Caleb+Gerberick's+Page

Caleb Gerberick's Page

There are many forces that have made me who I am today. First, my mom has kept me on the right path throughout my school career up to this point and has made sure that I don't make any stupid decisions that could affect my future. Second, my dad has influenced me with his fun-loving and care-free attitude in both positive and negative ways. This has taught me to not take things as seriously, but this isn't always good when it comes to schoolwork. My tennis coach has also greatly influenced me. When I started my freshmen year I was 28th on the team out of 30, but he told me that if I worked hard enough I could play varsity. This taught me that if you work for something you can achieve it because I'm now starting for our team. Next, My step-dad has supported me more than anybody else in everything that I do. He has helped me to achieve where I am today through his help and support. Also, my job has made me a more responsible person and has helped me greatly with my time-management. My friends have been a major part of my life up to this point and I have had the same friend group pretty much my whole life and we all act pretty similar because of that. Another force that has affected me is my teachers who, obviously, have taught me most of what I know and have prepared me for college. Soccer has influenced me since I was 4 years old. Since I have been playing so long, it has made me super competitive in every sport that I do and pushes me to try to be the best. One class that has influenced me was community service class. I got to see a lot of people who are far less fortunate than me and gave me a new respect for homeless/mentally challenged people an what they go through. Lastly, my grandfather has taught me not to worry about what other people think about you. Everywhere he goes he says what he wants and doesn't think twice about people that are looking at him.

Hali Bryant- I think that these forces have shaped you into a great person and all the positive energy and reinforcement will help you go far.

Wonderful that you were able to improve so much in tennis in such a short time! -Mrs. Sands

Independent Reading Wiki Post on "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse Date: September 22nd Section 1: Pages Read: 1-75
 * Please include date and pages read. Also label each section. **

So far, “Siddhartha” is a novel about a young man who leaves his life as a wealthy, prominent man in his society to explore the true meaning of life. Siddhartha feels that there is something more to life than what he knows, so with his father’s permission, he leaves his hometown to join a group of wandering priests that give up all of there possessions in an attempt to reach Nirvana. After spending three years with the Samanas, Siddhartha feels that he has mastered their ways and that it is not the best way to reach righteousness. With his childhood friend, Govinda, Siddhartha leaves the Samanas to listen to a man who is rumored to have “Left his Self”. His name is Gotama, the Buddha. Siddhartha and Govinda listen to Gotama talk and Govinda decides to follow his word and become one of his followers. Siddhartha is not so sure, and ultimately decides that following another person’s path to Nirvana is not true Nirvana. Once again, Siddhartha changes his path in life and decides that the thing that he knows least about is himself. He is lonely and wants to find love and talk to others for once. Siddhartha gets a job and meets a woman named Kamala and starts to fall in love.
 * Summary**

This part of the book was very interesting and surprising at times. Siddhartha seems to be very clever and is restless in his pursuit of leaving the cycle of life. He doesn’t really know what he wants with his life, but is just going where his life takes him and learning all that he can about the meaning of life along the way. Siddhartha is in a pursuit to know everything and become the “perfect person”. Similar to Socrates, Siddhartha seems to be cleverer than everybody that he speaks to and points out their flaws. This part of the book has left me wondering if Siddhartha can truly accomplish his goal if he cannot commit to any of the ideas that he comes up with. He has learned many things through his travels, but does not look like he is getting very close to his goal of leaving his “Self”.
 * Analysis**

The course essential question and objectives are shown throughout this book. Some of the characteristics that Siddhartha shows are similar to those today. Siddhartha is never satisfied with anything that he does, which is very common in today’s society. However, this can also be considered a contrast from the essential question. Siddhartha has a hunger for knowledge, which is hard to find in our culture today. Society is so focused on money and power that they forget about more important things such as knowledge and religion, which Siddhartha could not get enough of. He gave up all of his possessions and mastered the practices of fasting, waiting, and thinking.The course objective that really stands out to me with this book is "Understanding Human Ideals" and more specifically the line that says "Humans seek perfection, despite being unattainable". Siddhartha is absolutely determined to reach perfection in life and will stop at nothing to get there. At times, it seems as though he has wasted time in his pursuit of perfection and has missed out on things in life that every person should experience. Siddhartha wants to learn everything that he can, as quickly as he can. When he is talking at one point in the book, he compares himself to a stone that is thrown into a river and finds the quickest way to the bottom. To me, that summarizes human ideals today as well, as we discussed in our first Socratic Seminar about the art of conversation. "Siddhartha" could also be compared to the course objective of "Understanding Roles and Behavior". Although many others seek to accomplish the same thing as Siddhartha, Siddhartha exhibits more of a selfish and conceited behavior than many others. It seems like he always thinks that what he is doing is far more important than what others are doing. In the book, his boss tells him that he lives off of others and Siddhartha denies it, replying that he does not need any of what is given to him. Lastly, "Understanding Human Nature" is another course objective that is displayed in the book so far. The best example of how this is shown, is that while Siddhartha has his mind set on being perfect and not fulfilling his desires, he still longs for love and friendship. Even the most disciplined of all humans seek these two things, simply because it is part of human nature. Also, the stares that people gave him while he was a Somana seemed to secretly bother him, although he chose to look as ragged as he did. Overall, "Siddhartha" is a very good book to reinforce the course essential question and objectives and it will be interesting to see if Siddhartha can reach his goal.
 * Application**

Independent Reading Wiki Post #2 10/17/13 Section 2: Pages 75-152

In the second half of "Siddharha", Siddhartha becomes distracted on his path to righteousness. He becomes consumed with his work and ends up becoming a wealthy man who goes to parties and wears fine clothes. Years pass and Siddhartha finally realizes that he is basically back to where he started his journey. He has lost all of his good qualities and he has a child with Kamala. At this point, he comes to realize his mistake and he ventures into the nearby forest, abandoning his wealthy life. Siddhartha has become so disappointed with himself that he decides to jump into a river in an attempt to end his worthless life. As he is falling, he hears the river speak the holy word "Om". It turns out that it was a dream and he wakes up alongside the river, with a completely new viewpoint on life. He sees the beauty in everything and feels an overwhelming sense of happiness. He decides that he is not ready to leave the river yet and he wants to learn from it. Siddhartha meets with an old ferryman, named Vasudeva, who once took him across the river before. As they travel across, Siddhartha asks the man if he can live with him as his apprentice. The old man accepts and Siddhartha stays with him in his hut for the night. As Siddhartha is telling Vasudeva about his travels, he realizes that Vasudeva is the greatest listener that he has ever seen. The man does not speak much, but he is an excellent listener. Siddhartha notices this and wants the same for himself. Over the years, Vasudeva teaches Siddhartha all that he knows, including how to listen to the river. Siddhartha's old lover, Kamala, ends up dieing and leaving their 11 year-old child with Siddhartha, whom the child has never met. The child is spoiled and actually ends up running away after many failed attempts from Siddhartha to be loved by him. Siddhartha is heartbroken and gives up after several failed attempts of getting him back. Siddhartha eventually reaches righteousness after hearing "Om" from the river in real life. He succeeds Vasudeva after the old man passes on. His old friend, Govinda, comes to visit him after hearing of his great wisdom. He passes on what he can to Govinda, and the book concludes with Govinda bowing to Siddhartha and telling him that he believes Siddhartha has reached his goal of righteousness.
 * Summary**

This part of the book was definitely interesting and had a lot more unexpected twists and turns than the first section. Siddhartha becomes "righteous" all from being an apprentice to a ferryman. I thought that it was interesting that they both would listen to the river for advice and were "one" with the river. Vasudeva taught Siddhartha that the river can teach him all that he needs to know and Siddhartha took his advice and dedicated his life to the river. It definitely was not what I expected the second half of the book to be like, but I thought that it was very good and I especially liked the ending when Vasudeva sort of passed the torch onto Siddhartha. One thing that I did not expect was that Siddhartha's child ended up having no relevance to the end of the book and it was left open to interpretation what the child went on to do. After he disappeared into the woods when he ran away, he was never heard from again. It was kind of disappointing that Siddhartha tried so hard to be a good father and for his child to love him, and then it ended on such a bad note.
 * Analysis**

The big human characteristic that stood out to me in this section, was Siddhartha's passion to become a good father and to have a good relationship with his child. Although he did not care at all about the boy up until that point, once he knew that he had to step up as a father, he dedicated his life to it. I think that this characteristic holds true today and the father-son relationship has always been strong across all world cultures. With the course objectives, the one that stood out to me the most was "understanding human ideals". This was basically what both sections of the book were about. Siddhartha was seeking perfection throughout the entire book and he was finally content by the end of the book. Although he was not perfect, Siddhartha felt that he had lived his life to the fullest and that he was very happy with where he is at. Going back to Siddhartha's role as a father, I believe that it could also go along with the course objective of "understanding human roles and behaviors". Siddartha played his natural role as a father because it is part of human nature to do so. Siddhartha was very related to the course objectives and it was interesting to think that somebody like Siddhartha actually relates to people nowadays. ** Interesting indeed. 24/25 **
 * Application**