Three Seach Paper

Never Give Up, Never Let Up

One by one we file off of the yellow school bus, each player dressed in black attire. We enter though the front doors of the Ryder’s Funeral Home just to enter a hall way full of pictures of our youth football coach Don Baker. It was a sad day for South Hadley football because loosing a family member is the most difficult thing to deal with. I stood in line waiting for my turn to pay my respects to our late coach. Each player walks down the line of family members, shaking their hands, softly saying, “Sorry for loss.” Our team then files out the back door and back onto the bus. We sit, waiting in silence for the bus to take us back to the high school. The snuffles slowly begin to stop as you hear a few players shouting out, “It’s game time now boys!” The bus then takes us back to the high school so we can get dressed for our 7 o’clock game.

Football is the ultimate team sport in every single way. When you join a football team, you won’t only have a great time playing the sport, but you will learn valuable life lessons and create attributes that are beneficial to you for the rest of your adult life. The friendships you build while playing football is a big part of that. Each person on the team needs to do their personal job each play in order to run successful plays. This builds more than just a friendship between players; it creates a brotherhood. (Ferro) In a town like South Hadley, the kids you play with in high school are the same kids you have been playing with since 5th grade. These kids become your best friends for the rest of your life. If I hadn’t played football throughout my childhood, I don’t believe I would have the quality or quantity of friends that I do now. Another thing that builds this incredible bond between players is the work they put in together.

There was no better opponent than our rivals, the East Longmeadow Spartans. I sit in the back gym with my full uniform on thinking about what I have to do. Coach Ferro walks in and I give him my full attention, as does my entire team. The only words he says are. “You know what you have to do, and you know who is watching!” as he points to the sky. Every single member of the Tigers Football team erupts in a roar as coach slams open the door leading to the football field. Shortly after, our team heads to the field in a line. One of our players is screaming “Who’s House!” while the rest of the team responds “OUR HOUSE!” Once we make it to the field I yell out “This is what we have worked for, we have 48 minutes to do it, now let’s make Coach Baker proud!” Our team then pours from underneath the goal posts through the banner and to the sideline.


Many sports are physically demanding, but in the sport of football you need to be in very good shape. This means each day at practice, you are going to have to run painful drills and exhausting sprints at 110 percent. When you are in the middle of a painful sprinting drill and you look to your left and right just to see all of your friends doing the same thing, it gives you a second wind that you can’t get without having them there. Your friends also help you push yourself when you get fatigued. This physical activity isn’t only beneficial on the football field. A study done by The Journal of the American Medical Association shows that there are many benefits to regular physical activity. Regular physical activity has short and long term effects. Some of the short term effects include a healthier heart, the ability to cope with stress, increased endurance, a sense of well being, and more energy all around. Some of the long term effects of physical activity are reducing the risk of dying prematurely, developing high blood pressure, becoming obese, and dying from heart disease.

The three other captain and I stand a few feet from our sideline with the rest of our team doing the same just a few feet behind us. As we look across the field, we see the other team doing exactly the same but they are all dressed in red. The drum line sounds like rolling thunder as the captains and I walk to mid field to meet East Longmeadow’s captains. We first shake all of their hands and introduce ourselves. The referee tells us to take control of our teammates if there are any conflicts. The referee then says, “Heads or Tails, Visitor, call it in the air. The coin flips in the air while the opposing captains calls, “Heads”. We all look to the coin sitting on the ground that is sitting with the tails side up. The choice is to receive the ball first. We then turn around to the sight of our entire team screaming and charging towards us.

Time management is a very important thing in everyone’s life. “Football at South Hadley High School teaches kids the ways of time management because my rules are very strict on being late. There are punishments for players who are frequently late to practice and other football outings” (Ferro) Being on time is important to all aspects of life. When you have a job when you’re an adult, it is unacceptable to be late to work. If you are late to a dentist appointment, you will miss your appointment. While in high school, football is your job. If you are late to you job too many times, you will be fired. Self confidence is another vital part to the sport of football and life as an adult. “Self-confidence is commonly defined as the sureness of feeling that you are equal to the task at hand.” (Karageorghis) In order to be successful in a football game, you need to know you are better than your opponent. You can not be skeptical about the outcome at all. When you enter a game knowing you are going to win, you will win. Self confidence is important to people whenever they want to accomplish something. Whether you are trying to get a promotion or trying to create your own business, self confidence is a necessity.

All of our teammates circle around the captains. They all start screaming different phases like “LET’S GO BOYS” or “THIS IS IT, THE TIME IS NOW!” While in the middle of that circle I raise my first and scream, “Each play today is being run in memory of Coach Baker. He is watching over us right now with the biggest grin on his face because he is proud of each one of us. He knows we can take down this team, OUR RIVAL, the East Longmeadow Spartans. LET GO DO IT! NEVER GIVE UP.” Immediately after yelling “never give up” the rest of the team yells “NEVER LET UP!” The whole team makes their way to the sideline, as our announcer Mr. Mulveyhill says, “If you will all please stand, and face the scoreboard side of the field for the playing of our national anthem.” Each player stands with their hands behind their back. As I looked around I noticed many players looking up to the sky. At this moment, I knew my team was going to win for Coach Baker.

As beneficial as football is, some kids never get the chance to experience it. A lot of kids want to play football, but are forbidden by their parents. Some parents think it is a reckless and dangerous sport, but don't see the benefits you gain from it. A survey of over 6,000 parents, one in three parents of boys prevent their kids from playing a sport. (Boufous) American football is the most common sport that parents prevent their kids from playing. Parents of kids with disabilities were 40 percent more likely to prevent their kids from playing a sport. (Boufous) For the past three years we have had a kid on our football team with a mental disability and to this day I believe it to be the single best thing he could have done with his high school experience. Not only did gain the friendship of most of the kids on the team, but he became more respected though out the school community. I think every boy should be able to at least try the sport of football and see if they like it. If they do happen to like it and make it to the high school level, they will learn things that they cannot be taught anywhere else.

“Break!” yells the offense as we break the huddle and get into our victory formation. “DOWN, SET, HIKE!” shouted our quarterback Sam Belsky. The scoreboard reads 47-6. Sam takes a knee and our sideline erupts in triumph. Our team turns to coach’s corner where all of our youth coaches and former players stood watching the game. (Coach’s Corner is a corner of the field where all of our youth football coaches watch every home game.) We all run to them and exchange hugs with all of our former youth coaches. They were all proud of us and it made the victory even better. At that moment I could feel Coach Baker looking down at us smiling.

Superstition Effects Human Behavior

Superstition Effects Human Behavior

Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth shows the effect that superstition has on a human when given a prophecy. While Macbeth and Banquo are walking home from the battle field they come across three witches that prophesize that Macbeth will soon become Thane of Cawdor and Glamis and that Banquo would father kings. They also said he would soon become King of Scotland. Once receiving this bold statement from the witches, Macbeth thinks nothing of it and continues to head home. Soon after, King Duncan, the current king of Scotland, goes to Macbeth’s house and informs him that he has become Thane of Cawdor and Glamis. Macbeth is obviously ecstatic about the news but this creates belief in the witches’ prophecy.

Superstition first affects Lady Macbeth’s behavior. Macbeth takes his rightful throne as Thane of Cawdor and Glamis. He then begins to believe that these prophecies will eventually come true. Once Lady Macbeth hears of this prophecy, she begins to get very greedy for the position as queen. Lady Macbeth decides that Macbeth should kill King Duncan so he could become King sooner. “When you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more a man” (1.7.54-56) this is a quote from Lady Macbeth to Macbeth bribing him to take Duncan’s life in order to take his throne as King. She is telling him that he would be much more a man if he did so. Lady Macbeth is beginning to act in a way that she never would have before she heard the prophecy. She is telling her own husband to go and commit a murder and that he will be more a man if he does. She is acting this way only because a witch in the woods predicted that it would happen. You can tell that this superstition is affecting Lady Macbeth’s behavior because she is asking her own husband to become a murderer. Soon after, Lady Macbeth drugs King Duncan’s guards so Macbeth can come in and slay King Duncan in his sleep.

The second person that is fully effected my superstition is Macbeth. King Duncan’s children, the rightful heir to the throne, fled Scotland because they feared their own lives. In doing so, it made them both look guilty for their father’s murder and freed the guilt from Macbeth and his wife. Macbeth was then given the position as King of Scotland. When Macbeth realizes that he had just got away with murder and received the honor of becoming King of Scotland, he starts to fully believe in the witches’ prophecy. This superstition begins to affect the way Macbeth is behaving. He remembers that the Sisters prophesized that Banquo would father kings. He decides that Banquo and Fleance must be exterminated in order to keep his throne. Macbeth hires three murderers to do the devilish deed. “O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!” (3.3.24) Banquo screams this out while he is being slayed by the murderers. Fleance is able to escape from the murderers. “We have lost best half of our affair.” (3.3.30) The second murderer says after they realize that they let Fleance get away. This shows how Macbeth’s behavior is being affected by the prophecy because he had hired murderers to kill his own friend.

Superstition continues to affect Macbeth’s behavior. Macbeth decides to find the witches again because he wants more prophecies. When he finds the Sisters, they show Macbeth three apparitions that tell him to beware of Macduff, that he shall be killed by a man that is born a woman, and that he will continue to be safe until the Birnam woods move. Meanwhile, Malcolm and Macduff are joining up with the English Forces so they can rebel against Macbeth and oust him from his throne. “As I did stand my watch upon the hill, I look’d toward Birnam and anon, methought, the wood began to move.” (5.5.36-38) A messenger said to notify Macbeth. One of the apparitions told Macbeth that he would only be save until the Birnam Forest began to move. Macbeth knew it was time for battle. During the battle, Macbeth runs into Macduff. He was warned by one of the apparition to beware of Macduff. Soon after, Macbeth is notified by Macduff that he was not born a woman, but prematurely torn from his mother. One of the apparitions told Macbeth that he could not be killed by a name born a woman. This time Macbeth boldly ignores the warning from the witches and battles Macduff anyways. Macduff then slays Macbeth, ending his time as King of Scotland.

In this story, there are many superstitions that are towards Macbeth. They also continue to affect his behavior throughout the story. Most of the time he listened to these superstitions and it affected the decisions he made and the kind of person he is. At the end of the story, he chooses to ignore one of the superstitions and in return, he is killed by one of the only men who could. Macbeth had been warned multiple times, but chose not to take the warning. Weather the superstitions are believed or not, Macbeth and his wife’s behavior is severely altered by superstition.

Siddhartha Comes to America

Siddhartha Comes To America

As I sit at the airport all by myself, I watch hundreds of people walk by me. I am waiting for the plane from India to release its passengers. On board is my good friend Siddhartha that I met while studying in India. Siddhartha asked if he could come visit me in America because he had never left Asia. I thought that this would be a great experience for Siddhartha. Moments later, Siddhartha comes off the plane and is walking towards me. He is wearing a loin cloth so it was very easy to pick him out from the crowd.

“Greetings my kind sir!” I said as Siddhartha walked up to me.

“Hello friend,” Said Siddhartha.

“How have you been?”

“I’ve been very peaceful.”

“Well that’s good. Are you ready to go back to my house? We have a big day planned for tomorrow.”

“Are we walking there?”

“Here in America, we use cars.”

“Oh!”

“You have a lot to learn”

Siddhartha and I leave the airport in my car to soon arrive at my house. It is getting late because Siddhartha’s plane was delayed by the Samanas lying in the runway for hours before they were removed. I decided I would give Siddhartha the couch to sleep on since I did not have a guest bed. As soon as Siddhartha sits on the couch he crossed his legs and rests his wrists on his knees. He begins to meditate on my couch and I didn’t really want to interrupt him while he was connecting with Atman.

“Make yourself at home, the remote is right here. You also have full access to the fridge too so take advantage of it” I said before I went up to my room.

“Thank you, sir.” Siddhartha responded

The morning comes and I walk down the stair while rubbing my eyes. Once I stop rubbing them and I get my sense of sight back I look at the surrounding area of the first floor of my house. There is food everywhere. Siddhartha ate everything in my house. I knew it was a bad idea to give him full access to the fridge. I then walk into the living room to confront Siddhartha. When I look at the couch, Siddhartha is missing. My heart jumps. The first thing that comes to my mind is that someone has kid napped Siddhartha. I feel terrible. Siddhartha is in America for one day and he already got abducted. I quickly run out the door and down the street screaming his name. The neighbors walking out to the street to receive their newspaper look at me like I’m crazy. I finally realize that I am taking the wrong approach to finding Siddhartha. I then walk back to my house to call the police. When I enter my house, I find Siddhartha sitting on my couch eating as breakfast sandwich from dunkin’ doughnuts.

“Siddhartha, where have you been?!” I said when I saw him.

“I took a cab to dunkin’ homie.” He responded

“Didn’t you eat enough last night, you ate all my food.”

“No way, José I’m still hungry.”

“Alright, you seem to be fitting in pretty good. Let me go get dressed so we can get out of here alright?”

“Sounds good”

After I get dressed, I grab Siddhartha from the living room and we hop into my car so I can show Siddhartha some of the fun things America has to offer.

“Are you excited?” I ask Siddhartha.

“For what, I don’t even know where we are going.” He quickly responds.

“Good” I said, “It’s a surprise!”

“Whatever you say mannn” Siddhartha responds

Twenty minutes passes when we go under a giant sign that says Six Flags. Siddhartha looks around with a puzzled look on his face. I could tell that he did not know what to make of the place. I knew Siddhartha had never seen an amusement park before so it seemed like the perfect place to bring him. Once we paid for our admission tickets, I asked Siddhartha what he wanted to ride on first. He pointed his finger at the superman. Knowing that the superman is the craziest rollercoaster at the park, I told him that we should start smaller. He insisted that we start with the superman. Finally I agreed with him and we headed over to the back of the line. While I stopped and waited at the end of the line, Siddhartha started pushing people out of his way to get to the front of the line. I had to get Siddhartha’s attention and tell him that we had to wait at the end of the line. After an hour, it is finally time for us a board the rollercoaster.

“Maybe we should have started with a smaller one!” Siddhartha exclaims as we climb the first big incline of the rollercoaster.

“It’s too late to turn back now.” I said as we reached the peak of the big drop.

Siddhartha put his hands up and screamed like a little girl the entire ride. Even when the ride stopped, Siddhartha was still screaming. After we got off the ride, the park became an obsession to Siddhartha. He sprinted from ride to ride until the place closed at the end of the day. By then I was exhausted. I was ready to go home and sleep, but not Siddhartha. All he wanted to do was learn more about America and what it has to offer. “I don’t have much time in America.” Siddhartha said. “I want to learn as much as I can.”

“One thing that people in America love is sleep” I said. “Lets go learn some more about that”

While driving back to my house my friend Bob called. He wanted to go downtown and go clubbing. I knew I was way too tired to go out. But instead I offered a suggestion.

“Hey Bob, why don’t you bring my friend Siddhartha” I said. “I’m sure he would love to go”

He accepted the offer and Siddhartha went out with Bob that night. Finally, I had silence and I didn’t have to sprint around the amusement park anymore. I could not wait to go to sleep. As soon as I could I was out like a light.

The next morning I found out that Siddhartha and Bob had a really good time and wanted to continue hanging out while Siddhartha was visiting America. At the end of the week Siddhartha decides he wants to stay in America and Bob becomes his roommate. Siddhartha is now one of our good friends and has never even thought of going back to Asia. Siddhartha had found his enlightment in America.

College Essay

Optimism

One thing that everyone has thought about at least once in their life is what is the key to happiness? The key to happiness can be explained in one word, optimism. With optimism you can overcome anything life throws at you. A positive outlook on things can change your whole perspective on any obstacle you might have to overcome in life. I feel that I have an optimistic view on life and its obstacles. So far, it has helped me tremendously with the decisions in my life. I believe that if everyone looked at life in an optimistic way, the world would be a better, more efficient place than it already is.

When someone loses a really close friend, or family member, it brings sorrow and mourning. Sometimes this sorrow can overwhelm a person for months, maybe even years. It is very hard for some people to get over it because they ask themselves questions: Is there something I could have done? Why did it have to happen? Why so soon? You can’t ask yourself these questions. You have to be positive at all times. When I lose a close friend or family member, the first thing I say to myself is, it was their time to go. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t mourn the death of a close one, what I am saying is this: If everyone looks at the death as a part of life, it will be much easier to overcome the sorrow that it will bring to you. This is just one example of having a positive outlook on things. Having this view on this situation could stop people from making bad decisions. For example, after the death of a close one, someone might attempt suicide, or gain a lot of weight. By looking at this situation in a positive way, you won’t gain any weight and won’t do harmful things to your body.

Optimism doesn’t only help you with long term decisions; it also helps with short term decisions. In my life, I have a gut instinct that I always automatically follow, without even thinking about it. More times than not, this gut instinct I received when it came time to make a decision was exactly the decision I should have made. When you are optimistic, you look at each decision you make and feel you have made the right decision, making you never upset about your choices. If I do make a choice and it does more wrong than right, I use it as a well learned lesson. I try to grow off of the lesson I learn causing me to make the right decision next time. I believe that each decision you make, good and bad, is just preparation for future obstacles.

The next type of optimism that I will talk about is when you use a failure to drive yourself to do better. For example, an extremely talented high school football team makes it though the entire season undefeated and only has one game left to make it a perfect season. The team plays as hard as they can, but the opponent is a physically stronger team and ends up winning instead. An optimistic person, like myself, would notice that we lost because of lack of physical strength. I would then grow off of this. Each day of the off season I would use losing that game as my motivation to be better. If I workout all off season, and go into next season that much stronger, I might be able to have the perfect season that was shattered last year because of a lack of strength. This type of motivation can be used in other places in life as well. Whether it’s in school, at work, or just anytime you would like to improve yourself, you can use motivation to get what you want.

At this point in my life, I have been a very happy and successful young adult. I hope to continue this when applying for colleges. During the college process you need both motivation, and good decision making. Most people will get very stressed out in this chapter of their lives for two reasons. One reason is that there are so many colleges and majors out there; it is hard to just pick one. Another is thought that this is the beginning to the rest of your life. Your success and failure in life, for the most part, will be reflected upon this decision and your performance in college. While I am in the process of selecting my college, I will use a tool that I have been using for a while, optimism. I will look at this as a fun, eventful part of my life. I will motivate myself to look at new colleges and do research about them to figure out if I will fit in there. The decision I make in the end will definitely be the right one. How do I know this? I know this because a mix of the research I do and my gut instinct, will make the decision for me. This normally very stressful situation was turned into a very easy and fun one with just a little sense of optimism. I mean come on, getting rid of stress, overcoming sorrow, and never being upset about your choices would make anyone happy, wouldn’t you agree?