3. Me, well I’d say that I’m just like anybody else. Others may say that I’m a motivator. I give all the credit to my grandpa. “El Nono” was what we called him, the average Italian the grandfather to most. To me he was something else. He was my inspiration, he was my role model. My mind may be a little blurry, but as far as I remember it was the most humid, hot, and overall muggy August in Puerto Rican history. School was about to start, and like every other year the havoc of getting ready was on its return. My grandpa lived only a short walk away from our house. I would visit him now and then to talk to him. I would be the one to walk to him because he had a serious heart problem that prevented him from walking long distances. Every time I would visit him he would tell me a story about his childhood, always ending them with some sort of life lesson. I must say I was never much of a religious person as a child. I always thought of it as a boring and useless pastime. Being born and raised into a dedicated Catholic family did not help the situation. We would fight constantly as they tried to get me to go to church. It would never work, and it always ended with me punished for not attending mass. In school I would hang out with the “bad” kids. These were the kids that did drugs or more commonly known as the “bullies”. My grandpa knew about all this though he never really ever mentioned it in any of our daily talks because he knew that it could jeopardize the strong relationship that had grown between us over the years. This was until he got the bad news. He went to visit the doctor one day and the doctor had told him that his heart was growing weaker and that he may not live much longer. The next day after school I went to my grandpa’s house. He took no time at all to tell me that he wanted to have a little entertainment. That day, or what was left of it, was the best day in my life. It was full of excitement and joy. We visited an amusement park and took a walk through Old San Juan. Never, would I have thought that El Nono, an old man with a feeble heart, would be able to do so much. The last thing that he asked me if we could go do that day was visit the church and attends mass. Of course I would not refuse. When we reached the church we sat through the mass. After mass ended he went to confession. He sat me down afterwards to have a “talk” I automatically knew where this was heading to. As I thought, he began to talk to me about the way that I was living life and about how I should change. I ignored this, like every other time that anybody would give me a long and boring speech. A week passed by and on my way home from school I decided that I would go straight home rather than stopping by my grandpa’s house. When I got home all I heard was the sound of my mother sobbing. I ran to see what had happened. When I arrive to her room I saw her on her bed, the tears were trailing down her face, and the phone laying flat on the floor as if dropped by a sudden shock. Each tear that drop, to me, was like an echo growing louder and louder. I knew exactly what had happened. Three days later I was standing in front of a coffin, my grandpa had passed away. As I stepped up to give his empty body my last goodbye thoughts began to rush through my mind. It was as though El Nono had been inspiring me from above. All the words had had spoken to me only ten days ago was beginning to make sense. From that moment I dedicated myself to living a good life. A life that El Nono would have been proud of me to live. I am now living in Texas and only hang out with good kids, defending the one’s being bullied and trying to inspire the bullies as I had been inspired. I am involved with my church and my community. Whenever I feel hopeless or in need of encouragement I just remember the last life lesson that my grandpa had told me “Remember that life is a gift and you should enjoy it while you can”.
5. “…Throughout history there has always been an alarming amount of religious conflicts taking form in many different ways and involving every religion in existence. Religious conflicts have had drastic affects on human history and have taken place in almost every civilization. In many cases this theme has been relevant in history and many of which have changed it drastically. At one point in which religious conflict has taken a toll was of course the schism of the church. This was when Justinian the emperor of Rome announced a new religion due to the decline of a divorce. He was angered by this situation, after all he was emperor and he felt that it was his choice. Instead of reacting violently he simply created a new church, or religion, called Eastern Orthodox. This greatly influenced history because instead of influence by an outside source, the Pope, Justinian made all decisions religiously as well as politically. Another example of religious struggles in history was the crusades. The crusades were a result to the expansion of Islamic states into Christian territories. The Christians would attack the Muslims, not only to re-conquer lost land, but also to prevent further expansion. This has been a relevant subject in history because of the continuation of the crusades and the prevention of expansion by the Muslims. Without the crusades Christianity the largest religion in the world may have been abolished by the Muslims…”
