Love over Honor

“Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.” - Brutus. This quote definitely characterizes Brutus as an honorable and patriotic man towards his country. He never causes chaos followed by his jealousy or hatred. If he thinks his decisions will be beneficial to his country, so indeed he will make them. Patriotism is really what led him to join the conspiracy against Caesar since he believed Caesar would have brought harm to the country. It is indeed true that Brutus did not start the conspiracy. In fact, Cassius has started the conspiracy group and he flattered and convinced Brutus to join them so in my opinion, peer pressure is the second motivator for Brutus to destroy Caesar.

“For let the gods so speed me as I love. The name of honor more than I fear death.” - Brutus. Brutus is indeed a very honorable man. He realized Caesar was aiming for the crown and if he gets crowned, Rome will lose their Democratic Republic. Brutus really did not want a tyrant in Rome and he believed tyranny was one of the ways that Rome will be destroyed. “I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general. He would be crown’d.” – Brutus. This quote clearly indicates that Brutus only joined the conspiracy for the country’s good and that was the only way to stop the rise of a tyrant. “We shall be call’d purgers, not murderers.” – Brutus. Brutus mentioned that in front of the whole conspirators and clearly Brutus was becoming the leader of the conspiracy instead of Cassius. We know that since Cassius started off the conspiracy group because of his fear, jealousy and hatred. He was indeed very selfish of his actions. He knew that Caesar disliked him so he feared if he ever gets crown’d, his power and position will be vanished from the society and also, his jealousy towards Caesar was huge. Back in the times, both Caesar and Cassius were at the same position and they both treated each other with respect but in a blink of an eye, Caesar has risen too high and people considered him as a god like figure. Now that Brutus has joined the conspiracy, Brutus has completely changed their attitudes of being honorable of their actions. This shows Brutus always sticks to the subject of honor no matter what. He definitely takes the assassination as an act of honor.

“And it is very much lamented, Brutus, That you have no such mirrors as will turn your hidden worthiness into your eye, that you might see your shadow” – Cassius. “And since you know you cannot see yourself so well as by reflection, I, your glass, will modestly discover to yourself, that of yourself which you yet know not of.” – Cassius. Brutus was indeed not the one to come up with the idea of starting a conspiracy against Caesar. He was simply worried but nothing has come into his mind until Cassius tried flattering and convinced him to join the conspirators. Cassius has given a speech of what Caesar was capable of doing to destroy Rome for he knew Brutus was an honorable man. He also succeeded in convincing Brutus that Caesar is no god-like but simply a noble man just like themselves. Cassius really tried his best to convince Brutus to join the conspiracy and although Brutus was fully convinced, there was still a huge peer pressure on him. Peer pressure was indeed the second motivator for Brutus to join the conspiracy since if it wasn’t for Cassius, Brutus wouldn’t have caused a whole bloody mess.

After a whole bloody war and violence, Brutus still didn’t achieve what he really wanted. Rome was taken by Octavious and he became the emperor. The main goal for Brutus was to stop tyranny and keep the Democratic Republic but it was all in vain in the end. His goal wasn’t achieved and in addition, all the conspirators died. Was the Brutus’s goal worthy? Not at all for all the Romans always have Caesar as a hero in their hearts and the gullible Romans never thought of honor but only their love towards Caesar.

Part1: The International School of Kuala Lumpur provides (silence) an exceptional education that challenges each student to develop the attitudes, skills, knowledge and understanding to become a highly successful, spirited, socially responsible global citizen.

Explanation: I feel that adding a silence after the word "provides" creates the best tension since it creates a void that would make people ask questions such as "What does The International School of Kuala Lumpur provide?". The audience will be killing themselves trying to figure out what the school really provides and that creates a huge tension and most importantly, they will feel the power of the void. The whole idea is to make the audience wait for an answer while they are trying to figure it out themselves too and that is why I would put silence right next to the word "provides"

Part 2: Composers are the ones who really control the music and therefore, creating a tension and release in their music is always possible. Based on the knowledge I have gained, I think composers could create a sudden silence right after a huge climax, and release a soothing rhythm after the silence. During that silence, the audience will be wandering..."Has the music ended?" or "what comes next?". It really would make the audience curious and they will once again, feel the power of the void.

Void Blog #1

Part1: The International School of Kuala Lumpur provides (silence) an exceptional education that challenges each student to develop the attitudes, skills, knowledge and understanding to become a highly successful, spirited, socially responsible global citizen.

Explanation: I feel that adding a silence after the word "provides" creates the best tension since it creates a void that would make people ask questions such as "What does The International School of Kuala Lumpur provide?". The audience will be killing themselves trying to figure out what the school really provides and that creates a huge tension and most importantly, they will feel the power of the void. The whole idea is to make the audience wait for an answer while they are trying to figure it out themselves too and that is why I would put silence right next to the word "provides"

Part 2: Composers are the ones who really control the music and therefore, creating a tension and release in their music is always possible. Based on the knowledge I have gained, I think composers could create a sudden silence right after a huge climax, and release a soothing rhythm after the silence. During that silence, the audience will be wandering..."Has the music ended?" or "what comes next?". It really would make the audience curious and they will once again, feel the power of the void.

Lost in America...

The Documentary, "Lost Boys of Sudan", shows a group of boys who were forced to leave their homeland and migrate due to the bloody civil wars. Both civil wars had lasted for 41 years in total and the difficulties the lost boys had faced is ridiculous. Peter Kon Dut of the Dinka tribe, being one of the Lost Boys, has lived his life full of conflicts, struggle and danger. He was only a 4 years old kid when his homeland was striked violently and the loss of his parents had really been an impact for him since he had to grow up all by himself. After avoiding the civil war and his journey towards the refugee camp was full of conflicts and difficulties but he has finally arrived at the Kenyan Refugee Camp. After spending ten years of his life time there, him and a lot more lost boys migrated to the United States. Peter was happy about the migration since he imagined a new form of education and he thought America was a place full of chances and opportunities for everyone but clearly, it wasn't what he imagined at all.

Even before his arrival at America, he faced so many things that he has never experienced before such as new form of transportation, different food supplies and so on. Once he arrived in houston and started out a life there, a lot of stuff were new to him such as electricity usage, using a stove, driving a car, cultural difference and so on. He missed his family at times while he was in Houston and the discrimination towards him was pretty big. He found himself a bit too black and a huge disappointment came when he found out that he was too old to get a high school education in Houston and the new form of education was what he really wanted since he wanted to help his family and friends who are struggling back in his homeland, Sudan. Being fed up with Houston, he moved to Kansas thinking that he will have more chances there.

Since he doesn't have a proper birth date, he got a birth certificate saying that he was young enough to go to high school and his school officially enrolled him as a junior in high school. He has made quite a few friends that actually helped him to fit in better. He tried acting like them, dressing like them and as they helped Peter through out his difficulties of adapting to the new culture in America. As he joined a prayer group, he made a lot more new friends that offered him help. As he got a job, he made some money for himself to pay rent and send back to his family back in Sudan and therefore, it has left him a tiny bit to spend on himself.

It is indeed true that Peter has been through so much conflicts and difficulties in America but he ended up graduating from high school and he received an education, something he would have never experienced in his lifetime. He adjusted quite well there and made some money to send back to his family back in Africa and though he will be facing a bunch of conflicts and difficulties while he is in America, he has overcome a lot of them.