Personal event relating to big question

I've been going through a rough time lately with everything becoming incredibly overwhelming between school, band, choir, and trying to keep close with friends I don't see often. We've been very busy doing Oldie's performances around the area and the Singers have truly saved me with their love. All the kids in there truly care about and support one another and they can always cheer me up when things get bad. They've saved me before too. Right after State Marching Band Competition I was incredibly depressed. Not only did I lose the sport, but some of the people as well. This was one of the hardest times of my life and they were always there. They constantly cheered me up when we had rehersals and kept with me through some of my darkest days. This happened again right after Parade of Lights with the same feelings of loss. We did many winter performances and I grew even closer to these incredible people. Once again they pulled me out of depression and back to my normal happy life. They're doing the same thing now although it's not as serious. They are constantly supporting me in everything I do and I get closer to them everyday. In this way their love has truly saved me and I could never have made it here without their support. Having them in my life I have learned to count my blessings everyday.

American Band

This entire book was centered around love saving people. Bands across the country save children's lives everyday by giving them a niche that most people, especially high school students, search so desperately to find. In this novel, students like Adeline Corona, an incoming freshman clarinet player, meet people like Diana de la Renza, the senior section leader for clarinets, who supports her unconditionally throughout the season. In American Band, all participants in the Concord High School Marching Band can find people who truly care about their well being and about the program in general. These people are willing to work hard for the benefit of the group, no matter what sacrifices they have to make in order to do that. This is what is so special about this kind of love. It is very complex because not only is it love for a program that saves lives, but love for your fellow band mate. That is expressed especially at the state competitions. Everyone out there competing is working their hardest for the people standing next to them. At the competition, people go beyond themselves for a team of people and for the sport. In this experience people make lifetime friends and confidants that will carry them through and support them as long as they live just as they did from the start. Truly the entire novel and the sport in general is completely centered around love not only for a program, but for the people who make the program possible. In this case, love truly does save, countless lives.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

This was interesting since it was a very different kind of love that saved Stephen from the love that has been discussed in relation to some of the other books we've read. The love that saved Stephen was a love for life in the real world, one that he so longed to be a part of. Another love that saved is art. He loved art so much that "He would fall" (162). He gave up the priesthood and a life with Christ to become an artist and become a part of the real world. This love saved him from a lifetime of unhappiness. He saw the loss of light in the priest kindling the fire and found through his love of art that if he continued down the path to priesthood, he would lose his light too. Clearly, love did save Stephen although the love was different from the conventional love of a person to another person.