What To Do?
An Autobiography of
Anna Rosenberg
Being the youngest child in my family I’ve seen plenty of “what not to do’s.” I have learned not to do drugs, not to slack off in school, not to have a bad attitude, and much more. Two older brothers did a pretty good job of setting these examples of “what not to do.” So, while growing up, I did my best to please my parents, but never really had the time to figure out, “what to do,” or what was important to me.
For a good chunk of my previous years in school I was sick, it took a lot of effort to get over my illnesses, then to get on the path of keeping up with my school work, and to get good grades. By late freshman / early sophomore year I finally achieved that, but I still felt like there was something missing. I spent so much time trying to catch up with school, and get healthy I never figured out was I was passionate about, and what classified me as my own person.
Simply, the missing element, was me. So, for four and a half months; the second semester of my sophomore year, I decided to study abroad in Israel. This trip was more than learning about my Jewish identity, it was learning about myself as a person. The core focus of the program was an 18-hour per week, Israel history course. Starting with the biblical times, up to modern day politics. In biblical stories, there are a lot of underlying messages, which I formed my own opinions about. Learning about the history of a state, its conflicts, and politics really helped me form my own views on the best way to live.
One of the most important being how significant my community is. This can be applied in so many ways; my family, my school, my local neighborhood, and even my country. If I don’t stay informed, practice effective communication, and help those around me to the best of my ability, things would simply get no where.
I lived on an organic farm, so environment awareness is a huge thing that falls under my local community. I worked at farmers markets in the tri-state which was one way of showing how important buying locally is. I also try my best to eat and buy local and / or organic things. This is one important step in achieving a sustainable society. I was also involved in the community action team, and green club at Walnut, we helped raise awareness, and take action on problems in the local and international communities.
I lived with my dad and step mom, and we frequently disagreed about things. So something else I do to try to practice often is compassionate communication. It’s really important to me that when communicating with others, and especially my family we talk to each other in a nonviolent manner. This way everyone can affectively speak about what they need without hurting others. Healthy relationships are essential to live happily.
I am a very outspoken person. If something is not just, or if I feel people need to be informed about a specific subject, I make sure to speak my mind. This is a big aspect of how I take part in the things listed above.
I live in Colorado now, and attend Yampah. This school has helped me expand myself as a person immensely. They have given me the opportunity to be, well, me! I can study what I want, which has taken my education to a whole new realm. I have focused on lots of writing, art, and environmental studies there. This has helped me get more in touch with the depths of who I am as a person. I do these studies independently from school mostly, which allows me a work full time and support myself, something that has taken me a long time to achieve, but is very important to me. I am very happy with the place I am in right now, and none of this would have been possible without the open mind of Yampah believing in me.
I always wear a ring with the quote, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, who am I? And, if not now, when?” (–Hillel) engraved in it. I got this ring in Israel. It’s really inspirational to me, and I wear it as sort of a self check up. Everything I have described falls into this. I live by the morals; always stand up for yourself, but help others too, and take action today! When I see the ring it reminds me to do these things. So clearly, through seeing “what not to do“, it motivated me to find out what is important to me. Now I know that is trying to live sustainably, and taking part in helping myself and others to make the communities I live in a better place. This is what makes me happy, and is what I’m all about!
Anna Rosenberg
Being the youngest child in my family I’ve seen plenty of “what not to do’s.” I have learned not to do drugs, not to slack off in school, not to have a bad attitude, and much more. Two older brothers did a pretty good job of setting these examples of “what not to do.” So, while growing up, I did my best to please my parents, but never really had the time to figure out, “what to do,” or what was important to me.
For a good chunk of my previous years in school I was sick, it took a lot of effort to get over my illnesses, then to get on the path of keeping up with my school work, and to get good grades. By late freshman / early sophomore year I finally achieved that, but I still felt like there was something missing. I spent so much time trying to catch up with school, and get healthy I never figured out was I was passionate about, and what classified me as my own person.
Simply, the missing element, was me. So, for four and a half months; the second semester of my sophomore year, I decided to study abroad in Israel. This trip was more than learning about my Jewish identity, it was learning about myself as a person. The core focus of the program was an 18-hour per week, Israel history course. Starting with the biblical times, up to modern day politics. In biblical stories, there are a lot of underlying messages, which I formed my own opinions about. Learning about the history of a state, its conflicts, and politics really helped me form my own views on the best way to live.
One of the most important being how significant my community is. This can be applied in so many ways; my family, my school, my local neighborhood, and even my country. If I don’t stay informed, practice effective communication, and help those around me to the best of my ability, things would simply get no where.
I lived on an organic farm, so environment awareness is a huge thing that falls under my local community. I worked at farmers markets in the tri-state which was one way of showing how important buying locally is. I also try my best to eat and buy local and / or organic things. This is one important step in achieving a sustainable society. I was also involved in the community action team, and green club at Walnut, we helped raise awareness, and take action on problems in the local and international communities.
I lived with my dad and step mom, and we frequently disagreed about things. So something else I do to try to practice often is compassionate communication. It’s really important to me that when communicating with others, and especially my family we talk to each other in a nonviolent manner. This way everyone can affectively speak about what they need without hurting others. Healthy relationships are essential to live happily.
I am a very outspoken person. If something is not just, or if I feel people need to be informed about a specific subject, I make sure to speak my mind. This is a big aspect of how I take part in the things listed above.
I live in Colorado now, and attend Yampah. This school has helped me expand myself as a person immensely. They have given me the opportunity to be, well, me! I can study what I want, which has taken my education to a whole new realm. I have focused on lots of writing, art, and environmental studies there. This has helped me get more in touch with the depths of who I am as a person. I do these studies independently from school mostly, which allows me a work full time and support myself, something that has taken me a long time to achieve, but is very important to me. I am very happy with the place I am in right now, and none of this would have been possible without the open mind of Yampah believing in me.
I always wear a ring with the quote, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, who am I? And, if not now, when?” (–Hillel) engraved in it. I got this ring in Israel. It’s really inspirational to me, and I wear it as sort of a self check up. Everything I have described falls into this. I live by the morals; always stand up for yourself, but help others too, and take action today! When I see the ring it reminds me to do these things. So clearly, through seeing “what not to do“, it motivated me to find out what is important to me. Now I know that is trying to live sustainably, and taking part in helping myself and others to make the communities I live in a better place. This is what makes me happy, and is what I’m all about!