My pact

This post is the hardest one for me. Many will write about something like finishing school or doing better in school, but i already planned to do that. My pact wil be this, I will better my self  mentally, and spiritually. I will try and help those around me to better themseleves while also bettering myself, I plan to not only focus on what is really important to me but the improtant things to my family and friends, because if I just decided on bettering myself then I wouldn't have gotten the reason behind "The Pact". What I got from that book was that while pushing yourself to get to a better place you should also try and help your fellow man, like how the three doctors wanted to help younger people get to where they are. My pact is one of better the world and my fellow man.

Threedoctors.com

The authors of "The Pact" have two more books out and one is a childrens book, called "We Bet The Streets". It seems to be geared to younger people in middle school that seems to give advice to help kids today wanna do better in school and show that there is always a better future for anyone as long as they work for it. For those who loved "The Pact" and found inspiration from it I say get your kids this book, it may just push them to be something like a doctor.


In the Authors thrid book called "The Bond" we read about the three doctors examining their childhood and their fatherlessness. Something I wanted to read in "The Pact" was how they felt on a deeper level. I don't know about the whole fatherlessness because my father and I were close, but to hear how these three doctors who worked their way up from the hood and became doctors feel about their fathers or if they meet them would be a great read. It can also be a inspiration to many people who didn't know their fathers and lead them to change their lives. I for one will be reading this book and ask that other read it too, because these books can change a person's life with how a person can see these men's hardships and achievements.

My recommendation

I recommend that others read "The Pact" for so many reasons, it is such a good read and it will help you see the world in a new light. I strated this book with the thought that it would be boring, but I was wrong. Hell I couldn't have been futher from the truth, this book has people struggling to better them self and fighting to make a better future. That right there will make you also wanna better yourself once you read it. There were so many time I wanted to just stop and drop out of college, but then I started reading this book and I saw how guys worse off than me fought to get to where they are and how they went through medical school, one of the toughest schools you can try and get into. That right there made me not want to give up. If you are of the black community then this book can really talk to you, but for the other races that shouldn't stop you from reading this and being inspired. I like this book so much that I am going to look up the other books these guys have wrote and read them too, I may even write a blog about them.

THE PACT, reflect on your reading and blogging experience.

When I startedreading this book I thought that it would be boring and that I would have to struggle to read it,but i was wrong. "The Pact" is a book that I am glad I read, it has shown me a lot of what people go through and can do with the support of friends and family. Well reading the book I saw that  many of the things these guys went through were like events in my life. That connection made me wanna read the whole book and tell others about it. When I started on this blog I was excited, because I have always wanted to blog about something. While blogging I expressed how great this book is and why many should read it, sure there were times when I felt like I didn't wanna do some of it, but I would read the book and then have so much to say. I even felt that I had found the best theme for it and was really excited for other who read the book and blogged about it to see that video. I feel that reading this book and blogging about it was a great assignment and has encourged me to blog about other things in my free time.

History of rap.

There is much speculation of rap music, man see it as a bad influence on the younger generation and others see it as a link to our past and a way outta the hood. Rap has its roots in Africa due to the rhythmic ways tribes use to use drums, and the genre can to America fron the Caribbean islands. rap is a musical culture that changes but always stays the same at it's roots, in the way it inspires those that listen to it. Rap is called the "food for the soul" as many would call it, and to me that describtion is so right. good rap when listen to can touch you in many ways and it feels like the person doing the rap know you or has being walking in your shoes. Rap start out as a result of pain, miseries, and frustration suffered by the people, and Africans and African-Americans have been wronged through time. That suffering gave brith to rap, because people needed a way to express that pain and rap was that way. Many may see rap today as a infulence to violence and drug use but that is just like 5% of it,most rap is about expression of a hard time and people's hard times these days invlove drugs and such. I may self love rap and see it as a way to get your anger or sadness out and hope that those who read this article can get that.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/history-of-rap-music.html

Theme for this story LOL I got the best one.

Baby Cham - Ghetto Story (Feat. Alicia Keys) (Video)

This song is about the streets and getting outta there and making a life, but also going back and trying to make the streets better. I feel this is the perfect song for the pact, LOL sure they aren't sing about being doctors but they are singing about never giving into the hardship and making a better life for themself. I hope you reading this listen to the song and if you have read The Pact then you may see how close this song is to the book.

So please go to Youtube and view this song/video

 

Quote I liked.

The quote I like was from chapter 11 when George and Rameck were talking about being rappers and George told Rameck that "One day they're big and hot with the biggest studio, and next day they're not. Man, you're on your way to medical school. You want to drop medical school for this? I'm on my way to dental school. I'm not dropping dental school for this. You're crazy" When I read this I thought about all those kids who dream big about being a rapper or singer and quit school when they get the smallest of chances to do what thet dream of. Not thinking of their education, and then after a year or two they are outta luck and have nothing to fall back on. I am not saying people shouldn't dream of being rappers or singers, I am saying that they shouldn't have to give up on education to follow that dream. Hell they could do home schooling while on tour or something, but not many think that way and then when signing contracts or having acountants deal with their money, many artist get robbed and cheated. Making many wish they had gotten their education, George knew this and foucsed on his education frist something that was really smart to me.

Giving back

After I read how the guys got inspired and wanted to help the young people in the hood, i thought to myself and ask my self what i could do to help people to. What i came up with is after I learn all I can about computers and how they work i can tutor highschool seniors in the things I learned here so they won't be so under prepared and stressed out by all this if/when they start. I found myself stressed with some of my classes like the obes in computers and wanted to quit, buit I got use to it and can now do alot of things I couldn't before. I think if i can help at least one kid with these kinda problems I could make a difference in the world. Who knows that kid may be the next Bill Gates and create something better than the internet LOL.

Connection with character

I connected the most with Goerge becasuse like him I had a strong mom who worked hard to make sure I had everything I ever needed as a child, and she pushed me to do my best in school. I also connected with this character due to him never hanging with the wrong type of people, not because I didn't have the chance but because I never really wanted to. I knew my father and he was a big part of my life, but he and my mom split apart due to him becoming quadriplegic. It was his choice to split due to his feelings he never treated my mother right and she deserved to find someone and not have to be stuck with him. Even though she didn't feel that was she respected his decision and they both stayed friends. The chapter I connected the most with is when George found out about free college and tried to get his friends to go, the only difference is that my friends didn't join me LOL.

what challenges/obstacles do you believe you may face as a college student?

From reading this book and how the men in it pushed to better themseleves by doing anything they could to get through college and do great at it, really has shown me the reality of colllege. When the guys all went through the summer school program to make sure they were ready, made me think of all the times when I myself would complain about class or how school is taking up all my freetime. But after reading what Carla said about how this is to make the students future brighter and how it is going to help in the long run, well that made me see this all differently. College isn't taking up my time it is turning me into a better person and sure I feel like a prisoner sometimes but that is just my mind want to go to an easier time when I don't have all these responsiblities and can do what I want. But then I think to my self, isn't being a better person what I want and college is helping me do that like with Sam, Rameck, and George. As I read through these chapters I have seen how all three guys have had hard times and good times and it really speaks to me andmakes me wonder what moments of college will I remember.

Peer Pressure

I think George is right about the whole friends can influence you more than anyone. Sure your family has alot to do with it and role models too, but you pick your friends and they become more close to you than anyone. You share your secrets with them and they share their secrets with you, making the trust you have in them deepen. Those friends can make you feel better about yourself and make you feel like the worst piece of trash, and if those friends know they have that power over you they can make your life hell. A good friend wants what is best for you and will help you no matter what, and a bad friend drag you down with them and their awful choices. The thing is that there is always a good friend who has a bad friend, but it is all up to that person if they want to let their life be destroyed. Like with Rameck and his decision to stop hanging out with those "freinds" he thought would be their for him and loyal enough to stick together. Rameck is just lucky enough he found friends in Sam and George, people who wanted to better themseleves and also those around them.

Video of The Pact trailer

A trailer of The Pact to show what the movie is like and if you would wanna watch it.

The Pact Intro

The intro to The Pact, A very great video. I like how they transform the book into a movie.

Pictures of my role models

This man is my favorite action movie hero, I have watched alot of die hard movies and the character Bruce Willis player always makes me believe that you can do anything as long you fight for what is right.

This man, Bill Gates is a genius who has made the computer world what it is today. Bill Gates is a hero of mine because he has worked most his life to bring the world into the future. Not only did he make it so everyone could have a computer in the times when a computer was as huge as a car, but he kept working till we can do things like this blog.

Martin Luther King Jr is a man who fought for rights of people of color. He was a man to lead thousands so that I could have the same right as everyone else, knowing that he could be killed for it. Mr. King is my role model for his bravery and morel code.

Oprah is a women that has worked her way up to the top of the buisness world, and she not only shares he wealth that she has earned she also workes to better the world. I admire her for the strength she most have to go from nothing to one of the richest people in the world.

8.Discuss the role models in your own life and the influence that each has had on you.

My mother and father are rold models in my life. My mother is a hard working women that cares about her family and always puts her children before anything, always trying to make life better for us and pushing me and my sister to do great thing and try our best. She has never brought anyone around us that could harm us or that would be a bad infulence, always saying that if you are a good person and work hard life will treat you right. My father was a quadriplegic, innjuryed around the time I was one years old. My father never pitied himself or acted like life had wronged him, whenever I saw my father I saw him with a smile on his face. He loved his family and would help them with anything he could, be it money or a place to stay. Many on my cousin saw him as their father and he had so many friend, and at his funeral so many people can that some had to stand. My father taught me that even if you are broken you can still live a happy life. Both my parents have taught me thing that made me into a good person and a hard worker, without either of them I have no idea where I would be.

7.How did family relationships influence these boys' lives?

Each of the boys had different family experiences, George for one had a stable kinda home with a mother who worked hard for her children. George's family could be the reason he at a young age wanted to do what is right and good in school, his lack of a father did lead him to look for male role models and luckily he had good ones that didn't lead him down the path of crime and drugs. Rameck's family was one that could have pushed him to a life of crime or drugs, seeing as his mother and father were drugs addicts. Rameck knowing about his parents addict and seeing what it did to ther could be what kept him away from drugs, seeing as all the problems that came with it may have been all Rameck need to be drug free. Sam's family was large and and the most dis functional to me. Sam's mother and father breaking up and the trouble to pay the bills after along with so many people living in the house could be what pushed Sam to hang with the wrong people. His father leaving left Sam with out a male role model, and he couldn't find one from his brothers is to me what made him search for guidance but with all the crime and drugs around him it was hard. But Reggie entracne into Sam's life did give him the strength to say no to the drugs. Even with his bad points they did have good points, like pushing Sam to do great in school and even when he was faced with lying to get out of trouble he told the truth something he learned from his mother. Each other the boys families wanted the best for them and pushed them to do great in school, because they knew that an education could be what stops the boys from having a life like their.

5. Summarize each chapter and give personal response.

 

In Chapter 4 I found that George in this chapter was in my opinion, was one of the one to focus on school be it sports or his grades. Yes he would let them drop once in a while but that was on the teacher. If they had challenged the students then George and his friends wouldn't have had those problems. It also seems that George is more of a viewer than a do things kinda guy. For example when he talks about the things Remeck did or how the only thing hands on he did was baseball with Sam. I do find it intresting that it was George that pushed the idea to go to college for free, and by doing that he changed not only his life but that of his frends.
 
In chapter 5 Rameck's life seemed so sad to me, with the people he hanged out with that lead to he getting into trouble. Rameck seemed so loyal to his freinds who in turn were only out for themselves. Peer pressure date back really far it seems, seeing as it was Rameck's friends that he so desperately wanted to impress that lead him to jail. Luckly it seems that he saw them for who they really were, instead of staying with that kinda crowd.
 
In chapter 6 Sam grew up in a dangerous place. I say this because when a man  pulls a gun on some kids for two dollars that they don't have, that place sure isn't somewhere I would want to go or have someone I love go and live. I can see how Sam's life could careen off-course with danger all around him. He would of course hang with older bad boys because to me he could feel safer with such people around him, who else would a person living in a place where you could be jumped, shot, and killed want near them. I could see that having the badest of the bad around you would seem like a shield. Sam's involvement in drugs is something else I really can't blame him for doing. With money problems and the dangerous enviroment around him, who could blame the kid for wanting to try and make life a littel easier. But unlike some people Sam knew what he was doing was wrong and he stopped the frist time, and knew that wasn't the life he wanted to live. Sam was smart enough to actually say no to drugs,and he did it with a group of people really pressuring him to do it. That to me is really brave. Sam giving in to peer pressure and doing that drug run, really spoke to me. Sam got away and could have lied about the car but didn't and him getting arrested for telling the truth said alot about his charcter.

In chapter 7 I saw how they boys started their entrance into college, fear is normal wehen starting somewhere new and many se college as a tough experience. But Carla help put the guys minds at ease, all of them getting into the same college may have really be what pushed them to go seeing as they would have someone there with them and not have to do it all alone. Getting into Seton Hall caused the three to change, from wanting to make memories together to having to end relationships with the knowlege that their lives would change, George knew this and ended a seven month relationship because he knew that this phase in his life would be important. from what I take from chapter 7 is that George from a young age didn't hang out with the wrong people and tried to do what was right and so far it has helped him stay outta trouble and now going to college and being one of three friends who have made it seems to me that he made the right choices.

Personal response to the reading

So far I have read 3 chapter and read over the three men's lives and I can truthfully say that I have enjoyed the story so far. I mean the way the three have grown up, all the hardships they have been through adds up to an intresting story. I like how the three stories show different lifestyles of black families, like how Sam had a single parent who was a hard working mother. It sinks up with my life and probably many others could say that many things Sam had to do was just like their lives. Rameck life sadden me when I read how his mother was addicted to drugs but found some happiness in the fact that when he lived with his grandmother, he had some happy moments. Georage's life is the only one I can seem to relate to, I can say my mother never had a drug problem but many women in my family have. I can't really realate to him due to his many brothers and sisters, and the fact that my mother had a education and has always been very smart as long as I can remember. The chapters I have read really make me look forward to reading more of The Pact.

Summary of this week's reading

George, Sam, and Rameck all had it tough at one point, in there life. From George's mother working hard to keep them out of the projects, Sam's father leaving his mother and them and the trouble that came with it due to his mother's lack of education, to Rameck's mother and her addictions. But as I read I saw that there were good times too, the story seem to go at a mixed pace to tell the truth. At one moment I could be reading about how Remeck had a mother addicted to drugs, and them how he lived with his grandmother and had a happy time for a while. In the story I saw many examples of black families at that time and saw some of my self in the stories I read, like how Greorge had to wake up early so his mother could take him to Miss Willie's so he could stay there while she worked. I myself had to do the same thing when I was little. So far I have read 3 chapters and Ican say I look forward to reading more.