I Believe...

The Power of Bees
I believe that bees should be named King over all creatures. Bees play such an important role in our lives and impact us more than we can imagine’. They make staying alive a lot easier, shower us with a sweet gift, and teach us a valuable lesson.
As seen on “The Bee Movie”, without bees all vegetation will start to wither and die, which causes trouble to us human beings and other animals. This is because bees are mainly in control of pollination. They make sure that the plants and trees continuously reproduce to supply us with enough oxygen. Without bees it would be a lot of extra hard work to do. Pollination would have to be done by man or the population on Earth will slowly fade from the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere. Research states that, “Bees are of inestimable value as agents of cross-pollination, and many plants are entirely dependent on particular kinds of bees for their reproduction (such as red clover, which is pollinated by the bumblebee, and many orchids).” (Importance of Bees) Farmers need the bees in order to get their crops pollinated and keep the pollination of plants in the wild balanced.
Bees are highly known for the delicious honey they produce. Honey may not be a vital part of our life, but it’s a free gift the bees give us. They are able to make something so delightful without the help from mankind. This is just another reason that make bees so breath-taking. Bees simply take the nectar from flowers, like clovers, dandelions, berry bushes, and fruit tree blossoms and spread its nectar throughout the honeycombs. The nectar is made of 80% water so as it settles in the honeycomb the water will evaporate from the nectar to make it into a thicker syrup, which we call honey. Not only do we get a tasty treat, but also beekeepers and honey companies make a fortune selling honey. Research also proves that honey can be used as medicine. “Honey does seem to have antibacterial properties. According to a study published in Science Daily, honey was more effective than conventional antibiotics at killing the bacteria that cause chronic sinus infections. Honey can be quite beneficial if you're suffering from cold symptoms. It has the ability to soothe a sore throat by coating its surface and reducing pain.” (Is Honey Healthy?) This complimentary bonus turns out to be a three for one deal: honey, money, and medicine.
Lastly, I learned that many people don’t realize this, but bees are not only for pollination and honey. I believe they teach us a very valuable lesson, one that is usually hard for most of us to learn. This would be the lesson of humbleness. As humans, it is not always the easiest to remain humble, because after all we are at the top of the food chain and practically rule this Earth. However, the work of bees reminds us to be humble because even some of the littlest creatures are greatly needed, and life without them would be forever changed. They are able to come together, tens of thousands of bees, and work together in harmony. As beekeeper, Howard McGinnis said, “Many of us cannot even manage to work in unity with just a couple of co-workers or classmates, but thousands of bees are able to come together and work as ONE.”
These are just some of the few new things I have learned from doing this project, which have led me to conclude to this: I believe that bees are extremely powerful individuals and we owe them our respect.

the whirlwind of life

As my grey blades swiftly slice through the space
I make wind and energy come to life
In front of me is nothing but a face.
A face of a woman enduring strife

As she watches me go around and round
Feeling chapters of her life slip away
She longs to regain grasp but no way found
Her mind can only see that day in May

When all control had break free from her hold
Off seemed like the greatest possible choice
Has life’s circumstances made her that bold?
Thank God for his always-ensuring voice

Realizing the bad chapters have past
And the good ones are spinning along fast.

The Whirlwind Of Life
The whirlwind of life is a sonnet of a story about a woman. This poem was written in its own direction rather than forced upon to fit a certain criteria. The ideas began to flow and it formed into a story, which I believe is a true story for many people.
In the beginning of this story the woman is deep into the slump of her life and is about to hit rock bottom. She just can’t seem to find a way out and her own existence on this earth no longer feels like she’s in control. Her existence on this Earth felt like a fan that’s on, but having no affect on anything. Time was going by just as the fan continuously spun and one day she just couldn’t handle the circumstances life has given her anymore. She felt like death was better than dreading through everyday on this planet with no purpose whatsoever. However, the voice of God reaches her, and she listens. She realizes that there is a purpose to life and knows that God is in control. Now that her life is committed to God the good days are arriving.
The way the fan is symbolized is not directly the life of the woman, but how life is in general. Each revolution of the fan represents a chapter of our life lived. The control panel on the fan shows the options we have for each day. We can keep it on “power”, live life to the fullest on “high”, go through each day mindlessly on “medium”, live life with no purpose on “low”, or forget about life and just turn it “off”. Sometimes we have great revolutions and other times the worst ever. But in the end it all balances out and we just got to remember to stay strong during the bad ones and wait patiently for the good ones.
For each stanza there was no actual theme in mind, but I just continued on with the story. In the first stanza I introduce the character and the life she is living. I also incorporate the fan in and show that it represents life. The second stanza and three lines of the third stanza are the body of the story. It talks about how the woman’s life is in pieces and unable to mend. I conclude the story in the last line of the third stanza and the last two lines. In these last three lines so many things were trying to be said, but I had to condense it so that it was said in only three lines. In the story when suicide is an option, it is not my belief of life that death is the answer to what seems like unfixable problems. However, to include what I believe I added in the line “Thank God for his always-ensuring voice”. It’s not very specific, but I wanted it to say that because God was now in her life she saw that there is a purpose to live and that is to live for God. As this sonnet was written in its own direction the inspiration for this poem actually came from the many testimonies I have heard from strong growing Christians. This story itself is like a testimony about how this woman’s life was saved by God and that knowing him has changed her life forever. My last two lines, “Realizing the bad chapters have past, and the good ones are spinning along fast” show exactly that. The trust she has in God comes with the assurance of everlasting joy and peace.

The secret life of bees

The Secret Life of Bees:
Life or Death?
“People who think dying is the worst thing don’t know a thing about life.” How is that possible? Don’t we live for life? Isn’t life over after death? The main character, Lily, says this as she is thinking back on past events and her present situations. I found it odd for someone to say such a thing, especially at such a young age. She is only fourteen years old with many more years to live yet she does not fear death.
This courage that she has is far beyond any others. The quote above represents that Lily believes death is easier than having to deal with life’s obstacles. She knows that there are far worst things that come in life than leaving this life. Lily has such bravery because of her knowledge from previous experiences, the present living situation that she is in, and how wonderful she imagines her afterlife to be.
As she thinks back on the past there is one story she will never forget. Lily killed her mother at the age of four with one shot.
“The gun on the floor. Bending to pick it up. The noise that exploded around us. This is what I know about myself. She was all I wanted. And I took her away.”(8)
She often reminds herself of this story and doesn’t have the will in her heart to move past it and forgive herself. Lily has to carry this burden for the rest of her life and this makes living tough. Sometimes she thinks death is the only way to erase this heavy load. Her heart aches to be with her mother and only death can bring them together once again. In Lily’s mind having to die and be able to be in Heaven with her mother forever, is far better than having to carry this constant guilt of knowing that because of her, the one she dearly loved is no longer on this earth.
Lily is among the 896,000 other children that are being physically and verbally abused daily by their parents. T. Ray, her father has never been the father figure in Lily’s life. One night during the middle of the night Lily has the urge to go to her orchard and get some air. She unfortunately falls asleep there and a couple hours later T. Ray finds her lying on the ground of the orchard. Lily could only think of the punishment to come and she knew immediately he was going to give it to her good this time. “He poured a mound of grits the size of an anthill onto the pine floor. “Get over here and kneel down”. I’d been kneeling on grits since I was six, but still I never got used to that powdered-glass feeling beneath my skin.” (24)
Since the time she was six T. Ray has physically abused her. He never smiled or talked to her, and when he did talk it was always harsh and loud. You can see why Lily might think death is not the worst thing in life. She has to live everyday of her life feeling no love and affection from her own father. T. Ray makes Lily feel like she is just extra change that he has to carry around. Death is so much easier than dealing with the pain of feeling unwanted all the time and the physical pain of getting severely beaten for hours.
However, this cruel life she lives will soon end as Lily runs away from home. This may seem positive, but then again she is merely a teenager running away with nowhere to go.
“So what are you planning to do?” she said. “Go from town to town asking people about your mother? Is that your bright idea?” “If I needed somebody to criticize me around the clock, I could’ve brought T. Ray along!” I shouted. “And for your information, I don’t exactly have a plan.”
Lily runs away with a fugitive, her colored nanny, Rosaline, not knowing what’s ahead for tomorrow or better yet, when there next meal was? The factors of starving to death, or getting caught with a black woman fleeing from jail and rigorously punished do not even put a slight doubt into Lily’s decision of running away. She rather live her life with the high possibilities of death every second, than have to stay and deal with this obstacle of life.
You can clearly see that Lily much rather run away from life’s difficulties than face them head on. Many of us believe that perseverance is key and death is not the answer. Is Lily wrong? Would you choose to just give up or deal with it?

Miracles on Liliha St.

“Owwww!” yelped my dad.
“WHAT’S WRONG?” my mom asked very concerned because it was unusual for my dad to be hurt.
“There’s a sharp pain right here” he answered pointing towards the lower right part of his body.
At first he thought it was just another one of those terrible stomachaches, but after a couple of hours the pain had not yet relieved. The pain was more serious than we thought, and it had been long enough to finally say it was time to go to the emergency room.
A nurse came to assist my dad. She began touching different areas on and around the source of pain. She came to his right kidney and he said it hurt a little. As a nurse she immediately kept note of that, but at the end it turned out to be his appendix. My dad had appendicitis, which is a serious medical condition in which the appendix becomes inflamed and painful. After hearing about this I did a little background research and found out that if the appendix had ruptured it could possibly get as severe as leading to death. Whew, thank goodness he found out fast!
It had been a couple of days after his appendix was successfully removed and it was time for a check up. The doctor said that he looked good and healthy and should have a speedy recovery. However, the nurse who checked him in the emergency room still questioned the little pain he had in his kidney area and had him go get it checked out. So they scheduled him for an x-ray on his right kidney.
The results came in and another appointment was made to review the results. Both my mom and dad went and they had no idea what to expect. It was time to go in to the patient’s room and hear the news. My parents could feel themselves becoming more and more nervous by the second. The doctor took out the x-rays and gently said, “Mr. Au you have a tumor in your right kidney”.
“I..I..I have KIDNEY CANCER?” stuttered my dad with his jaw slightly dropped.
“Well no, just a tumor, it has not turned into cancer yet. The tumor seems to only be in its first stage and has not yet left its rock shape. You will need to have surgery for your whole kidney to be removed because the tumor is located right in the center of the kidney. Unfortunately we cannot do the surgery right away because you are still recovering from your recent operation. We will have to wait till you are about 80% into your recovery. But for now, we can only hope that the tumor will stay in this solid form until the day of the surgery,” replied the doctor optimistically.
On that day my dad’s world turned upside down knowing that his life was on the line. He has a wife and three daughters to support and he could only wonder how he is going to be able to support them with possibly only one functioning kidney?
During those couple of weeks of waiting before he would be allowed to remove his kidney everyone had a hopeful heart. We prayed for him day and night, praying that God would take care of his health and bless him with his life. Even though my dad and family were put in this tough situation we always remembered to thank God everyday. If it weren’t for the miracle He had sent down we would’ve never known my dad had a tumor.
It was the day of the big surgery and we all calmed our hearts down, praying earnestly for his health after the loss of a kidney. Fortunately, the tumor had still not left its solid form, but it was still in the middle of the kidney. The surgeon was very hesitant about having to remove an entire kidney because with only one functioning kidney, life is not easy. With one kidney he will be limited to his daily routines. He can only do office work, and work only limited hours due to the need of lots of rest. His system will become weaker and if he is ever sick the type of medications he is allowed to take is very limited because his body will not be able to handle the very strong ones.
BUT, right before his four-hour surgery, by the grace of God, He had sent down another miracle. The tumor had somehow shifted to the side of the kidney. With relief in the surgeon’s heart, he only had to cut off a small portion of the kidney to remove the tumor, and my dad would be able to function with his two rightful kidneys. All our prayers had been answered, and my family and everyone who had prayed and concerned for my dad were overjoyed with tears of happiness.
My dad was blessed with these wondrous miracles to show people the amazing grace and unconditional love of God. It has now been about four years since the surgery and he is a healthy father, husband, employee, and faithful servant of God.

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