I wish to be pianist if I were able to reinvent myself.

In the Jon   Krakauer's" Into The Wind", I found many interesting philosophy of Chris and his manners. I see Chris sticked to what he believes and did what he wanted to do without regret.

After I have read the book from chapter 1 to 5,I think  that Chris did not enjoy living the life before he started his adventure into the wild. I can see from his writing to his parents when he sent his final grades to them. He wrote in a way that made me think that he had completed his duty as his parents wish because he has got good grade. Also, I have known that Chris's expressions, thoughts are different from those of normal people. For example, Wayne's comments on Chris like hard, thinks too much,face slack and expressionless,and his manners on giving the first present to his mom.

Chris did not carry identification when he started his adventure. He invented a  new name, Alex. in my opinion, it's kind of creating new life with the new beginnning.To say the truth, I really admire Chris for what he did ,going into the wild like leaving everything he does not need and want and just tried to get and find what he wants.I also want to live in the same way as Chris did,just trying to get what I want.But, I have to think about my family and status. That's always happen in our human world. you should  and must do something to fit into the society even you do not have any desire to do it. That's our life. I feel like part of our lives and thoughts are controlled by our surrounding. We cannot get out of our normal scheduled life style like we go to school ,college and after we graduated, find jobs, earn  livings and finally we get old.We sometimes have to sacrifice our dreams and desire for life not by doing what we wanna do but by doing what we should do and we must do.

If I were able to reinvent myself, I choose to be a pianist.Playing piano is my favorite since I was young. The thing is that my family did not support in artistic part. They want me to study hard and become doctor. Also, the price in piano in Burma is expensive. So, I cannot have my own piano.I do not know a thing about piano because I have never learned about note and keys. I also like the life I am having now.I am in the half way to  the life and dream I want to have . So, everything is depending on me. Also, I will definitely take piano course and try to become the pianist, even if I cannot become the profession one.I am still young and I can try the best to do what I wanna do and I should do.

my views for reading John Krakauer's 1993 article

After reading John Krakauer's article, my view on Chistopher ,going in the wild in order to find answers for what he believes and for his dreams, is both optimistic and pessimistic. Also, I found out that Christopher,himself felt somewhat regretful for what he did by reading his journal writings while he was exploring the wild changed from a good point to a sad and dissappointing point. I think he is somewhat a foolish guy to risk his life to find the life he wants to search.

I also have a feeling that Christopher is indeed an idealist because he lived and did for what he believes in. We can tell he is such an idealist that he just donated all his college fund which his parents raised for the law school to the Famine Relief fund without notifying anyone. Also,he has no attachment to some materials. For example, we can see Christopher left his car when it broke down and burned his last $160 cash.

I see Christopher is a bit different from normal man from reading the article. In the article, the boss, when Christopher was working as an elevator told that Christopher was a really intelligent guy but he thinks too much. Christopher thinks in the way that few people does. I also feel that sometimes, his manners and thoughts are strange. For instance, he just carried 10 pounds rice, and the hunting cases and some events in the wild.

More,I  see that Christopher was happy to be in the wild at first, but , his feelings gradually changed as the time goes by and when he faced some difficulties. I can tell by reading Christopher's lines from the postcards to the boss saying that his days were so exciting when he was penniless and the feeling changed to some undesirable words like lonely,scared,starving ,so weak and much trouble to stand up in his journals. I understand that these manners and feelings are the nature of humans but Christopher kept going for what he wanted to be finished.

All in all, I feel that Christopher has done what he wanted to do till the end even though he risked his life by starving in the wood. He wrote"I had have a happy life. thank the loard ,Goodbye and may God bless all" and took a photo of himself. 

some ideas on transcendentalism relatd with nature

When communing with nature. I feel more peaceful and free when seeing green views ,and natural beauty such as waterfall and mountains. I feel fresh and enjoyment. It is more comfortable to see such kind of beauty than seeing dried and plain fields and lands,which make me so disappointed. So, I think , there is a relation between nature and our spiritual side unconsciously. Many people do not know or notice that they may have such kind of relation with nature.

 Long time ago,people worship sun and moon as God. Some believe in animals such as snakes have special power and guardians of their people.Some are still having strong belief and restriction on eating meat and killing animals. These cases are more like religious stuff. For example, Islamic people think that they will get blessing from their God if they kill cows and pray to God ,but  people who believe in Hinduism, will think cows help humans in growing rice and give many benefits to people,so, killing them is a kind of sin. So, there are different perceptive between people related with nature ,belief ,etc.
There are a lot of people are still affected by nature. We will feel happy and have good point of view when we see good views like clean stream or beautiful places,but we will feel kind of disappointing when we see dirty places full of rubbish.

I think we are destroying nature a lot. We polluted water, air, and destroyed the beauty of the  surrounding we live in. As the result, people are having harmful effects for their lives as they destroy the nature. Now, there are floods, storms, shortage of foods and other natural disasters that people faced.People have bad weather which will make them uncomfortable.So, there is a need to return to nature for us,humans.

opinion on greed affecting people

After reading Leo Tolstoy’s “How much land does a man need”, I noticed that greed and materialism are not always on the right path for a human. I also found it is not always beneficial for man to have a simple life away from these two traits. I found that sometimes, greed can lead us, human to focus more on what we want and put more effort in order to get it. In my opinion, people should have aims for their life and based on their aims, they should try to make their lives succeed. They might have some extent of greed level to make their dreams come true. The more people wish to get what they want, the more they try to improve themselves and they will think many possible ways to succeed. However, People are not contented even they got what they want. They become greedy more and more.  For example, people who have finished Bachelor degree want to get Master and PhD. These people are greedy with their study. In this case, such kind of greed is good to have.

For some people, greed can mislead them for their passion for the materialism. I found that mostly poor people can be spoiled easily because of their greed.  Due to the wish to earn more money, these poor people will do and can do bad things. I have heard that some girls become social sex workers because they want to earn more money in the easy way. I think greed can mislead to those who are not so educated. Such people will not think properly whether their actions are right or wrong. They just do what they want. So, they can get effects for what they did wrong.

I have a story that my grandma used to tell me about greed makes man regret and have bad effects. Once upon a time, a man in the village has a goose, which lays one golden egg for that man every day. So, the man can make more money every day. However, the man becomes so greedy and he is not contented with getting one golden egg a day. He wants more. So, he thinks that if he kills the goose and gets the golden eggs, he can be rich. Then, he kills the goose and when he dissects the goose’s body, there are no golden eggs. As the result, the man cannot get the golden eggs for the rest of his life and he loses his goose too.

In the case of Pahom in the Leo Tolstoy’s “How much land does a man need”, the ways he tried to be richer is acceptable, but , it is risky. First, in order to get the lands, he sold his colt, got the wages for letting his son labor in advance, and lent the money from his brother in law. The greed made him to take a risk and try harder and harder. He can do well and make his life to earn more money and make his life more comfortable. This is good. We can see that if he had not had greed, he would not try hard and he would not change his living condition. However, the greed he has for getting the lands from the Bashkir leads him to death. That is not good and right. He even take risk of his life over lands. In the end, he gets nothing.

For the facts mentioned above, I think that greed can sometimes good and make people try hard,also, it can destruct people and make them wrong.

Me in America

My name is Khin Mi Mi Zin. I am from Burma,one of the South East Asia countries.As I am from foreign country, I faced many difficulties at the start of fall semester here. Language is the main problem for me when I have to write essays and study reports for my classes such as CWS and Bio Lab. Also, I could not manage my time well to study and to finish the homework I was assigned to do. I felt like I had no free time for me to relax apart from my sleep time.However, I did enjoy the school holidays and time that I hang out with friends and enjoy having many new friends and getting to know more about the new environment and culture,which are completely different from mine.Mostly,the weather in Burma is so hot.Therefore, I really like the cold weather and the snow here. One happy moment for me during the last semester is going to Philly with my friends and having Burmese foods there. I can rarely find Burmese foods here. Therefore, I was so happy. I spent my winter break here in Huntingdon. It was kind of boring as I am all alone while my friends are going back home,but, I found it really relaxing. I could sleep more and relax more like I could watch the TV shows and movies.Sometimes, I visited to my friendship family home and went out and had dinner together. I felt like home with them. For this semester, I have a busy schedule.I'll not have free time for myself again ,but I'll try my best to manage my time well in study and try to make myself relax.