How Superior Were They?

The British were as superior as lions in the jungle.

They yielded their power over the Aboriginals.

Like a boulder about to crush a stone.

The rabbit proof fence stretched out across the land

Representing the superiority of the whites

It rises from the land like a body guard,

Preventing the Aboriginals’ freedom.

The white Australians then took children from the Aboriginal families.

Sending them to reservations, orphanages, and institutions.

Restricting the children from the outside world.

Superiority took over the lives of the Aboriginals,

Leaving a huge scar on them.

~Junn Meng and Danniel

This picture shows how the children were after the Stolen Generation. This is a before and after picture. 

Picture from here

Religion Saves Thousands

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat who helped save thousands of Jews from the hands of Hitler.  He had a religion of Eastern Orthodox. He was risking his job and life as he was going to be up against the Nazis. Sugihara was working in Kaunas, the capitol of Lithuania in the past. It was situated between Germany and the Soviet Union. If it wasn't for Sugihara being there at that time, the thousands of lives wouldn't have made it out of Hitler and the Nazis' hands. This is why I believe that treating religion with respect is something worth fighting for.

One day, Sugihara was awoken by a crowd of Polish Jewish Jews outside his house wanting visas to escape to Tokyo. The problem for Sugihara though, was that he could not issue that many visas for the hundreds of people, and it required the permission from the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. All of Sugihara's requests were denied by the government. Sugihara had a very difficult decision to make, in the end, but he knew that he had to help save the lives of the Jews. They knew that many lives rested in their hands and Sugihara was taught to follow the orders of his superior.

Thus, he and his wife worked on the visas by hand, for 29 days continuously, without wasting a minute of their lives, to rescue the Jewish people. He knew that he was being disobedient to his government but he would save thousands of lives in return. In the end, he managed to finish the visas and the Jews managed to escape out of Hitler's hands. Sugihara's mother was a samurai, and this had taught him to follow and respect superiors. He knew that the consequence of this was him losing his job, and it could even end in death. He followed what he knew was right and didn't turn back. “I may have to disobey my Government, but if I do not, I will be disobeying God,” Sugihara said to his wife, Yukiko.". He grew up being interested in religion, and this saying truly reflects that. He doesn't want to disobey religion because it is something he believes in and loves, even if it means losing your job and putting your life in danger, as God means a lot to him. 

Sugihara made sure that those hopeful Jews would have made it out safely. This one man should inspire everyone of us, to follow what we believe in, and love (religion), and certainly not to disobey it. People like him shows us how important religion. No matter what religion you come from, you can make a difference. Sugihara has also proved that the Jewish religion isn't bad, he saved them. No religion is bad, no one should believe something like that.
Picture found here

Read more: 

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/sugihara.html

http://www.jewishpost.com/shalom/Chiune-Sugihara-The-Japanese-Schindler.html

http://remember.org/imagine/sugihara.html

Personal details:

http://www.nndb.com/people/598/000133199/

Family Makes You Rich

Family is something we all had and still have. Many people in the world don't have their families.  Some examples are the Jews during the the Holocaust and Fatmire Feka. Having a family enables you to have someone to trust, someone to help you through your problems. This is why I believe having a family is something worth fighting for.


Fatmire Feka suffered a war during her time in Kosovo when she was just 11 years old. She could leave, but had to pay a price and so they did. On then bus out, she saw many dead bodies which was terrifying for a 11 year old girl. Their bus was caught and got sent back to the dumpster, where they were previously living after they left their village. The noticed that everything had been stolen and they were forced to get resources from the village. Her uncle then came back shot and didn't remember what had happened to her siblings. In 2002, Fatmire Feka made the Kids for Peace program as she didn't want other children to suffer the same way she suffered. Till now, she still doesn't know where her siblings are and who took them. This relates to family being something worth fighting for as she lost her family when she was so young. Losing your family during such a young age is terrible.


During the Holocaust, the Jews were tortured by Hitler and the Nazis as Hitler found hatred towards the Jews. Children were brainwashed, Germans fell under Hitler's control through the use of propaganda. Concentration camps were created, mass murder of Jews started showing an example of genocide, scapegoating and more. About 6 million people were killed and 1.5 million were children. Parents of jewish children were sent to concentration camps and children were sent to concentration camps, leaving their parents. At the concentration camps, they would stay there and then sent to a  gas chamber and they got killed. Upstanders against Hitler's decisions were also sent to concentration camp and separated from their families. Kristallnacht was also another example of Hitler's jewish attack and many families were separated and children were left alone, soon then sent to concentration camp. It wasn't just the Jewish children that got separated. Hitler knew he needed control over German children at a young age and he brainwashed them into thinking Jews are bad and that separated the children from their families.

 This is a tragedy and should never happen again. Being separated from your family due to something racial shouldn't happen again. During these 2 incidents, many families were taken away, especially during the Holocaust. The picture I chose is a necklace. This picture represents how a family is always stuck together, you shouldn't be separated. "I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich."  ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, "Identity Crisis," M*A*S*H. This quote tells us how important having a family is, without family, you start living a totally different life.

Found Poetry

Poverty is a problem in the world now.
I am sure we notice this problem.
Food might not be big to us,
but big to those in need.
This is uncool and should be changed.

I strongly believe that something should be done.

This problem should not be invisible to us,

and we should all declare.
This problem, truly is something big
We must stop this before the whole world gets infected
Investing of money is required to prevent this tragic problem to spread.
We need conviction.
Poverty must be chopped.
Our society will be improved,
this shouldn’t be taken aggressively,
none of us should be inarticulate
we should all be clear.
Our generation right now,
implores but doesn’t take action,
we should all exhort each other,
to accept this challenge.
We just need the determination to do it.
I question you.
What are your opinions?
Are you full of uncertainty?
No one has the authority to control us,
we speak the problem but action is needed.
I believe we can do this.

I chose to write my poem about poverty as it is a problem in the world. We do notice this problem but no action is being done. I made this poem so it would give people more determination to cut down poverty. And I also questioned on other people’s opinions on this problem. Our generation right now sees the problem but no action is being taken. I wrote this sentence because I know many of us know about this problem from TV, the news and etc but we are not taking action. I said that this is a challenge because it is a major challenge to us in the world. This poem is suppose to urge us to chop the problem, which will only be possible if we all work together. As stated in the poem, we need investing of money, and we all need to have conviction, opinions, all of our ideas should be clear. I believe we can chop this problem down, but it would take a substantial effort to do so.

Fighting for a Better Future

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a book that tells us about how many people suffer and the wealthier are just watching without taking action, which is a dystopia. This is worth fighting against, because, right now, some parts of the world are struggling and inequality is the major problem which could lead our society into a dystopia. If we don't take action, those countries where people are suffering could possibly become a societies like the one in the Hunger Games  and that could soon spread to the whole world. We don't necessarily have to fight for a utopia, we just need to prevent a dystopia. None of us would like to live under constant surveillance, without freedom, without education, without resources, or under a dictator. These are the characteristics of a dystopian society. Equality and freedom are something worth fighting for.

We know that countries are suffering in the world, and we see them on the news, but we just watch without taking action. This is us being like The Capitol in the Hunger Games as they just watch the suffering for entertainment. We see the suffering, but we just sit there like bystanders. The Hunger Games takes place in a fictional future, but Suzanne Collins is trying to warn us that the future could be a our future.

Also, in The Hunger Games, the citizens don't have freedom.  They don't have natural resources.  They are always being watched by the Peacekeepers.  The natural world is gone. The citizens are forced to hunt for food.  They rely on the Hob, an illegal black market, where they trade or get food. The Capitol sends Peacekeepers to watch the citizens in case of any signs of rebellion.  Collins wrote this story to show what the world could be like if people didn't have freedom.  Her message is that we should act now, so that the characteristics of the society in her novel, do not become the characteristics of our society.


The picture I chose shows that hands can help shape a better future, only if we all participate in doing so. Equality can play a big part in our lives, but only if we treat people the same way we want to be treated. Freedom gives us the chance to speak up and have an opinion.  If we are able to be free, don't other in the world deserve that right? We are all alike - we are all human. This is why I believe that we should be fighting for equality, and everyone in the world have freedom. 

The perfect world

"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself" - Andy Warhol

This picture I chose represents how if we were to make a perfect world, peace would be first thing we would need to have in this world. All the war has to stop in order for a perfect world to be made. This peace sign was formed in Budapest.

This quote tells us that if the perfect world were to come, we have to change it now. We know that change comes from our actions, change doesn't come on it's own, you have to make it happen. Time can change things, but most of the time change things for the worst. We have to change things for the better. We have many countries in the world suffering right now and we can change it.

If I were to create a perfect world, one characteristic I would definitely have is equality. In the world right now, equality is something I would change. People are struggling in different parts of the world and one reason is they are not treated as equal as us. We have shelter, education, healthcare, food, clean water and they don't have any. In my society, everyone will be treated equally.

In this society, people will be treated equally as everyone will have shelter, education, healthcare, food and water. This way, now one will struggle to live and they get their basic needs. Being treated equally also means everyone gets the right to tell their part of the story when in court, etc. A perfect world does not only consist of one characteristic, other characteristics would be for the society to be peaceful, safe, citizens to have their freedom and respect for each other. Imagine a society like this existing on Earth.

You can find the picture here

Hitler's rise to power, Kristallnacht

January 1933, Hitler gained power through flames at Reichstag. Hitler had completely brainwashed everyone in the country, including children. Nazis recruited many unemployed men and one propaganda phrase was: "When Jewish blood drops from the knife, you know everything will be fine." That caused racial hatred. Hitler then convinces president Hindenburg to suspend all civil liberties. November 1938, on the night of the 9th and 10th, Kristallnacht. Shattered glass, burning houses, synagogues, the name Kristallnacht was given. Over 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camp, over 90 were killed. The Jews then had to play one billion marks for the damage "they" had done from the events that had happened. In 1933, the first concentration camp was formed in Dachau. Communist, socialist, democrats and catholics were sent to the camp. They also suspended all Jews from civil services and universities. Jews were portrayed by Hitler as greedy, repulsive, corrupt and anti-German. This also showed up in textbooks. This shocked me. How would like it if you were called greedy, repulsive and corrupt? In September 1935, the Nuremberg laws mentioned to take away all citizenship rights from the Jews. The Nazis were not thinking genocide, they just wanted the Jews to leave Germany. Thousands left but no country would accept them. Canada's infamous quote was " How many should we take it? None is too many."

Hitler knew he had to control the children too. He made them dedicate their lives to Hitler. The Hitler youth camp started in 1922. The kids felt they had a mission and felt important. They had sworn in their lives to The Fuhrer and the Fatherland. They were taught that the Jews were a dirty and poisonous race.

The painting shows the Nazis smashing the windows and beating the Jews. This is the reason it was called Kristallnacht. The smashing of windows. The faces of the Jews show how horrified they were during Kristallnacht.

Painting from: http://www.moshegalili.com/images_holocaust/Kristallnacht.jpg

Check out the other paintings ( click on headings bolded and in white) at:

http://www.moshegalili.com/holocaustexhibition.htm