The Power of One

The Power of One was a movie that I honestly wasn’t sure about before watching it. We had been doing research and work on South Africa for the days leading up to it, and I was a little nervous to see such strong hatred and negativism toward the African race depicted on screen. After seeing Hotel Rwanda, I wasn’t sure I could handle much more bloody violence either. Once the movie started, though, I knew it was going to be one of those movies that would change your outlook on life forever. When I first saw little P.K., my heart almost broke because he was so cute. Even though it was a fictional movie, I hurt for him when he told of his father being trampled to death by elephants, and spoke of his shocked mother’s suffering. I was proud of the little boy when he had to go to an Afrikaner school, even though he was British and everyone would hate him, far away from his home, yet he stayed strong for his mom. Though, I just about lost it when the incidents at the school occurred and poor P.K. was so senselessly bullied, he didn’t even lose it; he just took it without retaliation. The whole of Part I was sad, but P.K. persevered and began to show signs of the hero he would become. Part II was equally revealing as to the virtuous man P.K. would develop into. His adventures with Doc and Geel Piet were encouraging, but the horrendous things that happened to Piet made me cringe in my seat. In that instance, I saw a fire that I had never seen before in P.K. I saw the raw emotion behind his mask of bravery and my broken heart shattered. Yet, somehow I knew things just had to get better, and I held on for the explosive Part III. The advocate P.K. was for the deprived African people moved and continues to move me. His heroic actions inspired me to better stand up for what I believe in and the hard parts to watch in the film reminded me just how hard the world we live in is, but that there is always hope.

New Year

On New Year’s Eve this year, my family did something similar to what we do on Christmas Eve. My mom and I made a buffet-style dinner with lots of easy finger foods that my whole family enjoyed immensely. Afterwards, we had another “family game night” at the insistence of my brother. I am beginning to think that those Hasbro commercials had a lot to do with his thinking, though. As soon as the game was won and my brother was sound asleep in his bed, my mom, sisters, and I headed over to our neighbors’ house, which is also where my best friend lives. My dad decided to stay home because he wasn’t feeling too well, and he was definitely missed. At the Pollock’s house, we hung out downstairs and played the Wii for awhile. When the clock neared midnight, all the “non-adults” got champagne glasses with sparkling wine (non-alcoholic of course), and the adults filled their glasses with real wine. We all stood around the television in the family room and watched the ball drop in Times Square, counting down the last seconds of 2009. When the fireworks shot up and everyone cheered, we did too and touched our glasses together. Then all the kids ran onto the front porch with pots, pans, and metal spoons, and started hitting away. I was thinking back to all the good memories that occurred in 2009, like my Confirmation, eighth grade graduation, one of the greatest summers ever, Cross Country, and starting high school while they were out there making such a racket. Finished looking back, I set my mind forward to 2010 and all its upcoming events that I am looking forward to, like Track and Field, driver’s education in the spring, summer, my sixteenth birthday, and another season of Cross Country. I also set my mind towards my goals for this year and how I am going to accomplish them, all the while readying myself for what is sure to be a great year.

Holiday Traditions

My family and I celebrate Christmas together every year, and every year we have certain traditions that we like to follow. The days leading up to Christmas are always very busy; with all the shopping, cleaning, and baking that we have to, there is barely any time to waste. The day before Christmas Eve is always the most hectic, with last minute gifts being bought, all the rooms being dusted, washed, and vacuumed to perfection, and my mom and I franticly baking rows upon rows of cookies and sweetbreads. This is also when I make a majority of my gifts to friends and family: homemade chocolate. It seems crazy to do all this work in one day, but we do it so that Christmas Eve is a relaxing day. Our whole family sleeps in on Christmas Eve, exhausted from working so hard the previous day, and has Belgian waffles for breakfast. (Which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest things on Earth.) Afterwards, we start to get ready for the Children’s Mass at St. Genevieve, our church. The Children’s Mass is always fun to go to, because the little first and second graders are all angels and shepherds in the Nativity re-enactment. After Mass ends, we catch up a little with some of our friends and wish them a “Merry Christmas”. Finally, once we get home, we sit down and have “family game night” Family game night is an idea that my five year old brother came up with where my whole family plays Scene It? Jr. together until he goes to bed. It’s still really cute to see him get so excited, though. After everyone eats a buffet-style dinner that my parents and I make, we all go to sleep, anticipating the coming morning and excitement it will bring.