace at anytime by walking.