I am not the most knowledgeable about health care and the new health care bill that came out. But, I do not necessarily think that non-citizens should be reaping the benefits that tax paying citizens also receive. I think that if you are living in the United State illegally, you should work hard to be able to become a citizen and get health care. However, I hate to say that, because I do not like to think about people in our country living without health care. We are indeed the “land of opportunity” aren’t we? This is a pretty tough question, but in the end, I think that it only fair for the tax paying citizens to receive health care.

I think that we have already established in this class that a good work ethic is very important in life to be successful in anything. However, it is very difficult to consider the answer to this question in regard to immigration. I am not sure that if you cannot afford to immigrate to the United States, if there is another answer. Unfortunately, a lot of the world is based on how much money you have. But, I love to think that with hard work and determination that you will prosper in life and that you will be successful. But, there is the whole “king of the mountain” lecture that we had.. which re-opens that whole can of worms...

I thought that this letter was absolutely powerful. I am sure that it was very warming to almost everyone who read it. I immediately thought that there is a lot to be said about the courage that some of these men must have to have this outlook about compassion towards the world. I can only imagine how easy it would be to be locked up in jail for life, and just give up on the world. But, the story about the men in the yard really shows how similar people are in any situation. Whenever you see someone in a lot of pain, people will break down barriers and build bridges to help ease that pain.

This situation reminds me a lot about some of the time that I have spent at Centre Peace in Bellefonte. For those of you who do not know, Centre Peace is an organization right next to Rockview that sells used furniture and household items. Volunteers and inmates run the store. Inmates are there all the time cleaning, building, or moving furniture. I had a meeting with the Director of Centre Peace one day, and he told me how hard it is for prison inmates once they are released. These men are given no sort of direction, and then just sent out into the world the little belongings that they have. The Director is currently trying to work with the state to develop some sort of a transitional home near the prison, but the township is hesitant because of the fact that they don’t want ex-convicts living there. I think that this is so terrible, and I would love to know about more that I can do to help alleviate this situation.

Why I really thought of this is that the letter clearly showed us that inmates demonstrate acts of compassion to one another on a daily basis. However, there is just a terrible stigma that is put on convicts that is so painful to even talk about. Some people have said in their blogs that they were raised to think of convicts as “monsters” and while I can understand how that happens, at some point we all need to realize that people are generally just the same.

Many people in my family are Prison Guards, and I when I talk to them, they seem to have similar things to say that Sam does. Many of the inmates have amazing outlooks on life, and they can learn things from one another. Now I am not saying that everyone is prison is compassionate, and I definitely not saying that people who are not in prison are not compassionate; but this letter does help us understand what life is really like inside those walls.

Well… it was an eye opener that’s for sure. No matter what, it is also good to look at things from the other side. If we don’t, ethnocentrism will just escalate even more, and that is exactly what we don’t want. I also agree with what a few others have said, that whenever faith become s an issue that is more than just your personal belief; i.e. how your government controls your country, and furthermore, how your country controls others, we have a big problem. I have the utmost respect for our military, but I think it was nice to further educate us about what’s really going on. That movie was scary, no two ways around it.

I think that “coexisting” is quite a tough thing to look at. I agree with a few of the comments that I think it is possible that we all have the ability to do it deep down inside of us. However, I think that it is really tough to accepting of other cultures, beliefs, religions, etc. whenever we have our own culture holding us back. It may be a “dog eat dog” world, but that is also a little about human nature. I feel like if we can teach younger generations to be accepting, then eventually people will start to change.

That was a really nice comment about what she said, and I think it really ties in with a lot of what we are learning in this class. No matter what background you come from, we really are all women. But, I think a lot of people are right in that we are always trying to conform to whatever culture we live in. We are always trying to fit in, and that may not be the right way to live, but I feel quite sure that to some degree, everybody does it. However, I think that women have a really tough time trying to make themselves acceptable in the eyes of other people. Hollywood and mass media in general really does play a huge role on the way that we should want to look. But I really like it in class when girls stood up and said that most often; we are trying to look like our close friends or others around us. But, how do we alleviate this situation? How do we make ourselves feel like we are “ok” just the way we are.
Laurie asked, “if body image was taken away, what would make us women,” besides the basic anatomy answer, I really feel like what makes us women is the way we live our lives, and the common goals that most of us have. However, it is really hard to define what makes women differ so much from men. Is it our natural instincts to want to take care of people? Not really, because a lot of men have the quality. I really do not know.
However, one thing that I did just think about, is that whenever you think about a “man” you think about how he proves his masculinity to other men. Whether he has a lot of girls who are in love with him, he is very athletic, or he can beat people up; ultimately, they are trying to prove themselves to each other. However, with women, I often think that they are also looking for the approval of men. They are either looking for love, friendship, or approval that they can be accepted just the way they are. I am rambling now, but I think there is this hidden secret that a lot of girls do not look for approval from other girls because they are hard to trust. If you ask them if you look fat in a dress, and you clearly do, they will say you don’t. Because, they do not want to hurt your feelings and they do not want you to look good… so you get the approval from the other guys. Bottom line, I really have no idea about what makes “women,” apart from the fact that we have female body parts.

Interesting idea, and I definitely admire what you are doing, and I think that if a lot of people in this country especially did the same thing you did, we would be one step closer to equality for all. For me, I just can’t imagine doing that, not that I could not even would not, but it would be such a huge sacrifice. That makes me think about how we really do live in a material world, like that song we saw briefly in class yesterday, and I often wonder what my life would be like, or what kind of life I would lead if I had a lot less things, and a lot more to worry about.

I think that Sam wanted us to just realize that our world is not perfect. Whether you did or did not eat the second piece of chocolate, I do not think that is what matters, I really agree with Sam that it matters that we felt something. That piece of chocolate would still exist in a garbage can somewhere if you did not eat it, and the slaves’ work would still existi. Maybe people should enforce buying fair trade chocolate, but if we ate the second piece or didn’t, that does not define what kind of person we are. It is what we do about it, and how we appreciate things that will make a difference in the end.

I personally got a little bit upset about Sam’s comments about our God. It’s not that I don’t think that we need to do anything about the situation with slavery, because we do. I really do agree that the first step is awareness. But, maybe I guess it seemed like Sam is implying that all believers of God just live their lives selfishly. Whenever he was talking about all of us being at the “pearly gates” and discussing whether or not we get into heaven, and then we see what the slaves next to us… I really just did not follow what he was saying. Does he think that we would not get into heaven because of where we have lived in our lives? I have always been a firm believer that being a Christian especially means that you are leading a life that God wants you to lead, and you are doing that with the cards you are dealt. Now, I try my very hardest to live my life the best that I can, and I really do think about how there is so much injustice in the world, and I try and fight it in the best way I can. I don’t really have an answer to the question, but I thought it was strange about how Sam pulled religion into everything. I understand how he wanted to make us feel something, which I most certainly did, but whether or not we get into heaven, or whatever you believe, seems to me like it should be between you and God.
However, I also think that God would really like us to keep learning and try to keep helping one another. I think that he would be hurt if we were handed this knowledge and did not do anything about it. To me, doing your research and telling people about it really is the first step, and I am glad Sam touched on that. However, I am not exactly sure about what the second step should be. I am sure that is something we can talk about later on. However, I think that we can all agree that we are all pretty lucky to attend Penn State and get this wonderful education. One thing I have especially learned from this class that is that we should never take anything in our lives for granted. Sam’s right when he said that we can’t feel guilty for being the people that we are, but that does not mean that we should ignore what is going on in the rest of the world. To me, it is our goal to advocate for justice for the slaves, and then hopefully one day we will see some progress.

I’ll be honest, I have never really thought about the whole Asian vs. Asian American thing until this class. It is not because I thought everybody was classified into one group, but it was just something that I never ever had in my head. I guess if I had to look at someone, or talk to them, I would not be able to tell right away. (unless the person spoke English with an accent) but I would really not be able to tell. I am not sure though it he is asking about that, or if where we put Asian and Asian Americans in the whole black/brown category. When Sam mentions that, I always think that Sam put Asian and Asian Americans in the brown category. Is that wrong?