BU Whirligig – Finding Balance in Yourself
FINDING BALANCE IN YOURSELF
Brent was a teenager who was oblivious to his own cluelessness. His whole life he had been chasing popularity, wealth, girls… although he was unaware that he was chasing the wrong thing. He was so set on being popular that it took someone’s life to make Brent reconsider his lifestyle choices. He was very drunk, very depressed. Driving mad down the highway, he swivelled into Lea’s car. For whatever terrible reason, she died and he did not. Lea was an amazing person, touching the hearts of anyone she saw. Brent was not sent to juvy, and did not have charges pressed. Instead, he slowly went crazy as he realized he wanted punishment to make up for what he did. Everyone knew him. The innocence that he once contained had spilled out, and turned into envy for those who now controlled the innocence. He was a murderer, and needed to be punishment. He met with Lea’s mom finally. The sleepless nights and gallons of tears were physically visible, and the pit of depression inside Brent’s stomach continued to grow. Lea’s mom could’ve asked Brent to do anything for her, but of all things she could’ve asked, she chose this: Brent had to build 4 whirligigs resembling Lea, and put them in all 4 corners of the United States, spreading the same love and happiness that Lea would have. Although she was dead, her spirit didn’t have to be. He began travelling, and learning about the earth. He called this his afterlife, as he started to rebuild his entire lifestyle. Through the frustration of whirligig building, he played his harmonica, read books, even made a new friend or two along the way. The spirit of Lea had been able to touch two girls named Alexandra and Steph, who found love in the presence of the whirligig. The spirit had also enlightened a Puerto Rican immigrant who was unhappy with his community.
Discipline + Determination = Balance
With the propor mindset based off of hope, discipline, and determination, you will achieve balance in your life.
Connections:
In Miami, Florida, the whole plot was based on how humans need each other. The man was searching for a certain bird because he once had seen a picture of it, free, and alone. When he finally sailed out to see the bird first hand, it was in a flock, arguing with all of the other birds. In twinkle twinkle little star, page 66, Brent thought: “It dawned on him why animals live in herds.”
What are the consequences of an individual not pursuing his identity? Throughout the beginning of the book, Brent was trying to be something that he wasn’t. He wanted to be popular, even if that meant acting like a completely different person. During Brent’s afterlife, he was finally discovering who he really was. He was finding himself.
Tatooie Times
Riverside Secondary Sinking in Stress
Visiting earth is all fun and games, until ‘treating depression’ goes a step too far.
Today is my last day on earth. I explored the ins and outs of humans as they underwent the pressure of the high school hierarchy, scholar ships, homework, popularity, social media, post secondary education, families, friends, and puberty. On my very first day, the high school heat took me by surprise. Riverside Secondary is filled with cliques. You have the nerds, potheads, jocks, anime lovers, people with brightly coloured hair, popular people, the rave people, and everyone in between. On my first day, I tagged along with the jocks to find out what was crushing them inside. No surprise here, but their number one stressor is scholar ships. Their whole life revolved around sports, which made it unbearable to think that they wouldn’t get into the top-schools. They were very competitive within the group, but didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the school. With all this pressure standing on their shoulders I wanted to know how they coped with their stress. After a few short hours with them, it was clear to me that practice is what made them perfect. The next day, I decided to see how the other half lived with the anime lovers. They actually seemed to be generally happy people, considering how they rarely even associate with the rest of the school. They were all very intelligent, so their biggest stressors seemed to be who was going to die in the next episode of anime, as opposed to what school they would be getting into. I had a lot of information to absorb that night, and a lot to prepare myself for. The next day, I would be chilling with the rave squad. At lunch, while everyone was talking about their rave outfits, I had time to fit in some questions about why they rave. “It’s an easy escape from reality, while giving us memories and a good time,” said one girl. This really resonated with me. They had no regrets, no fears, but just wanted a good time.
