Updates

The CONFIRMATIONS:

We're in our fifth children's class, and our Jr. Youth group has met 4 times - service project next week!!

People who have never seemed to get along with me are down-right amiable for now. It's a pretty cool feeling.

My P.E. teacher is amazing. For that matter, almost all of my teachers are amazing. Seriously.

The new Baha'i youth around here is really great - learning and growing, just like all of us :)

I have many things to do. I take this as a confirmation because it means I'm not idle. I'm busy. I have work to do. And "Work done in the spirit of worship is service."

The TESTS:

Family life is strained. But who's isn't, right?

A friend is suffering. I'm doing my best to help her where I can. Sometimes empathy kind of stinks.

I feel overloaded. Despite the fact that my busy-ness is certainly a confirmation, parts of it definitely fit into the 'tests' category.

I'm missing people. Lonely again. But that's no big deal.

Band is really challenging my will to play. Bass clarinet is not as much fun to march with as Bb clarinet or Alto sax. But I'm getting a very strong trapezius.

The OTHER:

I'm writing as much as I can, but not sharing, because I'm not satisfied with the quality of the work.

It's been almost 4 months exactly since the death of a good friend.

I enjoy random rhyming.

I sing a lot.

And now I leave you with children in a tree.

Untitled

Inspired by a conversation with an awesome person named Anna.

~

This evening when I bow my head
I let the gentle winds take me away
and I fly to the only place
where I'm happy.

And as the breezes lift me up,
I feel my worries drifting off.
I let my hope become renewed
and I smile.

I don't know where this gust is taking me.
But I know there will be bliss soon.
So I bow my head this evening
and I trust.

This is my life, this wind I ride.
The only part that really counts.
I can feel myself soaring ever higher
because I love.

~

God Bless,
Cassandra

What Makes The World Go Round?

Wrote this as a short speech for a class. Prompt: "_______ Makes The World Go Round."

~

Approximately 4.6 billion years ago a luminary near our solar system was destroyed in a supernova. The resulting shock wave caused the Earth to begin circumvolving on its axis. According to Newton's first law of motion, an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force, usually friction. Because there is no friction in the vacuum of space to hinder or halt the Earth's rotation, it continues its constant, steady gyration to this day, hindered only by the slight friction caused by the revolution of our lunar satellite.
Just kidding.
But seriously, what makes our world go round? Some would say love. Some would say money. To me, one of the major things that affects us is tolerance. Tolerance makes our world go round.
Tolerance doesn't mean open-armed love. Tolerance means learning to accept people and things the way they are, even if we may not agree with them. Every single one of us has to tolerate people to some extent. For some, we have to suffer with having siblings. Some of us have trouble putting up with our parents. Even more of us can barely stand our classes or our teachers. We all try to tolerate things or people we may not want to.
But for some reason, on a worldwide scale, we can't seem to do this. The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have been warring for a long time. The middle east is constantly in a state of turmoil. Mass murder happens every single day – simply because people can't tolerate each other. If, on a worldwide scale, we could learn to simply “put up” with each other, the way we do our siblings, imagine how much better life would be! If we could find the same kind of fragile peace all over the world that we seem to have in our homes, schools, and towns, imagine how many lives would be saved! Imagine how many parents would be overjoyed just to have their children safe! Imagine how much easier it would be just to survive in a world where people could learn to tolerate one another.
Tolerance affects us all in a very real way. In fact, if we don't learn to tolerate one another, and learn to do it soon, we will destroy each other. It's inevitable. If you're following me here, you'll understand that learning tolerance isn't only what makes our world go round, it's the only way to make sure our world keeps going round.