I thought that today’s, Tuesday December 4, 2012, class was very interesting. I loved hearing more about Sam’s travels throughout the world. Also about how he really feels that he has become a part of many other cultures. I thought that this is so interesting because I cannot imagine being able to think of myself as a part of another culture because I am so highly educated in it. I think it is so amazing how well cultured he is, that is something that I would love to aspire to have.
Another part of class that I thought was great was when he talked about going on his spiritual journey. I thought what he said was so great, that “we run the risk of living your life without going on your journey.” I think that the thought of this is so scary. A fear of mine is not living my life to its fullest potential and this class has definitely helped me to narrow in on more of what that may possibly be. I truly believe that every person on this Earth was put here for a reason and has a higher purpose. The scary part is that it is very possible that people never realize this. I want to be the best person that I can be and live up to all of my hopes and dreams while helping other people. I do not really think that anyone ever knows what their exact purpose is until they have tried many things and really have educated and better cultured themselves. I want to be truly happy in my life and with all of my decisions and I want to make others around me happy. I think that happiness is taken for granted and overshadowed every day. People choose careers and lives that will lead them to making a lot of money and in return believe that this is what will bring them pure happiness. I think happiness is different for everyone, and the key is to find your own individual purpose and happiness. I think that when people choose careers that just make them money but are miserable, think that it is their obligation to hide this misery and stay at their job. Society and the media put this pressure on us, but we thought that it was socially acceptable to quit and find our happiness; I really think that the world would be a much more peaceful place. People everywhere would be much happier. I may not know exactly what I want to do with my life, but I know that it needs to make me happy and help other people. I think that with this class, my eyes have been opened to so many things that if everyone could look at the world through a different perspective, then this world would be a much better place.

I thought that today’s class, November 27, 2012, was very interesting. I had never thought about the fact that all soldiers in the world are completely ethnocentric either by choice or being forced and changed into being so. Another point that truly surprised me was that each and every soldier and the people of the country supporting them are really fighting over their personal security. This really surprised me because I have never thought of it this way. I think that if everyone in the world was able to look at the world and each person through different lenses, then the world would be a much more peaceful place. There would not be as much conflict or violence throughout each nation and each person towards others. When a country or the people feel threatened, they will do whatever it takes to feel secure and to secure their way of life. I understand this thinking in many ways I think that it is just natural, but at the same time if every person in the world was able to take a step back and look at what they were doing and saying and believing, then it may be possible that they would be able to see that bombing a country or going to war is not always necessary or the answer to resolving conflict. I understand that almost all people will disagree with one another over certain things, but I think that we can solve many conflicts before they have to reach the point of killing people. If everyone was able to open their eyes to see the world in a new light, or through a new lens, there would be much less conflict and violence. I cannot help but think that if everyone just opened their eyes just a little wider and became educated before the judged and made harsh decisions, the world would be a much more peaceful place, hopefully with much less people dying of starvation and dehydration while others flourish.
I was shocked when Sam told us that it would take four times as many resources that are available on Earth now for each person on this planet to live like an American. That mean we would need four more planet Earths for everyone! This really surprised me because it puts into perspective how lucky we are to live the way that we do but at the same time how needy we have become and how there are millions of people around the world today who are dying of starvation and dehydration. I truly believe that if there were more classes like this to educate people everywhere on these topics and put these facts into perspective that we would have a much more peaceful world. I believe that it all starts with education and people not understanding a lot of things that they are so willing and quickly to make opinions about.

I thought that today’s class, November 13, 2012, was great. It really opened my eyes to how people of color adjust to their racial identity. I was really affected when the video clip was played of the Black young girls choosing the white doll over the Black doll. It was so sad to see that they were registering the white doll with being “nice” and the Black doll with being “bad”. I thought that was so sad. I think that it is terrible that young Black girls today are choosing to want to play with white dolls over Black dolls. This is such a prominent example of how our society and media plays such and enormous role in our children’s and everyone’s lives. This is so sad to see that they, who are young Black girls, associate the color of their skin as being “bad”. Through the news, TV, or any type of media at all, these girls can pick up on clues that white seem more superior or “better” than people of color. I think that this is so terrible. Any magazine that you pick up or any TV commercial or any model in a catalogue is mainly white, beautiful, extremely skinny women and this does not represent society at all. It is not fair at all for all of the people of color who are growing up in a society where it seems as though there race is not “nice” or “good”. I think that major changes needed to be made in order to bring about a change to where young girls of color believe that they are just as “nice” and beautiful and prominent in society as every other white girl. In order to make this happen, we need to change the advertisements, and the women in the magazines. But because this may not be something we call all do first hand, we need to first become aware of the problem and inform others and start to talk about it so that everyone can become educated and hopefully realize that this is a major problem that desperately needs to change. I believe that this is so important to better our society and like any other problem, awareness and education are the starting point to helping the problem. We need to make major changes in our society so that we can better it for all races and people. If these changes can be made soon, the children in the generation behind us could have the possibility to lead much happier, peaceful lives, hopefully living in harmony with and around everyone else. This would better our society in ways we cannot even imagine, and I truly believe that classes such as this one are the way to start.

I thought that today’s class, November 6, 2012, was very interesting. One thing that really caught my attention was when Sam was talking about the idea of what if we all grew up in a culture and society that completely accepted gays and lesbians? I think that this would completely change every way that people feel about towards gays and lesbians. I think that it is safe to say that all negative thoughts towards this group of people would be completely diminished and would have never started in the first place. After taking this class, I truly believe that society shapes the person that we are in so many ways, some that we see and some that we do not. If our society was more accepting of all types and groups of people, we would have a lot less conflict as well as a much more peaceful world. I think that as our generation grows up and the ones after us, it is getting better and more accepting, but there is still a lot of prejudice and negative feelings toward one another. More and more we see bullying becoming a major problem in elementary school and middle schools. Many of these cases have led the victim to either commit suicide or hurt themselves. This is not how our society should be, this is a major problem. It is up to the future generations to make the change to become more accepting of all kinds of people.
Another thing that I found really interesting was the “sins” that he put up on the board that I think every student has broken at least one or so many of them. Even I, who is Catholic, cannot say that I am going to heaven and this can be very upsetting. I think the sin about being homosexual is absolutely ridiculous, especially when compared to the others, it is not fair. I do not believe that being gay or bisexual or transgender is a choice that people make, I think that it is biological. And if God was going to send these people to hell or something that is biological, he would not have made them that way.
In order for our society to change to be more accepting of all people, we need to educate ourselves and others about the common myths that are circulating. I think that our grandparent’s generation is willing to change because of religion and other factors, but I think that it is very possible for all of us to be the ones to change and better society and our culture but we have to educate ourselves. We have to understand and learn to just accept people as they are and not as society thinks that they should be.

I thought that Tuesday, October 30th’s, class was very interesting. The parts that I liked the best was learning that people in Haiti who live off of one meal per day find it so important and make time to bake for people less fortunate then themselves. I think that this is an amazing thought. When I thought about it in class, there are people in the United States who are starving and we really do nothing about it. I think that this really can put into perspective how different our cultures are and how people in Haiti look out for one another and are so generous to their neighbors and are willing to help at any time, and people in the United States need a lot of incentive to really help other people who need it when it comes down to it. I think that it is so sad that Americans and people in the first world are so worried about such superficial things when at the same time, people all over the world and even in our country are starving and living in poverty hoping every day to get a meal.
This also made me think about the fact that even if I or anyone else wanted to really do something about it, what can we do? As individual people it seems that this problem is much too large for any one person to take head on. How can one person really make a difference when the government and the whole system would have to change? As hard as it is to say, and as terrible, but I can not help but feel helpless. I do not like this feeling, and I want to find a way where I can greatly help, but it just seems that the problem is so much larger than one person. I believe that the government would have to make drastic changes for any of this to get better. I do, however, believe that knowledge is the first step in helping in any problem or situation. I think that by all of us learning about Haiti and other cultures can help to spread the word which can hopefully, one day, lead to the system changing. Hopefully this change will lead to a brighter future for Native American living in the United States as well as Haitians and Africans or anyone starving or living in poverty. Hopefully we can find a way where everyone can make a difference in the way that we can all help each other and instill more equality for people everywhere. Obviously this is a huge hope, but I do believe that one day it can be achieved. I think that we can all find ways to help each other and spread the word as much as we can to stop living only for ourselves, and to live for a better tomorrow for everyone.

Tuesday’s class was very interesting. It was very eye opening to me to think about how I grew up learning “never to talk to strangers” and I never really was allowed to walk all the way home from school until I was older. Thinking about all of this today made me realize that my parents were most likely very nervous about me or my brother or sister being taken or in any way hurt as any parent would. I think that this is most likely a fear that all parents have thought about and have wanted to protect their children of course. While today’s class was very eye opening to the fact that child abduction in at its lowest in thirty years, this does not completely erase a parents fear. I had no idea, until today, that only 100 children are abducted by strangers in the United States each year. Yet at the same time, parents seem to worry about everything when it comes to their children and yes it may not need to be the most prevalent fear of a parent, but still it is the right thing of parents to do to tell their kids “not to talk to strangers” and to “always yell for help if someone approaches you.” It was mind blowing to me to think about the fact that more children die by choking at the dinner table as well as being driven to school by their parents than by being abducted but it is still a fear in a parents mind and one that they can hopefully help to avoid if they teach their children these such things.
I think that a lot of this fear stems from the stories that they put on TV about every abduction. This instills a panic and a fear into a parent about their own child. I was very surprised that the crimes that are on TV are not the most prevalent crimes in society. This was very shocking to me, but makes a lot of sense. Watching TV and the news sets people up to think and believe one thing when the complete opposite may be true. Every time people watch the news or TV, they can be easily persuaded to believe and think certain things when in reality it is not true. An example of this could be with race and crime. Almost all of the crimes reported on TV seem to be about Black people or Brown people with a White, “innocent victim” this sets a judgment in people’s minds to automatically think a certain way about people of color. Then, in return, this affects the way that society views them to the point where the entire legal system is stacked against them. The entire system is very unfair.

This class opened my eyes to the face that people in this country who do not live very from all of us are greatly suffering. After class today as well as last week, I believe that my eyes were opened to affirmative action in both a good way as well as a bad. In one way, I now see that whites also benefited from affirmative action after World War II. Loans for mortgages were given out to veterans, but it so happens that Black Americans were not given the same opportunities because in many cases they were denied the loans based on discrimination. This led to them not being able to afford homes and other things to get a life started for themselves and their families. This then, over time, gave whites a much larger head start to become successful, which then forced blacks into lower paying jobs and being able to afford less. This was in no way fair to have denied them the loans which caused so many problems in our society today.
On the other hand, I cannot help but think of the question of what if we did not have affirmative action and we did not even have a question about race on applications and things of this sort. I think that maybe this would force colleges and places of employment to look at the person on the application rather that filling a racial group that they happen to have the room for. While this may not be a perfect solution, I think that this may possibly be able to lead to more equality.
Last week were asked by Sam to have intellectual empathy. He wants us to be able to put ourselves in other people’s shoes as well as their ancestor’s shoes. This class has opened my eyes so much to stop looking at the world through a narrow view and to step back and put things and my life into perspective. This class has helped me be able to gain much more empathy in the way, that I truly do believe that I am become more able and learning how to step back, and really put myself into someone else’s shoes and not only theirs, but their family’s as well as their ancestors. For example, today in class with the speaker from the Native American tribe, anyone sitting in that classroom could see the pain that he felt every day. I got to thinking about all of the people on his reservation, and was thinking about the fact that nothing is being done to help them, and how that must feel. They were here first, we then kicked them out, and we continue to this day to not help them in any way. They must feel as though they have no hope and no one to help them. As a country, we send so much money on everything else, but we cannot even think about helping a population of people that are living on the same land as us who are starving and need our help. I think that this is so sad, and I think much, much more should be done to help them.

After class today as well as last week, I believe that my eyes were opened to affirmative action in both a good way as well as a bad. In one way, I now see that whites also benefitted from affirmative action after World War II. Loans for mortgages were given out to veterans, but it so happens that Black Americans were not given the same opportunities because in many cases they were denied the loans based on discrimination. This led to them not being able to afford homes and other things to get a life started for themselves and their families. This then, over time, gave whites a much larger head start to become successful, which then forced blacks into lower paying jobs and being able to afford less. This was in no way fair to have denied them the loans which caused so many problems in our society today.
On the other hand, I cannot help but think of the question of what if we did not have affirmative action and we did not even have a question about race on applications and things of this sort. I think that maybe this would force colleges and places of employment to look at the person on the application rather that filling a racial group that they happen to have the room for. While this may not be a perfect solution, I think that this may possibly be able to lead to more equality.
Last week were asked by Sam to have intellectual empathy. He wants us to be able to put ourselves in other people’s shoes as well as their ancestor’s shoes. This class has opened my eyes so much to stop looking at the world through a narrow view and to step back and put things and my life into perspective. This class has helped me be able to gain much more empathy in the way, that I truly do believe that I am become more able and learning how to step back, and really put myself into someone else’s shoes and not only theirs, but their family’s as well as their ancestors. For example, today in class with the speaker from the Native American tribe, anyone sitting in that classroom could see the pain that he felt every day. I got to thinking about all of the people on his reservation, and was thinking about the fact that nothing is being done to help them, and how that must feel. They were here first, we then kicked them out, and we continue to this day to not help them in any way. They must feel as though they have no hope and no one to help them. As a country, we send so much money on everything else, but we cannot even think about helping a population of people that are living on the same land as us who are starving and need our help. I think that this is so sad, and I think much, much more should be done to help them.

After class today as well as last week, I believe that my eyes were opened to affirmative action in both a good way as well as a bad. In one way, I now see that whites also benefitted from affirmative action after World War II. Loans for mortgages were given out to veterans, but it so happens that Black Americans were not given the same opportunities because in many cases they were denied the loans based on discrimination. This led to them not being able to afford homes and other things to get a life started for themselves and their families. This then, over time, gave whites a much larger head start to become successful, which then forced blacks into lower paying jobs and being able to afford less. This was in no way fair to have denied them the loans which caused so many problems in our society today.
On the other hand, I cannot help but think of the question of what if we did not have affirmative action and we did not even have a question about race on applications and things of this sort. I think that maybe this would force colleges and places of employment to look at the person on the application rather that filling a racial group that they happen to have the room for. While this may not be a perfect solution, I think that this may possibly be able to lead to more equality.
Last week were asked by Sam to have intellectual empathy. He wants us to be able to put ourselves in other people’s shoes as well as their ancestor’s shoes. This class has opened my eyes so much to stop looking at the world through a narrow view and to step back and put things and my life into perspective. This class has helped me be able to gain much more empathy in the way, that I truly do believe that I am become more able and learning how to step back, and really put myself into someone else’s shoes and not only theirs, but their family’s as well as their ancestors. For example, today in class with the speaker from the Native American tribe, anyone sitting in that classroom could see the pain that he felt every day. I got to thinking about all of the people on his reservation, and was thinking about the fact that nothing is being done to help them, and how that must feel. They were here first, we then kicked them out, and we continue to this day to not help them in any way. They must feel as though they have no hope and no one to help them. As a country, we send so much money on everything else, but we cannot even think about helping a population of people that are living on the same land as us who are starving and need our help. I think that this is so sad, and I think much, much more should be done to help them.

I thought that today’s lecture was great. I really learned a lot and really enjoyed listening to everything that Sam had to say. At first, I had answered the question, which is more important, as saying free will. I thought this because prior to this class today, I believed that while, yes, other factors do weigh in a little bit, it is mainly free will and persons own choice. After the lecture today, my eyes were once again opened to the fact that it is definitely both free will as well as determinism. There are many things that are completely out of our control. I had never really “stepped back” as Sam said, and realized that there are so many things in my life that I have had really no control over. Things such as, where I grew up, my family, my school, up until college, and many other things. I realized today in class, that every decision that we have made in our lives as well as every decision that our parents have made and our love ones have made have in so many ways affected our lives and where we stand today. I do not like the thought that we are puppets on invisible strings, but I think that in many ways we really are. I do not like this thought because I simply like to believe that we do have control over where we end up in our lives. After today’s class, I see how we do have some control, but there are many other factors that influence who we are and where we are in our lives. For better or worse, people can do anything about the family that they were born into, but I believe that in some cases, many people are able to break the pattern, but in many other cases as well, it is extremely difficult. In the video we watched today in class, we were really able to see the “monkey’s in a barrel” example. The mother was really pulling her son down, and not truly allowing him to reach his full potential. Parents should be pushing their kids to be happy and to dream big and never let them think that they cannot do anything that they set their hearts to. This class has opened my eyes to so many different things, it has shown me in so many ways how fortunate I am especially compared to the kids and families in Haiti or living in poverty even here in the United States. I am so lucky in life, and I have honestly realized how much I want to help others that need it. I think this class today was very eye opening for many people and really left me with the question of “now what,” “how can we help?”