English 300-- I am going to ask for your input. If that is alright.

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Kellie_Cantrell
Senior Member

since 2002-05-22

Posts 1667
New York

0 posted 2004-08-23 04:32 PM

Oh goodness! I survived the first week of college. Believe me it hasn't been easy. We had our first math test. I got 100%, I am happy because math is my worst subject, yet I am sad because it was an addition test. LOL.

Now to the subject on why I am posting this. In English we have been assigned an essay. It is a narrative on something that has substantially changed you as a person.

I know a few events in my life that have changed me. I'd like to get a general idea of what "You" think has changed me.

I know I am asking a lot but I have been trying to develop my topic for 5 days now and I am running out of time. I'd have hoped that I would have been able to find something on my own, but I think that a little bit of poking and prodding from you will help me gain insight onto another perspective of my life that I don't see.

Thank You for the help!
Kellie

Larry C

Member Patricius

since 2001-09-10

Posts 10286
United States

1 posted 2004-08-23 05:42 PM

How about the incident that got you suspended from PiPs? Just a thought. And man, college, I can barely remember!

If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

2 posted 2004-08-23 07:01 PM

I'll have to ditto Larry - that was a very defining time. Certainly a time of growth.
Good luck!

Kellie_Cantrell
Senior Member

since 2002-05-22

Posts 1667
New York

3 posted 2004-08-23 11:44 PM

I would write about that because it definately changed me, but unfortunately I have moved past that and I would rather not revisit it. I also don't remember it well enough to write a 4-5 page narrative on it. Although if anyone wants to remind me via email I would be happy to give it a shot.

My parents suggested that I write about my junior year and how I changed as I started writing poetry and how it has taught me so many things. I think that I want to write it on how Larry taught me that "Pain is suffering without a purpose." I will quote him on that.

Then there is the quote that Larry's daughter had on the white board... that was something that urged me onward to change.

Larry C

Member Patricius

since 2001-09-10

Posts 10286
United States

4 posted 2004-08-24 11:21 AM

"Grief without growth is pain without purpose." Amazingly enough I made that up! And it is difficult to understand your reasoning about the PiPs incident. However, the paper is yours...

If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.

Midnitesun

Member Empyrean

since 2001-05-18

Posts 28647
Gaia

5 posted 2004-08-24 01:42 PM

Kellie, I'd think you'd WANT to remember the Pips incident, well enough to easily write five pages.
It encompasses many themes, only one of which is the acceptance of personal responsibility and accountability for your actions. I find that to be critical in marking the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Wishing you well, Kacy

Mysteria

Member Laureate

since 2001-03-07

Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada

6 posted 2004-08-24 03:40 PM

Unfortunately, we should all be careful what you ask for. Seeing you have started this thread I find it now hard not to answer it. I sincerely hope you will take this with my very best intentions.

quote:
I would write about that because it definitely changed me, but unfortunately I have moved past that and I would rather not revisit it. I also don't remember it well enough to write a 4-5 page narrative on it. Although if anyone wants to remind me via email I would be happy to give it a shot.

I can think of a lot of life changing things that have happened to you for your project paper but of course the one that happened here sticks first in my mind because it actually involved me, and many others here.

There are other things you could write about besides a school year.  For instance, I know for a fact the process of becoming a mother was more than life changing for me, and you haven’t talked at all lately about the wonderful process of your pending motherhood and pregnancy since you announced it.  Surely that is stirring up great emotions?  I know it sure played hell with my emotions, and changed my life forever.  I know if I were to write a paper I can’t think of a more wonderful subject than creating life, can you?

How about your term as President, of S.A.D.D., or being a finalist in a Cindi Lauper contest?  What about sharing your thoughts about upcoming marriage in October 2005, or other accomplishments you have shared with everyone in here that are so many?

I just keep having to go back to your stint here, because I wish to voice my opinion on moving past something negative as you put it.  Brother, do I know negative in my lifetime but I can honestly tell you I never dismissed it, and certainly in fact re-visit them all far too often.  A negative instance in your life can’t disappear, it becomes a part of you and who you are and will become.  It should be right there when you need it still fresh in your mind so you try not to repeat the error(s) made.  You have to learn from whatever mistake is made, and take the lesson learned, and hopefully share that knowledge with others.  You must have learned a huge life lesson through your experience here or at least I would hope so.  It certainly addressed some of the finest possessions any human being can have like integrity, honesty, humility, and definitely a thing called conscience for sure.  For without that last one we are in serious need of help. I found this definition on line and it was most accurate.

Conscience:   the awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong.

Kellie, if you have to actually be reminded in email of something that is still really quite vivid in my mind that changed a lot of people’s life here, then I think you are indeed "stuck."  Perhaps you can solicit the help of Cody to refresh your memory, as I truly do believe it was a life-changing incident to him that he won't forget anytime soon.  I am quite sure it is still fresh in his memory and conscience and he has grown because of it.

Only you will know what incident in your life thus far has changed "you."  Might I suggest you try to select an incident, not one from a victim’s standpoint, maybe something about you that no one knows but you that will come as a complete surprise, either positive or negative.  In my own life, I love to hear from people who went into a self-discovery, and turned over a new leaf, and welcome them openly into my life, knowing I can learn from them.  These are people with true character.

You see the hardest part about any mistake made is to openly admit it, apologize for it, and grow from it.  I hope what I had to say will encourage you to re-visit that lesson in your life as your paper topic, over a single year of school Kellie, as hopefully that one incident changed you for the rest of your life in a good way, and if not, I find sadness in it all.  I wish you well in California, as a Mother, and certainly as a wife, and above all else I wish you peace.

Imagination is more important than knowledge...
Albert Einstein

[This message has been edited by Mysteria (08-24-2004 06:14 PM).]

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