Battle Born

This week I had no idea what to write my blog post about. So, I decided I would just pick a song from the latest Killers album and write about what it means to me.

I chose the song Battle Born, which is also the name of the album. What speaks to me the most out of the song is the chorus;

Up against the wall

There's something dying on the street

When the knock you down

You're gonna get back on your feet

(No you can't stop now)

When they break your heart

When they cause your soul to mourn

Remember what I said

Boy, you was Battle Born



 

It represents a struggle, or many struggles, and the need to recover from them. No matter what happens you have to pick yourself up and keep on going. There will be hard times, times when you feel like you just can't go on. But you have to, if you give up you're letting your troubles beat you, letting them win. The term "Battle Born" really encompasses the idea that we were born to fight and to struggle through life. That's probably why the last line, despite the bad grammar, is my favorite one.

 

Another verse that really speaks to me is the bridge;

 

You never know

You never learn

You never shine

If you never burn

 

What I really like about this part is that it shows that if you never get hurt or you never make mistakes, you can never reach your full potential of life. You have to make mistakes to learn from them and you have to learn in order to live. There will always be risks, but you have to take those risks to get anything out of life.

 

So, overall I think this song pretty much represents my whole motto for life. Move on from the bad, you have to have faith that there will be good on the other side. It's like Dory from Finding Nemo, "Just Keep Swimming".

 

Here's the lyrics video made by some random person.

 

Curriculum 2.0

I've decided to write my blog post this week about education in Montgomery County. What with the recent shooting of the Pakistani girl and the heated presidential debates, education seems to have become a higher priority in the eyes of the world.

The curriculum 2.0 system recently implemented in elementary schools in Montgomery County eliminates all advanced classes, claiming that by leaving the higher level kids in classes with the lower level kids will help the not-as-smart kids become smarter. There may be some truth in that, but the system holds the smarter kids back, causing them to move at a slower pace and learn at a lower level than they need and deserve.

Kids easily get bored, especially younger kids, so won't they be excrutiatingly bored staying in classes where the teachers have to teach to the lowest level? I went to a private school for kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade. Everybody was in the same level of math and reading classes; I spent most of the classes staring into space. I know I am not extremely smart, but I do know that I can learn things relatively quickly. I had to switch into the public school system so that I could take more advanced classes.

By taking away advanced classes, we are holding are kids back, forcing them to adjust to the standards that we demand of them. This will teach the kids to never strive for higher goals and to never push their boundaries. This will teach them that mediocracy is acceptable and even encouraged. With attitudes like these, society will be stuck in a rut forever and advancements will not be made.

Injuries

This past week, I found out I tore my ACL. This requires surgery and an approximate recovery time of 6 months. This is probably the worst thing EVER. I've been playing sports for 11 years and not once have I gotten more than a scrape.

The thing with tearing your ACL is that it is relatively easy to fix. It is becoming an extremely common injury among athletes. The doctor that I'm going to is the lead orthopedic surgeon at Georgetown University. He says that he's had 2 women's soccer players tore their ACL this season and he performs over 300 grafts for ACLs a year.

One would think that there would be a way to prevent major injuries in sports. But, they're sort of unavoidable. Wearing a brace might help, but that just makes you reliant on the brace and you may soon find you can't play without it.

As the number of sports injuries grow, so must the knowledge of them. More and more doctors nowadays are specializing in "sports medicine". When you think about it, it makes sense to have sports medicine as it's own field because injuries caused by sports occur differently. Also, most people who suffer from injuries want to get back out and play as soon as possible. Sports medicine doctors can make that happen.

But a lot of times, athletes think they're ready to play when they really aren't completely healed. There are tons of cases where an athlete gets surgery and rushes the rehabilitation process, only to re-injure it. Now this injury is definitely preventable. Ya sure, the pros probably want to get out there immediately, but there's no need to be stupid about it. Is it worth risking your whole career for one more month of rehab??

I believe the medicinal field is extremely prepared to deal with sports injuries. The technology is state of the art. The knowledge is extensive. The doctors are competent.

What it comes down to is the inevitability of getting severly injured. There's really nothing we can do except take the proper measures to heal correctly. You can't help it. You owe it to yourself to get back out there and keep doing what you're doing.

Well, this is at least what I keep telling myself as I sit and wait for surgery.