Heroes, common persons ?

Not anyone is a hero, but everyone can be a hero. Heroes are special and dedicated persons. A superpower such as flying ability, super force, telekinesis or super speed it is not needed to become a hero. What is really needed is whatever it is inside every hero we know. Values and beliefs are what matters. Honesty, justice, peace, unselfishness, giving before receiving, worry for others or even helping in any possible way. These are the only important elements of a hero. Every single person can count with these ideals.

Real life heroes can emerge from a catastrophic situation, for example the policemen or a firefighter at the Boston Marathon Attack. But it is not necessary the presence of a tragic event. Heroes can be able to appear on everyday situations. Instead of walking away it is possible to actually help society with their problems. You just need enough interest on it. So and so you are going to start growing as a person and becoming a hero.

From: http://www.casaoc.org/casa-newsletter/may-everyday-heroes/

It is not as if you just help someone once and you already are a hero. It consists in a whole process that includes many beneficial acts to someone else. It is also required to inspire those actions and values on others. Whatever it is possible to help with will be useful. Belief me, if you do something for someone constantly you are being a hero.

Sometimes people just act heroically because they think it is “cool” or just for being point out. That is not what a true hero searches for. Their purpose is the action as it is. They help someone because they him/her to be better and inspire them to do the same.

Everyone can make a difference. Why not being you the first?

Quote

“Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.”- Unknown.

The first time I saw this phrase I really loved it. It is a shame that we don’t know who said it. Although it is very similar to “Practice is perfect” this phrase has two parts. First it says “Don’t practice until you get it right” because many people whenever they reach what they were trying ones they forget it and feel as they have accomplished something. Instead, the great people are the ones that make the second part of the phrase “Practice until you can’t get it wrong”. If you really think this through, by the time you can’t get it wrong you would have reached perfectness. What I really liked about this phrase is that apart from principally applying to sports it actually applies to every aspect you can think of. From a mathematical calculus to memorizing a sequence. As this phrase can apply to everything you may apply it in your everyday life to get inspiration and accomplish all your goals.

I relate to this quote in so many ways. First of all I am a person who likes to set himself goals and if I really follow this phrase it will help me a lot to improve in every aspect. I have many aspects in my life where I can and want to improve. Basketball, school, math, physics, French, English, reading, memory, writing. All this aspects are very important to me, in some of them I am very good, in other not that much, but in all of them I can improve. I know it is almost impossible to reach perfection in every aspect, but it gives you a better sense of yourself to know that you are as close to perfecto as you can be. I’ll keep practicing, obviously, until I can’t get it wrong. 

From: bill37mccurdy.wordpress.com

Part III

Okonkwo finally is returning to Umuofia and although he knows things have changes he has some plans to make his return more important. At first he notices that no one really cares about his return because the big thing that is going on is the white man invasion. During a festivity of the town Enoch, a converted man, unmasked an egwugwu that is a big crime someone can commit. I think that Enoch did this as to say that their religion was false and the spirits didn’t existed. After this crime obviously everyone was mad and went to burn the church. This was like the event that started to create a confrontment ambient between both cultures.

In a preventive act the commissioner cheated the clansmen of Umuofia by capturing them. They tortured the clansmen during days. No food, no water, no space. They were whipped and hurt. This continued until the commissioner asked for 200 cowries as an exchange for the prisoners. When the messenger went for the cowries he asked for 250 and took those left 50. The clansmen were finally released so they decided to organize a reunion of the entire town. Okonkwo was full of anger and hate towards the white men for what they had done to him and his men.

From: http://ikiska.deviantart.com/art/Things-Fall-Apart-183847217

During the reunion some of the clansmen spoke and started to discuss about the actual situation. Suddenly they see a messenger sent by the commissioner and without thinking it twice Okonkwo grabbed his machete and decapitated the messenger. Everyone was shocked; they were not sure why he had done that. Okonkwo got disappointed because he did that as to encourage his town to rebellion but everyone gave him their back. This was too much for Okonkwo, after all he has fight for and everything he has been thought, so he gave up. He killed himself as to say that they couldn’t change him because he was going to die before they killed him.

At the end the missioner speaks as if the tribe were an inferior specie and that he was just “studying” them.

Achebe, C, (1994), Things fall apart, Anchor Books, New York.

TFA Part II 14-19

As we read on the last chapter Okonkwo was exiled out of Umophia. He decides to go to Mbanta, his motherland, for those seven years. He is warmly received by his uncle Uchendu and his other kinsmen. They inclusively give him many seed yams and a land to start his farm. Okonkwo builds himself an obi and also huts for his family. At the end of the chapter Uchendu says him that it doesn’t matter who he was in Umophia; here in Mbanta he is no one. Also that he should stop replying for what had happened to him because that’s nothing compared to what Uchendu needed to carry with.

Two years passed when Obierika, his friend came to visit him. Obierika came with some big new. He said that a white man had come to Umophia with an iron horse (really a bicycle). The elders didn’t know what to do with him so they went to ask the oracle. They were said to kill the white man and tied his iron horse, to prevent him from calling more men. And so they did as they were told. Uchendu said that they should have never killed the white man because you need to be careful with someone who is quite, they will take revenge. He illustrates his point with the story of Mother Kite.

From: http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/riverine.html

Other Two years passed when Obierika visited again Okonkwo. His friend told him that the missioners had settled in Umophia. That some people had listened to them and were convinced by the one and only god they mention. Some people had converted to this new religion, but everyone looked at them as traitors and as if they had any value. Later on the missioners arrived to Mbanta and they gave a speech to convince people. Nwoye was attracted to this new religion because he was tiered of the demands of the oracle. The missioners asked for a place to build a church and they gave them a piece of land in the evil forest. Everyone thought they would not survive there but they did. Okonkwo got very angry with Nwoye so he escaped and went to the church, where he stayed. The church started gaining power by accepting the marginalized people of the tribe, in this case the outcasts. The tribe expelled everyone of the church from the tribe because someone had killed the sacred python on purpose. At least that was what the tribe thought.  

The seven years had finished and Okonkwo was preparing to return to Umophia. He asked Obierika to start building him his huts, not his obi. At the end Okonkwo offered a big fest as a demonstration of gratitude and a goodbye.

Achebe, C, (1994), Things fall apart, Anchor Books, New York.

Mother Kite Story

Mother Kite sent her daughter to bring some food. She returned with a little duck and her mother asked “What did mother duck said?” Daughter Kite said that she had done nothing. Suddenly Mother Kite ordered to return the little duck back. Later on Daughter Kite returned with a chick. Her mother asked the same question and she answered “The hen screamed and was very angry”. Mother Kite said that it was OK because those who shouted had already liberated their fury. Instead you need to beware of those who stay quiet, they will seek revenge.

Uchendu tells this story because he needs to illustrate the terrible mistake the other clan did with the white man. In this case Uchendu might be right because no one really knows what the white man was capable of doing so you cannot trust him. Otherwise, in some situations is not applicable this story. For example when you harm someone, if they react aggressively is very probable that they will take revenge on you. Instead if they do not react is probable that they are scared or timid to make something.

Maybe Uchendu told the story not only to illustrate his point but also to look more clever and wise in front of Okonkwo and his friend Obierika. Because as we have seen before, Uchendu thinks that Okonkwo is no one in Mbanta and that he knows a lot more that what Okonkwo does. So this is another way of demonstrating this to Okonkwo.

It is a great story and, as I said, applicable in only some situations. In fact it is very helpful for Uchendu because at the end everyone was convinced that he was right.  

  

from:http://bulacancity.olx.com.ph/brahminy-kite-eagle-iid-159019101 

Things Fall Apart Chapter 7 - 13

Ikemefuna was already a part of the family. He was like the son Okonkwo never had and a great older brother for Nwoye that served as an example. One day the elders came to see Okonkwo. They talked with him and said that the oracle had ordered to kill Ikemefuna. He was taken to the forest and in an instant assassinated with a machete; Okonkwo had to finish him off in order to avoid being thought weak. Nwoye was very sad, so as the rest of the family.

Okonkwo entered on a depression during three days. After that he went to visit his best friend, Obierika. This was due to the wedding of his friend’s daughter. During the visit they also talked about Ikemefuna’s death and Obierika said that he would never have killed his own son, no matter what the oracle wanted.         

During the next days Ezinma got very sick, this worried a lot Ekwefi as well as Okonkwo. In the past every time Ekwefi got pregnant their children died even before giving birth. This happened many times until Ezinma arrived. It was like a miracle for her mother because she had survived. This was why they both had a special relationship. They went and visited the oracle that told them the treatment Ezinma needed, they did what they were told and in fact Ezinma got better.

Afterwards the wedding took place. The Egwugwu spirits appeared and participated during the whole process, they also solved an argument between a man and his in-laws. At the night Ezinma and Ekwefi were having a storytelling when suddenly Chielo arrived and took Ezinma. Both Ekwefi and Okonkwo followed Chielo to see what she was planning. At the end nothing happened and Ezinma was back in the house. At the next morning the wedding festivities continued and many women cooked a lot of food for the event, everyone had a good time.

The next day it was announced that the elder Ezeudu had died. This was big news for the village. Many people attended to the funeral and there was when something terrible happened. Okonkwo’s weapon accidentally shot and hit the dead man’s son. Okonkwo and all his family were obligated to go away for 7 years and also all their goods where burned.  

Chinua, A, (1994), Thing fall apart, 2nd ed, Anchor Books,New York

Things Fall Apart Summary Chapters 1-7

Things Fall Apart centers in Okonkwo, a successful man of an Igbo tribe that has overcome the misfortune of having a lazy father. Do to this Okonkwo has always worked very hard and hates any attitude that relates to his father. He started by asking to Nwakibie, a wealthy man, for some borrowed yam seeds so he could start making his own heritage. He worked with no mistakes and soon he became in a very successful man. Okonkwo has three wives and his first child is Nwoye.  

One member of the tribe was killed by another tribe so they were demanded to give away one young man and a virgin. The young man that arrived as a present was Ikemefuna. At first they didn’t know what to do with him so Okonkwo took care of him. Soon Ikemefuna became part of the family and was considered as a son by Okonkwo. Nwoye admired him, just like an older brother. During all those years they learned how to become men under his father’s watch.

A very special celebration in the tribe is the Week of Peace; this is done before the planting season in order for their earth goddess to provide them with perfect planting conditions for the year. During that week no one can hurt anybody, it is a great crime to do it. When Okonkwo returned home dinner wasn’t ready and this was his second wife’s responsibility so he got very mad and beat her. He had to offer some animals and crops in order to be forgiven. After all the harvest season it came the New Yam Festival. The tradition was to invite your neighbors to eat and celebrate. During the preparations Okonkwo beat Ekwefi, his second wife, again for cutting palm leaves. The next day took place the wrestling event. There were many wrestles between members of two teams, the crowd got very excited at the last battle which was very close.          

Time passed, Nwoye and Ikemefuna were almost men. They spent time with his father and learned everything they needed. This was the process for growing up in the tribe. One day the elders came and whispered something to Okonkwo. Everybody knew it was about Ikemefuna. They had decided he needed to be killed. Ikemefuna was taken to the forest and in an instant assassinated with a machete. Nwoye was very sad, so as the rest of the family.