State of the Union Address

In our in class discussion regarding the recent State of the Union Address given by President Barack Obama, a main issue we talked about was the issue of many of the schools in the United States are very unfortunate and have a lot less than we do. This related clearly to our school board's recent decision to put the referendum on the ballot for the public to vote on in the april elections. It was of the opinion in some of the class that instead of using our millions and millions of dollars to build two brand new high schools, we should donate some money in hopes to improve schools for other communities. I however disagree. I think that the money that our parents work so extremely hard to make should not go to some other community where students may take it for granted and not use the money in the same way that we do. Each and every year, with what Deerfield and Highland Park High School's have to offer students thoroughly challenge themselves to preform to the best of their abilities. Shouldn't we be praised for the good work not reprimanded because some inner city school doesn't have the same opportunities we do? As a school, we would not be able to accomplish all of the achievements that we are able to accomplish if we had to give the money that goes into supporting our school system to other districts.

About our school system learning more math and science in our mandatory years at school, I would like to point out that I think that by the time a student reaches the age of 18 years old they are going to veer in the direction of one occupation versus another and I don't think a few more months of math and science are going to change their ideas. I don't think it should be required or suggested by my government to put me into a field of study that I don't want to be in. If I want to be an artist, let me be an artist, If I want to be a chef let me be a chef and If by chance I want an occupation where I work in the fields of math and science, my government should let me choose for myself if I can do that.

Final Thoughts on A Million Little Pieces

The main overall theme and message I took from A Million Little Pieces is the idea that overcoming addiction is possible. James Frey suffered through so much in his book and the extent that his addiction owned his life is unthinkably extreme. It was said in his book that if James Frey had taken drugs or drank one more time, he would have died. In the book Frey seems to be a powerful strong man. He doesn't take any bullying from any of the other patients in the rehabilitation center and he does what he wants and what he thinks is best for himself to recover from his addictions. James Frey's perseverance is very respectable given all of the things he said he went through in the early stages of his process to recovery in the rehabilitation center. It was great that Frey eventually found something that he could believe in, The Book of Tao, and that helped him overcome what he couldn't do on his own. With the help of his family, his friends, and his counselors at rehab, James Frey overcame his horrid addiction.

In my senior english class, we have been reading plays (Hamlet and Antigone) that the main characters really suffered through some hard times and because of those hard times, they have been emotionally unstable. My teacher always comments that when she thinks she's having a bad day, she will remember the lives of Hamlet or Antigone because those characters have had "bad lives." James Frey could be that character for me. Frey suffered through some grueling tasks in his life and still managed to overcome the difficulties. Although Frey's life was in "a million little pieces," he put his life back together. There may have been a few pieces missing, but he is able to live his life and prosper.

I chose to wait until I was done reading the book to find out why James Frey's credibility faltered. In finding out what Frey lied about by viewing Oprah's interview with Frey, I have a different view on the book. I would recommend reading the book because of it's powerful message, but I think James Frey was a moron to lie about what he did. I will not disclose what Frey lied about in this blog, however, what he lied about didn't add to the story yielding it unnecessary and ridiculous to even lie about.  Overall the book was powerful, yet it was slow in times too. I'm glad I read the book, but it isn't a book I would read over and over again.

A Million Little Pieces #5

The most important passage from section 5 of A Million Little Pieces happen to fall in the last two pages of the book. James Frey's brother had come to pick Frey up from the rehabilitation center one morning. Frey had said that he wanted to go somewhere that served cheeseburgers but his brother and his friend decided they wanted to go shoot some pool at a bar. Once they get to the bar Frey asks he brother to spot him 40 dollars and says he would pay him back once he had the money. Apprehensively his brother agrees to loan him the money but really pushes Frey to think about what he is going to do with it. Frey ends up going to the bar and asking the bartender if he could have a pint of bourbon and he has the money to pay for it. Once he got the alcohol, Frey looked at it, smelled it, and felt it. At that point he was getting mad. Eventually, after spending some time fighting what he wanted to do so badly, he called the bartender over again to pour out the alcohol. He didn't want it. To him the alcohol was "shit." I was really surprised that this had happened and it was great to read that James Frey could fight his addiction. Throughout the book I was never convinced that Frey could have the power and control over his life to be around alcohol and not use it. For Frey to have a pint of alcohol directly in front of him and not drink it was arguably the hardest thing Frey had to encounter in all of his time after being admitted into the rehabilitation center. Going to rehab made Frey  into a stronger person and helped his life drastically. I was immensely proud of Frey for asking the bartender to dump out the alcohol that he had ordered and paid for because I didn't think he was a strong enough person to do that. Throughout Frey's time at rehab he seemed to reject their ideas and ways of fighting addiction because he said those ways didn't work for him and he could fight the addiction his own way. By saying that, it seemed as if Frey were just being immature and unwilling to change, but I am now convinced that Frey truly had his own way of healing himself and fighting his addiction.

A Million Little Pieces #4

An issue that came up in the 4th section of A Million Little Pieces is the issue that Addiction is a disease. James Frey is a hard believer that he caused the addiction himself and that no one around him or in his life was the cause of all of his pain. In a meeting with his parents during family weekend at the rehabilitation center, the counselor that met with the Frey family, Joanne, was explaining that addiction has recently been proven to be a genetically inhereted trait that is passed down generation to generation. I knew that this was a debated fact in modern America, so I decided to look further into the issue. One fact that really stood out to me was that "In the early stages of addiction, there might be some choice involved, butmonce the addiction there is no choice" -http://www.drug-addiction-support.org/. It was interesting to browse around the website to see what they have to say and after viewing the website I am more convinced that any type of addiction truely isn't the choice of the user. To prevent people who have inhereted genes of addiction, those people should not only be fully educated on what addiction is, but also should be fully aware that people in their family have suffered addiction and they are more likely to become addicted to drugs or alcohol if they choose to begin using either. It is very important that if someone with the inhereted genes does start to become addicted to any substance or substances that help is quickly given to them.

The point that James Frey was trying to make was that a disease is something like cancer or alzheimers. A disease that no one wants and people can't choose to get. His idea was that he chose to continue with his addiction. He liked the feeling of being drunk and high so he chose to continue doing it. He wanted to continue taking drugs and that is one of the main problems that needed to resolve. It is great that he took the initiative to go to rehab and try to make his life better.

A Million Little Pieces #3

A passage stood out to me in the third section of A Million Little Pieces that I found myself to thoroughly disagree with. James Frey was taking a walk in the woods and thought to himself, "When one lives without fear, one cannot be broken. When one lives with fear, one is broken before one begins to live." Although this deep thought can be interpreted in a good way, the negativity behind it stands out to me greater. If one is fearless of everything in the world, they are not fit for survival. Whether or not people like it, there are millions of things in this world that can harm us and precautions need to be taken against those things. For instance James Frey's addiction to drugs. If Frey had been fearful of the consequences that came with trying drugs, Frey may have chosen not to do drugs, saving his life from a horrible addiction. The extent that Frey was addicted to drugs was so extremely high that if Frey had done drugs one more time, he most likely would have died. In my opinion Frey should have feared this happening all throughout the time he was doing drugs. James Frey is basically saying that people should live their lives as if they are invincible. A false perception of invincibility can be severely harmful to ones life and should be avoided at all costs. It is narrow minded to think that being invincible is a good way to live and thinking in that way is just asking to get hurt. 

Another thing that irritated me about James Frey in this section was his extreme disrespect for his parents. His parents came to the rehabilitation center for a "Family Weekend" to progress in the relationships that they have together and Frey's attitude towards them was so negative and disrespectful. Throughout Frey's life, his parents had supported him and tried to do the best they could to give Frey the kind of life they thought he deserved. Frey repaid his parents by getting addicted to alcohol and hard core drugs. When his parents go out of their ways even more for him by visiting Frey in the rehabilitation center, Frey has the audacity to be disrespectful and wish that they were gone. Respecting one's elders is a very important thing to do. Not because of what any religious books say, but respecting your elders shows that you are grateful for everything that they have done for you. 

We will see how the next section goes, but as for now, I do not like the book.

A Million Little Pieces #2

During the second section of the reading I found myself to be very angry at Frey. In rehab he became very suicidal and was doing all that he could to try to get out of the center so that he could just go to die. He ended up walking out of rehab in attempts to leave but was greeted by a fellow rehab patient that made him promise to stay for at least another 24 hours and if he still wanted to leave after those 24 hours, no one was going to stop him. Frey was presented with another opportunity to survive. So many people that he has encountered have given him opportunities to turn his life around and be a better individual. But that is a major problem with Frey. Every ounce of help he gets, he refutes it with wanting to hurt himself. In the 24 hours that Frey had to stay at the clinic for before he could once again try to leave the facility, he kept saying things like "I have 18 hours left until I can leave this dumb place." This made me so mad because he is showing that he doesn't want any help. People have been trying to help him for a long time. This wasn't his first time in a rehabilitation facility. If he wants so badly to just leave and use drugs and drink until it is the death of him, then why should anyone try to stop him. Obviously his family and his friends don't want to see him dead, I don't think anyone would want that- but if his family and his friend have tried and tried and tried to support him and help him through rehab and nothing is working, there isn't a whole lot they can do about it. Frey makes an interesting point when he explains that he doesn't truly believe he is human. He explains, "Humans are said to only seek food, shelter, and sex. Humans are said to have only these as their primary urges. I have lived in a state where I went without all, sought none. I do not know what that makes me." James Frey looses his humanity when his addiction takes over his life and then has to live with what the addiction brings. To be a human you have to be more than a living breathing being. You have to be able to function in society and you should have those primary urges. All James Frey want's is to die, rather commit suicide, because his addiction literally controls his life. At this point in the book I do not think James Frey has any hope of getting better. He continues to be shattered into a million little pieces broken beyond repair.

A Million Little Pieces #1

As I began reading this book, It became apparent to me that it was not going to be a happy book to read. The first page of the book really stood out to me throughout the entire first section of the reading. It says, "'The Young Man came to the Old man seeking counsel.' 'I broke something, Old Man.' 'How badly is it broken?' 'It's in a million little pieces.' 'I'm afraid I can't help you.' 'Why?' 'There is nothing you can do.' 'Why?' 'It can't be fixed.' 'Why?' 'It's broken beyond repair. It's in a million little pieces.'" If something is broken into a million little pieces, it would be extremely hard to fix, but would it be impossible? Can all of the pieces be picked up? Can something so broken survive if a few pieces were not put back together? After the first section of the reading, the main character, James Frey, seemed as if he would not be able to be fixed. He did a lot of drugs, and he abused alcohol heavily. It was a release for him. Drugs and alcohol made Frey feel good: he was an addict. The book then continued with Frey being on a plane not knowing where he was going, all beat up, bleeding, and confused. He gets off the plane to his parents telling him that it was time that Frey should go to rehab. When Frey first gets to the rehabilitation center, he was apprehensive about everything. Drugs made Frey feel good and even though he knew that he was just hurting himself by doing the drugs, that didn't stop him from wanting and using them. After settling in the facility Frey begins to believe that things would start getting better. He learns that if used drugs one more time that he would die, and used this as a motive to keep him strong. This however didn't last very long. Eventually Frey's addiction and withdraw from not using the drugs became so intense that he felt content with suicide as long as he got to drink and use in doing so. The main issue in this section is of addiction. Addiction took over the mind and  body of James Frey so much that it controlled his life. It seemed that he couldn't beat his addiction. He was shattered into a million little pieces and was broken beyond repair.