Having My Say

      There are many things I feel strongly about, one of them being smoking. I personally think smoking is gross for both the person doing it and the people around him or her. It is proven to be very dangerous for the health, causing all types of diseases and cancers. I am so glad Illinois passed the law to ban smoking in public places. I think the rest of the country should do it, too. It's so nice to walk into a restaurant and not have to specify if you want to be in a smoking or non smoking section. I think it makes the whole building much more clean and professional. It's not pleasant when you're trying to eat a nice dinner and all you can smell is smoke. I don't think anyone enjoys it. The people that do smoke are not very happy about it, but maybe it will make them think twice about smoking and if it's really worth it.

There Was a Child Went Forth

     In this poem by Walt Whitman, he is talking about children and how they interact with society. When kids see someone do something, they will imitate the person. No matter if it's good or bad, they don't know any better and think it's right. They become what they see. Also in this poem, it says "early lilacs become part of this child, and grass and white and red morning- glories". This phrase means that since the child sees these everyday, they are a part of his childhood. When he grows up and sees these flowers, it will remind him of when he was a kid. Whitman lists many of these things that talk about his childhood. This part relates to me and my life because there are certain things that bring back memories of when I was a child. For example, during the summer when i was young, my sister and I would always eat popsicles outside on the swing set. To this day, whenever I have a popsicle, I think about swinging on the swings in the backyard with my sister when I was six. I think a lot of people can relate to this poem and Whitman did a great job explaining children.

Nobody Knows This Little Rose by Emily Dickinson

Nobody knows this little Rose --
It might a pilgrim be
Did I not take it from the ways
And lift it up to thee.
Only a Bee will miss it --
Only a Butterfly,
Hastening from far journey --
On its breast to lie --
Only a Bird will wonder --
Only a Breeze will sigh --
Ah Little Rose -- how easy
For such as thee to die!

      
       This is a poem about life and death. The rose is life, and in life, we go through many hard times and obstacles. We give everything we have to life and yet not everyone sees it. The people that care will notice and appreciate you through everything. The bee and butterfly represent those people. They need the rose and the people that need you will love and cherish you. On the other hand, the bird and breeze are the people that don't know you. They might wonder about you, but they will pass by like a bird or a breeze. Hastening from a far journey says that we've gone through so much in our lives just to lay it all down and die. According to the poem, dying is not a big deal because the people that cared will still be there and those who didn't care will just go on not caring. You give all you have to the world, but the whole world doesn't acknowledge you.

Transcendentalism vs. Anti-transcendentalism

       Transcendentalism and anti transcendentalism are complete opposites. I prefer to read transcendentalist stories. These say that man is born good, children are God's perfect creation, and that one can only find God in and through nature, and the belief in universal truths. On the other hand, anti transcendentalists believe that man is born with sin, they are destructive forces in nature, and one can only find God through works and life experiences. I feel like transcendentalists are optimists and look at things on the bright side which makes their stories more fun to read. For example, Henry David Thoreau's Walden was very intriguing to me. I think it was cool how he gave up his life to just enjoy nature and try to find the meaning of life. There were many inspirational quotes and phrases that I thought were neat. I just think that these stories are much more fun to read than anti transcendentalist stories like The Scarlet Letter. I get much more out of the transcendentalist stories and think they give a great perspective on life.