Blog 2

http://changethis.com/manifesto/51.01.YourHowl/pdf/51.01.YourHowl.pdf

In Flumin's article, he highlights two stories, one of which is an assignment written by one of his fifth grade classmates. The story talks about a lion who tries to escape a cage which he is trapped in. Eventually his plan will work and he'll escape his cage only to be trapped in another, and then another, and then another until he realizes there are infinite cages on an infinite plane of existence in which he can never escape. Flumin uses this article to highlight about his personal view on life. If we try and escape our fears and limitations, we too will only be trapped in other fears and other limitations. It is by burying and surrendering ourselves with these fears that we are ultimately able to escape and find our true inner being, our "howl".

A saying I hold dearly is "You get out of something what you put into it." This quote is from no specific source but rather the motif from many stories. It's similar to Marty Mcfly's " If you can put your mind to it you can accomplish anything" from Back to the Future or the theme from most Disney movies. As shallow and and benign as this quote is, I seriously believe that it true. This is actually a bit of a controversial subject however. When I think of those times when people have put their heart into something and it has only let them down, what possibly could they have received? As this controversial topic ranges from failing a test to human infertility, I believe that this quote is applicable to any and all situations.

I first heard this quote from my junior year theology teacher. We were studying the works of Oscar Romero, a catholic arch bishop in El Salvador who stood for the poor's rights during a dictator's regime in the 1980s. The government was quietly executing thousands of indigenous tribes in El Salvador. Oscar Romero, against even his church's belief stood against the government and by civil disobedience was able to start a revolution. Romero poured his soul into that movement and now what remains is a better El Salvador. Although he was assassinated, his legend lives and he is considered a hero in most of Latin America.

The more I rolled around this idea in my head, the more it made since. I decided to apply this to parts of my life. I looked at my Algebra II grade and said "I want this to be better". I put a some work into it and sure enough it was better. But of course it would be better, I studied for a class as appose to not studying. It was bound to get better. This is a basic example of my axiom.

This saying is more helpful when you don't get what you expected out of something. I hated chemistry my junior year. I would not understand the material no matter how hard I studied. On one occasion I was nearing the end of the quarter and my grade was depending on one last test to either push me to a B or keep me at a C. I studied for hours that night, I understood the material and I felt like I could teach the class the next day. I soared through the exam and waited anxiously to see that good grade the following day. When she passed out the grades, I saw a 62%. My heart dropped and I immediately lost all faith in that saying. What did I receive from this grade that worth 8 hours of studying? It took me a few days before I realized that maybe I did take something away from the grade. I understood that procrastination maybe wasn't the best idea. I learned that life isn't always fair and I could accept failure a little bit better. Most importantly I learned that my quote isn't always cut and dry. There are other out comings apart from the the one that you executed.

My most precious experience when this advice helped me most was when I was assembling a documentary about a school trip to Guatemala. I personally had gone on this trip and took my camera with me to record the events. I recorded the work we did and the interactions between the kids of the garbage dump community and my senior classmates. In all, 11 students went on the trip. While making the video, I tried to capture the emotional journey of some students through interviews. I wanted this to be both a summary of our trip and as a sales pitch to try and get more people to go and experience what life is like in a third world country. I spent more than seventy hours on this documentary alone and it was one of the greatest things I have ever made. The following year, instead of 11 students attending the trip there were 31. Many parents requested copies of the movie to show their community the work my high school has done. I poured my soul into that project and in turn I think I have inspired others to take a trip that will change their lives.