Reflection

I’m glad to have the opportunity to narrate the story of my life which included many miracles at every stage.

Using the blogging technique of writing is helping me to develop the different difficulties that I encountered at every step of my life. It also gives me chances to express my gratitude to those who have extended their hand and heart to help me making the difficulties becoming good lessons that I can apply to my life.

The database gave me wider look at other difficulties that other people encountered in their lives. It makes me better understand that not only my life contains difficulties.

The images make my presentation easier to be understood. They convey my message with photos and pictures so viewers have better understanding.

The blog is broken into different posts which make it easier to move my theme with sequential order.

The oral presentation gave me opportunity to directly explaining the messages of the theme.

I’m so grateful for being able to take this class. Instructor is closely managing me to fulfill assignments. Classmates are wholeheartedly helping me to better understanding the procedure on each assignment. I feel that I’m receiving the most recent miracle not only for achieving my degree requirement, but also to improve my English ability. Last but not least, I’m thankful for the opportunity to prove, by my real life, that “The difficulties in life make life better, not bitter” as stated in the above image.

Citation:

Image retrieved May 9, 2011 from Google images, http://www.zazzle.com/the_difficulties_in_life_are_intended_to_make_u_mug-168522887497025554

Visual Rhetoric 2

The image shows to the viewer the scene of a person who is using a line which is attached to a post on one side and a tree on the other side. The line is broken while the person was riding. He definitely is falling down. With the depth of the cliff and may be sharp rock in the bottom, this person needs a miracle to save his life. The faded figure in the upper center of the image gives viewers idea that this person is receiving a miracle and he will be saved.

The image reminded me the accident in which I fell twenty five feet high from my roof. According to the surgeon who performed the operation to reorganize my internal organs, this kind of fall would end up either to a death or permanent paralyze. Miraculously I did not land on my head, or on my bottom. Had I landed on either of these positions, the result would be a death or the permanent damage.

With the viewers of this image, the pathos gives them a scary impression; and if the person can survive this king of fall, it needs to have a miracle.

Visual Rhetoric 1

The image above shows the orphans are standing behind the window of a building. The wall of the building is made of concrete blocks which are put together by cement. The orphans look skinny and sad. The black area behind the orphans indicates that there is not enough light inside of the room.

The construction of the building shows that the building is old and is repaired to house the orphans. The ribs on the orphans bodies indicate that they are mal-nutritiously fed. The shaved head may suggest that some kind of diseases need to be prevented (head lice for example). We are also drawn to this image through mythos in that our caring of children is a universal connection.

Pathos is a word that describes how the image appeals to the emotion or feelings of the viewer. Obviously, the viewers could see that the orphans need to be fed with better ration of food. The orphans look so lonely and their eyes would invite the viewers’ visitation.


Citation:
Image retrieved on May 7, 2011 from Google images, http://histclo.com/essay/war/com/wc-nk.html

Do You Believe In Miracle?

Today April 30 is the anniversary of the biggest miracle of my life: the last minute escape of my family from the fall of my native country into the Communists’ hand. The miracle begun with the reception of a telegram which was sent to me by my friend: Bob Winter. The telegram urged me to leave the country with my family for the United States. He had reserved place and employment for me in his home. By the time I received this telegram, the U.S. embassy was surrounded by thousands of people who, with the documents in hand, were fighting for a chance to pass the gate, lead to the roof, and climb up into one of the helicopters (Kirk, 2011).

With the crowds jammed on the front street of the embassy, there was no way that I could sneak into the premise with my wife and three young children. While I was wondering around the city, I passed the port of Saigon and saw people ran to a docked boat on the river. I rushed home, loaded my wife and three children on my 50 cc. moped and carried them to the port. By the time we arrived, the 100’ x 200’ (approximately) boat was jammed with over one thousand escapees; the anchor was cut. I had to throw my children onto the boat, jumped on it, and extended my leg for my wife to sit on my foot and pulled her on. While pulling my wife, I dropped my sandal on the river; I migrated to the U. S. with barred foot. After six days sitting on the boat (there was no room to lay down) with very little rice to survive, we were escorted to the Subic Bay, Philippine where we were greeted by the American Navy and started our new life. Our new journey began with one pair of close on each individual; my shoe was given by a friend who I met at the naval base in Subic Bay (no socks). From the Subic Bay we were transported to Guam, and to the Forth Smith army camp in Arkansas. On June 10th, Bob greeted me at the Dubuque airport in Iowa. He took us to his dairy farm in Wisconsin where I was employed as a cow milkier.

With the physical weakness (I weighed only 90 pounds), I wasn’t able to handle the heavy burden in the dairy farm. I moved to Iowa to start the new employments as warehouseman (Iowa), shipyard sandblaster, community worker (Louisiana), social worker (California), employment placement interviewer (California), mail carrier (California), computer programmer (California), gardener (California), fingernail business owner (California, Virginia), bridal business owner (Virginia). Finally I retired as school bus driver (Virginia).

For every step of my new journey, I have to admit that I had received miracles. I just want to cite out two biggest miracles that happened to me:
1. When I was working as computer programmer in California, I developed that I had a brain tumor which needed to be removed. Thanks to the help of a physician who was a deacon of my church, the surgery went on very well. I fully recovered after six months of treatment. I was able to return to the normal activities.
2. In 1998, in order to save three thousand dollars from hiring the professionals, I painted my house. When I tried the final touch up, I fell twenty five feet from my roof resulting in eight broken ribs and a surgery to reorganize internal organs. Doctor was surprise that, while eighty percent of this kind of incident resulting either the death or paralyze, I could survive without permanent effects. I was hospitalized for ten days. I was able to return to the normal activities.

Unlike the long discussions of Bayne and other authors against the definition of miracle written by Hume (Bayne, 2007), I simply believe that miracle is an achievement of a person and that achievement occurs beyond his or her efforts.

My rough life is filled with miracles. In each miracle, there is involvement of either God or of other people. The chain of miracles started with the salvation of my grandmother and continued with the life in different orphanages, the success in education, the survival of terrible war, and last but not least, the new life in the United States. In every miracle, there are hands of other people, known and unknown, involved.

If you agree with my definition, would you believe in miracle?



Citation:

Bayne, S. M. (2007). Hume on miracles: Would it take a miracle to believe in a miracle?. Southern Journal of Philosophy, 45(1), 1-29. Retrieved on May 2, 2011 from EBSCOhost.
Saigon Rescue: Kirk documentary premieres. (2011). Naval History, 25(1), 66-67. Retrieved on April 30, 2011 from EBSCOhost.