“Staying inside the box” is something that every person does. While I know most of us like to think we are daredevils, we are all in reality really fucking boring. Luckily, I have come to the conclusion of why this is. We are afraid of the unknown. We are afraid that taking a chance on anything can only lead to failure, rejection, or disappointment. Take food for example. Lets say I’m out at a restaurant and I decide to order a dish that is completely opposite from anything that I would ever like. Then, I get the meal and absolutely hate it. Not only will my meal be ruined but the entire dining experience has been altered. I think that’s why people don’t take a chance on many things and why or society has become somewhat boring. People are so afraid to be different and do anything different that they always just end up doing the same thing all of the time. While its no crime to play it safe in life, what is the point of having a life if your not going to do something big with it. During this lecture, the one thing that stood out to me the most was the story that Sam told us about doing shrooms with strangers. While this definitely wasn’t the best way to do shrooms, Sam took a chance and stepped out of the box. He did something that while I’m sure he knew was both illegal and dangerous; it was something that he wanted to do. He felt a need to not only do it, but also go all out and take a risk. I’m not say that every person should be braking the law to put a little spark in their life, but people should be doing more than sitting home on their couch and watching TV or browsing the Internet. We should all be out in the world actually doing something. The reason why I think that this lecture is something that connects to what this class is all about is in the area of stepping out of the box when it comes to other people and other cultures. Just because someone is extremely different from you, doesn’t mean that you wont get along with him or her or even find a friend in them. I think that Sam is trying to show us that even though these people were complete and total strangers, they were took care of him and were kind. As a society, we almost always tend to think the worst of people before we actually get to know them. But what if we didn’t do that. Instead we thought of every person as being the amazing and good-hearted people we hope they turn out to be in the end. Maybe just maybe the way in which we treat each other will change forever.

After this weeks lecture on anti-Semitism, I began to think of all the different ways in which both anti-Semitism has effected me and how I have been educated on it before. Since I am Jewish, anti-Semitism is nothing new for me. I had gone to Hebrew school all of my life, and learned much out the Jewish history, including the way in which we were persecuted as a people. However, after listening to Sam’s lecture, I thought of how long it has been since I thought about the topic, and the ways in which my opinions and views have changed. Before this lecture, the last time I thought about this topic was when I was much younger so my view was somewhat nothing. But as I have grown, so have my views of the world. While I have never personally experienced anti-Semitism, I have become somewhat educated on the issues in Israel. I see what they have to go through on a daily basis I feel the anti-Semitism through them. That may not make sense, but its something that is true. One other thing that made me think even more after this lecture was the point that Same made about how Jew’s in Israel have hate demonstrations and say how they want to kill mass amounts of Palestinian’s. He made an extremely good point that due to the fact that we are a religion that went through a mass extermination, the Holocaust, we are the last people on earth who should be preaching mass killing of others. It just shows the type of “eye for an eye” mentality that this our society has. After watching the video clip of Israeli people chanting hate, I began to think how I feel about this. This is something that not only Jewish people have gone through. Any other religion, race, ethnicity, ect. would probably do the same thing. If they are being targeted then they will do it right back.

While I’ve never personally experienced anti-Semitism, there was an instance where I was exposed to it, and had strong reactions to it. When I was a sophomore in high school, there was an act of vandalism on the side of the school. It was a huge swastika which underneath said “fuck the Jews”. Like I said before, I am Jewish and before this never experienced first hand an act of anti-Semitism. It made me feel personally offended and upset, while at the same time extremely mad. I think that after seeing this act of vandalism that it brought to my attention that there really is anti-Semitism. Not that I didn’t believe it before, I think that I was just so far removed from the conflicts that were going on else where that I was blinded by the fact that it does happened everywhere.

The lecture that we had on either being gay is a choice or rather something that one is born with was something I thought was quite interesting. Personally, I strongly believe that one is born with their sexuality. I just think that who you are attracted to is due a deep routed feeling that doesn’t come from personal choice, rather it pre disposed in each person. During the lecture, something that reinforced my belief is when Sam asked someone who was gay in the class when he realized for the first time that he actually was gay. He said it was at age four that he knew. For most four-year-old boys the only thing they are thinking about is what toy to play with, but for him he was thinking about his sexuality. This is how I know. At four years old most kids don’t even know what being homosexual is, so for this guy to know that he was at that young age reinforces my beliefs. However, while I believe this to be true, a lot of people do not agree and think that being homosexual is a choice. I think that this is deeply routed in homophobia. If people think that being gay is a choice, there is a certain comfort that they will never be gay because they know they don’t want to be. People think that if being gay means you are born with such sexual feelings, then what if they create a child who is born homosexual?

While people take comfort in thinking that being gay is a choice rather than being born with such feelings, there is always a gray area in this debate. What about those people who are bi-sexual or “confused?” Is one of their sexual identities a choice, and the other one they are born with? Its questions like these that make this debate a hard one to settle. Some people may think that they are one sexuality at first, however a person may come along suddenly someone who has been straight for their whole life now has feeling for someone of the same sex. I know this to be true. One of my best friends came out to me right before returning to school this semester. For the entire time I knew him he was always straight. While he isn’t the manliest guy I know, I never really thought of him to be gay. He has a serious girlfriend for two years and was always hooking up with girls. However, when he came out to me he explained that it wasn’t as simple as he hooked up with a guy now he’s gay. He said that he is still attracted to girls, but this guys was just someone special. Sometimes people just need to remember that even though our society is very strict on labels, it isn’t as easy for some people to attach meaning to a certain relationship. Sometimes is just about who the person is, and not about if they are a man or a woman.

I think the issue of rape and pregnancy that Sam brought up during this lecture is something that got me thinking. Now I always write in my blogs about how Sam gets me to think, however this time I thought in a different way. I thought in a hypothetical way. The main reason being, to this day and I hope that nothing ever changes I don’t know anybody close to be that has been raped yet alone gotten pregnant as a result. So when I began to think about this situation, I had to make up a hypothetical problem up in my head. This is what I came to: I thought about if one of my best friends were to come to me one day and said “last night after this party we were at I went back to this guys apartment and he raped me.” Of course my initial reaction would be to comfort her and ask if there were anything I could do, my second reaction would be to report this guy. However, this is about the effects of rape on women. Now the next thing that I thought about is if a month later, after having to deal with all of the pain and memory of actually being raped, that same friends came to me and told me she was pregnant. Because she hadn’t been with anyone else since that night, it had to be his.

After letting this hypothetical situation sink in a little bit I began to think of the whole issue of abortion even being legal in the country. As of now is the US, women are allowed to abort a baby before a certain time. However, there are always people in this country who do not believe that abortion should be legal. Then I thought about this. I understand why people don’t agree with the concept of abortion being legal, however if a woman is raped and then gets pregnant the act in which the child was conceived was illegal. If the mother doesn’t want to have this child, who is a result of the rape, she should have the right to choose what she wants to do with her body. Think about how she feels. First she was raped and had to deal with all of the emotions, pain, and suffering from that experience. Next she finds out she’s carrying the child of the man who defiled her. If the law were reversed, she would have to give birth to this child and raise it alone. In addition, because of the feelings she has due to the fact that she was raped, she may not treat this child in a way that she would treat a child if it were conceived consensually. What I am really trying to say is that every women, especially those who conceived a child by being raped should have the right to choose what they want to do, and this right should not be taken away from them.

The lecture that Sam gave on beliefs was something that didn’t overly surprise me. While I know I think that I believe certain things, I now realize after listening to his lecture that most of my beliefs are just something that I’ve been taught my entire life. One of the major beliefs that came to mind, especially during this time of year are my political views. In my life, up to this point at least I’ve always though of myself as being a democrat. While I don’t completely deny that I’m a democrat, I don’t really know why I identify with that political party. I believe, after listening to this lecture, that I categorize my political identity is this way due to my parents. Both of my parents are avid democrats and whenever a political issue arises, all I hear about is their view on the situation. After years of such exposure, it was only natural that I myself started to think this way. But recently, especially in light the Presidential election looming and the lecture that we received from Sam, I have begun to think do I really identify with this party? Sure when I listen to political debates between the candidates I naturally side with Obama, but is this because I truly agree with his policies and ideals or is it just that my parents and a majority of my community side with him?

I think that after listening to Sam’s lecture my eyes opened just a little bit more to such societal issues. It makes so much sense the identity crisis I am having. A majority of the people in society don’t make their decisions based upon what they think is truly right. They make them on the basis of what they have been exposed to all of their life. I think that this is just a tragic thing in our society. It’s sad to me that people in this time just don’t think for themselves. I mean for me, I know it was just something never to think about. My beliefs, my religion were all just handed to me without any hesitation. I know that when people are children its just not something we think about or challenge, however I think there should come a point in everyone’s lives where they should explore other possibilities and maybe just maybe change the things they believe in. After this lecture like I said my eyes opened up. I think that after reevaluating my beliefs that there are some things that I think I just don’t actually believe in, and just believe them because its what Ive been to exposed to all of my life.

After the lecture on “who’s entitled to the land”, my views were completely changed from what they were before. Before this lecture, I had always knows that we were complete ass holes to the Native Americans, kicking them off of their land, killing them, and forcing them onto reservations. However, I never really understood the magnitude to which we did this. Of course all my life I have learned American History where really each teacher briefly touches on the subject of Native Americans, and all we have done, but they never go into great depth on what we actually did to them. This actually go me thinking. Really each teacher I had is really brainless when it comes to this subject. Yes they can lecture me all day every day on the Civil War, however they really don’t know one thing when it comes to the Native Americans. Because every teacher, textbook, or video that they learned from does the same exact thing; sugar coats the situation and moves onto another topic. While my thoughts brought me here, they also brought me to another interesting thought, what do I really think about this? When I started watching the video and listening to our guest lecturer all I could think was “wow I know absolutely nothing about this”. However, it became clear to me after hearing our lecture that every person is entitled to what was previously his or hers. One thing that Sam said that stuck out to me the most was when he presented the situation where your father calls one day and say our house was just taken away. Most people would say they are entitled to that back. Then I related this back to the Native Americans. One day the American Government just stormed into their “home” and took it away. In anyone’s eyes they deserve this land back. Nonetheless, what is any person in this country doing about it? It’s been over two hundred years and all we’ve done for the Native Americans is increased their poverty and suicide ratings. In my opinion, I think its time to take action. These lands were theirs previously, and while it may not be a realistic thing for all this land to go back to its rightful owners there may be other ways in which to help these people. Maybe some kind of affirmative action program, or just offering them some kind of governmental support. While I may be an optimist, its time that these people stop being forgotten, and its time that they stop being pushed around. Think about it. If you were the one who had everything taken from you wouldn’t you want it back?

The biggest decision I have made in my life thus far was what college to attend. This is probably something that every twenty year old says at this part in their lives because to be honest, what else do we have to worry about. The decision to what school I wanted to go to was definitely something that was shaped my the strings that I am attached to. While I always knew Penn State was an amazing place, I just never thought I would end up here. Actually, it was the last place I wanted to go. When I didn’t get into the top schools of my choice, I was forced by my parents to come visit and of course like any other person I fell in love with it. While I did fall in love with the school, I always had a yearning to go to The University of Boulder. For some reason I just thought that was the place for me. However, those “strings” that I talk about pulled me back. And by “strings” I mean my parents. All they could talk to me about was how could I possibly go to a school thousands of miles away when I could go to a school that was only five hours away, and five times better academically. When you parents like mine who are as consistent and in your face all of the time, your mind starts to get swayed. Finally I came to the conclusion that Penn State was the school I was going to attend.

After listening to Sam’s lecture on free will, all I could think of was this huge decision that I had made two years ago. All I could think was did I actually make this decision on my own, or was it my parents who made this decision for me. While I am so happy where I am, I sometimes think now if it really was my decision or their decision. I guess that’s the only way I can describe the strings holding one back. I think that it is extremely important for people to make life decisions based on free will. While there are important people in your life to take into account when making decisions, you are the one who is living your life and you are the one who experiences the consequences of the choices you make. I think that free will is something that many of us take for granted. We all have it, and because of the “strings” in our lives, we don’t always do what we feel is right or what we want to. This is due to the face that many people, including myself, think of how my decisions will effect others. While this is probably a very good quality to hold, it sometimes gets in the way of making decisions that I think are the best for me.

This question that is proposed is one that I have thought deeply about for a long time. When I was younger I used to dread doing charity fundraisers, or doing a charity walk. However, that all changed about the time I turned sixteen. In high school I joined the key club. The Key Club is all about doing things for the less fortunate. When I first joined the club, I went into it thinking, “this will look great on my college resume”, and however one trip to a soup kitchen changed my view on this topic completely. When I walked in I had no idea what to expect. All I was told was you will be serving people that were staying at this particular shelter dinner. They also said we should get to know the people that were dining in the soup kitchen for the night. When the guests started to flock in, I suddenly found myself to be nervous. I had never been around very poor people before and didn’t really know what to expect. As I began serving the food, I looked at all the people and what a difference this hot meal I was serving them was making. One other thing that you do at the soup kitchen was giving out second hand clothes to the people there. This is where I started meeting people. There was one person who stood out to me the most. There was this old African American woman that I was giving a jacket to. As I handed over the coat she said “thank you darling, it just amazes me that kids like you would do something like this for me.” After I heard that, my whole perspective changed. Never before had I seen the impact that I can have on someone. Up until I worked in that soup kitchen, I had never directly dealt with people whom were less fortunate than me. Getting this first hand experience and seeing how something so little like serving dinner or giving someone a jacket changed my whole perspective when it came to helping those less fortunate than myself. Before going to the soup kitchen, I really never thought that me standing on a curb for 5 hours selling brownies actually helped anyone. But after my experience, I know that it does do something. I think that people who are well off should want to help those who are less fortunate. Just for the reason on human decency. The fact is, if the tables were turned that rich person would want someone to be helping them. I know so many people in the world do not see it that way at all, however in my opinion this is how it should be.

The exercise that we did in class this week, having the Asian students line up in front of the class and other people try to guess what country they were from was something that I thought was extremely interesting for multiple reasons. First off, Sam had another Asian student that had not grown up with a lot of Asian friends guess where each of the students were from. While he was going through the line, he did pretty well choosing which country each person was from. However, when a white girl with a 4.0 GPA guessed where each person was from, she failed. I think that its extremely interesting the differences in how we categorize people. While yes one of the students that did a better job was Asian, he claimed he didn’t grow up with a lot of Asian people surrounding him. One would think that would put you on the same level as someone who was white, but I was proved wrong.

When I relate this to my own life I can see how the meaning of this lecture is prevalent. The exercise was done to show that we just look at people and automatically think they are from a specific part of the world, when in reality they are from a completely different place. After listening to this lecture and seeing it played out in front of me, I can see that I usually do this on a daily basis. In class if I’m sitting next to someone who is Asian, sometimes I just think they are from China when they are really from the Philippians. This just shows something that I think Sam has been trying to depict since the beginning. That every person has their own personal culture and race and that when we see people we cant assume what it is just by their appearance. If Sam had dome the same thing with a bunch of white students from the class, the outcome probable wouldn’t have been all that different. Every person, despite what color their skin is, has a different ancestral background that contributes to their identity. However, in our society we lack the curiosity to want to get to know someone because we are so self-absorbed with our own life.

This lecture pointed out to me something that I do on a daily basis, and something that I definitely need to change about myself. Now when I see someone on the street or sit next to them in class I will try not to jump to conclusions about where they are from or what race they are. I think that by trying to doing this, I will become more educated about different races while also gaining the understanding of peoples ancestral backgrounds

I think that what Sam is explaining in this week’s blog question is something that could be of great importance to our society. Everyone in the world is different in multiple ways, however there are some people that are different in a way that people are un-accepting of. However if we just familiarize ourselves with these differences, they will no longer be differences. Yet they will be something familiar to us and something that we accept. While this concept seems somewhat simple, it reality it is probably one of the hardest and maybe one of the most impossible things that could happen in our society. Many people think that one day our culture will be accepting of everything and everyone, but in my opinion I really don’t think that to be the case. This may seem pessimistic (an I really don’t see myself as one) but there are always going to be those haters out there.

When I was about thirteen years old I was in Macy’s with my mother. To understand this story you have to know where I was. I wasn’t just at any old Macy’s in a random mall; I was at the Macy’s on 34th street in Manhattan. My mom and I were doing some holiday shopping going about our business, traveling to the various floors. When it was time to go pay, we took one of the escalators down to the main floor. When we were coming down I looked ahead of me and saw two women making out. Since I was thirteen I did know what it meant to be gay, but this was the fist time I had ever seen a public display of affection between two people of the same sex. For some reason I began to giggle, and my mother instantly snapped at me saying I was being rude. I knew what I was doing was rude, but I had never in my life been exposed to that kind of display. I think that’s our biggest problem; non-existent early exposure to non-normative behavior. When children are young, all they know is their surroundings. Who they go to school with, who they live with, who their friends and family are. Unless your family has someone who’s gay, is in a wheel chair, and has someone of a different race, you are really never exposed to the differences in society until you are older. In addition, by the time you are older you are so used to what you think of as “normal” that you are un-accepting of anything that differs from what you know. While the advice that Sam offers sounds great in theory, I really don’t think it will ever happen. But in some miraculous turn of events if it does, our society could really benefit from it.