Many people think they are free but they are being deceived. The government that we live in tells us we are a free country but are we really?  The truth of the matter is that the more possessions we own, the more those possessions own us. For example you might be excited to go out and buy a new car you spot a sporty convertible in the corner of the car lot; you envision yourself behind the wheel the wind in your hair.  This is freedom you say to yourself; but is it? You think you are free to cruise the open road but are you? What you will soon realize is that not only are you not free but you have just been enslaved by the debt of your car payment you must go to work you must pay for insurance, car maintenance and if you had if you had any fantasy of going to the snow now you need to buy chains and a roof rack. Do you still believe that you are free? You are so free that you are required to spend 40 hours a week of your life for the next forty years in a job hate.

The next freedom we Americans have fooled ourselves into believing we have is the dream of owning a piece of land in this great country of ours. You work and save your money for nearly a decade. You find a small plot of land in which you will build your castle. You are the king of your domain! You are free to do as you please! Right? Hmm…well, lets think about this; twice a year you will have to pay property taxes. You want to build a totally unique structure reflective of your individual personality. But you must get your plans pre-approved. Some kind of building commission has to vote and approve what YOU want to do. The commission meets, and the answer is NO! They will not let you build what you want; you must build something that “fits in” with the rest of the neighborhood. You can only build a clone.

So you build an “acceptable” house and finally open the doors to your new place. First thing you want to do is plug in your amp and play Nirvana songs really loud. You have dreamed of this moment; to do what you want inside your own place! So you plug in and play on, within minutes a neighbor knocks on your door and tells you to turn in down. But its “my place” you think to yourself…you can do what you want. Forget it. You play on. A few minutes later the police are at your door telling you that if you don’t turn it down they are going to arrest you!

Sure, arrest me you say. This is America! I am playing music in the home I own. I can do what I want with in my household. The cop says you are being argumentative and resisting arrest. You are handcuffed and placed in the back of the cop car. The cop drives you to the station where you are fingerprinted and locked up for disturbing the peace. You are released because you just paid a bail; not only will this affect your future if you get into trouble again but you just had to pay money to be set free, just an animal.

What? What is that you say? You are a hardworking freedom loving American? WHAT FREEDOM? It is all a trap, a perfect example euphemism. The only way to be free, is to own nothing. Never get married, never have a kid, and move to Canada. So no one living “the American dream” can ever be free.

That is my plan. I will be playing my music really loud!

Many Americans do not believe that our pollution is taking a toll on the world and us today. We have become unaware of how we care for our surroundings, that we do not realize that global warming is happening. Some people do know its happening but do not do anything because they think it’s a waste of time. Some causes of global warming are polluting the air and ground and wasting energy. Our laziness as Americans affects our precious mountains and polar ice caps. However, most of all we are affect by our own pollution.

    We pollute earth by throwing away energy and not taking care of the air and ground. We waste energy by not turning off lights, TV, computers, air conditioning, and/or heaters. We pollute the air with car and refineries exhaust, and what we put in the air we breathe in. We litter the ground with garbage that we unable to walk to the nearest trash can or hang on to it until we get home to throw it away. Even when WE the dumps do not get rid of it properly they let it pile up in lad fills and isn’t that the same as littering.

    The pollution affects our mountains (one of our water sources) and the polar ice caps. Both the snowy mountains and the ice caps are melting due to the raise in temperature. People don’t realize that when the snow and ice caps are gone they are not going to come back any time soon. The mountains are the source to some of the water bottles companies. Due to the lack of fresh water the prices of bottled water is going up. With the ice caps, melting the seawater levels has gone up as well; the sea water has already swallowed miles for shore line already. Imagine what will happen to the coast in thirty years.

    Most of the pollution comes from Americans, though we may not believe it global warming affects us all. We can prevent global warming by walking to near by places we need to get. We could carpool with a group of people going the same way this would also help with the gas shortage. Americans can turn off household items before moving on to another task saving much need electricity. In addition, that will save you money on your electricity bill and every one will be happy.

    There are many ways to save the earth and prevent global warming. All you have to do is try. We don’t realize that if we are causing it so then we can stop it. Although you maybe one person you can make a difference if you open your eyes and look for a solution. How can you lose?

     Chris is a young man around the age of twenty three. He dreams to go to Alaska and be free from society. Chris is a stubborn person with a one street mind. he is a hard working person that will never give up no matter what happens. He loves nature at its best but refuses to see the good in people. Despite all of these things he easily makes friends and is adventure bound. Chris is thinks about things that most people think are crazy such as giving all of your possessions away to live free. His will to never give up is a dangerous thing, it is so strong that it kills him

    Chris abandons all of his possessions and leaves his family behind to leave for the wilderness. The main conflict is that once he is in the wilderness he gets stuck out their alone. He has no form of signaling for help and winter is raptly approaching and he is in the Alaskan forest. The author really didn’t put a climax in the story, the book is more based on self morals and to think for yourself. If their is a climax it is when he poisons himself by accidentally eating a poisonous plant and right before he dies he sees the truth of all his ideas and philosophies.

    Through Chris we learn that no matter what someone else says your word is the most important on decisions about yourself. Also to never give up and through hard work and perseverance can only come success. The main idea is to be yourself and don’t anyone tell you other wise, even when you are doing something the society would think it is not correct.

    Jon Krakauer wrote one of the best non-fiction books i have ever read in my life. It expressed the true meaning of life through hard ship and success. Also to live a dream is the best thing you can do  and anyone can do it, with determination anything is possible. I loved this book and if you are looking for a five star book, read Into the Wild by  Jon Krakauer.

     We pulled on our boots and set out for the best pumpkins we could find in the patch. I was walking through the mud when i saw it; the perfect pumpkin. It was bright orange, perfectly curved and leaned to the slightly right and it was beautiful. When i was staring at it the clouds broke and a ray of lite fell upon it; it was the miricle pumpkin. I walked over to it as a cat would stalk a mouse, when i picked it up it was heavy as a ton of bricks and nearly dislocated my arm. I carried over to m parents and they bought it for me and said,”nice choice Alex.” Then i put my precious pumpkin in our car and set out to find my little brother.

    I eventually found him by the smelly pig pen. I stunk like a dead cow but Terrence my brother didn’t mind and he was casually petting a little pig as he enjoyed the smell. It made me sick to watch him sniffing the air with pleasure. When i went  over to  him holding my nose i told him it was time for lunch. So my whole family walked into the deli barn thing for the best sandwiches made in the whole world. We were about to leave when terrence  told us he had to go pee really bad. As we walked him to the port-o poty he saw a chiken sitting in the petting pen. He was so excited he ran over to the chiken started to chase it around and around. He was about to grab it when all of a sudden he started to pee his pants. That chicken excited him so much he couldn’t control it and people started to laugh.

    He was so embarrassed he ran into the car and hid. On the car ride home he took off his pants and sat their with my pumpkin on his naked lap so other cars wouldn’t see him. I was so mad, ” why should i have to suffer for his actions” i muttered to myself. In my mind he had runed my pumpkin my beautifull pumpkin. Him and the chiken had made it one of the worst family outings of my life.