“Boy Without a Flag”

In the story “Boy Without a Flag” it talks about a boy named Abraham Jr. Where he tells a story about how he would stick up for what he would believe in and he won’t let anyone stop him. For his age he was really intelligent and was able to stand up for the things that other people couldn’t do. Many people thought he was crazy for what he has done but to him he thought he did the right thing. The boy was then forced to the principal office to sit and stare at a wall because he did not salute the American flag when he was supposed to. The Puerto Rican boy who was inspired by his father then went to find out on his own on how to get others to stand up for what they believe in such as there own rights and religion.

The Yankee flag in the story represents freedom to the boy. He believes that he can not be forced to salute a flag if he doesn’t want to. America is a free country, and just because you are from a different country doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t salute the flag, but in America there is freedom for everyone so the right thing to do is to salute the flag that represents freedom.

If I were in the boys shoes I would have saluted the flag even if what they did to the Hispanics was wrong, even if I am standing up for what I believe in I should still be able to salute the flag because we have many freedom in America and we have to be grateful for it.

One advice I would give to the narrator would be to stick with your belief’s but start acting upon it when you are a little older, because right now you are still to young to understand about religion and other stuff.

The boy is a good American he is just learning his mistakes like any other person would because every human is not perfect. All he needs is a good lesson on what freedom really is and he would then change his mind. For example in the story the boy is talking to a character in the story, Ms. Colon said she is also an American and salutes the flag because she is free. I think the boy should of spent more time as a writer rather then wasting his time trying to express his rights and belief’s.

The boy himself did have an American dream which was to be a write just like his father.

I thought the story was very weird. The part that was weird was how Mr. Rios was having an affair with Ms. Colon even if she was married.

Censorship and 9/11

Miscellaneous

This issue is has to do with an online message board which have been removing posts that were related to the events of September 11. They removed every post that was offensive which included messages that was linking users to website that talks about a holy war against the Western world and messages from users that say the U.S deserved the attacks. The Arab-American are also saying that the same companies who have been removing the post about September 11 are also removing all posts that are anti-Arab and anti-Muslim. I agree with what happened here because the U.S really shouldn’t deserve the attacks just because another country is angry at us.

Schools

In this issue it talks about how a substitute teacher from the Pittsburgh Public School was suspended for writing “Osama bin Laden did us a favor. He awakened us and strengthened our resolve.” This incident happened on September 20, 2001 at a school. What really happened was that he wrote those lines after hearing them on a newscast and he was using them for a book that he was writing which was called making the best if horrible situations. Soon after, the teacher was reinstated and he could be a substitute teacher once again. I disagree with what happened here because they suspended him without letting him explain what was happening and I find it very unfair that he had lost his teaching career. But now he was finally reinstated and everything is now well.

Freedom and Responsibility

To me freedom is about people who can be free and can do anything they want to such as go to many places and do what they want to do. Freedom means being able to do anything in life because you will not be stopped because you are expressing yourself to the world, For example we have the freedom of speech which means we can express what we want to say to the whole world. To me, it is more important for the public security to make the society safe because they have many people who commit crimes and they always hurt many innocent people. For example when there are bad people who are trying to hurt innocent people the government would always secure the safety of the people around there. I think we should be able to do what we want because we can have fun while doing something and it can make us real happy. For example if were bored and we want to go mess around a park with our friends it can be really fun but no one is getting harmed. I am not free to do whatever I want because even if I have freedom I wouldn’t even be doing anything except be at my house. For example I would just stay in my house instead of being outside. I think it is not ok to break the law because you can get into very serious trouble if you do and that can lead to being arrested, or going to jail. For example if you were caught doing something illegal you can be sent to jail and it would really mess up your whole entire life because you are stuck in jail and you are wasting your life in there instead of accomplishing anything that you had. I think it is more important to stand up for what you believe in because it make’s up for who you really are and what kind of person you are going to be. For example if you don’t stand up for what you believe in people can look at you in a different way or they will tease you a lot.

The American Dream

The American dream is somewhat of a goal you want to set in life to get you started on what you want to accomplish in life or the future. My American Dream is not different than the dream of other Americans because most Americans have a goal that they want to set in life because without a goal you are not heading anywhere and with a goal you can figure out the path you want to take in life. My dream is not different than my parents’ dream because they want me to lead a successful life throughout my life and they want me to reach my goals that I have set. I think the American Dream is accessible to everyone because if they want to reach there dream they should first start by finding a way on how they want to reach that goal so they can be one step closer to there dream. It’s possible for any American to reach their dream if they don’t give up, if they keep working hard and never give up they will one day reach there dream and be successful in life. I do not think it is easier for some people to achieve the American Dream than others because not all people can go to school, some people had to stay home to take care of there family member’s and it’s really hard attending a school while taking care of their family. The same dream’s can be achieved in other countries as well because everybody has a different dream and not all dreams are that difficult to accomplish. I believe the American Dream is still worth believing and pursuing because many people in other different countries are having a lot of problem’s such as not enough food but they still won’t give up pursuing there dream because they want to make there life more better than it is now. To reach my American Dream, I have been trying my hardest in school, my dream is to go to college someday and then work as a computer programmer or a computer technician, I have been doing good in school to reach the goal that I want to achieve and I will never give up on any of my dream as long as I try my hardest to achieve what I want to be. I do think I will be able to reach my American dream because there is nothing in the way of me that will stop be from achieving my dream so I will achieve my goal’s in life.

What is an American?

Trait #1: Work Hard

Example: They always try there best in anything they do so they can accomplish them.

Comment: This trait is important because without working hard you can never reach any goal you want in life.

Trait #2:  Never Giving Up

Example: If they failed once on something then they will keep on trying until they get it right.

Comment: This trait is important because if you just give up easily then you won’t achieve any goals you have.

Trait #3: Taking Risk’s

Example: We always take risk’s even if they have consequences even if its good or bad.

Comment: Taking Risk’s is important because sometime’s In life you need to take a few risks to overcome any obstacle that is in your way.

“Messages from the Sky” by Fred Moramarco

In this poem there was a man named Stuart Meltzer who was from the 105^th floor, he was writing to his wife about what was going on around his area. In the poem Messages from the Sky: September 11, 2001 is about a guy named Stuart Meltzer who was trapped in the 105^th floor of the twin towers, he was writing to his wife about how something bad had occurred in the tower and he told her he wouldn’t make it and how much he loved her. When I read this poem it made me feel sad because many people who was trapped in the tower was going to lose many of there loved one’s and they really couldn’t say goodbye to all of there family only some of them. My favorite line from the poem would be “Know that I love you and no matter what, I’ll see you again.” I chose this line because it is telling his wife to not worry about him and he will return home soon.

During September 11, 2001 I was in school when it happened. I found out about what happened from the teacher’s, they were talking about it in class and it was also on the news. When I first heard about it I thought that there was only going to be 15 deaths because they said a plan had crash so that made me think that only a few people died, but it turned out to be thousands of people who died. The news did affected my life because there was a lot of people who had died and couldn’t say goodbye to any of there family member’s. The detail that I remember was that there were 2 plane crashes that crashed into each of the tower’s.

If I were to be trapped on a hijacked plane I would of felt scared knowing that the terrorists might have weapon’s on them so if we try to save everyone we would of died, knowing this there was really no way to escape because you would have been killed in the plane or after the crash. I would have called my family because they would be worried about me and I wouldn’t want them to worry. I would have said “Mom I love you and I want to let you know that everything will be all right, I’ll be home soon.” The reason I said this was because I don’t want my family or friends to be worried about me and I would return home soon.

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