#43

Standardized testing in order to access mental health seems like it would not work in every case. I think mental health can range from several situations and I am not sure if a standardized test can provide the patients in the ways that they need. I think it depends mostly on what kind of test it would be. For some cases of mental health, I do not think they could be determined by a standardized test. I know that some cases of mental health issues can be triggered by certain situations or something like that and that would not be able to be determined by a test. If however, a standardized test was necessary to test a persons mental health, the questions would have to be easy to understand and applicable to their lives. Question one might ask if they have been told previously that you might have a mental problem. Other questions might pertain to social interaction. Do you feel comfortable  meeting new people? What is your level of social interaction of a daily basis? How is your relationship with your family? Other questions might ask them about themselves. What hobbies they are interested in, things that make them happy, what they do to release stress etc. I think another section of the standardized test might have psychological pictures that they would be asked to interpret. I am not fully knowledgeable of this field, but I do know that interpretations of pictures can tell a lot about a person and their sub-conscious thoughts.

Journal #42

Once upon a time there was a man who appeared to have it all. He had limitless money, due to wise investments and stocks, he had extremely good looks, a trophy wife and numerous good service awards and honorable mentions. He basically bought his good looks. Plastic surgery and the best physical trainer money could buy, helped him out a lot, along with hundred dollar hair products and pearly whitened teeth. His trophy wife was in it for the money. She was significantly younger than him, but was not bothered by it. She was too distracted with the fine jewelry and designer clothes he spoiled her with. Like I said, he had numerous good service awards, plaques, honorable mentions, etc. Whenever he heard of a crisis or community project, he would run right to the check book. His check book had gold lining and held a solid gold pen. He was famous for it. He did not write the checks out of sincerity though. Oh no, that was not his style. What he felt rewarded from was the newspapers and recognition of how "charitable" he was. He was so self-centered and only donated to help his own image. When asked if he wanted to volunteer to help rebuild a neighbor's home who had burnt down, he simply gives a prideful smile and pulls out his gold lined check book. Then of course reaps the praise of his good doings. Everyone knows he was not sincere with his donations, but how could you argue when he gives so much? Some newspapers even refer to him as a "hero". A real hero would be giving for the right reasons.

#41

A hero, to me, is someone who is selfless. Someone who puts everything on the line for someone else. In the movies, heroes are always portrayed as super strong and handsome, but I think a true hero has so much more than just their physical appearance or abilities. A hero should be a leader and someone that can be looked up to as a role model. They should display heroic characteristics such as honesty, truth, courage, strength, and love. If a person portrays these characteristics, even without being super buff with dazzling good looks, I would still consider them a hero. I also think of a hero as someone who makes a difference in the world. Not just talks about it, but actually takes action to do their part and help someone other than themselves. Sacrifice is a huge part of this. It is putting someone else's needs above your own. Looking at the stereotypical hero, I would have to say Captain America is my favorite. What I like about him is that he went from a "nobody" to a somebody. He had all of the characteristics of a hero without being just physically superior. The best example of this is when the general tested the soldiers by throwing a bomb at the soldiers. All of the other soldiers ran away, but Captain America ran right to it and covered himself over it to save the rest of the soldiers. That is sacrifice. Captain America also had the intelligence of a hero. This was tested when the soldiers were told to get the flag on top of the pole. While the other soldiers failed in climbing the pole in order to retrieve the flag, Captain America simply undid the bolts from the base of the pole and retrieved the flag after the flag pole had fallen. These characteristics are what made him a hero even before he went under the procedure that boosted his strength and physical abilities.

Journal #40

This year my family and I have moved to a new house with a good amount of land in hopes to become more self sufficient. So far we have planted trees, started our garden, gotten bees, and our newest addition is baby chicks. We now have six baby chicks and we were suppose to get six hens, but the place we were going to get them from had an accident. A fox had gotten into the hen house and killed all of the hens we were going to buy! It was terrible. We were still able to buy our baby chicks though. On Sunday, I went with my parents to pick up the baby chicks. I think the name of the store was Farm & Home Supply, but I am not really sure.  I think all the home supply stores sound the same. I was surprised with how many different breeds of chicks they had. They had chicks ranging from tiny black ones that were only a few days old to larger orange ones that were a little over a week old. The breed that we picked is black and brown, but I cannot recall the official name. While the employee helped my Dad catch the chicks we wanted, something terribly traumatic  happened. In one of the crates of chicks I noticed a tiny little black chick that was not moving. It did not look good. At first I thought he was just sleeping, but when I looked closely I saw that he was not breathing! The poor baby chick had died! The other chicks in the crate were completely oblivious and walked all over it. It was incredibly sad. Then the manager had to come over and take care of it. This was the last thing I wanted to happen to our six baby chicks. All of the chicks we got were females and I got the pleasure of naming each of them. Their names are Ariel, Rapunzel, Arora, Belle, Snow, and Cinderelly. I like Disney princesses if you can't tell. The baby chicks are so cute and I was so excited to bring them home! They live in our garage in their own little crate with their heating lamp, food, water, etc. I like that they live there because every morning when I leave for school, I can tell the baby chickies goodbye. Saying hello to them is also the first thing I do when I get home. I wish they could stay this small and cute forever!

Journal #39

Spring Break is such a tease. It is a week that basically feels like summer, but then you have to come back to school. My spring break really did feel like summer. This year, my family and I drove down to Florida. We had rented a condo in New Smyrna Beach, it is twenty miles south of Daytona. I was super excited to go, but I was absolutely dreading the car ride there. We drove the entire way. The trip took seventeen hours total without traffic. We left Friday early evening, stopped that night, and then traveled the rest of the way Saturday and did not get in until about ten at night. I did not even care though because we were finally there! It was so worth it. Our condo was literally right on the beach. When I stepped onto our balcony and looked out I could see the sand the waves right in front of me. Sunday we went to a local church in New Smyrna and then went out to an Easter brunch. The brunch was delicious and we even ran into our extended family there who is staying in Daytona! It was such a coincidence because they did not even know we were in Florida! Sunday night my sister, Katie flew in.  I was so jealous she got to fly and not drive, but I was so happy she could come. We picked her up that night at the airport and  brought her home to paradise.We spent the next three days doing nothing, but lounging on the beach all day. Well, I did run in the morning, but after that our day literally consisted of nothing, but soaking up the Florida sun. It was wonderful. On Thursday, we drove to the other side of the state to visit my Dad's parents. It was so nice to see them. My mom, sister, and grandma went out and got manicures together and then we joined my dad and grandpa for a Japanese Steakhouse dinner. Friday was our last day in New Smyrna, but unfortunately it rained all day. We made the best of it though and turned it into a shopping day. We shopped til we dropped and I loved every minutes of it. That evening, we dressed up in our new clothes and went out to our favorite restaurant that we had gone to the first night we were there. This vacation was much needed and it was so nice to just get away and relax. I cannot wait until summer!

Journal #38

My job shadowing experience went very well. I went with four other juniors to the WICS News Channel 20 Station downtown. We had two sessions that day. The first session was from 10am to 12pm and then the afternoon session was from 3:30pm to 5:30pm. The woman we were suppose to shadow ended up having to go to Champagne for something and so she was not even there. Because of her absence, we were pretty much tossed around to several different people in the station. One of the first things we did was take a general tour of everything. The station is literally a maze inside and the hallways are very narrow with several doors and tight corners. One of the places we stopped during the tour was the Master Control room. This is where the two master control guys basically make sure the show runs how it should. WICS has a sister station in Champagne and so they run at the same time. These guys in master control have to make sure that the commercials line up and that there are no gaps between the shows. This was a job that I had never really thought about, but it is absolutely necessary. Another job that I had not really thought of before was the person who has to organize all of the news and schedule what stories should be covered.This was Steve's job. He would sit at his computer and take phone calls and make listen to the police scanners about any news that would be interesting to cover. I was so surprised with how many people were behind the scenes for the news to happen and how many jobs there are that you do not even realize are necessary. My favorite part of the job shadowing experience was sitting behind the camera and watching the Mid-day show. This really interested me because I want to be a news reporter or anchor. It was really cool seeing it all come together. This experience has definitely increased my interest in this career and I am excited to learn even more about it.

Journal #37

As I listen to the song Blue Monk, I imagine an everyday working man waking up in the morning, just in time to turn off his alarm before it sounds. It is a warm and sunny morning, just waiting for him. He hops out of bed and pets his sleeping dog still snoozing on the end of his bed. He then makes his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. He takes a shower, shaves, and brushes his teeth all while humming his favorite tune. After putting on his work clothes, he makes his way downstairs. He has plenty of time left before he has to leave and so he decides to brew himself his favorite blend of coffee. The aroma fills the room and as he sips his coffee and catches up on the latest news in the morning paper. After finishing his cup, he cannot resist pouring himself another into a thermos to take to work with him. He is ready for the day ahead of him. Instead of driving today, the man decides to walk the five blocks to his work and enjoy the pleasant weather. As he walks he smiles at the passing strangers with a sincere grin on his face. He reaches his work and holds the door open for a lovely lady. He then follows inside and heads to the elevator. He reaches his floor and makes his way to his cubical. There waiting for him is a stack of papers to get through before the day is done. It fails to phase him and he contenting sits down and starts working. One after the other he gets through the papers in record timing. Before he knows it, it is five o'clock and time to head home. As he strolls home, he decides to stop by his favorite ice cream parlor to reward himself after a long days work. He is about finish with his ice cream when he gets home and gives the last few bites to his dog who has been eagerly waiting for him. He smiles as the happy dog wags his tail back and forth. What a great day.

Journal #36

Being yourself, I think, is crucial as you grow up. When you are living in a society that is only trying to conform you, simply being yourself is a great accomplishment in itself. Everyone wants to feel accepted. It comes to us naturally. This can cause people to change their morals and values just to simply fit in. I feel like this is very dominant in high school. If you look at the kind of person you were in middle school and the friends you were with, you have most likely changed quite a bit since then. Once you get to high school, I feel like your morals and values are definitely put to the test. You so badly want to be accepted by your new peers in high school, but you have to decide if you are willing to give up what makes you, you. Being a Christian, I found the adjustment from middle school to high school quite drastic. It was so different. I went from a tiny sheltered private Christian school to a public high school. This really tested my faith and I think made me stronger as a Christian. It is so important not to give in to peer pressure and maintain your morals when you are in a new environment. Simply be yourself. Do not let others decide who you are and make choices for you. God has made each and every one of us perfectly unique and special in our way. Conforming to be like someone else is like saying that God made a mistake. I personally find the type of girls who all act, talk, and look the same to be so annoying. They rely so much on the approval of each other that you do not even know what they are really like. So be yourself. Do not change for someone's opinion who does not even matter. An original is worth so much more than a copy.

Journal #35

After reading my reflection blog from back in September, I can definitely see improvement in my writing. At the beginning of the year, I kind of had an idea of how to write in this more formal style with support, but I still had much to learn. Something that I noticed between my September post and my Whitman's post from yesterday, is that I used a lot of first person in my writing. I put in a lot of my personal opinion rather than stating facts and then backing it up. In formal writings, we are not suppose to let our own opinion and first person ideas influence the writing unless we are specifically told to do so. It was almost like a fancy journal post. In my Whitman's discussion post, I think I did a much better job focusing on facts and support and not adding in my two cents on the topic. Something else I noticed from my old blog was that I had some grammar mistakes. I did not proof read as well as I thought I had, but this is something that I have improved on and is not present in my current posts. Something that my September reflection blog did a better job doing than my Whitman blog was the introduction and conclusion. My September blog had both a formal introduction and conclusion while my Whitman blog does not. If I were to be writing in an essay style format, I would make sure to include both of these parts, but I did not feel the need to do so with my discussion post, although I am sure it would not have hurt. My Whitman post however, has much more support through out the writing compared to my Independence Day post and has several different sources. I think this really strengthens my points. It is encouraging to see how my writing has improved over the months and I hope to continue to do so.

Journal #34

Before I watched that video I did not know that there were three official pieces of self including soul, self, and "real me". From the soul perspective, my goal is to have an image that represents Christ and glorifies Him. As a Christian, I believe that there are also three parts that make you who you are, your soul, spirit, and body. Soul being the part that goes on to Heaven after death, your spirit being the Holy Spirit inside of you, and then your physical body. This to me is what makes ones' self. From Whitman's perspective, soul is also one of the three parts. I think this is the most important part because it is beyond yourself, but still makes you who you are. The next of the three parts is self. This is what I personally think of myself. I like to think of myself as confident and out going. In my own eyes I am a hard worker and I like a challenge. I find it more rewarding to work towards something and achieve it than to be given it the easy way. I would also consider myself intelligent and I can justify myself through my 4.26 grade point average. I think I am kindhearted and positive, but I am no where near perfect. I can only do my best, but I try to maintain a good attitude and a smile on my face. The last of the three parts is the "real me". This is what other people perceive me as and society's view. I cannot really say what that is because I am going off of what I am thinking they are thinking. I hope people can see that I am genuine. I would say that I am very opinionated and sometimes to others that can come off as stubborn, but I hope that is not the case. Ideally to others I act in a way that exemplifies Christ. What other people think does not really matter though, because the only opinion that matters is God's.

Journal #33

Being involved in several extra curricular activities at once, as well as maintaining straight A's in school, as well as keeping up with my social life, I definitely know what it is like to feel stressed out. Stress can be a good thing, but it can also be very destructive when not handled in a healthy manner. When I am feeling really stressed out from a hard day, I like to take out my stress on a hard workout. This usually takes place in either Mrs.Jenkins' fitness class or after school at track practice. If I am between seasons, I will simply go on a run by myself. What I love about working out, is that I can completely clear my head. It gives me a goal to focus on and only on that. I really enjoy having my fitness class at the end of the day as  my last hour class because it is such a good way to end a school day. I know if I am stressed from the classes before, or on a situation between friends, fitness will still be there as a way to escape and recollect my thoughts and reconnect with myself. I also really enjoy yoga which just works as a relaxer. If I really have time on my hands to relieve stress, I love putting in a cute chick flick and painting my nails. This is usually pretty rare because I do not have a lot of free time usually, but when I do I definitely enjoy doing this just to have some "me" time. Another stress reliever that will work every time for me is to simply take a nap. Sometimes you just have so much going on and so much to do that you really just need to take a nap. Sounds pretty counter productive, but even if for only twenty minutes, it gives me just enough relief to get my head around things and come back to the cause of my stress with a fresh mind.

Journal #32

Revolutionize is a pretty strong word. When I think of revolutionizing the way people think or do things I think of people completely changing and it effecting the rest of their life. They will never be the same again. The only example that I can really compare this to is when someone accepts Jesus into their heart. This will completely change not only your way of thinking or the way you act, but literally your entire life. I feel like other things that can effect your life or change your way of thinking are insignificant to something as major as receiving Jesus Christ, but there are some other scenarios in which your way of thinking might be revolutionized. I think this would have to be a pretty dramatic deal that would leave a lasting impression on you. Maybe something like experiencing a traumatic event or losing a loved one. I still believe deciding to live your life for Christ is the biggest one and the most important decision a person can make in his or her life. I gave my life to Christ when I was nine years old. The church I was attending at the time was Lakeside Christian Church and this was where I was baptized and had my first communion. I remember it being such an awesome day. My dad was the one to baptize me and I think it is so special that I got to share this with him. When you accept Jesus into your heart I guarantee your way of thinking will be revolutionized. You no longer are thinking of just yourself, you are focused on what God wants you to do and you trust His perfect plan for you. This is easier said than done of course, but it is so worth it. Most people think that Christians are a bunch of rule followers and that the Bible is just a book of rules for the church. That is not the case, or what my new church iWorshipCenter believes anyways. You are to talk and act in a way that glorifies God and you do not do or say certain things because it will break His heart. Christianity is not a religion that requires x amount of rules, it is a relationship.

Journal #31

Gossip seems to be everywhere, especially in high school. I personally think that gossips is more popular with girls than guys, but I know it goes both ways, just in different ways. My definition of gossip is saying things and talking about a person in a way that you would not if they were standing right next to you listening. Gossip can be very destructive and it rarely builds people up if at all. Mean Girls is a popular teen movie that pretty much every female on the planet has watched several times or have at least heard of it and its quotes. This movie explains how the girl world works and its influence from gossip. In the movie, the major conflict revolves around the Burn Book. This is a book that the three main "mean girls" Gretchen, Karen, and the leader Regina George have gossiped in for the past few years. They would rip pictures out of their yearbook, glue them in the Burn Book, and then write mean comments under them. Some of these comments are "She made out with a hot dog" or "He's too gay to function". Obviously, very degrading and rude comments that no one was suppose to ever read. When the Burn Book is printed, and every girl in the junior class reads it, the girls go crazy. It turns from the girl world to "animal world". The comments create mass chaos and break out fights between all of the girls and even some of the teachers. This is an extreme case in which gossip was destructive, but even little cases of gossip are still effective. Another thing about gossip is that it is usually not completely true. Most of it is exaggerated and also combined with rumors. These little white lies tied in with personal information can cause more damage than you could imagine. You never know how your words will affect others to use them wisely. If you are not a hundred percent sure it is true information, or if it is not your information to tell, do not share it at all.

Journal #30

Civil rights is a historical movement that has been around forever. One of the main civil rights argued and that comes to mind, is voting. This was an issue that started when the first settlers came to the Americas. At first, only white men were given the right to vote, leaving everybody else out. The Civil War was monumental and granted the African American men to be allowed to participate in voting. Women were last to be given the right to vote, after proving for decades that they were more than capable and qualified. These civil rights are a part of our nation's history and not so much applicable to today's society. An issue that is attempting to become a civil right today is the right to gay marriage. This has become a major political issue that has been heating up in the last few years. Since January of 2013, nine states have legalized gay marriage. These include Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington. The real beef of this sandwich is “is gay marriage a civil right?” I personally do not agree with this and do not think it is ones civil right to marry someone of the same gender. I say this first off because I was not raised to believe this. Secondly, if we make gay marriage legal, then it is more than likely that someone will want to push this even further. What if someone wanted to marry more than one person? Or what if someone said they were in love with their dog and wanted to marry it. The second one was extreme, I know, but my point is where would the government stop? My fear is if you open up this door, it will in return open up many more issues similar to and cause other people to try and push the system. In conclusion, civil rights of today have grown much more complex and controversial than the ones in our country’s past.

Journal #29

Nature is a very powerful force that is completely out of our control. If I could control nature, I would probably make winter nonexistent and have a pleasant weather of 75 and sunny with a light breeze, all year round. There would also never be horrors of tornadoes, earthquakes, or hurricanes. In my experience, all of these nature driven events have only caused destruction and turmoil. The most recent of these, would be Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy came just a few months ago and effected the lives of those living in New York. You always hear about hurricanes in the south around the Bahamas and other islands, etc. but it was quite different to hear of one so close and destructive to the United States. I think a hurricane would be one of the most drastic experiences out of the three I mentioned, not saying that the other two are not. Something about a hurricane just seems even more horrifying. Probably because I have never experienced a hurricane first hand. Living in Illinois, we are no strangers to tornadoes and have been effected by them multiple times. We have even witnessed the effects of the after effects of an earthquake. I remember this happened when I was in eighth grade. I woke up to the walls shaking and I was so confused. I tried to run to my parents room but it was extremely difficult in my shaking and unstable state. A hurricane is completely foreign to me though. I can not imagine what it would be like to have to leave my own house and climb up on a roof because of the excessive flooding. Or have to wait for search and rescue to find me after the hurricane is over. I would be absolutely terrified. The only good thing about a tragic event like a massive earthquake or hurricane is that it brings a community together. After a crisis like this, it is so inspiring to see people all around the world join together and show their support.

Journal #28

In our sociology class, we have actually been studying different cultures and societies etc. We just switched from psychology, which is more individualized behaviors, and now in sociology, we observe groups of people, like a culture. For a project, we had to research a different culture and create a power point and then present it in front of the class. This included the group's culture, geography, ethnocentric view, and their cultural relativism. The group of people, my project group was assigned, was the San. The San is also known as the Bushmen. The San and their culture are completely different than ours. One of the differences is that they live in a desert climate. Because of their climate, they have to wear very little clothing in order to stay cool. Also living in the desert, water can sometimes be quite hard to find. When the San people are faced with a drought, they do whatever they can in order to keep themselves hydrated. This could involve sucking the moisture out of plant or creating a sip well. A sip well is a method that uses straws and an empty ostrich egg to gather water out of the ground. I could not imagine getting my water this way. But in their situation, you do what you got to do. The San people are a hunter and gathering society, much different than ours. Yes, we do have farmers, but most people go to the grocery store when they need food or one of the thousands of restaurants we have. Another different between our societies is the roles that the people play. In our society, children are expected to go to school and get an education. In the San society, they see the kids job is to simply play and be happy. One of the major differences I found with the San society and ours, was the role that the women played. In our society, women have the same freedoms as men, but men are still seen superior. This is the opposite. The San people believe the women is superior and serves as the leader of the household and makes all important decisions. I found it very interesting learning about the San culture and it made me very appreciative for my own.

Journal #27

I could not imagine being miles away from home fighting to defend our country. The isolation would be unbearable for me. I know I would not be by myself because there would be other soldiers with me, but emotionally and mentally I would feel very alone. I am the kind of person who does not do well alone. I mean I can go to camp or a retreat without my family for awhile and be fine but to be away from my family for the amount of time that our soldiers are would be heart breaking for me. I am looking at a college that is eight hours away from home and this does not bother me. I know I am away from my family but I also know that I will be able to visit them and have the time to keep in contact with them through social media and cell phones. In the war though, there is no turning back. If you get home sick you cannot just drop everything and drive eight hours home. That is not how it works. From what I understand they do not have much free time to sit around and text their family or friends. I have such high respect for the people that serve our country because they do things that I know I could never do. The people fighting for our country are so incredibly strong not just physically, but emotionally and mentally as well. They never put themselves first. They leave all of their families and friends behind to do what they do. They miss birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and more in order to fight for what is right. They might even miss the birth of their own child. They do not even know that when they leave, if they will be coming back. The way they are so selfless and loyal amazes me. Another thing is that they do all of this voluntarily because it is something they love.  The men and women fighting for our country are truly heroes.

Journal #26

Something I experienced that turned out differently than I thought it would was my first year of cross country. Every year I had done volleyball in the fall and had never run cross country in my life. Reasons led  me to try it though and I was eager to try it out. I had run a lot over summer and was very diligent to my training prior to the season starting. When we had our first practice, I knew I had given myself a good foundation to begin training and figured I would not be the slowest girl on the team. I ended up being the fastest one! It was a complete surprise to me, but also very satisfying for all of my hard work had paid off. This only reassured me that I had made the right decision in choosing cross country over volleyball. Like I said, cross country was completely new to me. I had run track for years, but cross country was so different. The amount of miles we ran in track cannot even compare to the miles and miles we run in cross country. Because my body was not used to this much running, I developed shin splints. Being new, I was very vulnerable to getting them and I did everything I could to try to get rid of them. They developed right before our first meet at Rochester. I remember icing them minutes before my race and then slipping on my shin compressor for when I ran. The shin splits only got worse though and I ended up having to go to physical therapy to treat them and was out for almost a month. This was not ideal whatsoever. When I pictured myself running cross country, having an injury that affects my entire season was not apart of the vision. I am thankful however because I was able to heal from my shin splints in time to run at Regionals and Sectionals. Overall the experience was very humbling, even though completely unexpected. I am all the more excited for next years season and really seeing what I can do without an injury holding me back.

Journal #25

Giving is a universal action that I think everyone understands. In America alone, we seem to give on many occasions, even if for only shallow occasions. I think giving can be a good thing and a bad thing. It all depends on the person's heart when they give. For some occasions like holidays where gifts are exchanged, I feel that some people see giving as an obligation rather than a privilege. Especially Christmas, I know a lot of people who think buying and giving presents to their families is more of a chore. I personally think you should be excited and look forward to blessing someone you love with a gift. To me, it all depends on the status of your heart when you give. You can give someone the most expensive gift in the world, but with a bitter heart. A gift should be given joyfully and sincerely to the person receiving it. One of the five love languages is gift receiving. This is actually the top language in which I feel loved. That is just how I am personally wired. I love the thoughtfulness of a gift and find it really special when someone takes the time to think about what you would like and enjoy. Gifts are usually a very positive thing, but I feel that sometimes they tend to distract. One of these would be Christmas. I hate when people focus so much on gifts and what they want for Christmas that they completely forget the real reason for the season, the celebration for Jesus' birth. I feel like a lot of holidays seem to be revolved around gifts instead of the real meaning. Another one that is overlooked is Easter. It really is sad how people waste their time eating candy and hunting for plastic eggs instead of remembering the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Overall I think gifts are a very good thing and should continue to be given, but with the right state of heart.