Narrative English Comp PDF

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One of the graded English essays....

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1 Meinhardt Kurt Meinhardt Professor Starzec English Composition I 10 March 2020 The True Magic of Christmas From birth, people are taught the meaning of Christmas. Whether it be the story of the three wise men bringing gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh, or the story of Santa Claus bringing gifts down the chimney to all those who are good; Christmas has a message of giving, love, and family every year. However, as one ages, they begin to see just how stressful the Christmas season truly is. It takes years into life for someone to realize the true meaning of Christmas in their own eyes. The “joy of Christmas” all starts the night of Thanksgiving. Family members come over around 1 PM and the family all sit down at 4 PM to eat dinner. Once dinner is finished, dessert is immediately served. Why? The reason why is quite sad. The adults need to eat and leave by 6 PM so that they can be first in line at Walmart, Target, or even Woodfield Mall. Black Friday sales are the meaning of Christmas in many households. The father is sent to the front lines of the annual Black Friday War. Bunkers are formed all around the stores. The doors open and the troops raid the scene. “BUY ONE GET TWO FREE” is read on a sign near the clothing area, “ONLY $899” is written all over the wall of televisions in the brightest area in the store, and lastly “BLACK FRIDAY EXCLUSIVE DEAL” is posted every two feet in the store front. These deals all only last for one day every year, or so they want people to believe. When in actuality the signs should be saying: “BUY ONE GET TWO MORE YOU DON’T NEED”, “ONLY $800 MORE THAN YOU CAN AFFORD”, and “THESE DEALS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN”.

2 Meinhardt Christmas has evolved into another reason for companies to make millions. They are able to demand crazy prices on toys that will break in months. This is one huge reason that I personally am starting to dislike the Christmas season. This past Christmas was the one that finally through me over the edge. Two weeks before Christmas, everyone in the family received an email in regard to the new gift exchange that the family had decided to try out. The rules were plain and simple: $50 maximum spending limit, follow the theme of red, and a few more minor rules. It sounded very straight forward and allowed lots of creativity, or so we all thought. Within the two weeks leading up to Christmas, I decided that I wanted to craft personal gifts for my three cousins and sister. I had people help me craft four different gifts that could be used in each of the cousin’s careers. I also decided the theme of my gift and went to work creating a hand-made charcuterie board and matching wine and wine glasses to the theme. I put all my heart into creating a gift that was as beautiful as stained glass. This was my first mistake for the 2019 Christmas season. Christmas morning came, as usual my mom, dad, sister, grandpa, and I sat by the tree and began opening presents from the immediate family. This year my sister and I decided to get my mom many gifts as to show her appreciation. Many tears were shed as we all gave each other many gifts of meaning, things that can’t just be bought and thrown away when someone gets sick of it. We spent all of the morning opening gifts, and then we ate a lot of breakfast. We then decided it was time to make all the food we’d bring over to our aunt’s house. After we all got dressed up, we headed over to our aunt’s house. We arrived first, before grandma, grandpa, and the other sibling of my father. We all brought our gifts in and put them under the tree for later. Before everyone else arrived, I decided to hand out my special gifts to the cousins.

3 Meinhardt As I began handing out the gifts to each cousin, they all opened their mouths in shock. “Kurt! What are all of these?!” “They are just small gifts I decided to craft for all the cousins.” They began ripping into their gifts one by one. In confusion, my aunt asked why I brought these gifts. I was only to bring one gift for the gift exchange. That is when it hit me that everyone is raised to experience Christmas differently. My aunt grew up being taught that when someone gives you a gift, you must gift something back. She was raised under the impression that the world we live in is a give and take world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that outlook at the world, but it is now making me think of the world differently even more because I was raised in a completely different manner. My parents raised me in a dissimilar way from my aunt. I remember being taught that gifts should be taken with open arms, but that gifts should also be given endlessly. The people who are in my life give me the gift of friendship every day. When looked up in a dictionary, gift is something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone. Nowhere does it say that one must return this in payment. Gifts are meant to be cherished. This lesson continued throughout Christmas night. After seeing every gift that was unwrapped, the reaction was eerily similar every time. The common reaction was a look of surprise and puzzlement all in one. I could see on my dad’s side of the family’s faces the look of trying to figure out the prices of the things within each gift. The questions came across their face as if they were thinking, “Does this add up to fifty dollars?” This did not sit right with me, however, because it just did not seem like that should be the thoughts going through your head during Christmas. I started judging them instantly, but that got old really quick. Why should I form a judgement upon someone when I don’t even know the whole background story? This was

4 Meinhardt the lesson I have learned through the experience. Although it was rude to question the prices of gifts and to be concerned with the gift altogether, it is ruder to form judgements upon someone when you cannot even begin to know how they were raised or even the life they have lived. The lesson I am hoping is instilled in you is the lesson of understanding. You simply cannot form judgements upon someone that you have yet to know the whole story about. In simple terms, live your life forming opinions first then setting your judgements after. It is more than alright to form an opinion about someone before truly knowing them. These opinions must not form a judgement until you know the full story....