Paul Bäumer: The Compassionate Soldier

There were many characters within the novel “All Quiet on The Western Front”, by Erich Maria Remarque, but Paul Bäumer was the most compassionate out of any of the other soldiers within the book. He created multiple friendships with numerous soldiers during the war and had a heart-breaking encounter with an enemy soldier which he had shortly killed before his sad interaction. Paul killed him, because the war had changed him from a kind person into a primitive animal which has the instinct to kill or be killed. This was in order to survive the front and to maintain his sanity. However, Paul isn’t able to maintain this state of detachment from his emotions when the people around him that cares about begin to die, due to the fact that he is still young and sensitive.

This brought me hope, because even when Paul was forced to kill others to survive, he still thought about the loved ones of the people he killed. During his encounter with the French soldier, he attempted to save his life by bandaging him up, but this only extended the French soldiers life for a couple of hours. As these hours passed by, Paul sat there, talking to the French Soldier. The French soldiers name was Gérard Duval and they talked about his family. He was a printer by trade and Paul’s resolve was to send his family money. However, as time passed by Paul’s primal war instincts told him to return back to his trench. And in the end breaks his promise with the French soldier.

Even though Paul didn’t keep his promise, it still proves that soldiers, even when fighting against each other, still feel emotions of guilt and concern for one another. This gives me hope towards a better world, because when people take care of each other it proves that all of us are connected and that we will stand together during desperate times of need.

Play… An Artifact Lost In Time

I miss the times when playing around with friends and going outside were the only things that were on my mind. Not school, not projects, not homework. Unfortunately, these are the only things I seem to care for these day. I rarely go outside now, because most of my days are spent doing homework. My friends also suffer from this same illness that has taken its course around our bodies. It has taken over our lives, and all we do is stand here defenseless. Unable to fight back the thing that is eating away at us during every second of the day.

Everything used to be fine in grade school. These were the good old times when homework wasn’t as exhausting as it is today. Kids like me spent most of our time doing just fun shenanigans, but now it feels as if these times have finally slipped away and never to be reached again. This is all because of the constant pressure and stress of school. I remember roughly about when this sudden increase in homework occurred. I feel like it all started in about the 7th grade, when honors classes were introduced to the children of my school. All the kids wanted into the class, so they could compete against their peers, not knowing about the struggles it will bring upon them later on. We as children never realized the impact of these classes and the affects that they will have on us, because once we were in the honors classes, then we were never getting out. This is due to the fact that all of our friends were in honors, and if we dropped it, then we would be separated from them. We also never dropped it, fearing that we would be left behind while our peers strove for greatness never too look back at us again.

If only we had known that during our high school years, that these honors and advanced classes would have taken a tremendous toll on us. Now, we are frozen, unable to move from the limitless stress being dropped upon us from the external pressures that come closer and closer, pinning us into a corner, and forcing us to curl up into a ball. We have no way to release this immeasurable amount of stress. We try and try, but it never goes away. Playing used to be a way to relieve our source of stress back then, but nowadays it is seen as immature. Due to this, it prevents us from venting out the constant stress building up from inside. It is as if we are a volcano that is one more homework assignment or one more test grade away from finally blowing up. If only, the view for playing was changed. Play could relieve us of all the things that make us worry. It could be the final line of defense against the constant bombardment of stress that attempt to conquer us when we are weak. If only this were the case however.

Segregation Between School Groups

Everyone knows about the different groups of kids that exist in modern day school. Some examples of these groups are the nerds, the athletes, the notorious popular kids, and many others. People inside of these squads usually only hang out with others within the same group. These separate groups are also usually out into social classes, with the popular kids on top while the nerds are looked down upon. This hierarchy is seen similarly to samurais and farmers back in the distant past. People within different social classes are not allowed to interact with each other. In today’s world, if a person of high popularity were to date another of the nerd group, that popular person would most likely be look down upon. Similarly, samurais and farmers are not allowed to date each other too. If this were to happen back during the age of samurais, the lovers would be frowned upon by their parents and society.

However, this rivalry between modern day school groups dissipates later on in life, when everyone is not viewed by how cool they are, but how happy the person feels in their life. This is because when you grow older, popularity doesn’t matter anymore. Popularity takes a person no where in life, because it doesn’t assist a person in gaining knowledge. The only thing that matters later on in life, is the amount of happiness one has achieved for them self. Although this segregation is not as strong today, it still exist. It can be seen from elementary school through high school, but after these educational obstacles, segregation between these groups ceases to exist. In college, the only thing that matters is graduating. Once they have graduated, people care only for their own well being, and have no time to care about the popularity status of others.

In conclusion, the world has no room for segregation between people of different social classes. No matter who the people are, they are still human. We as humans have evolved past the times of segregation. There is no point in reverting back into the dark ages where everyone was treated differently based on their rankings in society. Everyone deserves to be treated equally without being discriminated for what is on the outside, because the only thing that matters, is what is on the inside of one’s own soul.

Sleep Deprivation Caused By Student Procrastination or School System Gone Wrong

Students all over the United States of America are getting less and less sleep. This could be due to them staying up late at night finishing up homework or studying for an exam the next day. The problem with this, is that students are not getting the much needed 8-10 hours of sleep per night. It also doesn’t help the average high school student, that classes start at 8 o’clock in the morning. All of these inconveniences cause student all over the world to suffer from sleep deprivation. On the other hand, people could make a valid argument that the students are just not managing their time correctly. They could be spending too much time on the internet or hanging out with friends for hours when they know that the very next day is fairly busy. There are also more reasons of why students procrastinate. If students like this managed their time correctly, they most likely could attain the necessary 8-10 hour of sleep. However, no matter what the problem is, sleep is very much needed in the life of a human being. Without the proper 8-10 hours, the health of students and adults will worsen. This lack of sleep could lead on to life threatening illnesses like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and many more. This is why sleep is a necessity in the life of a human.