Living in a World of Despair~

Authors Note:A Response to: The Power and The Glory about how the Whiskey Priest has lost all his hope but slowy, with baby steps, starts to gain some back.

Living in a world filled with despair, the only thing that keeps the priest going is the hope that God will save him. As the priest gets put in a jail, he thinks to himself that he may have a chance in surviving this--that is until he realizes that they are going to find out who he really is in the morning, when the birds are calling, the sun is shining, and all faces are on the prisoners.

As the night starts, he only keeps thinking to himself, this will be the last. Tomorrow I shall be killed and my life shall be over. When the other prisoners wonder why he is in there, he tells them that he has been caught for smuggling spirits. Until the young lady in the corner says 'father'. He knows that this will be the last night so "He said after a moment's hesitation, very distinctly, 'I am a priest'" (125). He wonders if it is the wrong move to say that, yet again he thinks that the world should know who he really is and God would want him to let people know that he believes in Him and follows the Bible.

The night goes on, and he tries to spend it best he can in a jail cell in a city unknown to him. The morning appears and it wasn't like he thought it would be. Oh they noticed him and all the prisoners all right, but not in the way he thought. The Whiskey priest thought that in the morning they were going to find out that he was the priest and shoot him, to vanish him from the Earth completely.

Instead, they took him separately, but only to make him do a different job. Seeing they didn’t think that he deserved to do the work that the other prisoners were ordered to do. They still hadn't noticed him, and he felt like God had just given him another chance, a second life. He takes hold of it and continues to do the orders of the government. Now, slowly inch by inch, step by step he starts to gain some hope again.

Smiles~Poem

Smiles are like the sun in the early morning sky
Rising early, yet still there
The sun brightens the day
Like smiles brighten people

It may turn upside some days
But there's always something to relate to
A rainbow is an upside down smile
But still makes people happy

Smiles can change through-out a day
But can never change the meaning
A smile can always brighten anyone's day

Katniss's Letter Home~

post to 'The Hunger Games'-by Suzanne Collins

Something very different has happened in the Hunger Games this year. When only 6 tributes are left, the game-makers let each tribute write one letter to any person that they wanted, back home. The games have stopped for 2 hours, to let the tributes write the letter, calm down a little bit and then get their head back in the game, from everything that has happened so far. When Katniss hears that this is really happening, she knows exactly who she is going to write it to--her younger sister, Prim. The letter written to Prim was like this…

My dearest Prim~

I have missed you very dearly. I am here playing these games as hard as I can, just to keep my promise that I made to you.That I would never quit trying and that I would play until I die--for you. I hope and pray every day that you and mom are still doing ok, and that Gale is too, keeping his promise with supplying our family with food while I am gone.

I hope that you and mother are still getting along ok, and have not starved yet. Another thing is that I hope mom is still getting along with her business of making medicine and helping people who have gotten hurt in the mines. Here in the Hunger Games, people have been dying all over the place. I have even met someone who reminded me of you. I became her ally so that we could get around easier. She was 12 years old and her name was Rue. Her specialty was that she was able to move around very quietly so that other tributes were not able to tell she was even there, which is why I made her my ally, and I protected her from other tributes as she did for me. We even set up a trap to burn the entire food that the careers have in the cornucopia. We successfully succeeded but the saddest part of the games that I have witnesses was moments after I burned it and was back to meet her. I went back to our meeting spot to find she wasn't there, I searched farther. As soon as I heard her scream, I ran to her. To find out the boy from district one got there before me, and before I could even throw a rock, he stabbed Rue, and I then stabbed him. Rue then died in my arms from the spearhead in her. I fight for her now, knowing she would have wanted me to win if she couldn't.

I bet you are growing up, and acting like a young lady now . Seeing you have to be the person in the house to go out, get food from the Hob, and even ask Gale for food. I bet that you are helping as much as you can for me, knowing that I am fighting for the family. So, you have to take care of mom. I thank you very dearly and know that I love you with all of my heart. Please do three things for me while I am gone. First, tell mom this for me. Tell her 'I love her so very much and miss her with all of my heart. I am trying my best to win and then get home as soon as I can. Again, I love her so much and am trying my hardest' Second thing, please tell Gale this for me. 'I miss him very much. I think of him every day when I am out in the woods hunting, knowing that if I was doing this back home, he would be right next to me. I know that he is taking good care of you and mom and that he is doing it for me. Keeping his promise that he made with me, after the reaping. Again, please tell him that I miss him very much and am trying my hardest to come home alive.' Lastly, please stay strong for me, that is what I want the most.

I don't know if you have been watching the games on the television with mom at home, but if you have, you know what I am going through. My time is now up for me to stop writing. I love you very much. I will try to make it back alive. If I don't you are going to have to help mom, but I feel very strong about winning and hope for the best.

Please pray for me!~
With all my love~

Katniss

Katniss wrote this letter crying, but knowing that her family would appreciate it greatly. Now she has 30 minutes to settle down, and then the games begin… again.

The Importance of Love in a Family~

post to The Hunger Games-by: Suzanne Collins

Scared to death, but knowing its right, Katniss joins the Hunger Games because of the love she has for her family. Not knowing what to expect her mind is running on end thinking about everything. Her childhood past, her loved ones at home, even about her competitor --wondering, what's going to happen at these things, that are just torture to families and loved ones all around.

This is a rare event that almost never happens in the reaping. Someone volunteering for another person willing to give their life away instead of theirs. Then having your district doing something extraordinary for you, like what they did for Katniss:

" At first one, then another then almost every member of the crowd touches
the three middle fingers of their hand to their lips and holds it out to me.
It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals.
It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love." (24)

An honor to Katniss. Nothing like this has ever happened in district 12, the poorest district of all them. Katniss feels very honored and is not happy that she's going but is happy that it's not her younger sister,Prim.

Going for a good reason, Katniss is determined not to cry, to show that she is a weak competitor, unlike the other tribute from her district. Petta, a boy that she has only ever seen at school and at the bakery. She know that things are going to change greatly from her old like and transform her. She leaves her family almost immediately when she is announced. They give the families 5 minutes to say their final goodbyes but that’s all. Katniss is a very strong character and tries to keeps her tears in which is almost impossible, but she does it. The moment she gets on the train to go to the capital, this is the moment when her life is starting to be changed…forever.

The train, taken into the openness of the world around her. She is shocked by the sites and beauty of what is actually out of the districts, where they are used to seeing a small city with many mines. Katniss, sitting on the train, tries to take everything in but is too breathtaken that she has to take a break from looking out the windows of the train. This is when her and Petta meet formally, for the first time. He acts like a nice boy, but Katniss soon thinks that this could be a trap for him to win, so she stays on the down low with him and just goes along with what Haymitch who is their mentor says. The person who won from their district years ago and won a wonderful life, filled with luxury, food, and supplies for life.

Haymitch sends them to the arena to practice their skills that they are good at, and some that they still need to learn how to survive in the Hunger Games. After this Katniss and Peeta have to go to the game-makers separately and show them their best skills and qualities. Obviously, the person who gets the highest score usually means that in the Hunger Games is most likely favored to win. When the scores show that night, Katniss gets the highest score. She knows that when the games start, other tributes will want to go after her.

It is the day that the Hunger Games start, all tributes are spaced equally around the cornucopia—the main area in the Hunger Games arena. Katniss waits patiently, taking in everything around her and knows that she at least has try, knowing that she made a promise to her sister Prim. The only reason that Katniss continues to keep up her strength, is not for her, but for her family. Hoping that she can give them a better life than they had before.