The relationship

The 2 main and probably the only characters of the story are Burge McCall himself and his wife.

In my opinion Burge is somehow a humoristic character. He hates his wife. What kind of a husband would hate his wife and yet live with her under the same roof? This is very ironic. The story says that he has been married twice before and unsurprisingly his ex-es ran away from him and got divorced. He was also very cheap with his wife. He didn't agree to buy her any presents or treats, but was very generous with himself and other women. He was stingy, selfish, self-centered, rude, impolite and probably every other negative characteristics you can imagine. Mrs. McCall was very different, she was very calm person, never had much to say, she was that kind of woman the other women always called Mrs. because not many people knew her. She was tagged by the town's people as Mrs. McCall. At the end we can see that she was very smart too, she made plans for the long term and she succeeded. She came from Peppersauce Bottom, just south of Santa Fe rail yards. She came from a poor place and it is said that the reason she married him was to get out of that place.

They had been together for 3 years and 4 months and for a year and 2 months he didn’t like the way she looked at him. He started hating his wife, which is very unnatural for a couple's relationship. She was very quiet; she didn't even answer him when he called her names. It was very odd for him. He was used to women that called him names right back when he called them.

The way Mrs. McCall looked at him made him start hating her after only 2 months of marriage. Until one day, after 2 years of marriage, Burge McCall slapped Mrs. McCall on the face. She rapidly wiped out the place he slapped her and said "McCall you are a big rat. Some day you are going to regret what you have done". Burge was somewhat disappointed with her reaction. She didn't curse him or slapped him back.

One day Burge dropped into the drug store, which was owned by Mrs.Mcalls brother, to get a drink. The druggist there told him that his wife bought rat poison. At first he wasn't nervous but after a while he realized that the rat she was looking for might be him. He became very worried and began to eat and drink outside. He feared she might use the poison on him and kill him. He started behaving nicely to her because he was afraid and from that point their relationship just got better.

I think that their relationship is very funny and ironic. Most of the "just married" couples begin to get sick and tired of each other after some years of marriage. But the McCall's relationship started very badly and just got better with time. It is funny because the one and only thing that turned their relationship upside down was a simple pound of rat poison.

HomeWork- Important or

Homework has always been a big part of a student's life, whether he is in elementary school or college. During our lives we spent tens of thousands of hours in preparing homework. Is it really necessary? Does making homework give us tools for success in our lives, or a better chance in achieving our goals? Personally, I doubt that.

It is our job to ask ourselves if it is really necessary or just a waste of time. I personally believe that homework is mostly unnecessary especially in elementary school and middle school. During that period of studying grades aren't the most important outcome, it is us, who we become,whether we are good, honest, kind or greedy, cocky or whatever. Middle school should work on our values and less on grades. In order to support that claim I am willing to give myself as an example. I am a product of 9 years without preparing any homework and I think I came out just fine for the later stages of my education- High School.

Concerning high school my opinion is different; I think that high school is all about having good grades. Unfortunately, success in high school has the potential to give us a great leverage in our lives and that's exactly why homework is important at this stage of our education because doing homework expands our chances of having better grades.

To sum up, homework is very important and yet a very unnecessary task. In some stages of our lives it is unavoidable and even recommended and in others it is just a waste of time.

Space Exploration- Enriching our knowledge or Wasting our resources?

Space exploration has always been a central and well funded field of the 2 super powers in the world. Nowadays it seems that the United States is far more advanced and efficient in this area than Russia. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in this field for research. Is it really worth it? Do we get anything else in return? Maybe we can invest that amount of money to improve the world's welfare situation. There are some arguments which might help us take better decisions.

Before stating the normal and obvious arguments, I believe that space exploration has been a part of a race.

A race between the 2 great superpowers in the world, this race is called the cold war and space exploration took a significant part in it. Space exploration isn't only about the research and the knowledge of space. Having achievements in it comes with a great feel of honor and prestige. And that is why those 2 superpowers raced between themselves for 4 decades and the winner received the honor and the respect it deserved. Fortunately, Space exploration isn't only about the honor and "fame", it's also about the research of the history and the future of our galaxy and universe. A Big part of the knowledge gained in this field is used to improve our quality of life on Earth. I believe those areas aren't less important than fame and glory.

Travelling to space has its disadvantages too. During the history of space travelling a lot of accidents occurred on the shuttles and 2 of them were fatal- they caused explosions.1 of them exploded after a few seconds of flight and the other while trying to get back to Earth. In the second one we lost our beloved Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon. Space exploration is not only risky but expensive too. Success in this business comes with huge amounts of money paid from us- the tax payers; the question we're facing is if we, as human beings, can tolerate any kind of ignorance with the current undergoing issues such as the economy crysis, global warming etc . Imagine if all the money that was spent on space projects was invested in improving upcoming issues on Earth, such as welfare problems, environment problems, political issues etc. , we could have had much better and healthier lives.

To sum up, I agree that space exploration is very important and we should finance it and push this field to success and achieve knowledge but, there are more important issues on Earth we should put in our top priority list. If necessary, we should put the space projects on hold and concentrate on the upcoming recession.

Peer Pressure

As a teenager in today’s world, I can see that our lives are a constant product of peer pressure and that our minds are often swayed from what may be considered better judgment because of how those around us feel. Peer pressure can come from any and everywhere and in every aspect of your lives. You can be five or ninety-five but yet, we are all victims of peer pressure. I would like to talk about one specific area which includes me and my friends, the adolescents, and express my opinion.

Before expressing my opinion I think I should clarify one thing.Peer pressure isn’t always negative and wrong. In certain parts and periods of our lives we will be exposed to positive and helpful peer pressure and in others to the exact opposite. It is our "job" to select the ones we need or think will be good for us.

During our studies in high school we are constantly exposed to peer pressure, positive and negative. The real question isn't about the specific details of the pressure such as "alocohol", "smoking", "cutting classes" etc. The real question is about US. Whether or not we can select and tag what we believe is good or bad for us.

For exmaple: few days ago a good friend asked me to cut bible class with him and a couple of guys. I answered negatively simply because I liked the subject and there was a test coming few weeks from then. One more example: There was an essay our biology teacher told us to write and needed to be handed very soon. I planned to write the essay on the last evening before it needed to be handed out, but my partner pushed me to do it right then and not to postpone it for the last day.

These are 2 examples of peer pressure. The first one is by all means a negative pressure and the first one is positive. What I'm trying to say is that at one hand we should stay far from pressure which is tagged by us as negative and on the other hand get the closest we can to pressure which we believe is positive. This is the only way I believe we will do the least mistakes and even succeed in our lives.

Letter of Advice

29.1.2009

Dear Mike,

I've recently heard about your problem and I want to tell you that I understand it. I have already been in situations like this before and I have passed through them successfully. If I understood correctly your letter, you were saying that you are unsure about that mountain climbing and your friends are "pushing" you to do this. Right?

I can see that you're facing two dilemmas. The first one, you are unsure about climbing that mountain and the second is about your friends, you feel under pressure, which is completely normal.

First of all I want to address your first problem. Danger is life. There is no proper living without any danger, in my opinion."Conquer your fear and I promise you, you'll conquer DEATH."- as Alexander the great said. I can't imagine myself living without danger...

Even if you get hurt somehow, you should know that you did your best and enjoyed that kind of experience. I mean, you will enjoy it, I can assure you! Mountain climbing is an extreme sport, it gets your adrenaline flowing like a water in a river in your blood stream. If you decide to relinquish it after all, I can tell you that you'll regret it for the rest of your life. This is a once in a lifetime experience you should do only with your friends supporting you.

Now, I'd like to state my opinion about your situation with your friends.I think that you should listen to them, but you must make sure that whatever happens, your judgment won't change in any circumstances. You must stay aware and consciouse of your enviroment and focus on the dilemmas you’re facing.

I can only wish you good luck and advice you to do whatever your instincts tell you to do. If deep inside you feel you should go for it, then go for it. DO NOT hesitate. Be decisive! But, if your instincts tell you to relinquish this unique experience, then unfortunately, I think you should pass that. Anyway, my opinion stays the same, If I were you I would be climbing that mountain already.

I hope I helped you.

Good luck PAL.

My opinion about the current situation in the middle east:

First of all, it isn't a simple problem, its one the most complicated and sensitive situations in the world's history. If I'd say that I have 'the perfect' solution for that problem I'd probably lie. There is no current 'formula' for a solution. In this case, I believe Isreal should work on damage control.

What does it mean? Israel should get its detteration ability back. We must force Hamas to believe that for every missile shot to Sderot or Ashkelon it will get back heavy bombardment to its forces in Gaza, in this way we will get some security.

I support IDF operations in Gaza with no hesitation and futhermore, I believe it should increase the fire and impose more deadly bombardents into those ammunation depots and training camps. This operation is unavoidable but necessary though. I don’t think a ceasefire will be appropriate for now because IDF hasn't accomplished its objectives yet. IDF should maintain its agression till Hamas will be as weak as it was before it took control of Gaza.

To sum up, I support the government decisions and IDF actions in Gaza and if I had a choice I'd put up some uniform and join the fighting in order to support my nation.

Informal Letter

Dear Or

God, I haven't written to you in a long time. I was pretty busy lately with all the exams I have had. English, History and Math, all in one week and those are not easy at all, as you already know.

How are you? How is your new school? Have you made any new friends? Met a girl perhaps?

I want to tell you about this amazing film I have seen not long ago.

It is called "Fight Club", It was filmed about 10 years ago starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. It is about 2 guys that come to a conclusion that life in this modern age isn't satisfying enough so they decide to open a fight club. And the the best part of it is the endin... It has such a dramatic twist in the end that it will probably take few minutes to digest... It also contains everything; action, black humor, drama, sex and most of all this is the deepest and most interesting movie I've ever seen my whole life. The main character is called Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt. The most umique thing about this character is that he acts against all the normal customs in the modern society, it's difficult to verbalize, I hope you understand, I just highly and strongly recommend you to see it as fast as possible.

Anyway, Long story short, after I've seen this movie I haven't stopped thinking about it the whole week and of course, saw it again a couple of times and still keep thinking about it.

I hope I'll see you soon and don’t forget to send me a letter with your opinion about the movie; I'm looking forward to it!

God bless you my friend.

Kobi