Learning How To Get Along

   - “Nothing is given to man on earth - struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible - the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen.” Andrew Bernstein  
      
      What is conflict? I think conflicts are day to day problems people face and it is part of life. One of the greatest scientist in the world, Albert Einstein, had  many connections in his brain because throughout his life he faced problems which he would try to solve. Conflicts can range from the smallest to things to something very serious. People have conflicts with themselves on a daily basis. In my opinion the biggest cause of conflict in relationships is jealousy. Many teenagers have problems with their parents. Now that I have explained what I think of conflict, I will share my story of a conflict in my life.

    My story begins back when I was in grade 4. I had this wonderful friend, who I very much liked,but to other girls in our grade she wasn't "the coolest person"and would sometimes bully her. We were very close, shared our lunches, go over to each others houses, play games, etc.. This girl was an amazing friend, and now I think back and I was very lucky to have a person like this in my life. Everything was fine, I would go to school, spend time with her till this one day. A girl from my class came up to me and said something very mean about my friend and ended off saying, " you should stop being her friend, look how weird she is, stop or else you will become like her, you don't want that to happen, do you...?" That day I ignored my friend at lunch. I went home thinking that if I kept being her friend, everyone would hate me, so I made up my mind and decided to stop hanging out with her. I went to school ignoring her and to be honest, school was not nearly as fun as it used to be, but I thought I was doing the right thing. I felt so upset at school, I wouldn't feel like going to school and I knew I had a conflict. Days went on,  my friend never asked me what was wrong, she just accepted it. This made me feel more guilty. Grade 4 was finally coming to an end and I still hadn't realized my big mistake. So, grade 5 started and my parents told me we were going to move. The first thing I thought about was, I am going to leave and never apologize, what is my friend going to think of me. It was my last week in that school and one lunch I saw my friend sitting on the bench eating lunch, so I decided to go and talk to her. As I was leaving, the girl I hung out with now, which was the same who tore me apart from my friend, stopped me and said, "What are you doing? She's not your friend, common let's go." I stood up to her finally after so long, but I think i should have done that later I  told her that she wasn't a real friend and that I didn't want anything else to do with her. So, I walked over to my friend and sat down, I told her how sorry I was and that I was moving this week, but we would stay in contact. Her, being the amazing person she is forgave me and that last week at school was probably the greatest time I've had since I stopped being friends with her. I talk to her on       the phone, we go places together, etc..I have never seen that one mean girl in my life. I look back and

see the mistake I made and I regret it a lot, but then I realize that I did stand up and I still have my friend, so that means I did fix my mistake, and that matters.

Reflection:

   When it comes to conflict I think I handle it pretty well considering how bad it is. For example if I have fights with my brother and sisters, I will give it some time, but then I have to apologize and usually that does it. For bigger problems, however I think I don't do so well. Usually I try to ignore the problem, but it is always in the back of my head and bothering me. It takes me a long time, but I know I will fix it somehow, if it doesn't work with time, then I try to communicate, etc. I want to learn what the biggest cause of conflict is. Also, some ways you can compromise about a problem with your parents so that you are happy and they are also content. I also believe that if you never face problems in your life you will never learn.
-"Conflict is the beginning of consciousness."-M.Esthar Harding

Be The Change-Assignment One

  The value I choose to investigate was: Feel good and Be Healthy


As I was watching the different videos, I realized that I already knew all these things because my family like the 11 year old boy in the youtube video about monsanto corporation, looked into the food we eat. Just a few months ago, my sisters and I watched the Monsanto documentary (which was very lengthy), but i sat through it and learned about different things. Here is the link to Monsanto's documentary, but i must warn you it is very long but, very informative:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYO2k_o16E0


My family already took the step to buy organic milk,eggs,yogurt,butter,oil and much more about 2 years ago. Like the 11 year old boy from one of the youtube video said people think organic food is expensive but in the long run, its paying for organic food or the hospital later in your lifetime. 2 years ago my older sister decided to investigate the food we eat and what she learn she shared with my family. After my dad watched a few videos/ documentaries,  he said we would stop supporting these cruel actions towards animals and buy organic foods. Meat on the other hand was more difficult, until my dad found a good farmer that for sure wasn't a supporter of animal cruelty, we were pretty much vegetarians.Then my father found some farmer, which met my his "standards", and now we buy meat from there. I realized my family is very healthy.

The 3 things I learned from these videos were:

This is the life chickens have to suffer .

1. I am not a little kid anymore and as much as I still want to believe that the chicken I eat comes from my refrigerator, the truth is disturbing, and I have to realize what the truth is. Animal cruelty happens all over the world. Chickens are crowded into the smallest cage and for their short lived life they never see the sky, touch the ground, run around freely, spread their wings and eat the food they like just so that humans can have the luxury of eating chicken. Some chickens get so irritated that they start pecking at each other and now chickens get their beaks clipped to prevent this. This video that I watched opened my eyes towards animal cruelty, it was life changing and very upsetting: :(  http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=from+farm+to+fridge+&aq=f
2. Monsanto isn't a very good guy.... and I will support my statement. First of all, the monsanto corporation genetically modify foods so the are either long lasting, grow faster, unaffected by the environment, ect. This may seem good to many farmers like, "oh I can grow food faster", but in reality what the corporation does is goes into the cell of the specific vegetable and alters it to their satisfaction, they change the DNA, by adding DNA of some other organism. For example, tomatoes had DNA of fish injected into the its cells,maybe so it wouldn't be effected by water,( I'm just guessing).While they do that, they effect the vegetable and it isn't as nutritious and can cause health problems. Monsanto should learn to live with what nature gives you and not make a creation of your own to make money out of it.

This is the tomato/fish.

3. I learned that in America hormones are injected into cows and chickens to make them grow faster and produce more milk. When you drink the milk of these cows, the growth hormones gets to your body and can mess up your hormone system, which then causes further health problems.

Some dairy farmers inject their cows with the growth hormone rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) to promote milk production.

 The 3 actions that I will make or change as a result of what I learned:

My future garden..?Haha I'll be realistic.

1. I have always wanted to grow a garden my mother does every summer and so does my sister, but whenever I do try it doesn't work maybe because after a week I give up, but I realized that if I can grow my own vegetables, why not..? So I decided this up coming summer I will grow vegetables such as cucumbers, salad, and tomatoes,and this time I will stick to it, not give up!:)

2. Slowly moving toward the vegetarian side. This would be very difficult, but I think that if I give it time and I will be able to do it. This however may take me years.

3. The last thing I would like to do is inform as many people about this big issue of animal cruelty, growth hormones and genetically modified foods.My family already eats organic, but I would like as many other people to also do the same.

Reflect on my experience I have had while making these changes. 

   Throughout my life I would watch my mother sit outside in the sun gardening. At the time I was like what a waste of time, and I would just go play soccer. Last summer, I decided I might sit down and garden with her,but after my vegetable didn't grow I got mad and decided gardening wasn't for me. This summer I will try and stick to it! 

Happy animals make me happy:)

    This summer when I went to Pakistan, I saw chickens running around freely, some even in our house. I got to milk my uncle's cow(not fun),but all that made me see that not all animals get this freedom and I don't think it should be that way. Also eating organic food just makes me feel better. And I hope for the world to adapt to the old ways again, and lets the animals run freely.

My trip to Pakistan!

Heres my assignment #1 "Who am I":


After, almost two days of traveling on plane and then by car, starting on July 3, 2011, I finally reached Swat, Pakistan on July the 4th. Everything was new and different to me, even though my parents were born here I had no clue of what to expect. I was born in Montreal, Quebec and  finally at the age of 14, I  got to see my home country. The house my father grew up in, my moms mother, the relatives I heard about, but never met or seen, it was all very exciting. The area of Pakistan in which my relatives and I  live in was beautiful. It is very elevated and at the very top of Pakistan close to the border of Afghanistan. So the car ride to my small village was 6 hours from Islamabad ( the capital of Pakistan)  which was where our plane landed. It wasn't the greatest ride because we were getting higher and higher and it wasn't the smoothest ride as well. But in the end, I reached the village.


As I get out of the car, I can here little voices saying, "They are here, they are here." My older brother who left a few months before us was also there, I forgot to mention that the reason we were came all the way across the world was because my brother was getting married that summer, in our village. As I enter the house, I see that I have a lot of cousins, I saw my aunts and uncles etc.... big family. Everyone was as excited as  I was, but unfortunately I had no idea of what most of my cousins names were. By the end of the months however I knew everyone. I also felt that it was good that I came now I know more about my family which is very vast. The two months went by super quick, and in those two months I lived free on any electronics because our village is so small, the electricity is unpredictable, it comes and goes. Before coming my mother had told me about that and I was like what was i suppose to do for two months without internet?!! It actually turned out really fun cause i wouldn't have had the time to go on the internet. I visited many places and saw a lot of different things. The last few days were very sad because i would miss everyone so much, but i said after I graduate i would come visit again. That was my trip to Pakistan this summer.


Let me tell you more about myself. Soccer and reading are my top favorite hobbies. When I was younger me and my brothers would play soccer the whole day till our mother, literally dragged us inside to eat. I play soccer because I love it. Books, books I could read forever. I have one to many favorite books, I can't pick just one because every book I have read is worthy to be my favorite. I love watching the Vancouver Canucks play, my favorite player is number 3, Kevin Bieksa. When i get older i would like to travel to as many places as I can and see the world. I never really thought of this, but i like history. I speak Pashtu, the language spoken in certain parts of Pakistan usually the areas near Afghanistan. I was born in Montreal so yes, I speak French, but not as fluently as i used to because I don't practice it much. I also speak the language I am writing in, English. I think that is a pretty good summary of who I am.


What I want to get out of this online hybrid Planning 10 course is to learn more about my life and obviously how to plan my life after high school. I hope we will do some fun activities to keep me interested.

Sadiqa Khan, 772601