Awe Our Final Blog!!

I have no idea whether to say this semester went by so fast or if it was just enough! Lol I honestly can’t believe I made it through this class. I remember when the semester started, I was freaking out, wondering whether I would make it past the first month, let alone the entire semester. But I can honestly say I did get a lot out of this class. English was never my best subject, especially on an independent basis, and I was hearing that taking English 102 online was the biggest mistake I could ever make, especially since this was the first class I’ve taken online. People were telling me that, on top of everything else I took this semester, English would be the most challenging class. And I would definitely agree, it is one of the hardest classes I’ve taken, but I have taken so much out of it than I ever expected. I learned more about myself and when I truly stand for and I’ve learned to have a little more appreciation towards literature and what it has to offer, even though it definitely can be a pain in the neck at times. And what surprised me the most is that I’ve actually got that itch to start doing outside reading again, which I haven’t had in a long while!

And to my peers, I think I’ve learned more from you guys than anything. Even though we weren’t exactly in a traditional classroom setting, or working together in person, the group projects and especially the blogs were such amazing learning experiences for me. I would even dare to say that I think I learned more in this class than I have in any other English class I’ve taken. I’ve learned to have an open mind and definitely how to see things through other perspectives. You guys are all great people and I really enjoyed working, learning, and sticking it out together all semester. Congrats to all of you who made it as well! And even though I didn’t communicate too much with Jennifer, she did make this class a lot easier in her own way. She made it so much easier for me to get used to taking this online class and helped us to get a better feel for what to expect and letting us know exactly where we’re going and how we’re going to get there. I’m really glad that I had a professor like Jennifer for my very first online class to really take the edge off, but definitely hit us hard with homework. I think that was another thing that really helped keep me on track, knowing that there’s so much to do that needs to get done before the stroke of 12:00 midnight on Sunday night, but within all that chaos, I really did get the take home message from each assignment.

As hard as it is for me to believe, it’s time that I bid my farewell to Jennifer, my peers, and English 102. Thank you all for everything you all have taught me, it’s been a great experience that I’ll never forget and I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors. :)

Love in Popular Music?

Contemporary love songs today don’t even compare to these poems. I think that, compared to today’s popular love songs, poems have deeper feelings and emotions regarding love. In my opinion, songs that are popular, the ones that are usually over played on the radio, seem so shallow to me. I remember back when love songs were like poems accompanied with music. The popular songs on the radio used to be about genuine love and feelings, not just all about sex. Now a days, the only genre, in my opinion, that has the capacity to have real emotion in music and within the lyrics of their songs is country, which is the one genre that a lot of people I know won’t listen to. Thinking of modern songs that we hear every day as poems, I think just the diction alone completely separates songs from poetry. Contemporary songs usually have profanity throughout the entire song, which completely destroys the emotional feeling, if any, that the writer was trying to achieve. I think the writers of these songs, rather than coming from the heart, just do it for the money. Poets have that compassion in their work that makes it desirable to read; poems themselves have a romantic and emotional connotation within them which makes them the perfect candidate for expressing love. Writers seem to have the drive and desire to express these feelings, while song writers seem to do it for popularity. There seems to be this pressure for song writers to write that new number one hit and they’re based on what they feel the public wants to hear.


I know when I turn on the radio, there are always songs on there that, regardless of what it’s about, it’s related somehow to sex. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely songs out there that don’t, that are tasteful. However, I think it’s getting more apparent that the songs about sex are not only the most popular, but there’s so many of them! I know I may be going on a tangent here, but I starting thinking about just the concept of listening to music and reading alone. When I was younger, I was really into reading, in high school I couldn’t stand it and I turned to listening to music. I see that a lot; a lot of people I know would rather sit in a room by themselves and listen to popular music rather than reading a book. Looking at our society today, I think it’s really obvious that this is occurring and it seems to be getting worse. Especially after being in college, I’ve learned the rewarding aspects of reading, and the emotion within poetry can even be overwhelming, definitely an experience that I could never get listening to contemporary music.

What Do You Truly Believe in?

I think it’s important for us to learn about different creation myths, and learning about them poses questions about our own beliefs regarding earth’s creation. We all have our own idea of how the earth was created- some believe that God created everything on earth, some myths suggest that different gods and symbolic figures arose from the dark abyss that we call earth and created everything on earth in their way. And we can’t forget the belief in the scientific approach and believe that earth was created after the Big Bang and earth became what it is today through the process of intense and ongoing evolution. It seems that many people stand their ground; what they believe happened that created earth as we know it today, that’s exactly what happened and there’s absolutely no dispute about it. I can completely understand why people are this way because I was the same way until I started college and I studied intensely about evolution and how legit that evolution really is. I’ve even had the opportunity to examine my own beliefs under an academic microscope to, in a way, compare the validity of my own beliefs to science. As horrible as it sounds, it actually taught me a lot about what I believe in and why I do believe in it.


I think sometimes studying and learning about other creation myths, in a way, gives us a gut check. When I was watching the different creation myths that others believe in, it made me think about my own creation myth that I draw myself to. And I personally think that it’s really interesting to learn about all these different myths and how one event that could be interpreted in so many different ways. I felt really narrow minded when I realized how many different versions of the same event there are and how I just didn’t get myself out there to explore them. It also surprised me how a lot of these creation myths have the same basic “plot” to them. Each one I saw seemed to have some kind of traumatic event that cause some kind of creation of something on earth, and it’s interesting how my own creation belief seems to have the same theme throughout as well. I’ve always been one to believe in the traditional Genesis creation story of how the earth and heavens were created, and I noticed that there are trends that are embedded in the other myths I saw and my own. I think that the experience is very rewarding if we could just be a little more open-minded. Even if someone stands by their beliefs to the very end, I’ve found that in carefully looking at my own beliefs compared to others and that of science, it has made my beliefs and faith in what I believe in that much stronger and I now appreciate my beliefs and have the respect for others that I know I can have in better understanding them. I’m not too sure if I hit the nail on the head with this blog since I kind of jumped around a bit, but through this exploration through learning about different creation myths, the learning experience in itself is incredibly rewarding.

The Weight of Life's Burdens

I think the heaviest burden of knowing is carried by Lily. The biggest burden is introducted in the beginning of the story as she reflects on her mother’s death as a young child. Her mother passed away when she was very young; however we learn the cause during this introduction of her deceased mother. Lily was told that during a fight between her father and mother, she accidently shot and ultimately killed her mother. She carries that burden with her throughout the story and eventually catches up to her when she ran away with Rosaleen to Tiburon, a city that knows of her mother and her passing. Knowing she would be banished from this town and not wanting to return home, she hides the fact that she killed her mother from those around her. I think this burden is incredible at this point in the story since there is so much riding on her keeping this secret to herself; if this burden of knowing is bestowed on the townspeople, her entire time there would fall apart and she would have no other choice other than to go back home with her abusive father.

The other smaller burden she carries is knowing about these bees that she says fly out of her wall and she struggles to catch them. As opposed to hiding this like she did about her secret behind her accidently killing her mom, she does try to tell her father about them and her trying o catch them in her jar, but he doesn’t believe her. Rosaleen does believe her, which relieves the burden of those around her not believing, however, she carries the burden of wanting to capture these bees which Rosaleen doesn’t quite approve of. I think this is a way to lighten this burden for her, having indefinite evidence that there are in fact bees in her walls. Although the burden may have hindered that aspect of her relationship with her father, it was these bees that inspired her to move away and start anew.

One burden that all of the characters here carry is the immense racial inequality within their living environment. Lily sees this inequality firsthand when she accompanies Rosaleen to go register to vote. They were harassed and Rosaleen was beaten so severely by the police officers that she ended up in the hospital. Although she was being harassed by exercising her right to vote and be a part of politics, she was beaten by those who were supposed be in a position to protect her. This inequality is seen throughout the story, including Lily’s relationship with Zach. She believed that African American men were never considered to be handsome, that seems to only correlate to Caucasian men. However, she grew close to Zach and began a romantic relationship with him. In this case, Zach lifted this burden about unattractive African American men that Lily carried to allow her to open up to have a healthy relationship with someone who did lift this burden and could potentially lift many others.

The Love of a Child

If I understood this prompt correctly, I can definitely think of an event where I felt like I had some kind of animal instinct. As soon as I read this prompt, I knew that I had to write about this particular situation. I was raised to care and be a positive role model for younger kids. Especially those in my immediate family, I feel the need and obligation to protect my family from any kind of harm. While I was babysitting my six month old cousin, she was content but incredibly fussy just as younger children can definitely be. I’m still trying to get used to her ever changing schedule and she started crying; the only thing I can think to do to calm her down is to fix her a bottle. I did everything I could to keep her calm while I made her bottle, and when it finally came time for her to take the bottle, she lie down on the couch and fell fast asleep, with her bottle in hand. She let me hold her while she slept and even let me move her into her room, into her crib to lay sound asleep until her father came home from work.

At that point, I felt that I had to do everything in my power to keep her safe while she was sleeping. I also felt an almost overwhelming feeling of trust from her towards me that she feels safe to sleep under my care. I think, whether you’re a mother or not, that’s one of the most amazing feelings someone can ever have in their lifetime. Although it doesn’t seem very difficult to earn their trust, it really is. Children can almost sense when they’re in some kind of danger, that’s usually why they’re really shy and even start to cry when they are around people they don’t know. I went through the same thing with my cousin; I’ve only babysat her for a couple months, and it took me that long to earn her trust because she absolutely refused to sleep while I had her. Just because babies aren’t developed completely in a mental state, they still have their own instincts; this also explains why babies tend to trust and have a close connection with their mothers, and difficult to get the same kind of trust with children while their mothers aren’t around. It gave me the sense of accomplishment and respect from this child, which to me, means the world and more.

Can Suicide Be Justified?

I’m one for being completely against the act of suicide. I believe that there isn’t anything that can happen in someone’s life that is so awful that will push them to suicide. I’m not saying that it shouldn’t be taken seriously; I do think it’s absolutely tragic when it does happen and there’s obviously something going on that needed to be addressed. However, the act of suicide is never completely justified in my opinion. And I’m not saying anyone is truly to blame for this, it’s not someone’s fault if it happens to a loved one, but I just stick to the idea that nothing in life is worth getting so upset over to end one’s life. There are always other resources that are readily available to those in need that could reach out and help them before it’s too late. The upsetting part of the idea of suicide is the fact that seems to go unnoticed too often. The warning signs seem obvious, but they are also easily hidden. The most recent cases of suicide I’ve heard the most are ones among younger teens who are pushed to their breaking point, breaking their spirits and who they really are. I think this is one of the biggest reasons why I want to work with kids as my career and even my job now babysitting. I want to be in a position to build kids up and show them that just their mere presence on earth makes such a huge difference. Young kids and teens need this encouragement to reduce the risk of them taking their own lives and robbing themselves from experiencing life and all it has to offer.

I also think that the idea of suicide, along with many other serious issues, isn’t really taken seriously anymore. People just throw it around like it’s a huge joke, whenever the smallest inconvenience comes around for them, some people just throw it was out of proportion and say they’re going to kill themselves. I think it’s so ridiculous, I mean come on now, grow up! If you’re not mature enough to handle the situation you’re in, you shouldn’t have gotten yourself into it anyway. Suicide isn’t something that be messed with, and I think it’s not taken as seriously as it should when people throw it around like its’ some big joke. The more people play around with the idea of suicide, the harder it seems to become for other people to catch the real threats and signs of someone who is truly suffering. It also makes some people hesitant to reach out to those who show signs of suicide since there almost seems to be no way to tell if one is genuinely in need of help or just kidding. I also think that those who really need the help aren’t willing to let it be known so they can get the appropriate help they need for whatever reason they have. They are very conservative and resistant to getting help and treatment can’t reach them until it’s too late, which I think is the biggest tragedy of all.

One metaphor that I once heard was true friendship is like building a house; without some kind of structure and foundation, they will both completely fall apart. There are many things that can go wrong along the way, and if either deed is done in a careless manner, we are only setting ourselves up for complete failure. Both start with a foundation, the most important aspect in both friendship and building a house. Without the proper foundation on a house, you might as well not finish the job you started because it’ll be a waste of time and a disappointing sight to see the house collapse or have irreversible damage as time goes on. In a friendship, this foundation is the trust and honesty between those involved. If there isn’t trust from the start, the entire friendship has the potential to fall apart later down the road. I’m sure that we’ve all gone through this before; friendships destroyed due to lies and deception from the beginning, or even a misunderstanding or deception as the friendship begins to grow and develop.

If the foundation is successfully created, we’re off to a good start, but silly mistakes can easily be made; problems could arise along the way that could set the process back or even demolish the entire project altogether. If the foundation of the house is flawless, putting the frame up and building the walls of the house could be problematic if the process isn’t handled in the correct manner. Any loose boards or careless tightening could cause the framing to come down and leave you back at square one. Likewise, any silly mistake with being careless of other’s feelings, trust can be broken and the friendship could be in jeopardy and could end up back down to the foundation, with hopes of trying the building process all over again. The roof of the home, with the main function of completing the house and providing a rounded feeling of shelter to those inside could never function without the flawless foundation and walls, to protect its inner contents. The roof is a monumental stage in a friendship; the shelter is complete and is strong, seeming that nothing could ever destroy this structurally sound friendship.

Although this metaphorical house has been built and a friendship has been established and seems to be indestructible, even now things could take a tragic turn for the worst. We all know if we don’t maintain our houses, they could slowly deteriorate in various different ways, just as a friendship can. The more we neglect a home or a friendship, more and more damage will be inflicted and will be very costly to fix. If we don’t make sure our homes are clean, mold or other pests could infect the home and slowly but surely destroy the house. This metaphorical maintenance also applies to a friendship; regardless of how much is invested in the friendship, if communication or any other important aspects are cut off, the friendship will begin to deteriorate as well. A catastrophic situation could destroy a friendship faster than any other cause could; betrayal of trust, unnecessary intrusion, and complete shutting out of one another could cause the friendship to crumble to the ground, just as a strong earthquake could do to a newly-built house. We all do our best to avoid these catastrophic events to maintain our close friendships; however these can be inevitable, like an earthquake, and our best defense is to be prepared for the devastation and endure the hardship of beginning to rebuild it all once again to indulge in your effort’s benefits.

Modern Marriages

Modern marriage is a topic that is troubling to me, especially now. I was raised in a family that believed that divorce was just not an option; there is nothing that could possibly happen within a true relationship that should ever call for divorce. If you made the jump with someone, you made sure this was the person you were going to be with for the rest of your life and you trust that person will stay by you. If I’m not mistaken, the recent percentage of failed marriages is at least 50%, and sadly many people, including my family, are becoming or have become part of that percentile. As time goes on, there seem to be so many more ways that infidelity can happen in marriages, including the pressures of social networking. Websites give people who are in struggling marriages an outlet to meet other people and begin a secret cyber relationship with a perfect stranger. Marriages are also on the rocks due to the financial crisis we have in the country; I know personally, my parents used to fight all the time about money, and I know the money situation puts strain on a lot of people and their relationships, whether some aren’t working enough to support the family or even working too much and not having enough time to spend with their families.

Other times, people just aren’t happy for whatever reason keep it bottled in, refusing to deal with it and can lash out in many different ways. This story seems to portray conflict between two marriages. Bobinot seems to show little concern for Calixta during the storm as he claims that she will be fine as the storm passes. Calixta does show concern for Bobinot as she looks out at the destructive storm, but seems to forget her concern while she is with Alcee. They both seem to put on a front for one another upon Bobinot’s return; while Calixta expresses her relatively short-lived concern, Bobinot begins apologizing for not being there with her. Alcee also puts on a front in the letter he writes to his wife about how much he misses her. Little did Alcee knew, Clarisse was enjoying the freedom she felt from being out of the environment of married life and was in no hurry to come back to him. The infidelity and unhappiness within the marriages is kept under wraps, which is the case of many modern marriages. I think this is the silent killer of many marriages today. Many people get marriage very young without truly knowing the person they just committed the rest of their lives to. Once this sets in, the silent killer begins to plague marriages and drive them to end. I’ve seen this in many situations; marriage doesn’t seem to have the same meaning and significance anymore, many people just see it as a piece of paper that keeps two people together. The love and devotion that is associated with marriage seems to be absent now, replaced with pure lies and deception.

When Social Gatherings Go Wrong... Yet So Right (pg. 794 #3)

I was baptized a Christian when I was young and I have believed in the Christian faith my entire life, as it runs in the family and I have been supported all the way. I’ve always believed that I can be completely open with my family about our religion and have open, unstructured discussion about the Bible; the whole thing was a learning process for all of us. This is what was normal to me; I was comfortable in this environment and felt that it was okay to do this.

Being so comfortable with my religion and how my family handles it, being put into an environment where the rules of the game changed was very difficult for me. I was dating a guy who was living with his friend’s family. I grew very close to them and completely overlooked the fact that they were Jehovah Witnesses; this meant nothing to me, seeing as we never openly discussed religion. One night, however, I went to go see my boyfriend at the house after work and he told me they were waiting for me to begin their Bible study to introduce me to their faith. I openly and respectfully declined, yet they insisted I stay. I did stay, however, it was very uncomfortable as it seemed like we were in school, having to raise our hands to ask questions since I am accustomed to just being open and asking them for discussion sake. It was very structured and I did partake in some of their activities, but certain things I did draw the line and respectfully declined. I had no problem with their way of studying the Bible; I did think their structured environment worked for them and they seemed to be getting more out of it this way, but I felt uncomfortable seeing as religion is something I hold near and dear to me and I feel it should be openly discussed as a family with no limitations-as long as you’re learning about the Bible from one another and growing religiously.

There have been many situations I’m sure we’ve all been in, but in this situation, I learned a lot about myself. When we are placed in situations that we aren’t accustomed to being in, I think that’s the best opportunity, as uncomfortable as it may seem, for us to grow and gain a better understanding of our own identity. In my situation, I appreciated that my family was more open about religion and that I had my family there to push me to learn what I could and encourage me to grow in that aspect. This situation is just one that we can be placed in; there are so many others that we can and probably have been placed in that show us who we really are through observing who those around us are and how they live their lives. The most important thing, in my opinion, is that we can be true to ourselves; it’s a sure-fire way for us to find out who we are first-hand, rather than turning to others to tell us who they think we are or how they want us to be.

Contemporary vs. Old-Fashioned Marriages

There is a saying that my parents live by as it pertains to finding someone for me to spend the rest of my life with: “You always marry someone who is exactly like your father”. In that aspect, there are various kinds of people my parents would reject as my spouse. My father is someone who covers many parts of a personality spectrum: he has a professional side as he is holding down a job at a title company, and he has a completely different rebellious side as he is a member of a motorcycle gang. My parents obviously want me to find someone who fits my dad’s professional aspect; however, I have lost tremendous respect for my father over the past month or so and this has made me completely turn against this idea, seeing the person her really is deep down inside. I think there are many of us, myself included, that have been in several relationships that my parents didn’t approve of for one reason or another, and looking back, I see that they were right. My parents, as does any parent out there, want the very best for their children, and more often than not, no one is ever “good enough” for their child; however, they grow to approve of their child’s happiness. Although, we do tend to see issues, not with accepting the person, but the rejection of the relationship altogether. Young people seem to be “falling in love” at ages that seem to be getting smaller and smaller, which causes them to become too serious in a relationship and leading to many problems down the road. This is partially responsible for the increase rate of young teenage pregnancies and even failing marriages. With the 50% divorce rate in the country, young romance may be the culprit; people are looking for their high school sweetheart, thinking they’re going to spend the rest of their lives together and live the fairy tale “happily ever after”, when in reality, they have a greater risk of seeing their marriage end in divorce.

The story, “Marriage is a Private Affair” sheds light on the disapproval of a marriage between two people from different tribes. I related this idea to the, now seemingly old-fashioned, interracial relationships. Personally, I have dated outside my ethnicity and see no problem; I don’t see a difference in another human being due to the color of their skin or their cultural background. Some members of my family frown on my belief, maintaining the idea that it’s wrong to date outside your ethnicity, and, especially in my family, outside my religious beliefs. I personally hold true to my religious beliefs and if my spouse doesn’t agree, I don’t see that as a reason not to marry him. Now in our society, interracial relationships are very common and are often accepted, which is completely different than the perspective portrayed in this short story. As a society, we seem to become more accepting to these changes in the content of what makes up a proper marriage, which I think just might be a step toward complete ethnic equality.

Government Esablishment

With the current tragedies that have impacted the world, such as chaos in the Middle East and the recent earthquake in Haiti, the United States seem to have shifted the focus onto those who need our help rebuilding their sense of overall stability. Knowing that our military is out in these Middle Eastern countries for the purpose of bringing the new idea of democracy, there is a chance that they may choose to be a democracy or they may just look the other way. The media seems to portray that we’re still out there for other reasons, such as fear of future attacks on the United States and one that may be less current, the fear of the possibility of nuclear warfare. In any case, if these countries choose to become to undertake a democracy as their chosen form of government, then we can safely assume that we have made a powerful difference in these countries, thus making the time spent out there, to some extent, worthwhile. These countries will be able to experience the chance of obtaining their individual freedom, which may hopefully bring peace and stability. The only thing that’s difficult for me to grasp is the fact that our troops are out there and still losing their lives, yet the idea that we’re staying out there to help them establish democracy. If we’re only there to help, why is it still necessary to hurt and even kill?

From my understanding, a theocratic authoritarian government is one where the citizens follow some form of higher power, and on the surface level of the spectrum, their government is run by unelected officials. If these countries do reject a democratic government for this one, some may say that it was a waste of our time to be out there. However, in an optimistic view, we can still say the United States has still made a difference in their countries. In a way, we have given them the freedom within their country to vote for exactly what they want for their lives. In this case, I don’t see any reason for the United States to continue to be involved in the development of their country, seeing as our nation doesn’t have that form of government, thus we would have a very different influence on their growth and development. The only reason I can see that we should get involved in the future is if there is another threat on our country. The justification of helping to form a functioning government can no longer be used once they are established to be a healthy functioning society. Although I do feel that the need to reach out to other countries that need our help, seeing that being the main way that will help our nations stick together rather than be at constant odds with each other, I do feel that our primary obligation should be our own country; we should be working to attempt to stabilize our own economic situation before going deeper and deeper into debt, digging a deeper hole that we may never be able to get out of.

Invisibility

The idea of being invisible is one that we sometimes entertain as an unrealistic quality that could never truly come about in our lives; no matter how much we would want to be invisible at any given moment. Although we have those embarrassing moments where we want to disappear, in some ways, we are invisible ourselves. Some people are invisible in a sense that they don’t reveal their true selves, who hide behind the person that people want them to be rather than letting their true colors shine. We do this out of fear of rejection or even our own rejection of ourselves and in doing so, some tend not to feel the desire to be invisible because they have a sense of security in the idea of putting on a front of someone who they consciously believe that they aren’t.

Along with being guilty of being invisible ourselves, we are also guilty of not seeing other people through their sense of invisibility or lack thereof. There are times where some, myself included, don’t see someone who has either made themselves completely invisible only to deceive or has removed that sense of invisibility to reveal their true selves and the deception seemed better than the genuine truth. We see stories all the time on talk shows about people who are obviously led by deception, women and men staying with their spouse because they refuse to open their eyes and see what is really there: not love, but pain and suffering on their part due to the actions of someone they trusted. Another example of this is everyday misjudgments on a parent’s part regarding their children. There are many new trends that teenagers are starting to engage in that many parents are oblivious to. They refuse to believe that their children would partake in such reckless activities when in reality; they are going behind their back and doing these things and more.

The removal of this invisibility can also be deceiving since we aren’t accustomed to change and the deception is more comfortable than dealing with the truth. In this sense, we’re guilty of not seeing someone for who they really are under a negative perspective. We choose to believe that these negative aspects or actions weren’t done in order to maintain peace of mind within ourselves, especially when these changes have a strong enough impact that can destroy our outlook on our situation. One perspective of this is seen in many people who suffer from drug or alcohol abuse. Even thought those around them can obviously see the implications of their loved one’s addiction, the addict refuses to see and acknowledge that they have a serious problem that needs to be addressed promptly to avoid further consequences that rise in danger levels as time passes.

Although being invisible may seem to be a good idea to many people in their individual situations dealing with embarrassment or stress, we all have our own security blanket in having some kind of sense of invisibility to defend us, and even hinder us, from a harsh reality.

Moral Debate: Collateral Damage

The definition that I got from an online dictionary defined “collateral damage” as it pertains to armed conflict as “the killing of civilians in a military attack”. Determining circumstances where this is justified and immoral is a tough call for me; I have seen and heard of both sides of the spectrum because, as many of the readers out there, I have family serving in the U.S. military; my uncle was active in the Army and my brother recently returned home from his second tour in Iraq. I think there are certain circumstances where collateral damage is morally just; for example, if a country is completely against another, often times the civilians are also involved in combative warfare. Soldiers have died under the fire power of a civilian, but then again, the other side of it is that there are always a very select few that aren’t involved in said warfare and want nothing more than the violence out of their country so they can return to their normal lives. However, in this perspective, the members of our military are in the frontlines bravely fighting, and some losing their lives, to protect their country and in a way, citizens may live with a similar situation, whether they chose to or not. An example of this is the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11th; many citizens lost their lives due to a form of collateral damage. This is an obvious example of an unjust distinction, with the loss of innocent lives through terrorist actions against our country.

Another perspective that argues that collateral damage is immoral is what is commonly used to appeal to one’s emotional integrity: children. As I mentioned above, some do engage in violent behavior out of hatred for the opposing party, but young children also make up that percentage of the civilians who don’t partake in any kind of active warfare that innocently die for a cause they felt they wanted nothing to do with. And looking at our society and the various views on the war on Iraq and now Afghanistan, there are many people for the war, but just as many against it. However, I think in a way, whether one is for or against a particular war, the entire country is seen to be for the war seeing as their country is actively fighting. Each individual isn’t really given a distinct voice to be for or against the war. As it pertains to children, however, many are too young to understand the implications of the reasoning for the violence going on around them and sadly lose the lives of their loved ones or even their own lives with this misunderstanding.

I feel like I didn’t exactly hit the nail on the head with this blog topic this week and I’ve been sloppily jumping from topic to topic to argue both sides of my ideas, I’ve been contemplating this all week and could never come up with a straight distinction between what would be morally just and what wouldn’t be. I think there are many sides to consider, perhaps many more than I shed light on in this blog. Even though it may seem unclear in my blog, I do think that when looking at a specific situation, it could be distinguished whether the collateral damage is moral or not, but I also believe that there is a rather thin line between morally just and downright wrong.

Pg. 263 Writing Topic.. Acting Out of My Own Character

There are some instances in life that cause us to act out of our own character, either for our own personal gain or anothers. Peer pressure is common during adolescence since this is the time where we struggle for acceptance from those around us. I can recall several events where I have been guilty of acting in a way I know I’m not. It was a stupid mistake of mine, but I felt the change after my freshman year in high school. My freshman year was a very tough time in my life as I went through horrible events that I could never wish upon anyone. At that point, I simply wanted to fit in with whoever would have me. After I got through my freshman year, I built friendships with a group of kids that were at least a year older than I was. I spent the entire summer with these people I considered to be my close friends, being relatively close to one in particular. My family accepted him as my good friend and with me being as naive as I was at that age, I thought this was an opportunity to build a strong bond with all of them and a chance for me to start over after a rough first year of high school. However, at the time, I wasn’t quite aware that they were into drugs, drinking and having unprotected sex and I was beginning to get sucked into their lifestyle. I would never partake in drinking and doing drugs with them, but I began to accept it after being around these “friends” that I just wanted acceptance from despite the fact that I have always, and I feel I’ll forever be, completely against everything they did. However, as the summer went on, the pressure slowly fell on me to join them. At that point, knowing that they wouldn’t accept me and these people I was with, I began to separate myself from my family, being secretive and deceptive towards them, which I feel was the biggest mistake I made. If it weren’t for those who I found to be my true friends, I believe that I would have gotten myself into serious trouble and I wouldn’t be where I am today. I would have ended up in the same predicament they’re in; high school drop outs, having court dates, attending AA meetings, or even pregnant. Needless to say, the one my family and I trusted the most and had the most influence on my life at the time completely disappeared after I lost their acceptance since I knew there was no way I would sink so low as to ruin my high school career to be like them.
Although this seems to be a typical story of struggling to fit in with the high school crowds, this really had a strong impact on my life. This experience along with my entire freshman year taught me that I need to put myself and my values and morals first before anyone else. In a way, I feel that deep down I knew that I should have done that to begin with, but I think the desire to fit in and start anew was too overwhelming that it did distort my thoughts and feelings. It’s a tough lesson for some to learn, myself included and even to this day I sometimes struggle with wanting to put others needs before my own. However, now I’ve learned how to distinguish which scenarios are important enough to put others before myself and I know that no one is worth lowering my standards and morals just to satisfy an instant gratification in making a friend.

Responding to Literaure

As a body of readers, we all respond to literature in very different ways. Through an educational standpoint, readers may be instructed to respond to literature in a scholastic manner; through writing a summary and in-depth analysis of the piece. Outside of the educational spectrum, literature may inspire people to write themselves to comment on the piece they read or simply on their own experiences. There are some writers that were inspired to being their journey of writing literature through reading the work of others. Some readers may respond to the literature they read through a more productive manner. After reading literature about a struggling culture or someone who suffers from a chronic disease, the reader may even become active in helping to support a cause tat aids those in need through charities or other bodies of charity organizations.

Although analyzing literature may seem insignificant to some, there are many important ideals that are derived from analyzing literature. One of the most important pieces of literature that many people appreciate and live by is the Bible. Like any other piece of written literature, the Bible can be analyzed and interpreted in many different ways. In any manner that we interpret the Bible, those who believe in the messages written in the Bible treat this book as a way to live their lives based on the religion they practice. There are also those who believe in some aspects of the Bible, not not others, based on their individual interpretation. There are many things that can have different meanings to different people, and the importance in understanding one's own interpretation of the Bible has a huge impact on the way some live their lives. Literature also has the power to inspire people in different ways. As mentioned above, some readers may have been inspired to begin writing themselves through reading literature from and idolized author. However, a reader may relate to a character's adversity in a story and can see the courage within the character to overcome their obstacles and inspire the reader to do the same. There are pieces of literature that put their primary focus on teenagers and young adults that have the ability to ensure the reader that they're never alone in their specific situations and can strongly impact their overall outlook on life. Young readers may then reach out and help other teens their age to empower them through the same obstacles.

The discussion of literature is heavily based on understanding the piece and being comfortable with one's own interpretation of the piece. When a meaning can be determined and supported with proper textual evidence, one's interpretation can be discussed with other readers of the same piece. This can be incredibly beneficial in expanding the view of other readers in exposing them to different perspectives of the same material. Very rare is the occasion that upon the initial analysis, there will be a unanimous agreement to one particular viewpoint; the story is examined through various points of view thus producing differences in opinions among readers. To be able to agree to disagree on a story's theme and employment of figurative language and the symbolic meanings behind it can only help up grow as readers and broaden out view and opinions on literature interpretation.

Insight on Literature

Literature in it of itself has a very structured and categorized concept that ironically has no limits. There are four major categories that literary work can be classified under, including nonfiction, poems, dramas, and fiction. There are literary devices that must be used in order the classify a work under one of these categories, however, the manner in which these are used are completely limitless, leaving the writer to be free in having the ability to express deep emotions in any manner they so choose. In poetry, for example, writers can incorporate many different types of figurative language such as personification and metaphors into the type of meter the writer is looking to use to classify the work as poetry; however those writing a drama can use the same type of figurative language and incorporate this into the drama. This idea has an impact on me as a reader of literature in seeing the manipulation of some form of limitless structure that can only be found in writing literature.

Literature is one of the few ways that draw people, as well as myself into becoming interested in obtaining information on historical events and the unique aspects of cultures that we aren't exposed to as a society in the United States. I'm not someone who particularly enjoys sitting in a history class learning about historical battles and struggles; however, the process of learning about history is more stimulating through the eyes of literature, which has the ability to express emotions that a history book can't portray.

As a writer prepares to create a new piece, that are reminded of the heavy responsibility that they hold in doing justice to the perspective of those they so choose. William Faulkner's piece, The Sound and the Fury, took advantage of this task and told the story of one event through the perspective of four different characters, one being a mentally retarded 33 year old man. This shows a manner in which writers allow their readers to see more than one dimension to their story, thus giving the reader an intriguing and unique reading experience. As a reader of this piece, I was able to begin to understand the concept behind showing the society of readers that there is a major distortion between points of view from four different characters recalling the same event and the significance of seeing all sides of the story.

By the end of the term, I hope to explore deeper into literature and all it has to offer to gain a better understanding of the significance that it has on culture and our society as a whole. Literature has the power to influence its readers and, in the right hands and with an open mind, can alter a reader's prejudice points of view and help unify our society as a while. My goal for this semester is to find evidence of this and even learn how to write powerful and passionate works with the potential to do just that. In addition to writing material, I hope to learn how to apply various new methods to dive deep into the heart of written literature and find deeper meanings through comprehensive analysis, something that has never been my personal strong suit.