The Strength of Tragedy

What makes us stronger? Last years devastating blasts at the Boston Marathon had a profound effect on Boston. It made the people of Boston stronger.  On April 15, 2013, three innocent lives were lost and hundreds injured by the bomb that scattered packed nails, ball bearings and metal shards. What were the two alleged bombers, brothers, hoping for? What was there motivation to hurt others? In the novel Stronger by Jeff Bauman, the theme tragedy makes us stronger, is portrayed not only in Jeff Bauman, but the city of Boston.

The novel began with the marathon bombings, “And then I heard it. The explosion. Not like a bomb in a movie, not a big bang, but three pops, one after another,” (4). You would expect it to become hazy after the initial explosion, however, it got clearer.  Jeff Bauman was transported to the ICU section of Boston Medical, and there is life was changed forever. His legs were amputated, making him unable to walk for the the rest of his life. “People always want to know how I felt in those first days. Was I guilty that I hadn’t done more to stop the bombing? Was I angry? Was I afraid? Was I Boston Strong? No, I was happy to be alive,” (47). After the bombings, the recovery phase began. The conflict, person vs. self was not only in the physical pain Jeff Bauman had to endure, however, also internal challenges he had to overcome later at the  Spalding Rehabilitation Center. “But Spaulding wasn’t a community. It was the Island of Misfit Toys. Nobody wanted to be there, but were broken, so we had nowhere else to go… And just like the toys on the island, we all had one goal: to get out,” (96).

                  ****WARNING****SPOILER ALERT**** WATCH OUT****

In the resolution of the novel, Jeff Bauman sets a goal that no one could believe. He will walk in under a year. “There was nothing more his doctors could do. His legs would be this way for the rest of his life. Learning to walk again, and whatever happened after that was up to him… I’m walking,” (127).  However, walking it is not as simple as many think. “But I wasn’t done. And I wasn’t free. I could see that as soon as the first light crept through my blinds every morning. My first thought was always to stand up and walk, ” (136).  Just as  Jeff Bauman thought he would never be able to walk again, the Red Sox’s called and wanted him to throw the first pitch. “The crowd was no there feet. It was loud, and as Carlos rolled me to the middle of the infield, it kept getting louder,” (144). As the ball sailed through the air the crowd erupted.  Six months after the bombing, Jeff Bauman was back at Fenway Park, however, this time he was different. He was walking. “I wasn’t special. I was only one in the crowd of millions. this is our story, not mine. We were together- the Fenway crowd, Boston, all the good people of the world- and that made us unbreakable,” (240).

                                                           ***Spoiler Over***

In conclusion, the theme, tragedy makes us stronger, was the hidden core of the Boston Marathon Bombings. The last year has been unbelievable for the city of Boston. However, one thing that was believable was the way Boston and Jeff Bauman came together at such dark times. It began with pain and tragedy, however, it ended with Boston and Jeff Bauman proving one thing to the world. No matter what happens, what anyone tries to do to the city of Boston, we always find a way together, to become stronger.

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Found Poem: What If?

How to Luck Out in Life

Jeff Bauman knew exactly when his life changed. 2:48 p.m on April 15 2013, one minute before one of the most high-profile terrorist on United States soil, was standing right next him. “We were half a block from the finish line of the Boston Marathon, two in a crowd of half a million,” (1). The Boston Marathon  is the signature event of Patriot’s Day, which celebrates Paul Revere’s ride and the local militiamen who fought the first battle of the American Revolution.  Jeff Bauman had arrived early to support his girlfriend Erin, who was running for charity. “Everywhere I looked, people were cheering and clapping, yelling for them to keep going, the finish line was close, and they were almost there,” (1).  Then Jeff Bauman noticed Tsarnaev.  A foot away, Tsarnaev stood wearing sunglasses, a white baseball cap and a hooded jacket. “No doubt. no remorse. The guy was a rock,” (2). Tsarnaev turned toward Jeff and stared at him.  Jeff moved forward to catch a better glimpse of the finish line, and when he turned his head over his shoulder, Tsarnaev was not there. Only a backpack.  What was in that backpack, changed the lives of many including Jeff Bauman forever.

In the pre-bomb setting of the novel Stronger by Jeff Bauman, Jeff could be considered the ‘ordinary’. He grew-up living with his mom in a small suburb in Massachusetts. After a few years Jeff set out to become an engineer. However, that didn’t work out. Bauman had student loans to cover most of his costs, however, ended up owing nine hundred dollars, and could not register for the next semester.  “I started working part-time in the deli at Costco. I figured I’d take another semester off, work at Costco, and see if I could save nine-hundred dollars. Three years, later, I was stilling working at the Costco deli counter,” (14). Jeff enjoyed his work, it was easy and he loved his coworkers. From his work at Costco he met Erin, Jeff’s future girlfriend.  “We hit it off right away. She later told me what she liked most about me was that I was so nice. Ouch, E. That kind of stings,”(16). Eleven months later, Jeff was cheering on his girlfriend, who was running the Boston Marathon for charity. Jeff and his friends cheered her on when Erin passed mile 18 in Newton, near Heartbreak Hill, the hardest climb on the course. When Erin was near Jeff they took a group picture and Jeff told her that he will be at the finish line. At this turning point in the novel, many had no idea of what horrific event would happen next. “And then she was gone, up the slope toward Heartbreak Hill It seemed so trivial at the time, like the most ordinary thing in the world. I guess that’s usually how it is before bad luck, or random chance, changes your life, ” (21).

The setting and exposition of the novel, Stronger, could be viewed as a symbol of how life can change that any moment. Jeff Bauman was at the Boston Marathon to support and cheer on his girlfriend. However, bad luck and random chance had the ability to change his life forever. Just like flight MH370 from Kulala Lumpur to Beijing, flight MH370 was supposed to be an ordinary six hour flight.  However, it turned out not to be. It was out of random chance that out of all the planes that were in the sky at the time, the people on board of MH370 turned out to be unlucky. Life can change at any moment, right now, tomorrow or in a year, however, there is not always a way to prevent it. Life should be lived. Jeff Bauman was nearly killed in a bombing, however, he had the ability to get back up, and appreciate his life once again.

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The End of an Era for Pitbulls

A pit-bull, a dog that descended from the Old English Terrier and the Old English Bulldog, is a dog that combined the athleticism of a bulldog and the gameness of a terrier. They were used for dog-fighting, thus giving them a  natural aggression. Pit bulls are outlawed in many places across the world, however, the question is, why?

In the resolution of the novel What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell, many of Gladwell’s best writing for the New Yorker was exposed. In Part three of the three part novel, the last chapters were about personality, character and intelligence. From the Most Likely to Succeed to Dangerous Minds the last chapters of this novel where full of those three characteristics (Personality, character and intelligence).  However, what caught my eye was the last chapter, Troublemakers, or what Pit Bulls can teach us about crime.

One sunny winter afternoon, “Guy Clairoux picked up his two and a half year son, Jayden, from day care and walked him back to their home in the west of Ottawa. Jayden was straggling behind, and, as his father’s back was turned a pit bull jumped over a back- yard fence and lunged at Jayden,” (394).  One pit-bull had had is mouth on Jaydens head. Jayden father “Punched the first dog in the head, until it dropped Jayden, and then he threw the boy towards his mother,” (394).  A neighbor watched in terror and screamed for help, until a neighborhood boy came running with a hockey stick. In, the end, no one died or was severely injured, Lucky. However, the questions still remain, why are all pit-bulls restricted in places across the world? “When we say that pit-bulls are dangerous, we are making a generalization, just as insurance company’s use generalizations when they charge young men more for car insurance then the rest of us,” (396).  They assume that young men will cause more damage, even though many young men are perfectly fine drivers. That is why pit bulls are banned. “Because we don’t which dog will bite someone,” (396). Just as in my rising action post, many dog owners can’t even dare to think that their cute, adorable dogs are dangerous and that is the reason that these kind of events happen.

In the end of the novel, I was very satisfied with the resolution. Pit bulls where banned in Ottawa, however, are all pit bulls dangerous? Of course not all. Many have proven to be some of the best dogs in the world, however, even though a small fraction are dangerous, they have caused a huge effect on the rest of the pit bull population.  Again, “It’s always easier to ban a breed,” (410).

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The Hidden Secrets of Ketchup

Have you ever wonder to yourself  “Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard but only one variety of ketchup?” Well, before reading the exposition of the novel What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell, I had never thought about it. To be honest I am not quite a fan of mustard, however, ketchup earned the sauce of my early childhood award. I would put it on my food that I absolutely hated. It was a way to hide myself from the food I didn’t like and make it taste more of what seemed familiar to me.

“There are five known fundamental tastes in the human plate: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umani,”(44). Heinz, the leader in sales of the worlds ketchup wanted to push their ketchup to have all of these five tastes in one dip of their ketchup. They set out on a  extensive market- research project were researchers would go into households to watch he way ketchup was being used.  One key lesson Heinz had learned from this experiment is that “Small children tend to be neophobic; once they hit two or three, they shrink from new tastes,”(46). When a two or three year old “Was confronted with something strange on his plate- tuna fish, perhaps, or Brussels sprouts- he wanted to alter his food in some way that made the unfamiliar familiar,”(46). Thinking to my past I could always remember myself getting a plate of pasta that I didn’t favor and putting ketchup on it to make it taste good.I had wanted to subdue  the content on my plate.  “Ketchup could deliver sweet and sour and salty and bitter and umani, all at once,” (46). Thinking back to when I was in my early childhood, this scared me. Every time I was confronted with something new or different and forced to eat it I would let ketchup do the job of hiding that fear of eating something utterly disgusting.

Even to this day, I still sometimes use ketchup when I am made to eat something new.  The next time, however, when I get the ketchup from the fridge,  I will remember this book and put the ketchup back and try something new.

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The New Beginning (GIFS Included)

          **** WARNING**** SPOILER ALERT**** PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

The moment when you notice that you have done nothing for five days

The moment you are so angry you can’t control yourself

When you realise that you have cut off your own arm

When you are rescued after five days alone in a canyon

Having no sleep for over 127 hours

 

When you notice that you have been laying in a hospital bed for over 24 hours unconscious

 

This is a series of GIFS for my independent novel Between a Rock and a Hard Place, by Aron Ralston.  The Gifs depicts what occurs in the resolution of 127 Hours. “Without even the minimal distraction,  I have nothing whatsoever to do. I have no life… I am just waiting” (277). Aron has continuous been doing the same things ever-day for over a course for five days. However, this all changes when Aron can’t hold himself in anymore. “I scream out in pure hate, shrieking as I batter my body to and fro against the walls, losing every bit of composure that I’ve struggled so intensely to maintain” (279).  Eventually Aron, has only one option left to save himself. Amputate his own hand. ” I don’t want it. It is not a part of me. It’s garbage.  Throw it away Aron. Be rid of it” (279).  Then, Aron commits the unthinkable.  After amputating his hand off, Aron walks for over seven miles almost bleeding to death until rescue arrivals.  “Before I pass out again, my single thought is ‘ I am Alive’ ” (328). Aron wakes up to find himself laying on a hospital bed in Colorado. Aron has had no sleep for over 127 hours and that streak has been ended now.  After over fifteen surgeries Aron goes through a rehabilitation process and recovers very fast. Aron had to say good-bye to his old life, however, “Saying Farewell is also bold and powerful beginning” (342).

 

Citations:

“Called by the Natural World – Durango Telegraph.” Called by the Natural World – Durango Telegraph. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.

GIFS found at: http://www.thatssotrue.com

The Brink of Death

Have you ever wonder what it would feel like to have your arm entrapped by an 800 pound boulder ( I am guessing that it isn’t the greatest feeling)? When Aron Ralston an outdoor fanatic sets out on a hike in the remote Utah canyon-lands at the Blue-John Canyon, far away from any civilazation  the unthinkable happens. An 800 – pound boulder tumbling’s loss and heads to crush Aron’s arm and learns that “If you want to get to Heaven, you have to go through hell”(88).

In the rising action of the novel Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron has endure 72 hours (Three days) of having his arm entrap in the boulder and is near the brink of death. With most of his water and food supplies gone, Aron has only three options left. Trying to wait for rescue (Very unlikely to find him alive), commit suicide, or amputate his arm off.  With temperatures slowly dropping-leaving Aron exposed to wrath hypothermia, which is slowly killing him.  Hardly having any sleep at night, Aron is affect by sleep deprivation and is very slowly losing him mind. Throughout his entrapment, Aron has finally understood that “It’s me. I chose this. I chose all of this-this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. I’ve been moving towards it my whole life.” There is no one to blame for what has happen to him.

Much like the my recent independent novel, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, both Aron and Jon face a constant Human vs. Nature conflict. Jon sets out to climb one of the most challenging mountains of all. Mt. Everest. Many have died trying for this ultimate accomplishment and have gotten lost in the mist of their overconfidence.  As many climbers begin the final ascent to the summit, many forget the unstoppable power of mother- nature. Above the ‘Death Zone’ a blizzard comes out of nowhere and changes the lives of many of the climbers forever.

In Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron sets out alone, without telling any of his friends where he is heading off to.  He is confident that he will make it back in time to Aspen Colorado, his home, just how Jon was sure that he was coming back from Mt. Everest alive. But this time all of Aron’s experience and confidence of not running into any trouble was wrong. “You’ll never find your limits until you’ve gone too far,” (206) however, this time Aron gone way too far from his set limits, and like what Jon did in the novel Into Thin Air, got over- themselves. Aron entrapped both in his mind and body and “longs to see his family again, but he knows that he has entered the protractedly dismal final countdown to his death” (213). Will he ever see life again?

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The Cost of Life

In April of 2003, Aron Ralston goes on a solo-hike trip in the remote Utah canyon-lands.  Born with a strive for an adventure, Aron sets out to a hike in one of the many Canyon National Park in Utah.  After spending half of the day with two young women he meet on the hike, Ralston parts way and continues on into the Blue John Canyon. ” I see another five chockstones, all the size of larger refrigerators. wedged at varying heights off the canyon-floor like a boulder gauntlet. (21) Aron slides under the coupe suspend chockstone, and encounters a chockstone about the size of a large bus tire, stuck in the channel between the walls, a few feet out from lip.” (22) Ralston begins to climb over the massive stone and instantly knows it trouble. “As I dangle, I feel the stone respond to my adjusting grip with a scraping quake as my body’s weight applies enough torque to disturb it from its position” (23) He lets go of the rotating boulder and lands on the small rocks below. “The next three seconds play out at a tenth of their normal speed.” (23) At 2:41 pm, a eight hundred pound boulder tumbles loose and heads to entrap Aron’s right arm.

As young people in a huge world, many of us have had to face a obstacle with a unavoidable consequence (Maybe not as severe as boulder heading to crush your body).  In these situation our choices decide define our fate. ” My only hope is to push off the falling rock and get my head out its way” (23). Aron is able to avoid death, however, this came at a cost. His left arm is stuck in between a eight hundred pound boulder in the middle of nowhere. He had chose to go on even when the young women told him to join them in a shorter walk back. He also could have told his friends he was on a hike. Aron eventually calms down from his adrenaline rush, and slowly begins to eliminated his escape plans one by one.  His choice of rather not dying and getting his left arm stuck between a boulder has spared his life. For now. Time goes by and Ralston comes to a conclusion that, “If I don’t get out, I’m gong to lose more than my hand.” (27). In obstacles that come with a consequence of death, overcoming it may be harder than enduring the ultimate cost. Life.

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Arrogance: Beliving that Sagarmathaji Can be Tamed

As survivor form the 1996 Everest Disaster, Jon Krakauer struggles to find his life that has been buried underneath the Everest Disaster. From the ongoing thoughts of the disaster, Krakauer simply can only blame himself for what happened that one night. Krakauer can’t even do anything about it, “I cried for my lost companions, I cried because I was grateful to be alive, I cried because I felt terrible for having survived while others had died” (Krakauer 279). Krakauer is stroke  with questions about the incident, attempting to answer them in a number of ways. Hypoxia, or the influence of high altitude on decision-making, perception and memory further distorts everyone’s accounts of what happened there, and makes it even more difficult to figure out how and why.

*Spoiler Alert*

In the resolution of the novel Into Thin Air, Krakauer concludes that  arrogance is to blame for the tragedy that took place on Mt.Everest in 1996.  Scott Fischer (One of the guides in the novel) had told many people that he had”built a yellow brick road to the summit” (86). Many guides have even thought that any average person could summit this mountain. Rob Hall (Another Mt. Everest guide in the novel) “bragged on more than one occasion that he could get almost any reasonably fit person to the summit” (354). Confidence is essential in the guide service and attracting clients to Mt. Everest, however, Hall and Fischer’s view is bring this to a whole new level. Their arrogance also causes many of their clients to lower their guard, and not appreciate the the expedition and effort of climbing Mt. Everest. The Guide service is supposed to make things easier for climbers, but there are many issues that remain completely out of the guides control like the unpredictable mother nature. A can rock falling can kill any one at any given moment (It almost did to one of the protagonist’s friends on the trip), an avalanches and storms can strike without any slight warning, and no matter how prepared a guide is to face these obstacles he or she cannot avoid these factors and situations. Believing that one has all the factors for summiting the Mighty Mt. Everest under control is not the way a guide service should ever  be run.

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Arrogance

Into Thin Time

This is a magazine cover for the novel Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.  The quotes that I included in magazine are some of the most important key ideas during the rising action/ climax (I also hand-drew the mountain).  As the eleven climbers in the Mountain Madness Expedition group lead by Rob Hall, begin to climb up higher and higher in the mountain, they notice Mt. Everest is no easy accomplishment. Many die trying to climb Mt. Everest, however, most of these unfortunate deaths are forgotten and avoided. As the climbers begin their final ascent to the summit, many have forgotten the unstoppable power of mother -nature. And it might be to late to save them…