Who will Be This Land

In our class, the instructor wrote a saying on the whiteboard: If I leave my land, I am nothing.
She asked us to think about it.

I have left my homeland, is it true I am nothing? What I have right now? The only is this land I stand to the future.
This land, the North America, which is called New Landmass, I have landed several years.
What is the meaning of this land for people new coming?
What kind of question is for the people new coming?
It is:
Who will be this land?
Let us review the tow poems were written by the poets when they came to this land.

One is named: Nostalgia. The poet, Puerto Rican, who describes his nostalgia, which a feeling people get when they long for something good from past such the childhood or homeland, for his homeland.

“ Mamma, Borinquen calls me,
this land is not mine,
Borinquen is pure flame and here
I am dying of the cold.
In search of a better future
I left the native home,
and established my store
in the middle of New York.
What I see around me
is a sad panorama,
and my spirit calls out,
wounded by much nostalgia,
for the return to the home nest,
Mamma, Borinquen calls me!

Where will I find here like in my criollo land
a dish of chicken and rice,
A cup of good coffee?
Where, oh where I will see
radiant in their attire
the girls, rich in vigor,
Whose glances bedazzle?
Here eyes do not bedazzle,
This country is not mine!

If I listen to a song here
Of those I learned at home,
or a danza by Tavarez,
Campos, or Dueno Colon,
My sensitive heart
Is more enflamed with patriotic love,
And a hearald that faithful proclaims
This holy feeling
The wail “Borinquen is pure flame!”
Comes to my ears.

In my land, what beauty!
In the hardest winter
not a tree is seen bare,
not a vale without green.
The flower rules the garden,
the river meanders talkative,
the bird in the shadowy wood
sings his arbitrary song,
and here…The snow is a shroud,
Here I am dying of the cold.

Another is the poem, Ndakinna(Our Land) was written by poet Joseph Bruchac of the Abenaski tribe from the Northeastern United States.

“You cannot understand this land with maps,
lines drawn as if earth were an animal’s carcass
cut into pieces, skinned,
though always less eaten than thrown away.
See this land instead with wind-eagle’s eyes,
linked with rivers and streams like sinews through leather,
sewed strong to hold the people to the earth.

Do not try to know the land by roads.
Let your feet instead caress the soil in the way of deer,
whose trails follow the ways of least resistance.
When you feel this land when you taste this land.
when you hold this land as lungs hold breath
when your songs see this land,
when your ears sing this land,
you will be this land.”

Do not wonder what opposite feeling for the same land. It is the answer for who will be this land. People who finally chose this land with their passion for this land will be this land. It does not matter where you from are and who you are.
This land is a mystical wonderland not only has rich natural resources to feed the body, also has endless spirited source to nourish the mind.
The amazing New Civilization was created in this land after Renaissance of Europe. .
This broad land has embraced number of races who wanted to seek freewill from the old world.
When I luckily stepped on this land, when I widely touch this land, when I deeply rooted this land, I believed it is true.
What kind of impression I have gotten when I stood on this land?
It is like sighting the wide prairie after trekking on the rough path.
It is like finally reach the solid land from the marsh.
Do not worry we cannot enjoy this land. Now we are as weak as baby, the fulgent culture as the milk of land, will feed us strong as the cowboy.
You will be this land.
I will be this land.

No one should be killing

The most sensational work I have read in English is not a famous book; in fact, it is a short writing by the ten years old girl in Red Deer in 2006. Her mother, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police, was killed by a criminal. It moved me to tears full face, and it deeply changed my mind. From this girl, a real little angel, I finally believe that nobody should be killing in our world. I was born and grew up an old traditional country where someone should be killing is a supreme gospel that was never doubted, but Canada is one of countries were abolished capital punishment, that means the murderer could live in prison without execution. The little girl told us she really does not want all girls lost their parents. Nowadays, there are 78 countries still have capital punishment around the world. The capital punishment is not a valid reason to execute a murderer; as a result, it cannot effectively stop the crime of murder, and it can be another kind of murder, also it murders universal love and hope to murderers.
At first, radically and effectively avoid murder seems the good enough reason for capital punishment; actually, the results show it is not true. The Amnesty International reports of compare research had proved that some countries still had capital punishment were also the high crime rate of murder. Such as in 2003, 84 per cent of executions and over 80 per cent murders occurred in China, Iran, the U.S. and Vietnam in the world. Another example of Canada was abolished capital punishment in 1976; afterward, it still keeps the lower crime rate of murder. In addition, the criminological research pointed out that murder had the most complex factors, so simply execute murderer never really stop and reduce murders. For instance, some typical cases of murder, the situation of murder such as anger, misunderstand, and fear usually were the key to murder. Also, the criminal follow research reported that in number of cases only a little bit of murderers could commit crime of murder again. Therefore, the essential of avoid murder, in general, is that must reduce the situations of murder not only execute the murder.
Second, murders are completely wrong and the cruelest killing, but capital punishment sometimes made it again, and it murdered universal love and hope to murderers. Capital punishment is a difficult job to decide exactly, and it never be perfectly done since many reasons. For example, it almost still exists that some execution by mistake in all countries who persist capital punishment. It is like another kind of murder. It destroys the hope for government and murderer to change the terrible mistake. Moreover, the murderers’ relatives must suffer the infinite pain again as the victim’s family. A good example is in China; a young murderer’s all members of family went to the victim’s home to beg forgiving with the most possible expiation, only not killing the young murderer. The biggest wish for all criminal’s relatives is that can be any punishment even life-sentence only not capital punishment for criminal. Therefore, for punishment and protects society, prison is a better form to take away their freedom not execution.
To conclude, capital punishment is not a fair rule for humans. It cannot really avoid the murder, only show that killing people is wrong, but it kills again and show that someone should be killing. It murdered the universal love and plays the tragedy again for criminal’s relatives as victim’s family, also it destroys the hope that people can change, and even they have made terrible mistakes. To hear and remember the little angel’s voice: “no one should be killing”, either victim or killer, and for whatever reasons. When this voice rooted into the deep heart of everyone, humans will never kill other forever.

Men is not Made for Defeat

I have read an attractive book which is called The Old Man and the Sea. This book was written by Hemingway who is one of the 20th century's most famous American writers in 1952. Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.

This book narrates the story of an excellent struggle with an old fisherman and the greatest marlin of his lifetime. After eighty-four days without any fish, Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, faces his defeated, but he never gives up even his only a friend Manolin who a young boy leave him. He decides alone sailing far beyond the island with his skiff.
Following his courage rise, so his unlucky was gone. At noon, a big fish, which he knows is a marlin, takes the bait that Santiago has placed deep in the waters. The old man expertly hooks the fish, but he cannot pull it in skiff. Instead, the fish begins to pull the boat around the sea. Santiago battles with marlin hardly about two days. On the third day the fish tires, and Santiago controls to pull the marlin in close enough to skiff. Then he kills it with a harpoon. The marlin was dead beside the skiff, the marlin is the largest fish Santiago has ever seen.
He sails on with the fish, but the marlin’s blood leaves in the water and attracts sharks. The first to attack is a great shark. Santiago fights it with the harpoon. In the struggle, the old man loses the harpoon. Afterward, the sharks eat the marlin’s meat, leaving only skeleton, head, and tail. He arrives home before daybreak, come back to his shack and sleeps very deeply.
The next morning, a crowd of amazed fishermen gathers around the skeletal of the fish. Tourists at a nearby café talk the remains of the large fish and mistake it for a shark. Manolin, who has been worried the old man’s safety. When he finds Santiago in his bed, the boy takes the old man some coffee and the daily papers with the baseball scores, and watches him sleep. When the old man wakes, they agree to fish together again. The old man returns to sleep and dreams his usual dream of lions at play on the beaches.

My favorite in this book is first, second and third paragraph on page 9 and page 10.
The first paragraph makes a very clears background which before 84 days what happen in simple and direct way. It likes a hook hold reader’s attention and attracts them to focus what will happen after the finally salao, worst form of unlucky. The highlight is final sentence of paragraph.
The second program describes a picturesque old man standing up our front as a lively fishman with enough experiences on fishing.
The third paragraph tells us a cheerful and undefeated old man from his unique eyes. Last sentence is a transition sentence for the book.

1.First paragraph of this book:
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast. The sail was patched with flour sacks and, furled; it looked like the flag of permanent defeat. (p9)

2. Second paragraph of this book:
The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert. (p9)

3. Third paragraph of this book:
Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated. (p10)

Following quotation as a bright line crosses through whole book. It clearly represents what the old man was in this story.
The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him. (p10)
You are already a man. (p11)
“Thank you,” the old man said. He was
“Thank you,” the old man said. He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.

"I am a strange old man.”
"But are you strong enough now for a truly big fish?"
“I think so. And there are many tricks." (p14)

He was asleep in a short time and he dreamed of Africa when he was a boy and the long golden beaches and the white beaches, so white they hurt your eyes, and the high capes and the great brown mountains. He lived along that coast now every night and in his dreams he heard the surf roar and saw the native boats come riding through it. (p24)
He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy. (p25)

No one should be alone in their old age. (48)

The old man had seen many great fish. He had seen many that weighed more than a thousand pounds and he had caught two of that size in his life, but never alone. Now alone, and out of sight of land. (p62)

“Now is when I must prove it.”
The thousand times that he had proved it meaning. Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it. (p66)

“But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”(p103)
“Think about something cheerful, old man,” he said. “Every minute now you are closer to home, you sail lighter for the loss of forty pounds.”(p104)

“The ocean is very big and a skiff is small and hard to see,” (p124)
“The hell with luck,” the boy said. I will bring the luck with me.” (p125)

What’s that?” she asked a waiter and pointed to the long backbone of the great fish that was now just garbage waiting to go out with the tied. (p126)
Up the road, in his shack, the old man was sleeping again. He was still sleeping on his face and the boy was sitting by him watching him. The old man was dreaming about the lions. (p126)

After the completely reading, I got three points from this book.
1. The lifetime of person likes a small skiff alone sail on the endless sea. The old man said,
“The ocean is very big and a skiff is small and hard to see.” to struggle with the sea is useless but we must do it. It is human tragedy everyone had to face, but it is also excellent battle in human tragedy. The author was an example, he struggle, defeated, success and finally he killed himself in 1961.
2. Build your idol in heart. It can be a belief, a love, or a goal. It makes your lifetime more alive. The old man’s idol is a baseball star. When it is the hardest time he supports him. Our idol makes our life more active, don’t care what is finally finish. Exciting is in process of life.
3. Keep a dream in our lifetime. The old man’s dream is a lion on the beach. It always makes him in a soul balance. Make a dream is easy, but keep a dream cross the lifetime is hard. why the old man after 84 days without taking a fish, but he keep going on his goal, because he had a beautiful dream, and he believed he just like a lion on the beach temporary. Most successful people could face the defeat as dreamer as the old man.
I appreciate this book and its author. It made a new idol and dream for people who really need it like me. From this book I knew that when an old man’s eyes were old, he was really old, because he couldn’t clearly see the sea of life.

This book even thought wrote in half century ago, but it worth people who want to struggle in the sea of life to read with their heart. It is a great book over the space and time since it is writing by writer’s soul. It will touch your deep heart and inspire you; also you will get the power from this story
Imagine if you are the old man alone fishing on the sea, what do you do and what is your story? Now, we do not need to sail alone and fish on the huge sea, but we still need to face struggle and defeated.
The old man often stays in his dream as a lion on the beach, it means doesn’t matter what you were and how powerful you are, the defeated always following you like a lion on the beach. When you are a lion on the beach, what is your option?
The old man tells us, “But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”(p103) if you are a man, struggle to the sea, despite the struggle is useless. This is America courage, when you came to this land you should have it. This is why the book won the Nobel Prize of literature in 1954, and why we should read it and get its courage forever.
Take a reading when you will defeat or have defeated on the sea of life, my friends.

As a Man to Face the Probelms

“No one is perfect in this world” even the excellent Idol. I absolutely agree with it. For instance, I read a short story which talks a person, Tom Cruise who is an outstanding Hollywood movie star and an idol of most young people. He has a big problem, dyslexia which is a disturbance of the ability to read. I cannot imagine how a person who has dyslexia could become an actor, let alone a famous movie star. We know that actors first have to read movie scripts and remember all conversations from scripts. Second, they need to know a lot of background for the scripts they read. Researching points out that people get 75% of their information from reading, and only 25% from listening and conversation. A person who cannot read is almost like a disabled person, but Tom Cruise bravely faces his problem until he overcomes it. He learns his movie scripts by listening to tapes, not by reading them, and spends much time to grasp it. Finally he has success. Many think that successful people are some geniuses in their field certainly. In fact, everyone has the problems that he or she needs to face and overcome. For me, I have faced the most difficult language barrier in my lifetime. Especially the pronunciation drives me in predicament. I try to face it bravely, never dodge it. It is unbelievable when I give up anything to face the only problem with me, but I still cannot conquer it. What do I should do for it? As Tom Cruise as a man still face the problem even though must face it forever.

My Home Story

I had lost my home several times in my childhood. My home was located in a serene small town near a huge lake. My foregone home was a big family with a large house. When I was a little child, it was lost because the local government forced us to dismantle. Losing our home was a sad experience in mind though it was long time ago.
Someday of decades ago, my lovely home became remains suddenly when I was four years old. It was a crazy time in China with revolution passion in 1958. Our hometown leaders decided forcedly to dismantle all family houses and build uniform houses, then averaged to every family. We moved to a provisional place, afterward our sweet home had disappeared. Finally, all renewed houses row by row stood on street side. A renewed home let me to get some pleasure though it was too small and I wished that I never lose it anymore.
After ten years, I faced to lose my home again. It was third year of Cultural Revolution in 1968, a movement of going to countryside for most people. Lot of family moved to countryside with their house. My family was one of them. Our house dismantled and carried to countryside to renew by ourselves. Finally, my home returned our small town after two years. I worried that my home will lose by new disasters.
Two years later, I lost my home and my small town once again, because new leaders wanted to make a bigger lake saving more water to resist drought. Our lakefront small town with lovely Stone Street sank under water fatally. All inmates moved to a new embankment with a miry street. I believed that I had lost my home of childhood abidingly. We needed a better place to build a really new home for our family.
Followed me to have a job in a middle city, I bought a site to build a new home for my family in 1978 when China was open for innovation. Since 1970 I left my lost home and hometown, I never come back it only last it in my memory. The home for all people was sweet but it in my childhood was bitter. My home story causes me always to seek a lasting home until now. I wish that all people ever lost their home to find a real home finally.

The Story of Books

Everyone probably has the most important something deep in his or her heart, and also has some unforgettable experiences in his or her lifetime. I have one such experience too. It is about a book. Do you believe that? If I tell you a story of a book in my childhood, you will understand it.
It was 1960. I was six years old and lived in a small sequestered town. It was located on the lakefront of the vast Dongting Lake. Although the town disappeared in the crazy revolution movement, it stays in my memory. The lake divides the town into two parts which are connected by a stone bridge. About two thousand residents lived there. It was really a simple community in that time. Its poorness wasn’t only because it was without power, radio, telephone and newspaper. It didn’t even have a small library or any books. An elementary country school was the only location that let me enter an unknown world.
One year later, maybe I knew hundreds of words and could read some books, but I couldn’t find more books around me except textbooks. I remember that my childhood was quiet and boring. Often I sat down by the lakefront and looked over the lake at sunrise and sunset. I wanted to know about the outside world.
Unexpectedly, a chance befell me; it was near the Chinese New Year Day. My classmate’s an older brother came back home from a big city. He was the only undergraduate in our town. I got my first book about the outside world from him. I remember it was a classic adventure novel, Around the world in Eighty days. I couldn’t understand it completely because it had many new words I didn’t know. In just one week I had to return it to him because he had to go back to school after New Year’s Day. I was eager to know a different world. I got a great idea to make a handwritten copy of the whole book - over two hundred pages! Each day of the week I copied it after school until midnight under oil light. It was very cold without heating on these winter nights. I used a bottle with hot water to keep my hands working. On the sixth day, when I ended my first hard work, I had a successful feeling for the first time in my childhood. After about half a year I completely understood the book with the help of a small dictionary. From that book, I knew many things and wrote lots of questions I wanted to know about an unknown world. I remember that I asked our teacher some questions like “How are western people under our feet on another side of the earth?” Though I didn’t get a satisfying answer that time, it opened my mind to begin a seeking lifetime.
About the half a century has passed. All those childhood scene have changed, and that small town doesn’t exist in this world. That handwritten copy I have even lost. But this story follows me in my lifetime. Now I stand on that place which is on the other side of the earth from my childhood feet. After I read that first book, I started reading books over the lake, river, sea and ocean. Like someone said: “Reading makes the earth turn.” I am writing this story to help me realize that right now I am making a new story about books in English in Canada. Even though it is completely different than before, I never thought it would be so difficult for me. Fate pushed me to this wonderland. If I can’t make sense of English and western culture by reading books, how can I enjoy this land? I hope that after five years I will write a new story of books somewhere like this one.

This is me...

Hello everyone, nice to meet you in my blog. Hers is Jack who a seeker come from orient. Why I have been here? What I want and what I do? A English song which I really like could be the best answer for you.

Here I am. This is me.
There's nowhere else on earth I'd rather be.
It's just me to make my dreams come true.
It's a new world. It's a new start.
It's alive with the beating of young hearts.
It's a new day. It's a new plan.
I've been waiting for you.
Here I am. Here we are.
We've just begun.
And after all this time.
Our time has come.
Yeah here I am.
Still going strong.
Right here in the place where I belong.
Here I am. Right next to you.
Suddenly the world is all brand new.
Here I am. Where I'm gonna stay.
Now there's nothing standing in our way.
Here I am. This is me."