New York City 9 / 11 / 01
We started
this school year with mayhem. Here in New York City, the World Trade Center
was attacked on September 11th. So this Christmas feels different because
the United States is fighting a war against terrorists. But we should
not be xenophobic and be afraid of people just because they are different
from us. We wanted to show examples of how people can get along with each
other, and wars can end, and how enemies can become friends.
Agnes
The World
Trade Center attack was a tragedy. Now our President is bombing Afghanistan.
We are also dropping food to help the innocent people there, but a lot of
them are being left homeless. We got a satellite picture of the sun rising
over Afghanistan from the Internet. I just wish we could have peace.
Kellisa
People
say that the war is fought against the terrorists because their religion
is different from ours. But we found out that more people worship Christianity
than any other religion in the world. Jesus did not teach hate. Islam
is the second most popular religion, and Islam does not teach hate either.
Evanna
Religious Differences
When we
made the graph of the different religions of the world, we saw that more
people, 33%, worship Jesus Christ than any other religious leader.
But we also realized that the rest of the people in the world, 67%, don’t
worship Jesus. That does not mean that we should argue with the other
people. We should be tolerant of the way that other people worship.
All religions are similar because they teach people to be good and cooperate
with each other.
Marcelis
Religious Similarities
We saw statues
of Buddha when we went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art. We were interested
in him because his ears were very long and they had big holes in them.
Buddha was once a prince in India. His name was Siddhartha and he was
very rich. But he decided that money cannot buy happiness so he gave
away all of his riches to the poor. He used to wear a lot of jewelry
and his heavy gold earrings stretched his ears.
Kenneth
Buddha
lived about 500 years before Jesus was born, but their ideas were similar.
Both wanted to heal the poor and they wanted people to live in peace.
Jahmel
Both
Buddha and Jesus were enlightened. That means that they had knowledge
to share with other people. Artists showed them with haloes of light
around their heads to represent their wisdom.
Evanna
We saw the Peaceable Kingdom at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. It shows
children who look like angels in heaven and they are with wild animals.
The idea for the painting comes from the bible where it says that in the Lord’s
Kingdom even wild animals will not eat each other and there will be no fighting
or killing anymore.
Agnes
In the background of the picture are Pilgrims
and Native Americans. Edward Hicks put them there to remind us of the
first Thanksgiving when they were sharing and not at war. He painted
William Penn who treated the Delaware Indians fairly and made a peace treaty
with them.
Evanna
Pearl Harbor 12
/ 7 / 41
Today people
in Japan and the United States like each other, but in World War II we did
terrible things to one another. In 1941 the Japanese came out of nowhere
and bombed our ships in a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
Jordan
Hiroshima 8 / 6
/ 45
Our country invented the atomic bomb. It was the most powerful weapon
that was ever dropped on people. No one could survive near where it
was dropped and many innocent people were left homeless when we destroyed
their cities.
Kenneth
Today we
buy and sell things to Japan. It is called foreign exchange and we
are trading partners in the global economy.
We are friends and it’s much
better to have peace than war.
Kellisa
Foreign Exchange
Linked Web Sites
Atomic Bomb
http://atomicbombmuseum.org/
Earth and Moon Viewer
http://www.fourmilab.to/earthview/
Edward Hicks, Peaceable Kingdom
http://www.tfaoi.com/newsm1/n1m348.htm
Images of Jesus
http://www.christusrex.org/
Lexus
http://lexus.com
PearlHarbor
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/ph-oa.htm
Religions
http://www.adherents.com/
Sega
http://www.sega.com/
Tibetan Buddhism
http://dharma-haven.org/tibetan/buddhism.html#Tibetan%20Art
World Trade Center Photographs
http://nymag.com/news/articles/wtc/gallery/
Mr.Gary Greenberg, Teacher
Grade 5
Public School 241
976 President Street
Brooklyn New York,11225 USA