Friday, December 10, 2010

Changes in my Life...

     Seasons change and so people do. It is either we become better or we stay immature.

     For the past few years, life for me was painful. It was too hard for me to accept all the troubles life slapped me. I was still so much younger then, and very childish. I am the only "rose" among the thorns and I admit I was a Daddy's and Mommy's girl. But I just woke up one day, all the happiness in life seemed to get blur right into my bare eyes. It was like I woke up in a place full of heartaches and pains.

     Just a couple of years ago, our parents separated and my father just walked out of our lives like he has no children at all. And I hated him for that. I started having boyfriends and learned to drink alcohol. I started to have the nerve to argue with my mother and brothers. I started to tell lies to them and cut classes without them even knowing. It was like I wanted to be miserable and I was blaming my family for it.

     But my eyes were opened and I realized I am not unfortunate like what I think I am. I realized I still have a family and they are more than enough. I realized that everything happens for a reason and whatever it is; it just made me a stronger person now. And now, whenever life gives me pitfalls, I just pray and am mature enough to face it.

     As i grow older, I realized that we can only be a child once, but we can be immature forever. As what Gretchen Barreto said, "No matter what happens, a real woman moves on from all teh heartaches and pains."

What makes me different

     Each one of us has our own individuality. We may have similarities to other people in terms of our physical appearances but we can only tell what really makes someone different is when get to know him/her personally.

     In my case, I know find it easy to declare who I am. One could say I am just another one in a sea of faces. Talking, laughing, doing what I need todo and what I am told. I am not an assertive person because oftentimes I think negatively.

I am just like any typical student and teenager. I do everything the same way I do every day. I have friends. I experience everysuffering a student can imagine and I also felt all the best I di were just never enough.

If one would know my story, one can actually say I am no different from others. I belong to those who are product of a broken family. I had my share of heartbreaks and mistakes. I was hurt several times and I admit I have also hurt people at the expense of my own happiness. Yes, I have my own share of dramas and I can say that at my young age, I already had a bundle of experiences. I already felt like giving up.

But I realized God has always intervened and broke my spirit to save my soul. It was then that I learned to have faith to Him and trust Him in every way. And that makes me different. I just do not frown, I pray instead.

Being different is not only on what is seen on our physical appearances. It is what we really inside and how we perceive and respond to our own dillemmas.

Why do we write?

      There are many reasons why people write. One reason could be because they work for a newspaper, magazines, comic books and literary folios where they write not only because they like to but because they have to so that they can keep tjeir job.

     Most especailly those kinds who hate writing have this belief that one can only write if one has a wide vocabulary. But that belief is erroneous. Anyone can write even if they are not a graduate of any course or has not taken their masteral degree.

     News writers write because they deliver news or information to the masses. Poets write poems for they want their readers to feel their emotion. Authors write books because they put their imagination into words and want their readers to experience what they have gone through just by reading their stories.

     We write because we want people to know what we feel, what we see and what we know about things that we think they ought to know. We write because we react to a particular issue so that they will know where we stand.

     Most importantly, we write for our identity. When we write, people can have a glimpse of knowing us. It is sharing our knowledge to other people. We write because we want to share our ideas, thoughts, opinions, beliefs and our experiences. It can also be because we want to entertain and to teach the readers.

     We do not need to have reasons to write. We should not only write for other people but for ourselves too. When we write, we get the satisfaction and contentment that not only gives inspiration and happiness to the readers but most importantly for ourselves.

     We can write under the sun if we want.

What is Plagiarism?

     In most dictionaries, the Latin word plagiarius means kidnapper; which literally means stealing the person. In plagiarism, it is stealing someone else's ideas, writing, etc. and presenting them as one's own. It is a way of copying all the words and thoughts of the one who actually wrote it without giving credits to the author.

     Plagiarism is stealing someone's personal and intellectual property stealing someone's study, concept and opinions and making them as one's own. Even if it is written in their own words but still has the same thought, it is still plagiarism.

     Plagiarism might be accidental or not. It is rampant on the internet. It is as simple as cut, copy and paste then the student is already done with his assignments without sweating himself thinking of what to write, digging ideas and giving his self a hard time. It is presenting all the contents without complete source of information from where and from whom it is and without quotes provided. It is working on a research or term paperwithout using a direct quotation or footnote of the ideas, words and phrases copied from the websites, books, magazines, etc.

     Posting quotable quotes in our Facebook wall or other social networks without the author's name together with it is also plagiarism. It is like presenting those quotable quotes as our own.

     Without having knowledge of the proper use of resources, plagiarism is being committed. Even if it is being paraphrased, the sources should still be listed. It may not be on one's intention to plagiarize but it is always better to give credits to the sources. Also, plagiarism is one way of cheating and tolerating ourselves of being lazy.

     Plagiarism is a crime. It is vilation of ethics, copyrights, personal and intellectual property.