A Memory That Changed My Life

  Our childhood is filled with many unforgettable memories. These memories could be good, bad, funny, sad,and even embarrassing. Some of these memories will be stuck in your head for the rest of your life because it has taught you such an important life lesson and has changed your life in one way or another. One of those was in the year 2003, when we had just bought our new house. I was joyful and very enthusiastic about the new life I would live in that new house. This was also the first time in my life where I had my own room. With all this excitement in a seven year old, I decided to call my friend Hagop. While we were talking I went on and on about my new home. I would not stop talking about my new room, my large backyard, my Jacuzzi  and my basketball court. In other words, I was showing off. My father overheard this conversation, and just as I put the phone down, I realized something was wrong. My dad was mad and I had absolutely no idea why. We sat down and he gave me a very serious talk about showing off. My father told me that no matter how much your material possessions are worth, you should not tell anyone nor brag about it. My father emphasized the importance of being humble in life. Of course a seven year old can not grasp that concept in a day. However as time went by and i started to become more mature, i looked back on that day and understood that people like you more whenever you are humble. That memory will forever stay in my mind because thanks to my father's need to teach me simple life lessons, I acquired a very important trait that most people find hard to do. Be humble in life. It is more important than people think it is.

Five Reported Deaths Connected to Monster Energy Drink

David Dishneau, Huffington Post

On October 28, it has been brought to the attention of the Food and Drug administration that five people had  been reported dead within twenty-four hours of consuming the Monster Energy drinks.These reports claim that people had negative reactions after they consumed Monster Energy drink.The can of the drink contained twenty four ounces of content with 240 milligrams of caffeine.That is about seven times the amount of the caffeine in a twelve ounce can of soda. The autopsy of all five that were deceased revealed that the cause of death was related to some form of cardiac arrest. According to a survey taken about five years ago, energy drinks made up about three percent in the sale of caffeinated drinks. That statistic has changed now. The sale of energy drinks today make up about seventeen percent of the sales. Monster has benefited the most from the sale increase. Monster has thirty five percent of the sales of the energy drink market while Red Bull had thirty percent and Rockstar had nineteen percent. As this drink gets more popular, more people are being exposed to its harmful effects. The Food and Drug administration claims that they have all hands on deck investigating this issue.

Three Virtues to Moral Perfection

In these past few days, I have worked on three virtues that lead to moral perfection. These virtues are Temperance, Silence, and Cleanliness.

Temperance: The virtue of temperance is clearly intended for self-discipline and control. It is explained by Benjamin Franklin as,"Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation", meaning that you have to know your limits very well. You should know the correct amount you should consume to satisfy your hunger or thirst yet make sure you are not bingeing at the same. Temperance was one of the easy virtues to master. I have mastered it at a young age and the reason for this is soccer. If I overeat, i will not be able to perform at my highest potential because i will be carrying extra weight. However, if i undereat, i will lack the energy to perform. Finding the balance might be difficult to do so but for me was quite a success.

Silence: "Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation." The virtue of silence teaches you to be a selective talker. This means that you have to overthink and analyze before you talk so that you talk only if absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, this is quite difficult for me and within these three days, i have not seen success with my progress of mastering this virtue. Everyday I see many  people, mostly ones that i just met. I have grown up in a social environment and absolutely hate refraining from speaking what is on my mind. I talk to many people everyday and I find absolutely no harm in my conversations. However, most of these conversations could be avoided because the talk has no sole purpose.

Cleanliness: This virtue by definition is, "Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation". This is very difficult for me to overcome.My weekends are filled with many events such as social gatherings, sportong events,even work. I am forced to keep myself clean because I am going to be with people. However, it is simply very difficult to make time to clean a room which I once again have to clean later. I was unsuccessful in the cleanliness of my habitation until the last day. I was expecting guests to arrive at my residence and a dirty home says a lot about your character. In respect to my guests, I cleaned my room and it felt very nice. I have actually found it to make my life quite a bit easier. If i had more time to master this virtue, there is no doubt in my mind I would be successful in doing so.