Alexandra Chambers: Fill & Download for Free

"To draw an analogy: a man's suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the "size" of human suffering is absolutely relative."-Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

To draw an analogy: a man's suffering is similar to the behavior of a gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the "size" of human suffering is absolutely relative.Viktor Frankl wrote that. He was a holocaust survivor. He survived four different concentration camps, though many people he loved were murdered in them.And yet he still wrote what you see above.That's why.

Oh, look, a chance to talk about myself!I’m a senior at a prestigious magnet school in Miami. My school is on a block schedule. We have six classes, but three alternating periods per day. Each is two hours long.1: Symphony Orchestra. This is the full orchestra, 90-odd kids on days when the winds and brass (who usually have another class) join us. It’s a lot of fun, but easily overwhelming, because it’s very loud.I’ve grown very close with my conductor over the past couple of years, and she often calls me to her desk before we start up rehearsal to discuss what the various music educators of Miami have been up to lately. Sometimes I have an interesting tidbit for her, courtesy of living with my violinist mother; more often she updates me on who’s gotten sick or wants to retire or got disqualified from a competition.In the four years I’ve been with this group, we’ve played, among other pieces:The first movement from Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8.“Jupiter,” from Holst’s The Planets.Die Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) Overture, by Mendelssohn.Barber of Seville Overture, by Rossini.The first movement from Mozart’s Symphony No. 25.Russlan and Ludmilla Overture, by Glinka.March Slav, by Tchaikovsky.Barber’s Adagio for Strings.This coming spring, we’re rather ambitiously planning to do Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture. As may be obvious, our conductor loves to have us play classics.2: Chamber Orchestra. This is my preferred orchestra class. There’s thirty of us, and we’re (supposedly) the best string players in the school. We perform in musicals and school events, and we’ve traveled to all kinds of conventions and events.I’ve been in this class for four years now. We’ve played, among other pieces:The first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, and the first and fourth movements of his Souvenir de Florence.Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings; all five movements, across the course of the last three years.Finzi’s Romance for String Orchestra.Several musicals, with our school’s drama and choir programs; these included Monty Python’s Spam-A-Lot, The Little Mermaid, and Shrek: The Musical.The entire Nutcracker ballet.This spring, we’re hoping to finish off Souvenir de Florence, which is difficult but beautiful. We’ll also be playing the musical adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde.3: AP Physics 1. I’m failing it, because I can’t be bothered to do the homework, which seems to have no relationship to what we’re doing in the class. The teacher is the kind of Cuban man often described in Miami as very Cuban, with raised eyebrows. He knows his physics, but the class is held in a bizarre form of Spanglish. Every few classes he goes on an hour-long anti-Communist rant. It’s very funny, or it would be if I wasn’t failing.4: AP Calculus AB: Love the class and love the teacher. I finally understand the terrible math in the xkcd comic How it Works.After third or fourth period, depending on the day, we have lunch, which is lunch.5: AP English Literature: I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve looked forward to this class for the last four years. Thankfully, the teacher is wonderful, and very sarcastic. We read almost enough to make me happy. On the other hand, I’m not sure some of my classmates are literate, but the teacher makes up for that.6: AP Government/Honors Macroeconomics. I have previously referred to this teacher as a joyless bastard, and I stand by that. On the other hand, I’m currently cruising in terms of grades, because I like studying government, and have been informally doing so since about the 2012 election.The way the conductor has things set up, students in the Chamber and Symphony orchestras start each day in the orchestra classroom. This is extremely convenient, since she won’t mark us late unless we don’t show up at all or we have a performance within the week.I usually stay late to help my AP Language and Composition teacher, whose class I had last year. I say help, but I sometimes feel that any help I give her in grading and putting up posters and whatnot is canceled out by the amount of questions I show up with. She lends me books by the bag, gives career advice, and exchanges rants about the school system with me. We generally have a grand old time. She’s been a huge influence on me, mellowing me out (yes, this is mellower) and giving me her opinions on books after I read them. I like to think I’ve made her a bit more entertaining as a teacher — her students certainly like her more than my class did, but that’s another story.My conductor is opposed to after-school rehearsals, so those only happen when my quartet or octet decides we need to practice more, which is not as often as it should be. The week of a musical is also hectic.Now, of course, we’re on winter break, and as much as I whine about my school, I know I’ll be missing it by January. I like the routine of it all, and I don’t particularly like talking to my family.