During my senior year of high school, my godfather called me and advised me to study Sociology when I get into college. I believe it was my first day of school and my class schedule was - book keeping assistant aid, teacher's aid,english 4,drama 4, and American Government/Econ. I have no clue why I have so many teacher aids elective, so I went into my counseling office and asked if I could take a Sociology class instead being a teacher aid, my counselor smiled at me and told me " You know sociology isnt really like any other electives right?" I nodded . I came into the class after lunch (5th period, my schedule was 3-7) and saw a really TALL man with reddish blonde hair standing infront of class.

" Can I add?" I asked him

" Of course." he said warmly.

Despite his warm and friendly smile, I didnt like the way he looked, he was just too tall and he looked well boring, he has that strict and boring look on his face.

I pulled a chair, sat down and started to listen to his lecture.

" How many of you guys have heard of Sociology?"

most of the students our class raised their hands.

" How many of you have heard that this class would change your life?"

A few of the students raised their hands.

" Well I can surely tell you this, after you finish taking my class, you will look at the world differently, understand life better and in some way your life will be slightly changed." He smiled

Yeah right, I thought to myself. Every teacher I had believed that the subject their teaching is most interesting, some are even brave enough to say that it is most useful, but NONE, NADA, ever said that it would be a life changing experience. I sat back listen to his lecture (which is surprisingly entertaining) and thought to myself that there is no way that this class could help me whatsoever, though it is somewhat entertaining, and boy was I wrong,

People always say that something BIG or Major must happen in order for you to change yourself and matured. Mr. Barnett, changed my life. That's the truth, who I was back before 2003 is completely different than who I am now. He changed into a better person, a less selfish person and he let me look at life in a different way. 3 months into taking his class, I realized that he might be my favorite teacher, half a year through his class, he is my favorite teacher, Now well now, he is my Role Model, Mentor, Idol,Hero, whatever great name there is out there, that's what my teacher Greg Barnett is to me. Before Mr. Barnett, I never really care much about what goes on in the world or value and morality issues for all it matters. He taught me to look at life in a different way, he said to me "Everyone in the world is at least 75 percent good, and the evil among all evil still have a bit of kindness within himself." He taught me to be patient, to see the best in others and most importantly he taught me "that the more you give the more you trust the more you get" I believe that trust issue was most useful, because the truth is, once you given somebody/anybody your complete trust and believing in them, they will do the same for you, and that is the best feeling in the world (well to me at least). After Senior Year (with the exception of one friend) every friend that Ive made afterward have remained within my life, and I became a much much much more optimistic person.  Barnett also talked about other social matters such as : the death penalty, religions, social norms, social statuses, euthanasia (which touched me the most), Sexism, Racism, Affirmative Action, Rape(which helped me the most),Passion and well Life all in general. From the age of 14-17 I was a really cynical person, after Greg Barnett, I became more liberated, less sheltered and a lot more optimistic (condsidering the fact that Im the most optimistic person I know, and believe me I know a lot of optimistic people) it's a life changing switch. In the end of 2004, a psychotic ex of mine decided to stalk me, well it started out with stalking, and then it lead into kidnapping(i escaped both times), threatening, and then the worst came RAPE(remember I was still a virgin), the first time he raped me, I was too confused by family members(his and my mom) and friends to lock him up, the second time (this is after 3 sexual assaults) the psycho decided to break into my house put a pair of really sharp metal scissors to my neck and say that if  i dont let him rape me he would cut my face up and burn cigarette marks onto my face, " That way no guys would want you and you'll have to be with me forever" Let me let you into somethings girls, I have a black belt in taekwondo and despite all that strength it only let me struggle for an hour longer, truth is, there are no way in hell that a woman can beat a man up if hes bigger and taller than her. I thought I was going to die, I did not. After the incident happened, I e-mail Mr Barnett ( who was obviously concerned and worried sick for me, he even e-mailed me back and tried looking for me). And here is what I can tell you, thanks to taking his class i realized that whatever happened to me was pretty common, 1 out of every 4 women you see is a victim of rape(date rape etc), one out of every 7 women you see is a victim of( harsh rape,beating, strangling,kidnapping). It's nothing to be ashame of and it's nothing to be afraid of, and oh yeah I must add this " you will get nightmares for the rest of your life, but you can move on'' Thanks to my beloved sociology teacher, I moved on...I handled the situation better and I have him to thank for that. But it's not just the raping that I am thanking him for, it's the person that he made me...I am no longer as fearful as I was before nor as selfish(though Im pretty sure I still am just not as much), Im involve with world issues now than I was before and I have more confidence and trust towards myself and everybody around me. This entry is dedicated to the one person who made the biggest impact in my life Greg Barnett. People say that sometimes something big or traumatic has to happen in order for you to mature up and change yourself, for me it was just a high school sociology class, with that one man whom I have my whole life to thank for.

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