2020 September 20 – HM – male age 14 – Class Notes
I came into class prepared to test because I Studied in the car beforehand. I walked in and prayed and started meditation. I tested with the teacher and passed onto the next part on the page. I skipped badminton today to test again two more times so i finished most of the back today.
We sat outside and studied for the rest of the time until the parents and the teacher were done again.
Then we went on to the lecture, today we started the lecture with talking about D. D stands for determination which is what we need in order to make ourselves better people. He also talked about us having a habit like playing chess. It’s something that you do for fun but you have determination to do it. He gave us an example of how some people like to make the tiny ships in a bottle but you have to be determined to finish it because it takes a long time. Next we got into P, which stands for procrastination. He talked about how we procrastinate our homework and turn in our essays close to the due date/time. This is something that I personally have a problem with because I usually procrastinate my homework and projects to the last day or minute. I know it’s a bad habit but I have been trying to change it slowly for myself and the lecture just reminded me about how I’m changing this bad habit. He then tied in taking care of the world with determination. You have to have determination to take care of the world or you’re never going to get anywhere. The teacher brought up the Washington football team’s win the other day. He talked about their coach, Ron Rivera and how he helped the team make a comeback from 17-0. He left it up to the members of the team to decide what they wanted to do to win and made each player responsible for themselves and their teammates. It gave them all determination to win for themselves and they ended up winning the game. This was a good example of how when we make ourselves determined to do something we can do it. Then we started to talk about PA, it stands for paralysis by analysis. The meaning is that you over analyze something so then you don’t do it or you become scared to do it. Then we talked the culture of excellence which means the culture of people who work together or are in an environment together. For example if your boss was an hour late to work everyday then the workers wouldn’t do as much work as they would if he was there. If you’re in an environment where everyone wants to be like the boss then everyone will be determined to do their jobs and their parts plus more.
Next we went into the topic of doing more. Doing more isn’t just trying to do more it’s actually accomplishing your goal through your determination. The example that the teacher gave us was about college and jobs and how people who have good income don’t go for anything higher but the poor will always try to go for the highest. You don’t need to stop working harder to go up just because you are at a good point you should always be determined to go up. If you are just stuck at where you are and you like it there then you are complacent. The point of this program is to not be complacent. The habit that I have is that I like playing board games against myself that are challenging like chess. The teacher told us that if you have a habit and determination to that habit you can do something great with that skill that you perfected like athletes. Then we started to talk about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she was a women’s rights activist and was a supreme court justice. She left a big imprint on the world through her belief of I speak for those who have no voice. She sadly passed away recently but she always stuck to that belief that she had.
We as khalifas should all think this way but in the islamic way of taking care of the world. You can’t solve problems if you never try to go above and beyond. Next he talked about Dr. Joseph Muray and how he helped the world through determination. Dr. Joseph Muray had the idea of organ transplant /donations but all the medical critics around him and the world said it was impossible, but four years later he had a successful organ donation and proved that it wasn’t impossible. He showed us how through our determination and hard work we can make what seems impossible possible and solve the problems that await their solutions in this world.
From today’s lesson I learned about how to get determination and use my determination to benefit others. When you procrastinate you just make it harder on yourself to complete your work. When you overthink something it’s called paralysis by analysis. It’s sometimes good to overthink things but it’s also bad to overthink things because you can waste time or you convince yourself that something that’s not scary is scary. Culture of excellence is the way that the environment around you works and how if you’re not determined to do your work you won’t get anywhere. Next we started to talk about taking care of the world which we as khalifas have to do. You can’t change the world in one day you need hard work and determination like Dr. Joseph Muray and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to actually solve problems and take care of this world. I don’t really know how I can change the world right now because as it is I am still not knowledgeable enough to know how to take care of this world, but I hope That I will do what I can to take care of this World.