Pinky Swear

     Remember when you were in kindergarden, and if you made a pinky swear it meant the world to you? Just one simple sentence, "I pinky swear" meant that you would never repeat that. Back in kindergarden when a secret was a secret; back when everything was the way it should be. Then we all grew up.
    Now if somebody tells you a secret, it's a matter of should you stay a good friend or should you get more popular. The juicer the gossip the cooler you are, of course! So say your friend likes Billy Jo (I made this name up, no offense to any Billy Jo's out there) and you pinky swear never to tell a soul. Then it turns out, Billy Jo and you accidentally end up next to each other in lunch. Truthfully, by the end of lunch, would you have told him? Probably.
   What happened back when you could actually trust your friends with your friends with your secrets and stories? Why doesn't the pinky swear mean anything anymore?
    I would love to tell you the answers to these questions, but honestly, I do not know.

Guilt

     Guilt is something that we all feel, one time or another. Sometimes we don't need to feel it, and sometimes we do. Maybe you witness a crime, or you didn't study for an exam. I have written a short story based on guilt, called Josie's Ghost.
     It's about a girl feeling guilty for witnessing her best friends murder. She feels haunted by the nagging memory of that night. She decides to get to the bottom of that mystery, and along the way she befriends the murderers son. She eventually figures out the murder, but she did all for the wrong reasons.
     The point of the story is that guilt can make you do the wrong things. It can lead you to do the right things out of guilt, to try and ease the pain. 
     Whether you decide to clean your room because you made a bad grade, or solve a crime because you witnessed it, make sure you do the right things for the right reasons.

Jealousy

     The emotion jealousy is amazing to me, and not in the good way. I understand that somebody may have something you want, but I don't understand why you're jealous sometimes. I know that when I was in fifth grade, I was jealous of many of the popular girls. Just yesterday, one of them told me they were jealous of me. How could she be jealous of somebody less popular?
     That's when it hit me. Jealously spreads farther than boys, looks and items. It goes to friendships, personalities, and privileges. Why should we be jealous of those? If you want something, work to get it.
     Now I'm not telling you not to be jealous, because it's going to happen. I've been jealous of someone one time or another for reasons I don't understand anymore. What I'm trying to say is that when you do get jealous, think about it. 
     Why are you jealous? What can you do to get what they have? 
     Don't steal it away, of course, but if it's something about them, try and be more like them. I've been interested in jealousy for a long time now.

Sacrifice

     Sacrifice. Such a strong word that nobody gives any thought of. What is the meaning of sacrifice? It's not a written definition. It's the way you look at life. A grandmother adopting her daughters children, is sacrifice. Going into the twin towers during 911 to save somebody, is sacrifice. Have you watched the movie Avatar? Use the example set in this movie to look at the meaning of Sacrifice. Jake gambled everything he had to try and save the natives of Pandora, he went against human kind, he nearly gave his life, and he knew that all odds were against him. What kind of a person are you? Would you sacrifice anything? If you had to, would you sell your iPod to support your family? Would you give up texting for one hour, just long enough to cook dinner for your family?This is just something to think about.