Old essay, about who I was and what I wanted

I wrote it for a contest in the 11th grade, but I am not sure if this is what I ended up using in the contest (I don't remember). It is a cool story. About my achievements to date. And well, I ended up winning the Junior Achievement competition and going to study computer science in the states. Hah, I never thought about it this way, but I actually achieved what I set up to do... :) Or, the most important parts (I didn't find the people to do the orphanage project with me, and the reading club, well, it wasn't unheard of as I thought at the moment). And I got an 800 on the SAT Math 2C :D

I was born a year before the liberation of my country from communism. I was just a baby when in the centre of my city (the capital of Romania) gunshots were fired and people were killed. People who believed in freedom. People who died for it. People whom I admire. Heroes. Thanks to them I now have the boldness to say that I love democracy.
My country is now on its way to becoming a part of the civilized world. And I have grown along its side- both physically and in value. From a timorous, isolated child I have grown up to be a real human being: a person. Someone who went through failures but never gave up. A person who knows exactly what she wants and who will try her best to get it. Yet a person who has realised that happiness, like success, is a road, not a destination-a road she enjoys every day.
In the 1st grade I was the shy child in the last desk, who had “her own world” as my teacher said-although I can’t remember any world. At the exam between 4th and 5th grade I placed top 5. Then I was moved into the 1st desk. I stopped being isolated and started socializing. In grades 5 through 8 I got 2nd prize without bothering much.
At the 1st important exam in my life (the one we take after finishing 8th grade and the one that decides what high school we get in) I got 9.85(on a scale of 1 to 10) and was the 25th admitted in the best high school in my city-The National College of Computer Science. I love computers and anything related to them.
In the 9th grade I reached my academic apogee: 1st prize-one of the best days of my life. In the 10th grade I got 2nd prize. That’s the year I started to wonder what I want to do with my life. That year I met and fell in love with the business world. I participated in the Junior Achievement Student Company competition and placed top 10 along with my team. We made a company called “Wing”. I was President. We produced “multifunctional closets for toys” (original product). We made the prototype for the product, the business and the marketing plans. We won a Junior Achiever Diploma and attended the “Economics for leaders” summer school.
This year I have participated again in the Student Company competition and I am waiting for the results. I have also won another competition-“The key to success”-placed 3rd in the finals. I have taken my TOEFL test and scored 293. On May 6th I am taking the SAT I exam. On June 3rd I am taking the SAT II Math 2C exam.
During high school I found a humanitarian goal-help children in orphanages. I intend to do so through a program I want to found-“Love does not cost money”. I want to bring computers in orphanages and, with the help of people who will join me, teach the children how to use a PC, speak English and other things. I am in the process of founding a Reading Club (on the web, because it saves time).
While my country is struggling to get into the UE, I am struggling to fulfil my biggest dream-study in the US. I’d like to study computer science or business. Or-why not?-both.

About Economy and Romania's Aproach to Dealing with the Crisis

While in America "Economists and members of Congress are now on the prowl for new ways to stimulate spending in our dreary economy," (ALAN S. BLINDER) that's unfortunately not what is happening in Romania. Instead of following the basic rules even I learned in Econ 100 & 200, the economists in my country are managing to make an artificial crisis, a crisis that is way worse than the one that's been affecting the world the past few months. Instead of promoting consumption they're, well, demoting it, or even worse, completely discouraging it.

People are getting lower wages than usually, their bonuses are cut, and even parts of the salaries. Others are even losing their jobs, because the companies they work for can't deal with the artificial crisis the Government is inflicting. Oh, and of course taxes are going up, prices are going up etc.

I live in the States, as a student, and honestly I haven't felt the crisis. Yes, maybe if I worked here I would have felt it to. But the effort is clearly to inflate the market, whereas in Romania it's as if they're doing the opposite on purpose.

I know this would be a bad time for me to look for a job, whichever country I would look for a job in, but losing the job you had for years, losing the money you deserve by working (for the State in my mom's case) for tens of years, having to work for nothing because the employer can't afford to pay you yet and you can't afford to go back on the job market, or having to work ten times as much as usually for half as much money because your colleagues got fired because the employer didn't afford them... well, IT IS OUTRAGEOUS!

They should definitely get their Economics straight: consumption gets countries out of the crisis! Not the lack there of! Or they should get someone who knows some Economics to help them out, and fire the people who are failing to do so. REALLY!

About Religion

The following is a reply I wrote on someone's blog (http://texasatheistteen.blogspot.com). It sums up my opinion about religion pretty well.

I am a Christian (Greek Orthodox) and I would never convert to another religion, specifically because I do not want to play the "guessing game" (guess what the right religion to have is) [1].

I believe in God and in the fact that Jesus died for us, but somehow I cannot believe that the Bible is the pure Truth, or that Church and Priests are the way to get in touch with God. Don't get me wrong, I admire people that make the time to go to Church in their busy lives, but I somehow doubt a God that's fair and righteous would rather judge someone by how much they obeyed traditions than by the amount of good they brought to the world.

I also can't accept that a righteous God would forgive someone for hurting someone else (okay, I'm talking murder/rape) just because he was truly repentful and prayed really hard. [2]

I would rather believe that the righteous God I believe in would give Heaven (or whatever the best alternative would be) [3] to the person that was raised a Buddhist, or a Muslim, or a Jew or any other faith for that matter, that did only good things for other people.

Buddhists believe that the intention that lies underneath your actions is what you should be judged on. Christians do a combination between intention and result. I believe the Buddhist way is better. One cannot know the consequences of one's actions (for example, if one saved a baby and then that baby ended up being a murderer, the person who saved him shouldn't be responsible for anything more than her actions) so there shouldn't be a "Judgement Day" when people will be held responsible for the results of their deeds. The Bible says there shall be one.

Another example of a different faith's idea that I hold very dear and which I believe is the right way to go comes from Muslims (of course most of the radical Muslims eliminated this idea from the Koran they teach their followers, but it is written somewhere in the older books). They say every person shall be judged in the end according to the laws of the religion they believed in. People shouldn't be required to play the "guessing game" (or "guess the right religion")[1]. God shouldn't ask us to do something that is so much beyond our powers, especially when there are so many unknowns.

I could go on. The idea here is that people should be entitled to their version of Heaven [3], even though they don't believe in the same God. And no, non-believers shouldn't burn in hell either, as long as they are good people, that help others more than hurt them. Belief in God shouldn't be a requirement for salvation. And baptism shouldn't be the only way to cleanse the Original Sin (how about innocent babies that died before they could get baptized, for example?).

But my take on it is that God only requires us to love our neighbors, help them etc. By loving human beings you might as well love God. Even if you're not a believer.

Oh, and there are few things I find as scary as people preaching the Love of God by saying that all people that don't believe shall burn in hell (lowercase h on purpose, hell shouldn't be capitalized). They make me run away like crazy. God loves people. Whether they believe in Him or not. There should be more aspects to burning in hell than only being a believer or not. And going to the park and shouting at people on 4th of July that they shall burn in hell if they don't convert it's, well, wrong. God shouldn't give you points for that. You shouldn't make a big deal out of your belief... it is between you and God. And the Priest I suppose.

===============================================
Explanations:
[1] If one believes there is only one religion that grants salvation, then he should reconsider all he believes in. And it is not our decision to make, as was not which religion we were born to either. We are too little and too insignificant to even dare to know the truth. And you have no right to judge others, only God has. That's why I believe people shouldn't change their religion. Some do, but then, it's their choice... And usually the reasons go way deeper than just salvation (that's what they believed in all along, somehow that belief is close to their heart), or are way shallower (my husband is a Christian, he wants a Church wedding, I need to convert because I love him).
[2] A lot of people in the Bible turned from being murderers to being God's chosen ones. I believe one of the biggest flaws of the Bible is that it treats mankind as a mass, and not as individuals. And since we're there, sorry God, but if you asked me to kill my son, I'd think You are the devil (lowercase d).
[3] About Heaven alternatives, I read someone's theory on the mentioned blog. They said that it would be cruel to force someone to live with the God that they didn't believe in, so Heaven would be hell for some people, and that's what hell is, an alternative. How about having different versions of Heaven? No, no Purgatory. Not even different heavens. But if Heaven is a surface, you could have different sections. Or simply different takes of the spirit on the place where it's at. Since it's spiritual and not physical. I, for one, would be happy to embrace the truth, whichever it may be. Within some reasonable limits, though... (to avoid being tricked by the bad guy into believing he is the good guy)

Books in 100 years

My answer to Google's question: how will reading be in 100 years?

People will be rediscovering the joys of reading they had forgotten due to the development of technologies that had made them think they were beyond books. Yes, paper would still be a thing of the past, but the new-yet-old-fashioned digital readers will find their way to people’s pockets. Some may even go back to the library, to try the look and feel of a “real” book, one of those antiques their grand-grand-parents read in the old days.

I believe

I believe for every drop of rain that falls,
A flower grows,
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night,
A candle glows.
I believe for everyone who goes astray,
Someone will come to show the way.
I believe,
I believe.

I believe above the storm the smallest prayer,
Will still be heard.
I believe that someone in the great somewhere,
Hears every word.
Every time I hear a new born baby cry,
Or touch a leaf or see the sky.
Then I know why,
I believe.

Every time I hear a new born baby cry,
Or touch a leaf or see the sky.
Then I know why,
I believe.

P.S. I think the kid's amazing, but I wish I knew who the original is:



Later edit: A lot of people apparently sung this song, I can't believe I've never heard it before (funny, just saw an episode of Cold Case that has this as a background melody). Elvis, Frank Sinatra to mention just two people that sung it. The original apparently was Frankie Laine's, so I'm posting his version here (although I love Elvis <3, I didn't like his version so much...)