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The Library's Dusty Shelves.




I finished my AP Environmental Science class and walked to McDowell High Media Center for my Media class.  I didn't exactly know what I was going to do today, maybe learn something new about books?  Or perhaps read a new nonfiction book?  My spirit was really happy, and I walked through the doors smiling after knowing in AP Environmental Science that if everyone lived like me, we would have needed six more planets of Earth...  That wasn't something to smile about, but it seemed funny to me, for I had no idea about the number of miles that I travel, drive, bike, or walk every year, so I simply typed long numbers which had three zeroes in front of them.  Were my numbers right?  God knows, but, things seemed funny.  I don't drive, I'm from a farms area in Saudi, my mom is a recycling-aholic, and my host family in the US composes vegetables and never throws them away to replant them later.  Six Earths sounded a lot for a sixteen-year-old, that's why I had a huge smile on my face, while I laughed from the inside.

Anyways, I went to Ms. Hall, and she told me that I'll be whipping the dust off twenty-one book shelves.  "Wow" I told her.  She accompanied me to my section, and showed me the proper way of cleaning shelves, and removing dust.  But before that, here's the thing that made me laugh when she left me there.  Just two days ago I cleaned a bathroom, and that was only my third time ever in my whole lifetime.  I was imaging my Filipino and Indian Housemaids, and I just felt so weird towards myself.  How come I've never cleaned a bathroom?! -I laughed again-.  I told my parents, and they were really happy that I actually did that, they even told me to send their huge thanks to my host-mom.  New experiences, people.  Cleaning a bathroom, washing my clothes, walking a dog, helping in washing the dishes, vacuuming the living room, and now whipping dust in my school!  Believe it or not, I felt really good upon doing all of these things.  Exactly one month ago I was totally dependent on our housemaids and driver to do everything, even my bed sheets were different every week.  But I got the chance to put myself in their places, and appreciate how I lived.

Whipping off dust in the school's library not only made me sneeze, but it also gave me a lot of knowledge just by reading the books titles.  I read names of religions that I've never heard of before, saw pictures of different authors who seek to change or at least influence a life through their nonfiction work, and I read about how we can live in peace with our own selves.

Being happy after doing some chores is really weird, and I also wrote in my application when I applied to the program ''I am REALLY excited to have chores!".  I really don't regret doing that, because I realized how cleaning should be really precised in bathrooms.  I learned that you can never mix different colors of clothes with white after all of my white shirts turned to light blue.  I discovered new, and exciting things about dogs in walking Titan and Leo.  I didn't learn much in helping with the dishes except that I heard lots of wrestling stories from my host-dad who was a wrestling coach, and whom I help with the dishes.  And by dusting the library's shelves, I believe that those books titles, and the knowledge that they've given me shall help my brain, and can for sure make me live in peace with myself, and with the decisions that I make.  We only live once, chores won't make us tired, they'll make us stronger by thinking of others who do them for us, and they'll build a better understanding of how we view the world, our world. 

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