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Monday, October 11, 2010

Narrative and expository

Hi all, this is my new post. I have just done my first expository with continuous editing and through hard work, I believe that this is good, and please comment! Thanks!

Narrative

It was the first time in his entire life that he was in the hospital; it was the first time that he could rest, not only from the stress of us, his family, but also from work; it was also the first time that he had to encounter death in the face. He had been told, very gently, that he was going to die…

“Bang!” I looked back, and what I saw appalled me. All the time in the world suddenly stopped, and it seemed like an eternity for me to react to the situation. He was flown far away, and still sailing in the air, slowly like a leaf. The car’s impact was so great that there was an apparent dent in the car’s bonnet. I stared at the car driver, who was still gripping his wheel tightly, hands shaking tremendously, sweat dripping down from his forehead onto his striped shirt. His eyes were wide open, obviously shocked by this incident that had just unfolded before him. ”Pong!” a sick sound of someone’s body hitting the road rang out loud, causing alarm bells to ring in everyone’s mind. I spun my head around, and dashed towards my poor son, Tony, while Sharon ran to the driver and started scolding him. My heart was palpitating at the speed of lightning , as my forehead broke out into cold sweat. Nervousness and agitation overwhelmed me as I was afraid for my son’s welfare. Cars stopped by the road, as I kneeled on the floor and started crying. Then a ragged man, with dirty hair and a untidy dressing walked over, and with a stupid cheeky grin, whispered to me, “He is going to die!” He had been told, very gently, that he was going to die. His face had been disfigured as blood started gashing out of all his blood wounds, creating a pool of blood around us. Blood covered his entire face, as his eyelids were closed, and full of cuts all over his body. Commuters, car drivers, and passers-by all crowded over to look at the current situation. I looked up and begged, “Please… please… someone please call the ambulance!” At my continuous pleas, only then did someone willingly called the ambulance and it did not take long before the ambulance and police arrived, to take the driver back to the police station for investigation.

I sat in the ambulance, with the terrible condition of my son just before my eyes. It did not take long before I broke down into tears again. I covered my face with my hands, ashamed and embarrassed at the current situation of my son and how I caused it…

“If I had not gone overboard in my conversation with Sharon, he would not have ran on to the road and this accident would not have happened. Argh, I should have been more careful and aware of my surroundings, instead of just talking to Sharon. It could have been avoided, if I had been ore careful that that. It was al my fault that Tony is now injured,” As she spoke, she caressed the face of Tony, as blood was smeared on to her hands and her fingers, “It isn’t the driver’s fault, it isn’t Tony’s fault, it isn’t Sharon’s fault, it is all my fault. I am really sorry Tony, that it was because of my carelessness that got you into this current state now. As she spoke, tears came streaming down her face.

At the hospital, the nurses and the doctors handled everything, but what I could not hide and prevent was my shame and guilt and not only so, but my anxiety for my son. I shivered at the thought of losing him forever. I called my husband and told him about the entire issue as hot tears flowed down my reddened cheeks. Within minutes, the agitated father arrived, and shook me and said with his eyes glaring at me, “How could you be so irresponsible? Do you know what is your role as a parent? It is not to play! It is for your son to respect you and therefore, you receive the title. Is this what you are supposed to be doing as a mother?” With all that ranting, he calmed down and sat down, as I did too.

We were all silent throughout the entire period of the operation and soon he was out but still in a comatose and needed to be placed in the ICU, as his condition was critical.

Time passed quickly, as my husband and I took turns to be with out child. When all hopes were lost, with him being in comatose for 69 days, his hand twitched. My head, which was buried in my hands, immediately jolted up and hope was glittering in my eyes. His head then slowly turned as his eyelids opened, one by one. I grinned and immediately shouted for the doctors and nurses to enter to have a checkup on him. As the room was covered and flooded with the doctors, I heaved a sigh of relief, as I was able to stop the self-reproaching and be able to relax for a moment. I then immediately called my husband to come over and told him the good news. I was jumping for joy and my heart was pumping very quickly, but it is not because of my sadness, but because of my joy that this mistake of mine was corrected by the determination of my son.

“Once bitten, twice shy”. From that day onwards, it was a life-changing transformation for not only me, but for my son. Not only did I understand what it means to be able to honour the title of being called a parent, but also understand that I have to be aware of my surroundings. I not only have to be extremely careful with wherever I bring Tony to, but also beware of is actions. As for Tony, he smiles at me, very often. Despite the disfiguration of his beautiful face, his smile is still genuine, ad full of emotions. I smile at him, and he smiles back at me.


Expository

2b) “Stress is good for you” What are your views to this statement?


Students studying in groups in the library, rushing through their daily homework; students tapping furiously at the keyboards, their eyes sweeping through lines and lines of words; students dashing past, running to their next destination for their important lectures. Throughout their entire globe, a phenomenon is happening. Students and adults alike, are faced with a constant pressure that they have to bear: stress. Is stress really an unwelcomed visitor into our world, our society and our private lives? Undoubtedly, it is. It sweeps through the entire nation, entering houses stealthily under the cover of darkness, and like a gas, it enters our bedrooms, sliding through the doors and affecting everyone, causing people to do several extremist means, such as committing suicide, just to escape.. On the other hand, committing suicide may not be the only result of stress, in fact it actually even leads to self-motivation and peer pressure, which causes people to do better than usual.

Stress is constantly surrounding us, like how the hot and humid weather bears down its weight upon us. People may believe that stress is harmful to oneself and may even affect one’s grades. However, self-motivation may also bloom from one’s stressful life. For instance, someone who leads a stressful life and is able to cope with stress, and has poor grades and a poor attitude to life, may be saddened by his grades and in the end, he is able to activate the potential that is innate in him, through self-motivation. Stress activates self-motivation as the willingness in him to do well and excel is present. Therefore, one may think that stress is harmful to one, but yet, they do not think of the benefits that stress may bring.

There are different types of motivation, such as self-motivation and peer pressure. All these contribute to the benefits of stress. However, one may never understand how peer pressure can help oneself. When there is stress, the people around you will also be affected. As you are self-motivated, you will become more hardworking, more efficient and faster as you finish your work. The people around you will soon become under the same pressure as you are as they are afraid to lose out to you due to our students’ competitive nature. This will cause them to undergo peer pressure, by being afraid to lose out to others. For instance, would Usain Bolt exceed his limits and expectations running on a track with competitors around him, trying to push him to his limits or would Usain Bolt exceed expectations and perform better just by running on a track with the stadium empty, devoid of any people? Therefore, one may think that stress is harmful, but it indeed brings some benefits.

However, there are also banes in which stress will harm oneself while leading a stressful life. Indeed there are some who will succumb to pressure, committing suicide in order to be able to escape and getaway from this stressful life, and while no one expects to commit suicide without reason, undue stress can compel one to do the unthinkable and this can happen to anyone who face stress. For instance, one who leads a stressful life and is unable to cope with the amount of stress may think of escaping, as a resort to remove the burden off their shoulders. They have a totally contrasting and different mindset as compared to those who have a competitive nature, as they will never succumb to the thought of committing suicide or other extremist means in order to escape from reality. In true fact, those who are competitive will continue on, constantly trying to get ahead of the others. Therefore, stress has banes too, such as the extreme cases of people committing suicides.

Stress is a double-edged sword, it causes people to be motivated, be it through peer pressure or self-motivation and it also causes the unthinkable to happen, like one committing suicide, through the pressure and burden on their shoulders. One must never be narrow-minded and just consider the banes of stress. Instead, one must be able to understand the true meaning of stress and the ways in order to cope with it, in order to be able to use it effectively and to his own advantage. We can disregard the importance of stress and brush it off as an unnecessary evil visitor in our lives. Yet we can also embrace stress head-on and turn it into motivation for oneself and for others. What would your choice be?