The Thunderstorm- a Writing Metaphor

I may come across to others

as a normal teenage girl

with brown hair

and green eyes

But underneath

I am much more

not a flower or tree

not a rain storm or blizzard

But a rainbow

a layered rainbow with many personalities

When I’m upset

or under the weather

When I sit alone

pondering my thoughts

I am the deepest blue of a rainbow

storm clouds at the end

an empty pot, no gold

But when I perk up

my color changes

lighting up to a magnificent yellow

I become joyful

pots overflowing with gold

rays of sun shining down upon me

until another storm comes

hiding me until it passes

I relax and start to show again

and again

and again

The brown-haired, green-eyed girl

is a rainbow.

a dark, bright, brilliant rainbow all in one shine.

Jared saw a shadow move in front him and he stopped dead in his tracks. Then, as if saying hello, a small kitten stumbled out from behind a trash can. Whether fearing from misinterpreted noises or fearing an upcoming English test, fear can affect people’s lives by numbing their emotions and causing unwanted stress.

When put in fear’s presence, people tend to become mind-numb to their surroundings. For example, in the memoir Night by Ellie Wiesel, Ellie’s emotions are put to the test when his father takes a brutal beating. Instead of stepping forward to help, Ellie is numbed with the fear of being beaten as well, so he watches . . . emotionless, affecting how his father sees him. In addition, every horror movie has climactic scenes where the Freddy Kruegers, Hannibal Lecters, and Jason Voorhees characters appear. Instead of fleeing in fear, most characters stand there with jaws open, unable to move a muscle. Like shown in these characters, fear has a way of creeping in and paralyzing our bodies before we can react.

Along with dull emotions, fear can cause unwanted worry or stress. To illustrate, in the novel The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, after 10-year-old Jody’s pony died, the ranch hand Billy Buck feared that the new pony would not make it through its birth. Billy and Jody both questioned every day if it would come, when it would come, and if it would be healthy. Realizing their worry was simply out of fear, they relaxed and let nature happen. Like Jody and Billy Buck, fear can present itself in a dangerous way, numbing our emotions and making us stress.

Jared realized what had happened and let the worry slip away. Like Jared, we tend to let fear cloud our emotions and make us think the worse out of situations.

Honk! The red sports car slammed on its breaks. The driver of the car, a young college boy, leaned out of the car, cell phone in hand, looking at the mini van he had barely missed in astonishment. Whether texting a driving, or just being distracted by your oh-so-lovely device, thousands of lives have been affected by cell phones by keeping them away from the real world, and affecting their education negatively.

With our convenient device in hand, we tend to forget about what is really happening around us, and what really matters. For example, in the movie Cyberbully, all Taylor can think about is what, and who is talking about her behind her back. She is constantly online, whether that be on her cell phone or computer, forgetting the outside world, and damaging her relationships with her family. It is important to take a step back, and look at the world without cell phones. In addition, communication errors are a popular problem with how lives are affected by cell phones. I’ve had my own experience when talking over the phone with my mom… Let’s just say she wasn’t too thrilled with me! Therefore, cell phones have not only put a dent in many relationships, but affected the way we translate or receive messages as well.

Walking into any classroom, at least two or three kids have their cell phones underneath the desk, hoping no one will notice as they update Instagram. Cell phones have started to affect young teen’s educations in a very negative way. To illustrate, many kids are distracted by the social media apps, and using Mrs. Weirsig’s favorites, emoticons, to actually focus on the school work lying in front of them. Students are constantly texting, snapchatting, and tweeting, not realizing that in order to pass the class, they have to pay attention and do their work. Similar to this, at home, teens become lazy and don’t feel like doing their three-hour-pile-on homework, so they end up sending a quick text to their friends, trying to get answers. Sometimes they end up looking the answers up online instead from their handy-dandy cell phone. Cheating will help no one in a classroom, it can only damage their lives. It’s important to remember how the negative effects of cell phone usage affect the development of education.

Rather than putting others in harm’s way by cell phone distractions such as texting and driving, it’s important to focus on the more real world phases in life such as school and relationships.

The 210 pound bully held Tyler in his grasp as he spit his mean, hateful words towards Tyler. He tried to control himself for he knew what would happen if he were to retaliate back against the bully. The bully finally left him, realizing that Tyler was not the one to fight back. Relief flooded Tyler, who was just glad he could control himself. Containing extreme emotions towards others in the way Tyler did can affect one throughout their lives. It is important to deal with extreme emotions because it can help one build relationships and live a happy, healthy life.

In order to build relationships that are honest, healthy, and pure, it’s important to have communication with one another and to have subtle emotions. To illustrate, my brothers tend to try to annoy me, like little gnats flying around, nagging me on and on. Once, they decided to mess with me until I finally had enough. Just like a ticking time bomb, I exploded on them. Emotions will keep storing up until finally they erupt out of one’s body like a volcano exploding. Therefore, even in sibling squabbles, it is important to control such outbursts because it can damage relationships. In addition to communicating comes subtle emotions. Yelling like a demon who escaped from the underworld is no way to communicate with a spouse or friend. Hurt feelings, no longer feeling loved, and arguments like so can put a toll on relationships as well. Calm, neutral conversations would be a helpful way to build and upkeep communication within relationships.

Dealing with emotions is important because they can put a toll on one’s joyous, healthy life. In order to deal with extreme emotions, one must think clean, bright thoughts in order to feel refreshed, which comes hand in hand with mental and physical health. For example, there’s a common saying, “Put good in, get good out.” Kids sit in their zombie-like mode watching angered people shout expletives and so they act with their emotions and actions no different! Similar to this, a tired English teacher’s emotions may flare like firecrackers, causing outbreaks of hatred, or possibly excitement which can lead to mental issues, and even physical issues such as a heart attack. Mental health can impact the way a person thinks, which can affect their emotions and the way they treat those emotions. Keeping up with one’s needs and emotions helps one deal with extreme emotions in a happy and healthy lifestyle.

Whether running through the woods from an unknown person, or dealing with any other extreme emotions within or outside a person, it’s important to deal with them in the correct way because it can affect one’s everyday life and attitude.