Appositives Galore

Brendan Walsh

The Price of Life

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” I firmly believe that what you put into life is what you will get out. If I were to work at my job for five hours, the amount of money I receive would be equal to the time I put in. Similar to this what you put in is what you get out. This applies to everyone and to every aspect of life whether it is school, fitness, work or anything else.

When I think of the price of something that is paid in time I think of sports. I am a runner and run because I seek to improve my physical fitness. The price I pay to become a better run is the amount of life I put into it. In mathematical terms the amount of effort I put in is 1.5 hours or 5400 seconds a day. Another way of looking at this is I use approximately 359 Joules of energy for running.  To an athlete, runner like myself this is a high price to pay. Taking an hour and a half from my already busy schedule certainly makes things harder. The use of a mathematical equation to represent this quote is probably not best. The price I pay to be a good runner is the amount of time and effort I put in. Perhaps examining this quote through a historical lens would best defend it. During the 1940’s WWII, one of the deadliest wars raged and many lives were lost. The price that the US and the allies paid to stop the monster, Hitler can be measured in life. The price America paid was in American lives. Many American soldiers died and that was the price paid to stop the axis advance.  I traveled a long distance by bus to see Stonehenge, an arrangement of huge rocks that dates back to prehistoric times. I paid a piece of my life to see Stonehenge. This price was not in money but in time. The long bus ride made seeing the Stonehenge that much better. I have always been interested in animals especially birds. At the top of a magnificent pine, was the most magnificent animal I had ever seen--a Bald Eagle--was sitting proudly on the branch. To an ordinary person this might be cool but to me it was amazing. I had spent hours looking for birds like this so finally seeing a magnificent creature like this meant a lot to me.

The pope, Pope Francis has paid a lot of life to be where he is. To devote years of your life to anything is a high price. Imagine being a service member in your country’s military. Think about signing a contract for an amount up to and including your life. In terms of measuring the price of something by the amount of life you put in, you could say being in the military is paying a very high price. 

Brendan Walsh

                                                                     Defend! Challenge! Qualify!

I will defend the statement “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” I firmly believe that what you but into life you will get out. If I were to work at my job for five hours, the amount of money I receive would be equal to the time I put in. Similar to this analogy what you put in is what you get out. This applies to every aspect of life whether it be school, fitness, work or anything else.

When I think of the price of something I have to pay in my time I think of sports. I am a runner and run because I seek to improve my physical fitness. The price I pay to become a better run is the amount of life I put into it. In mathematical terms the amount of effort I put in is 1.5 hours or 5400 seconds a day. I also use approximately 359 Joules of energy for running.  To a high school student like myself this is a high price to pay. Taking an hour and a half from my already busy schedule certainly makes things harder. A mathematical equation to represent this quote is probably not best. Perhaps examining this quote through a historical lens would best defend it. During the 1940’s WWII raged and many lives were lost. The price that the US paid to stop Hitler and to stop the axis can be measured in life. The price America paid was in American lives. Many American soldiers died and that was the price paid to stop the axis advance.

Think about the pope and the price he has paid in life to be where he is. To devote years of your life to anything is a high price. Imagine being a service member in your country’s military. Think about signing a contract for an amount up to and including your life. In terms of measuring the price of something by the amount of life you put in, you could say being in the military is paying a very high price.  

Motivation

                                                                                                     Walsh 1                                                                                                             

Brendan Walsh

Ms. Parham

Honors World Literature Three

9/26/13

Motivation

To me the key to life is motivation. The word motivation according to Google is “The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.” What motivation means to me is having the will to do something when it may not be easy. Motivation comes from many places. My motivation comes from within. I believe that the most successful people are driven by themselves. The people who know what they want in life tend to be driven from within. People who are not motivated from within may be motivated by others around them, fear, fear of shame or anything else.

Trying to define motivation is impossible. If I were to write for ten pages on the topic I wouldn’t even scratch the surface. Life is a game of inches where every inch matters. Having the motivation to seize every inch is a powerful thing. If you are motivated enough to fight for every inch, they will add up. I believe that if you are motivated enough you can do anything, be anyone or get anything. Having motivation can get you out of any situation. If you are poor or depressed you can pull yourself out of the dumps with motivation. People can give you money and help you out, but to truly be successful, I believe you need to be driven from within.

Getting motivated to do something is hard, but staying motivated is even harder. There are many ways to motivate yourself and others. You can unite a group of people with a common goal, make goals and commit publicly to them. Also think about your goal daily, start small and squash negative thoughts. If someone tells you that you can’t do something you shouldn’t give up. You should use their doubt in you as motivation to prove them wrong.

To stay motivated you have to plan for setbacks. If you expect to breeze to your goal you won’t be successful. You have to be willing to except your flaws and work on them to get to your goal. When things get tough you can’t give up and say at least I tried. Push forward and do your best to meet your goal no matter how strong the resistance.

 

 

Orange

Orange- By Brendan Walsh

Orange- The word orange has many connotations. Orange means many things to many people. To some an orange is a fruit and to others a color. But to others it means something special. I will tell you what orange means to me and why it means what it does. Let me explain to you what orange means to me. It all started fifteen days ago on a sunny day. The sun was shining as I walked into my Arabic classroom. Everyone was in a happy mood and I was having a good time. All of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I saw a bright orange light. I turned and saw the brightest orange concoction of clothing. My friend was wearing orange nearly head to toe. This was no ordinary orange it was a spectacle that wowed all the students in the class as well as the teacher. This shade of orange was so special it is not even found on the rainbow. There orange stood shining proudly like the sun. From then on my friend would be known as orange. Without even discussing amongst ourselves everyone in the classroom knew that orange must be his name. Orange then looked confidently down at himself and then back at us and said arrogantly “yeah you can call me orange”. My other friends and I have tried to outdo orange in the art of being orange. No one can compare to the master orange. Orange has gotten a little fed up with the name to say the least. So this is probably the last time I say orange in fear of orange getting agitated.

 
Pigskin- The word pigskin is quite an odd word. If you were to think about the literal meaning a pig would 

most likely pop into your head. What pops into mine is a football. Throwing around the pigskin is like calling 

my friend orange. It is widely accepted as another name for football. Often times a friend will ask do you 

want to throw pigskin.