#28 pg 180 one lesson from Joe Opatowski's life and death

One lesson that can be learned from Joe Opatowski's life and experiences is that everyone finds happiness in different ways. Some people find it from other people, some people find it from arts such as music and dance, some people find it by peace and tranquility. In Joe's case, he had very good people skills, and when he learned how to use them efficiently and properly, it resulted in a happiness he had never felt before. I think that if we all dig a little deeper into ourselves, we can each find a unique way that helps bring happiness to both ourselves and other people through the characteristics and skills we were either born with or have developed from life experiences. I believe that there are two types of happiness: #1) artificial happiness, and #2) true happiness. Artificial happiness comes and goes when we want it to. We look to things to bring us a sense of belonging or acceptance, even though deep down we know that its not true happiness. True happiness, on the other hand, is something that we eventually find on our own. It's not made up, and it's not fake, and it brings such a personal satisfaction when we finally find it. I believe that every single person will, or has found a unique type of true happiness, and that we should learn to harness it and reflect it into other people's lives, just like Joe Opatowski has.

#27 Oprah's Story

Personally, I am not a big fan of Oprah. I think that what her and her show does for people is amazing, but I think that the motives for her "good deeds" are wrong. I think that good deeds should be done anonymously, because good deeds should not be done to gain popularity by other people. I think that what she does on her show is mostly to keep her show on the air and to keep people watching. Although she gives a lot away, by giving a lot away, she's also making a lot of money not only from her show, but from books, etc.

#26 the cars in the Bronx , NYC (poor) and in Palo Alto, California (rich)

Like the story said, we immediately predetermine our opinions based on factors such as geography, in this case, however, it just goes to show that we can't always discriminate a group of people living in a certain area or expect them to perform certain acts. In this case, in the Bronx, the majority of the people who vandalized the car were people who were well dressed or drove cars themselves. The part about the Father, the eight-year-old son, and the Mother all working together to steal parts from the car shocked me. I believe that the over all message of the story is don't judge individual people based on where they live or things that happen in the area that they might live in, because it could be the complete opposite type of person performing the crimes.

#25 what can IDCI learn from Monarch Park Collegiate?

When I read this story, it gave me goosebumps. I think that IDCI could learn a lot from this. It just goes to show that no matter where we come from, or how little money we have, or how little cooperation we have with each other, when it boils down to helping those less fortunate then us, or someone who is in need of immediate assistance, most people feel the need to help. It amazes me that a school this diverse, and crime stricken can stand together and raise enough money to send $32,000 worth of supplies to South Asia and Africa after a tsunami. I think that even though they are less fortunate and wealthy than us, they raised this much money because Cheryl's story showed some of the students that living conditions for other kids around the world can sometimes be ten times as worse as the living conditions that some of the students have to live in. I just found this story really inspirational and amazing!

#24 safe schools

I think that the play went really good. I think that overall message being delivered was easily understood by most of the students, and I think that they enjoyed it. The only thing that I would have changed about the play itself was probably the song at the beginning. After the play, when we went and talked to the students, we had a lot of good feedback and participation. The students had a lot of good ideas on how we can help improve our views on bullying and what we can do to prevent it. There was one student in the class who really participated a lot, and I think that the play really spoke to him because he came up with a lot of good ideas and encouraged his class mates to do the same. I believe that these plays play a big role in encouraging students to stand up against bullying and that we should have a play every year for the new students at IDCI.

#23 think pink

I think that "Think Pink" was a great success this year! I think its a very crucial part of school life and building awareness to different issues that occur every day in our school. Doing big group activities, even as simple as everyone wearing a pink shirt, really does a lot to build awareness to issues like this, and it really just goes to show the power that one voice can really have, and how much of an impact we can make if we all stand together. I think that we should continue to support and participate in Think Pink in the future.