WA 4 draft 2

Dear President Obama,

My most sincere congratulations on your recent inauguration. You are living proof of the power of this country and it is incredible to live in a United States with a black president when, not long ago, most people thought it would never happen.

This is a time for the people of this country to work together and help one another through crises large and small, and they are certainly capable of and willing to do that. I recently witnessed this firsthand, the day before your inauguration. My family was involved in a major collision on I-78 outside of the modest town of Hamburg, Pennsylvania. All those involved lived, although I saw several people taken away on stretchers. The EMT workers, police and firemen, and the shelter volunteers were very efficient in their removal of people from the wreckage and supplying us with food and a place to stay while we contacted our insurance agent and got ahold of a rental car. They even replaced the booster seats of everyone who had little kids.

These people didn't have to help us. The fact that they not only chose to provide with our basic needs but also arranged for us to stay in a hotel and remove our baggage from the wrecked cars went above and beyond what I think most people were expecting. What I am concerned about, however, is if the people who had serious injuries and had to go to the hospital were able to afford the medical bills. Mr. President, almost 50 million Americans can't afford health care. It's a disaster compared to other countries like Canada, Russia, and most of western Europe, who have universal health care. Too many people go into debt because of staggering medical bills. Either their employers don't provide adequate coverage or they're self-employed, meaning they can't afford it altogether. I think the issue you should focus on within the first year of your presidency is making health care available to everyone, no matter how much money they make. People should not have to go broke because they can't afford a surgery or treatments for their child's illness. Getting sick or injured is not something people can control.

So, President Obama, I urge you, please: Help your people by making universal health care a reality. America can't function as a country if people are constantly inhibited by medical costs. And there are people out there who really deserve the right to afford their medical costs, like the very kind people in Hamburg.

Sincerely,

Tess Keena

WA 4 draft 1

Dear Mr. Obama,

Congratulations on your becoming President. There are many things I'd like to say to you, but I'm limited to 1,000 words in this assignment.

My family was recently part of a major accident on I-78 involving 23 cars and three trucks. We all lived and sustained minor injuries, but I saw several people, including the trucker who hit us, being taken away in stretchers. No one was killed, thankfully. This all happened the day before your inauguration. The EMT workers, firefighters, and shelter workers were amazingly efficient and well-supplied for taking care of the victims. They were very kind. One man even offered me his jacket because I lost mine in the crash.

This is a perfect example of how the people of America come together and help one another in times of crisis, which I know is something you focused on during your inaugural speech. The people who helped us were incredibly kind and they provided us with food and a place to stay while we got in touch with our insurance agent and obtained a rental car. They even replaced my younger brother's car seat. 

Even though our family didn't have to go to the hospital, there were many people who did and I have to wonder, with the state of our health insurance, if they were able to pay their medical bills. Almost 50 million Americans don't have health insurance. We cannot continue like this. Too many people go into debt because they can't pay their medical bills. Their employers don't provide insurance or they're self-employed, meaning they don't even have health care. I think an issue that you should address within the first year of your presidency is universal health care for every citizen. People should not have to go broke because they can't afford a surgery or pay for their children's illnesses. It's not something they can control.

So I'm asking you, President Obama, please: Help your people by making health care available to the poor and self-employed so that these people can continue helping one another and creating a strong bond of community throughout our country. 

WA 3 draft 2

Peace and war are usually considered opposites. However, I believe that warfare is a much simpler side of human nature than peace. I am not criticizing peace; on the contrary, I think humans should practice it more often. But I am also saying that it takes a great deal more thought and self-restraint to practice peace than it does to wage war. People don't have to do any thinking to pick up a rock and throw it at someone who makes them angry. But they have to think in order to not pick up that rock and just walk away. Therein lies the problem.

Animals are often at war with each other for different reasons - leadership of a group, mates, territory boundaries, ect. This is natural behavior for them. Fighting is a basic instinct, a way to defend or prove themselves. The one who wins the fight wins the prize. Animals are much more simple-minded than humans in their pursuit of basic needs. If someone has what they want, they fight for it. They don't negotiate or offer to share. However, most animals (sea mammals and primates excluded) lack a developed neocortex. This is the part of the brain that can reason and rationalize. This is the logical portion of the brain. Because most animals don't have it, they can't predict the outcomes of their disputes beyond the very obvious - their most basic goals. But animals who do have neocortexes are capable of reasoning and developing language and rules. Humans have the largest neocortexes. We can not only predict the basic, physical outcomes of our disputes, we can predict the moral outcomes as well. We can deduce whether or not performing a certain action on a living being will hurt it. Most other creatures do not perceive the moral outcomes of their actions, and so do not see their behavior as cruel. They can not conceptualize "cruel."

So when a person chooses to leave someone alone rather than hurt them, are they using their higher brain? I think so. Humans are governed by a certain set of morals and values; we perceive certain actions, such as torture and murder, to be "wrong." Why? Because our morals tell us that intentionally hurting another person is a bad thing to do. Intentionally caused physical pain is disturbing to most humans, partly because we live in a complex, structured society and we are no longer doing whatever we can to survive in the wilderness. 

Which brings me back to the original problem: Peace is harder to enact than war because people have to think and exercise self-control rather than lash out based on their instincts and feelings. If one is threatened or challenged, inaction is frustrating because their instincts tell them to fight back. But acting on what their rationalizing, complex brains are telling them rather than what their instincts are telling them sets humans apart from other animals. We can enact a peace. We can stop a war. We just have to will ourselves to do it. We are not ruled by are baser minds; all that we are, all that we have created, is based on our the complex signals from our highly developed neocortexes. 

WA 3 draft 1

What about peace? 

Well, what about it? Peace and war are usually considered opposites. However, I believe that war is a much simpler side of human nature than peace. I am not criticizing peace; on the contrary, I think it is a very good thing for humans to practice. We should do it more often. But I am also saying that it takes a great deal of thought and self-restraint to practice peace than it does to wage a war. You don't have to do any thinking to pick up a rock and throw it at someone who makes you angry. You do have to think, however, in order to not pick up that rock and just walk away. Therein lies the problem.

Animals are often at war with each other, for different reasons - leadership of a group, mates, territorial disputes, ect. But this is natural behavior for them. Fighting is a basic instinct, a way to defend or prove yourself. The one who wins the fight gets the prize. Animals are much more simple-minded than humans in their pursuit of basic needs. If someone has what you want, you fight for it. You do not negotiate or offer to share. 

However, most animals (sea mammals and primates excluded) lack a developed neocortex. This is the part of the brain that can plan and rationalize. This is the logical portion of the brain. Because most animals don't have it, they can't predict the outcomes of their disputes beyond the very obvious - that they will catch their prey or something like that. But animals who do have neocortexes are capable of reasoning, and developing sophisticated rules and language. Humans have the largest neocortexes. We can not only predict the basic, physical outcomes of our disputes and actions, we can also predict the moral outcomes. We can deduce whether or not performing a certain action on another living being will hurt it. Most other creatures don't bother with the moral outcomes, such as when a cat plays with a wounded mouse. They don't see their behavior as cruel; they are not capable of such developed thought.

So when you choose to leave someone alone rather than hurt them, are you using your higher brain? I think so. We humans are governed by a set of morals and values; we perceive certain actions, such as torture, as wrong. Why? Because our morals tell us that intentionally hurting another person is a bad thing to do. Another person's pain disturbs us and, because we live in such a complex and sophisticated civilization, seems wrong because we are no longer simply a group of primates fending for ourselves in the wilderness. 

Which brings me back to my original problem: Peace is harder to enact than war because peace requires more brainpower and self-restraint than simply lashing out based on your emotions and instincts. Inaction is frustrating to people after a war; often they feel the enemies have not been punished enough or that the enemy has wronged them too much to be left alone. But acting on what are rational, analyzing, complex minds are telling us what to do than what our honest, simplistic instincts are telling us to do is what sets us apart from other animals. We can enact a peace. We can stop a war. We just have to will ourselves to do it. We are not ruled by our baser minds; we are the products of a large and complex neocortex! Let's use it more often.

Arashi sat on his bed. The wooly blanket beneath his uncovered hands itched and felt much too rough to ever sleep on. And yet night after night he found comfort under these coarse layers of fabric. The light was too bright. It was too warm. He knew he was being hypersensitive, but today was the ninth anniversary of the day his father, Jacen, had not returned from war. In the pockmarked off-white wall he could see his father's dancing hazel eyes. He could still recall their last conversation:

"B-but," Nine-year-old Arashi sniffled, wiping his eyes, "I wanna come with you! I don't want you to go alone!"

"I won't be alone. Your uncle will be here, and all the men of the village..." Jacen bent down, stroking his son's hair. "What's wrong?"

"I'm scared for you!" sobbed Arashi, flinging himself into his dad's arms. "I don't want you to die!"

"Arashi. Look at me." He son obeyed. "You need to be brave for me, okay? You have to promise to take care of your little cousin. You're going to be the man of the house while we're gone."

"I promise."

"It's going to be okay. Don't be in such a hurry to grow up. You'll be a man soon enough."

Yeah, well too late for that, Dad, Arashi thought bitterly, feeling the stubble on his chin - he'd quit shaving a month ago. He lay back on the bed, squinting out the window. The weather had been unfailingly sunny all week - an ironic counterpart to his grim mood. There was a stained-glass boat dangling in the window. His father had taught him how to sail a fishing vessel. He'd stuck with the hobby even after he and Tora, his younger cousin, left to settle in the Fire Country.

The door creaked open. Only one person came into his room without knocking.

"Tora?"

He listened to her shut the door and come over to his bed, blocking out the sparkly sunlight. Her face was concerned.

He sat up and regarded his cousin. Tora's shaggy black hair - almost identical in texture to his - framed her dark golden face and fell in an unruly ponytail down her back. She had a slightly more angular jawbone, a narrower nose, and darker skin than him. Arashi touched the indent of his nose and brow. "Look." He reached over to the table and picked up a necklace. It was a cord of leather strung through a pair of wolves' teeth. He slipped it on. "This was my dad's."

She nodded mutely. Somehow she could say more with her silences. 

"Why did he tell me it was going to be okay?" Arashi whispered, mostly to himself. "It wasn't. It's not. He's dead." His voice cracked painfully on the last syllable. "I hate him. I hate him." That wasn't true, but Arashi was angry.

"He didn't want you to worry," ventured Tora softly. Arashi felt the familiar enmity that her father, Mano, had survived, and his hadn't boiling in him.

"Well, that's easy for you to say, isn't it?" he snarled. "Your dad is alive!"

Tora's eyes were chips of ice. They were the only sign of anger in her otherwise neutral expression. "You know what?" she said flatly, sliding off the bed, "Jacen deserves more respect than you're giving him."

"Go away, Tora," he ordered, falling back on the sheets even as she shut the door. An immense wave of guilt rose up in him, making his eyes water. I'm so sorry, Dad...

WA 2 draft 2

Arashi sat on his bed. The wooly blanket underneath his uncovered hands itched and felt much too rough to ever sleep on. And yet night after night he felt comfort under these coarse layers of fabric. The light was too bright. It was too warm. He knew he was being hypersensitive, but today was the ninth anniversary of the day his father, Jacen, had not come back from war. In the pockmarked off-white wall he saw his father's dancing hazel eyes. His voice, Don't be in such a hurry to grow up, little Arashi. You'll be a man soon enough.

Yeah, well, too late for that, Dad, he thought bitterly, feeling the stubble on his chin - he had quit shaving a month ago. He lay on his back and squinted at the window. The weather had been unfailingly cheery all week - an ironic counterpart to his grim mood. There was a stained-glass boat dangling in the window. His father had taught him how to sail a fishing vessel before he died. He had stuck with the hobby even after he and Tora, his cousin, had left their home country to settle in the Land of Fire.

The door creaked open. Only one person came into his room without knocking.

"Tora?"

He listened to her shut the door and come over to his bed, blocking the sparkly sunlight. Her face was concerned.

He sat up and regarded his cousin. Her shaggy black hair - almost identical in texture to his - framed her dark golden face and fell in an unruly ponytail down her back. She had a slightly more angular jawbone than him, a narrower nose, and darker skin. Arashi touched the indent of his nose and brow. "Look." He reached over to the table and picked up a necklace. It was made from a cord of leather that was strung through two wolves' teeth. He slipped it on. "This was my dad's."

Tora nodded mutely. Sometimes she could say more with her silences than by talking.

"Why did he tell me it was going to be okay?" Arashi whispered, mostly to himself. "It wasn't. It's not. He's dead." His voice cracked painfully on the last syllable. "I hate him. I hate him."

"He didn't want you to worry," ventured Tora softly. Arashi felt the familiar anger that her father - Mano - had survived, and his hadn't boiling in him.

"Well, that's easy for you to say, isn't it?" he spat. "Your father is alive."

Tora's eyes were chips of ice. "You know what?" she said flatly, getting up, "Jacen deserves more respect than you give him."

"Go away, Tora," he ordered, falling back onto the sheets even as she shut the door. An immense wave of guilt rose up in him, making his eyes water. Dad... I'm so sorry.

WA 2 draft 1

Arashi sat on his bed. The wooly blanket underneath his uncovered hands itched and felt much to rough to ever sleep on. And yet night after night he found comfort under these coarse layers of fabric. He was feeling extreme physical hypersensitivity on this day. The reason? Today was the ninth anniversary of the day his father did not return from the war with the Village of the Mountains. He gazed at the pockmarked off-white wall and saw his father's dancing hazel eyes. He studied the chestnut wardrobe and his father's lighthearted smile His voice, Don't be in such a hurry to grow up, Arashi-kun. You'll be a man soon enough.

Yeah, well, too late for that, Dad, Arashi thought bitterly, feeling the rough stubble on his chin. He had decided to quit shaving about a month earlier. He lay back on his bed, squinting through the bright light that streamed through his window. The weather had been unfailingly sunny and warm all week, an ironic counterpart for his grim mood. Dangling from the ceiling was a wooden boat that his father had carved for him as a third-birthday gift. His father had shown him how to sail a fishing vessel. He had stayed devoted to the practice even after he and Tora had left the Snow Country to settle in the Fire Country. 

The door creaked open. Only one person came into his room without knocking. 

"Tora?"

"Hey." He listened to her shut the door and then his light was blocked out as she appeared over his face, her brows drawn in concern. 

He sat up and regarded his cousin. Her shaggy black hair - almost identical in texture to his - framed her dark golden skin and fell down her back in an unruly ponytail. She had a slightly more defined jawbone than him, a narrower nose, and very defined eyebrows. Arashi touched the indent of his nose and his forehead. "Look." He reached over to the night stand and picked up a necklace that was sitting on it. It was made from a leather cord, on which was strung a pair of wolf fangs with holes cut into the roots. She nodded.

He slipped it over his head. "This was... my dad's."

"I know."

"Why did he tell me that it was going to be okay?" he whispered, more to himself. He looked down at his hands, rough and scarred from years of fighting and training. "Why did he promise me that? He was wrong."

"You know he was just telling you that so you wouldn't worry about him," offered Tora gently. Arashi felt the old enmity that her father had survived and his hadn't returning. "Easy for you to say!" he snapped. "Your father is alive!" 

Tora's eyes were chips of ice. They always became like this when he yelled at her. "I think Jacen deserved more respect than you're giving him," she said flatly, getting up to leave.

He didn't need any of her wisdom right now. "Just leave me alone, Tora," he rasped, feeling tears sting his eyes. He heard her shut the door behind her. He lay back on the bed and let angry tears course down his face. Why, Dad?