cucc8167

1. What is the best advice you have ever received?
==== The best advice I have ever received was from my mum who told me, ‘//what goes around comes around’.// Without sounding very cliché, I believe that such simple words give us a whole lot to think about. My mum gave me this advice during a time when people were treating me poorly. Not only did it help me accept that the people who were mistreating me would soon face their consequences but this piece of advice also taught me that if you are good or do good things, you will receive good consequences whereas if you do bad things or are a bad person, you will receive bad consequences. I find that this piece of advice will always stick with me and is timeless because only as I grow older will I begin to see the consequences of the actions of myself, my peers, my family and my friends. ====

==== I guess if I threw a piece of rubbish on the ground I would think nothing of it at first. I probably would not even think of it at all. It is only a piece of trash right? But now, after I’m aware of the damage that can be caused by one piece of rubbish, I would be disappointed in myself. I would regret being lazy and not taking those extra three steps to the rubbish bin. If everyone began littering, it would pose major problems on our wild and marine life. Innocent animals lives’ would be threatened and at stake while we would be responsible. So next time you consider littering or taking the easy way out, think again. Think of the innocent turtles, fish, dolphins and birds that could be posed with endangerment. Think of how easy it is to take one second out of your day to walk over to the rubbish bin. ====

==== If I saw a friend cheating, I believe the best solution would be to confront the friend. I would rather confront the friend than report them or sit back and watch them cheat as I believe by confronting them; you are encouraging them to be a better person and showing them that as a friend, you will be there for them whenever they need you; even when cheating is involved. To me, courage is a strong word. It means that you have the nerve to stand up to the people who judge you and who do not give you a chance. Courage means standing up for what you believe in despite what other people will think of you. A good friend is someone who is courageous and who would stand up for you despite how they might be judged or whatnot. A good friend is someone who is trustworthy and who you know will understand you and have your back no matter what circumstance you find yourself in. Luckily, I’m blessed with great friends. I often learn how to be a good friend from my own friends. My friends have taught me to be respectful, to be myself and to be trustworthy and reliable. ====

==== Everyone has something that they can’t live without, and for me, it is my baby grand piano. Firstly, my piano was second-hand; brought from a family friend who once owned a restaurant. I know a restaurant seems completely irrelevant but quite frankly, it isn’t. This restaurant was the same restaurant that I celebrated my baptism, communion and confirmation in which significantly shares the celebration of being a Catholic. This restaurant always united my family and even today, I still remember the joyous times we would all have dancing around on the dance floor to music that probably isn’t so popular today. Anyway, my piano was brought from a restaurant and I guess every time I look at it, I always remember the great times it shared with us as it sat in the corner of the function room, unused. Nowadays it sits in my music room and helps me express my emotions. I started playing piano when I was grade prep; when I was six years old. And to this day, I’m still playing. The funny thing is that not until recently I enjoyed playing the piano. I guess as children our parents often hope we would enjoy the hobbies in which they never were able to do but since say two years ago, I realised that piano was more than playing keys. It was a way to express my anger, my happiness, my success and other emotions. Without my piano I probably would never get time to myself to just take the time to think about my day, my faults and my successes. ====

==== A long time ago, we were given Earth. Earth was full of life; animals, flowers and insects just to name a few. There was a beautiful sky which on good days was the brightest of blues as well as the water that was just a little darker in colour. Then one day, some of the humans that were put on the beautiful Earth began to forget how lucky they were to have Earth. The people on Earth came up with smarter ways of living which at the time, had no consequences. They invented computers, cars, aeroplanes and boats that damaged our Earth. They also produced energy to power these inventions from resources that were renewable and non- renewable. At the current time, pollution is a big problem worldwide. It has damaged our o-zone layer which affects the way our Earth functions. People who pollute and know the consequences make me annoyed as they think that our Earth has nine lives or something similar. People don’t realise that this is **our** Earth and **we** were given the **responsibility** to look after it. I understand that some people are still poorly educated on pollution and global warming, but just by turning off your computer at the power point or darkening your home instead of putting the air conditioner on, you are doing Earth a favour. ====

==== When I do something wrong that makes me think ‘I probably shouldn’t have done that’, I feel guilty and disappointed. I remember once, I made a negative comment to one of my peers after they had just said something rude to me. That night I went home and reflected on my behaviour. I felt sick in the stomach for the way I had dealt with my emotions. I knew that what I had said done was wrong and that I had to apologise to that person the next day otherwise I’d have the guilt with me permanently. Even though I had only said ‘harmless’ words to this person that other people would have thought nothing about, I felt guilty inside because I know how it feels when people speak poorly to others and it is not fair to pass on that negativity to someone who maybe is going through a tough time. Despite the fact that that particular person had firstly said something rude to me, I know that negative language is not the way to deal with a problem and I know that I am above that. When I do something that is very good, I feel successful and proud. For example, about two months ago, I went door-knocking on behalf of the Salvation Army in their ‘Red Shield Appeal.’ I collected donations from people in my neighbourhood and promoted statistics of people in Melbourne who are in poverty or homeless. By doing this, I felt as though I was giving back to the fortunate life I have got. After completing the door- know I felt proud and content. Even though I only went door- knocking and collected money, I still felt as though I had done something worthwhile, something that would help others. ====

==== I wish there was a law that said any form of serious bullying is punishable. This would be a good law because too many teenagers are affected by bullying. There are many types of bullying: verbal, physical, mental/ psychological and cyber. Let’s focus on cyber- bullying and verbal bullying though. Cyber- bullying is the concept of being bullied through technologies such as computers, mobile phones and other technologies. It has become more prevalent in the last three years. Did you know a quarter of Australian children have been cyber bullied? And did you know cyber bullying is more common amongst 14- 17 year olds compared to other age groups? And then we have verbal bullying which is a form of bullying which requires the use of language. It could involve gossiping or talking to someone in a negative manner. I believe the bullying law is a good law as bullying is a serious matter. Bullying can impact different people in different ways. For example, imagine a teenage boy who just had the worst day ever. He left for school in the morning while experiencing a small but upsetting argument with his mother and then came to school to find people verbally bullying him; telling him that he is worthless. Let’s say this boy also had a sick family member; a really sick family member that could be passing away soon. What if a comment such as ‘you are not good enough’ got to him and made him doubt himself? What if that comment affected him so much that he considered giving up his life? Bullying can push someone over the edge so I believe there should be a law that said any serious form of bullying is punishable. ====

==== When I am angry, I look very tense, stressed and anxious. I make sure though, if I am ever angry, that I take a second to accept what has happened and to relax. When I am happy, I look bubbly, merry and smile a lot. I find that I am happy when I find out good news, when I am surrounded by people with a **positive** attitude and when I am in a place full of serenity. One of my main values in life is making sure I have friends that make me happy. I have always been blessed with great friends and find that when I am around my closest friends; I will always be happy, bubbly and laughing. (I tend to laugh **a lot** when I’m happy) J I know when a friend is bringing me down constantly; talking negatively, that they are not good friends because yes, it’s fine to help your friends when they are on a tough road, but when it is happening constantly, the friend is selfish for putting that negativity onto you. I have felt lonely when I had an argument with my friends last year. Some of my friends were trying too hard to fit in to the ‘in crowd’ I guess you could say and I was totally against it. I told my friend that she didn’t have to change who she was as true friends will accept you for who you are. She didn’t listen and decided to have a little party with her ‘new friends’ while still inviting our other best friend. I felt lonely and excluded as I knew that my old friend wasn’t with me no more. Sadly, my friend learnt the tough way that those people were not her friends and now we are as close as we used to be. I feel proud when I achieve something great. These ‘great’ achievements do not have to be big achievements but even by being complimented or giving one dollar to a busker, I feel proud of who I am and where I come from. Pride is something you should never let go of. Despite what others may think of you, I find that being proud is a way of boosting your confidence and helps people know that you like yourself just the way you are! ====

====Laziness is my most disliked trait. I am not often lazy, but I have a tiny sense of laziness that often tries to possess me. To me, laziness is a bad attitude. It is something that people find to use an excuse. ‘I was too tired… I had netball training… I had….,’ those are just some of the excuses I hear students often explaining to the teacher when they couldn’t complete their homework. No offence to anyone who has used any of those excuses but they are very pointless. I mean at the time not completing your homework sounds like the best solution…. Right? Well no, wrong! Sure you had netball training but really, unless your whole life is dedicated to netball (24/7) you still had at least an hour somewhere in time to complete your homework. People in modern day society are so lazy that it annoys me. For me, watching television for an hour is enough laziness to handle. Hopefully I haven’t sounded to extreme so far because I still like to relax, trust me but I can’t understand how people can constantly sit around fathoming for hours. Why not go for a nice walk or have a chat with your next door neighbours? Doesn’t that seem more appealing than killing those poor brain cells due to an overload of television? No wonder our generation of people are obese because seriously, all people love to do is…. Um… That’s right: NOTHING! So be old fashioned and go for a stroll, trust me, you’ll be doing yourself a favour! ====

====When we look at the word prejudice without knowing its meaning, we can see the word **pre** and **jud** which to our eyes looks like the word **judge**. **Pre- judge**. Pre- judge is the best way to describe prejudice and why it still exists. Prejudice exists because of ignorance and a lack of education. Races, religions, social groups, ethnicity and sexual orientations are just some of the things that people are prejudice towards. Prejudice is like I said, pre- judging. It is all about generalisation and stereo-typing. Prejudice is when people judge others by their appearances, disabilities and other aspects. I don’t think prejudice will ever not exist. I mean, there will always be people that are racist and that discriminate about certain aspects of the world. This just means that you, as a person, have to accept others for their race, their faults, their disabilities, their culture and their customs. It means that despite how different other people are, you must accept and respect that. I know myself that I have to be as tolerant as possible. If I see someone with tattoo sleeves, piercings, different coloured skin to mine or someone of a different race, I know that I can’t judge them by that. I know that everyone is different in their own way and that does not necessarily mean that they are bad. Prejudice will always exist, but if we all learn to accept others, we can reduce the amount of people in the world or in our communities who are prejudice.====