The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho set us up for a deep thinking and realization. The realization of one’s dream (destiny).

         This book has definitely without a doubt shown me what the mind and heart are truly capable of doing. Santiago had been just a shepherd boy and dreamed of this treasure located at the Egyptian Pyramids. He set off on his journey and encountered some major help along the way. The Gypsy lady, the King, the Merchant, the Englishman and the Alchemist. Each person played a role in helping him find his destiny. The gypsy lady told him to pursue his dream and he will find his treasure, but in return he must give her one-tenth of his treasure. The King was the one who had lived in his head throughout the story, reminding him to not give up and to be thankful for omens. The Merchant had played the role of giving the boy an option to stop and settle and only dream of his destiny, rather than getting up and going to his destiny. The Englishman was quite the help as well. He gave the boy more knowledge of the Alchemist and made him read and realize what the world’s language is. As for the Alchemist himself, he led him to his treasure and along the way he showed him what it means to listen to your heart.

          “When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.” This quote signifies the meaning of knowing and believing in your destiny. When the Alchemist and boy encountered  two tribesman and was asked who they were and what they were doing, the Alchemist simply replied with the truth. The tribesmen laughed and sent them on their way, not believing them. This very thing saved Santiago’s life in the end when he was getting beat up by two men. As they were getting ready to kill him, he shouted his destiny. The two men looked at each other and figured the boy was lost and hopeless, but before they left, one of them laughed and said that he remembered his “dream” of being a shepherd and being wealthy. So they let him be and vanished. When they had left, the boy simply looked up at the pyramids and laughed along with them. Right then and there he knew where is treasure was. It was right by his side this whole time back home in a beat up barn.

         The concept of this book is to show others that even though you have a passion for something greater than your eyes can look upon, you must first appreciate and acknowledge everything you already have.

Immigration Interview

         My interviewee was a student by the name of Edgar Moreno. Edgar had no problem expressing his thoughts and feelings towards the questions we had for him. He was born and raised in Chihuahua Mexico and moved to the US in 2015, due to the cruel streets and lack of education.

         As for someone who came to the US with a struggle such as Edgar, my grandfather Noly Suarez had an easier route to the US.

         Edgar Moreno was born in Chihuahua Mexico in 2001 and was raised there until the age of 14 then moved to the US in 2015. When asked about the everyday life in Mexico, he just gave a sigh. He began to tell us how it was scary to walk the streets alone. Another reason for Edgar leaving Mexico and coming to the US, was to better his education. By making this decision, he would leave his parents still in Mexico. Of course he misses his family, but they are fully supporting him along his journey.

         As for my grandfather Noly, he was born and raised in the Philippines for most of his life and was driven out of his country because of the ridiculous government. My grandfather came to the US in 1973 and was put to work right away. It was easier for him to become a national rather than a citizen of the because the US was the protector of the Philippines during this time. He moved to San Diego California to start family because he was able to pick up work on an orange farm. He was never fully able to attend schooling for an education, everything he learned was on his own, especially English.

         The main differences between Edgar and my grandfather Noly, is quite different. Edgar was able to attend school right when he got to the US and Noly was not. My grandfather was able to come to the US a lot easier than Edgar because of the time and different scenarios. One thing they do share in common though, is them having to leave their families behind to better their future.

My Interview

         This week we as a class had to interview Somali refugees in our school. I was assigned to interview a sophomore named Abdrahman Yusuf. We welcomed all of them with smiles and handshakes followed by laughter.

         My classmate Jorge and I started of with small basic questions such as, “What’s your name? Where were you born?” just to ease the tension. He was born in Somalia and was raised in a camp named “Utopia Camp” located in Kenya, a camp for refugees. He was raised there most of his life and moved to the United States in 2015. Within his first two years of living in America, he has come to love it. We asked him how his first day was in America and he replied with a huge smile on his face saying that he knew he was in the right place for a better future.

         Just to listen to him speak and reply to our questions was phenomenal, because he had so many facial expressions. We asked him what he thought about the snow, and he said he was scared at first and didn’t want to touch it. He also mentioned the impact that the cold weather it had on his body. He said he almost felt pretty sick because he was not use to the climate change and the harsh winds with snow during the winter. But slowly got use to it and found out that a thick jacket can go a long way. To watch his reaction on his face when we asked him what he thought about the American females was just hilarious. He described them as having “big butts.”. He then went on and described how much more rights the Somali women have here in America than they do is Somalia. “Your American women are very fortunate to have born with rights.”

         I feel like we over look these refugees that come to America and try to better their education and lives. All they want is an equal chance at life, and by segregating them from friendship groups or American society we aren’t allowing them to do so. I know for a fact that I have made a new friend, and his name is Abdrahman Yusuf. 

The film Parzania, directed by Rahul Dholakia was based on a true about the riots and wars between the Muslims and Hindus. Apostasy, that is a condition of Islam for a Muslim and conversion to another religion or atheism, is a religious crime in Islam and sometimes punishable with death. Hinduism allows freedom of conscience. Any Hindu can be an atheist, or can change his belief when he or she wants. So with that said, in this film we got to witness the harsh and brutal ways the Hindus handle situations. There was a huge lack of government and police action. It all started with a train fire that was said to be caused by the Muslims. The media had a major influence on this false accusation towards the Muslims. So of course the Hindus thought right off the bat that is was war. They went on to raid cities and small villages. The Hindus would not flinch or hesitate to slaughter innocent Muslims, along with setting women and children on fire. The smell of burning flesh would roam throughout the cities and villages. Families were separated and family member were not to be found.  The most significant scene in this movie in my opinion, was when a Hindu male spared a Muslim woman’s life after seeing the fright and horror in her eyes. It kinda showed me that even though the Hindu’s and Muslim’s don’t get along, they still have hearts. Well some of them. He could have easily stabbed, burned, and raped her, but he chose to spare her life. It’s very interesting because if he were to get caught saving her, he would have been brutally murdered. He took that chance, and told another Hindu that it was all clear and to leave. The Muslim women was just as surprised as the movie viewers. This scene painted a larger picture than just sparing a life. It showed that some Hindu’s didn’t want to riot, they were more pressured too if anything. These riots were nasty and very graphic. The government and media was the main reason behind this awful crisis. The government did not do its job, and the media overdid its job.  

India is a country which prides itself for it’s ability to appease the minorities. Whenever an Indian fails to do so, he/she becomes intolerant. Mass killing of humans and burning children alive is by no means acceptable. But have we stooped so low that we start comparing atrocities against humanity in terms of the death toll? What is more sad is that the Sabarmati train incident is never talked about. The Gujarat riots is recognized worldwide as an act of atrocity by the Hindus. And furthermore a question mark is put on Muslim involvement in the Sabarmati train incident. I am not an anti-Muslim. I have met some great Muslim’s in these 19 years I’ve been on this earth. I just hate this appeasement policy. I wouldn’t have said this if the entire Gujarat incident went down in the history books as a war between two brothers. But unfortunately every time the presstitutes bring it up it is to either target Narendra Modi or to show how the Muslim Community was violated. The Sabarmati Express incident was burnt alive along with its victims.

One of the practices that Siddhartha did was yoga. He practiced and practiced for days. He grew up on meditating and yoga. He was taught to cleanse the soul and to leave your body to interact with yourself. The definition of yoga is “A Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practiced for health and relaxation.” Siddhartha took his meditation very seriously, just like other Hindu’s.

I myself tried yoga not to long ago. It kicked my butt, needless to say. I was very surprised by how much you must control your breathing. I found it to be very peaceful and painful at the same time. It just amazed me that not matter how strong you think you are, or how many muscles you have, it doesn’t mean that you can do yoga that easily. Practicing yoga on a regular basis will help you build those muscles that don’t show on the outside, but on the inside. It allows you to handle situations much more differently. I would recommend yoga to everybody.

Eastern practices are almost as similar as my own. They like to practice self meditation and control of the soul, and I like to practice on my form when playing football. We have both practiced for countless hours and the more we practice, the more efficient we become at it.

The National Museum located in New Delhi, as we see it today, has an interesting beginning. The blueprint for establishing the National Museum in Delhi was prepared by the Maurice Gwyer Committee in May 1946. An Exhibition of Indian Art, consisting of selected artifacts from various museums of India was organized by the Royal Academy, London with the cooperation of the Government of India and Britain. The Exhibition went on display in the galleries of Burlington House, London during the winter months of 1947-48. It was decided to display the same collection in Delhi, before the return of exhibits to their respective museums. An exhibition was organized in the Rashtrapati Bhawan (President’s residence), New Delhi in 1949, which turned out to be a great success. This event proved responsible for the creation of the National Museum. The success of this Exhibition led to the idea that advantage should be taken of this magnificent collection to build up the nucleus collection of the National Museum. State Governments, Museum authorities and private donors, who had participated in the exhibition, were approached for the gift or loan of artifacts, and most of them responded generously.

On August 15, 1949, the National Museum, New Delhi, was inaugurated in the Rashtrapati Bhawan by Shri R.C. Rajagopalachari, the Governor-General of India. The foundation of the present building was laid by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, on May 12, 1955. The first phase of the National Museum Building was formally inaugurated by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the Vice President of India, on December 18, 1960. The second phase of the building was completed in 1989.

While the Museum continued to grow its collection through gifts  that were sought painstakingly, artifacts were collected through its Arts Purchase Committee. The Museum presently holds approximately 2,00,000 objects of a diverse nature, both Indian as well as foreign, and its holdings cover a time span of more than five thousand years of Indian cultural heritage. The National Museum was initially looked after by the Director General of Archaeology until 1957, when the Ministry of Education, Government of India, declared it a separate institution and placed it under its own direct control. At present, the National Museum is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. 

    In the summer of 2014 just after passing my freshman year at Fort Morgan High School, I got a text from a random number. The text read, “Hey QB.”. Not knowing who it was, I replied with, “I think you might have the wrong number.”. Just a matter seconds later the number appeared on my phone screen calling me. Not knowing what to expect, I hear a very familiar voice. It was my football coach, Harrison Chisum. He started off by asking if I knew who it was, and I replied stuttering his name. He then laughed and ask me one question. “Are you the man who’s next in line to lead this football family?” In shock, I hesitantly responded by saying, “Yes sir.”. He told me to be at the field 6:30 am sharp the following morning. When I had arrived the next morning, Joey Schneider (Varsity QB) had introduced himself and ask me “Are you ready?”. I smiled and asked, “When do we start?”. We got started right away with footwork, hand offs and passing routines. Right then and there I realized that this could make me into better person and as a leader.