Hanging Onto Hope
"Make sure you stay away from the abandoned building," they said. I should have listened. Now held at gunpoint makes me regret my every decision about going to this place. I should’ve been more aware. I should’ve known better.
The guy standing about five feet away from me wore a blackish-grey bandana around his head. His bloodshot eyes looked at me sternly. Those eyes even told me he was insane. He wore torn-up clothing, two in which are a ripped up peach vest and a pair jeans that didn’t fit him. The backpack he wore was ragged and his shoes seemed to have been in use for probably about one to three years. The gun held out from his dusty hands pointed straight at my heart.
When we first came across this guy,
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I’ll give you anything,” I said, hanging onto a thread of hope. He still didn’t react. He just stared at me, straight into my eyes. Something tells me he doesn’t want what I think he wants. He doesn’t want my keys or my cell phone. He doesn’t want the other thousands of things I own. I believe he does want something though. He does want to do something, and those eyes full of hatred tell me it. So does the gun, too.
His eyes were still locked on mine. His stance was the same as before. He appeared like a statue full of rageand a slight bit of fear and nervousness. His arm budged slightly to the upward and pointed the gun at a different place: my throat. Insane was scowled and glared directly at my throat. He’s ready to shoot. His arms and hands were trembling wildly as he stared at my throat. He’s regretting this already. He’s already thinking of the consequences.
“Whoa. I did nothing,” I said, trying to hide the panic from my voice. “Just let me go. Please,” I said.
He shook even more. He backed up a step. “You caused it. You caused this moment to happen. You are a murderer. You…” he started, raising his voice in every word. His face was drenched in anger, horror, and
Death. Only two things are certain in life, death, and taxes. As the Human condition is concerned death is directly related to mortality. Mortality is in a sense the focus of all human existence. In most cases, the human mind inadvertently neglects this concept. In the true depth of mortality is hidden behind a shroud of humor. In the inquisitive, the brain creates a logical fallacy to cope with the concept. The basis of the human condition is mortality. The main points of the human condition are birth, growth, emotionality, aspiration, conflict, and mortality. Birth, growth, and aspiration all stem from the concept of mortality.
Most people hope the world is the way they believe it is. That is, most people hope that their view of the world is right. They usually do not hope for the truth about things to be much better than what they suppose it is. Sometimes the hope is a factor in causing the belief; sometimes the hope stems from the desire to be right about one's belief; and in some cases the hope may follow the belief, i.e., one becomes accustomed even to an austere view of the world and finally comes to prefer it. It seems that most people, especially most philosophers, would rather be right than have the world turn out to be even a better place than their theory allows. They might not admit this outright, but one sees in their writings no signs that they hope they are wrong and the world is better than they have supposed; one never sees them say: ``This is a somewhat grim view I have proposed, and I hope very much that I am wrong, but I am driven to this view by solid considerations''. The late A. J. Ayer is reported to have said shortly before his death that he certainly hoped that death would be the end of him, in spite of having had a ``near death experience'' which had ``slightly'' shaken his disbelief in survival. It is hard to know why anyone would hope for annihilation.
Hope is essential to survival which is described in the novels Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah and Sold by Patricia McCormick. The novel Long Way Gone is a true story about Ishmael Beah. Ishmael became a forced child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone. His village was attacked when he was only 12 years of age. Ishmael, his brother, and his friends sauntered from village to village trying to get the daily essentials such as food and shelter. Every day was a struggle for surviving. He would think about his family and hope those days would come back to him. The novel Sold from Patricia McCormick is about a Nepali girl named Lakshmi that was sold into slavery at the age of 12. Lakshmi’s stepfather tells her to take the job in the city to
Imagine attending a low class segregated school, no matter how smart you may be, you are always categorized. Picture yourself surrounded in a city that’s filled with crimes and poverty, being judge constantly because of your residency. In the book Amazing Grace, Jonathan Kozol interviews the children of Mott Haven and other lower class cities in the state of New York. Some children in the community are very well educated; however, some of them who obtain such knowledge lack confidence in a poor environment. How can one maintain through such chaos and still aspect to succeed? Having faith, motivation, and positive people in one’s life can really make a difference in their outcome. Although the population is high for lower class children of the ghetto, there is much hope for each individual who follows a clear path.
“Don not blame this on me,” spoke Tom Walker. “I gave everything to you, until you gave your heart to someone else. I thought you loved me the way I loved you….You have been lying to me for years, years, and years. I always knew you were hiding something from me, but I thought I was demented. I was blindsided by the thought of us in our perfect home in Boston, Massachusetts. I could never imagine you would do something like this to me…. it just is not upright”.
In the book A Hope in the Unseen is about a young African American young boy named Cedric Jennings, who experience many things throughout his life that not only he learns about what he didn’t know he can know, but changed him completely on his journey of high school and college years. Growing up in Washington, D.C.’s most dangerous neighborhoods, where drop rates were higher than kids that actually attended school. Cedric is a well intelligent and motivated student who keeps mostly to himself. He has one goal only and that is to attend Ivy League University and keep himself away from the drugs and violence that surrounds him on a daily basis. With the help from his mother Barbara Jennings, a few teachers and experience at a rigorous pre-college program at MIT Cedric is accepted to Brown University. Cedric is someone who people can relate to in real life situation and this story is one of the ways of sharing this story of his that people can learn things they never knew they can learn from.
She glanced around and leant forwards. ‘I want to commit the perfect murder by learning from your mistakes.’
“It’s okay, Detective, it was a rhetorical question. I- I already know I’m dangerous too. I can destroy things with a touch — look at the door if you don’t believe me. And you saw what I did to Sheriff Higgins-” Her voice cracked causing her to clear her throat in hopes of covering up the swelling emotion. Her nose felt stuffy and her bottom lip quivered, but she refused to shed another tear feeling sorry for herself.
“Shh,” He silenced me again, but much softer than before, “I’m happy you’re here with me. Just don’t say any more, please. I can almost go back. Holding your hand like this, I can almost deceive my own heart and pretend I’m not alone now.”
I was scared, petrified. I was in a sea full of predators, hiding behind a miniature crate. I squeezed my hat to my chest, my only source of protection, my only comfort. My shotgun disappeared in the heat of battle, I couldn’t even recall when it happened. The only images in my mind were the ones of Spy, when I witnessed his last moments of life. The only sounds I could hear,
I kept waiting on you to call. When you didn’t, I called the police station and they wouldn’t tell me if you were there or not. I didn’t know what to do” she said, finally taking a breath. “I’ve called and called the house today. One time, it sounded like someone picked up but they didn’t say anything. I drove over there, and some old guy was doing something to your door. I was going to stop, but I had no idea who he was and, well, with the house being like it is, didn’t want to take a chance without you being
It was a cold, dark morning when the phone rang. It was boisterously loud and the clock read six o'clock. The deafening noise jolted us again, and there was only one way to make it stop. Chris picked up the phone and in a tired, drowsy voice, answered, "Hello."
It was a cloudy, late night as I stood against the concrete wall of the alleyway behind our old high school clutching a knife. Daton, my old high-school bully and now enemy, pointed a gun at me. It was a mystery as to how he managed to get the gun, but all I thought of was the bloodlust and excitement in his eyes as he pulled the trigger. The whole world slowed down as I stumbled to the ground. Daton laughed like a maniac and strutted away, twirling the gun like a gangster. I despised, envied him. Why me? Not him? I felt anger bubble up inside me. My body gradually got heavier as my eyes closed.
On July 27, 2004, Barack Obama made arguably his most important speech, “The Audacity of Hope”, at the Democratic National Convention Keynote Address. These conventions are for political parties to announce a winner for nomination. All the way through his piece, Obama focuses on connecting Americans and himself to the audience. In fact, at the time, Barack Obama was a US Senate candidate for the United States president, and in making this speech, was offered a window for raising his popularity. Throughout “The Audacity of Hope” speech, Barack Obama implements three main devices to raise his political popularity: repetition, abstract language, and structure.
“ No, not until you tell me what I did wrong” I screamed with tears building up in my eyes.