Jonathan Rodebaugh

Ms. Pahomov

English II

5/25/18

Taken For Granted

Everybody at some point has had something valuable but completely taken that thing for granted. People take up all the benefits with barely noticing its existence whether it is a family member or even just an object. When there is a lack of appreciation toward something or someone, it leaves a huge impact when that thing is gone. They don’t know how to react, and they feel the heavy consequences. This is a common theme in William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Piggy is a big part in helping the school boys, but he is just pushed aside and his help comes unappreciated. People don’t appreciate what resources, and gifts they have until it's gone.

Lord of The Flies is about school boys that got stranded on an island after a plane crashed on a seemingly abandoned island. They are making a fire for the first time in hopes of being found by anyone who sees the smoke. Piggy tries to contribute to help the boys, but gets shut down, "We couldn't keep a fire like that going, not if we tried.’’A fat lot you tried,’ said Jack contemptuously. ‘You just sat.’ ‘I got the conch,’ said Piggy indignantly. ‘You let me speak!’ ‘The conch doesn't count on top of the mountain,’ said Jack, ‘so you shut up.’I got the conch in my hand.’’ Jack turned fiercely. ‘You shut up!’"(Golding, 42). This quote shows that because of Piggy’s look and their standards of a leader, which was based on Piggy being unpopular and overweight. Because of this, they do not want to listen to him even though he gives sensible advice. The boys even ignored their own laws of the conch just to ignore what Piggy has to say. To the boys, it doesn't matter if what Piggy says is useful or intelligent. They just looked at his looks and popularity and jump to conclusions off of that very little bit of information.

Comparatively, the previous example from Lord of The Flies relates to the Minnesota Vikings 2017 NFL season. The Vikings lost their starting quarterback, Sam Bradford, in 2017 due to injury. They were then forced to have Keenum a mediocre player be quarterback instead, and their season seemed to fall apart. The Christian D’Andre from sbnation.com said, “Last year, Keenum was a top 10 quarterback who recorded a 98.3 passer rating... his Vikings went 12-3 in games where he was the team’s primary passer...” This quote shows how amazing Keenum was that season. The Vikings had what seemed to be a stellar quarterback, the Vikings were reaping the benefits of Keenum’s success. They however, were not convinced that Keenum was the answer. During the season, the Vikings head coach, Mike Zimmer, said, “Is he the guy that played for the Rams or is he the guy that played for us?” This is referring to when Keenum played for the Rams and did not play well. It seemed like the team obviously had someone that made them an elite team. The Vikings seemed to take him for granted and not appreciate his huge contribution. In this statement they were just looking at the fact that Keenum’s football history was as a backup to other teams. Based off of this they assumed he would not be capable to lead a football franchise, even though he was having so much success in that season. Comparing this to the previous example of Piggy, Keenum and Piggy had amazing contribution to their team or group, however even though their impact was seen they were not nearly as respected as they should have been. Keenum’s coach said he was unreliable, and Piggy was treated very poorly by the leaders in his group of boys. These are both examples of people just ignoring the talent that is in front of them.

At the end of the novel, Ralph is reflecting and is mourning the death of Piggy, even though he treated him so poorly in the past. “Ralph pushed back his tangled hair and wiped the sweat out of his best eye. He spoke aloud. ‘Think.’ What was the sensible thing to do? There was no Piggy to talk sense.” (Golding, 196) Ralph recently witnessed Piggy’s death, and this took a big toll on Ralph. Throughout the book, present was the constant mistreatment and bullying of Piggy. Now, Ralph is learning the hard way to appreciate how much Piggy contributed and helped the group. He was crying for Piggy and realizing how much he loss. He took Piggy’s intelligence for granted, and is now regretting it. This was a moment that Ralph was in where he really needed wisdom, and Piggy was not there. All the other times Piggy was sharing his thoughts he was shut up. The irony is really a big blow to Ralph who was regretting his decisions.

Relating back to the Keenum example, the Vikings did not resign Keenum and let him leave. They signed Kirk Cousins, who they thought would make the team better. Mark Maske of the Washington Post talked about the effects of Keenum leaving, “The Vikings, after reaching last season’s NFC title game with Case Keenum at quarterback, signed Cousins to be the final piece of a Super Bowl puzzle. Instead, they’re 6-6-1 after Monday night’s defeat. That’s the very definition of mediocrity.” This article talks about how good the Vikings were with Keenum and how they weren’t great with Cousins. It was shown how much the Vikings didn’t really appreciate Keenum and they were sure that the new guy they brought in would be the answer. They, in a way, were punished for not trusting Keenum because he was known as being a mediocre back up. Looking back at the Piggy example this is similar because Piggy and Keenum were both not shown the respect that they deserved, and their group or team felt the negative impact when they were gone.

People being taken for granted is a common theme in Lord of The Flies and with Case Keenum, This was seen at the end of the book with Ralph not having Piggy, and the Vikings without Case Keenum. t is also very common in real life. In the real life example, it could be an impactful player that leaves and it hurts your team. It can also be a very good friend that you don’t realize how much they mean to you until they leave. This is an issue that has impacted every single person at sometime, and it can be scary. If there is something that is relied on heavily that you barely noticed, if it is gone destruction is bound to happen. All people have this as a tendency it is a part of how humans are and the way they behave.

Works Cited



D'Andrea, Christian. The Broncos Are Getting the Worst Version of Case Keenum. SBNation.com, 2 Oct. 2018, www.sbnation.com/nfl/2018/10/2/17927820/denver-broncos-case-keenum-struggling-contract-welp.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005322646911&fref=ts. “Analysis | The Vikings’ Signing of Kirk Cousins Seemed like Such a Good Idea at the Time.” Washington Post, The Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/12/11/vikings-signing-kirk-cousins-seemed-like-such-good-idea-time/.

Jr., Harry Lyles. 2018 NFL Free Agency: Mike Zimmer Isn’t Sold on Case Keenum as QB. SBNation.com, 1 Mar. 2018, www.sbnation.com/2018/3/1/17066984/mike-zimmer-case-keenum-vikings.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Penguin Book, 2006.



Backbone

Hello mother, how are you today? That's good. No, I’m not fine actually, not fine at all. Well, I am really anxious, mom, I have an exam coming up that I am not feeling great about. I have to cram for it tonight and I am already struggling in the other classes. I feel like I am about to explode inside. I don’t want to do it anymore I’m freaking tired of everything!

On top of all my stress at school, I don’t have time to hang out with friends, and I’m now losing friends. Oh and this morning Cynthia broke up with me. I just want to be done with college. Everyone talks about “the good college years” but honestly these are the worst years of my miserable life. I can’t catch a break mom.

Oh and don’t think I forgot, that I have to take care and raise your kids! I am trying to get through college and just have a life, but I have three kids to take care of. Ever since you left last year, my life has become making sure the kids, are okay, and making sure I can at least slide through school. Now I have to get the kids a babysitter to watch them, so I can go to work in the night. Why? You ask. well, I have to pay the bills now because you decided to stop paying. It’s not healthy for me, mom! I physically feel like crap, because I got zero sleep.

Do not think that I do not love my siblings. I give them all the love that you didn’t. No, you don’t mom! If you really did you wouldn’t have walked out on us. I take care of them well. I was there on Jenna's first day of school, Rocco’s kindergarten graduation, and Phyllis learning to ride her bike. I was there, you weren’t. They rely on me know I have earned their trust. As far as I know, they have no more trust in you, all that trust went out the same door you did when you left.

Even though you left they still need you, heck, I still need you. We are struggling, I don’t have enough money coming in, we are not going to survive. I’m trying I really am. I know things were hard for you, but you can’t just walk away.

I understand the difficulty that you had to face after dad got arrested all those years ago. Ever since that happened you acted differently. I knew from then you would never be the same. Life changed for everyone, it was hard I get it, but that didn’t mean you should’ve just given up. I still didn’t give up and trust me I want to but I know I can’t let the rest of my family down. Dad did something very wrong, but he did not intend for you to walk out on us. Nobody did but you. That’s all you ever think about, yourself.

It doesn’t have to end this way though. This past year has been rough for both of us. I’m sorry for what dad did, and I’m sorry for the limited support you received.  I can’t do this alone mom, and neither can you. We need to be there for each other and be together, as a family. This life is hard enough as it is alone. We might as well just do it together. So what do say we start over, begin a new slate, be a family again. Is it a yes? Mom? Mom? Hello, mom are you there?

Jonathan Rodebaugh

Ms. Shagin

CTE Engineering

9/26/18

Jon’s Three Keys To Success.

Introduction:

My definition of a strength would be a key to one person’s success. Not everybody has the same strengths because everybody is different. I came up with 3 strengths that I personally think to enable me to succeed. The first one would be my work ethic, I believe hard work is a huge reason for success. Second is professionalism if you can present yourself as someone who acts well in a workplace I think that will help you in the long run. My third strength is my curiosity. Not knowing something and not trying is one thing, but being will to try new thing and learn how to do things helps a lot, that is why I try to accomplish this every day.

Jon’s Work Ethic:

I think one of the biggest things that I can do for any task I have, is to put in a good workload, and have a good work ethic. There is a lot of assignments at school or skills I am trying to learn that I am not good at. Even though I’m not the best at them, I show that I work hard at them, and that helps me a lot. I also try to plan out times in my head that I can do the work, or time to study so I can get better at certain things.

Jon’s Professionalism:

Sometimes kids my age got to a public or professional place, and they cause a ruckus. I try to not do that, I try to act with professionalism. When I enter a public place or a business, I try to get to know the place and the people before I get too comfortable with it. I always act with professionalism, with my voice and my actions.

Jon’s Curiosity:

If I am faced with something really hard that I don’t know I try not to just shy away from it because it is too hard. I am always eager to learn new things and experience new things. I think that will help me in the real world. That is because if I am faced with a new opportunity I won’t run away with it just because it is something new.

Conclusion:

I believe these three strengths will help me a lot throughout my time in CTE Engineering. I know this will be hard and I can use my work ethic to help me push through. In my ILP I will be working with a business so I will use my ability to be professional to make a good impression. There will be new things that I will experience, and I will use my curiosity to figure those things out. I also think that I will gain new skills by going through CTE Engineering.

Jonathan Rodebaugh

Ms. Pahomov

9/19/18

The Ride

I start to walk up the long side walk of Frankford Transportation Center. It was my first day taking Septa by myself. I was shaking, every person I saw seemed like they were staring right through me. I walked into the building of the transportation center. I felt clueless even though I knew where to go. Throughout my childhood I have taken the L with family and felt fine about it, but sometimes I just feel really insecure about the little things. For example, if I accidently took something that wasn’t mine, I would have nervous breakdowns and not be able to sleep.  In the building I asked a million questions, just to make sure I was going in the correct place. I stepped onto the escalator that looked a mile long, as it crept higher I felt my heart pounding louder and louder.

As I got on the train, I was still unsure on what I was supposed to do. The train was mostly empty, except a man in the back. He had headphones on and a black hoodie. I asked him if the train went to my destination. He gave me an unclear answer that made me a little more uneasy. The door closed and there was no turning back now. As the train started to move, fear spread all through my body, The only thing I could think about was how many stops were left till my stop.  As the train got closer, I got more anxious. When I am a little worried about something, I get super stressed, and that is what was happening. I kept reminding myself that I had done this before and been fine. My brother, just a week before, showed me step by step on what to do. Now I felt like I forgot everything.

The almost empty train felt so cold. I was sitting alone, feeling lonely and nervous. I felt weird because I was alone, usually, I would  have a brother or a friend to talk to and just keep me company. In replacement I just have me and my thoughts. At this moment, my thoughts just sounded like a million people screaming at me. I couldn't even think, my head felt like it was going to explode with anxiety. I was counting down the stops, and also trying to pass the time until it was my turn to get off the train.  Finally, it was my stop. It felt like I was on there for hours. As I got off the train I let out a big sigh of relief. I have almost accomplished my journey. I walked on the dirty tile of 13th street station, I felt free being off the train. I neared the trolley stop, and was excited to almost be done, but I just got nervous all over again.

I arrive at the trolley stop, the automatic doors open and I walk up the steep steps and find an empty seat in the trolley. I sat down and my shaking began again. I just stared at the outside the window to make sure I did not miss my stop. Then a girl who looked about my age noticed my anxiety, and asked me, “Hey, are you ok?” I said yes, and that I was just really nervous. This was the first time in my trip that I was at ease, because someone related to me. Then I noticed my legs shook a little less than before. I had a renewed belief in myself that I could accomplish this trip.

The trolley rolled up to my stop, the doors opened and I hopped off. Then I started walking toward the steps up to the street. Each step up felt like a little more nerves were falling off my back, like a weight was being lifted. As I got to the outside, the light of the sun hit me in the face. That light felt like victory. Even though this might be a small accomplishment for some people it was huge for me. I walked up to my destination, then let out a big sigh of relief. I felt more independent, and that I could do something on my own and be okay.

In this presentation I used pictures that showed who I am. I put different pictures of sports and school because that is how I spend most of my time. I also put pictures of friends and family because I enjoy being with them. I put these pictures on my slide because I believe they show a little bit of who I am. The pictures were placed evenly  around the frame to make the negative (empty) space more even. In the slide there is a picture of my bitmoji, I put that there because it looks friendly, like I try to be. The bitmoji is slightly off the screen to make it bleed into the slide. I think that this slide shows a piece of who I am.