I kind of wanted to cry too watching these videos. They really were so uplifting and so sweet. I love that we got a chance to comment on something so wonderful and caring instead of the usual more unsettling topics we discuss in race relations. I hope that maybe next year Sam decides to include more lessons that inspire and motivate others to really care for others around them instead of focusing on past transgressions and all the bad things that exist in the world. These videos have really inspired me to consider other’s situations and it really illustrates a quote that I love, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

I completely agree with you. It is so easy to form casual friendships with others, but so much more complicated to commit that kind of kindness and courage to someone you barely know. This man really gave up a part of himself to someone he had no personal or intimate connection with. I would also love to believe that I could sacrifice something like my kidney for another person in a dire situation, I’m not sure that I could, but after seeing this video I think that I would make a much more committed attempt to really evaluate my final decision.

I am so glad Sam posted some videos to warm our hearts. I feel like I am usually upset or unsettled after watching videos or reading articles posted on the race relations website, it was nice to watch two videos to counteract all the negativity in the world. It just goes to show that for all the hatred and discrimination and apathy out there, their opposites exist as well, and I would like to think that there is more good than bad.

The video about the man offering his kidney to his favorite checkout woman at the grocery store was probably the single most sweet and caring video I have ever seen. He asked nothing in return, his only desire was to help another human being. This unconditional love and caring for the human condition is truly inspirational for everyone to really consider what you can do for others instead of writing off their concerns. I think this man really exemplified the best of the human spirit and I commend him for being so selfless and charitable. I think that often people only make such personal and selfless offers if someone in their family is ill and I think if more people hear this man’s story perhaps it will inspire others to consider what they can do for others and sacrifice for more than just immediate family. I think it is hard to imagine going through surgery for another person, but I think it might be harder for me to say no if I knew I would be able to save someone’s life. Being on dialysis is not living the way humans are meant to live, and this man sacrificed his own potential well being to improve the life of another. It is truly inspiring.

I also found the video of the two kids utterly adorable. They probably could not have found a more charismatic and engaging young boy to interview… he really tugged at my heartstrings. I loved how the message they were presenting came at the end of the video and as an audience you were presented with the children’s answers before seeing the overall theme of the video. I think the children represented such innocence and acceptance, which is so often missing past adolescence. It is so interesting how children develop their worldviews at such a young age and there should be a lot of emphasis placed on their cultural and moral development. What adults say around kids has such an impact on the way they think of others and I love that this video brought attention to that.

I think these videos were the perfect way to start the week before finals and I hope that everyone gets a chance to watch and feel a bit more uplifted about all the good that humanity offers instead of always being brought down by the bad.

The resourcefulness of these people really is amazing. I do believe that people just choose to go on despite what happens to them. They could have either lain down and died or worked with the few resources they had to turn this disaster around. It says so much for the strength of the human spirit and the innate will to live that it is unimaginable to me to go through a situation like that. What is the most shocking is something Sam said, that most likely these tent cities will be around for years before they can turn the country around.

It is very interesting to see that no matter how devastating an event, life still goes on. People still need to find some semblance of their lives before the earthquake, and help others to do the same. They saw the need for certain necessities like shelter and water, and once those were generally met, they moved on to providing entertainment and luxuries like movies and salon functions. In a very small way, Haiti’s tent cities represent the change in national economies all over the world from the beginning of time. Once basic necessities are met, people start to purchase and bargain for the things they desire on top of that which they need just to survive.

It is so hard to imagine what life inside prison cells is like. There are so many movies and books that try to illustrate to the reader how the inmates live and survive, but they fail in truly providing knowledge to those on the outside. I think this letter really described well the many layers of human condition for its readers. How the man described the men hating each other to the fact that they were embracing and helping each other in a time of despair, it was really beautifully written.

I do not know how I feel now about life imprisonment. I always believed that the crime of murder is too horrendous to perhaps let happen again by someone. But it was also discussed in my CAS class how much we are paying to keep all these men incarcerated. And if men really do repent what they have done and know in their hearts it will not be repeated, then perhaps it is in our best interest to let them out.

I think what this letter really offered to me as self-reflection about my own opinions about life imprisonment. I had never really taken the time to consider how I really felt about locking people away for good, but I am not so sure I think it is the best idea now. I know this class is supposed to get us to think about things we might not have had to discuss before in everyday conversation and this letter is one topic that particularly struck home with me. I guess we just never really discussed prison at home—other than to warn my brothers not to end up there. I guess I just never really realized that the people who are in jail could grow from the experience, as people are able to grow from anything.

I heard about an interesting psychological study where the brains of convicted felons were actually scanned. Apparently there is an area of the brain just behind the left ear that is in charge of feelings of remorse and guilt and some people do not have sufficient brain tissue in that area to feel the same as others do. This could explain scientifically why some people are racked with guilt over very small transgressions and others do not feel remorse over taking another’s life. I wonder if the science progresses whether or not we will at some point be able to discern those prisoners who really do feel bad and would not repeat the same actions, and those who still might in the future. Of course, to do it scientifically would still take all the humanity out of it, but perhaps it is a start.

I guess your decision to not eat the second piece of chocolate just seems silly to me. I mean honestly, you already said it; you’ve already eaten chocolate again. So what made that piece so important to you that you would not eat it? Does the responsibility and shock you felt in class fade in one night? It is fine if it does, but then why not just eat the piece of chocolate in class? I think the people who did not eat it then were scared of making the feelings they felt real. By eating the chocolate then I feel like the feelings I felt in class will stay with me longer, even if they are not good feelings.

I agree, I mean in all honesty, there is no way a taste of chocolate will never pass your lips again, even accidently. I think it is almost worse to feel so strongly about something when it is convenient and then casually forget it when another situation arises. It is easy to preach that we should not eat chocolate, but I think it is ruder to disregard the fact that these men broke their bodies over that candy. At least if you eat it, it becomes more a part of your psyche than if you just toss it aside in disgust.

I think that, when confronted by global issues that we have previously ignored, in that moment, we walk a very fine line between idealism and realism about what we want to do and what we can do. After watching that video, I wanted to go the Ivory Coast and rescue all those boys from the horrifying condition they are in. I wanted to never eat chocolate again. I thought about what an unnecessary luxury chocolate is in comparison to the pains other humans have to go to for the production. I wanted to be able to go into a restaurant and before ordering dessert, demand to know where and how they acquired their chocolate from. After all those thoughts raced through my head, I realized that is no way realistic.

In actuality, what can I do? I can buy Fair Trade products. I can raise awareness about something I only recently learned was a problem in our global economy. I can lobby Congress to start addressing the issue. Those are all great things that we can all do, granted, they are not dramatic and probably do not seem as satisfying as swearing off chocolate for life, but they are great first steps, and more importantly, realistic first steps.

The reason I ate the second piece of chocolate, the second piece of “flesh,” is because of what that young man said. The chocolate had already been purchased. The piece of chocolate that I held in my hand during class had already made its impact on the world when it was bought for class. It is revenues and profits that keep the practice of slavery going around the world. So what about that little piece of chocolate? It did not matter in an economic sense whether or not I ate it, but what mattered to me was the fact that that boy called it his flesh. I could have thrown it away, but he was whipped and beaten and brutalized for that tiny piece of chocolate. I felt like if I threw away the chocolate then I would have been throwing away all the pain and agony that went into making it. And, although it would be easier, that is not something I want to ignore any longer. I think, perhaps in a symbolic sense, by eating that second piece, it was an acknowledgement of his suffering. Although it would be better if the chocolate was never purchased, better even if no chocolate is ever purchased again until the conditions change for the laborers, I think that since it was there, it would have been worse to not eat it. To say that it is okay for these men to continue to be beaten to produce a global product for nothing would bother me. I guess it was the choice I made between eating his “flesh” and acknowledging his suffering and taking part of that with me, or throwing his “flesh” away.

I think the story about the little girl coming home and referring to herself as “dirty” is not necessarily bad, I think it is the natural course of young kids, like Sam said. When white kid’s skin turns brown it means they need a bath, the other child was only trying to logically explain the difference in skin color. I think that the way situations like that are handled, and especially that that child’s parents should have talked to him before about how much diversity and variety and beauty there is in the world. I feel like if parents take a more responsible role in teaching their children about the differences in everyone in the world then situations like this would be more rare, and less painful for everyone involved.