My Position in "The School Of Athens"

The two men in the center of the painting "The School of Athens" painted by Raphael are clearly the focal point. Focal points in paintings usually bring the persons attention to the story or the main part of what is happening in the painting. The main part of this painting is the two people in the middle, Plato and Aristotle. I feel more like Plato because he is in the center of the painting, and you can see that he is teaching Aristotle with his hand gesture, and that he was a very smart man. I connected with him because in school i try to be the center of attention, and give ideas to people to help our group with a project or assignment. I am a good leader in groups, and i stay on task to try and finish. I like to help people in subjects they don't understand, and that i am skilled at. He was a very smart man, and i believe i am a smart boy in classes most of the time. But i could still work on some subjects. Being a leader/teacher makes me feel good inside and it reminds me how nice and thoughtful i am to people. Even though i try to be the best, and to be the center of attention, i think Plato is a great representative of me.

How Can Art Be A Mirror Of Society?

The School Of Athens by Raphael

Artists get their ideas and inspiration from the world around them. Before the Renaissance, art was largely religious according to the church. During the Renaissance, Artists started to produce work that reflected the influence of other groups in society besides religious topics. For example, Da Vinci drew drawings of the human body and machines. This reflected on the society's interest in medicine and engineering. The School Of Athens painted by Raphael shows a group of people who contributed their skills and knowledge to society. These groups of intelligent people were all skilled in different subjects like Mathematics, Science, Philosophy and they were hardworking thinkers. Even though all these people did not live at the same time, they still all made an impact on society. Society was also interested in Greco - Roman Architecture, and this was reflected in paintings and buildings during the Renaissance, such as, Arches, symmetry, columns, perspective, backgrounds, vanishing points etc. Even today, art is very often based on what is happening in the world around us. Architecture is a very good example of this as today we created new buildings that are specifically built for bombs, earthquakes, terrorism etc.

Da Vinci - The True Renaissance Man

Leonardo Da Vinci by www.squidoo.com

How can Da Vinci be characterized as a true Renaissance Man?

Da Vinci is characterized as a Renaissance Man because he was famous at this time and had a huge impact in many areas of the Renaissance, such as military and civil engineering, art and architecture, sculpture and anatomy. The definition of the word Renaissance means ‘rebirth’. During this time there was a “rebirth of interest in the natural world and in the ideas of the Greeks and Romans…” (pg. 9 SHP – The Renaissance) Leonardo’s ideas, art work and inventions helped influence others and gave them creative thoughts and ideas throughout Europe. As he influenced people, they became more interested in their surroundings and the ideas of the ancient world as well as himself, he took the time to study his surroundings and get more great ideas from them. They worked together to improve what had been already accomplished during the Roman and Greek era and to make art and sculpture much more realistic, to design more sophisticated military and civil machines, and to increase the accuracy of medical knowledge and understanding. During this time Leonardo Da Vinci showed his ability of being a leader and this is one of the reasons why he was named the true Renaissance man.

Confidence is the transformation of imagination, into reality.

Confidence

What is confidence?

Your love for your real nature.

What is confidence?

The destruction of your negative thoughts.

What is confidence?

The transformation of imagination

Into reality.

By: Sri Chinmoy

Martin Luther King Speech By myhero.com

Confidence is one of the world's

greatest traits. No matter what the person is like, everyone will someday experience confidence, and overcome it. Confidence is the key to success. Once you have conquered an obstacle or challenge, it is leading you closer to your finish. Confidence helps you in a way to get closer to your destiny. If you have the confidence to achieve something, it will be so much easiar for you, or any other person out there to get closer. Right now the whole world is accomplishing new and different ideas or stunts. To do these new amazing tricks will take so much confidence to see if you can actually conquer what you are trying to do. This trait is admired by the richest and most famous to the most poorest people in the world. Anyone can have the confidence to accomplish anything. Take this poem for example. It talks all about what you imagine that you could do, into reality. Saying that in your dreams or mind, whatever you think about, could come true and you could have the chance to overcome it. Confidence is your love for your nature or even destiny in some cases. The author talks about how confidence is open for everyone to experince. Its not just for one person to enjoy. Confidence comes expectingly, you don't know when the option is going to come or not. Even through history, many people has experinced confidence. Even in every culture, someone might have the option to acheive something. Like I said before, confidence is open to everyone, at any time period, of any culture, no matter the person. In history many people have had the condidence to acheive something. I believe confidence can be really important in some cases, weither you are a poor person, or you are the richest man alive. I believe that every culture in every time, people will have experinced confidence, and that we should all learn this, and even some people have learned this already, but without knowing.

Love is in the air

Success, Love, kisses by twitter.com

Love waits in the air

Cloaked in a delightful aura

Beating with emotion

In the novel The Alchemist, Santiago crosses many difficult obstacles and challenges. One of those challenges Santiago has to fight against, is love. The Alchemist teaches Santiago that the world is not complete without love. For everyone in the entire world, love is relevant for all cultures, and especially for Santiago. But some people might not find love, because they are not listening and trusting their heart for the real answer. If you don't believe in love, then there is a big problem and you will be left alone without anyone there for you. Love is one of the most important guides through life, and this happens for everyone. If you trust in your heart and listen carefully to it, you may find your true love. Even I had plenty of trouble with love before. With my family, we may get into a big fight once in awhile, but you need to look into your heart and find what really matters. Not about who won a game, or who got there first. It really matters about your relationship and what is true. Just listen to your heart. Santiago had many problems with love as well. Along Santiago's enormous journey, he finds love awaiting at the oasis for him in the treacherous desert. He meets a beautiful girl named Fatima. He has much love for this girl. He had the temptation to stop his journey to find his treasure, and start a new life with his true love, Fatima. "Im going to wait here for you everyday. I have crossed the desert in search of a treasure that is somewhere near the pyramids, and for me, the war seemed a curse. But now it's a blessing, because it brought me to you," (Coelho 91). Coelho teaches about love to Santiago and to the rest of the world. Throughout history, stories of love have been shared worldwide: Pocahontas & John Smith, Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella & Prince Charming, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie. These are just a few of the great lovers and there will no doubt be more. Who knows what the future holds? As long as there is love in the air, anything is possible. Impossible is nothing...

Respecting My Surroundings

The Real Treasure

“(It’s)Always gonna be an uphill battle, and sometimes I’m gonna have to lose. It ain’t about how fast I get there. Ain’t about what’s waitin’ on the other side. It’s the climb.” (Miley Cyrus-‘it’s the climb’) In the novel The Alchemist, Santiago a shepherd boy who lives in Andalusia, Spain, makes a challenging decision to depart his homeland to search for a treasure he has dreamt of. His long journey takes him across the sea to Africa, through the vast Sahara desert, and onto the Great Pyramids of Egypt, before he finally returns home. Along the way, Santiago encounters many obstacles and meets a variety of new people. All of his adventures affect him and help him as he struggles to get closer to his goal. Santiago possesses qualities such as confidence, bravery and resilience that successfully helped him on his long journey to achieving his destiny.

To fulfil his destiny, Santiago had to overcome many obstacles and gain much confidence. Some of the obstacles he had encountered during his journey were positive ones, such as meeting Fatima. Knowing that she loved him, trusted him deeply and believed in him, gave him the confidence to continue his journey, knowing that she will be waiting for him and he will return. Unfortunately, some of the obstacles he had to go through were negative. One of those obstacles was travelling through the treacherous, long desert. He had travelled the desert for so long, and there had been so many casualties, he still was confident enough to keep moving. Even when Santiago and the Alchemist were captured by those enemies in war, he still had lots of confidence in him to succeed. The Alchemist said that Santiago will transform himself into the wind. If he could not, they would humbly offer their lives to the enemies. Not once in the entire novel did Santiago the young shepherd boy back down and gave up, and this was a very important part of his and the alchemist’s lives. At this point Santiago needed lots of confidence to push him forward and to let nothing in his path. Santiago had many acts of confidence in the novel, when Santiago had finished working with the crystal merchant in Tangier, he describes how easy it was and he compares it to the world: “Tangier was no longer a strange city, and he felt that, just as he had conquered this place, he could conquer the world.” (Coelho 59) For a young boy to think he could conquer the world would take a huge amount of confidence and would almost be impossible. As Santiago overcame these obstacles, and grew much more in confidence, he also improved himself by becoming braver.

From the beginning of the book, Santiago had always been brave, but his adventures and journeys took his bravery to a higher level. First, leaving his home town Andalusia, Santiago was brave enough to start his long journey on his own for the quest of the treasure he had dreamt of. Even as an adult, that is a huge responsibility and choice to make. Before he left his home town, he was already alone, taking care of sheep and living by himself. Imagine yourself, alone in the enormous scary world with no one to care for you or love you. Would you succeed? It is really difficult for a boy hitting his early teenage years to live in a world like this and still have great success in mostly all the important obstacles. This shows that Santiago has a huge amount of bravery. Later, Santiago meets and falls in love with Fatima. He was tempted to give up his dreams and his journey to find his destiny, to stay and live with Fatima. Both Fatima and the Alchemist encourage him to continue his journey despite the dangers and consequences. It would take a really brave person to make that breathtaking decision. Apparently, Santiago was that person: following his destiny by continuing his journey and coming back for Fatima when he had accomplished his destiny. Finally, Santiago was ready and brave enough to die. He didn’t care about his whole life, he only cared about what was important to him. At one point in the book, just as Santiago had met the Alchemist with his horse for the first time, the author writes: “In his heart, he felt a strange sense of joy: he was about to die in pursuit of his destiny. And for Fatima.” (Coelho 105) although he hadn’t achieved everything that he wanted to in his life, he was still prepared to die even if it meant that he had failed or not accomplished his task. Santiago is a very brave boy who is still learning about life. His experiences on his journey teach him not to give up or quit and these obstacles have taught him to also be a very resilient person.

Resilience is defined as the 'ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like.’(Dictionary.com’) Throughout the whole novel, Santiago proved his resilience in many different ways. Early on in the book, Santiago hit a major obstacle taking place in Tangier when he had lost all his money and sheep. He could do nothing else but try to get a good start again. At his last hope, he stopped at a crystal shop where he offered to clean the merchant's crystals. The Merchant accepted his offer and Santiago did such an excellent job that he started working fulltime in the shop. Santiago was bouncing back up from having no luck before. He had been coming up with new brilliant ideas to help the merchant and even himself. Santiago had been earning money like he had never before. After almost a year, Santiago decided to leave and continue his journey. He bought 60 more sheep, and he was off to a great start. From this evidence, it shows that Santiago has lots of resilience and obviously bounced back up and recovered. Near the end of his arduous journey, he is walking through the terrifying desert with the alchemist beside him teaching Santiago many learning’s and understandings. Enemies eventually find them wandering in the desert and take Santiago and the alchemist back to their camp as prisoners. This was obviously a problem because Santiago could no longer continue his journey. Instead of waiting to be rescued, they create an agreement with the enemies that the boy must turn himself into the wind. If he does, Santiago and the Alchemist will be freed. This shows much resilience because they are not sitting back and waiting to be rescued, they are trying their hardest to get themselves out of a difficult situation. Lastly, when Santiago had just left the Alchemist, he ran into another major obstacle when he was attacked by a group of men at the pyramids. Instead of running away, Santiago stood his ground. He waited until all the men except one left: “The boy stood up shakily and looked once more at the pyramids. They seem to laugh at him, and he laughed back, his heart bursting with joy. Because now he knew where his treasure was.” (Coelho pg ) Even after having been through all that trouble, it is amazing how Santiago stands up, with a smile on his face, eager to keep on going. This shows a great amount of resilience because he doesn’t stop and he recovers in many ways with the intention to keep on going.

Santiago faced an uphill battle on his incredible journey towards finding his destiny; he possessed three unique traits that assisted him when making complicated and annoying decisions. He had the confidence to believe that he could achieve his destiny and fulfil his dream. He was brave enough to face the many challenges that he had encountered along the way, and he was resilient enough to recover strongly and quickly when ‘the climb’ seemed too difficult for such a young boy. Throughout the novel, Santiago was frustrated by the many obstacles that stood in his way, but he finally realized that the most important thing of all was the journey itself. The actual treasure didn’t matter to him so much after all. The experiences, the understandings and the learnings were the real treasure.

Respect by Kenneth Fletcher

Beginning at the age of 4, I learnt the value of respect when I first started at ISKL. The Melawati Way encouraged me to respect others, respect this place and respect myself, and I continue to follow this way of life. I always do my best to try and listen to others and consider their feelings, whether I'm in class or playing a sport. For me I am considerate about other peoples race, gender, religion or age. I have a huge amount of respect and concern for my surroundings. Throughout my whole life, I show my respect by not littering, encouraging my family to compost and participating in recycling activities. Of course there is always more room for improvement, and to find more ways to show respect for myself. I am proud of my achievements and I work really hard to be the best I can in life. But, to have more respect for myself, I have to improve on being confident enough to achieve my destiny. I am lucky that respect is one of the middle school core values because I am encouraged to pursue my destiny everyday. The Melawati Way has become permanently part of my life and it has been extremely helpful as I participate in my journey.