The "Hamburger"

Today I found out why a hamburger is called hamburger. In the early 18th century some Germans noticed during their travels to Asia, that the locals would stuff their beef between their saddles while they would ride, to help soften it for later consumption. The Germans loved the idea of soft seasoned meat, and so they brought the idea back home with them to Hamburg. As time went on, it soon became known as Hamburg Meat.

A few years later, as German immigrants made their way to the U.S., they shared the recipe for Hamburg Meat. The first record of Hamburg meat in the United States was in 1884, when the Boston Evening Journal mentioned “Hamburg Steak.” It wasn’t long before people began to put their own spin on things. The first known “Hamburger” was made by Charlie Nagreen. He introduced his “American Hamburger” at the Outgamie County Fair in Seymour, Wisconsin in 1885. His “hamburger” though wasn’t on a bun and was of course without cheese or bacon. Oh, if he only knew what he was missing. I guess like most great things in history, it just took time to develop. The first known Hamburger on buns as we know it today, took place in St. Louis in the 1904 World Fair.

Communism -vs- Democracy

Communism and democracy are two different ideologies that have rendered great impact in the world. Communism can be termed as a socio-economic structure that stands for the establishment of a classless and stateless society. Democracy is a political system of governance either carried out by the people directly or by elected representatives.

Communism is a political ideology that is based on a common ownership, mainly concerned with equality and fairness. In communism, the power is vested in a group of people who decide the course of action. It is this group of people who decide on the activities of the public. These groups of people may interfere in the public life of others. On the other hand, democracy, which also stands for equality in the society, is governed by a group of elected people. Democracy is a rule by the people and the elected representatives are bound to fulfill the wishes of the society.

A big difference seen between democracy and communism is in the term of economic systems. In communism, the government has complete control over the production and distribution of goods and all the resources and it is shared in the society equally. But in democracy, this aspect is not there.

In communism, it is the community or the society that holds the major resources and production. This helps in preventing any single person or a group of people from raising to a higher position than others or becoming rich. But in democracy, free enterprising is allowed, which means that people or groups can have their own businesses. This can lead to rich and poor in society.

Coming to democracy, there are no specific principles that define it. But democracy is based on the principle of equality and freedom. It is also based on the principle that all citizens have equal rights. Another principle that defines democracy is that the citizens have certain liberties and freedoms, which are protected by the constitution.

3rd Grade Spelling Bee Dilemma

People usually tend to view speaking in front of a crowd of people is a frightening situation because of many reasons. First, people do not practice speaking in public. They have not used to speak reasonably and choose proper words in daily conversations with their friends and families. So they fear to fail their first experience in front of a large audience. Second, People feel scared, uncomfortable, and alone when standing on a stage with everyone's eyes focused on them and judging them. These feelings make them nervous and unable to perform effectively. Finally, some people simply do not know how to write and prepare for a reasonable speech. Thus, they lose confidence and the flow of their speech.

The first time I spoke in front of a large group of people, I was unconscious. It was the 3^rd grade spelling bee. During the bee, I avoided looking at the librarian, who was giving out words. When it was reciting time, I remained speechless for a few seconds. My mouth was dry. Finally, as I could recite, my voice came out awkward and choked, but I continued carelessly. While engaging in my spelling, the librarian pressed the buzzer. The very sound of the buzzer gave me goose bumps. I had not even mentioned all the letters. Going to my seat, I became on the verge of tears. For the rest of the bee, I kept getting angrier with myself. “Why did not I manage my time up there on the stage effectively?” I thought to myself. "You did your best, it was a good effort.", the librarian said. When I heard that, I felt comfortable and more enthusiastic to perform better  and go on to win later in fourth grade.

Bullying

What is bullying? Bullying is everywhere. It’s that horrible thing that destroys people’s happiness and life. Bullying is the big guy picking on the little guys at lunch, the popular girls spreading rumors about the nerdy one, or even the mentally challenged kid being made fun of everywhere he goes. Bullying is the intelligent college student who committed suicide after being humiliated via the internet by his best friend. I’m sure just about everyone has either been a bystander to the horrors of bullying, heard about someone (most likely a student,) who decided to end their life just to get away from a bully, or have possibly even been bullied themselves. You may be wondering what kind of a person would do this, possible reasons for it, and even how they would go about bullying someone. Also going through your mind may be thoughts about the dangers to a society a bully can cause. 

 Bullying plays a very dangerous role in society. In the case of thousands of children every day, the stress of bullying is too much to even handle going to school. For others, the same stress (although probably at a much larger scale) causes them to do the unthinkable – end their misery themselves – by committing suicide. In this year alone three people have killed themselves as a result of severe bullying. Seventy five percent of all people have been bullied at some time or another. That means that three out of every four people have been trashed by a very mean person who has probably done the same thing to several other people. When you bully someone, you risk their happiness, and in some cases their life.

Now I will tell you about how you and any other person could help to stop an instance of bullying anywhere. It may sound very simple, but as you may already know it takes a very brave person to perform this act. It would be completely normal if any person had nightmares about doing it: turning a bully in. Many people never tell anyone about another person’s bullying or even their own just because they are worried about the fact that they would most likely become the bullies’ next target, or worse, being given a label such as “snitch”, or in younger grades “tattle-tale”. By stepping past your own fears and realizing how big of a difference you could make in someone's life, you will not only free the world of another bully, but you will also find a deep sense of amazement in yourself.

So that’s it. Now you know what bullying is. In summary, almost all bullies have at least one thing, (if not several,) that is giving them a reason to want to make themselves feel better by shoving someone to the ground (literally and figuratively). They will use three main forms of bullying to achieve this moment of happiness: Physical bullying, verbal bullying, and cyber-bullying. In the end, bullying is very dangerous to people of all ages, and isn’t acceptable ever. This is why you should never bully someone, allow yourself to be bullied, or just stand by and watch a peer be bullied for any reason.