The King calls Parliament into Session… after 150 years!

By Patrick Fitzgibbon 1640

            King Charles I called Parliament into session today after 11 years of ruling without it. He got rid of Parliament because the House of Commons was protesting against him when he disobeyed a document he signed. The document stated that he could not impose taxes without the agreement of Parliament, but he was still taxing people without their agreement. The House of Commons Protested against him, so he dismissed Parliament. The economy improved while Parliament was dismissed.

            Charles I wanted to make the Scots follow Anglican practices, but the Scots would not because they were Presbyterian, and thought these practices to be too Catholic. Charles I took troops to Scotland but could not put down the rebellion so he called Parliament into session, for the first time in 11 years! We are unsure how this is going to go, if Parliament is going to give him the funds he wants or if they are just going to talk about their complaints. All we know for sure, is if Charles I wants to defeat the Scottish rebellion, he will have to come to an agreement with parliament so he can pass taxes to get funds for his army.

Get the next copy of Crazy Politics Weekly to find out what happens next!

Being Human

What does it mean to be human? By scientific terms, to be human means that you are of the species Homo sapiens. By looking at this question more philosophically, we realize that there are more things to being human than just that. If we look at Frankenstein and his monster, then we discover that they both have human characteristics, but they also have characteristics that we would perceive to make them less human. This statement begs the question, who is more human, Frankenstein or his creation?

   First I will examine the human attributes of the creation, the supposed “monster.” The monster comes to life as an adult and was made as a science experiment, which is an attribute that makes him seem less human. He does have the same feelings as a human; he longs for friends, he wants to be loved and accepted, and he feels joy, anger, and sadness. The monster got nervous before talking to the old man, and then wanted revenge when the man’s children did not accept him. That is what any human would feel.

Although the monster does do some violence in this story, wouldn’t any of us perform such violence if we were so hated and shunned from society? We see things like this happen in our society; people who feel alone and hated by society take their anger out by hurting their fellow man. Although we would call these acts inhumane, the people were human before. The line between being human and a monster depends on love; love can make a man human, love can keep people from doing harmful things. If the monster was only loved by his creator, then he would not have done all those violent things.

  The monster asks Frankenstein for a companion, a wife that will love him like Safie loves Felix. The monster knows that the love of this future companion will stop him from harming human kind and he knows that the love they will share will keep them both from becoming monsters. The monster is only less than human, by his looks and by his violent actions. The monster does not look like a normal human, and even he, himself, does not like the way he looks. He knows he does not look human.

 The monster killed the young boy, in revenge for his miserable life. The monster might look older than what he is, but we must remember that he is really only a little over a year old. Although he learns many things about life, superhumanly fast, we must consider that maybe he does not know fully what he is doing because some knowledge comes with time. By taking a closer look at this, I realize that the monster does know what he is doing because he did not feel remorse once he killed the boy and then framed it on the girl Justine, fully knowing that she would die because of it. These actions are what really make the monster less than human.

Frankenstein is a normal human being, but he has many characteristics that make him more like a monster. For instance he worked for many months with dead bodies in the hopes to create a super human. That statement describes a mad scientist, and that’s what Frankenstein was. He got so into his project that even when it horrified him, he still had to keep going. If the people he loved and cared about saw him then, they would think he was a monster.  He finally realized what he had become once the monster had come to life. Frankenstein had finally realized that he had become a monster. I think that Frankenstein was even acting like a monster when he wouldn’t tell anyone about the monster, he just sat by and watched a innocent girl get jailed then executed.

Frankenstein also has human attributes. He was born like any other human, had the want for more knowledge, has morals, and many other things like other humans. He loves Elizabeth, which as I said before can make someone human, but I think he lost site of that love when he made the monster and when he had the idea that no one would accept him if he told them about his creation. I think at some points he has forgotten about the love that she also has for him. He does not consider her emotions when he does things. I believe that for most of this book, Frankenstein is more of a monster than he is a human.

What I believe makes you human, is if you share love with something or someone that inspires virtues in yourself. Mary Shelley defines being human as being able to experience and reveal emotion, acting in accordance with the said emotions, and the ability to be aware of others feelings. Her definition is very much like mine. Love inspires emotions, and without love, one can lose site of others emotions and can totally lose emotions in themselves. 

Frankenstein

Frankenstein delved deep into the natural sciences and natural philosophy. He studied hard and took long hours to figure out how he was going to reanimate a dead body. He took parts from several bodies and put them together, and made sure his creature would be very agile and strong. Frankenstein created an 8-foot, burly, hideous, and misjudged monster. I do not think that he went to far in his search for knowledge.

You can never go to far when searching for knowledge. Frankenstein wanted to find out if he could bring a human being back to life. He didn’t just find a whole dead body and do it that way; he created his own human body. No one had ever even reanimated a normal body before, so doing this was taking it a step farther. Although I say that he did not go too far in his quest for knowledge, I do think that he was ill prepared for it; too young, not wise enough, did not think of the future, ect…

No one else had ever brought a human being back from the dead before, so he did not have the luxury of having advice from others. He also didn’t tell anyone of his experiments so no one could help him or give him advice. He needed a group of people with him while he was making his creature so that once the creature came to life, they could keep him from running away from it. After the monster came to life, Frankenstein ran from it, and basically left it unattended in his apartment. He, the monster, could have attacked someone, burnt down the apartment, or done something else horrible, but Frankenstein did not think of that. He only thought about his himself and his personal safety.

 Frankenstein did not think of the after part of creating the monster, he only wanted to see it come to life. Once he realized that he had no idea what to do with the monster, he ran and hoped to leave the problem to another person. Frankenstein was not prepared for the consequences of making this monster, and once the consequences came, handled them horribly. I will stand by the fact that if he had older and wiser scientists with him that they would have thought of these things and helped him out, and the monster would not have been left alone to escape by a frightened man.

In the world that Mary Shelley created in Frankenstein, reanimating human life is possible. If Frankenstein had not done it, someone else would have. I believe that man thirsting for knowledge is just human nature and that there should not be boundaries to it. Frankenstein was not wrong in creating a live human being, but he was not prepared for it. Creating human life is very elaborate. You have to think of all the things that could come from creating the life, and Frankenstein did not do this. So Frankenstein had the right to go as far as he wanted in his search for knowledge, but I believe he should have been better prepared and should have thought his experiment through, not just until the monster awoke, but until it returned back to death.  

The Diary of Finn O'Leary, an Irish Monk in 843.

Finn O'Leary-Irish Monk (Papar)
Donegal, Ireland. 843

It is almost winter and times are getting tough for the people around St. Mark's Monastery. I talk to some people and they say this could be a very harsh winter. I try to share what I have with the other people. Other of my fellow monks have told me to conserve what food I have so I can survive. I gave out some of my old robes to the poorer of my town today. As i was strolling about, a pagan man came up to me and same a cold wind will come from the northeast and destroy our town. "How do you know this sir?" I asked him. "I saw it in my dreams!" He spat back in my face. I felt bad for the old pagan man, for I believe he was homeless, and gave him a robe. I patted him on the shoulder and bade him farewell. I then walked back to the monastery for dinner. I discussed what the old man had told me in the street with the other monks. They told me that he was an old drunkard and to heed him no more. "You have to stop giving out your clothes Finn, its going to be a cold winter, and you going to need all the warmth you can get." Pat O'Sullivan, my good friend, warned me. "I have none left to give Patty." After we had finished up dinner and talking, I went off to my chambers for the night and pondered on the prophecy the pagan had told me.

Finn O’Leary

It’s been a week since the old man told me about his prophecy, and so far nothing bad has come. Although the weather has gone for the worse. People are burning their furniture just to stay warm. I mostly stay in the Monastery, only going out for minutes at a time. Yesterday when I went out side I could feel the biting cold against my face. I grew a beard to keep my face warm but it didn’t matter. While I was waling around checking up on some of the elder of the community, I saw a young boy walking along alone. I went up to him and sought to find out why he was out when it was so cold. “Why are you out little one? Where are you parents?” The boy didn’t answer me. “Where do you live?” Still nothing from the boy. “Hmm, would you like to walk with me?” The boy nodded his head at this and I felt good that I finally got him to respond and now I made it my job to befriend the young boy. He must have only been about 10 or 12 years old, stood only about 5 feet tall, had dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. His eyes looked to be filled with sorrow, more sorrow than a young boy should ever endure. We walked to the rest of my visits and once done I asked him again where he lived. This time he started walking away and so I followed him. We walked for quite a long time and I grew very cold. I wanted to go back for the sun was also going down but I didn’t want to leave this young boy. My superior would also be mad at me for I was late to come back for prayer. We came upon a small shack. It had cracked boards and broken windows. Part of the roof had caved in and I wondered if this was where the boy lived. The boy stopped and looked up at me with his dark sorrowful eyes. I have to go, I’ll write again later!

Finn O’Leary

Sorry about that. It was time for night prayers and I had to go. Where was I, oh yes the house. I slowly walked over to the front door and timidly pushed open the door. What I saw inside astounded me, 10 kids about the same age as this boy and one young man of about 17. “What are you all doing here?” I yelled in shock. The younger kids kept their heads down but the young man came up to me and privately talked to me. “We are all orphans, papar, we have nothing but each other. The young boy who brought you here is Bryan, his family died during a fire last year and he walked 10 miles from his house to our city. I took him in and have cared for him, I care for all these kids.” He was tall, gaunt, long curly dark hair, freckles, and looked much older than he was. He also had a small beard. “By the way, my name is Sean.” The young man said and put his hand out for me to shake. I shook it then told him we had to get the children out of here. “Some do not have the strength to get up, let alone walk.” I looked around and saw that it was true. “We’ll carry the ones who can’t walk then. We will bring them to the Monastery.” The young man said no more and went over to the children. He told them what we were to do and then showed me the ones we needed to carry. I prayed to God that I would have the strength to carry them, and took 2 kids on each shoulder and another on my back. The young man then grabbed the last two who couldn’t walk. We went out the door and the rest of the children followed. They must have been confused; I would be if I just suddenly left my home with a stranger.

Finn O’Leary

Sorry about the abrupt ending there, I had to give care to one of the children. This answers what you probably thought; we made it back to the Monastery. Even though I was dead tired, I felt happiness in my heart for I had helped these kids. The monks and I have been caring for the children and I convinced the other monks to share their rations with the kids. The Monastery was also very warm for the kids because we had fires in every rooms going at all times. We have a tree garden in the back of the church, where we grow trees and cut them down for firewood. We replant every year. We do not give out much wood to the public for our town is surrounded by woods, but we do teach to replant trees after cutting them down so we never run out of firewood. The children have started to talk more and we are teaching them to pray, read, and write. This is a privilege for them because most people don’t learn read or writing. We teach the kids because they have nothing else and learning excites them. I even taught a few to juggle. They are starting to really like it here and we appreciate them here too. While we teach them, they teach us to have fun. We often go outside to play with them in the snow when the weather is mild. The snow is picking up and it has gotten so cold that it is unsafe for me on occasions to check up on the community. I pray for them often. I still think about that pagan man and how he is doing. I pray to Mary, the mother of God, to help the man. Sean often plays with the kids but doesn’t want to learn, saying he would rather work with his hands in a garden or building things. 

Finn O’Leary

Today we got a visitor, a young nun from a convent in Dublin. Her name was Kaitlyn, she was a quite a pretty girl, long red hair, and was average height. She came with news that some monks were coming back from the main land of Europe after a long evangelization journey. We were happy about this because we needed more help around the Monastery. They were to come back during the summer. While walking the halls I came upon Sean and the young nun talking. I overheard him say, “Thank you so much, I will make sure to be your very best student.” I found this odd because he didn’t want to learn. I hoped it wasn’t because of the girl’s beauty that he wanted it, because that’s the wrong reason. Although the young woman, as I should call her, is very new, maybe the convent wasn’t God’s path for her. We’ll just have to wait and see. At dinner we ate but I realized that Kaitlyn was not present. I excused myself and went to find her. I was lucky and found her in a few minutes at the chapel. She was praying out loud and noticed me coming in. She immediately got up and came to me. “Paper Finn, I need your help. I don’t know hat to do, I’m so confused.” She said to me. “What is the problem child?” I asked with care. She responded telling me of how she had joined the convent because her parents told her it was the only way she would get an education and live a good life. She said that she liked the convent but now that she met Sean wasn’t sure if it was the right choice. She didn’t want to disappoint her parents, but she said she wanted to be around Sean. I told her the only solution was to pray to God for the answer, and wait. While waiting I told her to get to know Sean and teach him because a good man like him shouldn’t go without an education.    

Finn O’Leary

It’s been a few days since I last wrote in here. I had been spending time with the children. Sean and Kaitlyn had been developing their relationship. I went outside and went for a check up on the community when I saw the old pagan running around wildly. I came up to him and grasped him by the shoulders and yell, “What is the matter sir?” “The cold wind is here.” At this I started hearing screams from all over the place, coming from houses, the woods, and far off. Then I saw them, the Vikings. “Everyone come! Come! Follow me! Get over here!” I started yelling, but for some it was too late. A Viking ran into a house and I could hear screams coming fro inside it. Several came running to me, and I grabbed the pagan and told him to run back to the monastery and warn the monks. “Everyone follow him!” I stayed back and tried holding off the Vikings. I was trained when I was younger as a squire but decided to become a monk instead, but I still remember the moves. A Viking ran up to me and swung at me and I ducked and punched him in the kidney. He fell to the ground crippled and I grabbed his sword and fought off four more Vikings before they swarmed my position. I ran back to the monastery and looked up and saw Sean with a bow aiming at the Vikings. I kept running and made it to the door. “How are we going to keep them out?” Yelled one of the monks. “Grab a sword and a bow, and barricade the doors. We are not losing this monastery.”  

Finn O’Leary

“We cannot fight, we are just monks, we must save the children and the sacred texts. We must find a safe route out.” Said Pat O’Sullivan. The other monks agreed and ran off to fetch the children and the bibles and other holy objects. Sean came running down the stairs to me and yell, “There’s too many of them, we will never make it out!” “We must keep them back as long as we can then, you and I Sean.” He nodded in agreement, and we both looked at the main door, which was now shaking madly and had a few ax heads in it. We backed up and took our stance, shield and sword in hand, and a bow on our backs. Behind us we could hear the scuffling of feet as the monks scrambled to get out. “Are you coming?” Yelled one of them. I shouted back that we meet up with them later. He ran out, and then all hell broke loose. The door blew open and the Vikings rushed towards us, more than I can count. Long beards on all of them, they had axes and lances and swords, shields, and helmets with horns. They had rage in their eyes, and wanted blood. Sean and I waited for them to take the first move, ducking then slicing them in the ribs. We’d slam others with our shields and pierce their amour with our swords. They were about to over take us so we ran up the stairs, some followed while others ran off to sack the monastery.   

Finn O’Leary

We fought off those who followed us, throwing them down the stairs to their death. We killed off around 30 of them before the stairs were clear again. I motioned to Sean to be quite and that he should follow me. I walked over to the Chapel, there were at least 12 inside. I walked slowly in and motioned to Sean to take them out quietly. We took out our bows and were able to take them out without a sound. They didn’t have enough time to realize what was happening before they too got an arrow through their back. We then went and retrieved the arrows. “Where to next? There are so many of them.” “We must find the small groups and eliminate them first.” I answered back. From there we went around to all the small rooms, taking out Vikings one by one. Retrieving the arrows and reusing them. We must have killed 50, maybe even more by then. I made sure to ask God for forgiveness after killing everyone of them. These men were savages and did not have good will in their hearts. We ran into the rooms of the monks and found Kaitlyn in there, dead. She had several bruises and broken limbs, stab wounds and cuts, and was lying askew across a bed with her dress ripped open.  This threw Sean into an angry rage, I tried to quite him but he ran out of the room to find the men responsible. I followed him all the way into the main hall where there were at least 60 Vikings destroying things and eating food.       

Finn O’Leary

Sean immediately started fighting them; I stood back and shot at them with my bow, used up all 20 arrows taking down 20 men. Then I got into the fight, slashing away at my right and left. A wild looking man with an orange beard hacked at my arm with a small ax. I yelled in anguish then returned the blow with a mighty swing that took the man’s arm off. We fought them like we were many men, taking out 2 or 3 at a time.  It felt like we had been fighting for hours when the largest of the Vikings came forward, breaking through the crowd, and stabbed his huge sword straight through Sean’s chest. He then lifted Sean up and threw him off his sword. I yelled as loud as I could, then ran back to the end of the hall and broke open the barrels of oil we used for lanterns. I then grabbed a stick from the fireplace and threw it in the oil. It lit up the whole place as I ran forward, and the barrels started exploding. I had anger in my eyes as I ran towards them. I had struck fear into them, and they now stood perplexed. I starting knocking them over with my shield and slashing their chests open with my sword. They finally realized what was going on and started fighting back but by now almost the whole hall was on fire. The walls were collapsing around us as our epic battle was going on. I had slain 20 men when I saw the large one. I ran towards him, he picked up his sword and brought it above his head ready to slice me in two. I was too quick for him and slid under his legs, blocking his sword with my shield as I sliced his leg off with my sword. Everyone stopped moving after this, not because the large Viking was dead but because we could hear a ferocious wind. Then it happened, the breath of God came and blew the walls down.

Finn O’Leary

I got up, opened my eyes and saw around me the rubble of the great hall. It was freezing and the cold wind blew hard against me as snow fell to the ground. The rest of the monastery was still standing, but barely. I looked around and saw that I had been almost killed, when the walls fell down, the piece that flew towards me hit the ground and was stuck deep in the earth. I thanked God for saving me, and went off into the woods where I found the rest of the monks, the children, and the townspeople that had survived. It was a very somber feeling and no one said a word. I lead them all to the ocean where we had our boat. We all got on and cast off. As we left we heard the crashing noise of the rest of the monastery falling. People were crying, others were praying, some sat shivering from the extreme cold and one man sat stooped over in the corner of the cabin. It was the pagan man; he had lost an arm in the raid. I went over to him and sat down next to him. “Don’t worry sir, we are off to Thule, where we have some monks stationed.” 

Epilogue

            Northern Ireland was attacked and raided by the Vikings during the 800s and 900s. Thule was an old name for Iceland, and in the early 900s, it was attacked by the Vikings and taken over. It is said that the Irish monks had come to Iceland before the Vikings did though. 

Can Wisdom be Taught?

            Can wisdom be taught? All throughout Siddhartha, Siddhartha is trying to acquire knowledge; he wants to learn how to reach nirvana. When he was younger he was a very bright boy. He learned things much easier and quicker than other children. Because of this he was ahead of many other kids and knew more then they did. This created the thirst for more knowledge that would control over most of Siddhartha’s life.

            Siddhartha leaves his family when he is young and goes off to live with the Shramanas. His father didn’t want him to go but Siddhartha believed that not one of the Brahmins could teach him anymore and that he must move on and find a new teacher. His best friend, Govinda also went along with him but not because he wanted to but because of his loyalty to Siddhartha. After spending a few years with the Shramanas, Siddhartha realizes that none of the Shramanas have reached nirvana. He does meditation to separate himself from his inner I and try to get to the dream like state, which is supposedly what heaven is like, but always ends up coming back to his body. Siddhartha tells Govinda how he has had a thirst for knowledge and that none of his teachers has been able to quench that thirst. Siddhartha does not believe that what his teachers do will lead them or him to nirvana. Siddhartha later leaves the Shramanas with Govinda by bewitching the eldest of the Shramanas and making him perform the necessary rituals to let them leave. Siddhartha showed the old man what he had learned by bewitching him. 

            Siddhartha and Govinda then traveled to the city of Savatthi. Here they found out that Gautama, the Buddha, is in the city. Govinda really wants to listen to the Buddha’s teachings but Siddhartha doesn’t want to because he’s heard them from other people. Siddhartha sees the Buddha and realizes that every part of the Buddha, even his fingers, radiate truth. Siddhartha now knows that the Buddha is a holy man. Siddhartha listens to the Buddha’s teachings but has a problem with it. He tells the Buddha that he teaches that all life is like a circle and that we are going around it constantly without stopping, but then there becomes a giant gap in this circle and that is what deliverance is, that is reaching nirvana. Gautama listens and Siddhartha goes on to tell how his followers will not reach nirvana because everyone has different ways of reaching it and they must find their own path. He then goes on to say that he will continue his journey and will not find another teacher for no one can teach him how to reach nirvana, only he can find his way. The Buddha then warns him to not become too clever. 

            This is a main turning point in the story. Ever since the beginning, Siddhartha has wanted to find a teacher so great that they can teach him how to reach nirvana. Now Siddhartha realizes that they are no such teachers and that he must find the way to nirvana by himself. Govinda does become a follower of Gautama but Siddhartha isn’t mad because that might be Govinda’s way and he must let Govinda find his own way. Siddhartha now believes wisdom cannot be taught and that he must find it himself. Siddhartha changes his path in life like has done before and now goes off to reach nirvana alone. Siddhartha gains the wisdom that there are no teachers that can teach him how to attain nirvana, he doesn’t learn this from the Buddha, he learns this himself from his past experiences and the Buddha’s teachings help Siddartha realize it further. Siddhartha does not want to get away from his inner I but now to know his inner eye.

            Siddhartha now knows he must center his thought on himself to reach nirvana. He thinks he got lost with all the teachings and went off track. He wants to get to know himself better to figure out what he is going to do. Siddhartha wants to center his attention on himself so he can become and know the fullest of himself. He no longer thought the world to be an illusion and to avoid it so now he learned much on his wonderings. He learned from nature and animals and everything under the sun. All this he was learning was knowledge, not wisdom. Siddhartha then takes a ferry across a river and the ferryman tells him that everything returns and that Siddhartha will too come back to this river.

             This is the beginning of a new chapter in Siddhartha’s life. After crossing this river he will not return to that state he was in. He was a young man ready to find nirvana but he did not know how. Because he did not know how and because he no longer believed the world was illusion he would learn many things from the child people, people who were not trying to reach nirvana. Siddartha first met Kamala who would teach him how to make love. Kamala taught him that he needs clothes, money, and shoes to make it in the world. Remember all this is just knowledge, Siddhartha does not gain knowledge until he leaves this city.

            Siddhartha gets a job as a merchant’s apprentice and makes money from that. At first he doesn’t care about the money and if he loses money or gains money, it doesn’t bother him. He lives in the city for quite a long time and after a while starts to forget his path and that he must reach nirvana. He starts drifting away from his path and becomes one of the child people; he becomes what he had always scorned. He had become rich from business and now cared about money. He gambled and now cared if he lost, which he never used to. He loved the feeling of fear while gambling, the fear of losing it all or winning it all. He never used to have possessions but now he did and this was a big change for him. He no longer begged for food but ate delicacies, he had parties with people, and still practiced love making with Kamala. The only thing that hadn’t changed in him was that he still didn’t love; he didn’t love Kamala like a wife and didn’t love anything else. Siddhartha was like a man that was living another man’s life and at first didn’t take much interest in it but later came to become engulfed in this other man’s life, but would never love this life because it wasn’t his own.

            After coming home from dinner, Siddhartha falls asleep in Kamala’s pleasure garden and has a dream; his dream is that the pretty little songbird that Kamala owns dies. The bird represents this life he has been living and that it is not the way and that it will end because it is human of nature. Siddartha then sits under the mango tree and thinks about his life. He has realized he has just been living this fake life, this life he considers a game. He had looked at everything of this life as being a game, getting money, losing money, becoming rich, living like a rich person, and now realizes he shouldn’t live to play this game, he shouldn’t play it over and over. He realizes that this game is at an end and that he must move on.

            Here is where he gains wisdom and no one taught it to him, he realized it on his own. He had been living this game of samsara, the game of the child people, and learned many things from it. He had learned how to live like a wealthy person but this was only knowledge that didn’t matter. Knowledge is good to know, but is useless in the long run. Wisdom is what helps you get through life and attain inner peace.

            Siddhartha gets up and leaves the city and goes to the river. At the river he wishes himself to be dead because he had became engulfed by samsara. It had almost become his life and now he couldn’t get back to his old ways. He grabbed onto a tree and was hanging over the river, ready to let himself go, when he heard it. The holy Om was coming from the depths of his soul. At the sound of the holy Om Siddhartha realized his wrong doings in trying to kill himself. He realized that death was not the right way to release oneself from the body. He then fell asleep and woke up later feeling better than ever. He realized that his sleep was just a long meditation of Om, of perfection. He had remembered all the divine things. He awoke rejuvenated, refreshed, and knowing that he has forgotten much of what he had learned when he was younger and that he must learn it again. He was not sad about it but laughed and found it ironic.

            Siddhartha was depressed and was ready to kill himself because he had forgotten so much and did not think he could get back to the way of life he used to have. After hearing the holy Om and sleeping he realized how divine life was and that he cannot kill himself to be released from his body. He had in that moment been able to go back to the way he was when he first entered the city. He now knew what to do, but this wisdom was not new to him. It had been in him but had just been covered up by years of living samsara. The Om that his soul uttered was like its last attempt at saving itself and it worked. It caused Siddhartha to realize what he was doing wrong. This wisdom he now had back was not taught to him but was always in him. This wisdom was that he does not know his way in life and that he may live one way but then change and change again and that is just the rule of things. He must live the life of many other people to find the path of his own life.

            Siddhartha learns from the river that it is ever flowing but is always there but at the same time is always new. He believes that the one who understands all of the river’s secrets knows also many more secrets, all secrets. He then works for the ferryman, Vasudeva. Vasudeva and Siddhartha both learn from the river, both have learned that nothing is past or future but everything is present. Vasudeva taught Siddhartha that the river has all voices and when you can hear all of the rivers voices at once, that sound is Om, perfection. Hearing all the voices is understanding all, so that is why you hear Om.

            Siddhartha then sees Kamala for the last time when she comes for the Buddha’s death but she gets bitten by a poisonous creature and dies. Siddhartha is left with her child, which is also his child. He tries being nice to the child and lets him get away with anything. Vasudeva sees Siddhartha’s wrong doing but does not tell him because he wants him to realize it on his own. Finally though Vasudeva tells Siddhartha that this boy does not want to live with them because this is not his path. Siddhartha loves the boy though and doesn’t want to let him go. Love, that is the thing Siddhartha thought he would never feel. One day his son runs away and Siddhartha goes into the city to try and find him. He does not see him and sits down and meditates on Om, trying to make the wound of love he felt for the child blossom and not hurt him anymore.

            He went back with the ferryman and it took a while before the wound blossomed. It blossomed when he realized the unity of the world, the unity of all life. He was able to breathe unity, feel unity, to think the thought of unity at every moment of life. This wisdom he gained through thinking about it but he first learned about the unity of all life from the Buddha’s teachings. Siddhartha’s wound still pained him and he went across the river but heard the river laughing at him and looked at it and saw his fathers face. At this he remembered how his father didn’t want to let him go but did because he knew he couldn’t hold back his son. Siddhartha never saw his father again. His father died alone without his son. Siddhartha wondered if that is what his life would be like, if his life was just a cruel circle and that all sufferings would come back. Siddhartha then tells Vasudeva about this and Vasudeva tells him he hasn’t heard everything. They go back to the river and look into it. Siddhartha sees the images of friends and family flowing into each other in the river, the rivers voice is of longing and pain. He sees the goals of all humans in the river. He saw the river striving to reach its goal, to go to the many lakes or rivers or waterfalls. To become vapor and to rise to the clouds only to come back down to the river. He then heard different voices of the river and then heard thousands of voices of the river. He listened harder and could no longer tell the difference between the voices, all the voices were now together. All the goals, all the voices, all the suffering and desire, all the good and evil, everything he saw and heard and felt in the river was the world. He didn’t listen to one voice of the river, but listened to all then he heard Om, perfection. He had heard it and now his wound blossomed and his inner I flowed into unity. He accepts everything and no longer toils with his fate. He has reached perfection, nirvana. Vasudeva then leaves him and goes into the forest. Vasudeva had nirvana too but only after Siddhartha had reached it.

            All that he has learned since he has come back from the city seems like he learned it from the river. This is somewhat true, the river did teach Siddhartha much wisdom, so much wisdom that he reached nirvana. But the river represents the world and all its feelings and goals so wasn’t it really the whole world that taught Siddhartha this wisdom? Wasn’t he part of this world so didn’t he also teach himself wisdom? The river brought everything together for Siddhartha to understand. So the answer is, no, wisdom cannot be taught, at least not by any teacher. It was through meditation and concentration that Siddhartha saw these things in the river. The river didn’t teach him perfection and wisdom, it only put the things before him to understand. He had to understand these things to gain perfection and perfection was knowing all wisdom.

                 This story is a lot like my life. I do not know what I will do when I am older and am constantly thinking about it. I do know one thing though and that is that is that small negative things that happen during my life will not affect my whole life. I do not see each day is its own, I see my whole life. I do not worry about a big test or project because I know I will get it done. I know the test will not last forever. Before an oral presentation I am nervous, but then think, “Tomorrow morning this will all be over, and will it really make a huge difference in my life? Is it so bad as to lose sleep over? No it’s not.” If I get a bad grade, I don’t worry because I know I can get my grade back up. I want to travel the world one day and maybe I won’t have the money or maybe I will. I don’t worry about my future because I know it will turn out well. This is what Siddhartha finally realizes at the end. You can’t make your own fate, you have to let fate guide you where it wants.                          

Tank man, the brave man who stood down five tanks that could have easily run him over. No one really knows who he is, or what happened to him after he stood down the tanks. Most young Chinese do not even know who he is or what he did. He fueled a revolution in the USSR, and what he did changed China forever. What he did changed the world forever.

On June 4^th, 1989 Chinese troops open fired on innocent civilians, killing hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people in the Tiananmen Square. There were tens of thousands of people in the Tiananmen Square, ranging from little children to old people, but mostly there were a lot of students protesting. The government would not have cared if it was just students, but since almost everyone was protesting the government got scared. They sent in troops to get rid of the protesters without causing any bloodshed. The troops started firing on the protesters though because they would not move. This got them to move.

This incident cost many people their lives and caused many more to get injured. The students decided to leave the square and not risk any more deaths. A day later five tanks came rolling down the street, and one man stepped out into their way, that man was tank man. The tank turned several times to pass him but he kept getting in front of it and once climbed on top of it. He was then pulled of the road by two people, who are also unknown. Tank man was a symbol, a symbol that showed that even a small force could stop a seemingly unstoppable force.

 The sad thing is that China has totally forgotten about this, actually it is more like they covered it up. They do not tell students about this, it is not on their Google. The Chinese government has basically covered the whole thing up pretty well. The only good thing that came out of this is that China gave freedom to economics; people can get as rich or as poor as they can. China has become paranoid about their people revolting against them, so they are very strict with the internet, cameras, what people say, like if your being interviewed you have to say things that will make China look like the best place in the world. Let us just say that if China had the ability to monitor what people think, they would. If the Chinese people could be shown what happened June 4^th and 5^th of 1989 I am sure that they would protest maybe even try to revolt against the government, like many other people are doing these days.     

There are over 182,000 solar panels at the Nevada Solar One. The solar panels heat oil in pipes up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit, then the hot oil pours into giant radiators, which extract the heat and turn water into steam. The steam then drives a turbine and dynamo, pushing as much as 64 megawatts onto the grid. That would be enough energy to power 14,000 households. The Nevada Solar One is the largest solar power plant built in the last 17 years.

Nevada Solar One can convert 21% of the suns rays into electricity. Although gas plants are more efficient, the solar power is free. Small motors move the solar panels so they will always be facing the sun. President Barack Obama promise to “harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." Energy from the sun is virtually unlimited.

There are two main ways to capture the suns rays. The first way is to produce steam, with either parabolic troughs or with a field of flat, computer-guided mirrors that focus sunlight on a receiver on top of an enormous tower called a "power tower." The second way to capture the sun’s rays is to convert sunlight directly into electricity with photovoltaic panels made of semiconductors, for example silicon. Solar power became popular in the Carter era but then died down.

Europe is far ahead of us in renewable energy. In Germany, utility companies are required to pay for even the smallest producers of solar power of about 50 euro cents an hour. PS10 is probably the most spectacular showcase for future solar power. It is a 377-foot power tower surrounded by 624 sun-tracking mirrors that reflect light beams towards its crown. During the Great Depression the Hoover Dam was built and many other power plants were built. Maybe during this depression more solar power plants will be built or renewable resources used.