Walk a Mile in My Shoes

Have you ever heard the saying "walk a mile in my shoes?" I think it is a very good saying. Do you know what it means? It means, that before you judge someone, you should put yourself in his or her position. 

For example, if someone was running in a race, and they did very poorly and came in last it wouldn't be fair to say, "oh, he's just a terrible runner." You would have to look at all the circumstances that made the person lose the race. Maybe they pulled a muscle in their leg the day before; maybe this is their very first race; maybe they are not in good form because something isn't right in their lives. There can be so many things that affect a person's life, performance and moods. If someone was very quiet at a party, you couldn't just assume that they weren't friendly. You don't know what is happening in their lives. They could be feeling ill, or they might have just had a bad experience. Nobody can know exactly how another person feels. Even if someone tells you what he or she is experiencing, you still won't fully understand what is going on inside the other person. Everyone perceives and feels things differently. 

To walk a mile in someone else's shoes is to try and understand things from that person's perspective. We are all shaped by the events that have taken place in our lives. No two people have gone through the exact same things. So, before you are quick to judge someone, stop and think about what it is that they might have gone through. You won't always understand why people do what they do, but you can try to understand and put yourself in their position. 

Hot and Cold

I notice that whenever it is summer, people complain about the heat, but whenever it is winter, people complain about the cold. It seems that people are never satisfied. I don't like the winter. It is usually much too cold for me. My teeth chatter, and my fingers turn numb whenever the weather gets cold. It is hard for me to warm up once I start to freeze. I try to wear layers of clothes, but winter winds go through my clothes no matter how much I wear. My feet feel like they are blocks of ice on a cold January day when I walk home from

school. I would not like to live in a place that had a cold climate all year long. I am not comfortable when it is too cold. I like the summer.  

Some people say that it is hot and sticky in the summer, but I don't mind the heat at all. I love to feel the warm sunshine on my skin. I like the freedom of not having to wear heavy coats and boots. I am the happiest when there is a slightly cool breeze that comes along to refresh you on a hot summer day. I could live in a place with a hot climate. I would enjoy that. Of course, when you are in a place with a hot climate there are more bugs than in places with cooler climates. I don't care for bugs. Where I live, it is very humid. The heat and moisture combine to make it uncomfortable sometimes. It is nicer when the heat is high, but the humidity is low. It would be better if I lived somewhere where it was hot, but not humid. That would be just perfect.

What I Like Most and Least About Myself

I was trying to think up the best and the worst things about myself. I think the best thing about me is that I am very friendly. I have a lot of friends, and they all like me. I try to be good to my friends. I don't often have arguments with people. I think that I am quite easy to get along with. The worst thing about me is that I sometimes feel sad. Sometimes I don't feel sad for any particular reason. I just get into moods where I am depressed. Sometimes there is a reason to be sad. 

I was sad when my pet frog died. I was sad when I lost my favorite baseball card. On those days, I'm still nice to my friends, but inside I feel like there is a heavy weight in my chest. I think that everyone feels sadness sometimes. I try to do things that make me happy whenever I get into one of my sad moods. Last Saturday, I felt a bit sad so I called up my friend John and asked him if he wanted to go to the movies. We went to a comedy. We laughed all the way through the movie, so that by the time the movie was over, I didn't feel sad anymore. My friendliness is my best trait, and my sad moods are my worst traits. I have to work at getting over my sad moods more quickly. Being sad doesn't do anyone any good. There is no use in feeling sorry for oneself.

If I Live to be 100

It is an entire century. Imagine all the changes that you would see if you lived to be 100. I had a neighbor who was 85. She used to tell me what things were like when she was a little girl. She told me what my town used to look like, what her clothes were like, and what her school was like. I used to enjoy listening to her stories. 

Everything was so different when she was young.  Listening to her was like having history come to life. I used to try to imagine what life was like for her back then. If I was 100, and I had grandchildren and great grandchildren, I would tell them stories about my childhood. I would hope that I had a good memory so that I could remember everything.  If I do want to live to be 100, I'll have to live a healthy lifestyle. Not too many people live to be that old. If I do get to be that old, I hope I'll still be mentally alert and physically agile. 

In my country, the Prime Minister sends a letter of congratulations to anyone who has their hundredth birthday. People who live to be 100 are very special.  Maybe in the future with better medical care and healthier lifestyles, more people will live to be 100. 

If I live to be 100, I'll have a birthday cake, but I won't put 100 candles on the cake.  I could never blow out 100 candles.

My Worst Fear

I am afraid of water. I don't know why I am afraid. I have never had a bad experience in the water. I just never learned to swim. I should have done that when I was just little. It would be easier for me to swim now if I had started when I was young. I will go into the shallow water, but I start to panic when the water gets higher than my chest. I don't like the feeling of not being able to put my feet on the bottom of the pool or the

lake. I don't like to get water up my nose. I choke and cough when that happens. 

My friends just tell me to relax and I will float, but I find it hard to relax in deep water. They keep telling me that if I panic I will sink. Most of my friends have had swimming lessons. Some of them are even lifeguards. 

They have tried to teach me to swim, but I think I need to go to a place where they actually teach swimming. It would be so nice to jump into a pool of cold water on a hot summer day. That would be so refreshing. If I go out onto a boat, I always wear a life jacket. I think it is wise to do that. Everyone should wear a life jacket on a boat. I would rather be safe than sorry. I have decided that I will overcome my fear. I will go and take swimming lessons. I have a goal. By this time next year, I would like to be able to swim the length of the pool without being afraid. It is best to face your fears and deal with them. I hope that I can overcome my fear of water.

Being a Princess

Sometimes, I think that I would like to be a princess. A princess would live in a palace and wear beautiful clothes. She would have servants to do chores for her, and she would probably marry a handsome prince. People would recognize her. They would wave to her as she drove by. It seems like it would be a lot of fun to be a princess. But maybe it wouldn't be so nice. Maybe it would be terrible to be recognized by everyone. Maybe a princess would feel like everyone was watching her. She would have to look nice every time she left the palace. There would always be people with cameras who wanted to take her picture. 

A princess would have no privacy. Even in her own palace there would be servants around, so she would never really be alone. If I were a princess, I would worry about security for my family. Sometimes, people who are in high positions are threatened by other people. That would be a worry. I'm not so sure that being a princess would be all that much fun. I think it might be better to be just a normal person like me. I don't have to worry about looking wonderful all the time. People don't follow me around and take my picture. Whenever you see a picture of a princess, she is smiling. I wonder if she is smiling on the inside, or just smiling for the camera.

Super Heroes

When my brother was very young, he loved super heroes. He collected plastic figures of all the super heroes. I think he had every super hero figurine that there was. He used to tie a towel over his shoulders and run through the back yard. He pretended that he was rescuing people. One time he stood on the roof. He really thought that he could fly with his super hero cape on. He would have hurt himself if he had jumped. My dad saw him and told him to get down. My dad explained to my brother that super heroes are not real. Real people cannot fly from rooftops. 

My brother was disappointed. He thought that the super heroes really existed. My dad explained that most super heroes were created as comic book characters. Somebody used their imagination to make them up, and then an artist drew them. My brother was not impressed. He said that he wanted to meet the super heroes. My father told him that he might meet someone dressed up as a super hero, but it wouldn't really be a super hero in the costume. It is hard to explain to small children that the things that they see in comic books and on

television aren't really real. My brother still pretends that he is a super hero. He doesn't jump from rooftops, but he runs around and makes noises like he is flying. I look at him and remember when I used to do things like that. I'm more mature than my brother. I know that super heroes aren't real, but I know that he is having fun and using his imagination.

The Peach Orchard

When I was very young, I lived near a peach orchard. Now, there is a park where the orchard used to be. I always remember the peach orchard because my grandmother and I used to go there and pick peaches. The owner of the orchard would let all the neighbors pick peaches. It's not the fact that I used to get many ripe, tasty peaches that I remember; it's the time that I used to spend with my grandmother that I remember. 

My grandmother was very old, but she was very healthy. She used to walk a lot. I think that is what kept her fit. She had a lot of energy so she liked to go to a lot of places. She would get a fruit basket, and then she would ask me if I wanted to go to the orchard. 

I always said yes because I enjoyed walking through the orchard on a sunny day. We never climbed up on a ladder to reach the peaches; we just reached for the low hanging fruit. My grandmother and I used to talk all the time that we were out there. It was nice to spend time with her. She told me many stories about when she was a young girl. We laughed and got to know each other better. My grandmother only visited us during the summer. She lived in California, and I lived in Niagara Falls, so we didn't get to spend a lot of time

with each other. We enjoyed the hot summer days in the orchard. You could smell the peaches, and the bees buzzed lazily by us. My grandmother would point out different insects and birds to me. I learned a lot about nature from her. We would end up with a big basket of peaches. When we got home, my mother would wash the peaches, and often she would bake a peach pie for us. 

Nobody bakes a peach pie like my mother. It's good to have memories like that. Childhood memories of time spent with my grandmother are very precious to me. Sometimes, it's just the simple things that you do in life that leave you with the nicest memories.

Help

Did you ever have to call for help? Were you ever in a situation that was an emergency? It is good to know what to do in case of an emergency. You should always know how to get in touch with the police and fire departments. I have read stories where very young boys or girls have called the police and saved their friend's or family member's lives because they knew just who to get hold of. If you see a fire, you should call the fire department. A lot of tragedies have been prevented because the calls have been made quickly. It is important that emergency vehicles arrive very quickly. That is why those vehicles have sirens. When their sirens go, it means to get out of the way. Policemen, firemen and ambulance attendants are trained to handle very difficult

situations. 

They often save peoples' lives. They go through a lot of training to become good at what they do. They never panic in emergencies. For your part, you should keep emergency numbers near the phone, or know what the

emergency numbers are. Where I live, there is a special number that you call for any emergency. We teach that number to everyone, even very tiny children. It is important to remain calm if you need help. If you call an emergency number, you have to be able to speak clearly, and tell the person you are talking to exactly what the problem is. I hope you are never in an emergency situation, but it is a good idea to be prepared.

Superstitions

I am not superstitious, are you? Yesterday was Friday the thirteenth. Some people think that Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day. I think that it is just like any other day. Some people believe that if a black cat crosses your path, you will have bad luck. I don't believe that either. My mother always gets upset if I open an umbrella in the house. She says that it is bad luck. She is probably right about that one because an open umbrella would take up a lot of space, and you might knock things over. If your left hand is itchy, you are supposed to get money. I have had an itchy left hand before, but I haven't received any money because of it. It is bad luck to walk under a ladder. This is probably true because you might knock somebody off the ladder, or have a can of paint fall on top of you. 

If you are acting in a play, it is bad luck if someone says "good luck" to you. This is very confusing. You are supposed to tell an actor to "break a leg." It doesn't mean that you want the actor to break his leg. It means good luck to the actor. Actors have a lot of superstitions that are very unusual. I am not superstitious. I don't believe in superstitions at all. It is just fun to learn about superstitions. Some of them are very old and have been passed down from generation to generation. I once did a project at school on superstitions. It was a very interesting topic, and I got a good mark for it.

If I Found a Magic Lamp

If I was walking down the beach on day, and I happened to bump my toe on a magic lamp, I would pick it up and rub it. If it was a real magic lamp (but I don't believe that there really is a magic lamp), a genie would pop out in a cloud of smoke, and he would call me master. He would say that he would grant me three wishes. I would have to think very hard about those wishes because I wouldn't want to waste them. I don't think I'd want millions of dollars. Money doesn't buy happiness, or so they say. I might wish for good health, because if your health isn't good you won't be able to enjoy anything. Some people might wish for beauty, but beauty is only skin deep. Some people would wish for a mansion, or a beautiful car or a big boat. I don't want any of those things. 

Some people would want fame. Some people would want talent. Some people would wish for happiness. That might be a good thing to wish for. Yes, maybe I'd wish for health and happiness, but what would my third wish be? I could wish for something enormous, something global. I could wish for world peace. That would be a wonderful thing if somebody could grant me that. Yes, that would probably be my third wish. It's too bad there aren't any genies inside magic lamps. I won't get my three wishes. I can still work toward getting my wishes. I can eat well and exercise to stay healthy. I can be involved with a lot of things and be with my friends to stay happy. I can volunteer my time to different organizations to help achieve world peace. I can do my fair share in my community to help others. That's how I can get my three wishes, not through a magic lamp. I can only get what I want through self-determination and hard work. That is the key to getting your wishes fulfilled.

My Favorite Bedtime Story

Every night when I was little, my mother would read me a bedtime story. My favorite story was Tom's Midnight Garden. This was a story by Philippa Pearce. It was quite a long book, and it took quite a few nights for my mother to read the entire book to me. In Tom's Midnight Garden Tom moves to the city to stay with his aunt and uncle. He is very bored at their apartment. They have no children, so Tom has nothing to do. One night, the clock strikes thirteen times. Tom knows that this is impossible. A clock can only strike up to twelve times. He sneaks downstairs and goes outside. When he gets outside, there is a wonderful garden that wasn't there the day before. 

The next day, Tom goes outside and finds that there is no garden. The garden only seems to appear at night. Every night, Tom slips out to this wonderful garden, and he meets some people in the garden. He meets a girl named Hattie. Hattie and Tom become very good friends in this garden. Some very strange things happen in this book. There are some coincidences that keep you guessing about what is really going on. The surprise ending is wonderful. I really enjoyed Tom's Midnight Garden and I was very sad when my mother and I came

to the end of the book. I felt that I had visited the magical garden with Tom. It is a book that I will remember all of my life.

Do People Have the Right to Smoke in Public?

My father used to smoke. He got very ill. The doctor told him that he had to quit smoking. My father tried for a long time to quit. It was very difficult for him. Smoking is an addiction. After many months, my father finally gave up smoking, but he still craved a cigarette once in a while. He says that quitting smoking is the hardest thing that he has ever done. When my father did smoke, he smoked everywhere. He smoked in restaurants, stores and many public buildings. Now, you are not allowed to smoke in a lot of public places. When my father smoked, the rules were not so strict. People could smoke just about anywhere. It really wasn't fair to the people who didn't smoke. Their clothes always smelled like smoke, and they breathed in second-hand smoke. Some people think that second-hand smoke is actually worse for you than if you smoke

yourself. 

People would smoke in their houses, and very young children would inhale the smoke that was in the air. Some people still smoke in their houses, and their children breathe in the smoke. Some restaurants have areas for smokers and nonsmokers, but usually the smoke drifts from one area to the other. There are some businesses that have banned smoking altogether. Personally, I think that smoking in public places should be completely banned. I don't think that I should have to breathe in another person's smoke if I choose not to smoke myself. It wouldn't be fair for a nonsmoker to get lung cancer because they had to be in a place where smokers were allowed to light up. 

I know that smoking is a powerful addiction and that it is very difficult to quit, but smokers should restrict their smoking to places where there is nobody else around. Lung cancer is an awful disease. Nobody should have to suffer with lung cancer. People should be educated about the dangers of smoking. Smoking should be banned in public places, but eventually I would like to believe that fewer people will smoke. It would be nice to live in a smoke free environment.

If I were a Giant

If I were a giant, I wouldn't be able to fit in my house. I'd have to live in a building that had a high ceiling, but I'd probably have a hard time getting through the door. I'd have to make my own clothes, but where would I get a giant needle and thread to sew with? I couldn't ride in a car or a plane. I suppose I would just have to take giant steps to get from place to place. I would have to be very careful not to step on anybody or anything. When I talked, people would cover their ears. My voice would sound very loud to them. I wouldn't find shoes to cover my feet. I wouldn't find a knife and fork to eat my dinner with. I might have to use a rake as a fork. 

My dinner would be huge. What would I cook my dinner in? I certainly wouldn't find an oven big enough to put my dinner in. If I sneezed, it would be like a hurricane. If I fell down, it would be like an earthquake. I wouldn't have any friends because everyone would be too tiny for me to talk to. I think that being a giant would be very lonely. I couldn't have just one apple. I would have to have a lot of apples to fill me up. I would have to drink gallons and gallons of water to quench my thirst. I could never relax under a tree. I would be taller than all the trees. I don't think that being a giant would be fun. I won't ever make a wish to be a giant. I would rather be my height. I'm very happy the way I am.