171/3.08 Terrorism Killed My Friends and Family
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:08 am
So I have since come to terms with the problems I faced during my youth, but I am a rather extreme splitter with a 3.08 gpa and a 171 LSAT. I got a 0.5 my freshman year (.....). Frankly I'm amazed I went back and finished my degree.
I was on the front page of the Wall St. Journal last year for a co. I created and sold.
I've come to terms with what happened in the past and I have resolved to move onward with my life, and to over come whatever future challenges may come
Most of my problems were the result of agoraphobia as I mentioned in my addendum. Odds on Harvard? Pepperdine? Chapman?
Here's a mission statement I wrote for Pepperdine if you want to read it, it's about life in the Middle East, Islam and Christianity:
I have an interesting background as I grew up in the Middle East in Bahrain. I lived there my entire life except for a short time in England. It’s unusual to say the least. For most of my life I had a closer relationship to Islam than Christianity. Very few non-Muslims have heard the Call to Prayer over 20,000 times.
I really identify with Jimmy Carter when he said that life has changed more in the decades since he was born than in all the time after Christ.
When I was growing up we didn’t have a lot of the things that people take for granted in America, like drinkable tap water or television. It may seem strange to put those on par with one another but I think it makes sense. TV is something which binds people in America and gives us a common point of reference. Tap water is equally essential. In Bahrain, we had other things bind us.
When I look back it sometimes makes me extremely happy. There are few things more charming than driving alongside a donkey-pulled cart driven by two boys on the island’s petty equivalent of a freeway, or learning to harvest dates by scaling trees with cloth tied to your waist as a support.
Regarding matters more spiritual, when I was very young, my family would attend Ashura in solidarity with the villagers. I wore black to remember the martyrdom of Ali.
Since 1994 or so, we could never do this. I still remember the riots and rebellions, the Black Flags of the Shia villagers and how dangerous Ashura became. A part of my past was lost forever then.
The country had changed. It was a terrifying time for me. My neighbor’s house was burned to the ground, villagers set off tire-bombs to scare people, mobs marched in the streets placing boards with nails across the roads.
Worse things happened in the years since, but I mentioned them at another point in the application.
I look back on my experiences with the Arab world differently now. I don’t feel fear. I only feel a resolve to strive for myself, to constantly improve even through times of immense difficulty. Suffering has become a blessing.
In the words of John Paul II, “In the Cross of Christ not only is the Redemption accomplished through suffering, but also human suffering itself has become redeemed… In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has raised human suffering to the level of Redemption.”
Thank You,
Duncan Stewart
I was on the front page of the Wall St. Journal last year for a co. I created and sold.
I've come to terms with what happened in the past and I have resolved to move onward with my life, and to over come whatever future challenges may come
Most of my problems were the result of agoraphobia as I mentioned in my addendum. Odds on Harvard? Pepperdine? Chapman?
Here's a mission statement I wrote for Pepperdine if you want to read it, it's about life in the Middle East, Islam and Christianity:
I have an interesting background as I grew up in the Middle East in Bahrain. I lived there my entire life except for a short time in England. It’s unusual to say the least. For most of my life I had a closer relationship to Islam than Christianity. Very few non-Muslims have heard the Call to Prayer over 20,000 times.
I really identify with Jimmy Carter when he said that life has changed more in the decades since he was born than in all the time after Christ.
When I was growing up we didn’t have a lot of the things that people take for granted in America, like drinkable tap water or television. It may seem strange to put those on par with one another but I think it makes sense. TV is something which binds people in America and gives us a common point of reference. Tap water is equally essential. In Bahrain, we had other things bind us.
When I look back it sometimes makes me extremely happy. There are few things more charming than driving alongside a donkey-pulled cart driven by two boys on the island’s petty equivalent of a freeway, or learning to harvest dates by scaling trees with cloth tied to your waist as a support.
Regarding matters more spiritual, when I was very young, my family would attend Ashura in solidarity with the villagers. I wore black to remember the martyrdom of Ali.
Since 1994 or so, we could never do this. I still remember the riots and rebellions, the Black Flags of the Shia villagers and how dangerous Ashura became. A part of my past was lost forever then.
The country had changed. It was a terrifying time for me. My neighbor’s house was burned to the ground, villagers set off tire-bombs to scare people, mobs marched in the streets placing boards with nails across the roads.
Worse things happened in the years since, but I mentioned them at another point in the application.
I look back on my experiences with the Arab world differently now. I don’t feel fear. I only feel a resolve to strive for myself, to constantly improve even through times of immense difficulty. Suffering has become a blessing.
In the words of John Paul II, “In the Cross of Christ not only is the Redemption accomplished through suffering, but also human suffering itself has become redeemed… In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has raised human suffering to the level of Redemption.”
Thank You,
Duncan Stewart
