Reflection Blog- Declaration of Independence

First of all I would like to say that I could not really understand what this speech was saying. I had gotten most of it, but I do not know if it was just the words they used or just to many things going on at once. Anyway, Jefferson had used a lot of Propaganda and faulty logic throughout this speech. One of the big things that had to do with faulty logic was the fact that he would always blame the king. This would definitely fall under the "Name Calling" (Recognizing Propaganda) technique that that website used. The name calling technique is used a lot in this passage. Throughout the whole story he is trying to tell people that the King of Britain is a bad man and is not worthy of helping out the United States. Jefferson had wrote when he was talking about the king, "He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation" (Jefferson 124). This part can bring in two parts which one of them could say that Jefferson has no respect for the king and does not like what he is doing at all with them. The other part to this one is that he is saying that he would make a much better leader than the King of Britain. He is just showing no respect for the king and is just destroying his life piece by piece. Which is bad because people think that the King is bad now so they do not want to have to do anything with him anymore and want him gone. They only were able to see one side of him and was unable to maybe see the good things that he had done for them. But no Jefferson just looked at the negative side of things and that is an error of faulty logic. There was another part to this story that made me think a little bit. When Jefferson wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men..." (Jefferson 122). I found this ironic because of the fact that they said all men are created equal and if men were created equal than why do they treat the King like he is nothing. They keep bringing him up and destroying him and if they said that all men were created equal than they should treat everybody with the same respect. The last technique that I am going to talk about is the bandwagon technique. It seems that the "Bandwagon Technique" (Recognizing Propaganda) is used to have other people get each other on that persons side. Like when Jefferson is talking about all the damage the King has done, he is trying to get people to be on his side which would be an error of faulty logic. Overall, it seems that the Declaration of Independence is a great speech to find errors of faulty logic and propaganda use, but also it makes a good argument.

Bibliography

Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 120-124. Print.

"Recognizing Propaganda--Guide to Critical Thinking--Academic Support." 3 June 2011. Web. 27 Sept. 2011.

Journal 10

I think that we should not have our vocabulary for homework today because of a lot of reasons. One main reason that we should not have our vocab due next time is the fact that some people might not have internet. Caleb is in my class and he does not have internet, so he would not be able to do his homework at home for the vocab which could possibly effect his grade in this class. Another reason is that people in my class have a lot of homework especially because it is senior year so it would be hard to do the vocab on top of all the other homework which could also effect the grade of that person. Just like me, I am in a lot of hard classes this year and it would just be another homework assignment for me to do at home. Also I have test in one of my classes next time and I would sure not like to have any other more in anymore of my classes. I know for a fact that other people in my English class have the same class as me and they have that same test next time also. The vocab just seems to be like busy work for me and just putting that on top of other homework would not be good for me. Also I have sports like soccer that I am playing playing right now and I do not want to have a test and some vocab on top of that for night. I really just want to study for my test and not to have any homework for next time. As you can see there are a lot people that do not want to have this vocab for homework next time. Overall, there are some people that do not have internet and have stacks of homework that they do not want to have anymore to do and I think that people would enjoy no homework and I think that people would have better grades and would be a lot better off with no homework this week.

Reflection Blog- Speech

Throughout the night I read Speech to the Second Virginia Convention and I must say I did not like this story very much. I really did not understand most of it, but I will try and describe it with the Rationalism period tied into it. The speech that Patrick Henry read was very moving during this time because of the fact that they were having a hard time trying to figure out what to do about their society. Whether to go and have war or do what they were doing at the time which was not working out for them. When Henry said, "It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings" (Henry 117). In this part of the story, Patrick is trying to get to the emotional side of the president, which shows a part of this rationalism period. He tries to get on the emotional side of things and then he hits them with a bunch of facts and stuff about what it is going on with everything around them. When Henry wrote, "Mr. President, it is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and to provide for it" (Henry 117). This is just another showing as to how Patrick got to people is by emotional influences. Just like I said before he would say emotional things and then hit them with hard facts. Like when he was talking about having war or to not have war. He told them that whatever they were doing it was not working for them and he said that they should start war without reasoning. He was fed up with what was happening to them and that is why he had said, "Give my liberty, or give me death" (Henry 118). He was done with all that was happening to them and he wanted to do something for them and he wanted to change things. That is why this story is so timeless to these times. It was a big speech for Henry and his companions. It also helped out with society and the hard times that they were having when he had made out his speech. This is how the story went and how it had the Rationalism Period tied with it.

Bibliography

Henry, Patrick. "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Whilliam Ph,D. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 15, 116-118. Print.

Journal 9

Last year when we lost in the super-sectional in soccer, everybody was sad because we had such high hopes for the coming year and then it was over. We were so good because we had not lost a game the whole year and it was sad when the game that we needed to get into state. After we had not been losing the whole season it was weird losing the game that was the most important to us. It was not a good day for all of us because we were so excited for state and then we lose and we did not know what to do. I really did not know what to do when we lost. We were down one to zero for most of the game and we had a lot of chances but we were never able to put one away. We had had such a good season and after our game everybody was coming over and congratulating us on our great season. Some of the seniors that we had I had never seen them sad at all and it was weird to see all of them cry. It was a very sad day for all of us and I hope we are able to go all the way this year. I thought after the game as to what I would of done better, but I did not play that game. I just felt bad for all the seniors who were so close to winning, but ended up on the short end of the stick. Anyway it was one zero most of the game and at the last two minutes of the game, we fouled in the box and they had gotten a penalty kick and then when the whistle blew they scored again and that's when we knew that it was over. It was a very sad moment for all of us and I hope it does not happen to us again. Over the course of this year we are doing pretty well. I find that we have another chance this year to do something special. I think that last years team is pretty hard to beat. I think that we have a pretty good chance this year.

Journal 8

When I think about Autumn I think about all the leaves falling off the trees and it being very hot. This year during autumn it was very hot compared to what we had in the summer. Over the summer our temperature was around 80 to 90 degrees, but when autumn hit we have had temperatures up to about 100 degrees! Also when I think about autumn I think about Thanksgiving because I realize that Thanksgiving is only a little ways away and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday out of every holiday because of all the food. Autumn for me can be a very good season with me, but I do not like all the hotness that goes along with it. In autumn, I always have played soccer. Autumn for me is probably my second favorite season. My first favorite season is summer because we get out of school and we have no homework. In autumn for me also shows me that the warm weather is about over with and all the cold weather is about to come. I am not ready for cold weather because I am not a cold weather kind of guy. I hate the cold weather. Just the thought of me being out in the cold gives me shivers. Cold weather in my family is not very popular at all. We live in Illinois out of all places and we hate cold weather. Then again though in the summer there is a lot of hot weather and my family loves hot weather. If we had a choice between hot and cold my family would of definitely have picked warm weather. Autumn for me is a great season because it reminds me of all the seasons to come and all of the holiday's are coming like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and New Years. Autumn to me is a very relaxing season and I really do not mind it at all except for the fact that it could be very cold at certain times. I really love autumn, but it is not my favorite season.

Reflection- Act Four

From both stories that I am going to talk about, Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God and The Crucible, they both were very alike in the stories that were told. They both in these stories talked about Hell and God. In the Crucible they would speak about witchcraft and how bad it was and people would get hung. In the Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God, they also talked about Hell and God. When Giles was not cooperating with the "officials" he was tortured. This way was a very shameful way of doing things and it was not very logical which brings us back to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God because they were not logical about humanity and the church. In both these stories they talk about Hell a lot and how people are going to be going there after death. Like in Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God the church tries to scare the people and says that they are all sinners and are all going to burn in Hell. The only way they could survive is that if they plead guilty and are put into jail for the rest of their lives. If they do not plea than they are either tortured and crushed until they die. If they plea not guilty, then they are just hanged. Either way it is not going to be a good outing for these people. I find this not very logical at all because if somebody pleas they are not guilty than they should not be hung. Just like in The Crucible when all of those people are getting hung because of the fact that they are called to be guilty of being with the devil so they are all to be hung. When it comes down to religion and law, it never seems to be good. I find it very unpleasant when Giles is being tortured because of the fact that he did not do anything wrong, they just thought he did something wrong. When he said put more weight on, when they were crushing him with rocks, that showed courage and bravery because it showed that he had a lot of love for his friends and his family. He died a good man in the story. Anyway, it seems like everybody in Salem has been accused of witch-craft, and there is side-effects that come with that just like the cows just roaming around out of nowhere because nobody is home to take care of them because they were accused of witch-craft. Also their homes have became trash because nobody is home to take care of it because of the fact that again everybody was accused of witch-craft. Come to think of it, this whole witch-craft idea came into play when three girls were playing in the forest. When one gets accused of witch-craft it seems like everybody was accused of that. Also to add to that, all the farming that these farmers did has gone down the drain because nobody was at the farm helping the crops grow. Even if they do get out of jail, they will have nowhere to start. Overall, The Crucible and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God have become very alike.

Journal 7

Bullying has been a big issue overall, and especially in school. There has been a couple of fights that I have seen throughout my lifetime. Bullying really does not result in anything except for somebodies on the ground and crying and the other person will make sure that that person will have the worse life because now he will be scared of him. For the victim in this situation, the victim will be scared of that person for the rest of their high school or middle school years. High school is supposed to be a good time and make sure you have a good time. You are not supposed to be scared of certain person. Also what the victim gets out of being bullied is their self-esteem goes down so much. It is not worth just getting bullied and having your supposed to be good self-esteem and now that person could be permanently damaged for the rest of his life. The bully gets nothing out of the situation also, all he gets is the satisfaction of being the bully and the person not to mess with. Bullying as you can see gets you nowhere in life. The bully only gets the satisfaction of bullying somebody and the victim gets his self-esteem lowered and a lot of bruises. Now like the punching bullying is what most people think of but there is another kind of bullying which is talking. This relates mostly to the girls side because this is about drama. Some girls are talkers and they talk about every little detail on somebody. Like if someone is not very pretty and a girl came up to her and said your not pretty at all, that girls self-esteem is going to go down to a very low standpoint. Bullying can come in all sizes and in both genders. Nothing comes out of bullying somebody, mostly the bully's only do it because it satisfies them.

Reflection- The Crucible Act Three

Over the course of Act Three there was a lot of blaming going on between the wives and the husbands. Which is what I talked about the last blog I did. All of the wives of these men are getting acused of witch-craft which some of them are doing that, but others are being accused just because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Human nature is greatly portrayed throught Act Three because there was so much going on in the courtroom. The main part of Human Nature that was being portrayed was the difference between evil and good. In the courtroom the whole time everybody is arguing about who did what and they are not worrying about the big picture which is quit blaming everyone else and think about yourself. The evil side of Human Nature is all the witch-craft that is going on between these people and their wives and husbands. Everybody is accusing each other of doing witch-craft and need to have actual evidence as to what is going on. The courtroom right now is a mess because of all the people arguing and just massive chaos. Witch-craft is a very bad thing to do. It has to do with basically selling your soul to the devil and making others do it also or just making themselves kill each other. That is what everybody is making chaos about which is witch-craft and who and who does not do it. When Miller wrote, "You saw her scream, she howled, she swore familiar spirits choked her; she even testified that Satan, in the form of women now in jail, tried to win her soul away, and then when she refused-" (Miller 99). This shows what witch-craft would do to you. Danforth, the judge basically, is trying to make Mary confess to witch-craft which Mary is trying to stop herself from saying important things to the judge. The other part of Human Nature was the good side. The good side of this was everybody trying to figure out who did what. Who did all the witch-craft and made everybody go insane. When Miller says, "Parris: Excellency, she were under Tituba's power at that time, but she is solemn now" (Miller 104). When Abigail was in church with Tituba, who is accused of doing witch-craft, was seen laughing while people were praying. Now after Tituba was put away in jail, Abagail has not done that since and they say Tituba made her laugh. As you can see people are blaming other people for that person's behavior. Another reason I put this quote into this blog is that it shows what people thought witch-craft could do to other people. Abigail could also very well be a part of the witch-craft which people of the court suspect that. As you can see in this play various characters show different traits and characteristics throughout the whole play. In this play many people were blamed for something they did not do and Human Nature was greatly displayed throughout various parts of it.

Bibliography

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal 6

The possible repercussions of blaming somebody of something he/she did not do is the possible revenge. Revenge is a bad thing to do especially if you get caught bleming somebody else. In revenge you could do anything. Revenge could be from just hitting somebody in the arm or even killing somebody. That is why you should never blame anybody for something they never did. If, in trial, somebody was blamed for murder and they found them not guilty, that person is probably a little mad at the person who blamed them in the first place. If I was that person for blaming that murderer, I would be a little scared if it really was a murder from that man and they found them not guilty. I would be scared to be around that man. Overall, you can say things that are not true and it could come back to haunt you. You have to make sure that you are right before you say things because if you are wrong, it could be very bad between that person and you. The way to prevent this trouble, is that do not start rumors or anything that you know that is not true or that it is true you do not need to blurt it out to everyone. Blaming something that somebody did not do is something that is happening a lot these days. It could happen between anything or anybody like brother and sister, mom and dad, friends, etc. Blaming somebody for something is not the right thing to do. For example, if I dropped a glass of milk and my mom did not see it, then I would blame my sister for it. Even though I did it, I got my sister in trouble instead of myself. Then after that incident my sister will not be to happy with me so the next time she does something wrong she will blame me for it. Blaming is an ongoing problem in today's world and people just need to own up for what they did.

The Crucible Act Two- Reflection

There are many characters in the play of The Crucible. There are a lot of parts that have to go into making this play. One of the characters in this story is Paris. Paris is a man who likes to take charge and make sure everything is right. In Act One he is one of the main guys who takes charge in helping Betty wake up from her "sleep." I would put him as a gold on the True Color scale because he seems to be the man in charge in Act One. When Miller wrote, "Then why can she not move herself since midnight? This child is desperate! It must come out-my enemies will bring it out. Let me know what you done there. Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies" (Miller 10). Even from the beginning of the book you can tell that Paris is the man in charge of the situation. Another character in this play is Proctor. Proctor and his wife are main character's throughout Act Two of the play. Proctor's wife ends up getting called on being a part of the devil. Proctor knows she is not, but he does not have any proof for her, but the other men do have proof which they think is true. Really, I do not know how to classify Proctor as one of the True Color themes because he could be a couple. One is that he is a gold. A gold wants to take charge and is very organizational. Also I find Proctor a blue. I would classify him as a blue because he is very sentimental towards his wife. He loves his family very much and would do anything for them. Just like when the men came to take his wife. He said you can do anything to him, but you are not going to take her. When Miller wrote, "I like it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light of God in that man. I'll not conceal it" (Miller 65). This is talking about how Mr. Proctor's boys have all been baptised except for one which Mr. Proctor does not trust Mr. Parris to hold his baby in his arms. This is just another showing of how careful Mr. Proctor is about his children and family. The last character I am going to talk about is Hale. Hale is a minister who helps out Betty with her condition and comes in during Act Two to tell Proctor and Elizabeth that Elizabeth has been accused to be with the devil. I would claim Hale as a gold also because of the fact that he wants to take charge in the situations that happen with the devil and all these families. He is very helpful when it comes to Elizabeth and all the accusations that happened with her. Unfortuately, he was unable to stop the men from taking her unless he wanted to be a part of the accusations with her. When Miller wrote, "Hale: Proctor, if she is innocent, the court-" (Miller 77). When Proctor is getting all riled up because they are taking away Elizabeth, Hale is trying to calm him down by saying it will be alright if they find her not guilty she can come right back home. Hale was a good friend of Mr. Proctor and Elizabeth. All of these characters have different personalities and different traits that make them unique to this play. All of them play an important role throughout Act One and Two.

Bibliography

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal 5

All of the 21st century punishments I think are unfair. Over the course of my life I have been punished many times. I have been spanked especially when I was younger, now I just get my phone taken away or my car if I did something really bad. Just recently I was disrespectful to my mom and I had gotten my phone taken away. I got it taken away for at least a week. I think a fair punishment in the 21st century is just going upstairs into your room and having a 10 minute calm down session. I do not think that it is necessary to take away somebodies phone or even there car for that sake. I think that it is a bad enough punishment to just go upstairs and chill inside while you calm down before you do anything else. I think that parents worry too much about the punishment and my punishment would make it a lot easier for them to punish their child. Parents should not just take away something without having an explanation. My parents do that all the time, they punish me and do not give me an explanation. I guess in their view this blog would be different, but my view is basically like a timeout. It's not exactly like a timeout because you are just having time for yourself. You are not getting punished it's just getting used to yourself. Especially when a teenager gets angry they can say anything and that anything could make you cry or feal bad. Mostly, a teenager will not want to go to their room and take a rest. That is the only thing that could go wrong with this punishment. With teenagers they do not want to go up to their room and sit and do nothing. Especially coming from me because I do not like going on to my room and doing nothing. Again coming from my view this blog was very one-sided it was my view on a fair punishment, but it would definately be different if a parent would of written this not a student like me. I think that ten minutes of down time is a fair punishment.

The Crucible Act 1

I just got done reading The Crucible Act One and I find it very confusing. With all the characters in it, I have to make sure to go over the text a couple of times in order to understand it. I do not really like plays that are written in books. Anyway The Crucible Act One was over a young girl who supposidly was playing in the forest with her friends when all of a sudden she fell to the ground. The people of this time period do not know what was wrong with her. They tried bringing in doctors and ministers and just could not figure out what was wrong with her. The minister who's name was Hale, decided that their was witchcraft going on between Betty and the Devil. They would always pray to God and try to make him help her with all her needs. Throughout this story they would always use Hell as an example of what was happening to Betty. When Arthur wrote, "Mrs. Putnam: The psalm! The psalm! She cannot bear to hear the Lord's name" (Miller 24). This shows that when Betty was supposidly "with" the devil she could not bear to hear the Lord's name or she would sit up and scream. They believe that the Devil was trying to get into her soul. This play resembles the Puritan writing by how they used God and the Devil so much. The Puritans were very religious during their time and would always include God as a symbol in their story. In The Crucible, during Betty's collapsing, they would always put God into forgiving them and just trying to get Betty back alive. They believe that the cause of this was witchcraft. There was nothing that they could do except just pray for Betty to get out of her slumber and get away from the devil. When Hale was trying to figure out what was wrong with Betty he took many precautions before performing on her. Like when Miller says, "Hale, holding up his hands: No, no. Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone, and I must tell you all that I shall not proceed unless you are prepared to believe me if I should find no bruise of hell upon her" (Miller 38). He is speaking about how the devil is very powerful and weird things could happen in the room if he went on with this procedure. When they are about to talk to her it is very dangerous because the Devil can get very angry. Towards the end of the Act Tituba is saying that she did not do this to Betty and she does not work with the Devil. After asking her so many times she finally gives up and says that he has asked her to help him with killing people but she said that she refused to do what he asked. As you can see The Crucible looks like it will be just like the Puritan writing style in play format.

Bibliography

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal 4

I have been on a couple long trips back in the day. I have been to Hawaii once and Jamacia twice and California to many times to count. Every time we are about to go on the plane I always think that what if the plane goes down and I do not know what to do. I always am scared of just what if I die on the plane. What if the plane just does not work and it snaps in half and falls into the ocean. That would be even worse than landing on land for me. If we land in the ocean there is nobody around in order to save us. Also there are sharks all around us. What if one of us gets bitten by a shark? Then the blood will travel around and all the sharks will come and eat us all. That has a huge impact on me especially when I go on long trips that cross the ocean. Other than that I think that it is cool to think that we are in the air and we are so high up. Even though I am afraid of heights I still find it amazing that we are up that high and we can see miles and miles away. Another impact when I go on long trips especially when I went to Jamacia was I knew that the culture their was different and I knew their was a lot of drug dealing that had happened their. I kept thinking to myself what if I was tooken by one of these drug dealers. It turned out to be a really nice country. Everybody there was friendly and had a lot to say to the tourists. I really enjoyed that trip. Anyway there are a lot of what if's that I used in this whole impacting me on big trips blog. I really do enjoy going on long trips and I find it really fun. On the other hand there are a lot of things that could happen to you if you are not careful and very alert. Overall, the view I have on long trips is that I really enjoy them and hope to take one soon.

Of Plymoth Plantation- Puritan Writing

The Puritans were all about God and the Bible. They would, in their writing, provide the Bible as a model or they favored plain style. In the story Of Plymouth Plantation, it was all about how the Pilgrims came about the land and met the Indians. In the beginning of the story, a young man, during a storm, falls out of his ship but luckily grabs onto a part of the ship. When Bradford says, "with a seele of the ship, thrown into sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards which hung overboard and ran out at length" (Bradford 64). When the young man fell out of the ship he was able to grab onto one of the ropes and hold onto it to bring him back to safety. Bradford said that it had "pleased" God. He says this because when the young man grabbed the rope for his life God was pleased that he was able to save his own life. The young man did not have to die while falling overboard into the sea. That is a big part as to how the Puritans had wrote, they were in close relation to God. So when Bradford said God was "pleased" it was the same kind of writing style that the Puritans used. So when the Pilgrims finally make it to the land after being out at sea for so long with all the storms and other bad things that happened they realize that there is nobody on that land. So they feel kind of tired after being out at sea for so long, but yet they are grateful to God for letting them stay on this land. When Bradford says, "Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element" (Bradford 65). This shows that even thought they were not entertained by anything or anyone, they were still thankful to God for letting them stay on the land rather be in the sea. So when they are on this land they know that winter is going to be coming and they have no supplies for that. Once winter comes a lot of people had died because of the fact that they were not ready for what was coming at them. When Bradford wrote, "After these things he returned to his place called Sowams, some 40 miles from this place, but Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation" (Bradford 67). This explains that God had sent Squanto for all these Pilgrims. They had thanked God for giving them somebody who new how to grow things and help them with their journey. All of these examples are a good source of what the Puritan writing was like. The story was somewhat written in the same way as the Puritans had written their stories.

Bibliography

Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation. Ed. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Glencoe Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-

Hill, 2009. 65. Print.

Journal 3

Being held hostage would be the scariest thing in my life. I can't imagine what it would be like to sit in like a bank or something and have your life flash in between your life. If I was held hostage in a situation that my life flashed before my eyes I would sit down and do what they told me to do. Even though that would not be very strong of me that is what I would do if I was in a hostage situation. Here is my story. I was in my work office and I was by myself and all of a sudden I heard a gunshot down below my office. I went to go check it out because I had no idea what that noise was and I saw one of my coworkers down on the ground struggling between life and death. When I realized what had happened their was a man behind the cubicle and said "Sit down and shut up!" I sat down and did not know what to do. I just came in to do a little job that I needed to do. Once everything had calmed down I tried to think of what to do. What if he shoots me and I die? I will never see my family again if he shoots me. The man was talking to himself and saying that he needed the money. I wondered if anybody else had heard this gunshot that had happened or if it was just me. I was in the room for at least three hours just praying that he would not shoot me and just let me go. Once he stopped talking to himself he turned to me and asked me if I would get him some money. I stopped and thought what if I did. What if I helped him out and he got away. How would I feel with all of this. I decided not to help him and he said that I had a half and hour to change my mind or he would shoot me. A half an hour came by and I still didn't change my mind. I was about to get shot when the FBI busted in and saved me. After all this had happened I ran home and saw my family. I told them all about what happened. That was my story and that is what I would do if I was in that kind of hostage situation.