Statue of Liberty

Title: Statue of Liberty

Materials: Pen

Thanksgiving

A whole 389 years ago, in the year 1621, a group of Pilgrims and Native Americans got together for a three-day celebration, which later became known as the first Thanksgiving feast. It was a time to celebrate and laugh, to enjoy the simple pleasure of life. It was a feast of thanks, to the Native Americans for helping them get through their first year, to God, for "guiding them to the Native Americans", and probably just plain luck for still being able to live, eat, and play. From that year on, the principles of Thanksgiving still sounds, even 389 years after the first "thanksgiving". It's still a time to step back from the great rat race and look around, a time to just be thankful for what you do have. As one follows an average, modern day life, everyday is a routine, a maze where one has to avoid as many pitfalls as possible. With so many out there, one can't help but just see all of the negative parts and none of the positive parts. As a student, I have lots to worry about: grades, friends, sports, and all sorts of things. Sometimes, I might be sad that I didn't do so well in my baseball game, or when I don't get the grade that I wanted. It might be my fault, or it might be just luck. This holds true for most people I know, too. Too often do you hear of people protesting this bill or that law, complaining about how little our president has done, or how bad the economy is. Far too often can you hear the complaining of how this one person just "got lucky", or how unlucky one has been. But Thanksgiving is that day where you can just step above that everyday thinking, look around, and realize what a lucky person you are. Not everybody can have parents that care for you and respect your decisions and independence. Not everybody can have food on their table every morning, noon, and night. Not everybody has the chance to live in the most powerful country in the world, which happens also to be the one that gives the most rights to its citizens. Not everybody can have an education, a house, clothing to wear, or any of the things that you might have. Is it your right to have any of those things? Of course not; as a kid, it just happens that you got born into a family that can provide those things for you, and you should be thankful for that. Anything that isn't a right to have is a privilege, and Thanksgiving is all about just being grateful for all your privileges. After all, from the poorest man to the richest, the tallest to the shortest, the strongest to the weakest, everybody has something to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving is just for realizing that fact.

More Art...

Here are the images of the art that were shown in the video:

 Title: Yes We Can

Theme: "Government of the people, by the people, for the people" -Abraham Lincoln

Medium: Sharpies and pen

Title: Peace.Green

Theme: Together We Can...

Medium: Color Pencils

Title: Cézanne's Town of Gardanne

Theme: Recreation of Cezanne's painting

Medium: Charcoal

Title: Obama

Theme: Mosaic Portrait

Medium: Pencil

 Title: Albert Pujols

Theme: Portrait

Medium: Pencil

 Title: By the Sea

Theme: Seascape

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Title: My Shoe

Theme: Sketch

Medium: Pencil

Title: Beijing Olympics

Theme: The evolution of Olympics from its beginnings in Greece to the most modern, '08 Beijing Olympics

Medium: Color pencils

Title: Beijing '08

Theme: The meaning of the Olympics: "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger), but above all, peace

Medium: Color Pencils

Art Video

To the left of this post you will find a video bar, where you can find one of my videos that I created. It contains some of my artwork that I've drawn. Enjoy :)

(You can also find this video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uGRPDx22DM)

Election Day 2010

Here we are again: November. Every two years, November is the time for major political reforms. It's when the American public gets to decide who's going to be in charge for the next two years. It's a time to let the government know exactly what is on the people's minds; it's supposed to be the grand and glorious time that separates America from all other countries. Hundreds of years of protest and cries of foul has given the people of today their voice in the government. This day would be the day that America's beauty would shine at its greatest, our forefathers had hoped before. But instead of this glorious day that people had imagined, this day is instead a bold reminder of the great divide between the people of America. This year, as the citizens of America grew unhappy about the absence of change promised by the Democrats in 2006 and 2008, they decided to give the Republicans a chance to change the government. As a result, they gained much more Republicans in the House (eventually winning the House), a decent amount of increase in the Senate, and some more in gubernatorial races across the country. But as Republicans celebrate, what is the cost of giving so much power to one political party? How did it come to this day, where political parties have split to this extent? The answer comes from sources earlier than one would expect.

The first movement towards political parties were the split in opinions between Alexander Hamilton (Federalists) and Thomas Jefferson (Republicans), back in the very beginning of America. Their split in opinions was the start, the push, that set off the pendulum. Ever since, the American public has decided that the best way to run the country was to give all the power to one party. The pendulum that represents American's faith will swing from the far left to the far right, from Democrats to Republicans, always in a continual motion, when in fact the purpose was to get to the perfect equilibrium.

None of this political divide is more evident than when Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said ahead of the election,“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." In the current state of America, with almost everything appearing like a problem, the biggest concern for the Republicans is to make sure President Obama isn't re-elected? Not even thinking about the still underachieving economy, the big healthcare issue that still looms, the terrorists threats posed, or even just the basic well-being of the average American citizen, the biggest issue is to make sure one's own party gains more power? The whole meaning of parties is tarnished with this comment: parties are a group of people with similar political beliefs, not a group of people that wants to have different political views from the other party. Democrats and Republicans alike should learn to compromise to move together towards a better future for America, not argue just for the sake of arguing with the opposite party. The only way to achieve the "perfect equilibrium" is to put aside one's differences and compromise. As George Washington, one of this country's most revered presidents has said before, "With slight shades of difference, you [the American people] have the same manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together." The key here is just not to magnify those "slight shades of differences".

Art

These are some of the sketches that I drew. I used charcoal for the first two, and pencil for the last one.

Doing the Wrong Thing... or Nothing at all?

Theodore Roosevelt, one of America's most popular presidents, once said, "In the moment of decision, we have three options: make the right decision, make the wrong decision, or make no decision at all. The best thing we can do is make the right decision. The next best thing we can do is make the wrong decision. And the worst thing we can do is nothing." Obviously, the right decision is the best thing we can do. Now, the big question is, is making the wrong decision better than making no decision at all? When one makes no decision, he is either too unconcerned, lazy, or cowardly to do anything. In life, you have to take risks, and the possibility of making the wrong decision is part of that risk. To make it big, one has to be unique, and to be unique, one has to stand out. To stand out, one will have to be different. Whether people love this difference or hate one because of it, that choice is out of one's own grasp. All one has to do is make sure that this risk is worth taking, and that at least in one's own heart, it is for the right cause. Because risks make up the larger portion of one's life, and that the definition of right and wrong is in one's own heart, Mr. Roosevelt was right when he told all of America that the wrong thing is better than nothing.

First of all, life is all about taking risks. If you don't take any risks, you won't lose anything, but you won't gain anything, either. If one does what he or she thinks is right, and in the end, doesn't succeed, then at least he or she had put up their best fight. One example of this comes from the movement to break the color barrier in 1955. Rosa Parks, an African American civil rights activist, was tired after a day of work and got onto a bus. When a white person told her to move (at that time, white people had priority to bus seats), Rosa Parks firmly told him, "No." Although against the law at that time, in her heart, she believed that African Americans had just as much of a right to be respected as anybody else on the planet. In the end, she "didn't succeed" in the fight for the bus seat, but she won a much bigger battle: a battle to end segregation. This risk might have looked like a huge risk for anybody else watching, but it was the right thing to do in Rosa Park's heart, and she took it and kept on going with it, and that's why ultimately, she succeeded in her mission that started on that bus in 1955. She had done the "wrong thing" (or at least what most people thought of as the wrong thing at that time) instead of just doing nothing, and that risk payed off in the end. In another sense,one can see life as a big poker game. Decisions must be made, and to win, one must go "all in". If winning in poker symbolizes one's goal in real life, then most of the time, you can't win without the risk of losing. Those who lose because of their risk at least disappear trying their best, while those that play carefully fade away slowly. In the end, the fans recognize that person that lost big in the poker game, not that person that quietly slipped out of the game. One has to take risks to win, and whether that decision ultimately pays off or not, that's up for fate to decide.

In addition, right and wrong is what one human uses to describe an event or action according to his or her own feelings and ethics code. Since every single human is unique, there isn't a strict universal system of right or wrong, but only that little voice coming from the bottom of one's heart. Now, some people may argue that things like murder are universally wrong, but even that isn't true. Do some people think it's right to execute (or kill) terrorists? Absolutely: many people inside the United States feel that it's only right. But what is this, put simply? It's just murder, no matter what light one paints it in. We may define this as justice, but once again, is this right or wrong? This is entirely up for the individual to decide. Many people have strong opinions on this, and as any good politician knows, you just can't please them all. With this is mind, the only "true definition" of right or wrong truly does come from the individual, and from there comes the saying, "Always follow your heart." In a time of decision, that is the only way to go. Back in the eighteenth century, when America was but a colony, leaders of America followed their hearts and beliefs that starting the Revolutionary War was the only way to stop the so called "rain of unfair treatment". Since America won in the end, it is now largely believed that starting the war was based on the romantic idea of liberty, justice, and peace, since it is "the winners who write the history books." In England, though, the colonists were seen as criminals whose greediness for money led to the death of hundreds of thousands of British subjects (both on the American side and the British side). Once again, it's all a matter of perspective. But leaders like George Washington followed their heart, took a big risk, and ended up as a hero. this might not always be the case, but fighting for what one believes is essential, no matter what the cost is. It's always better to take action and fail than to grumble for the rest of one's life about something.

Truly, Theodore Roosevelt knew what he was talking about. Though the initial reaction to the quote may not have been positive, when one thinks carefully and considers the definition of right and wrong, and the role risks plays in one's life, Mr. Roosevelt would obviously be correct: it's better to take a risk and lose than to do nothing at all.