Booker Washington born in 1856 was an American author, orator, educator, and former slave. I’m currently reading his autobiography and although it may not be my favorite book it’s still a wonderful story about his life with some pretty amazing moments. Booker grew as a slave and was freed in his early adulthood. He didn’t have the best education but he continued to work hard in school. He got noticed in school and got invited to a school that was meant especially for black children. While his was there he got chosen for a teaching position which he praying for because he wanted to help children have what he never did. In the book he was ecstatic and his reaction was so heartfelt, especially since he had a hard life growing up. It may be a very simple moment, but it was a really sweet one and showed his character. He took that job very seriously and worked hard every day. I’m not finished with the book but so far it is a good story that I would recommend to others.

Seneca the Younger was born in 4 BC and was an ancient Roman philosopher. He is known for his philosophical works and his plays which would all end tragically. He took on the concept on what makes a good man and how should he live. Seneca thought inner virtue was always more important than outer appearances, and was often miss interpreted because of how he looked. He would encourage the teachings of working on one’s internal character development, rather than seeking external validation or material possessions. Another thing Seneca would focus on is knowing his own imitations, as well as owning up to when he was wrong. There were some times where Seneca would warn others against taking his own advice because he knew he could be wrong and he had flaws. The last thing Seneca thought heavily on was extravagance on one’s character, he thought it pulls away from someone’s real being as well as it’s not showing the true you. Those were the three biggest things Seneca focused on when it came to a good man.

Sports can be very expensive and the cost very’s depending on what sport you do. For example a gymnast’s uniform is probably going to cost more than a basketball player’s, this is just one small example of many and there is a lot more that goes into sports. First thing you need to be sure of is if you truly enjoy whatever sport or work out training you do because if not you could be wasting a lot of money for no reason. When it comes to equipment theres no shame in buying used from stores like Goodwill or Play It Again. Now if you are trying to get in shape and you are considering a gym membership I personally wouldn’t do it unless you are focusing on lifting heaving. Some benefits of the gym are nice like the machines and sometimes a free shower but unless it’s a really good price I would reconsider. For less money you could buy some used weights, a pull up bar, and do a bunch of exercises as well as ones that require no equipment at your home. These are just a few ways to save but in the long run they can save you a lot of money.

Greek religion played a very important part in ancient Greek history. Religion was taken very seriously and there were many rules. One aspect in Greek religion that is rarely talked about is domestic rites, which were the religious practices that you did in your home. This was exclusive to only your own household, you weren’t allowed to talk to any one about what you practiced in your home and they weren’t allowed to talk about what they did in theirs. Each God could only be worshipped by one family which is why you weren’t allowed to talk about them to others. Every home had an altar in it where a fire had to be kept going by the head of house (normally the husband/father) and once the head of the house passed away the eldest son would take over so it was very important to have a son. The son also got the rights to the property and other possessions that were held by his father. These practices were the first steps to the newer religions we have today and led to the worshipping of Gods like Zeus as well as others.

As you probably already might know if you have read any of my previous posts I read books for my school curriculum and I have started a new one which is an autobiography on Sergei Kourdakov a Russian KGB agent who’s job it was to raid underground Christian gatherings. One of the first ones he did was in chapter 12. It starts of with his captain telling him to gather his team because he has a job for them. Once gathered he tells them that they are to go raid a meeting of believers because back then in Russia it was not allowed. They laughed because to them it was a simple job and they were used to stopping things like bar fights. Sergei was pulled aside by his captain and told to bring back the pastors which names were written down on a piece of paper handed to Sergei. After awhile they all left to go stop the meeting but when they got there it was not what they expected it was just a simple old house that was poorly furnished with a group of people singing inside. Once they entered the room Sergei tried to assert his authority but it didn’t work to well as the believers knew the laws on worshipping a God. After bickering with the believers they knew someone had to go with the men so the two men that we’re wanted got taken back to the police station. After this first raid with the believers Sergei thought about it and knew he had to fix the way he approached them otherwise, he wouldn’t be taken seriously.

Although I don’t agree with Sergei’s job, it is still a very interesting story so far that many people have and will continue to enjoy.

5 years ago on December 23, 2019 my house caught on fire. It was a normal day I was eating breakfast with my brother, my dad was in the living room and my mom was taking a shower. All the sudden my dad started getting a weird smell and I did too. So he asked us if we smelled anything and went to go check the garage to try to figure out what the smell was. He opened the door revealing a large cabinet on fire. He screamed telling us the house was on fire and ran to get my mom out of the shower. My brother called 911 while I got the dog. My dad came running out to pull the cars away from the garage, by then the fire had grown really big really fast. My mom was outside pretty fast and the neighbors were also outside. The firefighters arrived just in time to where there was only real damage to the garage. This was the day before Christmas eve so we ended up spending Christmas at a hotel, which is where we lived for 2 weeks. After that we moved into an apartment for a year while they redid the house. Even though everything turned out alright that was still one of the scariest days of my life and I had to uproot my life for almost 2 years.

Being wealthy means having an abundance of material possessions normally money but is it immoral to be wealthy? The way I look at is how you got wealthy and if you worked for it. Let’s say you worked for years investing and working the right way for your money. Once you got where you wanted to be and you are considerably wealthy, I don’t think there isn’t anything wrong with that because you worked hard for your own money. Now lets say you got wealthy of scamming others and cheating your way to the top. I think this is different because the way you got your money is in my opinion immoral. Some would disagree that it is unfair and unjust that some people have more wealth then others but I disagree in some ways. Let’s say two people in a office job are both working but one is working harder and putting lots of effort in to what he does while the other is slacking off. In doing so the one who was working gets promoted severely positions and is now making much more then the man slacking off. Now that the man see’s this he is upset that he makes less but it is his own fault so I would say its fair that the man makes more cause he earned it. So in conclusion I think it is not immoral be wealthy. It just depends on how you earned it.

If you read my post last week on Jim Lehrer you would know I have been reading his autobiography and yesterday I finally finished it. The book consists of many different stories in his life, all in order of when they happened. They were all very interesting, but of course I have a favorite which was in chapter 1 “May I Have Your Attention, Please”?

The story starts with Jim going with his father to McPherson bus station because his father was having coffee with an old friend. The bus depot was in the lobby of the Warren Hotel where they had pinball machines, and Jim’s father gave him a nickel to play. Jim was very good at pinball and had played those machines many times before. The second he put the nickel in the machine he wished he didn’t because when he walked in the warm lobby after being outside in the cold Jim got a sudden need to use the bathroom badly. He wasn’t to worried because he was going to finish up the game fast and didn’t think that he was going to win, he was very wrong. Every round he kept winning, the first time he won three free games, then six, then nine, and eventually, he got all the way up to twenty-five free games. Although Jim’s need to go to the got higher and higher each game. He couldn’t leave now because the men’s room was across the lobby so by the time he got over there, did his business and came back some guy would have walked over to the machine stealing his games. So Jim decided to go right there just a little to relieve the feeling. Once he let go a bit he couldn’t control it and a river poured down his leg but he did not look down because he was so focused on the game. Once he finally looked down he was standing in a large puddle, he was horrified as he ran to the restroom locking himself in a stall. Minutes went by before he heard the bathroom door open, he knew who it was. It was his father asking him to come out and apologize to the janitor. Jim was too embarrassed and instead ran straight out of the hotel right to the car.

Jim Lehrer was an American writer born in 1934 in Wichita Kansas. Jim was a very inspiring man to many and lived an event full life which I have been reading about in his autobiography “A Bus of My Own”.

One of the biggest things to happen to Jim was having a heart attack. Thankfully he was in the hospital when it happened and the medical staff made sure he was alright. Jim stayed in recovery for a while after the attack because their were still a few risks, but he still managed to look on the positive side and their were still few good things that came out of the heart attack. First thing being while in recovery Jim had two men that were in charge of helping him work out and to run test’s to make sure he was healing properly. These men were Charlie and Harry who became good friends of Jim and made recovery a lot easier because he wasn’t alone, so now Jim has two new good friends. Another thing was Jim lived a healthier life after the heart attack because he was aware of the bad habits that caused the heart attack. Jim said he was a smoker, that he never worked out, and he ate bad food. So while in recovery he made a list of all of the bad habits he wanted to change. Jim’s life changed in many different ways some good some bad but no matter what I still found his book very interesting and would definitely recommend reading it if you like autobiographies.