Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Invisible Children Reflection
After having a long conversation with David, the child soldier from Uganda, he told me, "God loves you and I love you." It caught me really off guard and I didn't know how to respond at the time. The whole presentation about the child soldiers made me cry, literally. It's always been a passion for me to be someone in life, to be able to help those in need. Coming from a strong Christian background, I do believe that God put me here on this Earth for a reason; His reason is for me to do good in His name. You don't have to be religious to help other people in the world, but I feel like if you do have a strong religious view, it makes the whole experience a lot more powerful. Going on the road to help spread the word about the dilemma in Uganda is important, and as much as I support the cause, this method isn't the way that I feel is suitable for me. For me, I would want to use my knowledge to help people. Joining UNICEF or the Peace Corps would be my dream job. For some, it might not sound so appealing, but to be in the backbone of changing the world, I would do anything that I could.
The Yoders
When I read Jane Yoder's story, I didn't think much of what she had said. Yes coats do keep us warm in the winter and having boots to wear every day is something to be thankful for, but I was really curious as to what this really meant to a regular teenage kid like me. Then I thought about everyone else in the world, like the children in Libya and Africa that might not have boots or coats, like Jane. In the beginning, it said that she was from Evanston which isn't a ways far from here. Even though we are in the stereotypical, "North Shore", there still was a time in history, that we didn't have anything. Looking at the time and the environment we live in now, we need to be more thankful for everything we do have. We have a free education, food, clothing, housing, and resources. After reading her story and reading her son's excerpt, I think very highly of him because he has so much respect for his mom and what she had gone through. A quote that really touched me was, " I've never gone to bed hungry- I wish I had. I haven't, and I probably never will." I think that if students, especially in the North Shore start appreciating what they have more, then they will be able to fan out and help those that don't have what we have.
Hard Times- The Great Depression
The Great Depression was all about the struggles that the American People had to overcome. As the Stock Market crashed in 1929, people panicked and didn't know what to do to get out of the hole. In this case, Robinson played it smart like my father would have. I wonder what in Robinson's past, or anything at all had made him want to save up all the money that he had instead of "having big money". My father's family was once a wealthy family back in Taiwan, they had nannies and servants. When my grandfather's health had suddenly dropped and my grandmother passed away, my father and his siblings had to go on the streets to beg for money just to eat. That is why he works like crazy to save up money for my mom and I. The scars of his past made him afraid and every penny that he could save, he would. I think the lives of the people in the Great Depression were very traumatic. People committed suicide because all of a sudden they were left with nothing and over night, the most wealthy had fallen just like everyone else. I wasn't surprised at all at how harshly the depression had affected the American people. I think that the only thing they had left was hope, hope that God was playing a joke and He would turn things right around.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Blog 1
C.P. Ellis
When I first started reading the story of the former klansman, I judged his morals. He said that he joined the Klan because he didn't feel like he belonged anywhere. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, belonging is a necessity to achieve wellness. The KKK was a group that joined all of these people who felt like they didn't belong to belong somewhere. These klansman were low classed, had minimal education, and were shut down from the society. Fear could be interpreted as the cause of the KKK's outbreaks. Joining a group like the KKK was a release of all the fear and anger that built up inside them. They took it out on black people because whites were supposed to be superior, but instead, the black man was learning to read and write and would quickly surpass the white man. After Ellis worked with a black demonstrator, his experiences with the race had changed. His character changes as he learns that the blacks were humans just like the whites and they all had something to gain out of working together. Both Ellis and Ann had realized the racism of the younger generations and both were outcasts of the perfect white citizen that was portrayed in the higher social classes. I think that Ellis had grown as a person and without taking the chance of working with Ann, he would have never realized that there isn't a superior race in society. He found that his place in belonging was to help integrate schools. Ellis's story made a connection to life today. There are people out there that don't fit into society and in order to get the attention that they need, they go out mass murdering innocent people or people they feel responsible for their pain. If Ellis could change, it raises the question if people are to be more conscientious of the people around them, would these murders and psychopaths be able to change as well.
Vine Deloria
The American Dream was an image of the past. When reading Vine Deloria's story, I could connect to his feelings about having to be like a white American. Because I'm Taiwanese, I feel like there is still mixed feelings when my race is of the minority. As a minority, kids are growing up in the American society but our parents are still teaching their kids the ways of when they were growing up. In school, Deloria learned that the United States was perfect. They talked about all the positive aspects of being an American and covered up the history of the minority groups. The Indians were forced to integrate. They were expected to lose their beliefs and their ways of life and change. I think growing up today is much easier than when Deloria had grown up because now we do have the freedoms to believe what we want to believe and we aren't being forced into another way of life.
When I first started reading the story of the former klansman, I judged his morals. He said that he joined the Klan because he didn't feel like he belonged anywhere. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, belonging is a necessity to achieve wellness. The KKK was a group that joined all of these people who felt like they didn't belong to belong somewhere. These klansman were low classed, had minimal education, and were shut down from the society. Fear could be interpreted as the cause of the KKK's outbreaks. Joining a group like the KKK was a release of all the fear and anger that built up inside them. They took it out on black people because whites were supposed to be superior, but instead, the black man was learning to read and write and would quickly surpass the white man. After Ellis worked with a black demonstrator, his experiences with the race had changed. His character changes as he learns that the blacks were humans just like the whites and they all had something to gain out of working together. Both Ellis and Ann had realized the racism of the younger generations and both were outcasts of the perfect white citizen that was portrayed in the higher social classes. I think that Ellis had grown as a person and without taking the chance of working with Ann, he would have never realized that there isn't a superior race in society. He found that his place in belonging was to help integrate schools. Ellis's story made a connection to life today. There are people out there that don't fit into society and in order to get the attention that they need, they go out mass murdering innocent people or people they feel responsible for their pain. If Ellis could change, it raises the question if people are to be more conscientious of the people around them, would these murders and psychopaths be able to change as well.
Vine Deloria
The American Dream was an image of the past. When reading Vine Deloria's story, I could connect to his feelings about having to be like a white American. Because I'm Taiwanese, I feel like there is still mixed feelings when my race is of the minority. As a minority, kids are growing up in the American society but our parents are still teaching their kids the ways of when they were growing up. In school, Deloria learned that the United States was perfect. They talked about all the positive aspects of being an American and covered up the history of the minority groups. The Indians were forced to integrate. They were expected to lose their beliefs and their ways of life and change. I think growing up today is much easier than when Deloria had grown up because now we do have the freedoms to believe what we want to believe and we aren't being forced into another way of life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)