Obviously if you think that you can do more to help people you should not be feeling bad about it unless of course you are actually doing nothing. I do think the worst thing to do is waste a gift and by having the gift of being able to help, inaction is the worst action. Personally with the Haiti topic, the only thing I really did was help raise money but then I think that is all I really could do. If I could have gone to Haiti and thought I would make a difference I probably would have but Haiti right now needs a miracle more than a body.

300,000 people is not something just to overlook but she said it herself, people don’t think it directly affects us. When something happens that doesn’t affect us, what are we supposed to do? We have been doing everything to help like donating money. Personally I cannot travel to the disaster site because of school and other commitments unless I took off and went to help. If she is saying we should be doing that then I might have to agree but I feel like I cannot do anything that I haven’t already done to help. There is only so much someone can do.

He killed someone. He took someone’s life that did not deserve to be taken way before his time. Now he is in jail and repaying society for the injustice he committed. To be honest, the letter he wrote has nothing to do with his crime which I wish he could have talked about. The letter itself is very well written, especially considering that he didn’t even graduate high school but again that doesn’t have to do with anything other than he knows that you cannot end a sentence with a preposition. Congratulations to him for being well educated, probably self educated, but he still killed a man.
The letter itself, again I will say, was very well written and does make you think about humanity and how all people can feel compassion for others. The man whose son died in the car crash you have to feel extremely saddened for, but he is in jail as well. I am not saying he deserves this grief, because I honestly do believe he deserves to be able to call his family and at least offer words of encouragement or receive them, but he is in jail for a reason and is repaying his debt to society. It is a sad thing to not be able to see your family because of a bad choice you made, but he made his choice earlier in his life and is doing what he can now to finish out the miserable existence he currently is living.
Are people in jail human beings? Of course. Do they deserve to be treated like animals? Of course not. Do they deserve to be treated the same as the rest of society? Absolutely not. When Sam was talking about how he was in a room full of lifers and how he felt bad for them, I could not see his point of view at all. To be honest, If I was a lifer, I would either try to escape and make it out alive or be killed in the process. Either way it is a much better option to me than having to wake up everyday and realize you will never again be able to have a real life. These men who have committed the horrible crimes to have them locked up forever without even the chance of parole, I do not feel bad for one bit. They are bad people, they were bad people, they will continue to be bad people. Remorse, forgiveness; these are emotions reserved for people either nicer and kinder than me or for people who did not take the life of another person. As soon as you do something like that, you forfeit the right to be free, to have me feel bad for you, and to live a normal life. They will eventually rot in the ground like us all, but at least for me, I am not rotting above the soil as well.

Sam always says he just wants you to feel something but in my opinion there is no point of a feeling if there is no action that comes of it. In this case step one is feeling something but I would agree with Sam that you have to purchase only fair trade chocolate if you really feel passionate about it. Many people, and I am one of them, feel that they are too small to change anything permanently but hopefully in the future there is a viable option. If I think of it, I will only buy fair trade chocolate but having it not be present in my daily life, it is much harder to think about constantly.

I think the goal for humans and the only reason we are here on this earth is to enjoy ourselves and have sustainable relationships to do that. Personally I don’t believe in god or an afterlife so I live for the moment but that doesn’t mean doing stupid things because that could potentially ruin the rest of your life and all the time you have in this world. Being a good person and helping other people enjoy this life is also something that people should do because without having fun or having relationships, what is the point? Live for the moment, plan for the future.

In a simple answer, I’d say everybody conforms to society in ways or else we would be ostracized. What I mean is that it is normal to conform to fit in because humans need social interaction so there is a reason why we do it. In a longer answer, I would say no, men do not conform to society in the same ways as women do, but we do have to act the “manly” part at times. Men have to conform in different ways other than our looks and our facebook comments such as our knowledge of cars or going to strip clubs when asked by friends.
In my opinion, I think women are more insecure in general and therefore conform much more to the way people act, talk, and dress much more than men. For the same reason that women don’t like farting around friends or talking about periods, they will act like each other so as not to stand out. At the same time, it is commonly accepted for guys to do these things that women don’t do just because everyone else does it as well; however, there are things that some guys are not comfortable with and these things are the ones that society may tell us not to approach. One example, sorry if you’re uncomfortable with it but I don’t care, is having sex while a girl is on her period. Some people are completely grossed out and never want to see the blood let alone go near it in that way so they will just not have sex during this time. The only thing I think about in this situation is not getting the blood on anything and staining it so having sex in the shower is the logical option other than a week of abstinence.
Now I guarantee someone will read what I just said and ask themselves what is this kid thinking, but that’s exactly what I mean. Just because some people are uncomfortable with an idea doesn’t mean that everyone is and for that example I am obviously fine with it. Now society tells me that if some people don’t like it but I have no problem then I should not do it. This is where I think men do not conform as women do, because I am sure that there is no girl in this class that would have wrote what I just did. Maybe there are though and they are the special few who I am not talking about because they, just as I, do not care what other people think about this. Who cares if someone doesn’t like something? Life is all about what you care about and enjoy. Now who wants to get clean?

This game is ridiculous. But then again, when people look at Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty nobody says anything about it when it’s all about killing people. This is just another case of something going to the edge and pushing the line of what is and what isn’t acceptable a bit further. At some point, there will have to be a stop to this but who is going to do it. Any time there is someone with an imagination there will be something to satisfy it. Really you just have to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t encourage acceptance of raping but I could make the argument I’m not likely to kill anyone any more after playing a war game than I was before so I think we will survive.

I have changed my thoughts on some things, mainly the talk about homosexuality, since the beginning of the semester. I have also thought about things in a way I have not previously done which is a great thing. When he talked about the black people being just as, if not more, racist than whites, that made me think pretty hard and I realized it from that point on that all people really are equally even in their vices. I don’t know how anybody can sit through that class and not think of alternatives; if you don’t then maybe you need to wake the hell up.

I don’t know about the accuracy of the 2050 projection of white minorities but it is certainly feasible that it might happen. Honestly, I cannot imagine our country where I am in the minority but it is not a bad thing, just a different thing. Change is good and if it happens there are more humans with dark color skin than light color skin, it just means suntan lotion will have to be discounted because nobody will be buying it anymore. The one thing I cannot wait for though is to not get a job and then get to say, “Is it Cause im white?!”

This is just another one of those things that a news report can stir up for Americans to argue about. Seriously who cares if there are people who are offended by some of the wording? I guarantee there are more people who have a problem with the fact the US Census Bureau spent $300 M on advertising because some people are too lazy to remember to mail it back on time. There will be people offended it is written on blue paper instead of white because they have poor eyesight and it is tougher to read. Really people, let’s not give these people who just want an argument the power they currently have. Get over it.