I agree with both responses. I just believe that in our country we always think of ourselves, in a way first, before anyone else or someone else. The speaker put it into perspective by saying how 3,000 people died during September 11,2001 while 300,000 people died during this tragic even. I think that really did change my whole thinking about it. It's not like we are downplaying that our event was smaller its just that we are talking about human lives. I think that we could all help out each other once in a while and not think of ourselves first but not necessarily put ourselves last either. We are one race and all humans.

I really think deep down everyone in their own way is racist. There is probably one thing that we will say behind someones back or more so behind a groups back. And as hard it is to admit I am guilty of this. Deep down we all know that it is not right and if we can not say something to someones face then we should not say it at all. It is a hard topic to cover and I believe that we need to start thinking about our actions before acting upon them. One thing we can do is put ourselves in the other persons shoes and see how hurtful it must be.

I really thought I had an understanding about what this lecture was about and it is interesting to see what other people thought about the lecture that we had. It seems like a lot of people in class has way different perspective than mine. Sam was not trying to tell us that this battle is between the Christians and the Muslims or vice versa. I think that the whole lesson is that we voice our opinions and see what we want based on little information that we know. For example we judge the whole country based off of Osama Bin Laden or Hussein. This is exactly what we do as well when it comes to the only different race answering a question in class or someone from a different sexuality then our own. That opinion we automatically assume relates to everyone apart of that group and it is not necessarily the case. I think Sam was trying to say that based off these evil individuals we assume that everyone in that country is like that. And is not necessarily true. The videos there were to help us depict as "Muslim Students" of what America looks like as we look at videos of Sarah Palin and Christian Camps.

This brings me to the moral of the class as some people are still yet unsure about what this class' point is. The point of the class in my opinion, is that even though we are all individuals from different races, cultures, sexuality, and genders. Our opinions individually should not reflect our opinions of the whole group. For example Rosie O'Donnell, a lesbian, I see her as very open minded, likes to be controversial and likes to voice her opinion. Does that mean that all lesbians are like Rosie O'Donnell? No they are not. Sure some may be the same as her but everyone in that group is different in a way and their views do not reflect the groups views. This is somewhat the case when it comes to Muslims, we assume that every Muslim is out to kill us or their ultimate goal is "Death to America", but is that really what they want or are we just saying that because it is what depicted generally? I do not think so. We have a general idea for every group that we know and we know what and how they act. But when they do not act the way we think we are surprised. So going back to my main point we should not be so judgmental off of one instance or occurrence because it is likely the case that the people that we meet or know are not like the next people. Walk in someones shoes before judging them.

I am always skeptical as well when it comes to money being donated. Sure we see our money going to some bag or some can but where is it really going? I guess that is why people say they would like to help first hand by physically doing something that may help. But in the same instance we can not have all of America going over to Haiti to help out for a lot of reasons. I think that the second best way to help out other then physically is to donate money. But then comes to the problem of where to donate to, they have donations for water, food, health etc. Which one should your donations go to? I would research into it and see which one needs the most or one that you believe you can say to yourself that you made a difference.

Ian put this in a pretty good perspective and at least I understood what point he was trying to make. He said that 3,000 people died on September 11th, 2001 and 300,000 people died during the earthquake in Haiti. It is not that he was trying to downplay the actual event he was just saying how we know more about 3,000 people dying then 300,000 people. Yes, it is true that the one we know most about was here, in America. But the fact is that we are talking about human lives. Another thing that was brought up was what can we do about this? Very good question and a question I do not necessarily have an answer to. They always say a little bit goes a long way.

This letter really hit home on a lot of things, for one I have a cousin who is in a detention center and is serving 7 years for one mistake that he made. It seems like a lot of people who are in prison made a mistake that they would have to live with for the rest of their lives. As with anything as long as you do something there will be consequences whether good or bad that you will have to live with.

I am really glad that I got to read a letter from someone inside a prison and someone who is serving a life sentence. It was something that I never experienced. At first I thought the story was leading up to what lead him to be in prison but little did I know the story was actually his daily life. It seems like a day in the life of a lifer is nothing that we would expect. The way the movies portray a lifer is drugs, violence, and corruption. I am sure it goes on daily in prison but it probably doesn't happen as rampant as it is portrayed. I really believe that a majority of people serving life sentences are really good people deep down inside. And yes there is some people inside the prison system who in my opinion deserve to be there.

Another way to think of this article is really how bad is your life when you are in the darkest hour? I always tell my friends it could be a lot worst or you do not know what bad is. I can see if you failed 4 exams and your car got all 4 flat tires on the way home, yes that would be a bad day. But was it the worst day? Maybe a close tie but it can always be worst. Nothing is worst then constantly trying and failing. I understand that a lot of people in this blog believe that they are getting corrupted and believe that this man is trying to change their opinion of all of the people service a life term. It is possible that this may or not be the case and we are unsure what would really happen if we just let all the lifers run free because we think they changed for the better. I think that addiction is a major problem in prisons as well as corruption and the rehabilitation process if one is required. It seems like a lot of prisons lack the aspect of rehabilitation or it is not promising. I learned in my criminology class that a lot of the people who serve prison sentences will return to prison for the same issue. I think we should all learn to learn about a person before making judgments.

This letter really hit home on a lot of things, for one I have a cousin who is in a detention center and is serving 7 years for one mistake that he made. It seems like a lot of people who are in prison made a mistake that they would have to live with for the rest of their lives. As with anything as long as you do something there will be consequences whether good or bad that you will have to live with.

I am really glad that I got to read a letter from someone inside a prison and someone who is serving a life sentence. It was something that I never experienced. At first I thought the story was leading up to what lead him to be in prison but little did I know the story was actually his daily life. It seems like a day in the life of a lifer is nothing that we would expect. The way the movies portray a lifer is drugs, violence, and corruption. I am sure it goes on daily in prison but it probably doesn't happen as rampant as it is portrayed. I really believe that a majority of people serving life sentences are really good people deep down inside. And yes there is some people inside the prison system who in my opinion deserve to be there.

Another way to think of this article is really how bad is your life when you are in the darkest hour? I always tell my friends it could be a lot worst or you do not know what bad is. I can see if you failed 4 exams and your car got all 4 flat tires on the way home, yes that would be a bad day. But was it the worst day? Maybe a close tie but it can always be worst. Nothing is worst then constantly trying and failing. I understand that a lot of people in this blog believe that they are getting corrupted and believe that this man is trying to change their opinion of all of the people service a life term. It is possible that this may or not be the case and we are unsure what would really happen if we just let all the lifers run free because we think they changed for the better. I think that addiction is a major problem in prisons as well as corruption and the rehabilitation process if one is required. It seems like a lot of prisons lack the aspect of rehabilitation or it is not promising. I learned in my criminology class that a lot of the people who serve prison sentences will return to prison for the same issue. I think we should all learn to learn about a person before making judgments.

I believe the end goal, at least for me, was to not be so judgmental and not to judge based on something we seen. This can really pertain to a lot of things but more so with Race, Ethnicity, and Culture that make us unique. For example, I was eating at Cici's Pizza with a friend and I saw this guy carrying back a whole plate stacked with pizzas, at first thought I said to myself "Wow, way to take all the pizza for yourself that is really rude" and then not think anything else of it, the man sat down at the table where his wife and 3 kids were sitting. I made passed judgments too quickly and I think that is what the whole point of the class is about. We are all here together, one planet, as humans. And nothing about that is going to change ( Until we live on the moon?) and we should all start to respect one another as individuals rather then a group based off of race, ethnicity, and culture backgrounds.

I would have to agree with many of the posts above. Many men do not conform to society as much as females. Sure to an extent we do by trying to fit in wit the things we do. At the same time we do not go clothes shopping with our 5 closest friends and ask if things look good on us. Either way as the final result we will probably get an answer, they will tell us honestly if something doesn't work with us. Such as we look like a goofball with that hat or something. I think girls more so conform to society then men do. I believe as long as you are comfortable with yourself who cares about what anybody else thinks about you. I must admit I wear some clothes that make me comfortable and not necessarily to get people to like me. If people do not like me for what I do or what I wear then they probably are not my friends to begin with.

I think everyone from ever race and every country should learn one other language. The language itself can be useful when you are stuck in very unpredictable circumstances. I understand that learning Spanish for a few years may not be enough to speak fluently in the language but the basics do help when needed. For example I went to Mexico in the summer for vacation, my friends and I got into a cab and the cab driver spoke to us in Spanish and asked us where we wanted to go. Everyone in the cab was confused because they would assume that he would speak some English. So I politely told him that we wanted to go to the mall in Spanish. The moral of this story is we can not always assume that our language is accepted everywhere as well, vice versa, everyone's languages are not accepted or known fluently everywhere. It would be very easy to say that everywhere should speak the same language but thats about changing cultures too and saying everyone should dress the same. Our language is apart of what make us, ourselves. As for the Mandarin language I could not really think of reasons that a lot of children want to learn this language until it hit me. This might not make sense but the best explanation I could think of is with languages just as Spanish or German you are given words. We see words everyday and some may or may not be in Spanish. With Mandarin you are learning essentially symbols. Which should gain interest enough. Every symbol means something different and I think that is why children are interest in that language. At the same time they are learning a language they are also learning art, by drawing the symbols out. I know a lot of elementary schools are starting to teach children at a very young age different languages. This is a good age to start out. I remember I didn't pick up or even start learning Spanish words until 10th grade in High School. Learning this early would enhance the child's mental development and give the child a chance to talk with someone of a different language if the chance came up which could add confidence. But then again if they do change the requirements to learn a language early on their would be different standards for college acceptance, this could be something good as the standards of learning would be harder. Striving the students to work towards a goal that could be achieved. Another thing that might be the reason that children want to learn this language is because it is new to them. They already work with Spanish daily with Dora the Explorer and probably other shows that help gain an understanding to Spanish but with Mandarin it's a completely new subject to them and this would gain their interest.