Sophia Elahi RPC Blog

For the past four weeks I have been reading Jim Lehrer’s autobiography A Bus of My Own.  In this essay I am going to talk about the two stories from the book that I consider memorable.

The Pinball Machine

If you have read this book, I am sure you read the caption and immediately know what the story is. 

I do not remember the exact of Lehrer at the time of this story, but for arguments sake, let’s say he was under ten years old.  Lehrer’s father had a meeting with a friend and gave Lehrer some money to play with the pinball machine.  Lehrer had never beaten this certain machine before and expected to lose like he always did.  He had felt the urge to go to the bathroom and figured he would play a round, lose, and then go to the bathroom.

Turns out, he won the first round, and the second, and the third, and fourth and every other turn after that.  The more games he won the more he needed to use the bathroom, but he did not want to leave the game, especially since he finally beat it.  Finally, Lehrer could not hold it in anymore and, in crude terms, peed his pants.  Only then did he leave the game to run to the bathroom to hide from the embarrassment.

The Loss of Betsy’s Brakes

When Lehrer was a child his parents owned a bus company known as the Kansas Central Lines.  Business was not very good, which eventually forced Lehrer’s parents to go bankrupt, but this story is from before then. 

Business was not good meaning the bus line did not have much money, meaning the Lehrer’s were not able to get new buses and experienced frequent maintenance problems.  One of the buses, known as Betsy, had a problem with its brakes. 

One day, when Lehrer was only 12 years old, he was helping the driver, Cameron, by being his “assistant driver.”  Halfway through the ride Betsy’s brakes gave out and became completely unusable.  Somehow, Cameron managed to control a brakeless bus through traffic and delivered all of the passengers to their final destination unharmed.

Lehrer and Cameron had not told the passengers about the ‘small’ problem with the brakes so they would not be scared.  It was a good plan, until Lehrer yelled that the brakes were out as soon as he saw his parents.  The passengers heard, and it is safe to say they went ballistic.  Some were angry while others were grateful that Cameron managed to not crash the bus. 

Fred, Lehrer’s brother, gave him the nickname “Mr. Big Mouth”, which stuck for a very long time.

Conclusion

In all honesty, I am not sure why these two stories are the ones that I find memorable.  Maybe because they were the first two stories in the book or maybe it is because I am around the age Lehrer was when these things happened.  Or maybe I just find the stories comical and it stuck in my brain.  Either way, these are the two, very entertaining stories, I find memorable from A Bus of My Own.

Thanks for reading!

For the past few weeks I have been reading Jim Lehrer’s autobiography “A Bus of My Own”.  This week I have read the chapters entailing details about Lehrer’s heart attack and recovery.  In this essay I am going to talk about the good things that came as a result of the heart attack.

After the heart attack Lehrer made big changes in his lifestyle.  In earlier chapters he stated he was a big smoker, so much so that he had stashes of cigarettes in his office and under his car seat.  He also said his eating habits was that of a “pimply faced teenager.”  After the heart attack he quit smoking and started eating healthier things like turkey sandwiches, fruits, and vegetables. 

Having the heart attack also helped Lehrer get over his not so irrational fear of hospitals.  The fear came about after his Father died because of a heart attack in a hospital and only solidified when his Mother died from a failed surgery.  As he said in one of the chapters “Lehrers always die in hospitals.”  Because of this fear Lehrer put off going to the hospital when he was feeling the symptoms of a heart attack.  After having the heart attack and going into a hospital, not once, but twice and coming out alive both times, he overcame his fear of hospitals.

After his recovery, Lehrer went back to work.  At first it was just sitting in on meetings and pitching ideas, but eventually he made it back on screen.  One of the things he did onscreen was make a small special about his experience with the heart attack called “My Heart, Your Heart.”  At first he was hesitant to air the special.  He did not want to be known as “The Guy on TV Who Had a Heart Attack.”  Despite his reservations, he went through with it, and thank goodness.  After the special aired Lehrer were getting calls from viewers who had saved their own lives and others around them because of what he said.

One woman called saying her co-worker asked her to drive after feeling chest tightness.  The woman said her co-worker said “that Lehrer guy on TV said not to fool around.”  The woman continues the story and says as soon as they got to the emergency room her co-worker had a heart attack.  Lehrer got many other calls like this, but none of them were as extraordinary as this particular one.

As you can see, many good things came out of a life threatening experience.  Not only did Lehrer improve his own life, but took his experience and shared it to the world, saving many peoples’ lives.

Thanks for reading!

This week I have been reading “A Bus of My Own”, Jim Lehrer’s autobiography.  In this essay I am going to talk about three stories in my life that I would have to include in my own autobiography.

At the time that I am writing this I am only 12 years old (one month away from my 13^th birthday), and I do not have many stories that are very significant to my life.  But after a lot of thinking, I have come up with two stories that I would have to add to my autobiography.

The Moment of Realization

The first story happened when I was very young, if I am being honest I do not remember it happening, but I have heard this story multiple times.  I was born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut, USA and one summer when I was three or fourmy parents took me and friend to a street fair in Norwalk (a town in Connecticut).  There was a lady on a small stage performing a show for young children, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The lady was asking for participates from the audience to act in her show, and being the energetic, extroverted child I was, I raised my hand.  The woman chose me to be Billy Goat #3.  My parents said it was at the moment that they realized I had a talent for acting.  My Dad said it was my stage presence.  I was not shy like the other kids.

I was put in acting, singing, and dancing classes, and a few years after that I landed my first role in a local production of the musical Annie as Molly.  If I never went to that street fair who knows when I would find my passion for acting?

The Life Changing Decision

This second story would have to be included in my autobiography.  When I was 10 years old my parents made the hard decision to move from our home in Stamford, Connecticut, to Singapore, where my Mom was born and raised.  When I lived in the Connecticut I moved neighborhoods a lot, but I had never moved to a different country.

I celebrated my 10^th birthday with close friends, and two weeks later my parents and I were on a plane ready to start a new life in a new country.

Looking back I wish I had done some research about Singapore.  If I had known that gum is a illegal I would have bought more before my time was up.  I also wish that I had thought about what moving meant.  To my 10 year old mind, moving countries just meant a setting change.  I never thought about how things besides setting would change, like culture and food (I’m a very picky eater, so the adjustment to Asian food was quite difficult). 

Conclusion

As you can see, these two stories are very important in my life.  If I never went to that street fair in Norwalk I probably would not have had the opportunity to find my passion and start training at a young age.  And moving countries enabled me to find my four amazing best friends.

Thanks for reading!

A few weeks ago I posted an essay titled “Why a blog site with lots of content will help me get my first full-time job after college.”  Now that I am at the end of my 8^th Grade English course I decided to touch on this topic again.  But this time I am going to talk about how my blog can help me outside of getting a job after college. 

School blogs for home schoolers prove that we were not at home for 12 years watching TV and eating cheese puffs on the couch.  It will also be quite an impressive thing to add to your college application.  Another good thing about school blogs is that other students can critique your writing and give you tips or corrections.  You can also see how far you have come from when you started your blog and when you stopped posting (once you have finished high school, assuming you will home school through high school).  I started this blog two and half years ago when I was 10.  Now I am almost 13 and my writing has improved immensely. 

If you are interested, and have the time and passion, you can start a separate blog for your interests and/or hobbies.  For example, over my school break (which is starting in a few days) I plan to start a blog for my poems and stories.  I have a passion for writing and I would like to post them online.  Not only will this be good exposure for me, but it is very fun and will help me practice my writing skills.  And like my school blog, people will be able to see my works and give me feedback.  When I get older I plan to go to a college for the arts, having a blog full of stories and poems will be an amazing thing to add to my application.

Outside from job and college applications, having your own blog is really fun and gives you a sense of responsibility.  I do not know about other kids, but lately I have been feeling a need to have some kind of responsibility.  Starting a second blog outside of school is a great way to fulfill that need.

Who knows?  Maybe handling two blogs will be enough to show my parents that I am responsible enough for a dog! (Insert puppy eyes to my Dad who I know is reading this).

As you can see, having one or more blogs can be a great thing for you.  Not only will it help with your writing skills, but it is also an impressive to add to job and college applications, and will show your parents (and yourself) that you are responsible teenager.

If you have been following my blog you would know that I have posted a couple of essays about In His Steps by Charles Sheldon.  If you have not read my past two essays, In His Steps is a fiction book about a group of Church goers that gets challenged to live by the phrase “What Would Jesus Do?” for a year.  Reading the book has brought up the question of how they would try to find out what Jesus would have done in their situations.

Personally, if I was in the situations of the people in the book, I would read the Bible and try to follow it the best I can.  In the book I feel that the people went to the extreme with the challenge.  There is nothing wrong with trying to live like a prophet, but our day and age it may be hard to do so.  The Bible (and Quran and Torah) were written thousands of years ago.  Applying it to modern day situations may be challenging, but not impossible. 

If I was In His Steps I would read the Bible and try my best to apply it to the situations I was in.

In English class I am reading In His Steps by Charles Sheldon.  It is about a group of Church goers that were challenged to live by the phrase “What Would Jesus Do?” for a year.  In Chapter Seventeen one of the main characters, Virginia, goes to the owner of the town’s newspaper, Norman and invests half a million dollars into his dying newspaper.  In this essay I am going to talk about that incident and what Virginia should have done before handing over the money to Norman.

Norman, like Virginia, was part of the group of Church goers that were challenged to live by WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?).  After accepting the challenge Norman decides to remove all crime, tragedy, and scandals from his paper.  But the people want to read about crime and scandals.  The newspaper starts to lose subscribers and slowly starts going out of business.  Virginia gives Norman $500,000 so he can keep his newspaper in business.

Of course Virginia meant well, but I personally think she made a huge mistake in handing over the money.  When Virginia went to Normans’ office he said he had ‘hundreds of ideas’ to restart his newspaper, all he needed was the funding to do so.  Virginia did not even bother to ask what these ideas were and handed over the money.  I find this very foolish, she obviously did not think this through.  If she thought about her decision properly she would realize that giving a dying newspaper a fortune was not a good idea.  She would also realize that if Norman had as many ideas as he claimed he would not be in the position he was at the moment.  But being the girl she is, she handed over the money without thinking about what it might cost her.

As you can see, Virginia meant well, but she did not think about what she was doing.  Yes, it was a very kind thing for her to do, but if the newspaper still ends up crashing she would have lost a fortune.

Recently in English I have started reading a new book, In His Steps by Charles Sheldon.  In His Steps is about a group of Church goers who were challenged to live by the famous line “What Would Jesus Do?” for a year.  In this book many implausible things happen, specifically the decisions and thoughts of a young girl named Rachel Winslow.

Rachel is a beautiful young woman with an amazing voice and she uses her voice to sing for her Church on Sundays.  She, and many other members of the Church, were challenged to live by the line “What Would Jesus Do?” or “WWJD.”  While living by this phrase Rachel gets an offer to go on the road to sing for people.  This offer not only pays well, but could be the thing Rachel needs to start her career.  But Rachel does not take the offer because she does not think Jesus would do that.  Rachel’s mother, like many readers, thinks that the offer is a good thing and tries to show her reason, but fails.  I find this very implausible for two reasons.  One, any sane person would take this offer.  Jesus said to live modestly, not live in poverty.  Two, this offer would be too hard for any human being to resist.  Therefore I find it hard to believe that Rachel was not tempted by this offer.

Another implausible aspect of the plot is Rachel’s thoughts on her looks.  As I stated before, Rachel is a beautiful young woman, but she feels ashamed about her beauty.  She feels ‘out of place’ in her Church because of how beautiful she is.  Not only does this sound completely preposterous, it also sounds like someone is manipulating her.  No one feels ashamed about themselves without some negative influence.

As you can see, Rachel’s decisions and thoughts are quite hard to believe.  It does not feel realistic or human like.  I find it hard to believe that any human would be ashamed of their beauty.  I do not think there is anything wrong in trying to live by WWJD, but I do believe that Rachel is taking it to the extreme and is not thinking things through.