Analysis

I read a poem entitled Life Struggles.  I'm going to break it down sentence by sentence.

"Life is the sum of experiences that we encounter as we go through life."  This line basically defines life in a very short sentence.  Every thing that we experience has a different effect on the course of our life.  All of these experiences add up to create one overall thing called life.  Life changes as we encounter new events.

"Day to day struggles and triumphs are experienced by all of the world's creatures."   This line lets us know that we're not alone when we face a challenge in life.  Humans face many challenges in life, you're not the only one.  Humans aren't the only ones either  because animals and all other living things also face challenges!

"As human beings, when we encounter a challenge, we have the freedom to choose how to react."  This line shows us as humans that there's not a set in stone way to deal with a struggle in life, but, whatever decision we make better be the best because it was our decision, not someone else's.

"Everyone decision that we make leads us down a different road."  This line is telling us that even the smallest decisions alter and adjust your life path.  No one travels on the same road because noone makes the same exact decisions.

"We will never come to exactly the same crossroads."  Like I said, noone travels on the same road.  We can't make decisions based upon what the people around us due just because you want to be on the same path as them.  They didn't make the exact same decisions as you in the past, so it's pointless to try to be like them by making the same decisions.  You won't end up at the exact some crossroads, or destination.

"Every decision that we make has significance."  You may not think that everything has impact on your life, but it does.  Even the smallest of things.  They all lead to another thing which leads to another thing which ends up leading to something very important.  The small decisions lead you to and make the big decisions.

"The tiniest decisions reverberates throughout the entire universe."  This line is trying to teach us that our decisions don't just affect us.  They affect our friends, our loved ones, and even people you've never met before.

Overall, this poem is pretty straight forward.  It doesn't take too much analysis to understand, but it is a very
heavy poem.  Very deep is an easier way to put it.  It's short and sweet, getting right to the point.  It pretty much sums life up in seven sentences.

Toughness Predictions/Connections

I just picked up the book Toughness by Jay Bilas and have just read the synopsis and a few pages.  I predict this book, obviously, to be about toughness...but specifacally about what toughness really is, how to acheive proper toughness, and how this will better you as a person.

Two questions I have for the author are: How do you know your definition of toughness is the real one?  Why is your form of toughness the best form of toughness? 

Text to text connection: Judging from the summary and a few pages, this book seems like it will have an overall central theme similar to that of the book One Shot at Forever.  I know One Shot at Forever teaches about overcoming obstacles in life with toughness, so I'm predicting the book Toughness will be very similar in regards to theme. 

Text to self connection: I can relate to this book because over my baseball career, a main thing I have focused on is developing proper mental toughness.  I strive to become this most mentally tough player that ever steps foot on the field.  The reason that great mental toughness is such a big deal to me is because baseball is 75% mental and 25% physical.  If you look at professional athletes, not all of theme are great athletes.  I listened to a reporter interview Reds' first baseman Joey Votto.  In the interview, Votto emphasized that he was not a great athlete through high school.  He was below average on the baseball field, but he had a passion for the game.  Somehow, as he puts it,"I have to find an edge.  I have to develop something within me that noone else has."  He goes on to explain that mental toughness is what eventually gave him that edge.  He is now one of the best first basemen in baseball.  Joey Votto is a great person to look up to in my eyes, so every day I work to become tougher mentally than I was the day before.  This book is all about becoming tougher mentally so it should be very easy to relate and connect to. 

Text to world connection: There's a lot of injuries that are on sports news because, well, it's football season.  I hear guys on sportscenter claim that the toughness of players these days is awful compared to players of "their time."  This book can connect to these stories  because they're all about toughness.

Here is a website where you can find out more about the book and it also allows you to order the book directly from their website because I know this post makes you want to read it so badly.  

Book Recommendation

I strongly recommend the book Night by Elie Wiesel.  Night is a non-fiction story about a boy named Elie (who tells the story) and his Jewish family.  It describes how their lives were during the Jewish Holocaust.  The book shows the troubles that Jewish families went through such as separation from family members, starvation, and abuse. Kids literally saw their parents die in front of them, or they were forced to say their last words to their close friends/family members as they were then burned.

This book really affected me because as I was reading about the troubles Jews went through during that time period, it made me realize how good/easy we have life these days.  People aren't executing mass amounts of people for no good reason.

I recommend this book mainly because I always hear people complaining about life.  "I hate life", "I wanna kill myself."  These words are thrown out like the word "the."  This book will make you come to your senses about the luxuries we live in.   It is a great read for anyone.   This is one of the most inspirational books I have ever read, so I recommend it to you because you never know, it may change your life.  Even just a little bit.  A little bit is better than nothing.
Below is a video clip of Oprah Winfrey interviewing the author of this book, Elie Wiesel.  They visit the concentration camp Elie spent most of his time at during the Jewish Holocaust.

Theme & Summary

The book One Shot at Forever has a very strong message the author is trying to convey.  That message is that bonding with the people around you can be what changes your life for the better.  I know this is a common theme with a lot of books/movies, but the author of One Shot at Forever, Chris Ballard goes into great detail about this theme.  In the beginning of the book, there were no bonds between players or coaches.  The theme didn't start developing until Coach Sweet became the coach of the baseball team.  Once he did that, the team started really liking Coach Sweet.  He started friendships with the players; he was basically everyone's best friend, but also their coach.  He'd have them over to play cards or just for dinner every once in a while.  By the end of the story, the bonds between the players and also with Coach Sweet are what makes the story so sweet.  The author gets as close to directly stating the theme without actually directly stating it.  A line from the synopsis perfectly states the theme: "A testament to the power of high school sports, One Shot at Forever reminds us that there are few bonds more sacred than that among a coach, a team, and a town." This line gives the reader a little hint of the theme, or the central message the story will have.  It identifies that the main part to the story is the relationships between everyone of the town of Macon.

The Blind Side

Most people have just watched the movie, The Blind Side.  I recommend reading the book as well.  It almost seems like a whole different story than the movie.  The book just has more details that are essential if you want to enjoy the story.  The attention to detail in the book makes you appreciate the story better than the movie.  In case you haven't seen or read The Blind Side, it is about an African-American male named Michael who ultimately goes from poverty to riches.  He is adopted by a very wealthy white family.  Michael turns his life around by focusing on schoolwork and football.  The journey he takes to success is very...interesting.  What do I mean by this?  That's for you to find out.  I strongly recommend reading The Blind Side.  It's one of those books that doesn't allow you to put it down until you read from start to finish.

Too Much Technology-How to Detach From it

I read an anonymously written article titled Too Much Technology-How to Detach From it.  This article was very interesting.  It explained how much technology, specifically electronic devices, are used in the world.  The author stated his opinion which was that people need to unplug, cut back, on the amount of technology being used.  He/She offered ways to successfully break away from technology for a little bit.  He/She also explained the advantages of doing so.  It was a pretty long article, the author's point was very strong and aggressive.  It was an influential read.