The Beginning of The World Movie Trailer

I created a Hindu creation story movie trailer for an upcoming movie, "The Beginning of the World".

Here it is -

If you would rather watch it on YouTube, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZX3TiUcMwU

"Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened."- Dr. Seuss :)

"I was fed up. I had tried to open my locker ten times and all attempts had failed. It was the beginning of middle school and I had to be at class in five minutes. My locker, I bet, hated me. It did not open and everyone was so busy opening their own lockers, that they turned down my request to open my locker. The locker, by now, was so confused. The bell rang and my heart skipped a beat. Surely, the teacher would excuse me for being late, right? I caught a passerby, a 7^th grader, by the arm and pleaded her to open my locker. She bent down and grabbed the door and suddenly I was looking at the inside of my locker. I thanked the girl and locked my locker. Then I flew down the corridor to my Humanities room. Peeking through the door I glanced at the classroom’s interior. Everyone was staring wide-eyed at the teacher. They looked as if they thought that they were going to be eaten by the smiling teacher who stood at the front of the room, writing on the white board.

I sat down, quickly, and sat in anticipation as the teacher finished writing something on the board. She spun around and then I could see her face and blond hair. This must be Mrs. Narsiman, I thought.

'Welcome to Middle School! I hope you can open your locker. If you cannot, no worries, you will get it soon. All the teachers will be fine if you are late for the first couple of weeks,' Mrs. Narsiman reassured.

From that day on I felt better. I realized I was not the only one who could not get the locker combination or could not cope with the 6^th grade schedule on the first day of school. I was one of many and I knew that I would adjust, just like everyone else. Today I feel like I have been in Middle School for ages and I really am enjoying my first year in Middle School."

That was what I felt about my first day of middle school. I had wrote that piece of writing on my first week of middle school. Reading that now and remembering how I was scared to even step on the middle school grounds, I find being afraid of middle school ridiculous. What I would of written and felt if I knew then what I know now...

Throughout this year I have not only accomplished achievements, but also confronted challenges. I have taken part in Malaysia Week and other field trips, learning outside of my usual environment at school. I have completed projects like Literature Circles, math and science iMovies, ancient Egyptian diaries, a P.E Dance video, a card for Japan for Art class, an ancient Egyptian song and iMovie, a Roman comic and song and travel itinerary, blog posts that encompass a wide variety of topics, and too many other assignments to list, but all have been a part of my fantastic journey, all the way to the end of 6th grade.

My work represents the growth and learning that I experienced this entire year. I am certainly proud of all the work I completed and I am glad I can reflect upon previous pieces of work and examine what I could improve on in these and use this information for the future projects. An assignment that I am especially proud of is my blog. If you look at my past blog posts, from the very beginning, and then see the last ones, you can see the constant development in the structure and content of the blog post. I have learned to double check my grammar and spelling for blog posts and I also gained knowledge in providing my thoughts on the assigned topic with clarity that invoke interest among the readers. I am immensely proud that I was able to direct my hard concentration and time to accomplish the successful final product that are my blog posts. My blog is definitely an example of how I have grown this year, through each and every blog post.

A continual challenge throughout this year was organization and time management. Since we have a variety of classes taught by different teachers, we often found ourselves with an assortment of assignments that we had to remember to complete. In order to meet the teacher's expectations we had to have a orderly schedule for doing homework. Multiple times I would forget to finish a specific homework assignment and end up only remembering right before school starts. Those times require quick-thinking and really do raise the stress level as you are hurrying up to quickly complete the assignment before the class where you were assigned to do that homework. Middle school strengthens your organization skills, because usually in elementary school you are not expected to take on much responsibility and time is often provided, even if you do not finish by the due date. Writing down homework or checking Moodle helped me remember about forgotten assignments and are extremely useful. Managing your time and confirming that you evenly give enough time for each homework is an essential tip. Even though organization and time management were challenges this year, I was able to overcome them as the year continued. In due time my organization and time management skills were bettered.

This year I was able to learn about myself as a learner. Participating in finding our Learning Profiles assisted us in discovering our styles of learning. This year I found out that I learn best through verbal or written instruction. A teacher who tells me the directions or gives me written directions will be easier for me to follow. I also learned that when I am under stress I have difficulty seeing, hearing, or remembering details, so its better if I do not get stressed at all, otherwise it will affect my learning substantially. From obtaining an understanding of my learning profile, I found that I should sit in a particular position in a classroom to learn my best, for I prefer to use my left ear and eye. This year I have learned so much about what type of learner I am and can definitely use this to my advantage.

Behavior

Could be improved

Satisfactory

Perfect - the model student

I think that in class my behavior is controlled and polite. I pay attention during class and I try to be as respectful as possible. It is beneficial to have good behavior in class, because listening to the teacher and being respectful is not only required in any environment and situation. but also since it enables a more enhanced learning. In the future having excellent behavior is essential anywhere and all the time, so practicing it now is worthwhile for later.

Participation

None

Satisfactory

Actively participate in class

I believe that my participation in class is satisfactory. I do try to actively take part in class discussions and provide inputs that can be advantageous for the class to know, if they had not realized it before. I ask questions whenever I truly am not sure what to do and know that I cannot solve the problem or answer my own question logically by myself. I think that I can participate more in class, for sometimes I can be silent. But, I honestly think that I participate enough to improve my understanding and participate in relation to my learning style and myself.

Organization

Needs serious help

Satisfactory

I'm super organized

My organization skills have certainly been bettered over the past school year. At the beginning of they year I was not sure how to stay organized and often forgot to bring in homework assignments or left homework to the last minute. As the year progressed, however, I became accustomed to the load of homework and was able to work out a schedule to complete it all in a neat and well thought out manner.

Effort

Needs serious help

Satisfactory

I always go above and beyond what is required.

I always go above and beyond when it is required for every assignment. I can truthfully say I try my best all the time and believe that everyone should attempt their best, if they want to accomplish their goal.

Two personal goals that I have set myself for 7th grade are-

1. I plan to maintain my organization skills and make sure they become better. Organization is very important and having great organization skills will enable me a better learning experience.

2. I plan to make loads of new friends next year. Since I am moving to a different place, I will have to make friends as well as keeping in touch with the ones I moved away from. I hope that I will be able to establish friendships with new, nice people.

For grade 7 I want my teacher to know specific information about me. I want them to know that I usually take time to finish off assignments and do not finish very quickly, but usually on time. I also want my future teachers to know I am a visual and kinesthetic learner, so I learn best with the aid of a visual or with activities that allow me to participate effectively. Those are the main details that I wish my future teachers in 7th grade to know.

The advice that I would pass on to the 5th graders coming into 6th grade next year is to stay organized. That is an exceptionally important advice to follow. There is definitely enough homework to keep you busy in 6th grade for a while and it is good to divide it up and make sure you do not overwork yourself. The future 6th graders should schedule some time for what they want to do and not let homework take up their entire day. Organizing when they do their homework will help them have time for themselves and their own hobbies. Though it will be hard at the beginning to handle the work load, I know it will gradually get easy to manage your time and organize your homework and projects. Trust me, I have been there. ;)

6th grade has been amazing! I have been able to accomplish and achieve so much this year. I am proud and happy that I could complete this year of school the way I did. And if I could go back and change something that I did along my journey, I would not, because even though I did make plenty of mistakes this year and had to face the consequences, that is what assisted my progression in my learning and I was able to enhance my life skills from experiencing the consequences I had to confront. For once in my life, I am glad I made those mistakes that aided in the constant construction of my learning. Yet, I am nowhere near done. Nowhere near finished. There are still more obstacles ahead of me to conquer, more tears to shed, more ideas to contribute, more laughs to be had, new problems and accomplishments, more work to do, more people to meet, more places to go... And there are people I need to leave, and places I have to say goodbye too, but I will not forget about the times I have had this year. I created memories, here, that I certainly will cherish forever. One day I am going to look back and say, "Yeah, I remember that. That was one of the very moments of life that went on to make me who I am. today" It surely has been a unique and wonderful experience that I will never forget and is imprinted in my mind and will stay there no matter what happens. :)

And here ends my last post on this blog. Here's hoping that next year will be even better than this year, if that is possible! :D

“Celebrate endings – for they precede new beginnings.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie

♥ S.K ♥

http://whatsyourbirthday.blogspot.com/2010/10/moving-on.html

Source for quotes- http://quotes-aboutmovingon.com/

The Giver Blog Post Discussion 5

http://thebookbugbooksfortweensandteens.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-giver-by-lois-lowry.html

Dear Mother and Father,

My life has been a constant roller-coaster ride filled with surprises and the learning of important knowledge ever since I became the Receiver. I never knew so much could change just by being appointed my job, just like all the other children. Then again, I never knew I would be given the job of Receiver, a most unusual and distinct occupation. I feel like I have been isolated for the last few weeks and I have not been apart of your lives as much as I used to be. But today marks the starting point of my permanent isolation from you, Mother and Father. You will not see me again and I am writing this letter as to clear up the confusion I may cause you once you find me gone.

First, let me explain to you why I had to leave. My job of the Receiver is a very complicated one, as the Chief Elder told you that fateful day that transpired mere days ago, even though I feel like it has been ages. As a Receiver you are to receive, hence the name, memories from the Giver. And now I must elaborate the complex reasons that drove me to leave the community. These memories are much like experiences that the Giver has gotten from the previous Giver and are of times long ago, before the community transitioned into Sameness. How glorious some of these memories are! One was of a day where elder people, called "grandparents", were sitting with their family, no not a family unit, but a family that was able to share pleasurable moments together and they were all by a fire and there was this tree that was shining with lights of different colors of red and green and yellow and underneath it children were unwrapping boxes to discover toys (Page 122-123 of The Giver by Lois Lowry). But, you do not know what colors are, do you? They add variety to the world and they are… It is very hard to explain, but everything in that memory was so warm and calming and it introduced me to love! Love is definitely a word that should be used more often and is such a nice word for it describes that feeling... It is not enjoying someone else's presence, but a sense that you care for them deeply. The memory, in fact, was the Giver's favorite memory. The kind of pleasure and love I felt had a stronger depth then what happiness you, Mother and Father, feel. This was more powerful and more… How do I explain it? It felt good, to say in but simple words.

Although, not all memories were delightful as that one. Another memory, the Giver was pained to watch me receive it, was of a distressing event of a kind of grief and pain that you have never even breached the surface of. In the memory, the air of the land was blanketed with smoke and smog. There were injured men groaning around the expanse of land and a creature called a horse, similar to the elephant toy Lily has except leaner, muscular and it has a shorter snout and a mane of hair, was running around in panic. A boy asked for water. He was about my age and he was streaked with blood and dirt. In the memory I experienced, my arm was coated with blood and I felt pain. Not like how I crushed my finger in a door last year, but more immense and there was no medication to ease it. When I handed the boy water, he drank, eagerly. But then he closed his eyes and did not open them again (Page 118-120 of The Giver by Lois Lowry). I know you, Father, will know what happened to the boy. He died. In our community we would call it release to kill someone and therefore cause their death. You had to release that twin baby and that is another thing I need to get out of the way (Page 149-151 of The Giver by Lois Lowry). I do not like the idea of release and how you released that poor innocent baby. But, that is part of the community life and is needed in order to have organization, normality, and regularity in the community and is one of the multiple roles that you, Father, must carry out as you are a Nurturer.

And this leads me to the reason of why I have to leave. The memories I have described to you express both pleasure and comfort, but also pain and sadness. The community, in which you live, has never had exposure to feelings like that, other than the occasional surge of weak feeling that powers our discussions at dinner. These powerless approaches to feeling, is what empowers Lily to shake her fist in the air, because of the boy from the other community and how he did not follow the rules (Page 5 of The Giver by Lois Lowry). This anger that Lily had towards to boy was insignificant and could be dealt with easily, for she could discuss it and it would soon fade, because it was not true emotion that influences your actions and is purely uncontrollable. The people of the community have only infrequent and short encounters with emotion. Nothing like how I have felt in the past few days. I have learned so much from the Giver as his Receiver, including the fact that our community has an absence of these intense emotions, which can be a con or a pro, depending on what you think. There is also a lack of freedom, color, expression, music, all these beautiful things! No choice is available in our community, our ideas are influenced by the Committee, and we have no ability to choose what we want in life and how we should live! Like I once told the Giver, I want to be able to decide what color tunic I wear (Page 97). Even if I make the wrong decision, I will learn from my mistakes. My experiences and my mistakes and my choices will form my identity and create the person that I am. I do not mind being different, because I want to be the person that my choices mold me into. I want to run my own life, not a life that the Committee has generated for me and I want to call the life I live my life! I know that if I want pleasure, I will have to have misery, because I cannot appreciate happiness without grief, but the joy is, certainly, worth the sorrow. I want to create my own memories to share with my own family and grandparents. I want to have a tree with colorful lights and a day where I feel warm and happy inside! But, I also want you, Mother and Father, and Lily, Asher, and Fiona to enjoy these things also. I want the whole community to change for the better. To have freedom, color, weather, expression, grandparents, and emotion. And this is why I had to leave the community I lived all my life in and walk away from the family and friends I have come to love. Once I do leave, all the memories that I have acquired will be bestowed upon the people of the community, including you, my dear parents. And then you will gain the knowledge of everything I have come to know and the community will advance into a brighter and more free future and in the course I will be saving Gabriel from the dismal death that been set for him, because he has been unlike the others and held back the order of the community.

A better future for the community and the protection Gabriel from his death that I wish will be fulfilled comes with only one sacrifice: I must leave. I have to be out of the boundaries of the community, in order for you to obtain my memories. As you are reading this letter, I will be well on my way to my destination that is a different community, where they hopefully have everything I yearn for, freedom, expression, emotion, weather, and color. And there Gabriel and I will begin anew and become accustomed to a brand new way of living, and probably we will like this new life. But, I promise that I will forever remember you and love you. With the memories that you will soon be given, you will need the Giver's help. It will be a horrifying and exciting experience, trust me I know. These memories will cease the dishonor you might have labelled me with and will open your eyes to a whole, diverse world that you have never even noticed before. I think that if I was just a normal boy, not the Receiver, then you would not receive the memories if I were to die or leave the community, therefore you would just chant my name repeatedly and eventually forget about me completely like the boy who died in the river sometime ago. I would only be a vague image in your brain, terminated from the community and possibly even looked upon as a disgrace. But since I am indeed the Receiver, it is an entirely different line of events. This way I would make a very prominent imprint in the history of the community and I hope you, Mother and Father, and Lily, Asher and Fiona, and the rest of the community do not remember me as solely Jonas. No. I believe I am much more than that. I want to be recalled as someone who led the development and improvement of the society in which I used to live and where you currently reside. Will you please remember me as a…a… hero? Yes, that is the word! A hero! Jonas the hero of the community, the boy who gave up his familiar life in his only home for the rescue of a special and pure baby and for the enhancement of the future of the community. Jonas the Hero…

I must be going now. I will miss you, Mother and Father. Please tell the Giver that I love and thank him for what he has done for me. Tell Lily, Asher, and Fiona I love them and miss them, too! I really have to go now. Best of luck.

Love,

Jonas the Hero ;)

The Giver Blog Post Discussion 4

Freedom and Choice

Time and again in human history numerous wars have been fought and lives have been lost due to struggles for freedom and choice. People have sacrificed their lives for the freedom of expression, speech, freedom to live, among other basic rights. Freedom has worked for society and at times has worked against it. Too much freedom can destroy a community by giving the people a sense that they have the right to break even the most needed and fundamental rules and thus would cause disruption to the law and order of everyday life. If there is no freedom in a society, then the people are deprived of creativity, change, individuality, expression, and the ability to advance in life based collective opinion of the general people. Freedom has to be balanced wisely.

Freedom is such a strong word in our current society. Freedom is a strong force to deal with. It is supported by its allies and therefore is not something to be reckoned with. The argument of freedom is a prominent theme in The Giver by Lois Lowry. The Giver revolves around Jonas and his community, whose wings of freedom have been clipped. Whether the people's lack of freedom contribute in the success of their community or their failure, is a tough question. When thinking of this so many observations have to be considered. The Committee destroyed a huge part of the lives of the people of Jonas's community. They had to control emotion, memory that can trigger emotion, opinion, weather, color, and choice, in order to ensure that the community had no freedom at all. And when Jonas is given memories of weather, color, choice, feelings, and opinions, he develops an idea of freedom and he questions why no one else has this choice and freedom. Throughout chapters 16-18, we have been given a moment to ponder on the subject of freedom and multiple quotes have influenced our thoughts on this matter. Multiple times in these chapters the author emphasizes the fact that freedom is an issue in Jonas's community. Since freedom and choice are such vast subjects, it takes a steady exploration to truly explain this concept through writing. There are various quotes in the book that express the importance of freedom and choice.

"Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.

'Gabe?'

The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.

'There could be love,' Jonas whispered.

(Page 128 and 129 of The Giver by Lois Lowry)

The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away."

Now that Jonas has experienced memories of freedom and choice, he is starting to apply expressions of freedom to his life and does not take his pill as an act defiance of the rules. Jonas begins to wonder why his community lacks of the freedom he yearns. Why can't everyone have emotion, color, and weather that can influence their choices? Why can't they make decisions based on their previous experiences and their feelings?

The Committee took away freedom and choice, in order to create a safe and orderly community. But was it really worth the losses? The people of the community were deprived of so much when they transitioned into Sameness. What is life without freedom? Is it worth living, if you cannot decide how you want to live? Does life have meaning without the ability to make choices on your own? Without choice it is not your life that you are living, it is someone else's. If the life we are living is not our own then what is the point of living it? If you take choices away, what are you left with? A life with no aim, but to fulfill other people's decisions. Freedom is can be a gift that shapes a person's personality and thoughts.

When you read the quote displayed from the story, you can see that Jonas's community does not have love, which the Committee demolished. Withdrawing love is taking away one of the most important emotion in our lives. Love is so connected with freedom and choice, that extracting love was also abolishing a huge part of freedom. We have the choice to pick who to love and who to hate and the freedom to love whoever we want. Love affects our choices builds relationship and makes a community . It puzzles Jonas why people cannot have love, which leads us to believe it is so because love can encourage freedom.

The quote from the story also expressed Jonas's new understanding of freedom. Now that he has been in contact with memories, emotion, color, and weather, he has a knowledge of what freedom is. Through the memories, like the one of the war he witnessed, he is able to find out more about the people who lived before him, when Sameness was not incorporated. Jonas has seen how people can make choices and have the freedom to express them. This leads Jonas to make his own choice of not taking the pill, which goes against everything he has been taught, and this showcases the true greatness of freedom. It had the power to change Jonas's mind, even though Jonas has lived in an environment that does not support freedom.

" 'There are so many good memories,' The Giver reminded Jonas. And it was true. By now Jonas had experienced countless bits of happiness, things he had never known of before.

He had seen a birthday party, with one child singled out and celebrated on his day, so that now he understood the joy of being an individual, special and unique and proud."

(Page 121 of The Giver by Lois Lowry)

Jonas is exploring how being an individual can be a joy. To be an individual requires difference, which Jonas's community does not include in their systematic way of life. Individuality also involves freedom, for you need the freedom, in order to be able to express your individuality. Making choices helps in the growth our identity and makes us who we are and how unique and different each individual is. Without freedom we cannot make choices and without choices, how can our identities advance? How can we learn from our mistakes and thus become better people? How can you prompt talents and advancements in life, if you are being held back by the obliteration of freedom? People cannot express their identity if there is lack of freedom. By deducting freedom the Committee discouraged individuality and without individuality in Jonas's community there is a stunt in the improvement of the society. A great thinker, Albert Camus, once said, "Freedom is nothing else, but a chance to be better."

As Jonas progresses through his training as Receiver, he learns more and more about how freedom and choice can affect daily life and contribute in the enhancement of the society. As I read through the book I am able to compare and contrast my world to Jonas's and often I find evident differences. One of those being the magnitude of freedom. The Giver provides us the opportunity to explore the words freedom, rights, emotion, and choice. This book gives us a way to appreciate what our world has that Jonas's does not and also examine the good characteristics of Jonas's community that we do not have. The Giver by Lois Lowry is a moral guide of positive and negative enforcement of freedom in community. In our world today freedom is desired and this is seen through unrest caused by people craving for their rights across the globe in countries like Egypt and Libya. Freedom is a treasure that we should all cherish, because we are lucky enough to be presented with the right for freedom.

"Liberty is the right to choose, freedom is the result of that choice." Unknown Source

Sources:

http://en.proverbia.net/citastema.asp?tematica=492

http://quotations.about.com/cs/inspirationquotes/a/Freedom1.htm

http://umattr.info/

The Giver Blog Post Comments Discussion 3

I commented on Dhabitah's blogposts for The Giver Reflections 1 and 2.

Her blogpost is amazing, so you should check it out- http://dzailani17.blogspot.com/

The Giver Blog Post Discussion 2

Of all God's gifts to the sighted man, color is holiest, the most divine, the most solemn.~John Ruskin

High in the sky, arching above me, was a long, strip of color. Red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, and violet were all streaked in that line across the sky. Serving as a magnificent background, was the vast blue sky, dotted with fluffy, white clouds. And there below it was what seemed to be an endless meadow of green grass, speckled with pink flowers. There were a few dark green leaved- trees that were supported by brown trunks. Color. What was before me was a colorful landscape. It would not be as fascinating without the color.

Imagine a world without color... What could that mean? What would be the advantages and losses?

Color brightens our world. It engulfs us every day in our lives and has immense psychological impact on our minds. Color can provoke our emotions and they cause our brains to stimulate and process what we are seeing, so we are able to identify the sights we glance at. Multiple colors can catch our eye and can make the environment around us more appealing. Color compliments our sensitivity to our surroundings. Our reactions and perceptions of life are influenced by color.

Having no color is normal for Jonas, a boy who lives in a constricted community, but as he explores the numerous abilities that comes with being the Receiver, he begins to question why his world does not have color. He has grown up in a world devoid of any color all his life and this new look of life is overwhelming. All these different hues popping up in various places excites Jonas.

"The Giver told him that it would be a very long time before he had the colors to keep.

'But I want them!' Jonas said said angrily. 'It isn't fair that nothing has color!' "

(Page 97)

This statement of Jonas's was provoked by his opinion and thoughts. Jonas says this for a myriad of possible reasons.

Jonas's community does not have freedom of expression or emotion, both of which are evoked by color. Several unique colors are in contact with our emotions and have the ability to make us feel a certain way. Non-primary colors are more calming than primary colors. Yellow invokes cheeriness and orange has a calming sense about it. People have different opinions to go with different colors. Every individual color has its own set of evident influences and meaning, which can be used to help better understand our world and our behavioral patterns.

Jonas must have a liking for colors for they enable him to express himself, something he is not very familiar with, because of the rules of the community where he resides. When the Committee took away color, they removed an essential part of people's expression. Color forms the pathway for expression to follow. They are only a limited number of ways to express yourself and when the Committee diminished color, they withdrew one of these few ways.

Colors can provide choices. In our world, you can pick what sort of color you want to wear or single out a color you particular like such as shade of blue, red, etc. Jonas realizes this in the story:

" 'Well...' Jonas had to stop and think it through. 'If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?

He looked down at himself, at the colorless fabric of his clothing. 'But it's all the same always.'"

(Page 97)

I could feel the pain in Jonas's tone. He is not able to make choices for himself, because they are all predetermined by the Committee in Jonas's community. Jonas wants the responsibility of making his own decisions and I would to. No choices means no freedom. What is a life without freedom? Taking away color was the Committee's way of manipulating the thoughts of the people in the community. Along with color they also extracted their freedom of choice and opinion.

Just as colors can be pleasing and nice, they can be used for negative purposes. For example, people have associated black or dark colors with something mysterious or evil. White is often portrayed as a pure, angelic, or virgin color. In some instances around the world, people were treated differently by the color of their skin. For example, ancient India had caste system based on color or varna. The Committee in Jonas's community decided to diminish color, because it created differences. And when there is a difference, people usually disagree, because they do not think the same way. Although in our current society, people have learned not to use color as a negative tool against others.

In Jonas's community, I suspect, that their surroundings are no longer beautiful. Color creates the effect of beauty. Diverse colors make the world pretty. Colors give character to life. The serene green of the trees, the thrilling blue of water, and the fiery red of the sun burning in the sky. All of these are exquisite colors that we usually see everyday. Picture all that gone. What is left is a world that has been sucked of all its choice, opinion, expression, attractiveness, and beauty. Jonas does not want that, because he has experiences seeing color and how it could affect his opinions, choices, expression, and the beauty to the world and this is why he states that it is unfair that his world does not have color.

Color is around us so often, that most of the time we do not appreciate the true significance of color. We take it for granted, for we are born with the ability to see all the colors around us. Color should be valued for it is one of our pathways to connect with our emotion and expression. The ability to see color is a gift and everyone should cherish it.

The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color. ~Hans Hoffman

Picture from:

http://express.howstuffworks.com/exp-rainbow.htm

Quotes from:

http://thinkexist.com/quotations/colors/

http://en.proverbia.net/citastema.asp?tematica=202

http://www.artquotes.net/quotes-color.htm

The Giver Blog Post Discussion 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a fascinating book that deals with views on freedom and this invokes my interest. This science-fiction novel revolves around a world where people are bound to a predetermined future, confined to a specific lifestyle, and trapped in an emotionless state without knowledge of anything, but the rule of their utopian society. It is a complex concept to grasp, but I am beginning to understand, just as Jonas is starting to realize that everything is not what it seems. In our world we have much more freedom than in the community Jonas lives in, although we still have rules that set us in order. Multiple questions are brought forth from this book such as the one I am willing to answer: Why is interdependence fostered in this community?

From a young age people of Jonas's community are taught to depend on one another. Everyone looks out for each other. For instance, in this community, children button each other coats and jackets from the back gaining a confidence that they have someone who would aid them when they were in need. No one is to point out differences that they notice and they cannot brag about their accomplishments and skills, thus not provoking problems. The Ceremony of Twelve is when the people are beginning to feel a little more independent, as they are given various occupations and welcome their sole talent, although they still feel dependent with others. The job of the Receiver is solitary and is the one position where the person is to be independent. Everyone else is of a mutual understanding that they remain supporting each other.

This sense of interdependence is fostered in this community, probably because the Committee enforces this. If everyone depends on each other, then there is less chance of wars and disruption. Everything would remain the same and thus be balanced and organized. No one would turn against another, or disagree, and peace would reign. A bond of trust is created between everyone and there is a feeling of reassurance. If the community trusts and respects the Committee then the Committee is able to do whatever they please to ensure a successful community and the society would go along with this. The community would feel safer, for you would know that anyone would offer their protection and defense. Younger children would hold adults in high regard, and have faith that whatever they do is right and will behave identically. The people of this community respect and depend on the Committee. This interdependence establishes a stable, trusting community who would respect the Committee in time of need.

Though interdependence should be fostered in a society, so should a comprehension of individuality and independence. For if the Committee were to make a wrong decision, then the community would unquestioningly follow, also making a mistake. If everyone depended on one leader in charge, then there would be no choice and no opinion. The voice of the people would not be heard. The people just go by their schedule and what the Committee tells them to do, because they have formed an interdependent relationship with them. These people do not have the liberty of exploring and inventing new ways to enhance society, because they are restricted by the predetermined future the Committee has set for them. Their futures would be predetermined and set by the leader, without any say in what will happen to them. Even if the leader does choose a fair future, there would be no alteration if the person did not like the decided future. Being independent and having the freedom to make your own decisions is not available in this community, due to its strong dependence with the commanding person and confinement in rights. People should have the right to decide what they think is justified and be able to help themselves if there was no one they could depend on and they should in turn respect each other's differences, as others, too, have rights. The Committee itself depends on the people of the community. If someone were to step out of order it would disrupt the run of the society, for everyone has a specific job that assists the community in some way. Independence should be treasured, for it is an advantage and enables you to be able to make your own decisions and not have to depend on someone, entirely.

This question drew me to ponder about our current society. In The Giver the community depends on each other. In our world, people depend on our elected presidents or people to finalize decisions, but only after taking the opinions of the community. We have the right to vote and speak against situations that we do not agree with. In most places there is a freedom of opinion, which I think is essential in a community. If it was not for our freedom of opinion, there would be no positive change brought to the world from great people like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. In this way we do have our independence and are able to make our own choices. Although an interdependence between the community has its advantages, I am glad that in my world, for the most part, we are not completely dependent on someone, because I am an individual person and deserve to have my say in what happens to my world and so does everyone else.

Change starts with an independent ripple, which evolves into an interdependent wave that can improve humanity and all its worth.