{"id":335,"date":"2015-11-23T12:52:09","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T17:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.wpengine.com\/?p=335"},"modified":"2015-12-03T15:29:20","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T20:29:20","slug":"what-sydney-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=335","title":{"rendered":"What Sydney Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney Schneider<\/strong>
\nThe Informer
\nLaingsburg HS
\n1st Place
\nDivision 4, News Writing
\nFeature Columnist<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Journey to the third world:\u00a0Appreciating the small things”<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I went to the Compassion Experience with some of the members of my church youth group. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical. Compassion International\u2019s website claims that its program will allow you to experience the \u201csights and sounds of life in a poor, developing-world community.\u201d The claim, though well-intended, seemed a little ridiculous to me considering my group was coming from a large dinner spread with smart phones and other first-world staples in our pockets.<\/p>\n

Still, I was anxious to embark on the proposed adventure. Before we began, we were given headsets connected to iPhones (a little ironic considering we were supposed to be experiencing the third world). Then, we went into the small portables that contained recreated scenes from the life of Kiwi, a woman from the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Her story was heartbreaking. Through our headsets, we listened as Kiwi told us about her life in a hut that often flooded. We observed the rags on the ground and heard the shattering of beer bottles as Kiwi explained that her father often spent the little money they had on alcohol. We all fought tears as Kiwi told of the loss of her brothers, and I cringed when she explained that in order to save her sister, doctors cut open her mother without any pain-killers.<\/p>\n

Yet, one of the main things that stuck out to me was how thankful Kiwi was for the good things in her life. Kiwi spoke of a day when her family received an apple. A single apple. She said that each of her family members was so excited, even elated, to have a bite of the special treat. They each savored their single bite of the fruit that is so commonplace in our American kitchens.<\/p>\n

Out of the entire experience, that is when a tear escaped my eye. How often do I eat an apple in one minute, without a second\u2019s thought, and gripe about my schoolwork in the next? How often do I express my gratitude for the presents I receive from parents for my birthday, yet neglect to thank them for the care they give me each day?<\/p>\n

As Thanksgiving approaches, Kiwi remains in the forefront of my mind, reminding me that there is so much more that I need to be thankful for. Sure, we all express gratitude during this national holiday. But are we thankful for all of the right things? Of course we are thankful for our family, our friends, our homes, our turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Yet, we are not always thankful for the small things: the apples of our lives.<\/p>\n

This Thanksgiving, I hope to change that. I owe it to all of the children of the third world who would long for a bite of my grandmother\u2019s cooking. I certainly owe it to Kiwi.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

——–<\/p>\n

“Saving Common Courtesy:\u00a0An appeal for student action”<\/p>\n

It was already a rough Monday morning. I woke up\u00a0tired from the work of the day before, and I barely had\u00a0time to grab a toaster waffle before running out the door\u00a0to school.<\/p>\n

I was absolutely loaded with baggage; in fact, one\u00a0student jokingly asked if I was planning on moving in to\u00a0the school. My backpack was slung over both shoulders,\u00a0my right hand clutched my laptop case and clarinet, and\u00a0my left hand clung to my lunch box and marching shoes.\u00a0I was truly proud of my balancing act. That is, until I\u00a0followed another student to the entrance of the school.\u00a0My day became considerably worse as the student let the\u00a0door slam on me, causing my open-topped lunch box to\u00a0lose half its contents.<\/p>\n

We often hear the new adage: chivalry is dead. I\u2019m\u00a0not sure I can agree completely, but it is certainly declining,\u00a0and its decline coincides with the erosion of\u00a0common courtesy. However, we generally don\u2019t consider\u00a0the implications of this erosion until we fall victim to its\u00a0consequences.<\/p>\n

As I picked up the contents of my lunch box that\u00a0morning, the perpetrator of the \u201ccrime against courtesy\u201d\u00a0long gone, my initial thoughts centered around my\u00a0frustration at the individual. But as the day progressed,\u00a0my attitude changed. We all, I thought, are guilty parties\u00a0to the decline in common courtesy. Don\u2019t we all have\u00a0instances when we neglect to hold the door, give directions,\u00a0or perform other small gestures for others? We\u00a0concoct numerous excuses. We are simply \u201ctoo busy\u201d or\u00a0\u201ctoo exhausted.\u201d But, if we are honest with ourselves, are\u00a0those excuses truly valid?<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t given up hope. Fortunately, the actions of\u00a0many people within our school have assured me that\u00a0chivalry and common courtesy are very much alive. I\u00a0often recall the classmate who gave up their seat for me\u00a0when I entered the guidance office, and I have witnessed\u00a0several students offer to carry the books of a classmate\u00a0who was nursing several sports injuries.<\/p>\n

These instances make me optimistic. I am a member\u00a0of several interscholastic organizations, and often when\u00a0I speak with students from other schools, I gain a greater\u00a0appreciation for these actions from our student body.\u00a0Based on their testimonies, the decline of common\u00a0courtesy seems much dire elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Still, after the door incident, I am making a conscientious\u00a0effort to show more courtesy to others. I have\u00a0seen first-hand how our actions can have unintended\u00a0outcomes, whether positive or negative. Simple, kind actions\u00a0may seem inconsequential, and often they are only\u00a0rewarded with a short smile or a quick \u201cthanks.\u201d In reality,\u00a0they can make all of the difference in a person\u2019s day.<\/p>\n

So please, join in the effort. Keep common courtesy\u00a0alive. Just hold the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sydney Schneider The Informer Laingsburg HS 1st Place Division 4, News Writing Feature Columnist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[57,4],"tags":[48,23],"class_list":["post-335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-featurecolumnist","category-nw","tag-48","tag-division4","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kelsey Parkinson","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=3"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-5p","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}