An update

Well, I have not posted since February so I think it's time to say something.

Summer is just around the corner and I just cant wait. I'm hoping to do a lot this summer, most of which will help with my family history. I'm going to meet a great-great-aunt who lives not too far away. She has some pictures of my great-great-grandparents and my great-great-great-grandparents. I can't wait to see a picture of Silas, who is my great-great-great-grandfather. I love the name.

But unfortunately, before school ends we all have to go through the hell of MCAS, finals, and history reports. The biggest hell for me is french class. My teacher is a horror. All she does is yell and give tons of work. It'll be nice not ever having her again and not having to be in her class.

When thinking of what to write, it doesn't come out as smooth as when you know what you're going to say.

Well, since the title of my blog is A Collection of Thoughts and Ideas; I think I'll share my idea on some controversial topics. When I looked up controversial topics one came up that I really enjoyed. Should students be allowed to grade their teachers?

I think that students should be able to grade their teachers. The administration may know how the teachers treat them, but have no idea how the teachers are in the classroom to their students. I feel that many teachers have favorites, and when you're not a favorite, you get treated like crap. I know this has happened to me at least...5-7 times. If I could give those teachers grades, I would fail them and give notes why. I figure that some teachers only become teachers so that they can torture children. They don't like kids, and thats why they become teachers. It's a way of getting their anger and frustration out.

Oh well, we all know thats never going to happen. Summer needs to hurry up.

Valentines Day + Other

Hello everyone,

I have not done a blog in a while, so I thought this would be the right time.

Valentines Day is just around the corner, and to some it is one of the favorite holidays. I know for me, it is. I like Valentines Day, it is a day where you can just show your significant other how much you love them and care for them. It's a very loving holiday but, it kind of stinks if you have nobody to share it with.

My sister goes to preschool. Remember how in elementary school all the kids would make Valentines Day cards for the whole class and spend a whole day giving them to everyone? Well, sadly that is no more. So my sister came home today, all happy and said to me "Jeremiah! How many Valentines Day cards did you get today?" as I said "None" her jaw dropped.

Valentines Day either reminds you of how much you love someone, or just how sad it is not having somebody to love. I do have some people I like, but most odds are that they don't like me back. I remember how Valentines Day used to be for me. I got a cup and chocolate balls. Yum! But, that was a long time ago, things have changed.

Oh yeah, and lastly. I don't like liars. And I also don't like getting in trouble because someone else lied.

Family History

As you may know, I am not the average teenager who spends their time engulfed in the latest music and gossip among other things. I do one thing though that many teenagers don’t really care much about. My family tree.

I started becoming interested in sixth grade when my history teacher assigned us to writ a brief little life story about someone interesting in our family. The teacher also said we could ask our grandparents, so I found that this was a perfect time to hear another story from my grandmother. She had told me about her Native American grandmother who had many many children and lived a life to the fullest and many people appreciated all the things she did.

I found this interesting and thought to ask my grandmother other stories about older relatives and we both together thought of the idea to start our family tree. Originally we had some incorrect information and a small little tree. I could tell that there was some work to be done.

As I researched and looked up new things I found it fun to see records, names, birthdates, and death dates for old ancestors. At this point I have traced back my ancestry to the 1600’s in some parts. When you really think about it, you think of the value of life.

I’ve probably gone back to my 16th great grandparent or more at some point. If that grandparent wasn’t born, a mass of people would not be here on earth. The farther back it goes back, the more important they were. I find it so fascinating to know that all these people lived and had children, just so I could be born. They keep having children, who keep having children, who keep having children. It’s an ongoing cycle and I would not be here without it.

If you believe in creationism, as I do, we are all related. The two main parents had children and all the way down the line is you, the current generation.

How could you live to not know who these people were? You really do have so much to thank for being here. That’s why I do not understand suicide and not having children. But that is a totally different subject for a totally different time.

I am a bunch of heritages because I come from such a variety of them. I am Scottish, Irish, French, French-Canadian, German, Native American and more that I do not know.

If you don’t know your past generations I really do recommend that you do because without knowing who they are you don’t know where you came from. These people all probably didn’t think about having so many descendants but it’s almost like a legacy to pass down.

Michael Crichton said it best in this quote:
“If you don't know your family's history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree.”