My favorite book

 3 months ago, Israel declared war against Lebanon because of the missile of Hezbola. Conflicts between Israel and its neighboring Middle Eastern countries are quite frequent. Since I didn't know well about the reason and process of such conflicts before, I used to consider Middle Eastern society as the society of terrorism. However, after I read Inside the Lebanon, Journey to a Shattered Land with Noam and Carol Chomsky, it all changed; because of my previous ignorance I was deeply impressed by this book, and it is still my favorite book.

 Written in 2006, this book features four-week long journey of Noam and Carol Chomsky across Lebanon and what they thought as the hidden reason of Middle Eastern conflicts. In this book, Noam Chomsky describes the reality of Lebanon, focusing on the Kiam camp for Palestine refugees and Beirut, the capital city. Compared to the Kiam camp, Dante's Inferno seemed like a paradise. It was so terrible and cruel. It's unbelievable that people could live in that world. Because of the missile bombardment of Israel, life at Kiam became living hell. Israel acted like that because a lot of Palestine refugees live in there. It was as shocking as Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

 Noam Chomsky also suggested the reason of the conflicts. It was due to U.S.A and Israel. Israel's unjustified invasion based on the belief of Zionism totally destroyed the Palestine and other Middle Eastern countries. Furthermore, USA has actively supported Israel and thus contributed to conceal the truth behind the conflicts. Also, he explained the intentions and method of the Western powers which leads world hegemony.

 Even though this book was written 4 years before I read it, and therefore the situation describe has changed over years, this book is impressive enough to shock and inspire me. I was angry about the deeds of Israel and the USA and my previous ignorance about Middle Eastern. Therefore, I become interested in the actual truth of Middle Eastern countries a lot about it.

Along the way, I participated in Youth Nuclear Security Summit(YNSS). In the committee, delegates discussed conflicts between Middle Eastern countries, and most of them supported the side of Israel and the USA. I thought I should let them know about the reality of Lebanon so I had speech about it. Many of the delegates got shocked, and some of them might have changed their stances after hearing that. Therefore, my committee approached the problem from the perspective of various Middle Eastern countries as well as that of Israel. It was a very meaningful experience for me in that I changed someone else's ignorance.

 However, many people still don't know about it. For example, Naver encyclopedia, the one most frequently accessed by Korean public, provides a thorough article on Auschwitz Concentration Camp, but does not even mention about the Kiam camp. In this situation, letting people know about the reality of countries in the side of the weak would be my obligation because I read this book. This book gave me quite tough but meaningful things to do so Inside the Lebanon, Journey to a Shattered Land with Noam and Carol Chomsky is my favorite book.

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Personal narrative essay- The nightmare of June

 On June 9th, 2013, I took the very important test. It was the mathematics competition hosted by KMLA. People usually think that if someone writes essay about the competition or contest, maybe the writer recorded great score or at least had good results. Not for me, I totally screwed up this test. However, this is the most precious experience in my 17 years life.

 On May, 2013, I studied a lot for the test. I studied mathematics until break time and even reduce sleeping time to study. Because mathematics is not the subject which can raise in a short time, it was hard to offset the time I have never studied. Anyway, even though I couldn't get the higher score than other students, I maintained the average score. However, two weeks before the test, new students took the class of my academy. I don't know the exact reason, maybe because they are all from gangnam, but all they were good at mathematics. The KMLA mathematics competition takes relative evaluation, so my grade on the model tests became lower and lower. 

 I considered it crisis and I studied much harder than before. For example, I reviewed all th e stuff that I had studied. But, as I mentioned before, Mathematics is not an easy subject. My score didn't get higher. Even it became lower because I felt too nervous at that time. Any how, the time past, and there was just one day between the day and the test date. And the academy offered the last model test. The problems were too hard for me to solve but I tried my best and succeeded to solve some questions. However, my friends got much higher score and they said it was really easy. I felt so nervous that I thought I would get the lowest score. 

 Finally, on June 9th, I took the test. I failed to demonstrate my usual ability and I totally screwed up. It's quite natural that I was depressed so much. I usually overcome it in a day, but this remained quite long. The more serious thing was that I took the English listening test during that time. I always had gotten perfect on the test, but there were three incorrect questions on my test paper. This exacerbated my frustration. It was the nightmare of June.

 I think my mom had a hard time as me. My mom always tried to console me even though it was not helpful. At last, she said "There are a lot of alternatives and you can give up KMLA. KMLA is not the only route." Currently, I think the consolation was nice but I at that time didn't agree with. The words spurred me. I didn't want to lose by KMLA.

 The only left strategy to win KMLA is the school final exam. Final exam was so important to me. Therefore, I studied really hard. It is still unbelievable that I studied that much. For example, my mom admonished me to stop studying when I studied for 17 hours a day. Anyway, I studied like that and I got almost perfect score on the test.

 It is much more meaningful than I got great score. I gained the experience of overcoming  the deep slump which seems to be no end. After it, when I have some troubles or hard time, I reminded this experience and I become confidential. Maybe the nightmare of June is the most valuable things. 

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