Declaration of Independence

The reading over the Declaration of Independence was sort of like a sandwich. At the beginning, or the top piece of bread, it was very opinionated. The main point of the first few paragraphs was that when it comes time for a group of people (the colonies) to break away from their political bonds (England), they need to do it formally and present all of their reasons for seceding. The next part of the text was basically a list of all of the reasons that the colonists wanted to secede. It was a somewhat boring passage, and I'm not gonna lie, I spaced out a little bit during the middle. Many of the reasons that the colonists wanted to break away from England had to do with fair treatment. They were not happy about the unfair taxation that they were facing, but they really didn't think about it from England's perspective. After the Seven Years' War, England had a huge war debt that they were forced to pay off. They decided to ignore their policy of salutatory neglect and take charge over the colonies by taxing them. It really probably wasn't wrong of them, but the colonists were outraged. In all of their rage, they referred to the King of Great Britain as a tyrant, saying that "the history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states." (Jefferson 122) Since Jefferson referred to the king as a tyrant, he lost some of his credibility. Because it was an example of faulty logic, some of the people that were "on the edge" about the revolution may be influenced to sway towards the loyalist side of the war. They might find that Jefferson is very opinionated and writes his speeches based on emotion instead of reason, which is not what the colonists were looking for. At the same time, however, Jefferson provided numerous reasons for why the colonists decided that they were going to revolt, so that would help to sway some of the colonists towards the side of revolting. "He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the permission of our legislatures." (Jefferson 123) That is a sign that England didn't really trust the colonists, so they had to keep an eye on them. I can see why that would upset the colonists, who were trying to be their own independent nation at the time.

The last paragraph of the text is basically the paragraph that sums up the entire reading. It basically states that the colonists are not happy, and even though they have tried to get the King to listen, he will not so they are forced to do something about it. That is like the bottom piece of bread that has the mustard and mayonnaise on it. It really drove the point of the Declaration home, and it was a great summary paragraph.

Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 122-124. Print.

Journal #10 - Argument

Deciding to put off our vocabulary is not a good idea at all. Yes, it will be more class work, but in the long run, it will be beneficiary to our learning experience. Many students would argue that our vocabulary assignment is easy enough to do outside of class, but why wait? If we wait, there is a chance that some of the students will forget to do the assignment, which will result in a late grade for those students that forgot. Also, if we do our assignment right now in class, we won't have to worry about doing it for homework. Something could come up tonight or tomorrow night that would not allow us to finish our assignment. We might also get an even larger assignment in our 3rd hour class, and if we just finish our vocabulary assignment now in class, we won't have to worry about completing both. In my personal experience, it is just better to finish any homework you possibly can at school so there is less to forget about at home. I think that we should do our vocabulary assignment in class quickly because it probably will not take a very long time. If we do it in class, we will be able to use our classmates to help complete our assignment, and it will take even less time. Doing our work in class would allow us to ask our teacher for help, which would help to assure complete points on the assignment. Now that I realize what Mr. Langley was talking about, I regret writing this journal. In retrospect, it really doesn't make sense compared to the topic. I feel so stupid. But I still believe that we should have just started our vocab assignment. It would have been done and out of the way and it would have made me so much happier. Although, I do believe that our class is happy that we did not start our vocabulary assignment, so it's not the end of the world.

Journal #9 - Emotion vs. Rationalization

Once upon a time, there was a magical princess. She was the most beautiful princess in the entire kingdom, and her name reflected her dashing good looks. Her name was Gertrude. One day, Gertrude was faced with a very serious problem. Gertrude had to make a very important decision that would effect the entire kingdom. Gertrude had to decide between a banana smoothie or a strawberry smoothie. She had no idea, and she got very upset. Gertrude's father, King Alexander, did not like seeing his daughter so upset. He decided that he would do everything in his power to make his daughter happy. First, he tried to get her both smoothies, but that did not make her happy. She still went up into the tallest tower of her castle and cried for hours. Then, the king outlawed strawberry smoothies so his daughters choice would be easier to make. She was not happy still, and the crying continued. The Princess was very emotional about the whole ordeal, and she just simply did not know what to do. Then, from the depths of the deepest ocean, a Prince rode into the kingdom on a dolphin. The Prince was know as Ted. He was the smartest, most logical man in the entire kingdom. He came to help the Princess make her decision. The Prince decided that the most logical way to make her decision was to have a survey for the entire kingdom. After the survey, the results were posted on the castle wall for all of the Kingdom to see. It was ruled that exactly half of the Kingdom voted for each of the two choices. Ted was furious. He decided that in the interest of the Princess, he would inflate the results in favor of banana. The decision was made, and Gertrude and Ted lived happily ever after. The couple never had to make a major decision again because Ted used his logic every time, which was much easier than using emotion to make a decision.

Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry's speech that we read from our book was a great example of Rationalism writing. The style of writing was very different from Puritan writing in many ways. First of all, the sentence structure was very different from that of Puritan writing. Henry used great detail in his writing, and used more complex sentences, including metaphor. Also, the Rationalist writing had a slight difference in opinion on the subject of God. I don't believe that God was referenced one time in the writing. In our history class, we learned that this speech was written during the Enlightenment period. The Enlightenment period was when people started accepting scientific ideas and they drew away from the church. Jonathon Edwards was one of the preachers who wrote in response to the Enlightenment period. I believe that there was a shift in personal belief when this speech was written. Henry wanted to tell all of the people that he was presenting his ideas, and that the people could take them as they wanted, not as God told them they had to. Also, they were Patrick Henry's ideas and thoughts, not God's. This was a time where people were breaking away from the church, and it showed in the writing style.

The speech was basically given telling the colonists that they needed to go to war with England. The speech implied that the war was unavoidable, and if they did not start the conflict first, the British were going to start it with them. Patrick also brought up the point that the colonists had tried to talk to the English government officials to reason with them, but they just ignored them and treated them even worse. Henry mainly used his speech to appeal to the colonists emotions. Emotion is a very powerful thing, and sometimes it is even more powerful than rationalization. That seems funny, because it was written during the rationalism period, and emotion seems to be the exact opposite of rationalization. One way that he appeals to his audience's emotion is by asking many rhetorical questions. The audience would become engaged in the speech and become more willing to fight.

One major thing that Henry does that could hurt his reputation is when he insults the English government officials. He referred to one of them as a "tyrant," which may have been more of a hindrance on his speech than a help. By insulting the English, he may have lost some of his supporters who were "on the fence" about the idea, and it also ruined his credibility. That was one of the only major flaws in his speech.

In Edward's sermon, he tried to scare the Puritans into coming over to his belief, while Henry left it up to the listener to decide. Henry's approach was much more inviting, but still making a good point very clearly. Edward's sermon also made a very clear point, but he made it in a way that would be very intimidating to people. Henry made his cause sound very inviting and gave people a reason to join him in his fight.

Henry, Patrick. "Title of Speech" Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. Page Numbers. Print.

Journal #8 - Autumn

Autumn is such a tough topic for free write. There really aren't that many things to talk about when it comes to Autumn. I mean, yeah its a season, but other than that its nothing else. I guess it could be a girl's name. It could be a boys name too, but that would be so weird. That guy would probably get made fun of a lot. Just like a guy named Shannon. My hockey coaches name is Shannon, and he's quite the character. But anyways, Autumn is almost my favorite season, it actually leads into my favorite season. Winter is my favorite season because there are so many awesome things in Winter that are awesome. Autumn is pretty cool too though. Autumn is high school football season, golf season and marching band season. I greatly enjoy all of those things and there is something about the cold weather that I really like. Usually people are complaining because it's "too cold," but I really like the cold. Maybe it is because I live in the ice rink, but I just really like the cold. Autumn is also the season of Homecoming, which is kinda fun. I won't get all crazy and talk about how much I love it, but it is a fun way to spend a Saturday. See what I mean? This topic is so hard to write about, I barely have 240 words, I probably don't even have that many. I really hope this topic relates to what we're doing in class, because this is so difficult to write about. I hope that this gets over soon. It's supposed to be over now, but Mr. Langely is too busy checking our pictures and making fun of them. Autumn is spelled so funny. It doesn't sound like there is an "n" at the end of the word, but spell checker tells me that there is. Who created the spelling for Autumn and decided to put an "n" on the end? That is just mean. It makes no sense, it serves no purpose.

The Crucible: Act Four

Drawing parallels between these two literary works, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and The Crucible is almost impossible. It's 9:30 and I just got home from golf, so my creative juices aren't exactly flowing. 500 words is going to be difficult. Here goes nothing.

The story Sinners is actually a sermon written by Jonathon Edwards. The sermon is very angry and it has a very hostile tone. The sermon tells of all of the scary parts of Hell and how the sinners are going to go to Hell unless they seek God. Edwards is almost angry because he doesn't understand why the people did not go to God to be saved when he has been there all along. He really tries to scare the people listening to his sermon. In the book The Crucible, Abigail tries to scare the girls into keeping quiet about the witch craft. That was such a lame comparison, I'm really sorry.

"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell (Edwards 69)."

That passage was a great way of showing that the Puritans believed that God was in control of their lives, much like in the story how the people thought that they were able to take the trials into their hands, but in fact God was the only person who could come up with the outcome. The two stories share many different important factors, mainly because they are both examples of Puritan writing. The Crucible however was written much later than the sermon, but they both have a similar writing style. The sermon has a much different tone, it is very scary.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal #7 - Bullying

Bullying can really damage  a student's emotional state. I would know because I have to sit by the meanest person in the world in English class. Shelby is the meanest person in the entire world. She does nothing but torture me during class. Whenever I don't know the answer to a question, she volunteers me to answer it. I then get embarrassed in front of the entire class, and I go home and cry. She also intentionally trips me when I'm walking down the hall, and I usually fall on my face. The entire school then laughs at me, and Shelby just laughs. I usually cannot wait to get home and lock myself in my room so I can cry. I usually cry about 2-3 hours a day, sometimes more on B days, because I have English. I don't even know why Shelby is so mean to me. I am nothing but nice to her. I help her when she doesn't know the answer, I buy her lunch with the money she steals from me and I even help her look for lost items when she shoves my head in the trash can. I just don't know how much nicer I could be to her. It really bothers me that she is so mean to me, but she just will not stop. I don't know what I am going to do because it is starting to effect my school work. I am now failing all of my classes, and I spend a lot of time in Mrs. Brandon's office because I am so upset. And to make it worse, she tries to say that I am the one bullying her. She claims that I am the meanest person in the whole world, but it is the exact opposite. I just don't know what I am going to do. I see no end to her torment, this school year is going to be such a long year.

Journal #6 - Wrongly Accused

There was a time in my life where I was heading in a downward spiral towards oblivion. At that time in my life, I did some very bad things. I just was not myself. I remember it like it was yesterday. Oh wait, it was yesterday. I was sitting at my kitchen table and decided that I was starving. I walked across the kitchen and opened up my cookie jar. My grandmother had given me that cookie jar, and she made a habit of filling it with delicious, warm baked chocolate chip cookies. Since it was Friday, I knew the jar had to be close to empty, so I assumed that there would be at least one cookie left in the bottom of the jar. As I opened the jar, to my horror, I stared at the bottom of the empty jar. I was absolutely furious, but I calmly walked into the living room where my family was watching t.v. The first thing I did was pointed directly at my sister. I knew she had done it. She ate my cookie. She tried to deny it, but she was lying up a storm. My parents backed me up completely, they told her to go straight to her room. After that, my parents called the police and a few minutes later, there was a knock at my door. The men in uniform walked up the stairs and carted her away to jail. She was sentenced to life in jail without parole, and she was not allowed any visitors. I walked back into the kitchen after the whole ordeal was over, and realized that the cookie was at the bottom of the jar, stuck to the side of the container. Oh well. She probably had it coming. After all, I did owe her a birthday present, and a trip to a state penitentiary is worth no amount of money, unless you calculate it in state tax dollars.

The Crucible: Act Three

Human nature is a funny thing. As humans, we all react to situations differently because no two people are exactly alike and think exactly alike. That is what makes us humans. At the same time, however, there a few major reactions and observations that people make and generalize to create something called human nature. Maybe it is the lust for money or power, the will to survive in a threatening situation or even the lust for air, but all of those things are grouped and associated with human nature. Sometimes things that are in our nature are not good things, such as some of the events that are occurring in The Crucible.

One of the darker elements of human nature is the fact that we never want to get into trouble. If you think back to when you were a child, there was probably a time where you did something that was wrong. What did you do? Probably, like most kids, you tried to push the blame off onto someone else. That is what every human would do. Being in trouble is not fun, so we do everything we can to avoid it. That exact example is what is going on in the story in Act 3. All of the blaming is going around because no one wants to be convicted guilty of being a witch. In the courtroom, Mary Warren tried to confess to the truth. It seems so funny that even though the truth is the only thing that will set a person free, they never seem to just tell the truth. After she tries to tell the truth, the other girls turn on her, including Abigail. Proctor seems to be the only smart person of the group because he finally decides that after all of the hiding he had been trying to do, he told the truth about his affair with Abigail. That would also help to prove that she could not be trusted. In a way, he acted in a way that was opposite human nature. He confessed to his wrongdoings, and it helped him as a person, but not really in the trial. It actually backfired on him. It was decided that Elizabeth would be the absolute authority on the subject, so they brought her into the court room to decided who was lying, Abigail or Proctor. Elizabeth did not want to get her husband into trouble, so thinking that she was helping her, she lied and said that he never cheated on her. Actually, all she did was make Proctor look like a liar, and since she lied, she made an even bigger mess. The moral of this is that lying will get you nowhere, even though it is a huge part of human nature. Escaping trouble is sometimes more important to a person than  telling the truth. The scene in the court room is a perfect example of how an innocent person can be taken down by a person lying, even if they are trying to make things right.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

The Crucible: Act Two

Ever since Mr. Tadla's good old heath class, I really have not once thought about the color personality test. It really has not come into my day once. I cannot think of one time where I thought to myself, "Man, I wonder what color that girl is?" In literature, however, it does make more sense to use the color profiles to identify characters, and I am sure that when the author wrote the book, he had a sense of what color each of the characters were in his mind.

Proctor is a very strange character. I believe that his main color is green, but his secondary color definitely has to be orange. Proctor is a very honest and good man, and that is where the green comes in. He is a thinker, and when he knew he was wrong (for example, cheating on your wife is wrong) he did everything he could to make it right. Since he cheated on his wife, however, I believe that is where the orange comes in. He could not help himself. If he was straight up green, he would have used his logical skills and realized that cheating on his wife would mathematically lead to bad things. But an orange person desires things that are intense and crazy, such as cheating on your wife. That doesn't sound very green to me.

At this point in the story, Abigail is definitely orange. She seems like a character that really only cares  about having fun and does not worry about the rules. For example, she decided it would be fun to dance around in the forest at a "witch ritual" and she just had the time of her life. She didn't really care about her family, who she threw under the bus by doing all this witch craft, and she obviously didn't care about the rules, since she broke a whole bunch of them. She never really seemed like she wanted to learn from her mistakes, which definitely rules out gold or green, since both of those colors like to be right, and you can't be right if you don't know anything. She is just an immature orange little girl.

Hale is definitely a green person. I myself have a primary color of green, and many of the green traits fit me very well. Green people use logic and research to figure out problems and make sure they're right. Hale used his logic skills to try and figure out what was happening in Salem. Hale also thought over his accusations before accusing anyone of witchcraft.

All of my color assignments are from my reading so far. As the story progresses, I may find that some of the colors may change, but as of this point in the plot, I feel that my color assignments are very solid and accurately describe the characters. Assigning the colors to the characters is a great way to obtain a greater understanding of the characters in any story. Also, knowing what kind of writing style the author used would help greatly.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

http://www.true-colors.com/WhatisTrueColors.html

The Crucible: Act One

Many of the stories that we have been reading in English have been written by Puritan writers, and their religious beliefs are very prominent in their writing. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller, and it takes place and regards the Salem Witch Trials. While the story was written in the 1950's, it still contains many factors of Puritan writing. There were many passages, just in the first act that were about religion.

 "The Salem tragedy, which is about to begin in these pages, developed from a paradox. It is a paradox in whose grip we still live, and there is no prospect yet that we will discover its resolution. Simply, it was this: for good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies. It was forged for a necessary purpose and accomplished that purpose. But all organizations is and must be rounded on the idea of exclusion and prohibition, just as two objects cannot occupy the same space. Evidently the time came in New England when the repressions of order were heavier than seemed warranted by the dangers against which the order was organized. The witch hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom (Miller 6-7)."

This quote from the passage is a big hint that leads to the downfall of the entire story. The narrator explains that a theocracy is based on the principle that some people should be included and some people should be excluded from society, based on their religious beliefs. Basically, when taken to extremes, religious fervor always results in tragedy. The Puritan society was heavily based on religion. The whole reason they came to North American was to "purify" themselves, and in the end, that was their downfall.

One characteristic of Puritan writing that was not as prominent was the use of short, declarative sentences. Yes, the author does use declarative sentences, but they contain a little more detail than the average Puritan writer would include

"He was the kind of man - powerful of body, even-tempered, and not easily led - who cannot refuse support to partisans without drawing their deepest resentment."

 If that would have been written by a Puritan writer, I believe it would have contained less detail. Most of the writing still resembled very closely to Puritan writing (Miller 20).

After all of the blogs that I have written about the question "How does the writing reflect Puritan writing?" it has become obvious that there is only so much a person can say to answer that question. To me, the biggest reference to Puritan writing is their reference to God. In Puritan writing, there are many references to God, such as in the first passage that I cited above. The Puritans writing style also mirrored a 4th grader's, in my opinion. They used very short, declarative sentences, which got their point across, but lacked a personality in their writing.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal #5 - 21st Century Punishment

Punishment is a word that is thrown around a lot these days, but what does it really mean? Punishment is the act of ruining a kid/ your child's life because they did something that you did not like/agree with. Examples of punishment would be: letting your child make plans for the weekend and then making him cancel his/her plans or making your child do extra chores that the parent is too lazy to do such as take out the trash, clean the kitchen or scrub the toilet with their toothbrush. Obviously, to an outside point of view, these acts sound completely outrageous, and they are. But from a parent's point of view, it is completely fine. Parents believe that since they are older than the children, they can do anything they want to do. From a child's point of view, that is completely false.

So on to this punishment thing. I believe that a good 20th century punishment would be as follows: Say your child comes in late for curfew. As the parent, you should let your child know that he/she is late for curfew, but then praise them for coming home at all (as a side note, always praise your child, it makes them know they are loved). After praising your child, tell them that you are going to take them out the next night. On that "date," allow your child to pick all of the activities, up until curfew. When it is time for curfew, tell your child that you are going to show them what they could have seen since they stayed out late for curfew the previous night. Some good places to take them would be a bar, an alley, a bad neighborhood or even to a gentleman's club.That will really let your son or daughter have a good time, but at the same time teach them a valuable life lesson. This style of punishment would be much more effective than telling them that they are grounded for the weekend. What would they learn from that? Nothing, that's what they would learn.

Journal #4 - Vacation

In the beginning, I went on summer vacation. It was the greatest time of my life. We had so much fun just chilling in our condo. But the trip there, was awful. At first, it was completely fine. Sam and I hooked up a t.v. and played Xbox for a while, my sister and her friend were asleep and my mom was driving. We were all doing just fine. But then, my sister woke up. Then it all went downhill from there. The trip was a hiving "heck" from then after. All she did was yell and scream and complain. Because of that, she made everyone else's life miserable. We made if for about 3 hours before all of this started. Now, it may have just been a coincidence that everything started going bad when my sister woke up. I believe that in every trip, at some point, no matter how good of friends the people are, they will eventually start fighting. I can't imagine how the Pilgrims must have felt when when they traveled by ship to America. They must have gotten sick of some of the people on the ship, but they had no choice. And to make it worse, they were going to another country and the only people there were the people that they were fighting with. To think about it, I didn't have it so bad when I went on vacation. The Pilgrims had it much worse, so I should be thankful that our trip was as good as it was. Also, I knew that I had the option to go home as soon as the trip was over. The Pilgrims didn't have an option to go home. They were stuck with the people they traveled with, so they should have become friends, otherwise, their lives would have been awful. Overall, I love taking long trips and I would love to travel overseas by ship, possibly to England or Germany.

Reading Reflection: Bradford

The Puritans had a very strong basis on religion, and it showed in their writings. The memoir written by William Bradford told of his journey to America. Many people are confused as to who came to America, the Pilgrims or the Puritans. Puritanism is a religion, while being a pilgrim describes a person on a religious journey. Sure, most of the Pilgrims were Puritans as well, but not all of them were. An example of that same situation would be that all Catholics are Christians, but not all Christians are Catholics. Same type of deal (sorta...). On just the first page there was a reference to God. "But it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail" (Bradford 64). The Puritans tended to refer to God a lot in their writing, mostly because God was a huge part of their lives. Another main example was when the Pilgrims were searching for a place to sleep in the cove. They were looking too close to the shore, and found themselves in a little bit of trouble. They claimed that it was by "God's good providence" (Bradford 65) that they were able to be freed. It couldn't have had anything to do with their amazing sailing abilities. The Puritans literally gave God credit for every single little thing that happened, because they believed that since everything that existed was created by God, every interaction was an act of God as well.

"They fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven..." (Bradford 65). As soon as the Pilgrims realized that they had reached a safe place, they immediately gave thanks to God. Enough said. In a passage at the beginning of chapter 11, Bradford told of the people that helped the dying Pilgrims. The people would feed them, cloth and unclothe them and make their beds (Bradford 66). Bradford then said that it was by the power of the Lord that they were not effected by sickness or lameness (Bradford 66). Basically, he said that God protected the people that were protecting them. I find that a little weird, because it almost sounds like Bradford is acknowledging that a person was responsible for doing God's work. Obviously, no man can do God's job for him, but the way it was presented in the reading, Bradford was giving thanks to a man before he gave thanks to God. Hmm...

Bradford showed many characteristics of Puritan writing, just like Rowlandson. Both left a huge stamp on their writing with their faith. I mean, it is categorized as "Puritan writing," it's obviously going to mention God a lot. The writing was really more than just mentioning God a lot though. Through the writing, it was easy to see that the Puritans really believed what they were writing. Bradford wrote about how he believed that God was watching over his people and Rowlandson wrote about how God was watching over her as she was captured. Both heavily relied on God for guidance and safety, which is why both works would definitely be classified as Puritan writing.


Bradford, William. "from Of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 64-66. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Capitivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 84-88. Print.

Journal #3 Hostage Situation

I remember a time where my skills were tested to their breaking point. I was just visiting the country of Iraq with the peace corp, and we were bringing supplies to a military base in a heavily populated war zone. Yes, the job was dangerous, but I live on danger. In fact, danger is my middle name. Anyways, we were driving out convoy into the military base with three trucks full of water, dehydrated food and toiletries to bring to the troops. While we were unloading the truck, a group of terrorists ambushed our base. They caught us completely by surprise. Three armed men grabbed the three drivers and shot them, in cold blood. That image has been burned in my mind, even after 15 years. I will never forget the faces of those scared truck drivers. They thought they were just going for a routine delivery, but in the end, they lost their lives. It was right then and there that I decided I was going to save every last person. Since I previously was a Navy Seal, I was trained in combat/hostage situations, and I possessed many skills that I knew I would need to save those innocent people. I decided that I didn't want to blow my cover right away, so I let the terrorists take me and two other people hostage. They put bags over our heads, and threw us in the back of one of the trucks. Luckily, it was the truck with the water. Once we were in the back of the truck, I could feel it moving. I tried to keep a sense of how long we had been in the truck so I could possibly judge how far we were traveling. I then took off one of my shoes, revealing the metal knife I always kept inside the sole of my shoe. Once I was free, I cut open one of the cases of water so my friends and I could drink and regain our strength. My two friends were still in complete shock, so when I cut them free, I had to convince them to stay quiet. We had been moving for what I estimated to be about 3 miles (as it turned out, we had gone about 3.4 miles) and we pulled to a halt. I told the hostages to keep their bags on their heads, and that I would take care of everything. When the man opened the back of the truck, I jumped out at him and struck him. He crumpled to the ground, and I quickly shut the back of the truck and locked it. I did not want my friends to go anywhere. I grabbed the keys off of the terrorist, and ran to the front seat of the truck, evading gunfire. I threw the truck in drive and sped off. I had a slight idea where I was, but I kept driving in one direction until I found a road. I then followed that road back to the military base. All of the soldiers were so relieved to see us, and they didn't even care that their supplies were gone. We were all flown back to the U.S., first class, and the event was never spoken of again.