Journal Entry 1

So.... to make up for my forgetting to post... I decided to put up some Journals I have written for my English class since we are reading The Outsiders (Great book!!).  This is Journal 1:

March 22, 2011

Journal  1:    What  do  you  and  your  friends  do  to  show  others  that  you  are  part  of  a  group?    What  are  the   similarities  and  differences  between  cliques  and  gangs?

Dear Journal,

         My friends and I are involved in several groups.  Each of these groups take steps to make it known that they are part of that particular group.  When I am with my volleyball team,  we are always matching.  At practice we wear the same t-shirts and shorts, and at tournaments we are all wearing our jerseys, same socks, shoes, and even kneepads.   When we do this we are telling the other teams that we are part of the Mississippi Juniors Volleyball team.  When I am with another group, like my youth group,  we may show that we are together in different ways.  We make it obvious that we know each other by laughing and joking around.  We always sit together at events and we defend each other.  When talking about groups, two words come to mind:  cliques and gangs.  These two words are sort of similar, but they are also very different.  When I think of cliques I think of girls.  I guess guys can have there own cliques, but I think this word is usually associated with girls.  You have the “mean” cliques that make-fun of people in other cliques.  Cliques usually don’t mix well with other cliques.  They usually stick with their own group.  When I think of gangs, I can’t help but think of guns, spray paint, and sagging pants.  I suppose not all gangs are like this, but those are the pictures that come to mind.  Gangs stick together.  I usually think of them as violent.  They can be violent to other gangs, other people, or even people within their gang.  Gangs, I’m sure, have rules that you must follow.  If you break these rules, there are serious consequences (probably physically).  Though gangs are usually considered more “blood-thirsty” and murderous, are cliques really that different?  Sure, they don’t go around shooting people, but what they do to them mentally can sometimes be so much more painful.

A Book.

A blessed companion is a book, - a book that, fitly chosen, is a lifelong friend,... a book that, at a touch, pours its heart into our own.  ~Douglas Jerrold

A book is a dangerous thing.  Some see it as a waste of time....Some see it a large stack of paper with black letters painted across the pages..... yet some.... see a book for what it truly is.  A book  is a dangerous thing.  When a person opens its pages, and truly begin to immerse themselves in its world....they are lost.  Because once they finally emerge from its adventure.... they are not who they once were.  Their mind has soaked in its ideas, and without giving permition, they have been transformed into a new being.  A book is a dangerous thing.... because one book, could change EVERYTHING.

I just finished reading The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) for my English class.  Let me just say, that this book has really changed me.  This book adresses cliques and gangs, and how harmful they really are.  On the pages of this book, are the words I hear in the back of my mind when I see the split between the "popular" kids and the "outcasts".  I see how they treat each other and all at once.... I become furious, disgusted..... and my heart breaks.  "Just don't forget that some of us watch the sunset too" - Ponyboy (The Outsiders).  What he means when he is saying this is:  Right now, all we see is outward appearance.... or money.... or social status.... but at the end of the day, how much of that matters?  We are all human beings.  We feel happiness.... sorrow.  We all laugh and we cry.  All of us have our individual worries, and fears.  The problem occurs when we let our own struggles cloud our vision and our hearts.... and when we let our own issues mask the problems of others. 

In the book,  There is a poem.  (sorry I am not sure who it is by...):

"Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay."

"Nothing gold can stay."  What does this mean?  Well in the words of Johnny Cade (The Outsiders), "I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you're gold when you're a kid, like green.  When you're a kid everything's new, dawn.  Its just when you get used to everything that is day."

That is so right!  We accept things the way they are.... teasing, bullying, everything,..... because we are so used to it.  We are no longer golden children who have never been made to feel "not good enough".  We have all felt that way.... and we have all brought those feelings upon another.  Well I am truly sick of it.  Johnny's last words were "Stay gold." and I think he is right.  We can't accept these things anymore.  We will have to take risks, and get hurt.... all for the chance that things could be "gold" again.  All because its worth it. 

" I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows.  Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better.  I could see boys going down under street lights because they were mean and tough and hated the world, and it was too late to tell them that there was still good in it, and they wouldn't believe you if you did.  It was too vast a problem to be just a personal thing.  There should be some help, someone should tell them before it was too late..."  - Ponyboy Curtis (The Outsiders)

So yes.  This book has changed me.  I hope you will read it and let it pour itself into your heart.  But most of all... I hope you will "stay gold."