Writing Feedback / "the obesity epidemic in America" - Anthropology Essay [NEW]

"I couldn't open up a magazine, you couldn't read a newspaper, you couldn't turn on the TV without hearing about the obesity epidemic in America," said Morgan Spurlock, director of Academy Award nominated documentary, "Super Size Me." It is no question that North Americans are bigger than in the past. Statistics have proven that the rate of obesity in adults and children are two times as much as they were in 1980, and triple the amount for adolescents. The rising rate of obesity is a huge concern because it is linked to many big health concerns, such as cancer. Sedentary lifestyle and ready-availability of high caloric food have caused obesity in North America.

To start off, the marketing strategies of food processing companies and fast food outlets have targeted consumer's psychological vulnerability and biological disposition for high caloric foods. Psychologically, human beings are inclined to answer in the affirmative when suggested to do something. When a cashier asks if they want to upgrade the meal to a combo, the consumer's reaction is to say yes. In addition, people are inclined to accept better deals even when they may not desire to consume all of it. Fast food restaurants do not lose much profit by giving us more food because the marginal cost of food production is very low due to economies of scale. Economies of scale mean the larger the production, the lower the average cost. It becomes a race of manufacturers to increase the size of containers to increase market shares by giving consumers the "better deal." Due to the fact that we are psychologically obligated to take the "better deal," we then consume more calories. For example, shoppers at Costco experience bulk buying as the chips sold at Costco are in party size. These packages are bigger and for 2 for 1 deal prices that are as cheap as the normal sized packages. By giving more for the same price, shoppers would take the better deal and just ingest more.

An another successful marketing strategy is selling cheap food that fills people's stomach, for instance, McDonald's. "I love McDonald's particularly because of its cheap meals and because the meals never fail to please my stomach. For example, for a such a fulfilling meal like the highly renown Big Mac combo, I only have to pay $7.33," responded sixteen-years-old Edward Cho when asked why he loved McDonald's. However, the cheap foods come with a hidden cost. Corn, which is the main source in all McDonald's meals, are heavily fertilized-both with chemicals like nitrogen and with subsidies from Washington, America. Over the past decade, the Federal Government of America has poured more than $50 billion into the corn industry, keeping prices for the crop extremely low. Since corn is used in many of the ingredients, McDonald's, can sell, Big Mac, fries, and a coke for around $5. It is a bargain, given that the meal contains nearly 1,200 calories, more than half of the daily-recommended requirement for adults. The meat used in McDonald's such as cattle and chicken are kept in close, concentrated conditions, and fattened up for slaughter as fast as possible, contributing to efficiencies of scale and thus lower prices.

Furthermore, there has also been an explosion of all-you-can-eat restaurants, such as, sushi buffet, pizza buffet, Chinese buffet, Korean BBQ buffet, all-you-can-eat rib buffets, etc. Since customers wants to eat as much as they paid, they eat more so they can go home satisfied. Also, a problem that lies underneath buffet is that when we are given a wide range of choices, people are incapable of limiting themselves to just a few items. Recently, a group of scientists conducted a study using laboratory rats. The rats were given just one dish each of a protein, a carbohydrate, and a fat. The rats ate the food they needed, but stopped there, even though there was food remaining. Then the researchers added more choices to the rats' buffet; they gave them two different carbohydrate foods, two proteins, and two choices of fats or oils. Surprisingly, expanding their choices seemed to cause the rats' appetite control mechanisms to malfunction. Instead of eating just what they needed to keep their bodies running smoothly, they were compelled to eat some of everything; some of the rats consumed so much that they literally ate themselves to death.

Secondly, advances in agricultural production and the rise in global trade have increased the variety of availability of high caloric food. Thomas Malthus, a British scholar, hypothesized that because the growth in world's food supply was linear, but the growth in the world's population is exponential: at one point, not everyone would have enough food. However, modern agriculture technology has proven Malthus wrong. Different genetic varieties of seeds, mechanized farming, and availability of cheap food for livestock have contributed to abundance of food. The increasing availability of grain has allowed society to produce more meat which has high calories than crops. In addition, consumer taste buds have moved away from the consumption of vegetables and healthy food to sugary food, meat, and other fattening products. For example, KFC has recently launched a new sandwich called "Double Down Sandwich" which replaces bread with two chicken fillets. A normal sandwich would have less than 300 calories, but "Double Down Sandwich" has 540 calories. The sandwich also had many health concerns due to the fact that the sandwich had a full day worth of sodium. However, despite health concerns, it is still best-selling new menu. In addition, biologically, our taste buds prefer sugary food and fattening products. Objectively, something that contains fat taste better than something that doesn't. There was a study entitled "Pepsi Vs. Coke" and the results was that more people preferred Pepsi and scientist have shown that Pepsi had more sugar than Coke. Compared to the diet in 1940's, today's diet is much more unhealthy in the past. People tended to eat what they grew, thus, ate more vegetables. Also, they ate less meat and generally ate meals that were prepared from scratch.

Lastly, improvements in technology and the structural shift in the economy towards services have engraved sedentary lifestyle to North Americans. The economy has shifted from agricultural economy to service orientated economy and manufacturing economy. As economy is more service orientated and the manufacturing process becomes more mechanized. Less number of people are working physically challenging sectors like agriculture. Given that the average person spent eight hours of farm work per day, more people were involved in physical labour than the people in today's society. Furthermore, people's recreational activities has become less physical. For example, in the 1970s people spent their free time hiking, picnicking, played sports, etc. Now, teenagers engage in less physical activities such as chatting, watching TV/YouTube/movies, playing video games, and talking on the phone. There is also a greater emphasis on education and longer years of schooling are causing people to become inactive and spend greater proportions of their time behind their backs. Moreover, improved transportations and greater access to cars have caused people to spend less energy on travel. Greater approximation of buildings and urbanizations have caused travelling to be limited to short distances. Increasing availability of water and electronics such as dishwaters, vacuum cleaners, washing machines have made housework less labour intense. Children being raised in affluence have also become complaisant and less active that will continue later onto their lives. Shift in culture in celebrating sedentary lifestyle such as pro gamers in South Korea, sponsored by gaming companies. Teenagers spend 4.3 hours a day gaming in North America. There has also been changes in the norms-it is OK to be big (weigh more than B.M.I) Big is beautiful. Lastly, growing affluence is making us lazy. It carries the laziness into the adults and penetrates into a cycle.

Can anyone help me build a stronger introduction?

Writing Feedback / The Dummies of Today's Society. [2]

Today's headlines mainly consist of at least one criteria of violence; for example, gun shoots, sexual assault, or war zone. Since our society is no longer safe, it is natural that one would feel the need to protect themselves from danger. When parents welcome their newborn babies into the world they seem so fragile and feeble that parents instantly make a vow to protect them from the godless world. Some parents loosen up as their children become teenagers. However, overprotective parents will eternally see their child as the frail, newborn baby. Their zealousness to shield their children is not beneficial; rather, it turns them into dummies of today's society.

Overprotective parents have the tendency to steer physical harm, unhappiness, bad experiences, rejections, hurt feelings, failure, and disappointments away from their children. This may seem excellent in theory; in action, over parenting has a negative impact on children's confidence and self-esteem because they depend on their parents too much that they believe that they are incapable of doing anything by themselves. When parents take the fall for their children's mistake, they do not get the opportunity to learn from experience. As this pattern continues throughout their lives, parents, are hindering the child's psychological development. When the children become adults, their maturity is at a children's level because their parents treat them like children. Their level of maturity is not sophisticated enough to deal with the real world.

In addition, overprotective parents deter their children from participating in sport activities because it entails competition and physical harm. Once there is competition someone will eventually get hurt, defeated, and disappointed--the trio combination they want to avoid. Failure is a bitter feeling and everyone wants to avoid it as much as possible. However, failure is essential for the child to challenge themselves to become better. There cannot be success without failure and many children with over protective parents are not highly successful because they never challenge themselves to become better.

Moreover, protective parents might turn their children into friendless creatures at school because they do not have the occasion to bond with each other at school parties, sleepover, or just hanging out because the parents feel that there would be insufficient supervision. Being isolated at school for a long period of time will make them socially awkward sooner or later. They would have hard to adjusting in universities where everything is all bigger and much more self-reliant. Too much over protection can produce children who are not ready to interact with the normal on goings of the society because they have been psychologically nurtured.

All though overprotective parents may believe that this is the best parenting style, most cultures in the past had a laissez-faire approach and children turned out to be strong, independent adults. In most cultures, young adults move out once they enter college. Moving out is one step closer into becoming a full-time adult because they pay their own bills, plan budgets, and finish the chores. However, over protective parents may want to hold on to the string they share with their children as long as possible, therefore, persuade them to stay at home. Laissez-faire parents usually do not provide excessive guidance and discipline. They would make suggestions, but they would not say no to their children's decision. At the beginning, children may make stupid mistakes, but the glory of failure is when they learn from their past experience. The laissez-faire approach teaches the child through actual life experiences that will prepare into entering today's society.

Overall, parents are more over protective today than before because our world is always at some kind of danger, therefore, out of love for their children they can become too over protective. As Dalai Lama once said, "A balanced and skillful approach to life, taking care to avoid extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one's everyday existence." Too much protection is more harmful to the children than benefitting them because it does not give them a chance to experience life on their own. If they rely too much on their parents, they would not be able to make their own decisions and learn how to face today's society. Over protective parents should learn to control their fears and learn to accept that children can handle the dangers all by themselves so they enter the real world prepared, not like dummies.

Letters / Abercrombie part time impact team member - How to make this resume sound better [3]

Volunteer, YMCA Richmond Hill, Ontario 2009 - to the present
Learnt leadership skills
Learnt how to solve problems
Learnt how to communicate effectively
Volunteer, Medic 8 Clinic Richmond Hill, Ontario 2010 - to the present
Learnt how to file
Learnt how to organize file
Organized and tidied the area
Assistant Helper, Young Nak Church Toronto, Ontario 2010
Made powerpoint presentation
Photocopied papers
Participated in group activities
Child Care Taker, Young Nak Church Toronto, Ontario 2010
Took care of children under the age of 13
Organized games
Kept children

Objective:
Objective: Seeking a position as a Abercrombie part time impact team member where my communication and organizations skills will be utilized to their maximum

Research Papers / the harmonized sales tax - Newspaper Article Summary [3]

thestar.com/news/ontario/hst/article/831167--hst-catches-canada-day-sh oppers-off-guard

I'm supposed to talk about the subject of the article, thesis, evidence, and significance

Subject of Article: As of July 1, the harmonized sales tax officially went into effect, rising various items such as gasoline rose in price.
Thesis: Although it is to benefit business and spur job creation in its wake, it is actually chasing away customers.
Evidence: Some of the consumers in Toronto are thinking twice about purchasing items because prices have rose.
Significance: It is important that us consumers are aware of the new harmonized tax because it is affected a lot of the prices in goods and services such as electricity and heating bills.

Letters / "Drowning are all preventable" - LETTER TO THE EDITOR [2]

Dear Editor,
Thank you for your enlightening piece on the article, "Drowning are all preventable" in the July 8th issue. The summery weather these days make it a perfect day for any water activities and this article has done an amazing job on emphasizing on the grave matter of drowning, although a more descriptive on how the kids drowned because usually it is just a little accident or mistake that leads to the big issue. It is a big problem as statistics has shown how many deaths occurred within the GTA. Some may think these unfortunate cases may not happen to them, but they can and it is our responsibilities to take action because in the end if any of these happens to any of us, it is our lose, not those who reads on it on the news.

Most kids in the GTA participate in many sport activities, however, not many participate in swimming. Why is that? First of all, the problem lies on how our P.E. system is built. P.E. mainly focuses on drug issues and abstinence. It becomes a cliché because every year we learn the same thing. Don't do drugs because it's bad for you. Unprotected sex can lead to STD. Why are we not learning about drowning? If we make this a part of the curriculum in the P.E. education I think the kids may be more aware on how to be safe. In addition, while we learn the basics, soccer, basketball, baseball, we do not learn swimming. I think putting swimming as part as the curriculum is stretching it because it is impossible to learn swimming in a short period of time and most schools cannot afford to pay the cost of the pool. However, after this unit, why don't we have a field trip to the pool? Unlike the science trip centers, and sorry to the science teacher out there, it's boring. Swimming on the other chance, allows us to interact with others and have fun. It's a perfect way for kids to actually enjoy their field trip.

Also, I think the rules should be stricter. For example, any condominium should have a lifeguard to watch the kids because some parents may be busy. There should be a fine on anyone who would ride a boat without a lifejacket, because as this article has suggested no matter how good of a swimmer you are, the chances are very little compared to the rough waves of the sea. Lastly, there should be more free community service to teach citizens about swimming. It doesn't have to be intense lessons. Cut the butterfly, breaststroke, or any other fancy style of swimming. Even the most basic style of swimming, front crawls and backstroke, is enough to increase the chances the surviving.

I remember a day where I was swimming with a friend in my townhouse swimming where there was no lifeguards, accepts parents. I was playing with my brother and as a joke I pulled on his leg and within seconds my brother was in the water. My brother at that time was kindergarten and didn't know how to swim. My friend was on the other side of the pool and didn't notice anything. In matter of seconds I was down and just pulled him up without having any time to tell others. Fortunately, he was light enough and didn't go down that it was hard for me to pull him up, but for a moment there everything it was a matter of life and death. With my personal experience, I think an article explaining about drowning and how to prevent it from happening from our beloved ones is a great way to begin a safe summer.

Poetry / "On this autumn day" - My concrete poem along with the description [2]

The poem is:
On this autumn day
I see the last maple leaf
Clinging on its branch

The wind is blowing
Try to send the maple leaf
Fluttering away

The leaf is stubborn.
Powerful as Hercules
It is enduring.

But one autumn day
It realized it should fall
To fertilize earth.

Harsh winter passes
The spring's aromatic scent
Fills the atmosphere

Last year's maple leaf
Was reminded why it fell:
To flourish new life

"The Last Leaf" is my concrete poem written in haiku format. The maple leaf is the main subject of this poem, therefore, the shape of a maple leaf outlines the concrete poem. It is told from a first person point of view because the speaker is the participant. The speaker, is observing the last maple leaf lingering on its branch despite the wind, "I see the last maple leaf/Clinging on its branch./The wind is blowing."

The tone of my poem would be phlegmatic because the speaker does not convey any emotions while she contemplates, for example, "The wind is blowing." She stated that the wind is has been blowing, but she does not give an opinion or any emotion about the wind. For instance, she does not say the angry wind or I hate the wind for trying to knock off the leaf. Furthermore, the mood was gloomy because it is set in the fall, "On this autumn day." Autumn has always been a depressing season to me because everything is bleak. For example, it rains, birds and other animal hibernate or migrate, trees lose their leaves, and everything becomes darker. It is not like winter where holiday spirit uplifts people's mood and the scenery is white with snow.

Some of the literary devices I used was repetition, "maple leaf" to focus the attention to the maple leaf from time to time. Hyperbole was also used, "Powerful as Hercules," to underline the leaf's consistency to hang on to the branch. That line is also a simile and an allusion because the leaf is compared to a Greek mythical hero, Hercules. He is an extremely strong man who was able to withstand hard tasks given by Greek gods so I thought the comparison between the leaf was appropriate because the small leaf was enduring the wind.

The theme of my poem is everything has a purpose. The maple leaf is trying to fight off the wind to stay onto the branch. After a few days it realized why it should fall-the mulch will give nutrients to the soil which will help bloom beautiful flowers in the spring, "Was reminded why it fell:/To flourish new life." The theme of my poem can be applied in everyday lives. To give an example, instead of living a cynical life complaining about all the "bad" things occurring in our lives, we be optimistic about believe that it happened to open new doors for us.

Poetry / What if? - What do you think about my cinquain poem and my description? [4]

What if?

What if,
An equation
Can prove what lies ahead.
Would we live in peace, or suffer?
What if?
*Please remember that this is a cinquain poem so my lines are limited.

The thought about my future frightens me because I do not know how I will transform in the future. My cinquain poem, "What If?" talks about how one would live their life knowing about the future. It might be a wake up call, but it can also lead us to our deepest nightmare because future, like almost everything in the world can change.

I use a questioning tone in my poem because I do not know if knowing the future before it occurs will be a good or bad. It is manifested in the first line and the last line where I use repetition, "What if?" Through this repetition, I can provoke the readers to think deeply about it and find the solution by themselves.

The theme of "What If?" is: somethings are best left unknown. We, humans, decipher some of our questions about the mysterious universe and its components through scientific answers. If we could see what lies ahead of us proven through scientific reasoning, most people, including myself, would seek for the answer. It could be a wake up call, but it can also lead as to our deepest nightmare, like it did in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Macbeth ruined his life because the witches told him about the future and because he relied on it, he ended up making decisions that made his future to come true, but killed him.

Poetry / Reminiscence of Childhood: Help with my messy paragraphs? [5]

Reminiscence of Childhood

Glimpse of memory;
Pig-tailed girl with rosy cheeks,
In Isles of Scilly.

Smile beaming from sky,
Neptune telling me to play,
Dazzled girl follow.

Wind tickles, calling:
Dance with pebbles to my song!
I rally them up.

Lightened with delight,
Amused heart swirls around sea.
Waves echo. Shh. Shh.

Broken memories;
Dark veil of Torrey Canyon.
Beauty sunk beneath.

Unexpected dash.
One encounter swept away.
Tears roll down my cheeks.

Saturn stoic face.
Neptune's lament hung the isles.
Playful lure all gone.

"Reminiscence of Childhood" is my free verse poem written about one of the environmental issues we face today-oil spill. Torrey Canyon was the ship that caused the oil spill in Isles of Scilly, a pulchritudinous island located in the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula in Great Britain. This poem reflected on how our reckless actions toward the environment destroyed our aesthetic nature and brought tears to those who loved nature, in this case, the narrator. (this is the theme)

Some of the poetic ...

(after edits:)

Not that one.
My free verse poem entitled, "Reminiscence About Childhood" is an eye-opener to one of the most grave environmental threats humankind has to face today-oil spillage. It is pertinent to note here that Torrey Canyon was the name of the ship that caused the oil spill in Isles of Scilly, a pulchritudinous island located in the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula. This poem draws the reader's attention to the sad predicament caused by the reckless actions of men which threatened the environment and culminated in nullifying our aesthetic sense and bringing tears and fear to all those who loved nature, especially the speaker of the poem.

Some of the poetic devices I used are: personification, allusion, and onomatopoeia. In the first stanza, there was a flashback of one of the narrator's childhood memory which revealed the setting, Isles of Scilly. "Smile beaming from sky," (4) contains a personification because sky cannot smile, hence, illustrated the warm, bright weather. "Neptune telling me to play," (5) is a reference to Neptune, Roman's god of sea, to show the close relationship between the sea and the speaker. This is also a personification because sea cannot communicate.

The third stanza begins off with two personification, "Wind tickles, calling" because wind cannot tickle or call. This personification once again emphasized the bond between the speaker and nature because the narrator seems understand the nature. The forth stanza contains two personification, "Amused heart swirl around sea./Waves echo. Shh. Shh." These personification are used to reveal the happiness of the child and the calmness of Isles of Scilly before the oil spill. The last line has onomatopoeia to embellish the soothing sound of the waves.

The fifth stanza is the beginning of the swift in the poem. The first two lines using two poetic devices, personification and allusion, have revealed the difference between the past and the present. "Dark veil of Torrey Canyon./Beauty sunk beneath." The allusion to Torrey Canyon brings up how the oil spill "sunk" the beauty of the island. The Isles of Scilly is no longer a place of beauty because the sea contains lump of oil. Then the remaining stanza talks about how the oil spill also destroyed happiness in Isles of Scilly. This can be shown though two of my allusions, "Saturn stoic face./Neptune's lament hung the isles./Playful lure all gone," (19-21). Our careless mistake caused others to grieve, but most importantly, it wrecked the environment. Eventually, we will cause so much air pollution, that beautiful blue sky will no longer visible. We should try to seek wiser solutions to preserve the beauty of nature of future generation to enjoy.

Poetry / Times Square: A description of my haiku? [9]

Times Square

Mesmerizing lights,
brighter than stars. Everywhere.
Times Square overwhelms.
That is my poem.

I traveled to various parts in the United States of America, to name a few, Aspen, Boston, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. They are all exceedingly charming places; nevertheless, no place could be compared to New York City.

Few days before my sixth grade winter vacation, my family spent several days in New York City because my sister had auditions in Julliard. I visited New York City both in winter and summer, and overall, New York City was undeniably at its best in the winter. The Christmas ornamentations in the streets along with the dazzling lights enlivened the city. My first visit to New York City was breathtaking.

I decided to write a haiku poem about New York City because it was the most memorable city I visited. It is set in Times Square, because it is unquestionably the highlight of New York City with all the scintillating billboards and lights that are mentioned in my haiku.

The theme of my poem is straightforward- Times Square is a sensational place. This can be proven through the simile in line one and two, "Mesmerizing lights, brighter than stars." Stars represent life and freedom, hence, by comparing the lights in Times Square to the starry stars, I showed how Times Square is an amazing place. In addition, I applied personification in my last line, "Times Square overwhelms," to unveil how it exhilarate people.

Poetry / "Damsel's Nightmare". What do you think about my limerick and the description? [6]

This is my first time writing a limerick and I have no idea what to write about it. Please fix some grammar mistake for my description and the meter in my limerick. I'm still not used to the whole meter idea so some my be off. Thank you! Also, is there anything more I can talk about in my poem? Just a quick idea would really help.

There once was a damsel whose nickname was Sue
Whose nightmare consisted of deadly swine flu
She sought for a place
With little swine case
Invested on a ticket to fly to Peru!

"Damsel's Nightmare" is a limerick about one of the recent health issue-the swine flu. The swine flu also known as H1N1 spread rapidly throughout the world. Airport has been one of the worst place to visit during the flu season because the flu has been transmitted through travelers.

My limerick uses AABBA rhyming scheme along with the amphibrach metrical foot. To give an example, in the first line the metrical feet can be shown as. "there once was/a damsel/whose nickname/was Sue." In addition, there is a use of irony because Sue is afraid of getting the swine flu, yet, she decides to go to the airport and get on a plane where the swine flu is most commonly transmitted. The theme of my poem is about how fear makes people to make stupid mistakes. The damsel was so afraid of the flu that she only thought about escaping to a safe place that she forgot about how going on a plane is most unsafe. The tone of my poem would be mocking because Sue is afraid of

Poetry / How is my analysis of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost?? [6]

My teacher didn't give us any rubric it should be a page long, its 3 pages, and just talking about the theme and tone, etc.

Sometime in our lives we have to make momentous decisions. We either have made a propitious selection or regret our decisions. The poem, "The Road Not Taken" written by Robert Frost is how a road chosen by a traveler had an impact in his life. Through his poem, Frost have shown that the decisions we make should be chosen carefully because not only will it affect our choices in the future, but there is no going back.

Throughout the poem, Frost has addressed the idea of making decisions in a melancholic manner. The first stanza revealed the situation: the speaker came across a fork in a road and has to decide which road to take, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," (1). The line, "And sorry I could not travel both," (2) apprises that he wants to take both roads, however, since it is not possible he decides to make a choice- the other road. "Oh, I marked the first for another day!" (13). His dream of taking the other road someday is crushed by reality. "Yet knowing how way leads on to way/I doubted if I should ever come back," (14-15). This reveals that the decision he had made has already affected the decisions in the future as well. We do not know if the speaker will regret his decision, however, he does tell us that he will be "telling this with a sigh," (16). The sigh can be the cause of happiness or grief by taking the "less traveled by road," (19). However, rather good or bad, it already "made all the difference," (20), therefore, he will have to accept his decision.

In addition, we should be able to take risks with our decisions. The speaker chose the less traveled road, "Because it was grassy and wanted wear," (8). His use of personification embellish the idea of taking risk with decisions. Grass cannot want wear; however, the use of personification has revealed that this road has not been taken by most people. We should make choices if it looks like "the better claim," (7) to us. By taking the less traveled road, it illustrated the speaker's individualism. The last line of the third stanza has contradicted his whole theory about the two roads being different as he says, "Had worn them really about the same," (10). This is ironic because the first four lines was about how the other road was different from the first. This reveals that there wouldn't have been much difference in the two roads, but still in the future, it would make the difference. "Somewhere ages and ages hence:/Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,/I took the one less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference," (17-20).

"The Road Not Taken" is one of my favorite poems of all times because it emphasizes the importance of decisions. I am who I am today through thousands of decisions I made in the past. Sure, it unlocked new paths for me, but some opportunity doors will be eternally closed. I have regretted the choices I have made, but I have learned that nothing can be done about the past so I learned to accept it.