Discrimination and Boy in the Striped Pajamas

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” - Nelson Mandela

I find this quote is very relatable to the book "Boy in the Striped Pajamas". The way children are taught in this book is wrong and they don't get the chance to form their own opinions and have their own beliefs. Since kids aren't born hating a group or a person they have to be taught or told to discriminate or hate something. 

People are not born into the world hating a race or a group or religion, They have to be told to hate them. People are not born automatically believing in religion, They have to be told to believe it. A young child wouldn't care what race you are, what your beliefs are, what colour your skin is, They would form their opinions and thoughts of you based on who you are as a person not on your belief system and skin colour. Children are brought up a certain way and that is what they believe, If your parents are religious, Chances are there going to raise you to believe in a belief system, Believe in a "God", and raise you as a member of what religion they are a part of. But what if, You were brought up freely, YOU made your own choices, YOU decided whether you want to base your life off a belief system, YOU make your own choices and choose what you want to believe, Its not forced down your throat and your not made to believe in anything other than what YOU want to believe. But this doesnt happen often..

I was brought up freely, I choose I didn't want to believe in a "God", I choose who to like and who to dislike, and thoughts weren't "forced" onto me. Maybe this is how kids should be brought up and maybe it would stop a lot of discrimination against race and skin colour from people who may not necessarily believe that if it wasn't told to them at a young age. This is most likely what happened to Bruno in the book, He was forced to believe in Christianity, he was told that Christianity is the superior religion and that Jewish people and African Americans  were insuperior and were to be dominated in the way they were in World War 2, And the way all groups are hated in one way or another throughout the world. 

Im sorry for ranting but this is a topic that is very thought provoking for me and I feel Its a topic that needs to be talked about. 

M

Friendship.

Friends. The people you probably spend the most time with and have your best memories with. Friendship can keep people together or tear them apart. Your best friends are always people you want to be around, the people that you share secrets, laughs and memories with. That is what makes someone you best friend. They dont always have everything in common with you, do what you always want to do, They may not share all the same beliefs as you but that doesn't mean anything if your real friends. 

You can't really describe real friendship, Its not something that can be explained, Sure you may enjoy the same music, games, movies, But thats not always the case. If it is, great, But that doesn't have to make you friends. You could do one thing with the person and realize you want to be friends with them, Maybe they made you laugh, shared the same sense of humor and you realized that you have something in common with them, That kind of makes you friends. 

But as I said It cannot be explained. Why try to explain?, Why does anyone have the need to explain it. But it doesn't always work out, Maybe you wanted to be or thought you were friends with someone and they just brushed you off like you didn't matter to them. People get hurt, all the time, friendship can be ruined, by actions, words, or they just fall apart over time. Keep good friends, if they're real, they will stay with you. But you can have many friends, good, bad, but some people mean more to you, maybe just to you, but not 
to everyone.


M

Symbolism, The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

Symbolism,  The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.  

  "A symbol has to have the same meaning to everyone",  I disagree.  Many different symbols have many different meanings to groups or individuals. The cross, star of david, Swastika.. All have different meanings and are viewed very differently by many people across the world. Symbols can do many things, represent things or places or companies, Represent groups or religions, and reinforce thoughts and ideas in literature.

   For example, The cross. The cross has many meanings to many different groups of people. The cross can represent Christianity, A crucifix, or figures in religion or can mean many things or influence many thoughts throughout the world. Another example is the Swastika, A very controversial symbol throughout fairly recent history. The Swastika did not originate from Nazi Germany but from indigenous tribes in what is now Afghanistan, and many other tribes from 3300 BCE onward, a very long time before Nazis. This symbol means "It is Good", Many people now believe it is a symbol of hate and evil because of the way the Nazis used it. But to the tribes of 3300 BCE it meant "it is good" and was commonly used during happy festivals in good spirit. But since the Nazis used it, it is viewed very poorly due to the actions of Nazis.

  Symbols and Symbolism is a very interesting topic to look into and how the same symbol can mean many things to different people. I do completely disagree with the statement "A symbol has to have the same meaning to everyone", because clearly symbols mean many things.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have learned the meaning of symbols to many different people.

          Max

An Informative Reading about Penguins

          Penguins are one of my favorite animals, they are birds... that can't fly, and they swim!!  I dont know where they came from or how the evolved into such a weird combination of adaptations but they are awesome to me. They live in Antarctica and off the coast on some islands. The largest penguin is the Emperor Penguin, It is around 4 feet fully grown and has an average weight of 85 pounds. Some of the smallest penguins are as small as 16 inches and only around 2 pounds.


         Contrary to popular belief penguins actually spend more time in the water than they do on land. They also have a special oil on the their feathers  to keep the water off... and they do have feathers. They swim close to the surface and use quick breathing techniques when they surface to spend more time underwater. They use their small flappers to quickly swim through the water by flapping them quickly, they can do this because of their strong breast and wing muscles. The average swimming speed is 3 - 6 miles per hour, but emperor penguins can swim at around 9 miles per hour!


          Now some interesting and random facts about penguins. There are more than 18 different species of penguin. A group of penguins when swimming is called a colony, or rookery. Penguins can stay warm because of their layer of fat under their feathers that are tightly packed to help them swim. Although Emperor penguins only live in Antarctica other smaller penguins live in New Zealand.
I hope you enjoyed my info on penguins and maybe learned something.

Max

       

Why Penguins are just hilariously awesome

                Im sitting at my computer looking at penguins and a video comes up... The way penguins get back on to land is pretty awesome. They swim underwater really fast and then jump up out of the water onto the land flying through the air using the momentum from swimming underwater. So this video... Its one penguin trying to get up onto a skinny iceberg and lots of other penguins knocking him off once he gets up. But words don't do it justice, it's really funny i highly highly recommend you to watch it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apH9QsAdhh8   heres the link


                I just love penguins. There so funny the way they walk. The way they swim and jump around is awesome. Ive also seen a penguin walking in front of a pool of icy water and another penguin just slaps the first penguin into the water with its flipper. This is just my opinion but i think penguins are one of the best animals. But there is a problem facing the Emperor Penguin. This 4 foot tall adorable antarctic creature is facing the loss of its home.


         I dont want to bore you with any ecosystem saving stuff but i really like penguins and thought this was very sad,   The east antarctic (where it lives) is having increased temperature problems and so the ice is melting. If the ice keeps melting like this over the next few years the penguins might not have a place to live or a place to get food. This would really suck for the penguins and for someone like me, who really enjoys seeing happy penguins.
Post in the comments your favourite animal if you want.

Max

Failure.

The Greatest Game I Ever Played

    There is a game called League of Legends. It is a MMO and consists of games of 5v5 and 3v3. I play with my friends all the time and it is very fun. You can talk to your friends over Skype so you have better communication. There are 116 characters you can buy with an in game currency and play as. 

  This game sounds similar to World of Warcraft but is different and in my opinion is better. There even is a competitive scene to the game and is called Esports. E sports are electronic games with a competitive scene and LoL has a very cool competitive scene. There are major tournaments where you can win up to 2 Million dollars, But you have to be a professional. And there are professional League of Legends players that play for a living.

  This is my favourite computer game it mixes strategy, fun, and teamwork to make a great always changing game. Its update all the time to add graphic improvements, new characters, and sometimes new maps to play on. Each game you buy items to improve your characters damage, magic power, armour, magic resist, health and many other improvements. This is a great game that takes a bit of time to learn but once you learn it is a great game to play with your friends. If you want a great, FREE game to play on your computer and would like to try something new try League of Legends.

Max