Remembrance of Death

The morning I saw death was red as blood
Red sky, red ground, red water
The air was thick with the stench
Of men greeting death, as I was

Friend and foe lay beside me
Titans laid slain, or nearly so
Some lay quietly, accepting their end
Others cursed the unfairness of it all

Over them floated a creature shrouded in shadow
The air around it seemed to ooze darkness
It was an odd sight on such a bright day
The thing glided over to me and lowered to the ground

“It is time.” The creature spoke softly, with a lilting tone
“What are you?” I asked
“I am you. Your future. I am death.”
“I am not ready,” I pleaded.
“Look at you,” it exclaimed, “you are injured. You are dying. You are ready.”

I continued to argue my point,
 “ I have a country to serve, I've given too much to give up now!”
“The country will survive,” death assured me,
 “ it does not need you, you have done what you could.”
Perhaps it was right,
But perhaps….

“One man is all that is needed!,” I insisted, “ One man could change the tides of war!”
It tilted its head at me, an air of tiredness seemed to surround it.
“Many a man on this very field have made such a claim, what makes you different?”
I considered it's words.
What made me different? Nothing. Nothing but a chance to beat back death and win.

“Remembrance, I can offer them remembrance.” I told it.
“Every soldier deserves that,” I continued, “and even if I am the lone survivor I am enough to give them what they deserve.”
At this death almost laughed.
“Oh? And those fighting you? What of them? Do they deserve a memorial along side you?”

This made me pause, I had to think on this.
Did they? Could I give them that?
Did it matter? Did we not all fight for our beliefs?
Who was I to say one was correct and others were not?
To another man I could also be the enemy, but did that make me wrong?

“Every person leaves a mark, whether we wish to see it or not.”
It was the only answer I could give.
“I do not make them, but I can carry them with me.”
At this the world grew silent,

“Very well, for now I give you a chance,” it paused,
“But should you forget those words, I will be waiting.”
With that I was left alone,
The morning I saw death was bright as the sun

1st Quarter Reflection

     It's finally the end of the quarter, and I personally can't wait to go home. This quarter was pretty good, other than the occasional issue with lunch. It's been so eventful that I can't begin to describe it. Hopefully the next three quarters are just as great!.

      Some of my goals for ELA for the next three quarters are: Keeping my missing assignments to a minimum, and continuing to improve my blogging skills. Hopefully, if I can accomplish these tree things I can have a good year in this class.When it comes to remembering to do my homework I can honestly put up ten different alarms and still forget to do it, which makes this the most difficult of the three goals. Last year I wasn't the best at remembering to do my homework. (I think it's genetic, because my dad is the same way.)I'm not going to be delusional and declare that I will never miss any assignments, so I'm just going to try to minimize my errors. I will be the first to admit that I'm not the best when it comes to blogs. It's not as though I'm terrible at them, it's just that I could improve if I tried. Besides, isn't that the point of going to school? I think that if we were beyond the point of improving ourselves, we wouldn't need to go to school. Looking back at my older blogs I'm honestly embarrassed at how bad they are.

     I have had some definite improvements in my writing this year. I feel like the beginning of the year is probably the worst time for my writing. We just got back from summer, and I don't know about everyone else, but I never write during the summer if I can help it. I just can't get myself to do it. This year we have been doing a lot of writing and reviewing so I think that is helping. Then again, that is probably the point. In the beginning of the year I had a lot of run on sentences and incomplete thoughts, but I think I have improved.

     There are lots of things that I learned about the world so far this year. The majority of them came from the AOW's we have done. One example of this is that there used to be a group of cannibals living in caves in the U.K. There were signs that about 15,000 years ago there was a group of people that were cannibals.  It is thought that perhaps it could be a part of their culture, and that it was some kind of ritual. Supposedly they would do this to their dead  so that they could carry the bones. I was surprised that this was a culture so recently, as it wasn't to long ago in comparison to the world's history.

The Confessions of a Madman

This is the recorded (written down) confession of  ------ Montresor to the murder by asphyxiation of one ------ Fortunato.

You understand why you are here correct?
Yes.
So then, why are you so calm?
You do not frighten me.
And why is that?
Nothing does, nothing ever has. Now then can we get on with it? You're wasting my time.
Just to clarify, you are speaking of your own free will?
Yes.
And you will speak the truth, and nothing but the truth?
Of course I will.
Now then can you please explain, in detail, why you are here?
You already know why I am here.
Yes, but you must say that yourself, otherwise it is not a confession.
You have a point. I am here to confess to murdering my dear friend Fortunato.
In detail, Mr. Montresor.
Everything? From planning to the act?
Yes.
Very well, I first wished to kill him when he dared to insult me.
He insulted you?
Yes.
Was it really deserving of murdering him though?
Yes.
Well what did he say?
He insulted the Montresor family. If I'm correct his exact words were, " The Montresors we once a great family, so full of culture and talent. It is a shame that they have been reduced to this."
Well that is rather harsh. When was this?
Over my dead mother's grave.
Ah....I see.
You understand my contempt for him, no?h
Regardless of what was said and where, don't you feel remorse for your actions?
No.
Not at all?
No, not at all.
I see. Carry on.
I returned home and considered if I would ever have a chance for revenge. I wanted to reduce him to a mere sentence, as he did to my family. I understood that it would not be easy, he was a rather public figure, then there was the pesky matter of witnesses. I was thinking that I would need to lure him to a place he would not be noticed, and then do the deed. I know that murder can be a messy business, so i had to find a way to kill him without killing him. That way if they found him I wouldn't be directly responsible.
So why are you confessing?  
I got bored.
Bored? Bored of what?
Bored of everything. I had been planning this for months, it was my everything. And so now I have nothing to do with my life.
You do realize the years you could be facing? 
Considering the insult, plus all the other thing that I had to bear, it was worth it.
What other things?
He hurt me in a thousand ways.
Hurt? As in a physical injury?
One could perceive it that way.
You could be facing the death penalty, and yet you claim it was worth it? 
I have no intention of facing those charges.
And just how do you intend to escape them?
I have just as many enemies as I do friends.
Please elaborate.
I'd rather not.
It was not a request.
I do believe it was.
I will repeat myself, how do you intend to escape your charges?
..........
Mr. Montresor?
.........

"Our Beautiful World"

Our treacherous world

Broken and bloody 

By all the harsh things 

It had known 

Families became bullies 

Friends became prey

It never occurred to us,

All of us forgot 

As our world grew older, thought,

Our eyes opened 

Our hearts opened 

Bullies became angels 

Prey became heroes 

Something good and

Something broken 

Our differences are 

Our inspiration 

Our beetles are

Angels 

Angels, and beetles;

Bullies, and heroes.

We forget our differences 

And unite