I just watched a music video by Justin Bieber, don't laugh, and the song was called "Pray". And it made me think about the actual action and thought of prayer. And I asked myself, why do people pray? I understand that praying may make them feel better that there's a higher being who will help them, that prayer gives people hope. To me prayer is mostly people asking whatever higher being they believe in to make everything better and then they wait for something to happen. But really nothing will. So what does prayer actually do?
Praying won't change your situation (and I mean meaningful prayer, not wishing you get something from your christmas list). It won't make your life better in any way unless you do something. Take action and make your situation change.
My mother thinks that people pray because it is positive. That if you can get a large group of people together to pray, then there is a force of positive energy that uplifts everyone. That with the positive energy and united feeling it would make that group of people more proactive. And then they would go out in the world and they would think that "we can do this" (whatever "this" is) and have the feeling that God is behind them. Which might in turn, make a better society. But how many people like that are there? How many people pray to God and then take action?
But there are still many people that pray and pray and just wait for something to happen. That kind of prayer is what I don't understand; why people pray if it doesn't change your immediate situation and might not change it at all. The person that actually makes things happen is yourself, not a higher being.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Justice System
Ok well, literally a few minutes ago my dad and I got stopped by a policewoman. As soon as she got to the window she was in my dad's face and asked if he was feeling ok. I'll leave it to you to figure out what she was insinuating, but really he just couldn't see very well without his reading glasses and that's why he gave her his credit card instead of his license.
That wasn't fair. She immediately jumped to conclusions and was very rude. And we pride ourselves on our judicial system? Just like when a Al-Qaeda member held in Guantanamo Bay was tried in a civilian court he was acquitted on 284 of 285 charges and only convicted of the one because most of the evidence against him was gained during torture. Some people said that this was why (suspected) terrorists should not be tried in a civilian court. But many said that this was exactly right because the judge wouldn't allow the evidence gained from torture to be used in court, which is the law.*
In AIS we were also talking about how unfair America's justice system is. How the cards are so stacked against the poor that probably many innocent people are convicted and when the rich are called to court they can walk away with no punishment if necessary because they can afford a good lawyer. But how can
the system be changed? Many people like it this way and the poor don't have much of a voice. Can anything be done?
*For more info on the court case CLICK HERE
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Passion
What is passion? Is it excelling in a given area or is it an emotional involvement in an area? Now here's a big question, does New Trier promote passion, create passion, or just kill it? Now, all sides of this can be true or not, it just depends on your perspective.
Now, New Trier can lead someone to passion because there are so many different clubs and classes to try. If you find something that you really like then that can lead to a lifelong passion. Conversely, New Trier might push too hard, and too competitively and that might kill whatever liking you had for something, whether it was academic or extracurricular.
But I think New Trier does create and promote ambition. Now do you think that ambition is in itself a passion or is it just ambition? NT pushes its students to be the best, but is that good? That could take all of the passion and enjoyment out of everything and just leave someone with no goal but to be the best of the best for all of the wrong reasons. I wonder, does the rigorous academic curriculum leave time for someone to find anything that they really love to do? How does this affect us as students and as people?
It is important to examine what is going on at schools around the globe. Passion is important. The Puritans have passion for their religion, they are very devout and that is admirable, but do they take it too far? As seen in The Crucible the people of Salem say that there is witchcraft around and that it might have been there all along, they just didn't see it. Just as, perhaps, how we (people in general) don't always see what is actually happening, but on the other hand, sometimes things are seen that really aren't there.
Now, New Trier can lead someone to passion because there are so many different clubs and classes to try. If you find something that you really like then that can lead to a lifelong passion. Conversely, New Trier might push too hard, and too competitively and that might kill whatever liking you had for something, whether it was academic or extracurricular.
But I think New Trier does create and promote ambition. Now do you think that ambition is in itself a passion or is it just ambition? NT pushes its students to be the best, but is that good? That could take all of the passion and enjoyment out of everything and just leave someone with no goal but to be the best of the best for all of the wrong reasons. I wonder, does the rigorous academic curriculum leave time for someone to find anything that they really love to do? How does this affect us as students and as people?
It is important to examine what is going on at schools around the globe. Passion is important. The Puritans have passion for their religion, they are very devout and that is admirable, but do they take it too far? As seen in The Crucible the people of Salem say that there is witchcraft around and that it might have been there all along, they just didn't see it. Just as, perhaps, how we (people in general) don't always see what is actually happening, but on the other hand, sometimes things are seen that really aren't there.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Reflection
From rereading my blog posts I see that I usually have broader themes (such as current political issues) because I think that allows for a more open interpretation on the subjects; since people have very different political views. If I had blogged using narrower themes it might limit the different types of opinions that could be voiced, which would limit the depth and variety of a discussion based on that theme. My blogs usually set one idea against another and then I compare and contrast them. I'm surprised with my posts because they seem to have the common thread of either sarcasm or pessimism. I hadn't thought I was that the posts were all so critical before, which I think is very interesting. I also think that I should elaborate more on the topic as a whole and especially on the evidence because I know that in writing in general that is what I have the most trouble with. Not only that but it would help the reader understand what point or topic I am trying to get across. The blog post Obama vs. McCain all over again really demonstrates this because looking back at it it seems to be one of those blogs where there really can only have a yes or no answer.
Over the weeks, I've noticed that my blogs don't seem to be incorporating the reader as much. This might be because I'm not very keen on blogging and am not really sure how this is helping me as a writer; I don't generally share my personal writing with anyone and because of that blogging is hard for me. And what makes this (blogging) even harder is that to connect these topics back to class if what we are learning doesn't really include many of the topics that I would blog about.
**CLICK HERE to read my blog post.
Over the weeks, I've noticed that my blogs don't seem to be incorporating the reader as much. This might be because I'm not very keen on blogging and am not really sure how this is helping me as a writer; I don't generally share my personal writing with anyone and because of that blogging is hard for me. And what makes this (blogging) even harder is that to connect these topics back to class if what we are learning doesn't really include many of the topics that I would blog about.
**CLICK HERE to read my blog post.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Child Labor
Well, this is an interesting topic. I actually did a research paper on worldwide child labor a few years ago. It is unbelievable that it is still going on. Are we as humans really that greedy that we would exploit each other for our own gain? Whether it's for power, or money, or both, its still happening.
Researching for my paper I discovered that children as young as FOUR were working in dirty, foul conditions for little pay and being worked until they drop from exhaustion. With the children that were working the machinery many of them had limbs cut off from the gears in the machines that were exposed. But what was most astonishing was that NBA-star Michael Jordan's Nike air-jordan shoes was accused of using child labor to make the shoes. Click HERE or HERE to see articles about Nike and child labor.
We were talking about this in AIS and sweatshop, etc labor is STILL going on today. These people are terrified of loosing this job that they have even if it is awful because they can't find work elsewhere. Many of the countries that use sweatshop labor are suppliers of the U.S. for cheap stores like Wal-mart and Target. If the U.S. is so powerful like people say we are why don't we do anything about it? I would rather buy really expensive clothes that don't use sweatshop labor than cheap clothes that do. I understand that some don't have the same resources that others do but that doesn't make modern day slavery right.
Researching for my paper I discovered that children as young as FOUR were working in dirty, foul conditions for little pay and being worked until they drop from exhaustion. With the children that were working the machinery many of them had limbs cut off from the gears in the machines that were exposed. But what was most astonishing was that NBA-star Michael Jordan's Nike air-jordan shoes was accused of using child labor to make the shoes. Click HERE or HERE to see articles about Nike and child labor.
We were talking about this in AIS and sweatshop, etc labor is STILL going on today. These people are terrified of loosing this job that they have even if it is awful because they can't find work elsewhere. Many of the countries that use sweatshop labor are suppliers of the U.S. for cheap stores like Wal-mart and Target. If the U.S. is so powerful like people say we are why don't we do anything about it? I would rather buy really expensive clothes that don't use sweatshop labor than cheap clothes that do. I understand that some don't have the same resources that others do but that doesn't make modern day slavery right.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Still a Democracy?
In this year's midterm election there is debate about whether electing politicians is still democratic (meaning that it is the people who choose their governors, senators, etc. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are also people they can spend as much money on the candidate of their choice. And of course, money is a very big factor in whether the said candidate will win or not. Which might make it seem like it is really the big companies that are choosing our government officials.
As can be seen in the excerpt from a website below, some people are very angry with the Supreme Court and feel that their opinion and vote doesn't matter anymore.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Race
Well, in AIS we've been talking about race. And one of my teachers put on the board: white, black (african-american), red (native american), yellow (asian), and brown (Indian/South American). Now this was how everyone catagorized each other. How is that right? How do you know how someone identifies themselves? I guess that it is human nature to try and put everything into a neat little box. But rarely does anything do that. And this goes on everyday. A good example of this is high school. Everyone (well, almost everyone) tries to fit in to one group. And these people usually have something in common; like the "jocks" who have good athletic skills. Or the "nerds" who are very smart. We all try and box everyone away and label them.
What happens once we are out of high school, can we still use these generic groupings? How should people define each other? Should we even try? I don't think we should group people because these are how tensions are created (think of world relations). It just isn't possible to group people so widely. Everyone is different, every people is different.
What happens once we are out of high school, can we still use these generic groupings? How should people define each other? Should we even try? I don't think we should group people because these are how tensions are created (think of world relations). It just isn't possible to group people so widely. Everyone is different, every people is different.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Prejudice
Ironically in AIS class we are talking about slavery and racism, etc. and we also have to interview someone for a project in AIS. Now, the person I interviewed is black and talked about the prejudice she came across in her hometown and in the north shore area. Really I find it disappointing because it seems like we (people) are still quite prejudiced in reality. Eliza (it's not her real name) said that in her hometown down south the prejudice was straight out, but in the north shore the prejudice was more subtle. If Eliza said hello to one of her son's teachers on the sidewalk, they would walk right past as if they hadn't heard her say anything. But this was around the 60's but she said that it has gotten a bit better, but (I guess to her, not too much better).
I hope that as a country we continue to get better at treating each other equally, not only on the streets but in every aspect. I definitely would not have liked living in fear everyday wondering if the KKK was going to hurt me or someone I know. Or being afraid to go out at night. Is that right? I don't think so. But maybe things will change now that Obama is in office. America was founded on the principle of equal rights, we need to stick to that.
I hope that as a country we continue to get better at treating each other equally, not only on the streets but in every aspect. I definitely would not have liked living in fear everyday wondering if the KKK was going to hurt me or someone I know. Or being afraid to go out at night. Is that right? I don't think so. But maybe things will change now that Obama is in office. America was founded on the principle of equal rights, we need to stick to that.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Obama vs. McCain all over again
I just want to start out by saying that in this blog, I'm not trying to offend anyone, I'm simply pointing out some information that, for me personally, is a bit ironic & amusing.
Ok so you know how some people (the Tea Party) are calling Obama a muslim? Well, that was only because when he lived in Indonesia he supposedly went to some kind of radical muslim school, however he went to a public school and also a christian school (to see an article about this CLICK HERE).
Now, if some people think that Obama is a muslim why wasn't John McCain called an immigrant? He was born in the Panama Canal Zone, albeit on a U.S. base, which is a poor latino country, and he became senator for Arizona where there is so much trouble going on with the U.S. trying to keep out the illegal aliens! For more background info on McCain CLICK.
Personally I think this is a bit ironic that Obama was born in Hawaii but is called a muslim, while his competitor in the Presidential Election was born in the Panama canal Zone! This just relates to my AIS class because we will most likely be studying American Presidents. YAY!!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Words
Have you ever thought about how much words are twisted around? In AIS we were just having a discussion and it was so interesting because someone makes a comment, and they know exactly what they mean, but maybe no else does. They might have to clarify their thought or give an explanation so they can get their point across. These miscommunications happen all of the time, and it reminds me of the media (and by media I mean newsrooms, reporters, and...oh yeah! the paparazzi). These people are constantly taking what people say and twisting them so that they might mean something else entirely (whichever will get the most popularity or readers). It's unfortunate because this is the way that conflict starts and then it is very hard to stop.
I definitely wouldn't want my words that have been turned around printed across the news' headlines, but maybe some people do.
I guess we have to be careful about what we say as words can hurt more than a punch. You know that rhyme 'sticks & stones will break my bones, but names/words will never hurt me'? It's definitely not true, well except for the part that stones or sticks can break bones. But I hope no one has discovered that the hard way.
Be careful with words because they don't always mean what you want to say.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Is the white man a hero?
Ok, so, I went to Peru this summer and it was unbelievable. While we (I went with a group of people) did a two day trek into the mountains and while we were hiking everyone was just trading stories. It was so interesting because our Peruvian guides told us that many (white) powerful people thought they would help the natives by giving them hiking shoes to wear. And these people were used to wearing sandals so of course they would think the hiking boots would be uncomfortable. But they had to wear them (if they were trekking) until the checkpoint where people would make sure they had the boots on, then once they were out of sight, they would take them off!
This kind of "helping has been demonstrated over and over and over again in history. Right now this is especially demonstrated by America by the way we went into Iraq and various other places in the Middle East (but there are many other examples throughout history). America didn't ask if they needed help, they just "said" you need help; and then tried to develop them in America's image instead of their own society. Would you want someone to barge into your room and say "I'm gonna help you do your homework (or something like that) even if you were doing fine? I know I wouldn't. I don't think it's up to any one group to dictate what another needs or doesn't need.
Is the white man a hero? Personally, I don't really think so. But there are so many different connections with this question in history that everyone has a different perspective on it. So tell me yours.
This kind of "helping has been demonstrated over and over and over again in history. Right now this is especially demonstrated by America by the way we went into Iraq and various other places in the Middle East (but there are many other examples throughout history). America didn't ask if they needed help, they just "said" you need help; and then tried to develop them in America's image instead of their own society. Would you want someone to barge into your room and say "I'm gonna help you do your homework (or something like that) even if you were doing fine? I know I wouldn't. I don't think it's up to any one group to dictate what another needs or doesn't need.
Is the white man a hero? Personally, I don't really think so. But there are so many different connections with this question in history that everyone has a different perspective on it. So tell me yours.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)