The If Game

"Peace with all the world is my sincerest wish."
          -George Washington

In my opinion the greatest President that the United States of America has ever had. These are my reasons:
1. If it weren't for George Washington then we would have had a monarchy, but because of George Washington's suggestion we have a president. (So if it weren't for George Washington then some of your favorite president's wouldn't have been in office....What?! No Abe Lincoln? No Truman? No JFK? You're telling me if he wasn't president then we wouldn't have even had those tremendous leaders?....Yep!)
2. He set the precedent of having two terms (because he knew that power could get to a person) which was later turned into law.
3. He gave some concrete advice.
        -Don't start political parties.
        -Don't have allies because that means enemies.

Just to think of a world without George Washington is a thought of despair. That's one of the things I like about history; you can look back and imagine the slightest change and how that would affect the world today. If we would have listened to George about not having political parties, then where would our country be today? Would we come to a mutual understanding on abolishing slavery or would it last for centuries more? If we didn't have allies, would we remain neutral in WWI or WWII, would we be considered the international police that we consider ourselves today?

History repeats itself and it makes an impact years and years later. Who would have thought that December 24, 1979 would have a lasting affect on the world we live in today? Who would have thought that it would matter today that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan? But it has.

The if game: If the Soviet Union did not attack then the Taliban may not have taken control of Afghanistan, thus the devastation of 9/11 would not have happened because Al-Qaeda wouldn't have had the protection of the Taliban. If the Soviet Union did not attack then the government may not have fallen and there would be no Russia, if so then the United States may have still been in poor terms with the Soviet Union and the cold war wouldn't have ended.

Who's to say that the political problems we currently face won't have affects on decisions made centuries later? It's a scary thought to think of, honestly, no one can tell at that moment what kind of decision they are going to make for the generation ahead of them. Who would have thought that the rule of war that goes against chemical weapons would have been tested and caused such a controversy today? That rule was created to stop a conflict but now it is testing us to see what action we will take.

The best way to play the if game: Look at least a step ahead because what you do now will have an affect on what comes later, personally or politically. Look at least a step behind you because history repeats itself, if you don't like what you see then don't repeat it, learn from it. You won't take the right step every time, but when you take the wrong step be prepared to act because you will have to act. When you have chosen and what you did becomes history. People will evaluate your decision, whether they are family or historians and they will play the if game.

Thank You Ya Highway!!

First off, I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to ya highway!

On Thursday I was having a not so awesome day, after losing our second volleyball game against Cameron. Then I had to go home and write a college admission's essay for homework. (Man oh man is that stressful stuff. It's one thing to say I have good grades and that I am active in extra curricular activities, but it's another thing to brag. The way I was raised I was taught bragging is rude, so it's really hard to sit there and evaluate yourself to make others feel the need that you have to attend their school.) Anyways...it was Thursday night, and I remembered that I had my dad forward me a bunch of emails from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln so I decided to get on my email.

That's when one of the worst days ever turned into the best miracle God could give me.

That's when I saw that I received an email from ya highway. I love following their blog, it's very insightful especially for an aspiring author...which fits my description. So back to what the email said. It said something like "Hurray!" and that's when my heart stopped and I tried to stifle an energetic scream. I stood up really fast, which made me a little light headed because I wasn't feeling so well, and then I ran to my parents room. Well they were both out cold, go figure it was eleven thirty, so after that I ran back to my room to read the rest of the email.

It told me that I won a query critique. For those of you that don't know what a query is, it is a letter that an author will send to agents asking for representation. Queries have to be well written and really explain your book, if they aren't then you could very well end up without an agent. So winning a query critique is really good news, especially since I've never written one before and I need my query to be good.

A little note: I have written something, but I've always been hesitant about saying anything. However, I haven't let my hesitation stop me from going after my dream of being published, so I've asked some well trusted people to read it. Both times I've given them the manuscript I have heard a song that always reminds me of my manuscript, and both times I have looked up and thanked God for giving me the courage to write. Because it does take courage.

Here I am again thanking God because he has definitely given me a miracle. Winning a query critique from the ya highway giveaway is a true blessing. Once again I really want to thank ya highway, they are helping people learn how to be better writers and it really makes a difference.

Thank you so much,
Bailey