Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon 1/15/14

Re-read Chapter 25 in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.  Ma and Ba are discussing the "paper of happiness" and wondering what the one word could be.

What is YOUR "one word".  What is one word that drives you in life, or that you could commit yourself to following?  Give your one word and explain why it is important for you.

64 comments:

  1. In the book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Ma and Ba are discussing the paper of happiness. They don't know what the one word on the paper was, but they are thinking about what it could have been. If I had a single word on a piece of paper to help me live my life, I would choose BRAVERY.

    I think that all aspects of life require great bravery. It takes bravery to be your true self and not worry about what others think of you. It takes bravery to stand up to others. It takes bravery to continue towards your passion, your dreams. I know that throughout life, setbacks are going to happen that make me want to curl up in a ball and stay in bed; I must be brave to go out, face the world, and try my best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was a beautiful piece of writing Ms. McKone! I believe that too!

      Delete
    2. That is a very inspiring comment. Bravery is a very important quality, one that all characters in books have, but few in the real world have.

      Delete
    3. Thank you Brenna, you are very kind. :)

      Will, that is a very interesting and insightful comment. I agree that books are full of characters that show great bravery; in life, the acts are much smaller, but difficult to accomplish (such as standing up to a bully or facing a challenge with a positive attitude).

      Delete
    4. Bravery was my second pick! But I stuck with faith.

      Delete
  2. I think the one word on the paper happiness is faith. Because if you did not faith in you or anyone you or they could not succeeded on their dreams. For example if Ma and Ba did not have faith in Minli she could fail to succeed on her journey to never ending mountain to find the old man of the moon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Truxton, is the one word that you would choose for yourself also "faith"?

      Delete
    2. I have the same feeling, faith is needed for everyone and every thing. Minli had faith that her parents wouldn't freak out and calm down.

      Delete
    3. Truxton I agree because if you have faith in everything you will probably succeed.

      Delete
    4. Wow great reasons Truxton!

      Delete
    5. I think that you would have to have faith too. Good choice!

      Delete
    6. Truxton, I really think this is true because Minli really had faith in herself and wants to find Never Ending Mountain and never gives up. Good work!

      Delete
    7. I like how you put that they won't be able to succeed in their dreams.

      Delete
  3. My one word is Passion. If I didn’t have passion I would never have wanted to be a baseball player but since I have passion I really do want to be a baseball player. I love baseball and I am really passionate about it, if I didn’t have the passion I have now I would not have anything to do with baseball I wouldn’t care about baseball and since I have the passion I want to play baseball the rest of my life. If I had to chose the one thing I want to do for the rest of my life it would be baseball. I’d want play baseball more than being the richest man on the planet and it is all because of passion. That is why passion is my one word.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting word, Presley. I like how you went into detail to explain your specific passion. I think that passion is a great motivator, and can be an important word in your life.

      Delete
    2. I agree to with your paragraph. Without passion,life would be boring.

      Delete
  4. for my word I would use to help live my life would be perseverance because everyone has to fail in life over and over again but those people they don’t give up and eventually they succeed and those people their masters at whatever they do.

    by:Tyler

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great thinking, Tyler. I know that you have some examples of perseverance from your life or books that you have read that could show the importance of perseverance. For example, I know that I come across difficult math problems that initially appear impossible to solve. However, if I persevere and take small steps to figure out each part of the problem, I can solve it correctly. I love your thinking about perseverance. It's one of the best traits we can have.

      Delete
    2. Ty I think that if you fail at stuff like math you just keep trying they sometime will have to make it. Just like you do so good in every subject you do.

      Delete
    3. i think that it is very interesting and is a good explanation

      Delete
  5. I think my one word on the paper is confidence. One reason is that when I’m confident in myself I’m happy and proud at the same time. Also because confidence gives me a reason to go and live my life instead of waiting for time and life to past by. Confidence makes me believe, and have fun and do stuff instead of looking at the bad side of the fun stuff like in playing in the rain, well we're going to slip and fall. Well if you don’t try then you don’t know. How would you feel if you always looked at the bad side of things you don’t live and don’t have fun. Plus you will never know what it feels like to have a blast of fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like your ideas of and looking at the bad side of things, those were good ideas to put in your story.

      Delete
  6. My one word
    I believe that everyone sees a different word on the paper of happiness. Ba would see faith, Ma would see contentment, and Minli sees thankfulness. No one knows what word will appear for themselves on the paper of happiness. Some can guess, but none know for sure. For some it’s love, for others it’s courage, for more it’s truth, still more are passion. For me I don’t know, but I think that my word is hope. You will never truly know your word, but I will find it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's amazing work it's like so Awesome description nice job Will.

      Delete
    2. Great thinking Will

      Delete
    3. nice job i love all the explanation.

      Delete
  7. My word for the book is family

    My word for the page is family because I could probably not live without my mom, dad and brothers plus our dog Lucy. They are what brings our family together, if I did not have them I would be crying a whole lot everyday, if I did not have them I would not be who I am right now.

    The reason I am thankful for my brother is because they make me laugh, and cry and even though it is because they are mean to me when I cry, I still love them. I love my whole family because we are a family.

    The reason why I love my mom and dad is because they gave me life and they will love me forever! And I will love them forever!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a great response. You have a thoughtful answer, and also gave examples.

      Delete
    2. I love your writing I like that you did little groups of brothers and mom and dad. Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Delete
    3. I love your writing and the fact that you did different paragraphs for each person like your mom and dad and brothers and Lucy. Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Delete
  8. Isabella


    My word is family. It is because my family helps me through my whole life, my dad was there to help me with my school work, my mom was there my whole life as a baby, as a kid and she will be there for me my whole life. My sister Victoria, she helps me laugh when I am down. My uncle, grandma and my grandpa always supports me when I have a dance performance and they always will love me, no matter what. My family is what brings us all together and we would be separated if it weren’t for my family. I tell my family that I love them every day to tell them that I really do love them and I hope that I will love them to the end.

    Victoria
    My sister Victoria, always makes me laugh when I am down and she sometimes takes me to the park when I am bored; she gets bored a lot to but when she does she just draws on herself. This shows that my sister really loves me.


    Mom and Dad
    My mom and dad are the best. They help me when I am down and they help me with my homework. They will love me forever and till the end and I will to. This shows that my mom and dad love me for who I am.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well done! I like your examples of which specific family members you are thinking of, and of what they do for you that means so much. Great response.

      Delete
    2. Fantastic job Isabella, I really like that one word!!!!! I did Lov, Family and love are two similer words!!!!

      Delete
    3. I really like how you said you would love them to the end. I also like how said that your sis draws on herself when she is bored! (P.S. super funny!)

      Delete
    4. I really enjoyed reading your response! It's very heartfelt and sweet.

      Delete
  9. My one word is hope. You have to be hopeful in someone, to be able to know that they can do it. I have to have hope in my brother to know that he can do free running, and so that he knows to! I hope that everyone is hopeful in someone, at some point. Ma and Ba have to be hopeful in Minli, to know that she WILL be able to find the old man of the moon. Also, you can be hopeful by hoping that something is going well, or that someone is doing well. I am full of hope that my Great Grandma is doing well, and that we will get to see her again before she moves on. I am hopeful in all of you! If you say that you can’t write, that is what you say. But, I can still say that you are a good writer. Anyone can. My hope is that everyone here believes that they can, because my one word is hope.

    ~Brenna

    ReplyDelete
  10. By:Jackson

    My word in my life that motivates me is thankfulness. I chose that because think about it a lot of kids don’t have an XBOX 360, a TV, a house or any other thing like that so you should just be thankful for what you have. Also you should just be thankful that you're alive. Finally I think about how lucky I am to be doing the stuff I’m doing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jackson, I'm glad that you are thankful. I'm wondering if you could elaborate on what makes YOU truly thankful - not the materialistic things like video game systems, but things like family or friends.

      Delete
    2. if I couldn't pick the word perseverance I'd pick thankfulness because if you don't have tons of things like parents but your thankful for what you have then you'd have tons of happiness.

      Delete
  11. My word for the paper would be Faith. I would put this word on the paper because the goldfish man told Ma and Ba to have faith in Minli. When my parents got me a unicycle they had faith that I wouldn’t fall badly on my buttox or my face. You need to have faith in many things, you might not want to have faith but it would be a big human fail if we didn’t have faith in each other. People that are sick have to have faith that the people taking care of them will help. Faith I say is a big human trait. In the book I’m reading Divergent Tris and Four are climbing a ferris wheel for capture the flag. Tris is Divergent so she is not afraid of heights or very many other things. Tris almost slips but Four is there to save her Tris had faith.

    By: Levi S

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great thinking. I love how you have an example from the book we are reading together, one from life in general, and third one from a different book. I agree that Faith is very important.

      Delete
    2. Great job Levi

      Delete
  12. The one thing that drives me most in life is curiosity! It drives me most because I am so full of questions from life experience and adventures I've had. My life is very full of interesting things and I think everyone should be able to ask as many questions as they want, even though there are many. The last reason it drives me most because I believe everyone should be able to experience everything in life and get to question about anything.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Madison, I relate to your post. I agree that curiosity is vital. Thanks for explaining why it is important to you.

      Delete
    2. I like your comment Madison because if you didn't have curiosity then you wouldn't find stuff out.

      Delete
  13. In the book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Ba (Minli’s Dad) has one word that he is very passionate about, he changed his word from Happiness, to Faith. The one word that I would be very passionate about would be, Love. Love is a very crucial word to me because if there was no love in the world, then, there would be no couples, and no one would ever get married, and then we wouldn't exist. Love is a very important thing, we can show love for our siblings, our parents, our aunt, our uncles, our cousins, our grandparents, our great-grandparents, etc. That is why love is very important to me.


    -Coleman

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great blog post, Coleman. It reminds me of the saying "Love makes the world go 'round." Love is such a powerful emotion, and is a drive for us all to be our true selves.

      Delete
    2. That was Unbelievable Good description I LOVE every word in it Coleman great job.

      Delete
  14. I think that the one word is faith. I think that it is that because if you have faith in everything and you will have a very happy life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you totally, but that all?

      Delete
  15. What Would Be My Word
    The word that I would have would be hope. Hope is something that keeps me going through the difficulties. Hope like in where the mountain meets the moon when minli hopes that she can get to the old man of the moon. Hope that I will accomplish my goals. Hope that one day peace will ring throughout the world! If I had that paper the word for me would easily be hope

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do agree with you but now that I read all of them, I'm not sure.I don't thin you can sum-up happiness in one word. It's different for all of us.

      Delete
  16. If I could have control on what on word would go on the paper of happiness, I would put the word BRAVERY on the paper of happiness because I think bravery is the key to happiness. I think bravery is the key to happiness because if we were not brave, we wouldn’t face fears and that would lead to having a bla life with no adventure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beautifully written!!! This has truly toched my heart

      Delete
    2. I like how you said we wouldn't face our fears and have a boring life. That is really important in life too.

      Delete
  17. SELF RESPECT

    “As you know
    pride and confidence in oneself; a feeling that one is behaving with honor and dignity is self respect”

    I would chose this word because Self respect is something very important in my life and it should be important in everyone's life.If you have self respect,nothing would stand in your way.For example…

    1)
    Bullies have now advantage over you.
    2)
    When you need help,help is always there.
    3)
    people will look up to you
    4)
    You have more opportunities in life.



    This is why self respect is important.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hannah, I really love this essay and I think it can really open up peoples hearts and make them see how much more people need self respect in their hearts.

      Delete
    2. I did BRAVERY but I do agree with you, self respect is important.

      Delete
  18. My one word that drives me is the word perseverance. This word helps me because it reminds me to never give up and when times are tough, don’t worry. Just me happy. I always think I never have enough time to do everything. But I know that if I persevere, I can do almost anything. There are so many words that help me. Perseverance is the biggest one, I think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love your writing great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Delete
  19. If I had to choose a word that helps me through life it wouldn’t even be a word, it would be a quote. My mom told me “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”~Buddha. She told me this when I was feeling worried about having trouble in math the tuesday school started again after winter break. This really helped me that night and it does right now. If you lost a pet don’t dwell in the past and mourn it’s death for the next year, concentrate on the present. If a pipe broke in your basement, don’t worry about how much money you will have to pay to get it fixed, the time will come when it comes. Don’t live in the future. If you concentrate on the present, you can get the task at hand finished and not have to worry about it again. Can you see why this quote helps me through life?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Arabella, this is a beautiful response. You explained your thinking in a very clear and thoughtful way.

      I have a sign by my bed that simply reads "Be Present". It reminds me of the ideas you shared above; that when difficulties happen - or you fear they will happen - it does no good to dwell on them. All we can do is focus on the present moment.

      Delete
    2. Arabella, I can see how that quote helped you. It would help me too!

      Delete
    3. I like your example from life. I think that quote is one of the most inspiring (and one of my favorite!) quotes of all time.

      Delete