Student+Nineteen

**Will it ever end?** __1984__ //“I hate him!” was the first reaction of little Jerry Jones about his younger brother, Terry. For years this passionate hatred continued. Until one day, it was taken to the point of attempted murder.// //“I’m not letting Jerry live!!” exclaimed 14 year old Terry. This was the last thing Jerry heard before seeing Terry being shipped overseas to Illinois to live with his grandparents. Other than hearing years later about Terry’s marriage to Mary Davis and sailing with the Royal English Navy.// //I’m Jack. I had a sister. Her name was Judy. Now, no offense to anyone, but we all know that girls sometimes will get very upset over not a lot. My cousin Mary once burned her hand at a family reunion. Somehow, Judy found this totally hilarious. Ever since, Mary has absolutely had hatred as has a lion for a mouse. Now, let me tell you about the time I almost bought gu… mppphhh!! Uggh! // * It all started when our parents, Jerry and Judy, decided to take us on a vacation. We were on our cruise ship when some pirates took over our ship. We all hid in some barrels. Under 3 hours later we were rescued by the Royal English Navy. After they seized the ship, we came out. We went and visited with the Navy. Then we first met our Uncle Terry. That night we slept in Uncle Terry’s room on the ship. It was the navy’s idea. Since we knew each other, it was literally a law. My dad tried to tell them that we would manage in the left over bunks. They refused us. When we woke up, we found our parents dead by the bunk. Our Uncle Terry hustled us to a remote island. When we arrived on the island, our aunt Mary was waiting for us. “Did you kill her?” she asked my Uncle. “Yes, yes,” came his mumbling reply. But of course, from my Aunt Mary, the first thing she told John, Jen and I was to go to chop down wood. From that point on, I knew that was what we were going to have to get used to. *** Hey, it’s me again. Jack. Kind of funny, but now I have something more exciting to tell about that the time I almost bought gum. Even though that is a pretty good one, just as I was about to tell you about it, I was kidnapped and taken to an island in the middle of no man’s land. I’m quite broad and rather muscular, and my kidnappers look quite weak so I reckon I’ll beat the tar out of them. Not yet. I’ll wait a bit. “Jack you lazy slob!” came a voice, “Get your bones off the couch and cut some wood!” I got up and went outside. I ran off to go fetch some twigs that I stored behind the bamboo shed. I left the house. You know maybe this island isn’t as isolated as I thought. The twigs are starting to go missing. I know that my kidnappers wouldn’t lift a rock. So who is taking them? * “Hey!” someone yelled at me. “What are you doing?” I saw a teenager black hair and dark brown eyes staring at me. I turned around and started to run. He ran after me. I jumped a spring, dodged a tree and tripped over a log. I somersaulted a few times and when I finally stopped, I looked up into his dark brown eyes.  *** Well, I found the twig thief, but for some reason I didn’t kill him. I sat down and talked with him. I was so happy to see another normal human being, I just talked with him. “Where are you from?” he asked with large scared eyes. I’m here on vacation,” I lied. “I live in New York.” He stared at me for a while. “You’re lucky.” he said. “I wish I was here on vacation, but my Aunt and Uncle killed my parents and kidnapped me and my brother and sisters.” “Really? I guess I have something I need to tell you too. I got kidnapped too. I was on my way to my older sister’s wedding when I was 5 and I got taken by two big lugs. What was your mom’s name?” “Judy.” “Oh, that’s what my sister’s name is too,” I said, trying to start a conversation, “Yup, Judy Miller.” “Wait, did you say Judy //Miller?!”// his eyes bulged. “That is what my mom’s last name was before she got married to my dad. Was your sister going to marry a boy named Jerry?” “Yeah!” I exclaimed, then I calmed down, “You say your Aunt and Uncle killed her?” “Yes, I’m afraid,” he said. I slumped. I was five when I last saw my sister and now she’s dead. I was devastated. “What was your aunt’s name?!” I demanded. “Mary.” I felt like crying. Wow! I had never seen girls this mad at each other ever before. I knew girls would hold a lifelong grudge for calling each other stupid. But never, never had I seen murder over a quick, quiet, giggle. * “I guess we can,” he said, “and my name is Jack.” We got up and decided our strategy. I suggested that he come and demand that we go with him. But he didn’t like that. He said that he would come with me, but would hide. He would hustle me and my siblings out one by one and then we would take care of //his// kidnappers, and row our way to civilization. We left quietly. When we came to our hut, he hid behind a bush. I entered the hut. “Where’s the twigs, you worthless runt?” asked my aunt. Oh no! I had forgotten to bring the twigs! I turned around and ran. “Get back here!” she yelled after me. I kept running until the hut was out of sight. I knew if I went back to the hut I would get it. I just hid behind the bush with Jack. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Do you want to get me caught?” “Well if I go back in there, I’m going to get killed!” I told him. He looked at me. “Okay.” “John, you lazy slob! You’ve only done thirteen hours of work in the last fifteen hours! Get out there and get some twigs!” Aunt Mary’s voice rang out. John went out of the house Jack got up, put his hand over John’s mouth and pulled him behind the bush. John looked like he wanted to yell but when he saw me signaling to be quiet, he didn’t. “One down, two to go,” I said. “I’m going in.” I got up and snuck in through a window. I rounded a hall and got to the room with all the cots that we were sleeping in. I saw Jen pretending that two little clumps of bamboo were barbies. I whispered in her ear to follow me quietly. We tip toed outside. Jack pounced at her from behind and did what he did with John. But she calmed down right away. Now we just had to get Jane. This was going to be really hard. Jane never got out of Aunt Mary’s sight. Just then we heard screaming coming from the house. We just sat there until it stopped. When it stopped we went inside to investigate. We saw a snake slithering around. I guess Uncle Terry had half killed the snake, because it died right away. We saw Jane sitting on a shelf. We picked her up and left. *** Jim and I decided that we would work together on getting off the island. First we got his siblings from his Uncle and Aunt. Now we were going over to work on my kidnappers. I went out to the shed I heard one of my kidnappers yelling to me. The posse that I had picked up and I snuck in the woods to the tool shed. I grabbed a shovel and ran to the front door I started to dig a quick hole and I told Jim and his brother to go get some twigs. Then I told the girls to go get some big leaves. I continued to dig. When the children got back, I placed the twigs and leaves over the hole. Then I snuck in the back door, and took a net. I went back outside. I climbed up two trees and hung the net there then I attached a rope to one of the twigs. I yelled, “Hey, come and get me!” I heard them running from the house. The kids and I hid behind a tree. The men who had held me in slavery for years were running towards the trap. It worked! They fell in the hole and the net came down. I was free! *** Well to make a long story short, Jack’s trap worked, we got away, and we made it home free. Now we were living with Jack back in good old New York. I guess I learned something. No matter how unexpected, there will always be a happy ending.
 * __2003__
 * With Uncle Terry and Aunt Mary not doing any work, we were doing a lot of it. It was getting very out of control. Other than finding a huge pile of twigs behind a shed full of bamboo, nothing has gone good. By the way, I’m out getting some twigs for the fire right now. Uncle Terry and Aunt Mary aren’t all that bad. Other than the fact that all we do is work, they’re not bad at all.
 * “Why don’t we work together to escape this island?” I asked the stranger who had turned out to be uncle. “What’s your name?”

The End

How I strive for excellence and pursue leadership I pursue leadership and strive for excellence using three important key words. Perseverance. Practice. Perfection. The first key word is practice. As they say, practice makes perfect. If you want to succeed in anything, you have to practice. No one has ever just been good at something without practicing. Even the best athletes still have to practice. No one has ever reached the best ever. You can just keep getting better and better. Giving 110% at your practices is just as important as giving 110% at games. Something that I always keep in mind is that you are never too good to practice. Another important thing to remember is to be just as perseverant in your practice as in anything. The dictionary refers to perseverance as steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, belief, or a purpose; steadfastness. If you want to succeed in anything you must have perseverance. Having perseverance means never giving up. No matter what happens you can never give up. If you think about your favorite athlete or musician or whatever you are interested in, if you look at their biography or autobiography you will always notice challenges and the diversity that they face. But you’ll also notice that they didn’t give up, they persevered and achieved their goal. The last key word is perfection. After doing enough of your hobbie, sport, or game, you should be pretty close to perfection. All you have to remember is never to think you can never get any better, because no matter what, there is always room for improvement. When you are this good, you should have pursued leadership enough to be a leader in your group, organization, or team. This is when you need to help other people so they can be as good as you. This is how I pursue leadership and strive for excellence. I try to maintain a positive attitude coming in and going out of the game. But the main thing I do is think about the three keywords. Perseverance. Practice. Perfection.