Time flies as it always does. It is the 28th day of this reading class. Surprisingly, i finished all the tasks, not very well though. I did spent hours to focus on the articles, read them thoroughly and tried my best to draw the mind map for each one.

The subject covers from Science to Space and Time, from Renewable Energy to Digital Healthcare, from Self-respect, Classical Music to the early history of Israel. All the articles are not easy, especially the ones about Self-Respect and the early history of Israel. That's why Annie chose them for us to learn the words, the knowledge of different disciplines and the insights from the author. 

Among them, i favored the article of Self-respect by Joan Didion. Everyone has own concept of self-respect, myself included. From my point of view, before i read the article, self-respect is something to do with moral. I used to think that people who are selfish, who just wonders instead of work, who makes money of cheating, who prefers to have relationship with married man and who sell their bodies, are without self-respect. This article proves me wrong. It presents the deeper definitions of self-respect to me and explains how the self-respect is discovered by oneself.

Self-respect is not the compliments one gains from others. It neither has anything to do with good manners, clean hair or proved competence, nor the self-deception, approval from others or reputation. The people with courage can live without them. Instead, self-respect concerns a separate peace and a private reconciliation. People with self-respect have the courage of their own mistakes. It's toughness. And it is a character that they are willing to accept the risk, to invest something of themselves and to accept responsibilities of their own lives.

Self-respect is a discipline that can be developed, trained and coaxed forth. It's a virtual to know who were are and what we are.  Self-respect is the ability to discriminate, to love and to remain indifferent. Self-respect frees us from the expectations of others and gives us back to ourselves.

With Self-Respect, I have a lot more to learn, a long way to go and an ocean of stuff to do to shape myself into a better learner with more disciplines. 

Reading is difficult but important. We build our vocabulary, absorb information and broaden our horizons by reading widely and deeply. There is no such a way that more effective than reading. Even that the class is over, it would be a good habit to keep reading every day.