"It's Okay..."

Last year in 5th grade, I was new to ISKL Melawati and I didn't know many people. But around the middle of the year, I started to sort of, you know, fit in. At the end of the year, there was a track and field meet and I was taking part in the 200m sprint, 50m sprint or 100m sprint (I don't know which one), long jump, softball throw and the relay with all my friends. I was 1 of out 2 girls who were selected to run in the relay. Let's just call my friends Bobby, Freddy and Mary.

Mary was getting ready to put us in a big lead. She leaped off the starting line and zoomed off like a cheetah. She held the gold baton in her hand and in the next person's eyes, I could see the tension between the baton and him. She passed off the baton to Bobby and he just sprinted off like there was a giant bulldozer behind him. We were all shouting, "GO GO GO!" and I was the next one up. At about 1 meter away, I could see Bobby. He had a sense of concentration in his eyes. But bad luck fell upon him.

About about half a meter away, the baton slipped out of his hand and fell onto the grass! We were all disappointed and you could hear the crowd go, "Awww..." I just screamed at that Bobby, "It's fine! Don't worry about it! Just pick it up!" He quickly picked it up and sprinted for his life. Bobby passed the baton to me and I was just running like there was no tomorrow! I passed it off to Freddy and he just ran as fast as he could to make up for the lost time. Freddy actually ran like he was a thief being chased by a angry mob of people. In the end, we got 2nd place and we were all like, "YES!" And high-fiving each other. Bobby, who dropped the baton, was walking off and sniffling. I could hear everyone saying to Bobby, "Why the heck did you do that?" and "You know we could have won if you DIDN'T drop the baton?" I got so mad at them and I just felt like saying, "Be proud that we actually ran! Because if we didn't, we wouldn't have won a place in the top three. So please just STOP BULLYING HIM!" But instead I chose to comfort the victim so that he was alright.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked Bobby. He was sitting on the curb of the ramp near the Melawati gym. He said that he didn't mean to drop and that it just slipped out of his hand. I knew that but I don't think anyone else did. I gave Bobby a big hug and whispered, "You know, they got ice-cream and I'm pretty sure that you want some :)" He said yeah and I helped him up from where we were sitting and we walked down the ramp to get some ice-cream.

In my opinion, everyone should not be punished or bullied by just making one mistake. The mistake won't scar them for life but just a big part of it. If I had the same situation happen once, I would stand up for Bobby and tell everyone to just respect him and to not bother him. After all, it's just life. Two goals that I have that could help everyone in ISKL, is maybe joining or starting an Anti-Bullying Campaign so that nobody would get bullied in ISKL as a goal. Another goal is to report any signs of bullying to Ms. Thompson. I don't want to be a tattle-tale or a teacher's pet, but I want this school to be safe and not full of bullies. Last year when Ms. Thompson and the 6th grade peer helpers cam over to Melawati, 1 person asked if there were any bullies. The peer helpers said no but I think there are some bullies who push and shove as they please. I think bullying is a very big issue around the world and I hope not EVERYONE wants to stop it. Not just me or ISKL.

The key to change... is to let go of fear.

Courage-the ability to do something that frightens one. Now that's what I call a dictionary definition. My way of looking at courage is like a hallway. During that hallway, you must make some choices you don't want to make, but this hallway leads to a whole, new and changed life. Some choices you make may be about your fears. Most people think being courageous is having the guts to do something that frightens them or even fears them, and that's their definition. Not everyone's definition is the same. Now I will tell you how a single trip to Malacca changed my whole life and how it made me a more matured person. 

    

     In 5th grade, there was an overnight trip to Malacca on this famous city's spices and food that they have. I, for one, thought it was exciting to go on an overnight trip with my friends because I haven't gone on a trip to another city before, but then I thought about my fears. I have TONS of fears! 1)I hate being alone 2) Don't really like bugs 3) DISGUSTED by wet and dirty floors and 4) REALLY scared from animals (FYI: Please don't laugh!). This trip involved 2 of my fears: being alone, and bugs. You see, I haven't really 'pulled away' from my parents yet so I sleep next to them in my own bed and hold my dad's hand when I sleep because I'm also scared of robbers and thieves and those kinds of people. Anyway, bugs also interfere into the trip because I wasn't sure if the hotel was clean or not. So basically, this trip was about me having the choice to be afraid my fears or to have the courage to overcome my fears.

     As I dried my hair after a nice hot shower and a whole day of sweating, I thought to myself, "Okay Nadia, you survived a whole day without Mommy and Daddy. I think you can survive 10 hours without Daddy holding your hand." I suddenly heard a vibrating sound and thought it was someone outside our hotel room door. I thought that because our room was right next to the open loading zone. VERY FREAKY! It was actually my mom texting good night. I replied with a good night and gripped my phone in my hand. Suddenly a lightbulb lit up in my head. I quickly my bed's pillow and put it on the other side of the bed. No bugs tonight! But I didn't have the courage to leave my pillow where it was. I didn't have the courage to overcome my fear of bugs. I climbed into bed and fell on my pillow. Melodie also fell on her bed and she slept straight away. I didn't know that but after 5 minutes after 10 I heard a faint snoring sound. I started to giggle very softly and closed my eyes. I just couldn't fall asleep without a verbal, "Good Night!". 

     *BRING BRING* I heard my alarm ring. It turns out I actually did fall asleep! I have finally overcome my fear of being alone! YAHOO! What an achievement :) I woke up and ran to the other bed and woke Melodie up and checked my watch. It was 7:00. We were only supposed to wake up at 9:00 I think. So Melodie and I just sat in bed and played one of my phone's games. I not only overcame my fear but also woke up earlier than I could ever can!

     Courage. Everyone deals with it and everyone can use it in anyway they want to. My definition of courage is having the guts to do what you think is the right choice. What's your definition of courage?

Cheers,

Nadia

Sources:

Quote-http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the-key-to-change-is-to-let-go-of-fear/391151.html
Hallway-http://www.principiadiscordia.com/Adventure/images/5/57/Hallway.jpg
Malacca-http://www.hot-screensaver.com/wp-myimages/malacca-a-famosa.jpg
Lightbulb-http://www.hostsaga.com/images/lightbulb.gif
Yahoo-http://www.ewellnessmall.com/online-health-store/resources/fck_images/yahoo-logo.jpg
Courage-http://www.ci.boca-raton.fl.us/city/hr/Motiv-Poster/winners/1courage_sm.jpg

How did early humans use art to express their prehistoric culture?

     Early humans used cave paintings, artifacts, tools to express their hominid culture, most important is how they use art so creatively. They would see something they like and paint it on the walls of the caves or the surface of a rock or even just on the floor. The group I was in observed a picture that showed part of a cave wall. We hypothesized what we thought the painting was about. We first thought that it was a plan to get bison for food or a plan to attack an enemy of some sort. We also thought it was a plan to get every living thing away from a poisoned plant or piece of land. All of these hypothesizes are plans to lure or capture something. We never guessed that it was a just an everyday life painting. Some scientists believe that it WAS an everyday life painting. This proves that we never know what these smart hominids paint because they add all of these weird symbols and signs that we never understand or recognize. I think the early humans would use art instead of anything else because maybe they didn't know how else to express their culture.

     I would like to write (or rather type) what i can infer about these images below. 

http://berkeley.utrechtblog.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/13/files//2009/10/spray-hands.jpg

     To me and many others, this painting looks like a plan but to some people, it might look like a tribute to the many animals in their homeland. To scientists, those handprints are an artist's signature. The group I worked with figured it was representing the many people in the picture. I can see that the bison are trying to run away from something or someone. Many scientists thought that the paintings all meant something different because each painting was unique and different. Not one was exactly the same. As I said earlier, this painting may be a way of saying tribute to the animals in their territory. Maybe the animals did something miraculous and this is the hominid's way of saying thanks.

http://comps.fotosearch.com/comp/AGE/AGE027/cave-paintings-cueva_~M78-373721.jpg

     I think this painting shows the many people there are in one single tribe. As you can see, there are many different sizes of hands. There are small and big hands. I guess the bigger hands are the adult's and the smaller hands are a child's. There are many different colors and different designs. I think the colors represent the different kind of personalities there are in the tribe. The early humans may have used different kinds of fruits and blood to make the ink. They could have used all of the tools they invented to kill  the animals and squeeze the fruits. I think this painting was to show all the different kinds of people in their tribe. They may have not been from different places but an individual is very different from another individual.

     Well, I believe there are many different answers depending on the person. In conclusion....How did early humans use art to express their prehistoric culture? I think the early humans would paint what they think has meaning, what they think is interesting and what they think is important to them and others around them.

Cheers,

Nadia :)

http://cinema.usc.edu/programs/interactive/members/bladeols/CavePaintingsAlec.jpg

I THINK THIS IS RATHER INTERESTING... hmmmmm :O