Category: 9th Grade

Sergei Kourdakov wrote down in his autobiography that in the beginning of his book The Persecutor, he jumped off of a Russian boat into the ocean off the coast of Canada during a storm. How did he get into this situation and why would he ever jump off of a boat into the ocean? Here are some of the choices that led him to this failed assignment. He chose whether to join the Army or Navy, joining a crime syndicate or staying clean, and telling the truth about suicide or telling a lie. We will look at each of these in turn.

Kourdakov’s father and grandfather were both in the army, until they were worked to death at an enemy camp. Later in Sergei’s life, he wanted to go to either the army, or the navy. He talked it over with some other people. He asked them if he should go to the army. They all said no. They told him to stay away from the army. “It’s a hard life ” they said. “You come out of the army and you start as a factory worker. What kind of future is that?” Then he decided to talk with people who were actually in the navy at one point. He talked with them, and after hearing of their experiences in the navy, he decided to join the navy.

When Kourdakov was a teenager, he joined a crime syndicate. According to the dictionary, a crime syndicate is a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities. A crime syndicate is another word for mob or mobsters. A crime syndicate makes money by drug trafficking, arms smuggling, extortion (threatening people to get what you want), theft, and financial crime. Because of this joining of a crime syndicate, he did very well at being a KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) agent (which he received the honor of later in his life).

When Kourdakov was in the military a fellow officer jumped off a three story building and died. Kordakov’s boss told him and other officers to spread the word that the officer who had just died was drunk and did not know what he was doing. Kourdakov knew him better. Kordakov tried to help the officer who had died, but instead of accepting Kourdakov’s help, he committed suicide (the act of killing oneself). Suicide is such a terrible thing. Instead of telling the truth and coming clean about the officer, he did what his boss told him and lied.

There were many turning points in Kourdakov’s life, including these, that led to him jumping off of a Russian boat in the ocean off the coast of Canada in the middle of a storm. I have not finished his autobiography, but I am interested in other turning points in his life, and where they will eventually lead him. So far, Kourdakov’s life decisions have led him down bad roads, but jumping off the Russian ship is a huge turning point, maybe his largest. Maybe this turning point will not only change his life, but also his decision making.

We all face moments in our lives when we must make decisions that will determine which way our lives will go. These moments are called turning points. Some people experience many turning points in their lives, while others only experience a few. For someone, it might be stopping smoking after being told that they have lung cancer. For another person it might be choosing to start wearing a seat belt after getting into a car accident where they were injured because they were not wearing a seat belt. Maybe your turning point was a spiritual turning point, like mine was. Let me tell you about it. 

I have grown up in a Christian home all of my life. My family and I go to church every Sunday. We also go to Awana every Wednesday night. Both my mom and my dad are Christians. They have always taught me about Jesus, and they still do! They taught me about Jesus and that He died on the cross to pay for my sins. They showed me in the Bible that the only way to get to Heaven was to be saved, to ask Jesus to forgive me of my sin and to be my Savior. 

Even though I understood what I was being taught at home and at church about Jesus, I still had not made the decision to follow Jesus. When I was around 4 or 5 years old, I began having a lot of nightmares. Almost every night I was waking up and going to my parents bedroom because I was so scared. My parents would always pray with me and then tuck me back into my bed. This went on for a while. My dad started playing an audio version of the New Testament on his iPod every night when it was time for me to go to sleep.  I feel asleep every night listening to the Bible. During this time, I finally believed in my heart that I was a sinner and needed Jesus to save me. I prayed and asked Jesus to be my Savior! After becoming a Christian, my nightmares completely stopped. I was no longer living in fear. I knew Jesus was protecting me and loving me. A few years later I chose to be baptized to show the world that I was choosing to follow Jesus. I am not a perfect person and I still struggle with sin, but I would not be the person I am today if I had not trusted Jesus and asked Him to be my Savior. Becoming a Christian was a huge turning point in my life, and it will probably be the biggest turning point I ever experience.

A smaller turning point in my life has been starting the Ron Paul Curriculum. I had to change from PACEs to doing all online schooling. It was difficult getting used to writing papers every day instead of taking tests every couple of weeks. This is my third year and I am finally understanding how to do it well. I am extremely thankful that I get to stay at home and do school through the Ron Paul Curriculum!  

The first thing that I liked about John Lehrer’s book, A Bus of My Own, is the fact that after he had his heart attack that almost killed him, he changed his full life style entirely. He changed the way that he ate since that was probably the main reason why he got his heart attack. He said that he had the diet of a fifteen-year-old. He ate so much trash food. Like pizza, fritos, chili, candy, ice cream, chips, soda, etc. It also says that he changed his diet, which was very good for him. Instead of trash food, he ate fruit, vegetables, juice, toast, etc.

He also decided to exercise a lot to get his heart back in shape. First, he worked out in the hospital workout room. At first he didn’t want to do it, but he soon realized that exercising was very important too his life. When he returned home, he exercised every so often. He preferred walking as his main exercise. He also decided not to make any more speeches, however, before he had the heart attack, he promised his daughter that he would present a speech at her one graduation. After his heart attack he remembered that he would give a speech at the graduation. Although he promised himself not to make any more speeches, he realized that it was her one graduation. She would never get it again, so he decided to be a good father and give that speech. He even decided that he would take a nap every day to rest himself. He decided not to get angry, which was very good for him. Although I think that that was sort of hard for him. He made new friends who were in charge of rebuilding his soul, Charlie Berman and Harry Smith. What’s good is that he wrote it all down on paper to remind himself of all the things he had decided to change in his life.

I also liked it when he got a new Flxible Clipper bus from the advice of a friend. He named it Betsy two, after his first bus, Betsy. He bought it from someone who  bought it from another person who kept in his garage for fifteen years and never used it once, however, he did keep it in good shape. Lehrer was so happy after he bought the bus. It did take some getting used to, but soon he got the hang of it. He was so proud of Betsy tow that he called her a part of the family. All that next week he wrote letters to his family saying that he bought a new bus. He even sent a photograph of Betsy two in his letters. He was so exited.

John Lehrer was a very good man. He was also a American screenwriter, journalist, playwright, and novelist. He even worked with PBS NewsHour. After all of this, he must have been very famous! He died in the year two thousand twenty.

    In an autobiography called A Bus of My Own written by John Lehrer, Lehrer had a heart attack. However, thankfully, he survived the attack and started to make a list of changes he would make in his life. The heart attack was actually good for him. Before the heart attack he was doing a lot of bad things, like smoking and eating badly. Having a heart attack changed his beliefs about all of the bad things he has been doing. 

    Before his heart attack he smoked all the time. He wrote that instead of throwing away the butts of the cigarettes he smoked, he kept them in a shoe box in case he wanted to smoke the rest out of the cigarettes he kept. He even smoked his way to the hospital in an ambulance with his pipe. That just shows how dedicated he was to smoking. 

    He wrote down that he would change his diet. This is what he said. “There was the food problem. The eating thing. I had had the eating habits of a pimply-faced fifteen-year-old. My daily preferred diet was drawn from a preferred option list of fritos, cheez Whiz, chili, pepperoni pizza, Milky Ways, Butterfinger chips, peanut butter (chunky); hamburgers with fries, tuna-salad sandwiches with fries, bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwiches with fries, fried chicken with fries, barbecue ribs, beef and/or sausage with fries; Dr. Peppers, chocolate chip ice cream, butter brickle ice cream, real potato chips, cottage-fried potatoes; scrambled egg with melted cheese, green peppers and onions; chocolate milk shakes, corn dogs, chilli dogs; biscuits with butter, waffles with hot maple syrup and butter, pancakes with hot maple syrup and butter; salt, fudge, black coffee, and pastrami sandwiches with mayonnaise.” Instead of those bad foods he decided to eat good foods. This is what he said. “Carrot and celery sticks with a  nonfat yogurt dip. Melba toast. Vegetarian baked beans. Cute little cups of raspberries and strawberries and blueberries. Apples. Great glasses of orange juice. Decaf coffee. Water cornbread. Green beans. Peas. Peas! Spinach casseroles. Caffeine-free diet soda pop. Unbuttered, unsalted popcorn. Toasted pita bread. Oatmeal. Oatmeal!” very unhealthy eater.

    He also said that he would exercise a lot. In the hospital workout room every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at seven he workout to get his heart back in shape. He also wrote down that he would take a nap every single day. Those two things did help get his heart back in shape. He even said that he will  never again get angry. He also made a list of bus signs he would then go after. Here is the list. Overland Greyhound, Bowen Motor Coaches, Southeastern Stages, American Buslines, and Dixie-Sunshine Trailways. There were even two men there that helped him rebuild his soul. Charlie Berman and Harry Smith. Lehrer was actually a really good person. After his heart attack, Lehrer was a completely changed man. Lehrer died in the year 2020, the year I wrote this essay! I hope that you had fun reading this essay.