College Visit #1

Last week Thursday was the day my friend Colin and I went to visit Dordt College. It was quite an experience. To get to Dordt in Iowa, we had to fly. Having never flown before, I was somewhat anxious. To top that off, we flew from O'Hare by ourselves. No parents were with us. It was awful. We were sent all over the place and were given instructions by people who had such bad accents that we could not understand them. After calling my dad several times and multiple trips back and forth, we finally got on the airplane. It was amazing. I enjoyed every part about the flight except that my ears kept popping. I took so many pictures that I could make a map of my trip.

We landed in Sioux City where we met Dordt freshman, Sam Boman who drove us to the college. We walked up to Admissions were met by our high school friend Morgan. She showed us our rooms and took us to the Recreation Center. It was a party. Bouncy houses, untold amounts of food, ticket prizes, and knock out games. I had fun and won a box of 30 chocolate bars. But after a while, we went to our rooms and prepared for the next day's events.

Friday and Saturday were spent getting acquainted with Dordt, going on tours of the campus and talking to the professors. I felt right at home. Every one was so welcoming and included me in their everyday activities. Campus golf, Call of Duty and Halo, The Walking Dead, basketball games, and late night doughnut runs at the local bakery. My roommates were two great christian people. They did a great job representing Christ in what they did and said.

 Sunday was spent with my sister Danielle. We went to her church in the morning and then she made us lunch. She is a great cook and the fish patties were delicious. I was very tired that day because of the sleep I was not getting, so I fell asleep on her couch.

Monday we packed up and went back to the airport. It was much easier this time since we were heading to O'Hare and not from it. My dad picked us up and that was our trip to Dordt. I loved it there and the campus life is very suited to my style. As of right now, I will be going to Dordt. It will be hard for other colleges to attract my attention like Dordt did.

Can't Stand The Silence

This past weekend was one of the biggest fails in my life. I am in a Mass Media class and my teacher, Miss Boman, asked all the students to do the impossible. We had to give up media for the whole weekend from Friday starting at 3 p m to Sunday ending at 3 p m. It was impossible, for in this day and age, who can give up media? It is one of the biggest things in a person's life and their way to connect to the outside world and their friends. I didn't last ten minutes. I had my phone out and I was checking my iPod for any notifications. I knew it was going to be a long weekend.

My life, like everyone else's, revolved around media. My Achilles heel is music. Take out music and I flounder in a pool of boredom. I listen to music in the car, while taking a shower, while doing homework, even while sleeping. Music calms me down and shuts out the world and my problems. But my problem was having to give up the music. And like Achilles when the arrow struck his heel, I failed. The fast was terrible for me. Music was playing, I watched TV, I was on my phone and iPod. I fasted about as well as a fat kid in a candy store. I did not do well in the fast at all, so Miss Boman decided that myself, and the rest of the kids that failed, redo the media fast! Oh boy, what fun! I will be put through this AGAIN. I couldn't handle it the first time, let alone a second.

But this will be a healthy change for me. It will teach me self control and not to rely so heavily on technology. The first was a "test run", but the second will turn out much better.

Morality Of Hitler

As a junior in high school, I just go through the motions. Sit in class and listen to the teacher ramble on about something that I could care less about. And also write down enough words or numbers on my homework to keep my teachers happy. But sometimes the topic gets pretty interesting. In US History we are learning about the Holocaust and Hitler. Naturally I have learned about this subject ten times over. But this was different. Of course we went over the basics of what happened in the Holocaust, but we also delved into the mind of Hitler. Mr. Dunham gave the class a worksheet with several questions and one of them was if Hitler was Moral, Immoral, or Amoral. Amoral is when someone does not have or abide by morals and Immoral is when someone goes against the morals set in place. We watched a movie about the Holocaust that showed us the horrors of Hitler and the Nazi regime. Mr. Dunham then asked if Hitler was Moral, Immoral, or Amoral. Of course people said that he was immoral. He caused 11 million people to be killed and 6 million of them were Jews. His actions traumatized so many people that my grandma still has a hard time talking about it. It was an argument that raged on unabated in the classroom for several tense minutes. Mr. Dunham calmed us down and explained the Hitler that nobody thought was real. "Hitler is moral," he said. "He did not have the same morals as those of Western society, but he had morals." Western morals were based on equality of people and love for others. Hitler's morals were based on raising up the superior race of the Aryans and the destruction of the inferior people. Hitler was like this because of his evolutionist thoughts. Darwinists focus on "The survival of the fittest". And in Hitler's mind; the fittest are those of the Aryan race. So Hitler decided to help them on in their rise to superiority by getting rid of those inferior. Including the Jews. Hitler was disliked by Westerners because of what he did, but the argument of his immorality cannot be made. Maybe unethical, but not immoral.

Expectations Against Me

As a pastor's kid (pk) I have many expectations put on me. Expectations to be good and to know the Bible better than the other kid. Not many people would want to be expected to be better than everyone else. They want to live normal lives that revolve around the things they care about and not what people want them to be. Growing up in a christian school, this was quite prominent. If I got in trouble I would hear my classmates whispering to each other (Oh the pk's in trouble!) (He is supposed to be the good kid). I hated that kind of stuff and wanted to prove that I was just like them. So I became kind of a rebel. I would talk and be annoying, did not focus on the task at hand, and I didn't really care about the Bible or God. I wanted to be myself and not live inside the borders put up around me. It is my life to live, even though God gave me this life.