ASchwartz@friendscentral.org

(Tuesday 01/03/22) Recently in the world, Russia has been at war with Ukraine because they are invading their country. I am not normally scared or bothered with war-related current events but this time it feels bigger and worse than normal. It feels like there is a lot of tension in the world right now and that as a country we are feeling scared for the people in Ukraine. It is crazy that one crazy person can have so much power and destroy an entire country. They had talked on the news about how they invaded Chernobyl and could accidentally leak radiation which is also really scary. I have also heard that the Russian soldiers are being sent to Ukraine unknowingly about to die which is messed up. I am only 14 so I don’t know that much about the topic but I can’t understand why someone can’t just kill Putin. I would think that that might solve a lot of the problems but I could be wrong.
(Thursday 03/03/22) today I am feeling more optimistic about everything the president of Ukraine is still alive and some of the Russian troops are being captured. I dont know how long this will last but I pray that Ukrainians can stick it out. Also, there have been a bunch of protests in Russia asking Putin to not go to war which means that not even the Russians want to invade Ukraine which is crazy. While I can’t imagine what the Ukrainians are going through I can see on tv and in the news article that hundreds of thousands of people are being displaced which is sad. I can’t imagine having to evacuate my home and leaving my dad at the border.

Today it is snowing, I never really liked the snow. It always is nice the first day and I have great memories of sledding with my dad and brother but after the first day, it always gets black and icy. I don’t like the cold weather either. I much prefer sitting by a pool to skiing or sledding but I do enjoy both. If I had to live in a warm place all year round or a hot place I would definitely pick hot. Because in the winter I get winter depression and sometimes it just feels really gloomy when you can’t go outside. For some reason even though I feel like everyone loves the snow I find myself wanting it to melt every time it starts to fall. I am supposed to go to Colorado for spring break and I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I am excited to go to someone new and try new things but on the other hand, it will be very cold and I could get a little lonely because I don’t have friends out there. I will try to make the debts of it and come up with fun things to do. While my family love to sky it stresses me out so I will probably be on ski for a few days but that’s fine with me. My mom and I will probably stay back and explore the town together. I am excited for the spring and summer it is my favorite time of year. I love going to oceans city and sitting on the beach with my friends. Nothing compares to late-night ice cream and getting ready for dinner after a day at the beach. 

currently, in class, we’ve been talking about Athens vs melos. This all takes place in Greece. I’ve always wanted to go to Greece and hopefully will go one day. Greece is so cool because it is made of many small Islands. I love Greek food too so that is always a bonus. Speaking of Greece I love to travel. I think I like the table so much because it keeps me occupied. I don’t like when I am sitting still for too long it drives me crazy. I always try to entertain myself I think that’s why I love making so much. Taking keeps me entertained and there’s always something that can be done so I don’t have to sit still. 

Well, I do love to bake I haven’t been baking as much recently. I think it’s because I have such a busy schedule and school really drains the energy out of me. I really want to get back into it because I think it was really good for my mental health. I started to bake a little bit here and then during the week which is a nice break from schoolwork. For example yesterday I made cinnamon sugar soft pretzels and they were really good. I hope I can start doing things like this most days after school. A lot of days I don’t have the energy I think If I relax for a little bit and then I will be more energetic

I don’t know how I feel about the afterlife. It is so hard to imagine what it would be and how it would work. But I do want there to be an afterlife. So many religions believe in an afterlife and so many people swear there is one so it is definitely controversial whether or not there is one. If you believe in science you would probably say there isn’t one but even some super-smart scientists believe in the afterlife. If there is an afterlife what is it? How does it work? I have so many questions that won’t be answered till I die. In the Jewish religion, there is no clear afterlife so I have never been told what to believe. I have slowly come to the conclusion that whatever happens happens. I can’t do anything to predict or find out what the next step is so I am just going to let it be. 

Related to the afterlife, I try not to think about the future too much because I try to live in the moment. It’s definitely hard to live in the present, bad things happening all around me but I try my best. I think if you dwell in the past or the future too much it can be a bad thing and have negative consequences. But if you live in the moment you get to focus on what’s important.

Throughout history, humans have been here for such a short amount of time. But we have done so much with the planet. Humans are rapidly ruining the planet in a very short amount of time. It is incredible how much humans consume and use up resources but we can stop it before it’s too late. We must come up with new ways of living. Because if we keep living like this humankind will end. When I look back at all of my history lessons I think about how people lived without power and cell phones and back then the planet was not suffering. But I think it is too late to go back. We still must innovate. We must find new ways to live because we can not go back to the old ways but we can’t live like how we are currently. I wonder if there is a way to make electricity, houses,  and cars without making carbon emissions. I am no scientist but I am sure someone out there is working on it. It is important to save our planet and use history from the past to guide us today.

yesterday in class we talked about parents making decisions for their kids. That had me thinking about how sometimes my parents make me do things I don’t want to do that are probably in my best interest. A Lot of the time when my parents make me do something I think to myself what is the point of this or why I am doing this but usually later on in the day or week I realize that what I was doing was good for me and made sense. Now I do not think parents always know what is best for their kids but most of the time they do. It doesn’t always feel like it but you have to trust your parents and know that they have your best interest in mind. 

I also have been thinking a lot about last year with covid and the decisions my parents made for me. Over and over again in 2021/2020, my parents had made decisions for me that I didn’t understand. It felt like they were restricting me from everything and that covid was ruining my life. But after a lot of thinking, I look back and I think that they made the right decisions. Even though I didn’t realize it at the moment, I am grateful that my parents made the choices they did to protect me.

Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of true crime documentaries on Netflix. It’s crazy to see all these horrible things that have happened throughout our history oftentimes they repeat themselves. I never really thought about why we learned history At school but I think I am finally realizing that we learn history so we do not repeat mistakes that we have made in the past. That had me thinking about all the horrible things that could happen if we forgot all of our histories. Very bad things could happen and humankind would make Devastating mistakes that we could otherwise prevent if we had known it had happened before. As a Jewish person, my mother always told me that if we forget the Holocaust it could happen again and that statement very much relates to what I just said. That’s why I think it is so important that we can’t forget all of the bad things humankind has done so that we don’t make those mistakes again. 

I also have been watching a lot of reality TV which is definitely very different from true crime documentaries. Sometimes I think to myself why am I watching this stupid show. But I think it’s important to sometimes forget about what’s going on around you and just let loose a little. I think reality shows are a great resource for a quick laugh and good entertainment but I do still think it’s important to watch more meaningful TV or read books.

I’ve been thinking a lot about religion over the break. even though not all of us celebrate Christmas and not all of us celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa almost everybody celebrate something over the holidays. Even if you’re not celebrating a religious event it’s a great time to spend with family and reflect upon the year you’ve had. I’ve also been thinking about the war over Christmas. Even though I am not Christian I have learned that in recent years certain mostly left-wing groups are fighting for people to not say happy holidays. I think it’s interesting that people take such offense to the common phrase happy holidays. What is wrong with including everyone And not just one religion. It almost feels like people will fight over anything. It’s sad to see people fighting because that’s not what the holidays are about. The holidays are about family and celebration and being inclusive. The holidays are to spread warmth within your community. They are not about fighting and being a divided country.  in my opinion, we should respect all religions and all communities and strive for peace and equality for everyone 

I have also been thinking a lot About global warming. Recently in Philadelphia, it’s been very warm Almost Scarily warm. After realizing how warm it is I went to talk to my dad and ask him if this was global warming. He said that this could be global warming but that it’s most likely just a warm winter. This whole topic got me thinking about what I could do to prevent global warming. It’s so hard to feel like you can do anything about it when you are just one person but I’ve come to find that there are actually many things you can do. You can turn off the lights in the room if you are not in it. And you don’t have to heat the rooms that you are not using. I also found out that taking Bathtubs is a lot more water-efficient than showers which is something I never knew. These are just a few things you can do that if everyone did would help stop global warming. All-electric cars are not easily accessible hopefully in the future they will be and everyone drives Electric.

Over the Thanksgiving break, I have been thinking a lot about the original thanksgiving. I was raised being told that the pilgrims and native Americans were friends and had a lovely meal by the water during the first thanksgiving. but when I got to friends central  I learned that unfortunately, that story was a myth and that the first thanksgiving was not peaceful at all. this had me thinking that history could be changed and that 100 years from now things we are learning could be totally false and fabricated. is what we are learning true?