Sam Berns on Happiness Cyber-Assignment
Today we watched a TEDx talk on Sam Berns, a child living with the disease progeria. Develop three argument based on Sam's definition of happiness.
Under each statement list three pieces of evidence.
1. Statement
A. Evidence
B. Evidence
C. Evidence
Here is a link to the talk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36m1o-tM05g
Here is a link to the article we read: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/11/us/progeria-sam-berns-dies/
here is a link to another article: http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/01/13/sam-berns-remarkable-teen-who-battled-rare-rapid-aging-disease-dies-aged-17/
Under each statement list three pieces of evidence.
1. Statement
A. Evidence
B. Evidence
C. Evidence
Here is a link to the talk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36m1o-tM05g
Here is a link to the article we read: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/11/us/progeria-sam-berns-dies/
here is a link to another article: http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/01/13/sam-berns-remarkable-teen-who-battled-rare-rapid-aging-disease-dies-aged-17/
posted by Professor Wanda's Posse at 12:05 PM
8 Comments:
Rashell Baldry
Athena Knowles
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A Saturday
22 February 2014
Sam Berns response
We had great arguments with evidence but unfortunately the computer crashed when we were citing the website.
Nadia C, Leslie T., Rigoberto Ruiz
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
Saturday 22 February 2014
Sam Berns, cyber assignment.
Arguments:
1) Although Life is full of problem and obstacles, they shouldn’t be a reason to an unhappy and pitiful life.
-"Even though I have many obstacles in my life, I don't want people to feel bad for me," Berns said in that TedX talk.
-"All in all, I don't waste energy feeling bad for myself," Berns said. "I surround myself with people that I want to be with. And I keep moving forward."
-His has passion for music and eventually played with the marching band.
2) You waste more time, and energy feeling bad for yourself instead of focusing what you can do.
-"Even though I have many obstacles in my life, I don't want people to feel bad for me," Berns said in that TedX talk.
- "All in all, I don't waste energy feeling bad for myself," Berns said. "I surround myself with people that I want to be with. And I keep moving forward."
-His love for comic book kept him looking forward to the next edition.
3) Family is important to one’s happiness.
- "All in all, I don't waste energy feeling bad for myself," Berns said. "I surround myself with people that I want to be with. And I keep moving forward."
-He wouldn’t trade his family for anything in the world. They were supportive with his illness and his happiness.
-He was most happy when he was being goofy with his friends because they accepted him for who he was.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yessica Beltran
Nohemi Romero
Mark Lopez
Professor Sabir
English 1A Saturday
22 February 2014
Sam Bern's on Happiness
Thesis 1:
In order to be happy, people need to focus on the positive aspects of their lives like being accepting with the things you cannot do in your life, and enjoying the things you can accomplish.
Evidence:
-Sam could not run long distances but he could play a snare drum
-For example, Bethany Hamilton had limitations for having only her right arm after a vicious shark attack, but ultimately overcame this obstacle and got back on her surfboard with positive attitude.
-Another famous example of overcoming an obstacle was Helen Keller. Before the age of 2, she became blind and deaf, but through assistance, she broke through barriers and was taught how to read and write. Even though she was not able to actually read, she still worked her way towards the goal of doing so.
Thesis 2:
In order to be happy, people need to focus on the positive aspects of their lives like looking forward to meeting new people and traveling.
Evidence:
-(Happiness Project) Gretchen decides to make new friends by being friendlier and acting more sociable.
-Sam always looked forward to future events in his life that would make him happier such as his homecoming dance.
-(Happiness Project) Gretchen decides that being able to be around and about is what makes someone happier so leaving footsteps and walking around is important for her.
Thesis 3:
In order to be happy, people need to focus on the positive aspects of their lives like being themselves and doing the things they want to do.
Evidence:
-Bethany Hamilton, did not let the disability of having one arm keep her from surfing. She loves to surf and will continue doing so.
-(Happiness Project) Gretchen decides to make a childrens book club because it was what she found interesting.
-(Happiness Project) Gretchen constantly repeats to herself “Be Gretchen” and also reminds herself to do what makes herself happy.
WORKS CITED
"5 Inspiring Athletes Who Overcame Disabilities." Rev. of Bethany Hamilton. n.d.: n. page.BeliefNet. BeliefNet. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
"People Who Overcame Difficult Odds." Biography Online. Biography Online, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Rubin, Gretchen Craft. The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, R
Bruk and Victor
Professor Wanda Sabir
February 22 2014
Sam Berns Assignment
We came up three arguments based from Sam Bern’s philosophy of happiness.
I) Happiness is making the best of what you already have.
From Sam Bern’s philosophy of happiness: “Be OK with what you ultimately can’t do, because there is so much you can do”
II) Working with people in a team and working together towards goals can make you feel less isolated and happier.
Sam plays music in the marching band and isn’t isolated because of his disease.
III) Don’t let your body control your dream, but it’s your heart is telling you to accomplish even though there are many things telling you “you cannot!”. Your heart makes you keep moving towards your vision.
Sam wants to study more biology in college to learn more about his condition so that he can help people with the same condition make their lives better. His disease doesn’t stop him from doing this.
Mervin DeGuzman
Michael Martinez
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A Saturday
22 February 2014
Cyber assignment exercise for Sam Berns
1. Sam Berns explains that in order for you to be happy, set your mind to things that is unreachable and also make your goals limitless because there are so many things you can do. His statement is true but there are some downside or limitations to his philosophy. For example, a person’s goal would be hard to achieve if it requires an enormous amount of resource like obtaining an education. You would need to put yourself into debt before you can achieve anything. In his case, it would be a little bit easier because they have the resources and connections (for what it seems like) to do whatever they need to do.
2. His second philosophy is “surround yourself with people you want to be around”. It’s pretty self-explanatory; if you want to be successful, you want to surround yourself with people that has successful backgrounds. There are cases that a person’s life can affect their happiness depending on what kind of atmosphere surrounds them. In his case, he wants to be happy, so he surrounds himself with people that makes him happy. He also surrounds himself with musical and lyrical entities that inspire him to write music on his own.
3. His third philosophy is “keep moving forward”. This mentality is very important to keep opening new opportunities to happiness in this new world we live in. Nowadays people look for more ways just to obtain wealth and sometimes or most of the time, this leads to abuse of power then corruption and crimes. His disease made him to “keep moving forward” and always look to the future and look for a brighter tomorrow.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dorothy Middleton
Anne Norris
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A Saturday
26February 2014
Sam Berns
1) Having progeria has affected my life, but it does not define my happiness
· Happiness came about because of the determination San had to play in his high school marching band.
· Happiness allowed Sam to enjoy each day even though some days were not as bright as others. Sam saw life as a bowl of cherry, he took out the pits, the uneatable part and then made a cherry pie.
· Happiness comes from the ability not to focus on what you can’t do, but focus on what you can do. Sam understood that if he focus on what he could not do, he would not be able a lot of times see the great things that he was able to do and move forward in trying to do more of those activities to make his life a happier one. Sam understood what happiness meant to him, touching millions of people worldwide to inspire them was a goal that Sam was able to acomplish.
2) Facing problems in one’s life can be difficult, “there is always room for happiness”.
· Happiness is being goofy with friends who cares about me and they know I care about them. Sam was a doer, her knew his limitations, but he also knew that with the help of friends he could be a part of many relationships that would make his life happier.
· Happiness is going to my high school prom with, “my head held high”. Sam made no excuses for his contition or his life. If someone else had a problem with him, it was their problem and not his. He took every opportunity to savory the good moments of his life.
· Happiness is the opportunity to, “surround yourself with good people”. Sam enjoyed and loved every relationship he was able to build in his life.
3) Family is everything
· All the love and support that his family showed helped Sam to have the strength to move forward with his life, with his condition. He knew that their support was real and that filled him with happiness.
· Sam knew that It takes a team to succeed. His team was his family, friends and the people he was able to touch by his words.
· Sam's Happiness was knowing that he had value and that his family understood him has a person, as a family member.
Post a Comment
<< Home