Undergraduate / "a family meeting" - obstacle essay [5]

feed back would be lovely...

Discuss an obstacle you have overcome in your life? What change did you make? What did you learn?

I have often been told that times in life would not be as picture perfect as I would want them to be - that hard times would come rushing towards me like a stampede, but given time I would learn and mature from them. I will never forget the first day my father brought his schizophrenic mother home to stay with us - we didn't have the money to afford a nursing home and my father's siblings had seemed to turn a blind eye to taking care of her so he took it upon himself to do the task. To tell the truth, as far back as I can remember my father has been almost solely taking care of her. Buying groceries and driving to another parish just to provide her with food while he had siblings that lived around the corner from her that sometimes would not lift a finger or show any concern. It was only a matter of time until he had brought her in to live with us.

At the time I was quite naive to the condition that she had until I began to experience it first hand; her talking to inanimate objects and people that either did not exist or were no longer alive. I remember once she came to us asking for her mother, when she herself was about the age of 84. Not to mention the constant yelling, screaming, cursing and of course arguing, especially with my parents. It is easy to say that her presence here has made my home an uneasy place to be. I was so embarrassed about her that I didn't want anyone to come to my house and I was always saddened when I heard my friends talk about all the good experiences they had shared with their grandparents. I thought that it was so unfair to have her at my house and Ii kept wondering why my father would give up the serenity of our home for that, that person.

It was not until one night at a family meeting that my father asked us to be more patient with his mother. And then it dawned on me, that despite all the struggles we have had to face because of my grandmother, she was still family, and my father still loved her. Out of all the people with the blunt of the stress and the most provoked by her behaviour was my father, and he himself knows how upset she can make him, but he loves her nonetheless. It wasn't until I put myself in my father's shoes that I truly realized how he feels; that was enough to bring about some more patience and compassion in me. Since then I have changed the way I interact with her. Even though she still lives with us and can still be a burden at times, now that we see her as family and not as a burden, times don't seem to be so distressing. I guess things are a lot easier to handle now that we share the same compassion as my father.

Undergraduate / Common Sense in the society - common app [4]

Common app essay:criticism accepted!!!

Common Sense???

If a man is raised knowing to fight for every dispute, as far as he is concerned, that is what is right; it is only common sense to show that your opinion is right, no matter the cost to yourself or someone else. However it is ideals such as this that distinctively show that common sense cannot be entirely trusted. If left swayed completely by our common sense, there is no telling what trouble any individual could get themselves into.

Ethics and morals in society play an important role in one's common sense; what they perceive and what they believe in are the utmost key factors to how the common sense acts. If society tells a man to laugh at other people's misfortune, then due to repetition it becomes second nature, and becomes what would seem like common sense. In another society, however, it could be the complete opposite where a man is to frown at other's misfortune. If the two men were to meet and discuss the situation, they would both think they are correct because that is what their common sense tells them.

So the question is to be asked, "Should common sense be questioned?" I think it should, but from what stand point? The only way to actually solve the dispute mentioned is with proper morals; not those based from an individual's upbringing and neither from those based from society. In my opinion it is hard to say from which bases one should align their common sense from. Different races and societies have different ethics and morals which base the acts of their people. To create ones common sense entirely from one culture is simply one track minded. However, it is too farfetched to say that we must derive our common sense from every culture. An individual is only exposed to so much in one lifetime. It is for reasons like these that our common sense is restricted to how we were grown and what our society feeds us. Therefore the next question I think is "Should we bother to question common sense?"

Undergraduate / Window watching - common app essay [2]

common app essay,feed back would be lovely...

"Window Watching "

Gazing through what feels like a portal to another world, but not one amongst or stars, not in that sense, but a different world. One where I exist not as myself, not as the Jamaican teenager held down by gravity on to this slab of oceanic rock, but as something else: something different, something with wings. It is like an addictive crave; wanting to be able to see this world from a different angle: one where flying is not restrained to being strapped in to this metal bird, but is as easy as is a simple face gesture.

One where true freedom can finally be obtained, and the monotony of human life that has created oppression and makes us all slaves to the very reality we have chosen to abide in can be easily forgotten. It is obvious to say that not everything would change: competition and the need to survive are innate amongst all beings, and birds are no exception; but to have the luxury of that kind of life; where all necessities are provided by God himself. Where all that one needs is readily waiting for you; all you have to do is to go out and look for it: food, shelter, companions, freedom.

That leaves me to wonder what kind of bird I would want to be. There are so many choices: maybe something subtle like the busy hummingbird or the lovely sparrow; or something intimidating like the preeminent owl or flout vulture. Perhaps maybe something blatant like the mighty eagle or the majestic hawk or even the less sought falcon. Truly anyone would be fine, as long as it accomplishes the goal at hand; allowing me to experience the world that exists outside of this window.