Jennie Fragale

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Anti Lottery

Jennie Fragale

Cameron County High School

Composition 1

The lottery has become an issue to many people in multiple ways. Your social life can be affected if you let gambling become part of your lifestyle. Although it is a rare occasion to win the lottery, it is possible. Winning the lottery is not always good however. Winning the lottery can emotionally change who you are. Low and middle class people that win the lottery have no idea how to handle their unexpected millions of dollars. As Sandra Hayes (2006), states, “I had to endure the greed and the need that people have, trying to get you to release your money to them. That caused a lot of emotional pain. These are people who you’ve loved deep down, and they’re turning into vampires trying to suck the life out of me” (p. 52). This addictive hobby is capable of destroying relationships, families and homes.

The lottery becomes an extreme addiction to many people. According to addiction search.com, an addiction is “[a] gambling dependency or addiction is an uncontrollable, compulsive urge to gamble (also wager or bet), in spite of the consequences.” Signs of addiction include lying and reckless behavior. An addict will not stop such behavior no matter the consequences” (addictionsearch.com, p. 1-4). People will keep spending money on lottery and most of the time; they never win any cash in return. Once in awhile you may win a few hundred dollars but that does not cover anywhere near what you have spent. Addicts will not realize this cycle. They get too excited about winning that they will invest more of their money into the lottery. Sandra Hayes, (2006), states, “I know a lot of people who won the lottery and are broke today. If you’re not disciplined, you will go broke. I don’t care how much money you have” (p. 52).

Winning the Lottery-Blessing?-Curse? (2010), states that the chances of winning the lottery is “one chance in eighty-six thousand of dying from poisoning” (p.1) People seem to ignore the statistics thinking that they will be that one person. Millions of people are all telling themselves the same thing. It does not make sense that all of these people believe that they will win. People believe that all of their problems will be solved if they win the lottery. However, money does not buy happiness. There is a history in America and Britain that proves my “money does not buy happiness” statement. More people have lived a miserable life with all of the millions of dollars. Winners have a tendency to become addicted to drugs and alcohol, commit suicide, get divorced or become bankrupt. Winning the Lottery-Blessing?-Curse? (2010) states, “Many people who buy lotteries are unemployed, poor and minor. For that reason, it will be hard to manage millions of money for them as they had no experience. According to California study, forty percent of lottery buyers are unemployed. In Indiana sixty-five percent of minors play the lottery” (p. 1-3).

When people win the lottery, they tend to blow it away on things they do not need. They will usually waste their money by continuing to gambol and buying elaborate cars or homes. Winning the Lottery-Blessing?-Curse? (2010), states “Generally, these sorts of people do not know how to manage and enormous amount of money that well. For that reason, the money may last for average five to six years” (p. 1). They will soon be out of money if they decide to live that way. This will cause stress on that person and could result in taking their own life. Winning the Lottery-Blessing?-Curse? (2010) states, “For example, Callie Rogers from Workington in Cumbira, she won 1.9 million euros in 2003 and she was only sixteen years old. She wasted her winnings buying a fancy car cost thirty-three thousand euros, gave three-thousand to her boyfriend to drive her around” (p. 3). She spent a fortune on homes for her and her family as well as other wasteful purchases. “However, Callie Rogers felt lonely that people especially troublesome boys, loved her money not her. She tried to suicide but survived.” She later stated, “I wish I had never won.” Winning the lottery will not fix your problems; it can easily create many more issues in your life if you cannot manage your money or if you are not mentally stable.

One of the first things you will want to do if you win the lottery is quit your job. You have to think logically though. Your job is something you do every day at least five times a week. What would you do with all of your time if you quit? It is important to keep working. Unless you have won a ridiculous amount of money, you should not leave your job. People that have won one to three million dollars think that they can live a luxurious life for the rest of their life when in reality, you cannot. The first thing you should do after you win the lottery is sit down with a financial advisor to figure your money situation out. Money causes complications and stress. Do not promise any of your money to family and/or friends right away. Brandi Noriega (2006), states that “Money can cause resentment and hostility between friends and loved ones; why spoil your big day with all of that?” (p.1). Making drastic decisions with your money without fully thinking it through will possibly result in you filing for bankruptcy.

In my opinion, it is best to avoid the lottery and gambling. If you are buying tickets and not winning on any of your tickets then you are wasting a great deal of money that you could be spending on food for you and your family. I work in a grocery store and people will come through my line and pay with their food stamps card, which is fine; but then they will buy lottery tickets with cash. They obviously have money troubles already if they are using a food stamps card; therefore, it is no secret that they cannot afford to be wasting their money away on lottery tickets. With what little cash they do have, they never fail to spend it on lottery. In my eyes, this is not right. They should be saving their few dollars that they spend every day on lottery tickets. If they were saving and being frugal, one day they would be able to afford to buy their own groceries for their family and get off of welfare.

A gambling problem will affect not only yourself, but everyone that loves you. If someone is constantly buying scratch offs or going to the casino, it is a very bad sign. People will spend money they do not have just so they can gambol. A problem like this will cause some extreme tension in a household. Many gambling cases become divorced and completely broke. Children suffer terribly if a parent has a gambling problem. They will be taken to a casino with their parent but of course cannot go in because of their age. Parents will either leave them in the car or they will be stuck sitting in the lobby waiting for who knows how long. Michelle Tee states, “Studies have also shown that the family member with the gamboling problem can also become extremely verbally, physically, and emotionally abusive due to the stress of the addiction. This can be devastating to young children and adolescents as they are trying to succeed academically and socially.” Money that was supposed to be used to pay bills and food is not there anymore. Addicts spend all of their salary on gambling. They will soon go into debt, not be able to feed themselves or their family and could end up losing their home.

Gambling will also lead to false hopes. The people that purchase lottery tickets or visit casinos do not understand statistics. Dave Smith (2012) states, “Gambling is a tax on the poor people and people who can’t do math” (p. 2). Not only will a gambling addiction lead to bankruptcy but mental problems as well. It is very common for an addict to become depressed and anxious. If someone is focused on the lottery then they are focused on wealth and materialism. It is not right to have materialism as your main focus. We are meant to focus on love and health. It is hard to maintain the important focus when there are lottery machines everywhere. It is almost impossible to ignore. It sends children the wrong message. They think lottery tickets look exciting and some parents will even allow them to scratch the tickets. Parents are letting their children get interested in lottery tickets and gambling when they should be taught how to save money. Saving money should be taught as a positive activity, not wasting money. There is nothing at all false or negative about saving money.

When saving money, the government doesn’t necessarily take any of one’s money, but this is not always true with the lottery. If you win over six-hundred dollars playing the lottery, part of your winnings goes straight into the government’s hands. What was rightly won by you is not all yours. You have to turn part of it over. How fair is that? Why bother? It all boils down to greed. The government feels they are entitled to your money.

Greed is another very good reason to stay away from the lottery. Once someone wins money, he/she will just want more and more and more. It seems as if lottery winners are never quite content. The first taste of success and wealth usually is just the beginning of a gambler’s life. To be greedy is one of the worst characteristics a person can possess. Nogambolingaddiction.com (n.d.) states that “It is one of the most horrible sins a person can do” (p.4).

Greed is a form of entitlement. When one wins the lottery, one begins to feel a sense of entitlement. One may feel that he or she rules the world and that everyone in the world should bow down to him or her. It is very possible that a winner could feel extremely special and that he or she is a king or a queen when in all actuality it is not true. Feeling like one is better than someone is another poor quality possibly found in a person who wins the lottery. It is not very common for lottery winners to be humble and generously donate the money to a charity. A lottery winner feels entitled to the money and most often will keep the money and spend the majority of it by his or herself.

A second form of entitlement with the lottery system can be found in the fact that once someone wins the lottery, everyone associated with that person feels entitled to a chunk of the winnings. Many people will expect money from you if you win the lottery. Family, friends, acquaintances and even people you may not know. Winning the Lottery-Blessing?-Curse? (2010) states, someone that had won the lottery before said, “Everybody wanted my money; everybody had their hand out…”(p. 2). The attention can be entirely overwhelming on people. Winning the Lottery-Blessing?-Curse? (2010) States that a Britain’s lottery winner, Christopher Donnelly, won the lottery and had people camping on his property (p.2). He eventually committed suicide because of the stress it caused him. Needless to say, money cannot buy one’s happiness. It may ruin your happiness and cost you many friendships and relationships.

Another way to lose your family and friends through the lottery lies in the fact that many gamblers must go through one, two or several rehabilitations in order to beat their addiction. Rehabilitation takes time and the time away from one’s friends and family can easily lead to problems. One such problem lies in the fact that many spouses may not stick around waiting over and over again for rehabilitation to possibly work. The agony of worrying about whether or not a spouse will gamble again can cause a marriage to fail quickly. A spouse of a gambler may end up a nervous wreck and an anti-depressant and/or anxiety medication. It often becomes just too much for a spouse to handle. The absence of a spouse also leads to issues such as infidelity. When a spouse is gone for long periods of time, it often results in the other having an affair which can destroy a marriage. Trust disappears between a couple and without trust a marriage cannot survive. The gambler will always worry that his or her spouse may cheat again. The spouse will always worry that the gambler will revert back into his or her old habits. Consequently, it is quite obvious that the lottery can result in rehabilitation stays which in turn, can destroy a marriage.

In addition to destroying a marriage, rehabilitation can destroy a relationship between a parent and child. Absence of a parent during crucial times in a child’s life can lead to resentment. A child growing up without a mother or father can also lead to resentment. Resentment can lead to hatred in which case the relationship may never be repaired. Kindergarten orientation, school programs or plays, honor assemblies, sporting events, birthday and graduations are just a few of the many events a gambler may miss when going through rehabilitation. When a parent is absent from such important events in a child’s life, the child is bound to become extremely sad and withdrawn. Inevitably, a child could lack self-esteem and self-worth. He or she may even feel unloved. Growing up with that feeling cannot be good. It’s fearful to think about what a child may do in such a circumstance. The child may rebel and begin getting into trouble at school or home. The child may begin breaking the law and end up in prison. As happens more that not, the child may follow in the same footsteps as his or her parent and begin gambling also.

If the child becomes the lottery gambler, imagine the heartache a mother or father would experience. Many parents will admit that there is no pain worse than the pain of a struggling child. No parent wants his or her child to experience any sort of conflict what-so-ever. The lottery can definitely cause conflict. Although many people can play the lottery without problem, it is quite apparent that some can become addicted. Is it really worth the risk?

While the lottery is advertised to benefit the elderly, does it truly benefit them if others are ruining their lives? I do not think most of the elderly would want to ruin lives. How do we even know for sure our elders are even being taken care of through the lottery system? I know of a few older people that cannot afford their medications. Why isn’t the lottery system helping them to purchase their needed medications to stay alive? Where is the money truly going?

The lottery does more harm than good. It is a major cause of addiction and various other problems in our state and the states across the country. Perhaps our legislators should re-think the whole lottery process. I doubt that would ever happen because it would involve getting rid of a multi-trillion dollar business and who would ever part with such a thing? Once again. . . Greed.

Culberston, J. (n.d.). Winning the Lottery - Blessing? Curse?. Winning the Lottery - Blessing? Curse?. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://yewonahn.blogspot.com/

Norigea, B. (2006, February 24). Risks and Potential Consequences of Winning the Lottery. Yahoo Contributor Network. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://voices.yahoo.com/risks-potential-conseqences-winning-lottery-15968.html

Ramsey, D. (n.d.). Gambling Offers False Hope. daveramsey.com. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://www.daveramsey.com/article/gambling-offers-false-hope/

February 14, 2013 “Anti-lottery arguments are feeble”, WyomingNews pages 1-2. http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2013/09/16/opinions/staff_editorials/colu mn365.prt

“Lottery Addiction” pages 1-4. http://www.addictionsearch.com/treatment_articles/article/lottery

Michelle Tee “How Does Gambling Addiction Affect the Family?” pages 1-2. http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Does-Gambling-Addiction-Affect…

November 28, 2012, “Dangers of Winning Record Powerball Jackpot: Greed, Pain, Going Broke” pages 1-5. http://washington.cbs.local.com/2012/11/28/ dangers-of-winning-record-power ball-jackpot-

Susana Kim, Nov. 29, 2012 “Reasons You’re Lucky You Didn’t Have Winning Powerball Numbers” abc News. Pages 1-3. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/reasons-lucky-winning-lottery-numbers/print?id =17839568

To recognize inner gambling: power of greed. (n.d.). Addiction or Greed Recognition: Everlasting Power of Money. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://nogamblingaddiction.com/gambling-greed.htm

Animal Farm-North Korea and Kim Jong-Un

Jennie Fragale

Cameron County High School

Composition 1

Animal Farm is about the animals rebelling from Mr. Jones, the man that owned the farm and all other human beings. One of the older pigs, Old Major, asked all of the animals to come together for a meeting. Major explained that he was old and would not be with the animals much longer. He wanted to share his wisdom with the other animals before his death. Old Major told the animals that humans are their only real enemy and without them, life would be better. Old Major brought reality to the table when he warned the animals. Old Major explained that all of the animals will be slaughtered by Mr. Jones once they are old and useless (Orwell, G. pg 15-24, 1946).

Major closed the meeting by reminding the animals that whatever walks with two legs is bad and whatever walks with four legs or has wings is good. Also, he said the animals must never in anyway act like a human by living in a house, sleeping in a bed, wearing clothes, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, touching money, or engaging in trade. Finally, Major closed with reminding the animals that they are all equal and they should never under any circumstance kill another animal. Major taught the animals the song called “Beasts of England” and the animals became very excited.

Only three nights later, Old Major died while he was asleep. The animals now had a completely different outlook on life because of Old Major. The pigs began teaching all of the animals the rules. The pigs that taught the other animals were Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball. They held secret meetings every night once Mr. Jones was asleep to discuss their Animalism ways. Most of the animals did not understand why they had to rebel against Mr. Jones because he fed them. However, the pigs had two very loyal horses that listened to them, Boxer and Clover. The two horses had a hard time forming their own thoughts and views; therefore, they allowed the pigs to teach them without any objection.

One day, Mr. Jones went out and got very drunk. He did not return to the farm until the next day and the animals were very hungry. When Jones got home, he did not feed the animals, he went rabbiting. When he returned, he went to sleep. The cows could not take the hunger anymore and made a ruckus by breaking into a shed to get food. Jones and some other farm workers came outside and whipped the animals but the animals fought back and kicked them. The men could not defend themselves any longer. They all gave up and ran away. Jones took a few necessities and fled the farm.

The animals had successfully achieved the rebellion and there were no longer any humans on the farm. They celebrated by destroying everything that reminded them of Jones and sang “Beasts of England” seven times.

The pigs told the animals that they had taught themselves to read and write from an old spelling book. They painted out “Manor Farm” on the wall and decided that it would be called Animal Farm from now on. Snowball and Napoleon explained how they had put Animalism into seven commandments and wrote them on the wall. The Seven Commandments were:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

3. No animal shall ever wear clothes.

4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

6. No animal shall kill any other animal.

7. All animals are equal (Orwell, G. pg 33, 1946).

When a new litter of puppies was born, Napoleon decided to take them under his wing to give them an education. No one ever saw the puppies except for Napoleon.

Napoleon and Snowball did not agree on anything. They fought all the time including at the daily meetings. Snowball would put on amazing speeches to lure the animals to be on his side for every debate but Napoleon had more logical facts that caught many animals’ attention. Napoleon and Snowball got into the biggest fight when the topic of building a windmill came up. Napoleon wanted no part of the windmill but Snowball worked out all of the plans to build it. The animals all looked at the plans daily except for Napoleon. However, one day, Napoleon looked at all of the plans thoroughly.

It was going to be very difficult to build the windmill and Snowball was aware of it. Napoleon thought they should focus more on food production than a windmill. Snowball put on a ridiculous speech to convince the animals to vote for the windmill and Napoleon did not put up with his nonsense. Napoleon whistled and nine dogs that were ready to attack appeared. They ran right after Snowball and the pig ran as fast as he could. The dogs were so close to catching him but Snowball jumped into a hole by a hedge and got away. Snowball was expelled from the farm.

From that day, everything began to change. Napoleon decided to start building the windmill and claimed that it was originally his idea. He supposedly expelled Snowball for stealing his idea. Napoleon estimated that it would take two years. They started building and soon found out that it was going to be a very difficult job.

Napoleon started bending the commandments for himself. He began trading goods to get supplies for the windmill. The pigs moved into Jones’s house and slept in beds. The animals were bothered that the commandments were not be followed by the pigs.

One day, the animals woke up to their progress on the windmill destroyed. Napoleon automatically blamed Snowball and told the animals if they found him, there would be a reward.

The animals became annoyed with Napoleon and some started rebelling against him. Napoleon ordered every animal to confess if they had been rebelling against him and working for Snowball. Four pigs admitted to collaborating with Snowball to destroy the windmill. The pigs were soon killed. Then the hens admitted to not laying enough eggs for the week’s quota. They were also slaughtered. This went on with many other animals.

Napoleon and Kim Jong-Un, the leader of North Korea, are similar because Kim ordered for his blood family to be killed. Napoleon had pigs, his own kind, slaughtered by dogs. Kim accused his uncle to be a drug user and a womanizer and had dogs slaughter his as well (nydailynews.com. pg. 1).

Kim supposedly saved some of the in-laws of Jang’s. The family that was not killed had to move to another village (nydailynews.com. pg. 1).

Napoleon and Kim Jong-Un are similar because they both murdered people and animals when they were not supposed to. Freedom Outposts states that “This past week, a South Korean newspaper reported that at least 80 people were put to death for "owning Bibles and watching television." Consistent with prior executions committed by the Kim Jong-Un regime, this particular story of mass murder has merit.

Kim Jong gathered 10,000 people to watch the executions. He made the people witness the murders. This proves his corrupt ways (Freedom Outposts. pg.1).

The remaining animals in Animal Farm were traumatized after the slaughtering happened. They were too afraid to do anything wrong and kept quiet. They would not rebel against Napoleon because of fear. They knew they would be slaughtered just like the other animals if they rebelled against him. Then Napoleon announced that “Beasts of England” would not be sung anymore. The animals were very upset and did not understand Napoleon‘s ways. Napoleon had completely disobeyed the commandments but always made an adjustment to the list whenever he did not follow it.

One day, animals from a neighboring farm, Fredrick, came to Animal Farm. They were messing around the almost finished windmill that the animals had spent two years working on. Soon the animals all ran away and there was a loud noise and smoke. When the smoke cleared, Napoleon and the other animals saw that the windmill had been destroyed once again.

The windmill building process began for the third time and no one ever got a break. The animals went hungry very often except for the pigs and dogs. Even when the animals were hungry and tired, Napoleon had them convinced that life was better without Jones and that they were living in the best living conditions in their lifetime.

Animal Farm and North Korea are similar because the people of North Korea seem to be brainwashed. The people are terrified to speak out because they are afraid it would harm themselves and their family. If they were to speak out against the wrong doings of Kim Jong, they could be put into what is similar to a concentration camp. North Korea denies that there are such camps but up to 120,000 people work in the camps (news.ph.msn.com. pg.1).

Although the people of North Korea are aware of what will happen to them if they disobey Kim Jong-Un, they are able to handle it better than Americans could. They have witnessed many murders and although it bothers them, they continue to go on with normal life. In Animal Farm, the animals were bothered very much by the slaughters but they also continued on with normal life (news.ph.msn.com. pg.1).

Many years went by and everything was different. There was only one commandment by this point and it was “All animals are equal-But some animals are more equal than others.”

Animal Farm is similar to North Korea’s government because countrystudies states “The cult of personality, the nepotism of the Kim family, and the strong influence of former anti-Japanese partisan veterans and military leaders are unique features of North Korean politics”.

Also, Kim Sung had prepared Kim Jong more many years to take over the corrupt country. In Animal Farm, Napoleon makes sure that the pigs have more power over every other animal just the Un’s when they keep the leadership in their family (countrystudies. pg. 1).

Brainwashing, surveillance, fear: daily fare in N.Korea. (n.d.). - Latest news around the world and developments close to home. Retrieved February 23, 2014, from http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/brainwashing-surveillance-fear-daily-fare-in- nkorea

Kim Jong Un orders all relatives of executed uncle to be killed: report. (n.d.). NY Daily News. Retrieved February 23, 2014, from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/kim-jong-executes-uncle-relatives- report-article-1.1592385

Kim Jong-Un Publicly Executes 80 In North Korea For "Reading Bibles, Watching Television". (n.d.). Freedom Outpost. Retrieved February 23, 2014, from http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/11/kim-jong-un-publicly-executes-80-in-north- korea-for-reading-bibles-watching-television/

North Korea - GOVERNMENT. (n.d.). North Korea - GOVERNMENT. Retrieved February 23, 2014, from http://countrystudies.us/north-korea/55.htm

Orwell, G. (1946). Animal Farm. New York: Penguin Group.

Eric's Recovery

Eric’s Recovery

Jennie Fragale

Summer in Italy is beautiful. The sun is always shining and the temperature is always hot. Wherever you look, there is breath taking architecture. Sea men go boating on their days off and party. There is never a dull moment.

One day, my cousin Eric, who is a seaman in the Navy, was out with his friends. Eric was stationed in Naples, Italy. They were all having fun outside in the summer evening. Eric saw an old wall that came twenty feet off of the ground. He decided to walk across the narrow edge. Eric did not make it far on the wall before he fell to the ground from twenty feet.

My mom, dad, cousin Malarie, Sarah, Bobbi, Sophie, Aunt Annette, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Pete, and I were all at Chautauqua Lake for the weekend when Eric had fallen. We had just ended a fun day of boating and partying when my Aunt Annette, Eric’s mom, received the horrible news.

The hospital where Eric was, called and advised my Aunt Annette and Eric’s two sisters, Malarie and Sarah, to fly to Italy immediately because Eric’s condition was not good. The doctors did not think that Eric was going to survive through all of the trauma.

We packed up our luggage and left the lake to get my Aunt Annette and my two cousins home. They needed to prepare for their flights.

At this point, we only knew so much. We knew that Eric fell twenty feet off of a wall and that he was in a coma. The doctors also said that he had severe brain damage, a broken arm, and a broken cheek bone.

Although Eric was severely hurt and had a slim chance of waking up, my entire family had a hard time believing that our crazy Eric could not bounce back. It all seemed liked it was just a bad dream that we could not wake up from.

Once my aunt and Malarie arrived in Italy, they were trying to stabilize Eric to transfer him to a better hospital in Germany. We were informed that the brain damage was in the white and grey matter and also in the brain stem. That was horrible news for everyone. We knew his condition was bad, but we did not know how bad it actually was.

After they stabilized Eric, they sent him to Germany where Sarah then met up with her mom and sister. The doctors had sedated Eric in-case he were to wake up. They wanted to keep him in a coma in order to keep his brain healing itself as much as possible.

Eric spent about two weeks in Germany. While he was there, we were told that the chances of him waking up were very slim. The doctors also told us that even if he were to wake up, he would only be able to function at a three-year-old level. They said he would not ever be the same because of the amount of brain damage.

Once Eric was stable enough to make the long flight from Germany to the United States, they transferred him. Eric was transferred to a military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. The hospital is called Walter Reed Military Medical Center. My mom, dad, my brother, Michael, and I went to Maryland to see Eric soon after they arrived. It had not even been a month since the accident.

We arrived at the hospital in the late evening. My Aunt Annette met us in the lobby and she had some great news. My aunt told us that for the first time, Eric had his eyes open and was sitting upright. She also told us that he was responding to his name a little bit.

We went upstairs and Eric was sitting up in a chair. We were all overwhelmed with emotions for multiple reasons. He had just started to sit up right before we arrived. I could not help but feel that he knew we were coming and did not want us to see him helpless in bed.

When Eric saw my dad, his face lit up. Eric had a ball and took turns throwing it at all of us. It was a huge break through for Eric considering he was not even supposed to wake up. I asked Eric if he knew who I was and he nodded yes. We asked him that same question about everyone in the room and he nodded yes to everyone. It was unbelievable because of the damage that his memory center had gone through.

Eric’s energy did not last long. He started dozing off and the nurses put him back to bed. We went to dinner then settled into our hotel for the night. We were very anxious and excited for the morning’s visit with Eric.

The following morning, afternoon, and evening, Eric did not do much of anything except sleep. The nurses explained that he had tired himself out the night before. Luckily, we were staying for a couple of days. We hoped that we would see some improvements during our visit.

The following day, nurses came into Eric’s room and suggested that he start physical therapy. We woke Eric up and put him into a wheel chair. When Eric realized that we were going somewhere other than his hospital room, he just kept smiling.

Eric did really well at physical therapy. You could tell that he kind of thought it was dumb. They practiced his motor skills with a small ball and practiced standing and walking. Eric got the hang of it real quick and stood up on his own. When he stood up, his feeding tube got pulled out of his stomach. This was really bad because you cannot keep inserting a feeding tube through the same spot in the stomach. It causes many problems.

The doctors discussed Eric being transferred to a rehab center in Richmond, Virginia but it would not be for a week or so. We had to leave right when Eric was going into surgery for his feeding tube. I was upset to leave because I wanted to keep watching Eric improve. In just a few days, Eric had shown so much improvement. It was a miracle that he was alive let alone walking and improving.

Shortly after we got home, Malarie called to tell us that Eric had started to talk. We knew it was going to take Eric a long time to fully recover, but we believed that he would. He was doing so well within a short period of time. It was amazing.

A week later, Eric was transferred to Richmond. He was walking, talking, and functioning. He was not one-hundred percent by any means or back to his normal self but it was better than nothing.

Weeks passed and we were all back in school. My aunt and my cousin, Malarie, took off of school and work to help Eric improve and heal. He was in multiple physical therapy sessions everyday for not only his motor skills but also his memory.

It was almost my birthday and I wanted to spend it in Richmond with Eric and my family. I went with my Aunt Nancy, Uncle Pete, my three cousins, Sarah, Bobbi, and Sophie. When I first saw Eric, he hugged me and told me happy birthday. He looked tired but it was amazing how alert he was. We were told he would never be able to function past a three-year-old level.

To this day, Eric still has therapy sessions for his memory. He has made amazing progress in the almost two years since his accident. He is still in the Navy and is currently stationed in Bethesda, Maryland. Eric is able to drive himself home on weekends to visit. We never gave up believing that Eric would fully recover but it still amazes everyone that he is functioning as a normal person after all of the trauma. Eric shocked not only our family but also the entire community. I admire Eric very much because through all of the challenging obstacles, he never gave up.

The Driving Test

The Driving Test

Jennie Fragale

On a lovely Saturday afternoon in September just two weeks before my sixteenth birthday, my family and I went car shopping. It was seventy degrees and partly cloudy; a perfect day for test driving vehicles. It did not take long before we all agreed to purchase a standard black Chevy Cruze. Because it was so close to my birthday, I considered it my car, but did not realize just how challenging it would be to not only learn to drive, but also to learn to drive a standard vehicle. I think my parents secretly bought a standard on purpose so that I would not be able to drive it for a long time.

The day I had long awaited for had finally arrived. September 22, 2011 was my sixteenth birthday and I had school, but only until noon. I was leaving early so that I could take my permit test. As I was preparing to leave school, I had a big surprise waiting for me at the office. My boyfriend had sent me three dozen roses! I walked out the back door of the school with my roses in my hand only to find a gorgeous sunny day. In addition, my mom was actually on time to pick me up. The day was starting out spectacular. I just hoped it would continue on the same path and that I would pass my driver’s permit test.

As my mom and I traveled to St. Marys, I could not help but feel quite nervous. I desperately wanted to breeze through my permit test with a passing score. I had prepared for the test by studying the PA Driver’s manual online. When we walked into the DMV, I felt very intimidated. The men working at the desk seemed quite rude. I brushed it off and sat down at the computer to begin my test. At first I felt quite confident with the questions and my responses. All of a sudden though a pop-up flashed on the screen to alert me that I had missed one question and had five questions left. I could only miss two more questions in order to pass the test. Of course, I began to get tense, but took a few deep breaths and kept plugging away. Finally, I had completed the test and passed with only the one mistake. After a twenty minute lecture on rules and regulations from one of the intimidating men, I had my driver’s permit in hand and we were free to leave.

I was not able to drive home because we had the new standard car, but as soon as we arrived home; my dad took me driving in our truck. My first driving experience was both interesting and thrilling. Of course, my dad was a little nervous, but he tried to stay calm. As to be expected, I had a few obstacles to overcome. One such obstacle was that I had to stay focused on the road, not on the people all around. I wanted to wave to everyone that I saw, but quickly was told that was a big “NO NO” when first learning to drive. Maintaining the low speed of twenty-five miles an hour through town was also challenging. When my dad starting clearing his throat, I knew my speed must be too fast. I would hit the brake and slow down accordingly. I would have to say the most challenging skill for me to master was taking corners. My dad would often hold his breath and try not to yell when I took corners way to wide. At times, I think we were both scared for our lives. As I progressed through my first driving lesson, we both did our share of yelling and laughing. I truly enjoyed my first lesson, but quickly realized I oneeded many more.

After several lessons with my dad, my mom decided to take me in the stick shift. This was very challenging for many reasons. Not only was I learning the simple skills of driving, but I was also trying to learn how to maneuver the gears and a clutch. It got very complex. I continually stalled out because I was unable to let the clutch out with ease while gently pressing on the gas petal. It did not take long for us to realize I needed to take one thing at a time. My mom and I concluded that I should stay with automatic vehicles at least until after I got my license and had a year or so of driving experience.

Now that my mom had taken me to practice, she was concerned that my dad was too quiet during my driving lessons so she started to take me more often. I liked how relaxed my dad was, but he did not know how to teach very well. He was always on his phone either texting or talking to our relative, Mike Vandermortel. My mom was very good at teaching, but she would get extremely excited at times and make me nervous.

My mom liked to take me driving in town where she thought we were the safest. I did not like driving through town though. There were too many stops and turns with children crossing everywhere. It was very chaotic and it did not take long for the tension to build between us in the car. I kept plugging away and made sure I was attentive to all that was going on around me.

Once I mastered the in-town driving, we hit the highway. Of course, I made my mom nervous. I do not think she was prepared for me to travel at a faster speed. Seriously, I believe she wanted me to go twenty-five miles per hour in a fifty-five mile an hour zone! She told me to always watch the cars coming toward us and keep an eye out for deer, bear or people. We discussed what to do if I were to go off the side of the road a bit; I was to slowly make my way back on the highway and never jerk the car. One time she had to yell at me to stay back further from the car ahead of us. Overall, I did a good job for my first time on the highway and my mom even paid me a compliment.

My mom got tired out and asked her dad, my grandpa, to start taking me for driving lessons. So, now I was on my third teacher! I was starting to get a major complex. My grandpa had taught my mom to drive and the stories I had heard made me quite nervous. My mom told me that she had never gone driving with him without coming home in tears. She told me he always yelled at her. In the end, it all worked out though because my mom is a pretty safe driver and she gives all of the credit to her dad. I had to give him a chance.

The day came for me to drive with my grandpa. My grandpa insisted that I drive his car so now I had to get use to a different car and a different teacher. We took off from my house and started a lesson. My grandpa was extremely serious about driving. He takes every precaution possible. Even when there was no one on the road or around it he would yell “children!” just to see if I was paying attention. He would yell at me if I went just a tiny bit over the speed limit. He would say “watch your speed” at least twenty times a lesson. At this point, I had driven through town and on the highway quite a bit, so my grandpa decided that it was time to get experience on twisty roads. I felt nervous about this, but I tried to keep calm. I drove across the bridge and headed up to the top of the mountain. He was very informative when teaching me how to take sharp turns. After a few lessons on the terrifying roads, I slowly started to master the sharp turns. My grandpa was a strict, but excellent teacher. After some time, my driving lessons became a lot calmer. Driving became second nature to me.

Now that I could handle any type of road, my cousin, Malarie and I decided to take an adventure to our county’s “Top of The World.” I drove on Suicide Hill to get to our destination. Suicide Hill was extremely scary. Guide rails are not provided on the steep dirt road. After about thirty minutes on the dirt road, we arrived at “The Top of the World.” The view was breathtaking. You could see mountain tops for miles. We took pictures then headed back to town.

Finally, it was time to learn how to parallel park. Malarie had me practice in my high school lot. Parallel parking was one of the hardest tasks for me to master. I failed at many attempts. We even tried using cones. I felt defeated. After several tries, Malarie tried to explain the process differently. I took a deep breath and kept tying. At last, I succeeded! We were both so excited!

Soon enough it was time to take my drivers test. My parallel parking was better at this point, but still was not perfect. My dad went with me to the DMV. We pulled in then went inside and waited. The workers were mean and miserable again and of course I felt very nervous and intimidated. Eventually, it was time to take my driver’s test. I was so incredibly nervous that it caused me to shake which was not helpful when I took the wheel. The very first part of my test was the part I worried about the most. I had to parallel park. I was under pressure from this rude man. I pulled out and went to Parallel Park. I knew right away that I did not line the car up correctly. I maneuvered as much as I possibly could, but I knew I was not in the lines. The man got out of the car to take a look. He came back with the embarrassing news that I had failed. I felt silly for allowing myself to get so nervous, especially because I had practiced so much. I knew how bad both of my brothers were going to make fun of me. They both passed their tests the first time. I decided to keep my failure a secret. I was beyond embarrassed, but now I have to admit that it was a little funny.

I was not going to try again for a while. I practiced for an extra three months. My summer goal was to get my license. Once July came I felt that I was fully prepared to take my test. My mom took me this time and we went to Bradford because we heard the workers there were very kind. When we arrived we were greeted with smiles and polite words, how refreshing. I relaxed, took my test and finally became a licensed driver.