I am appalled by reading this story; it makes me sick to my stomach. I cannot believe the actions and behaviors of these soldiers. They are no different than the men they are supposed to be stopping but even worse because they represent the US and that's not what we do here. It is disgusting that they killed an innocent civilian who was going about his everday life. It is even more disturbing and sickening that they had premeditated the act and had intentions and plans to follow through with a murder. It is a shame that people like this commit acts and this is how the American Military will be viewed because their sick, mindless evil acts. I watched a documentary a little back on similar crimes like this happening in the war. I is crimes like this that we don’t hear about in the media, but the people living there certainly do know all about it because they are witnessing them.

It is curious to me what type of people that the military is breeding. These men and women who are barely men at all, most of them still in their teens, are trained to kill another human being without thinking a thought about it. They are essentially dehumanized and become stripped of any sympathetic feeling when it comes to war. It is easy to see why this may drive some individuals to the edge of insanity and influence them to commit acts such as this. Everything that they once knew as being moral and right is completely changed when the value of their life is considered low and they are molded into individuals who have little emotion. It makes you wonder how many individuals could be potentially seriously affected by this after having gone to war, trained for so long, and having witnessed dead bodies laid before them. Furthermore, their bullets could have been the cause of the body laid before them. That has to psychologically weigh down on some and bed itself deep in a person. I honestly know that it would do some major damage to my emotional state of mind. I don’t know what it’s like because I’ve never been in their shoes but I know that it must be extremely burdening and traumatic to see and do some things that they have done. These soldiers are living breathing humans and I feel that a lot of people lose sight and forget that.

This video was really interesting. You don’t realize how stressful it is for soldiers to adjust to life once they come back from war and are expected to lead a life as if nothing has ever happened. These soldiers are trained to basically be killing machines and they are trained emotionally to kill without thinking. This is an unnatural reflex to anyone, so imagine being told to kill and not rationally think about the act you just committed. I thought the story about the man that killed the woman who he thought was carrying a bomb especially touching. It showed that these soldiers are real people with real feelings who have to cope with the burdens of what they have done. He explains how everything spiraled after he returned home from Iraq and how he started to drink and become violent when he was home. The story of him being at a bar and referring to himself as a “pitbull or shark” shows how really animalistic these men have come from war. It’s really sad how all these men were forced to bottle up these intense feelings for so long and how scary it is when they hit without warning. It is frightening what they will do for example commit suicide because they do not want to live with their immense physiological stress anymore. I don’t think you can really know unless you have been through it. From watching this video I am able to understand more how these soldiers are dealing with the aftermath, but I really can’t even begin to imagine the burden they must live with day to day. It is disturbing the rates of how many men and woman have committed suicide because of this burden. It is even more disturbing that their families were unknowing of how these people felt. I think that more attention to be put towards this obviously huge problem that is happening. I don’t think anyone is able to come home and start living a completely normal life and not deal with any physiological effects. That is never the case. The thing is that every single soldier goes through experiences and sees things that none of us should ever have to see. There is a generations of people from this war that are going to have to deal with very serious post traumatic stress syndrome.

This post was very interesting. While I was reading this I realized that that “perfect man” he described is very rare. I feel as if many men feel the way he C felt at one point. That all women want is sex and money. That is how women are portrayed in the media, so you can’t blame men for believing that this is true. Women are portrayed as inferior to men and just there to be an object of desire and an objectified by their male counterparts. I completely agree with all the characteristics he explained how a man should be. I think that it is a shame that so many men have a skewed vision of what women are. I also think that it’s a shame that so many women accept this generalized view men have of them. Many women believe this is how they have to act in order to get attention from men. Our culture is completely saturated in sex, pornography, and other images that younger and younger children are being exposed to. I think that both women and men have some work to do in the areas of respect and self-respect. I think that it is easer to assess a relationship, any relationship for that matter when looking in on the outside. Since he is in jail now and has stated he is not in a relationship, I think that it was easier to realize his wrongs. He is no longer caught up in the opinions and ideas from the outside world. He is only alone with himself each day to think. I think that can open up a lot of questions and self examination for anyone. I feel the same way with a lot of relationships in my life. When you are tangled up and involved with really strong feelings it is difficult to think logically at times. I know this is true for me. Being in a relationship that you are not being treated the way you should is difficult. You believe that this person is truly your best friend and no matter what they do to you, you are likely to dismiss it and give them another chance. It only when you get out of that relationship that you realize how much pain and problems there really were.

Sports are a great way to unite a group a people and this is a perfect example of just that. Especially after such a traumatic time and happening it is a great thing that brings the Haitian community together. It is horrible that so many people have lost their homes and family and have no place to live, so this is a way to gives those who do not have a “place” a haven to feel comfortable and happiness. You would not think that such a small thing as a donation to soccer could make such a difference in the lives of individuals, but it’s amazing how it really has. Sports are a great way of bringing pride and nationalism to ones country. Haiti has surely gained some of that back through the sport of soccer. The country of Haiti still has a lot of healing left to do after the disaster and this is a great way to help with the process. Like the example someone earlier stated how New Orleans had an incredible natural disaster when hurricane Katrina ripped through the city and devastated the entire population. And that It was only a few years later when they won the super bowl when their pride rose and it brought hope to the people of new Orleans. If anyone was deserving of this pride it is the country of Haiti. They have been through so much and have always had very little. When even the little bit of what they had was taken away from them it was completely devastating to watch. I personally have always loved the sport soccer. I believe that it is such a unifying sport. I played soccer throughout high school and it has always been a major part of my life. The excitement of the game is something that will surely bring the Haitians together and raise the spirits of the people. It is great for the players to be unified with their team and get to know one another on a more personal level. The whole experience will surely be a healing one for the people of Haiti.

R’s story was heart wrenching. I can’t even imagine leading a life like his. He is a very strong person it seems and has had a very rough life. It amazes me that his whole family was so pitted against him and brainwashed by their parents. It truly is inspiring how he could take all of their attempts at trying to force him to kill himself. A lot of people in his situation would kill themselves. Living in that environment would be absolute hell. His story made me resent his parents and family and hate them and I don’t even know them. How could any one do that to their own flesh and blood and be able to look at themselves? It seems like his parents were very sick individuals who should have had their children taken away from them and put in jail themselves. This is a difficult situation because he probably knew it was wrong but was so young did not know the right way to go about dealing with the situation. Parents are supposed to be loving and supportive to their children and his parents were nothing of the sort. It is a shame to say but they basically pushed him to where he is now. He was a person who obviously had a history of bottling up a hurtful past and trying to forget everything that happened to him. A person can only do that for so long until they snap. I was watching a similar documentary on a woman who was abused by her husband and her husband abused their children. She wanted to get away but lived in fear that if she were to leave him she would be murdered. One day she went into their bedroom when her husband was sleeping, along with her son and murdered him in his sleep. She was sentenced to life in prison and so was her son who was only around the age of 15. It makes you understand and be sympathetic towards her motives for murder. Abuse and fear manifest themselves so deeply in a person that overtime it will eventually emerge and take control. The way this woman described the murder was so emotionless as if it was not a big deal. I’m sure there are many stories like this woman and R’s where you really see and understand how this “crime” could be committed.

I really learned a lot from reading this letter. It really made me shift thoughts about my feeling about people in prison. He was convicted of only being an accomplice to a murder and was not directly involved but he has accepted his punishment. None of us truly ever will have the chance to meet a prisoner in person and get to know them on a personal level. This letter gives insight to the thoughts and life they are subjected to as a result of being put behind bars. Its interesting that he has come to terms with his sentence, whereas most of us may see it as though he should not be punished as harshly as he has.
It really is a shame that such a transformed individual will be forced to live out the rest of his life in prison and never really experience life. since he was sentenced at such a young age it makes the situation all the more horrible. I know the law system is the law system and I in no way disagree with punishment for crimes but it is a strange thing to think about the gray areas of punishable crimes like this one. Another thing that it forces you to do is put yourself in the individuals shoes and think about what they must be thinking and how life must be for them now that they are locked away from the rest of the world.
Whenever we think about criminals we think about these murdering heartless individuals who if they were to be released from jail would go out and fall into the same ways that put them there in the first place. This may be very well true but in cases like this it makes you wonder. What if someone were to have a second chance. It is rare that lifers ever get out and are able to have freedom and a second chance at life. Situations like this just make you wonder if they really are transformed as an individual. This letter has really made me think differently about criminals and all that comes with being put in jail for the rest of your being.

This story reminds me of the homeless man with the “golden voice” Ted Williams. His life was transformed dramatically after he was taken off the streets and jobs offers began pouring in. Just days before he was panhandling on the streets of Ohio, and then within a few days being offered prestigious radio and commercial jobs. The Cleveland Cavaliers even offered Williams a job that would be paid and a house. This of course was a total life change for a homeless person. Someone who was accustomed to living on the streets shaking a can at cards and hoping that people would stop to donate the spare change they had in their pockets now was being offered job after job and a even a home. The reason that he had been homeless was because drugs and alcohol left him career-less on the streets similar to so many other stories of displaced persons. Man y people neglected the fact that this man was homeless just days before and had had a history of drug and alcohol use. He had to go back into rehab to solve his problems from the past and put his career on hiatus.
This relates because of the idea of the “struggle of the transition” brought up in the article. It is hard to complete reform and change when something so huge has happened to you. Winning the lottery will not make living any easier for any one person. It might prove to make life more difficult. Just like the Ted Williams example a homeless alcoholic and drug addict is not cured just because they are offered a better means of living. A poor person winning the lottery is not going to be saved from all their debt problems they had in the past. They might be too overwhelmed and not know what to do with the money or bring about other problems they didn’t have prior to winning the lottery. For example being hassled by family and friends who believe they deserve some of the earnings. The point that is most important though is that no matter what drastic change our lives undergo-we will remain the same person we were before that change regardless of the new lifestyle we may try to create.

Its funny to look at this situation outside of our own every day routines because when we conform to society we don’t even realize we do. It is only now when it’s being pointed out to us that we realize how conformity is such a large part of society.

Conformity is neither good nor bad. Stopping at a red light or stop sign is technically conformity but this is necessary or there will be major problems obviously if we didn’t “conform” to traffic rules.

Conformity is all around us from the clothes we wear, to the products we buy, to the habits we form. Many Penn State students walk around campus wearing the same Uggs, Penn State clothing, and northfaces. That is just the conformity of college students. Conformity manifests itself in all different ages, religions, races, etc.

Many people believe they have the power to not conform to society and are independent of social norms, but when it comes down to it we are all tied to some sort of conformity as a result of “invisible strings” that attach us. Conformity is the most ancient, innate, instinct. Even if you are a rebellious person, when you go into a classroom for class, you wouldn’t just stand during the whole lecture because that’s not what people do. You wouldn’t sit in your chair backwards. And you wouldn’t drive on the other side of the road.

Other places in the world have different types of social norms and conformity. For example other cultures kiss each other when greeting each other. Conformity has been and will always be something we won’t think about unless it is pointed out to us. Or if we study other cultures we find out their “norms” and then think about our own.

It is interesting to think about our everyday lives and think about now many times a day we “conform”. If you took a minute to do this you would realize that is many times a day. It makes the people in candid camera not look so ridiculous for what they did. You probably would have done the exact same thing in their situation.

I think that this 5-year-old child being arrested is absolutely ridiculous. It is one thing to carry around a weapon with the intent to hurt another person, but a child this young obviously would have no comprehension of what he is doing. He clearly picked up the gun out of curiosity, which many young child would do. Any young child would pick up something that is shiny and foreign right in front of them. He probably was never taught about the dangers of guns and has no idea what it can do nor would be able to understand.

He is going to be that kid that brought a gun to school when he was five for the rest of his life. I think that this is pretty traumatizing for any five year old. I think that steps definitely should have been taken, but in this case everything was blew way out of proportion. I think that he should be able to be let back to school if anything to keep his life a little normal (even though it will be far from normal with the stigma and news this story will attract) . Punishment for the incident is ridiculous and makes the situation worse in my opinion.

I don’t think that it is necessary to punish the child for something he didn’t even know he did. What is this teaching the child? Maybe they should tell him what the problem was and teach him about the dangers. He instead must wait "anywhere from weeks to months” until he can even go on school grounds. The stepfather is definitely to blame if anyone for leaving his gun unattended in the back of the car. He obviously isn’t very responsible with something that could easily take a life. The gun was fully loaded too, which is kind of scary as to why the father would have a fully loaded gun in his car but that’s beside the point. and knowing that he is taking care of a five-year-old you would of thought he would taking all precautions to prevent something like this from happening.

Each day we never think about and take for granted our freedoms and privileges in life. Tasting freedom is even sweeter if you experience the feeling of having no freedom at all in your life. I think that it is interesting when he tells us that “In a strange but good way I am freer now that I have ever been.” This is a man who is behind bars and would seem to have minimal freedom, but claims to be freer than he has ever been. Maybe that is what the problem is with so many of us. Maybe we haven’t learned to appreciate our freedoms and this man who is behind bars was not able to appreciate his until it was taken away. This is usually how a lot of things work in life. As the saying goes, “you don’t know what you got til it’s gone”. In my opinion, this saying holds true when talking about the idea of freedom. I bet if many of us were to travel across seas to different countries and see the way they lived we would be more appreciative of what we have in our own lives and that we are blessed. Maybe if we channeled our thoughts more also, like the man in the letter has, we would know ourselves better and ultimately feel the same freedom he has experienced. I think that as you get older the idea of freedom changes. I know that it has for me. The definition of freedom is different for everyone. In my opinion, the idea of freedom is to have a choice in life. Life is so greatly shaped by the choices we make for ourselves that affect not only us, but also others. Freedom holds all different meanings to different people I know. Whatever your thoughts on freedom (or you think your thoughts are) I think it is important to think them over every once in awhile and think about them more. Not only will this help to understand yourself better as a person but also teach you and help you to appreciate freedom.