Presentation on "The Twelve"

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Stephen Kumalo: The Humble and Righteous Man

As I read through Book I of Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, I obtained an understanding of the character, Stephen Kumalo, particularly well. Stephen Kumalo, a priest from Ndotsheni, travels to Johannesburg in search of his sister and son. Kumalo soon finds out where his sister is along with finding out about his brother. His sister has become a prostitute and his brother is a very successful man in Johannesburg. He finds out his son is being sought after by the police and his journey becomes more difficult than he could ever imagine. Along this journey he comes face to face with problems that he must conquer, and his dynamic and realistic character serves as a key to conquering them.

Stephen Kumalo is portrayed as a dynamic and realistic character because of his dialogue in conflicts and conversations, and his thought process throughout the book. When Kumalo talks to Father Vincent about his son, Absalom, he says that "it was a search" at first and "the anxiety [turned] to fear, and [the] fear grew deeper step by step." His dialogue with Father Vincent shows him to be very realistic and dynamic by the emotions he expresses. When you think about how we react in situations and how we hold conversations, Kumalo seems like he could easily be real and not a fictional character. Most parents would react the same way and take the same actions towards the situation as Kumalo did.

While Kumalo is a dynamic character, he has positive and negative attributes to his personality. In the book, there are many occasions where he "knelt down" and "prayed quietly". This shows one obvious positive attribute that Kumalo has, which is faith. I believe that because he is a priest, it helps him along his "bitter journey" to finding his loved ones. It helps him deal with obstacles he faces by being able to cope well and not let the obstacles overrun him. At the same time, he doubts his faith along his journey saying that “it seems [like] God has turned from [him]”. With a little help along the way from Father Vincent, he comes to learn how to get his faith back. Kumalo also becomes judgmental of people such as his son and his son's girlfriend. He wonders how he could raise a thief and states that his son is now a "stranger" to him. In the end of Book I, Kumalo talks face to face with his son's girlfriend, a teenager who is pregnant with his grandchild. In the beginning of the conversation it seems like he's almost giving her an interview in an interrogation room. As the conversation continues, he realizes he's wrong and tells her he's "sorry" and "ashamed" of the question he asked. This leads to him learning who she truly is as a person and he starts to be satisfied with her.

Throughout Kumalo’s experience on his journey he changed overall as a person. In my opinion, coming to Johannesburg has changed him for the better. Kumalo’s experiences have helped him look at situations differently. For example, he now knows what it is like to have criminals in his family and realizes that the “tribe [is] broken” and can’t “be mended”. Kumalo also knows how to keep from losing his faith in God and how difficult things can be when he loses his faith. In life it takes experiences, good and bad, to become a better person. Some experiences can make you become a bad person, but Kumalo’s experiences have definitely helped him become a better person. He’s not only a better person for himself but also for his family.

What kind of person it would take to deal with the tribulations Stephen Kumalo went through? It would take a person who has similar traits to Kumalo's character. His character traits help him by giving him the strength to continue his long journey to find his answers. Alan Paton did such a remarkable job creating such a realistic character that some of his readers could easily relate to Kumalo and the things he has been through.

 

Fading In and Out of Consciousness

Going to the doctor became a normal thing when I was younger. As I got older my parents questioned the doctors more every time. Every doctor we went to told my parents that “It’s nothing serious. She’ll eventually grow out of it.” The fact that they weren’t right disappointed me tremendously.

            I was born with a small bump behind my ear that kept growing as I grew. We didn’t know the cause of it and the doctors thought nothing of it. We eventually found out that I was born with a cystic hygroma. For those of you who don’t know, a cystic hygroma is a birth defect that creates a growth that can be present in the head and/or neck area. It starts out as a small bulge under the skin and grows as the child grows. My cystic hygroma was in the neck area, specifically behind my ear. By the age of seven it was sitting on my shoulder as a huge mass.

January 2004…

            “So Tiffany, I see it says that you came in because your ear has been hurting a lot lately.” my doctor says as he sits down.

“Yes sir. I’ve been having really sharp pain.”

He rolls over to me. “Let me take a look.” He presses in certain areas, “Does that hurt?”

“Yes.” I say in extreme pain.

“Well, the tumor is definitely big enough to remove and since its bothering you so much we’ll go ahead and schedule surgery.”

“Um, how serious will the surgery be?” says my mother with a worried look on her face.

“Well, it’s a huge mass and there are a lot of facial nerves involved with this surgery; but we’ll be able to remove it without causing major damage to anything. The thing that will probably affect her most is some hearing loss. On the other hand, the surgery will take a long time and although we will remove it, there is a chance the tumor will come back in the future.”

“Why is that?” asks my mother.

“We won’t be able to remove all of the cells from the tumor; a cystic hygroma is known to reoccur even after removal. On the bright side, this surgery will be the most difficult one just because of the size. The future removals, if any are needed, will be minor.”

“Okay, so when do you think you’ll be able to do the surgery?” asks my mother.

He looks at me as he thinks. “Actually, before we do the surgery, I want to try to reduce the size of the tumor as much as possible. The treatments should take about six months, two injections every month. We’ll schedule the surgery for July 16^th, how does that sound?”

“That sounds good.” says my mother as she’s still processing everything.

My doctor smiles at me and tells me he’s going to take care of everything and I’ll be recovered in no time. I give him a half smile back as I say “Okay” worried as can be. He schedules another appointment the following week to go into more detail about the surgery.

December 2009…

            I’m slowly waking up, from my third surgery, but with my eyes still closed. As my senses kick back in, the pain in my neck intensifies quickly. I hear the nurse tell my parents and sister that they can come over to see me. As they lean over and start talking, my vision becomes clear and I can’t help but just look at them. I’m in so much pain, too much to even crack a smile or move my face in any way. By the look on my mother’s face, I can tell she wishes she could once again take my place and endure all the pain instead of me. The anesthesia hasn’t worn off fully and I’m still…

July 2004…

            Bright and early in the morning, it’s the day of my very first surgery. I’m sitting, crying left and right worried about dying, and scared as ever. We’re the only ones in the waiting room and my parents keep telling me that there’s nothing to worry about and everything is going to be okay. Sure they’re telling the truth but all I can think of is the worst. I zone in and out while they're talking to me. Their words are going in one ear and out the other, none sticking whatsoever. At this point I want to tell them to shut up, nothing is going to calm me down. “Tiffany White.” We look over at the door and there stands the nurse with a smile on her face. We get up and make our way towards her, following closely behind her to the room.

October 2006…

            “Well mom, I’m glad this one isn’t as serious as the first surgery.” I say happily.

“I know right... That first one, man it was rough.” says my mother with a sigh.

“Yeah, I bet it was hard for you guys waiting hours and hours for me to come out of surgery.”

“Yeah, it was.” says my mother as the door swings open.

“Hello, how are you guys?” says the nurse with a smile.

“We’re good.” says my mother.

“Okay Tiffany, I’m going to put in your IV for the surgery.”

“Okay.” I say as I hold my arm out for her.

The nurse gets all of the materials ready, puts the rubber band around my arm, feels for a vein, “Pump your fist.” and then cleans the area. “Be really still...”

I feel a little sting and the pain goes away. The nurse then tapes the IV in place and tells me to try not to move or bend my arm too much between now and the surgery.

December 2009…

            “Alright baby, I’ll see you when you get out. Love you.” says my mother as she gives me a hug.

“Love you too.”

My sister reaches out for a hug. “See you soon little sis, I’ll be here when you get out. Love you.”

“Okay. Love you too.”

“We’ll see you soon, baby girl. Be a soldier. Love you.” says my father as he reaches out to hug me.

“Ha. Love you too.”

I take a deep breath and my heart starts racing. Feeling as if its going to jump out of my chest at any moment and land on the floor. I can hardly breath as I start walking into the operating room. An even colder rush of air hits me hard. The assistants signal me to the area, I get onto the operating table and lay back. The assistants then begin to attach the monitor cords to me. With each placement I feel a cold sensation and it feels as if my heart rate is getting faster every second. Regardless of the fact that it’s not the first time going through this, I still get a little nervous. I notice they’re getting close to finishing, so I begin to pray one last time  knowing that they’re about to give me anesthesia…

September 2006…

            My mom and I are engaged in conversation while we’re waiting for my doctor to come in. A few minutes go by and the door opens.

“Hello, how are you today?”

“Good and you?” my mother and I say at the same time.

“I’m great! Okay, so Tiffany, have you been having any pain?”

“Yes sir, but it’s not major pain.”

“Well, we still want to go ahead and remove it before the pain intensifies.”

I sit there for a moment trying to grasp my mind around the fact that he was right about the tumor coming back. I was hoping that the first one would have been my last one, but I guess not.

December 2009…

            I hear faint voices. “Tiffany… Tiffany.”

“Huh?” I look to my right, “I mean ma’am.” as I realize it's my nurse.

“Are you having any pain?” says my nurse while holding a syringe with pain medicine in it.

“Yes ma’am.” I say slowly in pain.

She grabs my IV and gets ready to inject the medicine. “Okay, I’m going to go ahead and give you another dose of your pain medicine.”

“Okay.”

“I think scars are like battle wounds - beautiful, in a way. They show what you've been through and how strong you are for coming out of it.” – Demi Lovato

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I do not recall when or how I learned to read. So I took it upon myself to ask my mom, and she says I learned before I started going to school. So I am guessing I was about four or five years old. All I know is when I finally did know how to read, I actually loved reading!

During the course of my childhood, my parents did not read stories to me a lot. They mainly just brought me books as a child and read to or with me every now and then, but that didn’t affect my love for reading. I owned books such as the Dr. Seuss collection, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., and many more! I would sit in the middle of my bedroom floor and read my books over and over again, never getting tired of them. As I got older I started reading chapter books, and the size of the books would keep getting bigger.

Being in public school, we were required to read books and take a test over them. They called this AR or Accelerated Reading. At my old schools, we had AR books in our library but weren’t required to get goal points.  We were just required to read. I was always a grade level or two ahead and did well in AR. When I came here, I did poorly in AR. I never got any AR goal points. Which I must admit, I am not very proud of it. I am not sure why I started slowly disliking reading all of a sudden when I moved here, it just happened. This made it tremendously challenging to do independent reading assignments throughout school. Maybe it was the fact that I was pressured to reach the higher clubs in AR versus reading the books for myself and enjoying them.  

When I moved to Arkansas, I started becoming detached from reading more and more and more. From then up until now, I would personally rather spend time with friends, family, or go out and have fun. Reading just for fun is not something I even consider doing. I now get sidetracked really easily and I can’t concentrate on what I am reading. I would read a sentence several times and still would not know what it was about. Despite the fact that I feel this way towards reading, I have tried to engage in reading, like I use to, more often. Every once in a while I will find a good book to read. Suspenseful books… They do something to me. They tend to grasp my full attention, and I just can’t put them down! If the book seems interesting, I will consider reading it. I just hope to someday get back my love for reading.

Despite my love for reading when I was young and somewhat now, I still tend to dislike reading at times. I wouldn’t say I hate reading, I would say I just don’t have a love for it anymore. Every blue moon, you will catch me reading a book for my own pleasure. Most likely, it will be an independent reading assignment from my English teacher.

I am...

I am shy, yet outgoing
I wonder what the future holds
I hear my blessings raining in
I see God watching over me
I want to travel around the world someday
I am shy, yet outgoing

I pretend nothing bothers or hurts me
I feel anything is possible if you put your mind to it
I touch others through my words and actions
I worry about society in the future
I cry when I see animals being abused
I am shy, yet outgoing

I understand that no one is perfect
I say be yourself and no one else
I dream of reaching my long term goals
I try to reach out to others
I hope society gets better over time
I am shy, yet outgoing

Are You Someone That Leaves Footprints in Others Hearts?

Do we choose who walks in and changes our lives? Will we ever be able to expect it? The answer to these questions is “No”. “Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.”- Flavia Weedn

            In the story, "The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World" by Gabriel Marquez, the presence of the handsomest drowned man in the village changes everything! The man washed onto the shore of a sea where there was a small village. No one expected him to come, so no one knew where he was from. In life, none of us expect outstanding people to walk into our lives. God plans it all; most of the time it’s blessings. The handsomest drowned is dead, but he still was able to change the villagers lives forever through their imagination. The women of the village thought very highly of the man. He was unlike any other! He was given the name, Esteban, the “tallest, strongest, most virile, and best built man they had ever seen”. Just like in the story, in life, you don’t expect to meet someone that will make an impact on you so great. They’ll just be an ordinary person from the beginning; a blessing you haven’t realized you’ve received. Then again, people can also walk out of your life. It can be a lesson learned, or someone who just needed to be let go of.

            I sometimes wonder… Would I be where or who I am today if it wasn’t for certain people in my life? Do you ever wonder? People can come into our lives and we can have bad experiences with them. Obstacles are faced every day, some bigger than others. Some just involve people around us. There are people out in this world that change and become better people because of others; whether it has to do with making bad decisions, drugs, or saving someone from ending their life. God puts people in our lives at certain times for a reason.

            Meeting new people and letting go is just another part of life. It’s something we all must go through. Esteban came into the villagers’ lives, and he eventually had to go. There’s the good, the bad, the happy, and the sad.