MililaniHighTsurudaStudents: Promt 3

Prompt:


For week #2: Two things! Write them in ONE blog!

Miesha: "My Talent is Perserverance"

*What is your talent/gift?
*What are you going to do with it?
*Compare your talent with Miesha's


Literary Connection: Jesus' Parable of the Talents NOTE: In ancient times, a measure of gold was called a talent: There once was a master and he had three servants. He goes on a trip and gives gold to each of them. The first one spends it having a good time, the second one purchases a rug in the market place. The third one goes out into the fields and buries it. When the master returns, he asks them what they did with the gold. The first one says, "I spent it and had a great time with my friends." The master says, "Very Good." The second one says, "I purchased a rug in the marketplace." The master says, "Very Good." The third one says, "Master, you will be most proud of me! I buried it in the fields and here it is!" The master beats him and send him out of his house.

What do you think is Jesus' point?

What lesson does he teach and how does it connect to you and Miesha?

How does this story work on more than one level?

Response:


Part 1:

Miesha is making a pretty strong statement in calling perserverance her talent. I like it a lot, though, because if you think about it, she is literally saying that perserverance is what she's good at. If I had to find a way to name one of my talents as strongly as Miesha has her's, I'd have to say that creating art is my talent. Whether it be audible or visual I'd like to think that I have a knack to transform the slightest idea into something that can engage your mind like little else can, and I enjoy every second it takes to do so. It's what I'm good at.

As far as what I plan to do with my talents goes, I'm going to use all that I am to change the world in everyway I can before my life is over. God gave me my gifts for a reason and I refuse to be a 21st century version of servant #3. I know that I have an abundance of talent and I'm confident that I can and will make a difference in the lives of many.

Miesha and I are alike in the fact that we know what our talents are and we both recognize that these talents are a huge part of what makes us who we are. Like Miesha is proud of the fact that perserverance is her gift, I am equally (if not more) proud of the fact that creating art is my gift. And though our living situations are much different, our circumstances are not the same, and we're probably two completely different types of people, we both understand that letting our talents go to waste, whatever they may be, would be foolish.

Part 2:

Jesus's point in telling this parable was to make it known that God gives us "talents" for us to put them to proper and productive use, not to waste them and bury them in the dirt so that they cannot be accessed. The master in the parable gives the three servants gold, or talents while he is away. The master is pleased with the two that use what he gives them but is not with the one that doesn't. the same goes for us. God is pleased with those of us that put to use what he has given them.

The story works on both a natural and supernatural level. Have you ever heard the saying "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer"? This is an example of the story in the natural. At the end of this parable, not only does the master kick out the 3rd servant, but he also takes from him what he gave to him. He also gives what he takes from the 3rd to the 1st and the 2nd, giving the 1st who spent all of his talents the larger portion. In the supernatural, like I mentioned in the previous paragraphs, God is pleased with those who put to use the gifts that he gives them. Those that do gain more, and those that do not gain nothing and often times lose what they were given.

AuntyLisa'sBeloveds: Prompt #1

In Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" the protagonist, Ender Wiggin leaves home at the age of six to go and spend the rest of his childhood at an "International Fleet" space station where he is to be trained to fight against alien "buggers" in a war to save the planet Earth from their invasion. When Ender leaves home he leaves behind an older brother and sister named Peter and Valentine. The two are foils to each other, but together they complete the character that is Ender Wiggin. All three of the Wiggin children are geniuses and wise beyond their years and each of Ender's siblings symbolizes an extreme in his own personality: Valentine as the good, and Peter as the evil.
Ender's older sister, Valentine is the only member of his family that truly cares for Ender, and shows no disdain towards him. She plays a similar role to a guardian angel and loves him more like a mother would than a sister. When Peter torments him, Valentine consoles him. While Ender grows to abhor Peter, he grows that much more to love Valentine. Throughout the novel Ender shows himself several times to be a reflection of his siblings. Valentine symbolizes the good in Ender. The only time he is happy is when he thinks about her. Ender uses his sister as a means to staying good and not letting his darker side manifest for fear of becoming like his brother.
Peter is Ender's antagonist. Ender is reminded constantly of the things that peter did to him when he still lived on Earth. Whenever Ender is forced to use physical contact to defend himself (a scenario which always ends with him brutally defeating his opponent and in some cases killing them) he reminds himself that he is becoming more like Peter and hates himself because of it. Ender makes a point in the novel of not becoming like his brother and runs away in his mind to the thought of Valentine whenever a situation arises where he might act the way his brother would. Peter symbolizes the evil in Ender.
Throughout the novel Ender grows more and more conscious of the fact that he reflects the behavior of his brother and sister, and there comes a point when he sets out not to reflect either one of them. But one thing is for sure: Valentine and Peter together are Ender Wiggin and the more he tried to avoid becoming more like one and less like the other, the more he realized that the only way he would truly be good is when he began to be himself.