One of June Foley’s Advanced Writing class students, Grace Zhang, recently wrote this, and we thought we’d share it with you all:

The Uncertainty of Life

Last week, Xing Lin shared a nice essay about experiences she had in the YMCA with two ladies who suffered from low blood pressure.  One passed away and one was noticed by Xing and her daughter and sent to the hospital.  Xing reminds us how vulnerable we are when we have to face death.  One classmate happened to ask if we will have more classes after the semester.  Our teacher June answered by saying she had a small low blood pressure problem and that there would be classes on September if she was alive then.  This kind of humor is mixed with the uncertainty of life.

I always like to think and talk about living and death.  The Internet lets us know about more news in the world.  I don’t understand why my eyes are easily caught on all kinds of incidents that make people die.  Sometimes, I imagine how my life will end.

There is a poster on the phone booth in the street.  In the picture, a mountain of people are stepping or stepped on each other, trying to catch the helicopter in the air.  It’s a breathtaking scene.  My son said, “Some people are falling down,  Why?”  Plots of Hollywood movies flashed through my mind.  I was thinking if I were one of those people, I would stand aside and pray to wait for my life to end.  I don’t have the confidence to compete with so many people.

There seem to be more and more natural calamities and man-made misfortunes in recent years.  Compared to the news in other places, New York is still God’s favorite.  We experienced an earthquake last year: we went through Hurricane Sandy; we all survived after December 21, 2012.  Hooray!  A poet wrote:

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.

What is your life?

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

I write:

Though you are complicated, I believe in staying as simple as you can.

Hug your spouse; hug your children.

Go to school; go to work.

Enjoy this life; hope for a better life to come.

Don’t over-worry, panic or fear.

Turn your eyes to the flowers in the fields, the fish in the streams,

The birds in the sky.

Focus on truth, wisdom, and happiness.

Good Luck, everyone!  See you all in September!