Hard-Work Is The Key To Success

What does success in life depend on more - talent or hard work ?

This question is asked by many people in the world, and seems to be in controversy. Some say that talent is the most important thing a man needs if he wants to succeed, yet others support the "hard-work" attitude.

In my opinion, success is defined by reaching the goals you have set for yourself in a certain time. I think that hard-work always pays off better than talent because without putting any effort, the talent would go to waste and be useless. As an example, let's compare between 2 guitar players. The guitar is known as a musical instrument that you need to practice in order to (a word is missing here) on a regular basis. One of the guitarists is gifted and controls the guitar more easily. He decides to practice less because he is talented. On the other hand, there is the average guitar player, who dedicates himself to the guitar. He plays hours every day and practices as much as he can. Eventually, the less gifted guitar player will probably  become a better and more successful guitarist, since the gifted one doesn't make any real progress.This paragraph is too long. You should shorten the example.

 In addition, hard-work has a lot of power and its results are usually shown a while after we start working. The power of will is one of the strongest things there are, and it makes up even for the lack of talent. If a man truly dedicates himself to his target and does anything in his power to get there, I assure you – he will succeed. There are plenty of miraculously(ww. miraculous) stories talking(מיותר) about impossible things that men/women did, only because they wanted it so badly, such as a disabled man who walked again after a lot of physiotherapy and trainings.

 To sum up, talent may help you to get(ww.-achieve) your goal faster if you work. However, hard-work guarantees that you get there eventually, with or without talent. So when it comes to success, hard-work is the best way to get there. If you want to succeed – work hard for it and don't give up, even when it gets hard. 
Good work.
(92)
Daphna

All My Sons - Post Reading Activity a

                                                                                                                                  7/09/1945

Dear Diary,

Today I came back home from the war. I can't put it  in words and express the feeling of coming back home after watching my men die one by one in the field. No one seems to care about the war, it seems like it was all for nothing. The whole thing to them(who exactly?) was a kind of a bus accident. All they care about is their money.
 
It's so quiet here. No gun shots sounds, nor soldiers screaming for help. You can only hear the birds chirping.
When dad brought me home, he was driving the new car he bought me. I feel awful about it. The money my dad spends, the bloody money he made from the war, it just makes me sick. I can hear my soldiers crying in every cent he spends. On top of that, he asked me to work with him at the plant. I don't want to let him down, so for now I'll accept his request, considering the fact that his son, my little brother,  died in that horrible war.


I can't sleep at night. I'm having all of these nightmares, memories from the war. I just lie in my comfortable bed, thinking of ways I could’ve saved every soldier from dying back there. They were foolish! If they were only a bit selfish, some of them could’ve come back home. But they were better than that. They killed themselves for each other. Sometimes I think I am better off dead. I should’ve died there, along with my soldiers.


However, none of this matters now. I'm back home, and they are dead. I'm going back to my old life. The only thing I can do right now is be a better person, like my soldiers were. Maybe that would ease the blame, release me from the guilt and cut me off my chains. I owe that to them, that's the least I can do. Otherwise it would be a disgrace to their honor. May they rest in peace.

Beautiful!
(100)
Daphna

All My Sons - Bridging

Arthur Miller was an American playwright, who was born in New York. Miller's father had owned a garment factory, so Miller had a very comfortable life, up until the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Since then, Miller had to work every morning before school in order to help the family out. Miller's plays deal with social and political issues such as one's response to the pressures exerted by his family. A recurring theme of his works is the conflict between one's personal interests and needs versus the responsibility for the society and moral corruption, which is caused by materialism and greed.

In Miller's play, "All My Sons", we can see the difference between the values of the main character, Joe Keller, and his son Chris. Joe is a self-made man, who started from nothing and built his own successful plant. The only thing Joe values is his family. He believes there's nothing that is "bigger than the family" and anything should be excused within the family. However, his son, Chris, is an idealist and a former soldier, who believes the responsibility for the society is above all. During World War II, Joe decided to ship defected cylinder parts to the army, which eventually caused the deaths of 21 pilots. Joe excused his war crimes by saying it was for the family and that wanted them to have a comfortable life. Also, he said that if he didn't ship the parts, the army was ready to cancel his contract and his company, which was his biggest achievement in life, would've been ruined. Chris' idealism is phony. Despite the fact that he suspected what his father has done, he still used the tainted money of the factory and kept working with his father after the war. When Chris found out that his father was guilty, he wanted to lock him up in prison. However, he caved under his family's pressure and became a "practical" and down to earth man. He wanted to leave and start a new life.

 The information helped me understand better the themes of "All My Sons". I can see that Joe chose to follow his interests and greedy needs over his responsibility to the society. By doing so, he killed 21 men and got away from punishment by lying at court whilst his partner was sent to jail. The materialism had affected his moral judgment, and corrupted his mind. Chris represents the responsibility to the society – he wanted to hand over his own father to the police in order to make his father pay for his mistakes. We can see how the pressure of his family changes his character, and surrenders his moral mind by making him more "practical" and giving up for his values.

To sum up, we can see how Miller's themes are reflected in his play "All My Sons". It all comes down to one instructive lesson – be a better person, take responsibility for your actions and don’t let anyone undermine your values. Always be true to yourself.

(100)
Daphna

Letter of Complaint

10th Urim St'
Holon, Israel
85664
November 3rd, 2013

Mr. Tim Cook
C.E.O
Apple Computer, Inc.
1 Infinite Loop st.
Cupertino, California
95014

Dear Mr. Cook,
Your company has recently raised its' products prices by 35%. I am writing this letter to express my dissatisfaction with this move.

First, I would like to mention I have been buying your products constantly ever since the first "iPod" went out. Your products have a quality that I can't find anywhere else in the market, and your prices fit the quality. I get it. Quality costs money. Considering your current prices, increasing the prices by 35% is just a daylight robbery and it might scare off some of your customers, like me.

In addition, I would like to offer you some suggestions to improve your service and products. In my opinion, you should make a whole new design for the next iPhone generation, since all of its' prior generations all look alike. The customer wants to feel he really buys a whole other new phone, and not the same old thing with a different name. People want a renovation, and I believe Apple, which is a well-known company, has the resources to do so. Another thing is, considering the prices you charge, I think you should extend from 1 year to 2 years your warranty for your products. I currently posess an iPhone 4th generation which I bought 18 months ago, and it has a lot of problems such as very low volume in the speakers, the "home" button does not respond etc. Those are very common and well-known problems with this generation. I think it would be appropriate that with the price you charge for your premium devices, I won't have to send my iPhone to a private lab in order to fix these problems.

Would you consider my suggestions and think at least on some of them? Please note that I am a fan of your devices, and my suggestions are for your company's good. My suggestions are based on my experience, together with my family's, friends' and a lot of people on the internet experience with your products. I had felt the need to express our feelings especially now, when you have decided to suddenly raise your prices.
I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely yours,
Adam Levi.

Good work

(92)

Daphna

Volunteering

Being involved in your community is a very important experience that more people should experience, especially students and teenagers, since they have so much free time. Today, there are students that volunteer and some teenagers are very involved in their community, but its not enough. Volunteering is a very rewarding experience in which you can actually feel how it benefits you after your activity in the community. "You get what you give" is definitely one sentence to describe this activity, meaning if you give yourself to the community, it will benefit you in a way you never thought of before and can literally change people's lives. So how can we encourage students to be more involved in their community ?

In my opinion, schools have a very important role in the students' education and values, therefore they should promote the value of volunteering in their students. For starters, the schools can contact some community centers, asking some of their representatives to come and lecture to the students about being involved in their community, and then take them out to see what it actually means and let them experience it for 1 day with their teachers. In that way, the students can understand closely the meaning of "volunteering" and see that there are many ways to contribute their society and how fun it is. The best part is that you get to choose your own group that you like in the community center, and take one or two close friends with you in order to feel more comfortable in your first time of volunteering.

For example, when I was in the 9th grade I had the opportunity to volunteer for the first time. I sat with some of my friends and a community center's guide and talked to mentally-disabled people about the recent news of our small country. I can't describe in words the look in their eyes when they talked to us, and I must say some of them are very intelligent people too. It was so fun, we didn't even notice it was late. On my way home with my friends, we decided to do this "thing" on a regular basis - once in a week. That's all you need to change people's lives dramatically. The disabled people were so happy and excited to see us again. I swear one of them almost cried with joy.

To sum up, volunteering is a big word, yet too small to describe all of the emotions and spiritually fulfilment in its' experience. So students, teenagers, or any other person that reads this right now, my suggestion to you is this - Get off your sofa and start getting involved in your community in any way you can, from the smallest thing, like helping an old lady to cross the road, to volunteering in your community center. You don't know how much power you have and how much lives you can change. This world is ours to take care of, and we're the only ones that can make it a better place to live in.
I love it! Great work.(It's a but too long through....)
(100)
Daphna

To Be Caught Red-Handed

To be caught red-handed is one of the most stressful things there is. You just freeze on the spot, having nothing to say to defend yourself. I got caught red-handed once, while I was working last year.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I had been working at "Cinema City" as a seller(ww.) in the popcorn stand. I was on a night shift when my friends came to see a movie. I saw them in the line(ww.) and told them to come to my cashbox stand. I gave them free popcorn, drinks and chocolate, which I was not allowed to do. Without knowing, my supervisor was watching. I smiled as they went away. 10 minutes after they were gone, along with all the other people who needed to buy snacks for the movie, my supervisor called me to the manager's office. The manager asked if there is(gr.) something I want(gr.) to confess about. Although I knew what he was talking about, I replied innocently "No". My supervisor told(ww.) he saw me giving away free popcorn. I had nothing to say. I felt a pinch in my heart, and my stomach flipped. I got fired.

On my way home, feeling ashamed of myself, I started thinking of what I had done and what it had cost me. I learned 2 important lessons that day. The first one is – never break your work place's rules. It was a stupid thing to do and I lost my job because of it. The second lesson is – don't lie after you get caught. Chances are your boss already knows what you have done and wants to give you a chance to confess about it. Who knows, maybe if I wouldn't have lied(gr.) I could have just got a warning. Well, at least my friends had fun that night.

Very good story and nicely written. Your grade remains the same.
(94)
Daphna

All the Years Of Her Life - Ex. 5: Our Teenage Son

He always watches T.V,
or playes the computer,
along with a shirt or pair of pants
that is just throwned on his unmade bed.
Never washed a dish in his life,
yet hopes to find the perfect wife.
Maybe someday along the road,
He'll grow up and be an adult.