I agree with the intro that Sam gave us on the soldiers taking their own lives is just something that the public does not want to know. I have many friends that have done tours or multiple tours over seas and I can say that they are not the same. The mental toll that war does on a soldier is something that I hope that I never have to experience. I am one hundred percent thankful for their dedication in fighting for our but I also am one hundred percent remorseful for the amount of psychological pain that they are experiencing. It is extremely sad to see my friends when I go home and see that they are almost brainwashed. They are definitely a lot quieter and will drink more than they should when we go out. War is something that will never go away but is something that is much more damaging than just taking lives of soldiers. It is taking their souls as well. The movie that we watched in class really touched me. I was almost in a depressing mood after hearing all these stories of suicide and/or thoughts of suicide. The part of the movie that really bothered me was the story of the marine that was called a coward not only by his superior but also all over the media. This man was just being honest and wanted to try to fix his situation for he could not only be a stronger solider, but also have a stronger mind to be a strong person in general. I understand that they need to be tough on their soldiers in order for our military to be successful, but I felt that was a little to extreme. These soldiers are almost not being treated as humans, but as brainwashed killing machines. I feel bad for these soldiers and give support to any vet or current soldier that I meet or know. It is truly sad that these soldiers finally return home to be safe and free as a citizen, and can’t really get back to their normal lives because of the psychological toll that they have taken.

I do not believe it would make a difference to me if religion disappears because I am not involved in one right now. I am technically Presbyterian, but I have lost my faith a long time ago. This class has really taught me what exactly my view on religion is. Sam has taught me that it is okay if you do not believe in a higher power and that you’re not alone. I believe that there is a place for religion in our society because it keeps some sort of order between people by connecting them through similar beliefs. I have learned at my time here at Penn State that the more people learn with education, the more the decline of religion is increasing. I know learning things about the Earth’s formation through scientist’s research, has helped me to stop believing. Basically education is the rival of the existence of religion. The more people learn about life itself, I believe they will see that there is something else happening outside of there religious beliefs. As a child I was always questionable about the stories they would tell us, like Noah’s Arc and Adam and Eve. I thought that I was wrong by double guessing it and not being like everyone else in my bible classes that believe in God. Now I see that religion is a way to form relations with different people. I have many friends that are atheist and also many friends that are extremely religious, and they are all still friends. Seeing the relationship now between people with different beliefs are much less hostile and actually not problems. This is why I believe that religion will eventually decline to a point where its not dominant in society to believe in a higher being. Now, I think that there is always going to be a part in society for people to study and worship because for some people it really serves a purpose to live. The current society compared to the individuals that are part of like the baby boomers era example, is a world of a difference. In their time there really was not a place for people to think differently than to believe in God. Our current era is filled with different ideas and beliefs, and as an agnostic person myself I support the idea to question the belief of a higher being.

Just like most of my classmates, I have friends and family who are not as wealthy as most people and are struggling to pay for their education. Some of my friends are not even planning on going to college because of the lack of funds and lack of confidence of being able to pay the loans back. It is extremely uneasy to think about the wealth distribution in our country. Ideally, the wealth would be distributed to equality through out the classes, but obviously we do not live in this fantasy world. The majority of the money in our country is within the top part of our classes (which is only about 5%). After seeing the slideshow that Same showed in class that showed the distribution of wealth in America, I couldn’t describe it any other way than shocking. Although I am not completely sure what class I would be classified in but I am sure that it is well above other people in my family and most of my friends. Its hard to watch them struggle to get things like education, work, and to just live comfortably. Its hard because many of these extremely wealthy people are playing the American system of business unfairly and not only getting away with it, but becoming extremely rich off of it. The worst part about this problem of wealth distribution is that it is not a new phenomenon. The partnership of the wealthy and dominate figures in the country have been not only doing things like making the rules that we live by, but also breaking the ones that they have made. To the wealthy classes defense, it is not like they are doing nothing and still receiving insane amounts of money. They have worked hard to get where they are at and it is not completely right to blame them on the wealth balance of America. Yes there are a lot of poor families and individuals in that need help but we can’t solely blame their failure on the wealthy peoples success. Luckily in this country, there are ways to climb the ladder of society and become middle class or even wealthy. I feel we need to worry more about our counties economic status, and we all need to do our part to make sure that our country stays ass success as we have been and stay up the poverty line as much as possible.

The way that light, and also dark, impacts our lives is way more important than people think. Think about the different seasons. Are you more likely to be happy, active, and outside in the winter when it’s dark and gloomy? No, winter is dark and gloomy and so are most people’s moods because they are forced to stay inside to beat the snow and cold. If you just drove around State College today and saw all of the college kids outside playing games, drinking, and having fun you could relate it to the warm weather that is finally here. Everyone is in a happy mood because its warm out and they can finally do outside activities comfortably. As we continue to use in class, the invisible strings of light and dark directly affect not only the mood of us but also our actions. In winter you feel lazier and doing less work because you are just sitting around in the dark most of the time. Living in Finland would definitely take some getting used to because you have to work when its dark, and that is usually when I will be relaxing or going to sleep. The invisible strings of darkness would also gradually make the moods of the people there worse and worse. The average worker would not get to enjoy a single glance of sunlight after work and after a while that is obviously going to depress you. The people of Finland probably would not be able to see these effects as well as we can. You definitely feel more protected by the light because you can see everything that is happening around you, compared to darkness where it is easy not to see things (like driving or walking down an alley). It truly is extraordinary of how these citizens of Helsinki have adapted to the darkness and survive successful in it. Instead of these people letting the darkness take over their lives and moods, they have found a way to make a source of light in the life and stay positive and active. I’m sure it would take some getting used to but also it takes inner strength and confidence to live and be successful in darkness pretty much all of the time.

Since I have never experienced life inside prison or anything like it, I never looked at my freedoms like that. I never realized all the choices I make everyday, like what clothes I am going to wear, what I want to make for dinner, when am I going to study, or when do I want to go to the gym to work out. We as Americans have thousands of freedoms that we choose to use everyday without even noticing. If you were to ask someone outside of a soc class what they think their freedoms are, you would hear the freedom of speech, right to assembly, press, and so on. A freedom that you really can’t see in a total perspective unless your in jail and have all your freedoms stripped from you is that of your mind. I never thought I would respect a convicted felon in prison, let alone read a letter about their thoughts and experiences. I totally changed my mind now. Theses guys are unbelievable. I used to think that I I am lucky to live in the “most free” country in the world, but now I can see that we are not. There are different types of freedom and I never thought before that you could still have freedom while you are in prison. It really takes a person to look outside the box to see why these guys think they are still free inside a cement prison that they cannot leave. They still have the most powerful form of freedom and that is the mental capacity to express you.

The video is obviously hilarious, but it is amazing on how true the concept is with humans. The idea that we have been using in class about the invisible strings shaping what we do everyday. It was cool to finally see from a third person perspective. Also, to see how free we can actually be if we learn to break away from the norm, and detach the strings. I never realized the extent of how easily the human society can subconsciously follow a new trend if other people are as well. The example we used in class about doing stupid actions when we are drunk or were younger just because other people were with you. You have to ask the question, why was this action okay at the time? The presence of another person can sometimes just automatically make you want to go with the flow and just do it, instead of thinking it through. Humans naturally want to be with other people and mostly are worried about being accepted by the group. Us humans are naturally social and will change with the group to not stand out. The man in the hat is the funniest out of the people they ran the test on. They showed how powerful force of peer pressure and conformity is on people with turning him in circle and the best was taking the hat on and off. I believe that if I was in the elevator with them I would just stay forward, but you really can’t know for sure until you’re in the situation. The video was a great help to understanding the concept of conformity within groups and how the invisible strings really are there and shaping most of us humans. The example we watched in class with the person deciding which line matches the example also is a funny, yet amazingly factual example.

To be able to read a letter from an inmate that received life is a really interesting thing to do. You never really get a chance to hear what these people have to say besides through what the media wants to tell us. I never knew that men in prison could contain this type and amount of passion for life while having life. The death penalty can be a little extreme sometimes when the person is not in the normal state of mind. Now I don’t think they should be out on the streets because its hard to just use that excuse for a murder. It is just amazing that I can feel compassion for a person who is locked away in a prison for taking another humans life. I was really blown away by the fact that now I see that all murders are not the same and cold and heartless. There really is a person out there who just made a mistake or let their anger get to them and really turn themselves around in jail. I could never imagine myself in prison or some sort of confinement and know that I am never going to leaves theses grounds for the rest of my life. Reading this letter will really make me take a step back and look at my actions before I do something. Something as stupid as a drunk fight where you just punch someone in the face or drinking a little to much and hitting and killing someone on the way home. Now everyone, as a “murder”, looks you at differently. I am really fortunate that this inmate took the time to write a letter to people that he will never meet in his life. It really gave me a different perspective on life and will really make me want to take advantage of everything around me. Although they will never be able to live life outside of bars again, I am blown away of the way they came really take a bad situation and turn it into something that is not only life changing, but is bettering their lives.

Soc 001