This week we have a simpler, but deeper, question for your examination.
How have the choices you have made created the person you are now? And... What choices do you think you'll be faced with in the future that will affect your identity?
On Grading: I have had a raging headache all weekend and so I have not finished the essays you wrote on Friday, therefore they will not be reflected on the progress reports. I will have them done by this coming Friday. I am reasonably confident of that.
The first major choice that comes to mind is my decision to go to LASA. With that choice has come many ordeals, such as the atrocious morning bus rides, harder classes, and long days, as well as the upsides. The different people at LASA have had a unique social influence on me, as opposed to what would have happened if I went to my home school.
ReplyDelete-Zach Krebs Periods 1/2
As humans, we make a multitude of choices each day, and because of that, it is hard to keep track of them even when each choice deeply affects our lives. There are so many little variables that we cannot understand, but are certainly involved in the everyday processes of the mind. For that reason, I can't at all fathom exactly what choices I will have to make in the future, and all I can do is strip it down to the bare minimum and hope for the best. Reasonable choices I would have make would be my choice on how to continue school, my profession, how I will look at life, and the list could go on. I'm sure that every choice I make will have a role in affecting my identity.
sorry about my name in the middle. If you want, tack it on to the end with your mind, thanks.
ReplyDeleteTwo of the major choices I have made that have shaped my personality and views are choosing to go to the magnet school Fulmore for middle school and continuing to go to a magnet school by going to LASA for high school. These decisions have turned me into a person that is comfortable working under high amounts of pressure, has learned to think deeper, question further, and how to work hard and effectively. It has also humbled me and taught me that sometimes I will have to accept an 80 on a project and admit that I don't know something or that I don't understand. Going to magnet schools has taught me that I don't have to be the best, but I should still speak up and voice my opinion, and try my best. The "me" which has been created from my experiences is more versatile with her surroundings and searches for more answers and more knowledge. If I hadn’t made that first decision to go to Fulmore, I wouldn’t be the current “me” and would be an entirely different person.
ReplyDeleteLife is full of choices, many of which I will be unprepared for and will make major or minor changes in my life. However there are some life shaping questions I can prepare myself for. Some of the choices that I confront in the future that will affect my identity are where I decide to go to college, where I chose to live, my profession, whether or not I will travel, if I own a car, if I’m part of an organization. All of these things will shape my identity through experiences and how I think or associate with myself. From these choices I will learn, I will grow, and I will change. I will not be the same as I am now or tomorrow.
- Mariah park
Well there are a lot of choices that have defined who I am today. And certainly a lot to make in the future. But looking back, their very blurry. It seems to me, sometimes, when i look back that i was always the person who would of made those decisions. Like the choices changed minor details and specifics but the over all me has been very similarly. Not only looking back, but i think if you asked my parents they’d agree. But I that doesn’t mean its true. As i was thinking about this yesterday, there was a point when all i ever wanted was for someone in the future, besides blood relatives, to remember my name. Something made me give up on that. Just sort of the improbability of that i suppose, so even though i didn’t change what i wanted to be as an adult. But it didn’t really change my goals. I still wanted to have the same job as an adult, for essentially the same reasons. I have always wanted to be a teacher or doctor. That's defined me since i was in kindergarten. Although once i leaned more towards Teacher, I know lean more towards Doctor. That was a decision based on the science classes i’ve taken and the enjoyment i experienced. But also i think the fact that i no longer considered it possible to have my name remembered. And although i made the choice to want to be a doctor and to go to medical school and take medical micro and Anatomy and physiology in high school, those have been made of a long time. Its feels like i’ve got my life sort of planed my life around who i want to me. Or maybe i planed my life and it became my identity. One of the biggest things that defines me is my learning disability but i didn’t chose that. But i chose the way i reacted and the way i treat it, which is something to overcome, so that's probably another one of those big defining choices. So much of my personality feels so set, so normal to me, that i can’t say whats from which choice, or choice in general. Free will versus determinism is basically nature versus nurture, and i tend to find myself right in the middle of that spectrum. Meaning, i my opinion, its both so my personality is derived from my up bringing, which is determined, and my choices which is free will supposedly. So its hard, for me at least, to look back and say “oh this is the cause of that” and so on and so forth. Its not such a straight line.
ReplyDelete-Blair Creedle Reynolds
1st and 2nd periods
The biggest decision I've ever been faced with was where to go to high school. I know I absolutely would be a different person had I stayed in private school. I believe that who you are is shaped by the people you hang out with. When I left my old school, I left behind all the friends I had there and came to LASA without knowing anybody. The decision of who my friends would be when I came to LASA has definitely shaped who I am as a person. If I hung out with different people, who had different interests, I would be a different person. In the future, wherever I go to college, and wherever I go in life, I will have to decide who I want to be my friends. The choices I make about the people I hang out with will shape who I am. Friends always influence friends, no matter if they realize it or not. In a group of people, you may be all very different, but you also influence and are influenced by the people around you.
ReplyDeleteprevious comment: Luisa Venegoni 5/6th period
ReplyDeleteIn the past, I have made an extremely large amount of choices and decisions, each leading to things that happen. Each decision I have made has affected my personality, or at least shown my personality in some way, no matter how small the way is. The decision of who I hang out with at school has changed who I am because, like people say, you become what you are around. The decision I made when I was four and 11 months was probably the decision that lead to most of who I am now. When I was almost five, I decided to be home schooled instead of waiting another year to go to public school. If I had waited, I probably would have gone to Bowie, I would definitely have different friends, and my whole life would be completely different from how it is now. In the future, I will have to keep making more and more decisions and will be some more difficult than others. The closest and most identity-affecting decision to me right now is college. Although it is in two or three years, it will affect my identity in a powerful way.
ReplyDeleteKendra Faulkner 5/6th period
The choice I made to quit a sport that ruled my life effected me as a person because I had learned a lot throughout my childhood doing it. I had learned discipline, responsibility, and maturity at a young age. My decision to quit made me realize that it was more than a sport it was a life activity that took over my childhood to teach me many lessons to prepare for life. It impacted my life choices because I realized what would be important for the future. After I quit I realized that I was use to being a small environment and I grew up not knowing a bunch of kids. So when I moved on to middle school I was very overwhelmed being around a lot of kids. This made me close myself up to most people and only let a select few people get to really know me. In the future my biggest decision will be college and I will find who I am truly going to be by going to college. Most people say you find out who you are in college so that is what I am expecting to happen. Depending on where I go to college my identity will be effected big or small.
ReplyDeleteEmily Steger 5/6
I would say the major that really help in shaping the person i am today is coming to Lasa. Not only because this school challenges me to push myself beyond what i thought were my limit, but also because i was introduced to an extremely different group of people, way out off the norm of who usually surrounds me. It is safe to say that this my happen to most of student coming out of middle school into high school, because that is basically what high school is, with the different cultures, personalities, and people colliding. Another thing is of course, becoming more active in my religion. This really helped me stay on the right track, and even had a part in me coming to Lasa.
ReplyDeleteSo I know one huge obstacles i will have to face eventually is going off to college. And i say this because I am a very opened minded person, so i am afraid that me being surrounded by all these new opinions will cause me to stray from how i was raised, and i a not talking religious wise, even though i am willing to learn about others because i think it is wise to know your "enemy's"( not saying that any one of a different faith is my opponent ).But I think college the time when everyone really figures out who they are, and it could be the same person who you came in with or a whole new identity.
-jaquise horton period 1
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen I chose to go to LASA after middle school, I chose a busy lifestyle for myself that was filled with difficult academic work and multiple extracurricular activities. I decided that I would feel more accomplished as a person if I had certain talents and abilities that could define me, such as athletic skill or musical ability. I could have chosen and I still have the choice to quit some of those activities or spend less time working on my homework, but the decision I made in the past to try to excel at school makes me who I am today. In addition, I chose to go by a certain set of morals and ultimately chose my own religious views. Although my parents played a big role in teaching me right from wrong, I was the one who decided what I wanted to accept as my set of morals, even if it was similar to my parent's views.
ReplyDeleteIn the future I see myself having to make several big decisions, from where I attend college, what I study, whether I go to graduate school or not, and what kind of job I get. These choices will shape the rest of my life, and so it's important to consider the various options in advance to be sure I make the best choice when the time comes. These choices are extremely important, because if I choose to study a different subject in school or choose a different career track, my life may have a drastically different outcome.
The most important choices I have made have not necessarily been about school. Long before I chose to go to Kealing I was an average elementary student. In fourth grade I chose to stop playing two sports. Eventually, this choice would come to define my life. My parents told me that with my extra free time I was obligated to study more. Study I did. I excelled in school and wound up on the accelerated track. This decision profoundly influenced my life. By giving myself free time I was able to easily able to receive high marks at my school. This lead to me taking more difficult classes which, in turn, I also excelled at. I moved on to Kealing which was rigorously academic. The natural path from Kealing was LASA. I think few people weigh choices realizing that they will define their life. That seemingly insignificant choice in my youth compounded and seriously defined my life forever. Taking the viewpoint of an existentialist it is these choices that define who I am. That is, I am who I am today because I made that choice years ago.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there are relatively few choices that are important in the future. The first is who you marry. You are defined by who you are friends with (who you spend your time with). With marriage, you choose to spend the rest of your life with one person. Of course that is a large choose. The other choice is what profession I join. In today's world it is hard to change professions. That is why it is important to join a profession I like. The most important thing to do is to do what makes you happy. I will make all of my major choices keeping my happiness in mind. These will be the most important choices that define who I am in the future.
The choices I have made didn't exactly gave me an identity. The reason why is because even I don't know who I am. Slowly though, I am creating myself, so at least I am progressing. I have yet to made my most "important" decision, but again, it is okay too. The most important decision isn't the one that completes my identity, but all of the little ones I made along the way.
ReplyDeleteThe choices that I made in the future will only prove who I am, what my identity is as I go along. Just because one picks a decision that is different from what one normally picks doesn't mean one's identity has changed. One has only realized that this is another side, and one learns a bit more about themselves.
Over the years, I have made many life changing decisions and many non-life changing decisions. However, both of them are what created the person I am today. One of the life changing decisions I’ve had to make was to go to Clint Small or to Kealing. Clint Small was a 5 minute walk from where I lived and life was very low stressful, and at Kealing, school started earlier and it was a half hour drive. So in 7th grade I decided to try it out, and see how I would do. It was obviously a very big jump and I had to immediately become very committed to my educational life. From there, there weren’t many more life-changing decisions but rather more specific decisions. For my academic perspective, these included what classes, clubs, and sports I would be taking. Being only in high school, there haven’t been many experiences of kinds of choices that have drastically altered my life-style. It was only recently when most of us were able to choose for our essential parts of our life; before being the duty of our parents to fulfill our needs.
ReplyDeleteVery soon in the future, I see myself being faced with the decision of what courses I will take in which college. This may be the most important decision of our life, because that will lead you to what kind of job offerings you will be receiving. As of now, no one can be sure of how life will play out after college, what difficulties or any situation which will be occurring. So it’s safe to say that my future is all dependent on which college and course I get into.
-Ashvin Roharia
-Periods 1,2
This question reminds me of a story I heard when I was younger. It talked about how a man invented the time machine. He, who wanted to observe the past in person, traveled back in time into the dinosaur era. There he took a couple footsteps and frightened at the scene walked back to the time machine and traveled to the present. He found everything has been changed. Men were slaves to women and the whole world just was drastically different. He realized those few footsteps he took actually changed the outcome of the future through a series of chain reactions. Because of those footsteps, maybe a dinosaur made a different decision, which caused another change in action, and so on, eventually leading to a whole different outcome. This has always been my understanding of the world.
ReplyDeleteEvery choice you make, or anyone makes, is crucial to what the future is. Although it may not be obvious at the time, maybe in a couple million years the decision you made to eat pancakes for breakfast rather than fruits could have meant the difference between the continuity of the human species. Oh course many different factors could have contributed to the result of the future, but I see it as every action or choice you make, whether big or small, is constantly changing the future.
Some more obvious decisions I made that made me who I am today are for example choosing to apply and go to Kealing. My father always told me if I hadn’t gone to Kealing, I would have never even tried to go to LASA. And now he constantly reminds me that that decision was a very important one in my life. Because I went to Kealing, I was able to get a better education and continue that pursuit through LASA. I also believe because LASA is such a rigorous and excelling school, it would help me get into a better college and open up a whole new level of possibilities in my life. I’ll have to face things like choosing where to apply to college, what majors I want to pursuit, etc. These are all choices that determine a large part of your future.
Those listed above are the more voluntary decision I’ve made, but I also see there are involuntary decision that change who a person is and who they will become. This is where free will vs determinism comes in. Someone might have the illusion of being able to choose when reality both “left and right turns” eventually leads to the same final point. This is determinism. A person might be involuntarily stuck in traffic on their way to work and end up being late for an important meeting. Because he was late and missed the important meeting, he could get fired and his future would change drastically. It was not his fault because traffic is not something the man has control over. These are involuntary forces; determinism. But people believe they have free will because that is the most obvious. Going to Kealing was my choice and I definitely agree I it changed my life completely, but what if all this is just an illusion. Maybe if I stayed in Bailey I would still end up getting the same job, marrying the same person, etc. Who really knows?
-Daniel Kim 1/2
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYes, the decision to go to LASA definitely shaped me, but I'm going to try for something different. Last year, I decided to join The Outsiders, the fall show with the after-school theater group, as well as taking Theater Arts 1, the class. I enjoyed both so much that I decided to take Varsity Theater this year and join this year's fall show, too, The Island of Dr. Moreau. I plan to continue participating in the after-school productions and taking Varsity for my remaining years at LASA. I think that joining theater has made me a very different person than I was in middle school. Firstly, I am more outgoing and a little less shy and quiet than I was. I also think I'm much more confident now that I've been cast in speaking parts and made friends with the rest of the actors and techs that are in this show. Of course, there are many decisions that have shaped me over the years and made me into who I am, but I think that choosing to join theater was one of the most defining choices that I've made in a while, especially since I had known that I wanted to go to LASA since 6th grade.
ReplyDeleteIn the future, I don't know what the most defining decisions will be. Obviously, which college I decide to go to will be a big factor, and what career I pursue, but I'm not sure of what major decisions I'll have to make in the slightly more immediate future. In my sister's case, the science classes that she took here at LASA definitely shaped her, because she took AP Chemistry her sophomore year and really liked chemistry, but then she liked physics and astronomy more in her junior year. I guess I expect that my main interests will change like that over the years, and I will probably choose extracurriculars and electives based on what classes and subjects I really enjoy at that time, and the choice of what I do outside of school relating back to school subjects that I find interesting would shape my identity. All this is purely speculation, though, because obviously I can't say what choices I'll make in the future.
~Kerry Anderson, Periods 1/2
First of all some choices we make everyday could be the same choices just because we like the outcome most of the time. So its my belife that if you make a choice most likely when confronted with it again you will choose which you prefer. People can look at our choices and judge us accordingly. There are big choices we can make that will actually define us like which classes to choose and which people to be with.
ReplyDeleteIn our future our choices will still define us mostly along the same lines like which job we get and still the people we are with. As an adult your choices affect you more I think because most of the time people have been confronted with the same decision like whether or not to have kids or who to marry (as in type of person), so people can reflect on their own choices in the same matter and judge you accordingly. If your decision is different than the person judging you they may look upon you in a negative way because they believe their choice to be the right one.
-Daniel Maldonado, Periods 5/6
I think that the most important decision I have made in my life is who my friends are. This isn't completely a choice but the choice to go out of my shell and talk to kids in my class defiantly is. I think that the people you hang out with shape you more as a person than anything else you do. They influence you opinion and your lifestyle. For example if none of my friends were going to LASA after 8th grade I might not have gone here for high school and the rest of my life would have been affected. Also I think joining soccer and swim team have been major choices in my life. They have opened me up to so many new friends, skills and experiences. I can't imagine freshman year without swimming or the past 11 years of my life without soccer. As for choices I will make in the future I’m not really sure. The college I go to and who I decide to marry will probably be some of the biggest factors in my life. These two things will affect other big decisions like kids, employment and my everyday life.
ReplyDeleteAnnalee Alston
Great Ideas 1/2
I've made many choices in my life which have affected who I currently am. There are the obvious answers that I chose to come to LASA, I chose to play sports, I've chosen my friends. However, in a few of these very instances, I've always felt as though the decision was partly made for me.
ReplyDeleteMy brother Michael, a model student and citizen (Eagle Scout), in many ways has paved the way for me to be just as successful. This doesn't mean I haven't had to work incredibly hard for my successes, but having him go down the road first made it simpler for me to know where to go. For example, I may not have gone to Kealing or LASA if he had not preceded me. At the age of five, it was nearly automatic for me to play basketball and baseball, as my brother had done. And the main reason I'm taking Latin is because my brother did so. Of course, in all of these situations, I did have the choice to deviate from my brother's precedent. But with his huge success, I didn't want to take the risk of failure. I can't decide whether I regret this.
In terms of future decisions to sculpt my overall being, the answers are clear. The biggest decisions for my future are where I attend college, what profession this leads to, and who I choose to marry, the most important of these being who I marry. Being at work is one thing, but coming home to unwind near someone you love is more important. Now THESE decisions is where I'll certainly deviate from my brother, and begin to explore on my own.
Thomas Massad
Odum 1/2
I have made many choices throughout my life that have shaped who I am now. In fact, every choice that I have made has affected my identity. However, some have affected me more than others. The choice of my friends and the sports I participate in were the two of the decisions that have impacted me the most. I am constantly surrounded by my friends. They were the main factor when deciding where I would go to high school, they determine the places I hang out and the activities that I participate in, and they even affect my opinion on many aspects of life. The saying that “you are who you hang out” holds some value. Typically you accept the morals you are surrounded by. Therefore if the people that I consistently hang out with thought that it was “cool” to commit petty theft, then eventually, just from being surrounded by this moral all the time, I would probably begin to feel the same way. The choice of what sports to play is another huge decision that I made. I made many new friends through lacrosse and cross country, but my sports have given me more than just friends. They have taught me perseverance and how to push to my limits. They have shown me that despite what I “think” that I will be able to do, I can always do more. This can be applied to every aspect of life and it was a lesson that I would never have learned without my choice to participate in sports. In the future, I will choose where to go to college, what career to peruse, who to marry, and whether or not to have children. There will be countless decisions to affect who I am in the future and these are just few of them.
ReplyDelete-Emily Tubbs
1/2 period
One of the more influential changes I made was sometime around the summer of 6th grade, going into 7th, when I decided that I would try to be purely intellectual, in the strictest sense. Of course, I never actually adhered to this; I lacked and still lack the self-control, which in this case is actually a very good thing. I ended up following an extremely lenient and slacked-off version of what I had planned. This was a good thing, because while not being a complete hermit, I changed such that I focused much more on academics and learning. It was about this time that wikipedia became my best friend, and I never got a C as a 6-weeks average again (although to be fair, I only had one). Because of this, I think that people can actually choose, somewhat, what they want to be. At least, they can change their outward appearance by choice, and it is my opinion that outward appearance is all that you are. It may be possible that I will make such another choice again in the future. As to what choices could affect my identity in the future, going to college, I'll have to find new friends. And their personalities will impress themselves upon me, and mine upon them. I think this will be the most important choice I'll make in the near future.
ReplyDelete-Arthur Lee, 1/2
Certainly, as an existentialist would lead me to believe, every decision I have made has shaped me and made me into the person I am today. But I would have to say there have been ones more important than others.
ReplyDeleteOne important decision I made was to quit baseball. It was really tough for me because I really like the game and wanted to continue to play, but I didn't have enough time in my day. As a result, I became a more relaxed person, and I now feel less stress in general.
Another important decision I made was to play tuba. When I came to my middle school's instrument selection night, I knew for sure that I was going to pick bass, but an instructor told me I was a natural-born tuba player, and I decided to heed his advice. I think this has changed my personality greatly as I was growing and maturing through the years that I received my schooling in tuba. Tubas are sonorous and under-appreciated instruments that everyone takes for granted. Because of that, I started noticing things that everyone just accepts as a given. I started to identify with the "nerds" of the school and I became friends with them, and that ultimately influenced my decision to come to LASA.
In the future, I think I might have to choose between sports and music. I am absolutely scared of that happening because I love both dearly and couldn't stand to lose either. Also I might have to decide in college whether I want to pursue music as a career. I know already that the pay is going to significantly less than if I went through another career field like engineering, law, or economics. But, I love music so much and I want to study it forever.
last post Nate Hattersley Period 5/6
ReplyDeleteThe obvious choice, for me, that created the person I am now is going to Kealing Middle School (Magnet Program) and LASA High School. Had I not gone to these schools, I would not have met the fantastic teachers and friends, and probably not as challenged in my schoolwork. As a result, I am smarter now. Learning the extra skills taught in magnet schools makes me approach life (and its problems) in a more advanced direction.
ReplyDeleteDeciding which type of people (or specific people) I wanted to be friends with is always a big choice for me. I choose friends on the basis that they will accept me as me, and we can talk about anything with each other, as well as have a good time. Of course, nobody really does accept you as you are without some judgment, so friends have unknowingly changed me based on their influence.
Another "choice" I have made that has made me the person I am is what foods I like. I love eating home-cooked Indian food. And my mom makes the best dishes of her native country. I also like Chinese food, which influences the way we out many times. I don't like eating things like liver or sardines because I think they're gross. This may not seem like part of my identity, but eating is a daily activity done throughout life, so the foods I like are very relevant to my life and who I am.
The only choices I am aware of now that I will make in my future are few. One future choice I will have to make is definitely what I want to major in, which in turn decides what college I want to go to and my future career. I have a few ideas as to what I want to do, but those choices are so varied, that I will definitely have to make the choice soon, since college prep starts as early as Junior year. The job I get in the future will influence the way I live, what I live in, and my overall quality of life. It's a very mysterious thing, the future.
Another choice I will definitely have to make will be who I decide to marry and whether to have kids or not. Choosing a life partner is a big deal, and its better to choose the right one the first time instead of divorcing and marrying 7 times like Larry King did. Deciding to have kids or not will definitely affect my life because it will influence the choices of buying a larger home, and of course, I would be a parent myself, so I get to experience the things that every family goes through generation to generation.
That's why every choice I make in my life, right or wrong, will absolutely affect me in some shape or form.
-Abdulkarim Bora 1/2
A choice that I have made, first off, was the decision for me to be more organized, but I talked about that in one of our morning quick-writes, since this prompt was used for one of them. But a bigger one was when I decided to go to LASA. It was my decision to go here, not my parents or anyone elses. Since LASA is nationally ranked, I figured that as long as I get good grades and am well-connected with the school, in terms of extra-curriculars, then I will be able to get into any college I want. And this choice changed me into the person I am because when some students came to my middle school and talked about LASA, I realized that it wasn't long before I was off to college. I saw that I needed to make sacrifices in order to make things work and life, and I had to sacrifice a lot to get here. But it changed me into a person who is looking forward in life, and thinking about the many ways I could get there. But a decision that I might make that will definitely affect my life in the future might just be whether I want to have children when I am married. I know it's a long way off, but its something to think about. Because, even though there is nothing more satisfying than raising a child, there is still money and educational issues. And I won't have as much time for myself. So in the future, I need to choose whether my understood pleasures (time to myself) outweigh my uncertain pleasures (the joy of children). And whatever choice I pick, it might change my identity in the sense that I might stay happy, wealthy, and married with no children, or happy and raising children. Any choice I make in the future, however, can affect me, but that all depends on what I will choose.
ReplyDeleteAlec Brown 1/2
Choices that have made me who I am today are hard to narrow down, because life is a culmination of lots of minuscule decisions and equations that slowly add up to who you are as a person. However, some choices are rather irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, such as what you choose to eat for lunch, but others are ongoing and more importantly shape who we are, although we may not pause to think about it. For example, one of these larger decisions is who we make friends with. Sure some people can be friends with almost anyone, but what really matters is who your close friends are. For me my friends have lead me to be an easy-going, video game-loving, sports passionate teenager.
ReplyDeleteAnother obvious choice, which in turn effected who my friends were, was deciding to push myself by going to a magnet school, first Kealing and now LASA. Had I not chosen to do this, there are many great people that I would not know today, but also I believe that I would not be as well off time management wise or in my thought process. A rigorous academic career has helped me improve my intellect and understanding of so many different subjects that would possibly be lacking had I chosen to go to Austin high.
I could continue to go on with other life altering decisions, but none will surpass the two general concepts that I already gave. As for the future, what college I choose to go to will greatly influence the rest of my life. This will effect what new friends I meet, what job I pursue, where I live, etc. Wishful thinking would have me playing college football somewhere, but I also realize that few people get the opportunity to get an athletic scholarship in college at a major level. Having said that, I believe that whatever happens sports and exercise in general will be a part of my life, because it can bring out the competitive side of me, or just allow me to have fun and take a break from the other labors of everyday life like studying or working.
Undoubtedly, choices in my future will push me in one direction or another as a person, but right now there is no point guessing what will happen because many decisions must be made in the moment. Preferably I will end up having an enjoyable job, but no matter what my decisions now will have some effect on me down the road in 10 years or maybe even the rest of my life.
-John Gormley 1/2
I think that some of the more influential decisions I've made in my life are coming to LASA, and who my friends are. I know for a fact that I would be a very different person had I gone to Bowie, and even earlier, Bailey. I doubt that I would work as hard as I do now, and I think I'd get into a lot more trouble because "Idleness breeds mischief" and I would be bored out of my mind. I also wouldn't care as much, and that's something that scares me; the idea of not caring. It's one thing to just be bored and lazy but a whole different thing to not care about the situation that you're in or the friends that you hang out with, because friends affect how you act and look at the world. I could, if i really wanted to, find another group of people to hang out with but I wouldn't be the same person I am now. I would be different, in what way i don't know, but the fact that I wouldn't be the same is a given.
ReplyDeleteThe decisions I make in the future that shape my life will probably be where I go to college, whether or not I really want to be a veterinarian, and when, and if, i give up flute. All of these will shape some aspect of my life, and in turn who I am as a person.
previous comment by Rebecca Gilson periods 1/2
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe choices that have defined me are the most simple and direct ones, the choice to go to LASA and the choice, even if I was heavily influenced by my parents, to play baseball. These two things define me because they are my everyday activities. We are shaped by the opportunities that we pass up, or don't take, and this definitely relates to me. The choice of not going to my home high school defines me because it relates my current situation. And the choice to not play football defines me because it opened a spot for baseball in my life. The choices that I lead in my everyday life define me. These include my tone, my language, and most importantly, my actions. The choices that I believe I will face in my future are the obvious ones of college, and where to go, relationships, who I will marry, friends, who I will hang with and be around in my daily life (things of that nature). All of these decisions will define me and create my personal identity, though we would like to have our identity already built, 15-16 years is a short window to write a life long story. What we choose to do with our lives in the coming years will ultimately "create our image".
ReplyDelete-Zach Johnson 5/6
The choices that shape my personality are the decisions I make about how I perceive and analyze the situations and people I meet. The perspectives I entertain are the ones I choose to, I decide how I am going to interpret my encounters. So-called “life-changing” decisions, such as where you live, work or go to school are the decisions you make about the setting of your life. The opinions you create change your personality. For example, where you live affects your setting, how you live affects your personality. Personality is the culmination of responsive actions; every time you react, you either express or develop your personality.
ReplyDeleteThe types of choices that will change my personality are my reactions to the new circumstances you receive with age, like driving, voting, and drinking. These will change my setting, but my reaction to the change will shape my personality.
Cody Pfund Pulliam
Period 1/2
Choices I have made that have effected who I am most as a person is the choice to play soccer, go to magnet schools, and live with my dad. The choice to play soccer since I was 7 has really shaped my character. Through soccer I have learned to never give up and always strive to win no matter what as long as I maintain honor. Soccer has also made me not think only of myself, but realize to achieve a goal I must be dedicated no matter what and let no drama, doubts, or discouragement get in my way or affect my mindset. By choosing to attend magnet schools I was humbled by realizing how much I did not know compared to my peers and learned that feeling superior is never a good way to go through life. I also was able to learn how to interact with people very different than myself and that although intelligence is important; it’s useless without common sense. When I chose to live with my dad I had to live with new people. I changed because I had to learn how to let others who think they are absolutely right in every situation, when they are actually wrong go on thinking that and hold my tongue. I changed because now I can control myself and let things slide when people are making no sense and are stuck in their immature, selfish, ignorant ways. In the future choices that will affect my identity most will be choosing to do drugs or not, drinking or not, and choosing to have kids or not.
ReplyDeleteLisa Trejo
5/6
My view on the decisions that I've made in my life is slightly "derministic", as they call it. I believe that the influence my parents had over me as a child plays a major role in where I am today. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe that's a bad thing. When I decided to go to ARS because I thought "the uniforms would be cute", that wasn't a very smart choice that I made. I had to go through 2 years of having college and leadership shoved down my throat. But without that decision, I probably wouldn't have found out about LASA and I wouldn't be where I am today. I'm not sure if that's good exactly, but I'm happy with where I'm at. I can look at it this way: if I didn't go to ARS, I'd probably be attending Akins right now. I'd would feel a LOT smarter if I went there, but I probably wouldn't BE as smart as I am now. Basically, a good majority of my decisions aren't as siginificant when you look at them on their own. But when you consider the future circumstances they will affect, they're worth a lot more. One bad decision could ruin my entire life in the long run if I wasn't careful. So far, I've made some okay choices. Maybe.
ReplyDelete-Zoe Obkirchner 1st/2nd
The idea, that your choices affect the person that you are, deals with the fundamental debate between nature and nurture. While I believe that our genetics lay the framework from which we start off, I do believe that our choices do play an integral part in making us who we are My choices in life have affected where I live, who am friends with, the way I think and see the world, and have already set forth, to use meteorological terms, a cone of uncertainty of a path that I will follow in the future. The most important choice that I made in my life, that makes me who I am, was to focus on academics above all else. Whether this was the right thing to do or not, as I find myself regretting it often, it will certainly lead to a more successful future, and it reflected my predisposition to want to learn, succeed, and my unappeasable desire to plan far into the future. I am a person of order and well laid out plans and this was the result of a vicious cycle of that predisposition and that choice.
ReplyDeleteIn the future I will have to make difficult decisions between things that I have a passion for. What to study in school, where to go to school, what occupation I want to have, who I want as friends or as a partner, are all choices I will eventually be faced with. Reflecting upon past choices tells me that I will take a different approach in making these. I will be less reasonable and focus more on my emotional attachment because I think this will make me happier. They say your personality is decided for you by first grade, but I have hope enough to disagree. Changing is hard, but not unallowable. I know that the future me will be a different person. All I can hope for is for him to be the better one.
-Zach Nirenberg 5/6th Period
As a person, I feel its difficult to pinpoint the choices I've made that define me. But there are definetly some that define my personality, my outlook, and possibly my future.
ReplyDeleteThe friends I've surrounded myself with, I think, have caused a matrix of decisions about myself. Through influence, the music I listen to, the clothes I wear, and how I spend my time are all things that define my personality.
As for my outlook and my future, being at LASA, a school that pushes and gives challenges most high school students are never faced with, is also partially influenced by friends and changes my future based on the college and career I choose. The decision of LASA itself (preceded by going to Kealing) changes my outlook for the future as a whole.
previous comment by Phillip Hawkins - period 5/6
ReplyDeleteChoices are probably the most important things of a person’s life, other than living. These choices can shape the person into being one type of person or a completely different type. Even as a young child, most people make decisions that shape them even if they don't think about it at the time Like, if a child were to pull a fire alarm and then liked the feeling of causing trouble, they would want to cause as much trouble as they could for the rest of their lives because it made them feel complete. They might end up in jail, or if they realize what they are doing is wrong, they can correct it and become a slightly better person. But it is their choice and their choice alone.
ReplyDeleteFuture choices I will make will most likely be at college and when I’m choosing what I want to major and minor in. Choosing a college is jus the start of college choices. You get to choose which clubs to be in, who your friends are and what your classes are. Branching off of your classes, you get to chose what the major and minor in so that you can have skills for your life later. If you choose to major in science when you really love english that can affect who you are as a person, what your job will be and how the rest of your life will go.
Kayley TReichel periods 1/2
I think the main choice I have made that has made me into who I am today, is the fact I chose to go to LASA. Not only is it the hardness of the work or the pressure but also the uniqueness of the people and the general air around the school. LASA has taught me that complaining gets you no where as well as how to budget time. Not only has it shaped my life now but I feel that in the future, I will look back on my choice to go to LASA and say, “Wow I’m glad I did that” even though LASA is hard now, I think in the end it’ll be worth it. One reason I get the experience that I do from LASA is the fact that at any time I could choose to go to my home school, Anderson. Because of that choice I have, I feel like it gives me more freedom and if I want to do my best I will, because otherwise what’s the point of being at LASA.
ReplyDeleteSome major choices I will be faced in the future are where I’ll go to college. Like LASA I want one that challenges me, but not so much that I fail at it. If I can get through getting my PHD then I can get through anything. But that’s the obvious answer to that question so I’ll take a little bit of a different twist to it. Another huge choice that will shape the rest of my life will be who I marry. This person will shape me either to be a better person, or maybe even worst. This person I’ll be able to be completely honest with and I think that will affect my identity for the better. This person will change my view on life and give me something to look forwards to everyday and just to love.
Ariel Timkovich
1/2
Well, in the world of important decisiona, the first thing that comes to mind was my decision to go to AMS(Austin Montessori School) for preschool, intstead of some catholic school my mom wanted me to go to. I think it was that much more important when I was so young because I was just beginning to shape who I wanted to be as a human, and those people I met had a big impact on me as a human.
ReplyDeleteMy second big decision was, after having spent the majority of my life at AMS, choosing to go to LASA, instead of Waldorf. Waldorf was a bit too...eclectic, for want of a better word, for my taste. I wanted a change of scene, to get out of the private-school loop. So now I'm here at LASA,with grades and the polar opposite of my previous school.
If I had chosen to go to, say, that really strict catholic school, I may not be able to predict who I would be now, but I can say that I think I would be a very different person. In the mfuture, I will have to choose which colledge I'll go to and what job I'll have, two very important decisions that I think will change me a little bit at least from the person I am now.
Clare Lewis, 1st period
I don't believe that there are any big choices that I've made that have made me who I am today, but rather myriad reactions to myriad actions of others that have summed into larger differences in my persona. This is because every action has reasoning behind it often derived from previous choices and actions. However, were this is be disregarded I would say that my choice to be alive and not have just killed myself a few seconds ago, or a month ago, or years ago, has made the most impact on my life, as I am not currently dead. This is a choice we are currently and always making and generally decide against doing. Though every time we decide against doing so, there is reasoning behind our decision to live, based of of our experiences and established moral codes.
ReplyDeleteThe most life changing decision that i have made if eradicating all my faith (unreasonable faith). Faith is the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. By ridding faith, i have changed my mindset and i see the world more accurately. I constantly question everything and no longer have this certainty. By loosing my faith, i have lost my religion. I now use logic in everyday situations and choices. I am what i am today because of this one choice.
ReplyDeleteOne's identity relies upon who one's friends are and what one does with his life. So i think the decisions that i would make in the future that would affect my identity are what my friends i will have, who I'm going to marry and what carrier I'm going to take. A man's social status is very important to his identity. The types of friends that i will have will affect my identity greatly. Spending your life with someone is probably the greatest decision i will ever make. Marriage absolutely affects my identity. And lastly, being happy with what i do and how what i do affects the world is what defines me and that is why i need to find the best carrier for me.
Glenn Sampayan 1/2
Every choice I've ever made has affected me in some way. When I was in elementary school, I had the choice to run around like a little devil, or do what my teachers asked. In middle school, I got to choose between following some of my friends and being a stoner, or I could gain the respect of my teachers. Then came the choice of coming to LASA. I chose to leave all my friends so that I could get a better education. Of course these decisions have affected me. If I had run around in elementary school, I wouldn't have learned the morals our teachers tried to instill in us. If I had become a stoner, I wouldn't have near the amount of knowledge or respect that I have now. If I hadn't gone to LASA, I wouldn't have as good a chance at a successful life and I'd be a lot less knowledgeable about the workings of the world.
ReplyDeleteIn the future, any number of things could happen. I could be faced with the choice of being a wife or mother. I could be an award winning scientist, or I could be a writer. I will be faced with so many questions and so many choices, that I could be a totally different person. I might end up as 'that stoner chick', or I could decide to be president. At this point in time, there's no telling what I'll have to choose between or how that choice will affect me.
Miranda Donnellan 5/6
The choices I have made in the past are the only things that define me as a person. One cannot exist without the choices that they have made, as existence is composed of nothing if not choices. The choices I've made that have affected me the most are generally in how I respond to outside stimuli. As an example, I respond to different types of music differently, so I like to listen to certain types of music depending on independent factors such as what I am doing, my mood, or the setting. These preferences are all results of choices I have made in the past, and my choice to reinforce my preferences influences how I think as well as my future musical preferences.
ReplyDeleteThere are many things that we don't think we have a choice in, but our choices lie in what we do about things, which can change quite a bit.
In the future I will make choices unless I cease to exist. One choice that will be with me for a rather long time (I hope) is how I spend my time. At the moment I have one extracurricular activity that takes a lot of time, and two that take a medium amount of time. I also have homework and studying that I need to do. Fitting all of that in around my other responsibilities can be stressful and frustrating, but I have chosen all of these things, and every moment of my life I am making the choice to continue.
The choices that are most often overlooked are the ones that perpetuate a preexisting condition because it feels too passive to be an important choice.
Rebekah Pruett per.1/2
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs is said alot, your choices define you and your character and the life you live. Every choice you make defines you be it small are a larger more obviously life changing decision. As for the future, always think out all your choices and ask youself "what would I think about myself in a year?
ReplyDeleteI think that the choices we make, close the paths to any other choices and things that could've happened. Choosing one certain path, you live on that one, and anything that would've happened to you, should you have chosen another one, won't happen to you. I remember seeing a commercial, that was kind of stupid in it of itself, but the concept was good. They show the comparisson of the same person, but in one situation, she has AT&T for her phone's internet, and in the other one she has whatever the competitor is. So it shows that her stuff dowloads to her phone sooner in one, than in the other, and in turn, she doesn't drop something, that lets her meet these people who are ballet talent searchers, and she becomes a pro. In the other side, she doesn't become a pro, and is instead watching a dancer like her in the end. So, the commercial is basically showing that her choice to not get AT&T cost her fame and fortune. I thought that was funny, and relevant to this.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, the choices we make influence what happens to us. If we go through bitter times because of a choice, we might become more bitter. I made a choice to not think good things were going to happen, so I started only thinking about the bad stuff, and people would say I should focus more on good things, and when I did, not only did I feel happier, but I started to notice how many good things happen.
Michi 5/6
Every choice I've made has molded who I am but over all, I am still the same person I was when i was a kid. It seems that the choices I make have stayed constant Perhaps this is because of my regular attendance in church or my black and white mindset but through my life, my choices will continue to create me and I may not stay the same. My chosen high school has influenced who I am, I have become a bit more dorky yet more comfortable with my personality. This concept can be both scary and freeing in that your choices have so much influence on you and that you have the power to become who you want to be. These choices range from how you react to things to what you choose to do in your free time.
ReplyDeleteIn theory, every choice that I or any other surrounding me has made has affected me on at least a subatomic level, but I feel that only several of these choices I had complete control over have truly affected me in a way that I can understand. For example, I do not know how being rude to my parents my whole life would have affected me. While I can guess, and thus understand it to some extent, I can never be certain of the exact effects choosing the opposite route would have caused. Furthermore, I believe what defines me, as a person, cannot be expressed in my choices or physically, because while I am 5'11", pale, weigh around 150 lbs., have blue eyes, curly brown hair, and size eleven feet, none of that defines me in terms of conscience. I would still be myself if I had straight hair, or size ten feet. I would still be Elie even if my last name wasn't Ferdman. What I believe truly defines me is the way I perceive myself and my surroundings, and furthermore my capacity for abstract thought. As a wise man once said, "I think, therefore I am." Well I say, I am what I think. For if in order to prove existence we must think, then our other attributes, while possibly affecting our thinking, cannot define us as absolutely as thought. Therefore, to prove my existence I must think, and since I am I think. If this can be accepted as true, then my essence is in my thought, or at the least thoughts control my essence. And so, Mr. Odum, I believe that only my thoughts have defined me thus far, and the mere choices I make in the future--my college, my wife, the names of my children--shall not define me at all, or at least not nearly as much as why I chose them--and so even a choice as bland and common as choosing a drink may define my existence infinitely more than every other choice I have ever and will ever make combined.
ReplyDeleteIn hopes that this didn't bore you and that being late didn't cause too much of a penalty on my grade,
Elie Ferdman, 1st+2nd Period