¶ … Martin Luther King believed intelligence strengthened character. My life experiences have added to my intelligence and my intelligence has strengthened my ability to handle situations more effectively by applying critical thinking into my objectives. To begin, I will say where I am from. I was born in Kuwait, situated in the Middle East. Moving to the United States was a difficult time because I had to readjust to a new culture, a new people, and a different way of life. While it took some time to adapt to my new surroundings, I managed to learn several things along the way. The first was my deep appreciation of nature. Kuwait exists within one of the least hospitable and driest deserts on earth. While the Kuwait Bay has a deep harbor located on the Persian Gulf, other parts have extended views of the sands. Coming to the United States the shift of scenery was profound as the United States has varying landscapes from flatlands to forests. I was able to go take a step from my new home and see the beauty of nature.

Observing the birds singing and the leaves dropping from trees helped me seek knowledge about naturalism and the many American naturalist writers of the nineteenth-century like Stephen Crane. Naturalism is a perspective that states everything comes from natural causes and properties with spiritual or supernatural explanations discounted or...

Leaves falling off a tree because it is winter is a natural process much like a person's character according to naturalist writers, was determined by social environment and heredity. While I do not 100% agree with everything according to naturalism, there are some things that resonated with me and allowed me to interpret things in a critical lens.
Aside from my appreciation for nature, I also am athletic and enjoy playing sports. I have recently taken up playing soccer and often pass the ball to my dog, a German shepherd. He pushes it with his nose as we run to catch up to the ball. I was never very good at soccer until I decided to learn about the mechanics involved in soccer.

Soccer involves a lot of low intensity jogging and high intensity sprinting. On average, soccer players may run up to five miles in one short match, performing dozens of sprints during that time. If I wanted to get better at soccer, I had to improve my overall fitness. That is why I play with my dog because he can keep me running even when I feel tired.

German shepherds are actually some of the best dog breeds to run with. When I got my dog I wanted to make sure I got a dog that could keep pace with me and would protect me. Sure enough, my German shepherd fit the bill and then some. He is my most loyal and caring friend and I would have never gotten him had I…