Tuesdays with Morrie

In the book Tuesdays with Morrie, the author learns very important, valuable lessons. He learns throughout his life journey with his college professor, that he should not only live his life to the fullest, but he should also accept the fact that he's going to die at some point. Although that sounds like a terrible lesson to learn, I think that it's a very important thing to tell yourself. You're not alone because everybody has to face it at some point. It also makes you look at life differently, I think it makes you not only cherish it a little more, but also to not take life too seriously. It teaches you to live a little more and to be happy; basically to make the most of it.
I think the motif of this story is to live your life to the fullest. This book connects to real life situations because the book is based on a true story. I can connect to this story because right around the time that we started reading this book, I was dealing with a death in my boyfriend's family. His aunt was battling cancer, just like Morrie was battling ALS. She was also afraid to die, just like Morrie was, but she finally accepted the fact that it was going to happen. I thought that it was so ironic that we started reading this book right around this time, but it made a great connection and kind of helped me understand the author's situation a little more.

values

I think the most important value you can have is knowing you should live your life to its fullest. You shouldnt stress over little things that don't matter, but you also shouldnt be getting yourself into trouble. I think this is important because a alot of people spend their lives worrying over things or doing bad things that makes their lives not very memorable or full. I think the key to life is to make it successful and memorable. This was taught to me as i grew up. I started to learn it more and more on my own. Although i was told that this is important many times before, i pretty much determined this as important on my own.
I've been carrying this value throughout my life and will continue to. I basically just tell myself not to stress over things that i shouldnt be stressing over, when i am. I also ask myself "is it worth it?" when i feel like im bringing myself into a bad situation.

Groundhog Day

In the film, Groundhog Day, Phil struggles with two basic questions: 1. How does he make meaning of life? and 2. When does life have meaning? In the beginning of the film, Phil seemed like a very miserable person. He didn't seem to be fond of others and didn't seem to like his job very much. When he first finds out that he's living the same day over and over again, he's confused and angry. but in the end, he starts caring more for others and his co- workers. He seems to be trying to make the most out of his life and living like there's no tomorrow.
During the film, Phil and a couple of guys leave a bar and drive away drunk. That's when Phil starts to think that he should start living his life a little more, so he starts to do all sorts of crazy things worth remembering. I think that's Phil's conclusion to his problems and what he thinks he needs to do to make his repeating days worth it. I don't think that his conclusion lasts though because he starts to change from doing rediculous, illegal things, to doing helpful, nice things for people and he starts caring for his co- workers a lot more. I agree with his first conclusion in some ways because everybody should live their lives to the fullest, but not to the point to where you're doing illegal, dangerous things that are putting other people's lives (and your own) at risk. I completely agree with Phil's second conclusion though, because it's always nice to do good things for others, although he got to the point where he seemed exausted. You don't always have to help EVERYBODY out because there will always be someone else that's willing to help out as well. Just as long as you try your best to do good things, I think that's all that really matters.

The movie Whale Rider is a very symbolic movie. Throughout the entire movie there are many parts that display symbolism and motifs, for example: Towards the beginning of the movie, Pai's grand father tries fixing a boat motor with a rope and he explains that the rope is like all of Pai's ancestors, all tied together, and then the rope breaks but Pai fixes it. The rope at the end of the movie breaks as well when everyone is trying to save the whale and pull it back into the water. The whales represent Pai's ancestors and that scene symbolizes Pai reuniting with her ancestors. The rope is not only represented as a symbolic figure, but it also displays a motif because the rope seems to show up more than once in the movie and the symbolism of the rope is reoccurring.

Another example of symbolism in the movie is when Pai rides the whale into the water. Pai comes back out of the water after saving the whale which represents rebirth. After Pai saves the whale, Pai's grandmother tells Koro, her grandfather, that Pai found the whale tooth and soon after, she becomes the new cheif. Pai leads a boat at the end of the movie as the new cheif which represents a connection to the past, and I think that scene connects well the her ancestry because the old cheif was also named Paikea. When Pai leads the boat at the end the movie, they show Annah's pregnant belly which I think was also a symbol of rebirth because her belly wasn't shown until the end of the movie and after the "rebirth."

In addition to the symbolism, the whales in the movie represent culture, heritage, ancestry, tradition and religion, which all played in a huge part in the movie. I thought the movie was a great movie and I would definately recommend it to anybody.

In my opinion...

I think that it's important to share your ideas with others because it's a good way to express yourself. Not all ideas should be shared because some could be personal to you, but sometimes others could have the same ideas as you but are too afraid to speak up. I think that sharing ideas is a good way to communicate with others and learn more about others. Sharing ideas with others is also a good way to learn, not only about others but also about class subjects and assignments.

Sharing ideas with others can also be a bad idea. Sometimes sharing ideas can be too personal or start arguments with others. Not everyone wants to share their opinions and sometimes people don't care about your opinions. If you feel that an idea is REALLY important to share, then that's when you should share it, but if you're not sure if the opinion is a good thing to share or if it's not strongly relevent to the topic, then maybe you shouldn't share it.