...Soul Surfer In the 1960s, the term “soul surfer” was used to describe a surfer who surfed for the pure pleasure of surfing. Though they may enter competitions, a soul surfer is more so motivated by a spiritual, compassionate, peaceful way of life. The movie, Soul Surfer is a film adaptation based on the 2004 autobiography Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on Board by American professional surfer, Bethany Hamilton. The main characters at the heart of the story are Bethany Hamilton who lives in Kauai, Hawaii with her parents Tom and Cheri, and two brothers, Noah and Timmy, who all happen to be surfers as well. But Bethany, along with her best friend, Alana Blanchard has a passion for the sport and work to become competitive professional surfers. Another character that plays a major role in Bethany’s life is her youth ministry leader, Sarah Hill. In the film, Bethany narrates and retells her story of how as young teenage girl, she lived and breathed surfing and being in the water and her dreams and goals of becoming a professional surfer. It’s an account of her life on how after losing her arm in a shark attack she had to adjust to life as a handicap and had to decide whether it was going to define her as handicap. Throughout the film, Bethany tries to find a way to recover her “soul” by looking to her Christian faiths and beliefs that somehow she felt were being tested. Media attention was brought to the family resulting of the shark attack...
Words: 708 - Pages: 3
...“Soul Surfer” is a true story that was written by a teenager Bethany Hamilton and coauthors who helped her Sheryl Berk and Rick Bundschuh. Bethany is a teenage surfer, who lives in Kauai, Hawaii. She learnt how to serf since she was a toddler. She lost her arm by shark attack, but she never lost hope to surf again. Her story of fighting the pains and obstacles to get back to the board and water changed the way I see the life. I became more optimistic. Reading her story taught me valuable lessons such as the spiritual girt can create miracles and everything happens to us is the best even if it looks bad. The first lesson I have learnt is that nothing is impossible as long as we have a strong passion and believe. They say nothing is impossible even the word itself says ‘I'm possible. Logically, it is difficult to keep the balance of the body during surfing. She fought and invented new techniques and special board that suit her needs to do what she always wanted. No one including doctors, family, friends, and surfers could imagine her getting back to the water and compete like she used to before the attack, but her determination to the suffering showed the whole world that body is no more essential to suffering because she has great power of spiritual girt. Her story reminds me of my grandmother. She decided to complete her high school education when she was 54 years old. I can’t deny the fact that all family members underestimated her ability to do so because she almost forgot...
Words: 612 - Pages: 3
...The film “Soul Surfer”, directed by Sean McNamara, illustrates the life of a teenage surfer after becoming an amputee due to a shark attack through an inspirational parable. The film inspires the non-disabled community while alienating the disabled community due to the simplistic undertone of a tragic event and the glossing over a crucial process for amputees; healing and recuperation. Although the film accurately illustrates the psychological effects and the acceptance of the amputation, the director prioritizes the audience’s emotional attachment to the moral lesson of the narrative by utilizing the “supercrip” stereotype. The “supercrip” stereotype leads society to objectify people with disabilities, due to the constant use of these inaccurate...
Words: 2155 - Pages: 9
...Soul Surfer Bethany Hamilton was one of Kauai’s best surfers. She was important because surfing took her to a point where she was in a life and death situation. Bethany was attacked by a shark, that bit her whole arm off. Even though she lost her arm, she eventually got back up on the board. That was part of what made her important. The thing that drew me to the book was how she didn’t care if she lost ,or if she won her competitions; it was just about enjoying the ride. She had a passion for surfing ,and that’s what brings out the surfer in her. Bethany grew up in a place called Kauai. She was homeschooled most of her life, but she started surfing at age 6. As she got older, she surfed in many different places such as, Hanalei bay, where...
Words: 429 - Pages: 2
...Soul Surfer is an autobiography about the life of Bethany Hamilton. Residing in Hawaii and her parents being surfers, Bethany was drawn to the water and surfing. However, at age thirteen while surfing with her best friend, Bethany was severely attacked by a fourteen foot tiger shark which resulted in the loss of her left arm right under her shoulder. Throughout the attack and the aftermath of it, Bethany remained calm, hopeful, and maintained her faith in God. All of these attributes led Bethany to begin surfing again and become a successful professional surfer and inspiration to many people. Soul Surfer and Bethany Hamilton can serve as a worldwide inspiration to motivate people to keep persevering through life even under unfortunate...
Words: 542 - Pages: 3
...Movies and books have been made and written to share the hero's life stories all over the world. Bethany decided to write her own book about her experiences hoping to impact and help other people. According Bio.com, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board, an autobiography written by Bethany became a bestseller. MTV, ESPN, and the United States Sports Academy honored her for her courage in 2007. In the same year, the release of Heart of a Soul Surfer, a documentary about Bethany and her return to the water after the shark attack. Then in 2011, another documentary about Bethany came out, Soul Surfer. She also wrote a second book, Body and Soul: A Girl's Guide to a Fit, Fun and Fabulous Life and that...
Words: 371 - Pages: 2
...Sean Morris ENGL 110 / 25696 TV Review Essay Audience Statement This review would probably be found in an entertainment tabloid like People magazine. It would be more for people solely focused on the entertainment aspect of the movie, like the plot and the actors’ performances, rather than any implied meanings or ‘academic’ aspects of the series. It would also be targeted to individuals like myself who typically don’t watch TV and just binge-watch a series when it becomes available, but want a ‘straight to the point’ review that highlights the good and bad things of a series. Matthew’s McConnaissance Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson may not be your first choice for a gritty, noir-inspired detective series, but after watching the series it would be hard to pick anyone better for their roles. In True Detective, Harrelson is Marty Hart, a family man and run-of-the-mill cop that acts like your usual pension driven civil servant, while McConaughey plays the pensive, but condescending new partner, Rust Cole. Their goal is typical for the genre: find a murderer terrorizing this sleepy town in Louisiana. The biggest draw of the series is easily the two main actors’ performances. Now an Academy Award winner, McConaughey shows exactly how far he’s come in the last ten years from his usual Hollywood romantic comedy. Instead of the typical pretty boy, he plays an intelligent and thoughtful, but broken detective whose gaunt frame and disheveled look represent the...
Words: 912 - Pages: 4
...Life After Death. What the specification requires: • An examination of the arguments for and against life after death. • Reincarnation. • Rebirth. • Resurrection. • Immortality of the soul. Introduction. Humans have refused to accept that this life is all we get for thousands of years. As a result of this refusal, humans have developed various theories to explain that when our bodies cease working, there is some kind of existence that takes place after this. Obviously, before getting into this debate, it is important to agree on what is meant by the word ‘death.’ ‘…when respiration and other reflexes are absent; consciousness is gone…an absolute and total loss of the brain function that cannot be reversed.’ This is a medical definition and is based upon medical methods of determining physical (brain) death. These methods are generally the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG) to determine brain function, an examination of pupil size and reaction and obviously, a check of blood flow (pulse), heart beat and respiration. It is generally accepted that once a body exhibits brain stem death, i.e. that there is no activity in the most primitive part of the brain, that death has occurred. What makes a human being? Theories concerning life after death are all interested in whether or not there is a part of the human body which survives the death of all the physical parts and where (or indeed when) it goes. There are a number of theories...
Words: 4935 - Pages: 20
...The Strongest Support of the Soul ——Appreciation of the eternal artistry in Ode on a Grecian Urn and Sailing to Byzantine Abstract: From the romantic poet John Keats to symbolical poet W. B. Yeats, both of them were persistently searching the eternity in the long journey of life. This paper tries to through the analysis of the two poems, Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn and Yeats' Sailing to Byzantium to reveal the truth that the strongest support of the soul not lies in the empty and rapidly decayed body but relies on the eternal artistry which transcends the time and space. Although the former comes from the romantic imagination of an exquisite works of art---an ancient Grecian urn, the latter originates from the Byzantium which is the symbol of art, of eternity, both of them contain the similar life philosophy, that is the immortal life lies in the art of eternal. Key words: Ode on a Grecian Urn ; Sailing to Byzantium; eternal artistry; timeless Introduction Life is limited, yet it is possible to find the eternal life. Is it contradictory? How can life be limited as well as eternal at the same time? Could it be true that life has no ending? Actually, as we all know, no matter who you are, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, smart or mediocre, eventually you will die. However, there is one thing will never die, which is not belong to this dusty world.—that is the eternal artistry. It is true that the art will never die. Only...
Words: 1729 - Pages: 7
...Being healthy means dealing with the changes in your body – and your mind. Our mind is able to lead us to reach our goals. Human beings are motivated by different feelings. Yet these feelings are motivating human in different ways. Our mind can lead us to reach our goals, in other words, we are motivated by reason and intelligence. But desires and passions can also motivated us powerfully, yet in a different way that reason and intelligence do. The Australian Aboriginals have always used flowers to heal the emotions and minds, as did the Ancient Egyptians. There has also been a very long tradition of use of Flower Essences in India, Asia and South America and they were also very popular in Europe in the Middle Ages. A popular, holistic healing alternative, flower essences are sun-infused solutions that possess flowers’ subtle vibrational energy imprint. Unlike herbal remedies or aromatherapy’s essential oils, flower essences mediate their healing without pharmacologically active molecules. Representing a higher vibrational octave of the plant’s herbal or molecular properties, flower essences energetically restore balance on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. There is no biologically active molecules essentially exist in a flower-essence solution. Flower essences’ mind-body-and-spirit healing is difficult to explain with traditional biomedical precepts. Mind-body-and-spirit perspectives have, in fact, been integral to most healing traditions throughout history...
Words: 438 - Pages: 2
...Phaedo 3. How does Socrates use the argument from opposites to prove the immortality of the soul? Socrates uses his theory of opposites to prove the immortality of the soul by taking not only humans, but also animals and our surroundings into account. For example, the opposite of sleep is awake like good contradicts with evil. Moreover, Socrates says in all opposites there is the need for the other. Meaning, without something having an opposite, it is not real. For one to become greater, it must have started less, and vice versa. Being better is brought from the state of acting worse as more just is from the more unjust. Also, being one thing also means not being another. The two universal opposites go from one opposite to the other then back again. Being alive means not being dead. When dead, one cannot be alive. And as sleeping is generated out of waking and waking is generated out of sleeping, being asleep means not being awake. These examples prove how they equally involve a passage into and out of one another. Without the other, none would exist. In obvious belief, death can only be brought by life. However, Socrates goes more in depth by saying that and it vice versa, life is brought by death. Meaning, our souls are immoral because they forever live on after the body dies. 4. Explain the theory of recollection and show how Socrates thinks it proves the preexistence of the soul? The theory of recollection is the idea that everything we learn has already been tought to...
Words: 1148 - Pages: 5
...known as St. Augustine was an early philosopher who’s philosophy paved the way for what is now Western Christianity, one if his most important pieces of work, “City of God” is still read widely today. He influenced Western Christianity greatly because he believed that all Christians should be pacifists but at the same time he also asserted that one should always defend themselves and others especially if authorized by a legitimate authority aka God. Augustine is a strong believer in Natural Theology which is the idea that nature is created by God and all things in nature are good because God only creates good things, but that is when you get the question of where does evil come from? His answer to that question is that evil comes from the soul and will of a...
Words: 872 - Pages: 4
...In the Hindu religion, called Hinduism, there is the belief in reincarnation. Reincarnation is defined, by Merriam-Webster dictionary, as rebirth in new bodies or forms of life. This belief is simplified as the belief that the soul is immortal, while the body is not, and the soul takes on a new ‘life’ through birth time and time again. Through this rebirth a soul has experiences that learn lessons to allow it to evolve spiritually. With the end goal, so to speak, being to finally evolve to the point that physical birth is no longer needed and the highest enlightenment is achieved – spiritual illumination. The end result is to exist but no longer be pulled into the reincarnation cycle, therefore have reached liberation. This relates to Karma and Samsara in the respect that: Karma is reward system in which your past actions are judged and you receive you future reward – i.e. an upgrade or downgrade in your lifestyle/life form. Samsara is the actual cycle of birth, life, death, and finally rebirth – otherwise known simply as reincarnation. Karma could be looked at as the guide that leads a soul through Samsara, time and time again until it reaches full maturity. Yoga is an integral part of the Hindu religion. The discipline of yoga is religious in that it assists one in achieving the goals of Hinduism by leading to a quieting of the mind. This quiet is essential for the mind to be able to completely reflect upon reality without imposing its own subjective interpretations....
Words: 351 - Pages: 2
...Phil 101 Having knowledge is important in every society, whether it be a totalitarian society, or a democratic society. In Plato's Republic, Socrates and his interlocutors discuss how to educate children. Is it right to keep them censored, or should they be allowed to study all and every subject(s). The education of children is very important because they are the future of the society. They are the possible rulers, philosophers, guardians, and so on. So, it is important to shape them wisely. This concept is no different than what shapes our society today. It is well known that one of the many qualifications of a good leader is that who can improve the country's educational system. Why?, because the youth are our future leaders and teachers. A parent would rather pick a private school over a public school, and a job interviewer would look more highly on a private school graduate over a public school graduate. You can say that education is important in today's society, as well as Plato's society. The youth can be educated in many different ways, either by keeping them in the shadows, or exposing them to the light. this means that the future of the society can be either ruled by a person who is oblivious to the society's past, or by a person who has been fully exposed to the society's history. If a person is censored from education, then they love their life as a perfect world. this is best described when Socrates says that a Guardian should...
Words: 1650 - Pages: 7
... 2. The Question of Identity- What does it mean to be human? Are animals more important than humans? Humans and animals are very similar and should be treated equally. Naturalism states that you are not a person until you take your first breath and humans are sophisticated animal. Theism states God created humans to be special because they are from his image. Humans are to rule over the animals. 3. The Question of Meaning or Purpose- Why are humans here on Earth? Humans are said to be here for no reason because their lives are meaningless. Pantheists believe humans are here to end reincarnation. Many believe humans were created to serve God and follow through with his wishes. You are to accept and love God with all of your heart and soul. 4. The Question of Morality or Ethics- What is right and wrong? Wrong is when you go against God and disobey his commands. Right is when you do good works and worship God. We are to live right and do good deeds at all times. There is good Karma and bad Karma....
Words: 527 - Pages: 3
