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Essay I Kairos

My senior year was the most thrilling roller coaster in the world. I don’t have enough time to write about all that now, I’m here to explain my Kairos experience. Since the first day of school the teachers had told us all about how we are a catholic school, and we have to go to these retreats as a class. I was also told that senior year there was this retreat that lasted a week called Kairos. I’m here writing about it but i almost did go. The trip was $300 and I really wasn’t going through 3 Bills for 4 days away from everything I love at home. My principle talked to me and a couple teachers told me to go. With all that they had to say, I decided to go and drop the money. 

Back then I was living with my grandparents because my mom and brothers had left the state. They went to pennsylvania with her boyfriend to get him help, He suffers from als. A lot of time pasted in between her leaving and kairos. With her gone, I felt like I could do anything at home. I would get home late and my grandma would always tell me she’s worried, like any grandma. But getting away from it all made it seem like the right thing at the time. 

Kairos is a time where you try to find a connection with god,or could just be a place to get away from the regular “rinse, wash, and repeat” lifestyle. This class I was in was the coolest group of people i’ve ever met, i’m sure that’s said about a lot of groups but just to put in perspective. With that said there were no problems between others and everything was looking like there was a good energy. The first two days i was thinking about home and how much I missed the old atmosphere. Those days were just filled with games and little actives. The next 2 is where it ramped up. By the end of the night 3, I was hugging my friends that were overwhelmed with the stories people told the class. I felt bad because I wasn’t crying but i knew it was just me and no one cared. That’s also the day that the students could go up to a podium and talk about what was going on in there life. I learned how selfish I was in what was going on in my life. I learned that sometimes bad things happen to really good people. I learned about my best friend for 8 years what was really going on at home. I learned I wasn’t alone. This was just night 3 and nun of us thought it could get more dramatic. 

I’m in my group when the lights go out. The door to our room opens and of course someone screams but it was out leader. He told us that we will be following him blind folded through the building. It was a trust exercise but it didn’t stop there. We followed him more and we ended up at the chapel. There we took seats for what we all were warned for, the “naked mass”. It’s not what it sounds like, no one got down to their drawers. No, it was more about the emotions we all hide the emotions and problems we don’t want people know almost equally scary. The stories my friends told me warmed my heart and brought me to tears. I learned a lot about each one of them, even the ones that didn’t share. That night we all went back to our rooms and the guys gathered in the hall to express how much we mean to each other.

Day 4 comes around and all we’re doing is talking about last night and what happened, how everyone was feeling. We eat our last meal and I’m stuffed from the last 3 days. The servings they were allowing  us to take was too much, given it was a buffet. Half way through the day they let us go do whatever we want for an hour and we come back. It was night in the middle of the woods looking out at a lake. When I looked up I could see every star in the sky. It was so beautiful to look at with the cold wind coming off the water, then being able to stare down into the lake and see the reflection of stars. Once we were finished outside, all the students were told to go back to their rooms. The lights go out. 

Essay II Euthanasia

 I went to the animal hospital  in Hillside. It is a small hospital with little rooms and walkways.There I talked to Crystal who is the expert of euthanasia at that hospital.she talked to me about the requirements and what determines a unhealthy pet. She said that there are three legs to a healthy pet. If they are happy, if they are eating, and if they are urinating themselves. Without one of those things that chair can not stand and something is wrong. Crystal told me that she believed that euthanasia is a gift and that we should be thankful for the medicine. Humans are going to most likely live longer than their animal so either way at some point you will have to make the decision of life for them. Pets don’t usually show that they are in pain or something is wrong until it is too late, which is why you have to pay attention if they are acting different. Crystal told me that she wished that there was a dedicated room to the practice but there isn’t. The room that i was standing in was the room that most animals get euthanized. While being good with animals is important , it is also important to be good with people. Crystal had experienced many different types of people. Some people don’t want to be comforted and some need it. Euthanasia is also fast, it takes maybe 30 second for the pet to be put down. 

 The most meaningful part of the visit was when Crystal showed me where she keeps the ashes of the animals that passed owned by the staff.  There was a little shrine where there were 2 containers of ashes with the names of the pet on a certificate. She told me that in the back there was a freezer with the animals that were euthanized. They are sent to carseration centers where their ashes are made. The ashes are sometimes given to the family depending on if the family wants to pay for it. Another meaningful moment was that the day that the pet is scheduled to be put down that she tells them a day before going out. Spend their last day together and have fun because it will help the owner cope with the death.

The effect that I hope that this has is that it shows that euthanasia is the most unselfish thing you can do for your pet. It’s really helping your pet out and shows that you care. No human or pet wants to suffer and it is the right thing to help them. They can’t speak for themselves so it is up to you to see the signs that they aren’t okay.

Essay III Shining

The story is about the man Jack Torrance who moves into the “Large house” or hotel. He’s a writer send on vacation during the cold winter. Jack brings his wife wendy  and his son danny. The boy has the ability called the shining which is like telepathy. The movie is different then horror it’s creepy. I haven’t seen many horror films made like this to get under the skin and hits nerves. It’s not one that makes you say Gross! But make me say Woah…

 Jack comes across as the perfect man who is respected in the workplace and has a smile while he walks. Early we find out that he’s an alcoholic and has a reputation of hurting Danny. We see how deep his personal life really goes and what his problems are with his family. His work sends him to a resort to be a caretaker with his family giving us ideas of disaster at the thought of them alone. The manager also foreshadows when he tells Jack that the man in the hotel before him killed his family with an axe which is what eventually happens later on in the movie. 

The hotel looks inviting masking what goes on inside. How it messes with your head and gives you that eerie feeling. The movie is great at the noises they put behind the scenes making it suspenseful every scene. As creepy as the red rum is the point is to mess with the characters in the movie and the ability of shining something that’s not an object has the power to scare us. I want to relate it to the most recent Joker movie. These movies aren’t like any regular horror film they give off a different energy. They touch on points in mental health and the fear of the unknown. The two girls that meet Danny in the hallway have such a straight face that it is hard to tell what their intentions are. And the visions that they show Danny has you asking Why? Could it mean death is coming for young Danny or just showing what happened to the family before him that stayed in the hotel. It has you questioning everything the movie the movie throws at you, even the scene where Danny is just riding around the halls and turning fast around the corners before running into a dead end with the girls.

Jack’s insanity continues to grow separating him from his family more and more throughout the movie. I believe that Jack has the same ability and Danny but is unaware unlike his son. He starts to see things like parties happening in his hotel, a bartender, and he has a dream about chasing his family with an axe and wakes up to see Danny standing at the end of the room with his clothes torn and bruises on him. Later in the movie Jack catches himself doing what he foreseen chasing wendy and Dann with an axe because he thinks they are getting in between him and his work. We find Danny and Jack running around the maze when Danny thinks to trace back in his footsteps left in the snow eventually losing his father stranding him in the cold outside where he freezes alive before killing his family.

There was more to this story besides the obvious and was a movie that has none like it. A film that has gotten the recognition it deserves with times. The creepily amazing movie was not made like any other horror and gave us a lot more than we wanted at some points. They left no holes in this story. The symbols that the movie highlights make this movie special and insane.