“All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances; each man in his time plays many parts.” Those words were penned nearly five hundred years ago by the playwright William Shakespeare, yet the message expressed in them still endures in today’s world. We each enact a variety of roles throughout our life, but unlike actors, we are not always given the choice in the parts we play. Daughter, sister, friend, scholar, and athlete are only a number of the assorted roles I currently portray. The above mentioned roles however, are bequeathed to me, they are not necessarily the ones I would choose for myself. I am much more than someone’s shoulder to cry on, a varsity cross country runner, and a straight “A“ student. I am a hopeless romantic, a harmonious individual, and an unyielding force when it comes to my convictions.
Hans Christen Andersen fabricated a fairy tale based upon it. Black Sabbath sang a song about it. Doc Brown from Back to the Future did it, as did Captain Kirk from Star Trek. What was it they did? They time traveled. If I could have but one wish, it would be to defy the fourth dimension of our universe and meander through history. There are many moments when I feel that I was born into the wrong century. It is not that I do not appreciate the luxuries of the modern world, I do; heaven only knows how I would function without my laptop and music system. Then however, there are instances when I honestly believe that I could give all of it up for a world filled with elegantly dressed women, and courteous, refined men. To a great extent, I am a hopeless romantic at heart. Put simply, I do believe in true love and fairy tales. I am an idealist, a sentimental dreamer, and a imaginative, fanciful person. The things I read and the movies I watch greatly reflect this. Jane Austen’s works particularly fascinate me. All of her novels generally conclude with the heroine finding her hero and marrying him. Her characters: Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Emma Woodhouse and George Knightley, Marianne Dashwood and Christopher Brandon, all seem to have been created for each other. In a world full of Facebook hookups, and text message break-ups it is nice to imagine that one person out of the six billion on this planet is sculpted just for us. Nicholas Sparks also plays heavily on the idea of an everlasting romance. In the 2004 film The Notebook, based upon his novel, two young lovers are separated for years because of their social differences, but then reunite later in life thanks to a chance article in the local newspaper. Today, we live in a cynical world, full of scientists and their explanations. The worlds of both Jane Austen’s and Nicholas Spark’s characters were much different. Their eras were full of galas and ornate houses, or small town ice cream socials, and late night dances down by the river. During their eras, there was no scientific data to disprove the existence of miracles. I do believe in miracles, no matter how miniscule or life changing. To quote George Sand, a French writer, “there is but one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.”
Although my head is often in the clouds, spinning with dreams of fairy tales and Prince Charming, many times I am surprised by my composure in every situation. I am the person friends turn to when they are in need of advice. I am the person to whom parents entrust their children’s safety . Most importantly of all, I am a peacemaker. The one thing I detest more than anything is violence. Contact sports? Not my thing. Fights in the hallways? I turn and walk quickly in the opposite direction. Intense, gory movies? I cringe. The list goes on and on. It is my belief that we are all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get wherever it is that we are going. It is a good boat. There is no need to rock it just to show that we can. As we mature, each of us discovers our own unique talents. This year, I have uncovered one of mine. I work well under stress. In fact, I thrive when placed under a time constraint or deadline. My first period class, Advanced Placement World History, is a prime example of this. Essays are the basis for the class, and more often than not, they are timed. We are typically given ten minutes to plan. Those brief seconds are crucial, they essentially make or break an essay. I love those anxious, nerve wracking moments. The rush I get is indescribable. Classmates rapidly fire questions at me, and I calmly, thoroughly answer each in turn. Then, just like that, the stress is gone and so is my surge of adrenaline. Those brief moments however, are enough to make me realize how well I cope with pressure.
Coping with pressure has proved to be a valuable trait both in the classroom and out. People change; this I learned the hard way. Individuals I have looked up to in previous years have lost all my respect. The decisions they have made, though not wrong in t
, though not wrong in their eyes, have destroyed any ounce of admiration I may have once had for them. My parents have never been the kind to give me a speech on the dangers of drugs and the risks of sex. They have never sat me down and said “no, those things are wrong and you cannot do them.“ Yet, on my own, I have adhered to a strong code of ethics that many teenagers seem to be lacking. Seldom is a crude or crass word heard coming from me. I have never “experimented” with anything: drugs, sex, and alcohol included. People around me have though. It is those people who have destroyed the friendship we had together. As a result of my beliefs, I have often been labeled a “goody-goody”. This used to trouble me. Today it does not. There was a time when I would have done anything to be accepted by others. That time is past. I have learned, through my own experiences, that it takes more to stand out from a crowd than to fit into it. I will not conform to suit a warped standard of “cool
I will not change who I am to be respected by my peers. I will not sacrifice myself or my convictions for anyone or anything.
There are many definitions of the word “self.” It takes on a different connotation to each individual who encounters it. For some, their “self” is defined by material things. For others, “self” is defined by what they see in the mirror. For me, “self” is defined not by what I own, or what is reflected in glass, it is defined by my thoughts, my actions, and my beliefs. I am a dreamer. I am a pacifist. I am an innocent in an unkind world. I am, Sarah.
Well, from what I read (your essay randomly cut off), I would title it…"Rush," or "Pressure." This essay seems to say something more about your life and the aspects of it so maybe you want to title it upon those details. Something like, "Alive," or "Routine." But you don’t really seem to be describing your everyday actions…Maybe something like, "The Works…" I don’t know… Okay, I got it! You can title it, "I am Sarah." This is what I got and I hope it narrows your ideas a bit. (By the way, the writing is great) Good luck!
The facts below were recently
published in one of the German magazines
which deals with World History:
India never invaded any country in her
last 10,000 years of history.
India invented the Number System.
Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
The World’s first university was
established in Takshila in 700BC.
More than 10,500 students from all
over the world studied more than 60
subjects. The University of Nalanda
built in the 4th century CE was
one of the greatest achievements of
ancient India in the field of
education.
Sanskrit is the mother of all higher
languages. Sanskrit is the most
precise and therefore suitable
language for the computer software – a
report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of
medicine known to humans. Charaka,
the father of medicine consolidated
Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today
Ayurveda is fast regaining its
rightful place in our civilization. It
is the only system which takes the
holistic view of the person being
treated.
Although modern images of India often
show poverty and lack of
development, India was the richest
country on earth until the time the
British invaded and plundered India in the early 17th Century.
Christopher Columbus was attracted
by her wealth and was looking for
a route to India when he discovered
the American continent by mistake.
The art of Navigation was born in the
river Sindh 6000 years ago. The
very word Navigation is derived from
the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The
word navy is also derived from
Sanskrit ‘Nou’.
Bhaskaracharya calculated the time
taken by the earth to orbit the sun
hundreds of years before the
astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to
orbit the sun: (5th century)
365.258756484 days. The value of ‘pi’ was
first calculated by Budhayana, and he
explained the concept of what is now
known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He
discovered this in the 6th
century long before the European
mathematicians.
Algebra, trigonometry and calculus
came from India. Quadratic
equations were propounded by
Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The
largest numbers the Greeks and the
Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus
used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to
the power of 53) with specific
names as early as 5000 BCE during the
Vedic period. Even today, the
largest used number is Tera: 10**12(10
to the power of 12). According to the
Gemological Institute
of America, up until 1896,India was the
only source for diamonds
to the world. USA based IEEE
has proved what has been a century old
suspicion in the world’s
scientific community that the pioneer
of wireless communication was
Prof. Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
The earliest reservoir and dam for
irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
accorrding to Saka King Rudradaman I
of 150 CE a beautiful lake aptly
called ‘Sudarshana’ was constructed
on the hills of Raivataka during
Chandragupta Maurya’s time.
Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was
invented in India.
Sushruta is the father of surgery.
2600 years ago he and health
scientists of his time conducted
complicated surgeries like cesareans,
cataract, artificial limbs, fractures,
urinary stones and even plastic
surgery and brain surgery. Usage of
anesthesia was well known in
ancient India. Over 125 surgical
equipments were used. Deep knowledge
of anatomy, physiology, etiology,
embryology, digestion, metabolism,
genetics and immunity is also found in
many texts.
When many cultures were only nomadic
forest dwellers over 5000 years
ago, Indians established Harappan
civilization in the Sindhu Valley( also known as the Indus Valley
Civilization).
The place value system, the decimal
system was developed in India in 100 BC.
Quotes about India
Albert Einstein said:
We owe a lot to the Indians, who
taught us how to count, without which
no worthwhile scientific discovery
could have been made.
Mark Twain said:
India is,
the cradle of the human race,
the birthplace of human speech,
the mother of history,
the grandmother of legend,
and the great grand mother of
tradition.
our most valuable and most instructive
materials in the
history of man are treasured up in
India only.
French scholar Romain Rolland said:
If there is one place on the face of
earth where all the dreams of
living men have found a home from the
very earliest days when man
began the dream of existence, it is
India.
Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to
USA said:
India conquered and dominated China
culturally for 20 centuries
without ever having to send a single
soldier across her border.
Facts about Indians in America!
38% of Doctors in America are Indians.
12% of Scientists in America are
Indians.
36% of NASA employees are Indians.
34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians
28% of IBM employees are Indians
17% of INTEL employees are Indians
13% of XEROX employees are Indians
grapekid while u do that dont forget to thank the Indians for inventing the number system thanks to which u cud type what u just did!peace….
ok, i didnt read ALLL of it, but damn! lol, you get a star, i didn tknow all of that!
Inventions, such as railroads and the incandescent light bulb, made expansion possible, modernized life, and allowed the national economy to reach for the sky. Electricity made mass production possible by increasing efficiency and speed, thus quickly increasing the size of industries. The steam-powered locomotive created a fast way to cross the country while carrying large amounts of supplies. Advances in communications affected the industry by providing faster and cheaper means of communication. The technological advances created by the inventors of the Guilded Age forever changed the United States.
The invention of the steam-powered locomotive dominated the Guilded Age, changing the United States drastically both economically and geographically (Hoogenboom, “Railroads…”). Inspired by success in Britain, railroads began to be built in the late 1820s. By the end of the 1850s railroad mileage reached thirty thousand miles. By 1860 one could get to anywhere east of the Mississippi River from New York in a week or less. During the Civil War, the large railroad system geared towards the North made it possible for the Union to win, because of the quick access to supplies (Gervase). The steam-powered locomotive was literally the force pulling the many changes.
Travel that at one time would have been hazardous and taken months, was shortened to a matter of days while sleeping all due to the invention of the steam-powered locomotive (Hoogenboom, “Railroads…”). The new faster and safer means of transportation made the travel to the West more attractive and practical. The federal government opened up the west by funding the building of railroads (Newton et al. 335). The increased access to supplies aloud towns in the West to form and cities to expand. The quickly developing cities moved economic and political power west. On May 10, 1869 the nation’s first transcontinental railroad was complete (Gervase). This achievement linked the United States together forming a national economy, by enabling farmers in the west to ship their products the North faster and cheaper (Hoogenboom, “Railroads…”). The invention of the steam-powered locomotive was one of the most important inventions during expansion.
Before the invention of electricity, America was dark and only lit by oil lamps (Josephson 33). Electricity was a newer, better, easier to transport, and more efficient source of energy that revolutionized life. One of the first Americans to adapt to arc lighting, an early 19th century technology that used an electric arc between carbon rods, was Charles F. Brush. Thomas Edison had then invented a better form of electrical lighting, the incandescent light bulb.
In stores and business places there was a strange glow last night. The dim flicker of gas, often subdued and debilitated by grim and uncleanly globes, was supplanted by a steady glare, bright and mellow, which illuminated interiors and shone through windows fixed an unwavering. It was the glowing incandescent lamps of Edison, used last evening for the first time in practical illumination of the first districts into which the city had been divided (“Edison’s …” 94).
Eventually Edison began testing for wider uses of electricity in 1882 in New York City when he laid wiring as part of a direct current (DC) system, creating a prototype of the modern power grid. The electric transformer was invented in 1885 to better control the new. Edison went on to establish one of the first power companies, giving him a monopoly on electrical energy, for the time being. In 1886 George Westinghouse developed an alternating current (AC). AC, capable of higher voltage, was better at carrying electricity over long distances efficiently that DC was (Sendrow). When Thomas Edison tried to make DC powered motors he was unsuccessful because they were so low power. When Frank J. Sprague began to develop better DC motors but were still less economical than steam power. Later on AC motors were be invented by Nikola Tesla. Edison realized that DC was limited and so he merged with Thomas Houstan, who also had patents on AC, in 1892.
The invention of electricity caused factories to increase production ten fold. When AC motors were perfected in 1910, it became possible to create electrically powered industrial machinery and home appliances.
Daily life in the home, in the streets, and in shops and factories was directly affected by the new inventions of urban transportation, lighting, heating, and mechanization, all fueled by electricity, a source of power that was largely more efficient, cheaper, safer, and more versatile than the technologies it replaced (Faue).
Manufacturers were the first to take advantage of electricity’s cheap cost, broad applicability and increased availability. Electrical machines helped to produce canned goods and meat products, cigarettes, wheat flour, and milk. Electric motors were able to link multiple machines together through belts and wires, which aloud multiple process to be powered by one motor, while monitoring the process through gauges and meters. For that reason, coal and oil
driven motors were replaced by electric motors and by doing so increased efficiency and lowered production costs (Faue). Electric motors were placed into assembly lines, raising industrial efficiency by about fifty percent (Josephson 33). The huge increases in efficiency aloud manufacturers to create more, do it faster, and for less thus greatly increasing the economic power of the industries and made mass production possible. “Between 1899 and 1919, the use of electric power increased from 1.8 percent of industrial production in 1899 to 31.7 percent” (Faue).
Within private households, domestic jobs were modernized through the wide uses of electrical power. The number of houses that were set to use electricity changed drastically during the first three decades of the 20th century, going from eight percent in 1907, to thirty four percent in 1920, to seventy percent in 1930. Electricity opened up the use of house appliances such as electric fans, refrigerators, sewing machines, washing
machines, toasters, mixers, and vacuums drastically changed the labor of women who worked within the home. The wide availability of electricity made it possible for more people to afford and be able to use radios for entertainment and news. The standardization of wiring made electricity easier to afford, which enabled a much larger group of people to use it (Faue).
Advances in communications that made it cheaper and faster, overwhelmingly changed the economy. By 1870 most American communities had instant touch with each other through telegraph (Hoogenboom, “Communications…”). “…rising electrical manufacturing businesses formed the context for the telephone” (Sterling). Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone demonstration at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 made a great impression, but its large impact waited (Hoogenboom, “Communications…”). At first the telephone had some technical and financial problems. Many businesses did not trust the new invention of voice-only
communication preferring to stick with the telegraph. Given that no company wanted to purchase Bell’s patents, and so Bell’s backers were forced to develop their own system. Telephone service developed slowly until Bell’s patents expired in 1893. The first telephone switchboard was placed in New Haven, Connecticut, in early 1878, and showed how it had greater efficiency over individual lines. Among businesses, newspapers were quick to utilize the telephone. When Bell’s patents finally expired in 1893 hundreds of other companies entered the market, though most of their prices were lower they were poorly capitalized (Sterling). Bell System, by then known as American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T), became the leading telephone company after 1900. By 1900 1.4 million (one for every 54 Americans) telephones had been sold (Hoogenboom, “Communications…”). Companies could now have conversations with buyers and take orders from around the country enabling the possibility of a nationally known
company, and AT&T had a monopoly on it. “The telephone was on its way to becoming the "nervous system" of the 20th-century metropolis—the conqueror of time, space, and solitude, and an instrument used to bring the human family into closer touch” (Hoogenboom, “Communications…”).
The inventions that advanced transportation, energy uses, and communication modernized the United States, each one depending on the advances of the other. The steam-powered locomotive made it possible to expand the United States’ boundaries and supply the nation with goods. Electricity had then taken advantage of the rapidly growing cities to give a central source of power to each. Finally the telephone took advantage of electric power and the newly wide spread United States to speak to others from around the nation. Without these inventions expansion and industrialization would not have ever occurred. Inventions of the Guilded Age revolutionized life in America and helped it to thrive.
please just write out the sentence or section that you made changes to, with the change hilighted or underlined or even just bolded… thank you
This is a great report. Good luck on it.