Monday Muses On "Lean On Me"

One of my favorite songs is definitely "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers. The first time I heard it I was 4 year old and it was played at my Pre-k graduation and from then on I have been listening to this song many times. The two main reasons why I love this song is because of the great lyrics and because it is a very comforting song. This song is about friendship and makes you reflect on what being a friend really means.

            The artist is able to deliver a very simple message: a friend is always there for you. The whole song is about Withers describing his thoughts on what real friendship is and I like it because I completely agree with him. He has many lines throughout the song that I truly like, for example: “Lean on me / when you're not strong / and I'll be your friend / I'll help you carry on / for it won't be long / 'til I'm gonna need / somebody to lean on”. In this verse, he is essentially saying that friendship is trusting and understanding each other, and it is an exchange of help and support. Withers is showing that real friends should always be there for each other. Another line I like is: “If there is a load you have to bear / that you can't carry / I'm right up the road / I'll share your load / if you just call me”. This is probably my favorite verse in the song because Withers gives an example of friendship by using an everyday common experience.

            "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers is my favorite song because I grew up with it and because friendship is a value I believe in very much. I think it is very important to have friends in anyone’s life.

Theme Oriented RR on The End Of Infinity

        In the book The End Of Infinity by Matt Myklusch the theme is how valuable trust is and how it can crush friendships. The rustov, or the enemies, virus infects Jack, the protagonist, and he has admitted that in the future he is supposed to be a super rustov warrior but he believes that he can not only prevent this future but be that only person who can stop the war. Because of his virus, though, no one except a couple of friends still have trust and faith in him, the rest just want him dead.

            Throughout the book Jack does not only search for the solution to his grave problem he also is on a search for the trust of his friends and the trust of the people of Imagine Nation. Jack understands why everyone hates him and is afraid of him because deep down he is afraid of himself and he doesn’t really know if he will be able to defeat his future and save the world. The thing that I found funny or I should say ironic is that he is trying to save the world from himself. Every once in a while the author throws in some small jokes or funny scenes and I feel that it is a nice addition to the usually intense and almost stressful writing.

            All in all, I like how the author incorporated the theme of trust in such an action and adventure filled book. Myklusch throughout the book includes even the smallest details to hint at the theme of trust and I found that very interesting and cool.

Character Analysis on The Secret War

        In this book the protagonist, Jack, has many issues he has to face and many problems that only he can solve. Throughout the book, Jack has to go against not only the enemy but also his friends. Jacks life is complicated and so he holds many secrets, this causes trust problems between him and his friends, so in addition to having to fight the enemy he also has to solve his problems between him his friends. Jack has many enemies in this place and only a few friends who he can really trust. Jacks main enemy in this book is a man named Smart.
        Smart is the antagonist and his power is his intelligence, he is the smartest man on earth but only the super humans in Imagine Nation know this. The problem with him is that all he cares about is money and power which he both has a lot of. He was a circleman, more or less the presidents of Imagine Nation, but the he was voted out of office. Smart would do anything to get rid of Jack, the boy who caused him to get voted out. Smart accuses Jack of every criminal action happening and for working with the Rustov. Ironically, the only thing Jack has been doing this whole time is fighting against the things Smart said. Smart, being rich and owning many news programs, was able to also turn all the people of Imagine Nation against Jack. Smart wants Jack dead or jail.
        Jacks power is that he can control machines, do if there is anyone who can stop the Rustov, it's Jack. But he can't do it alone, not without the help of his reliable and trustworthy friends. Allegra, Skerren,Trea, and Zhi. Allegra is able to control the molecules of her body, meaning she can turn liquid, solid, and can stretch as much as she wants. Skerren is an outstanding sword fighter and his swords can cut through virtually anything. Trea is able to split her self up into three people with three different abilities. One is a great fighter, one is extremely smart, and the last one is her, a mix of both. She can also make each of the three have the same ability. Finally, Zhi's power is that he can summon mythical dragons and keep them under his complete control, he is also an excellent fighter. Without them Jack could never accomplish what's right and save the world. Even though Jacks friends are mad at him because of all the important secrets he keeps from them, they still know that he is doing the right thing.
        All in all, this book has taught me one main thing and that is: trust is one of the most important thing in a team and amongst friends.

         One of the books I read this summer is The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. This book is about a 14 year old boy who lives with a poor family in a Spokane Indian reservation and has many medical problems. This boy's name is Arnold and he has a friend who starts hating him after Arnold moves into an all-white school. Despite all the people in the rez (reservation) who now accuse him of being a traitor, Arnold finds the power within himself to push that aside and move on. What impressed me about Arnold is that what other people said and thought about Arnold affected the way he thought of himself.

        After all those years of being bullied and being made fun of, Arnold believes that those people are right and that he is in fact weird and stupid. The negative influence that Arnold has experienced and has been exposed to throughout his life causes him to run into a sort of depression where he becomes almost ashamed of himself. But when he moves to the white school to obtain a better education he also finds the possibility for a fresh start. Some events occur where he starts to gain respect from other people. For example, he stood up for himself in front of kids who were bulling him by showing no fear of them. In basketball games, he plays his best and stands out by scoring points and leading his team to victory. In class he meets a girl and she becomes his girlfriend. All these cases lead people to change their view of Arnold and to respect him. Arnold then starts to realize that he is not as weird and stupid as he used to think he was and he gains self-confidence.

        All in all, I really liked this book and I think that Alexie did a great job in developing this character and his unique characteristics. I also liked very much the main problem he created in this book because the issue of identity in young adults is very important but it is not commonly talked about with the sarcastic tone used by the character.