Gay marriage is a big debate here in the United States, along with the debate if these same sex couples should be allowed to adopt children. After hearing this man speak about his life it is safe to say that the fact he has same sex parents has zero effect on what makes him a person. He has made it pretty clear that he has lived a normal life; even beyond normal in the fact he scored in the 99 percentile for his standardized exams. His parents being of the same sex obviously has not negatively affect him, and it seems it has helped him. There is just as much love in his household as there is in a heterosexual couple’s home. He also has a sister that has gone on to be just as successful as him who was of the same parents. This man proves that same sex couples can care for just as many children with the same amount of love as a heterosexual couple. He just wants “equal and fair treatment” from his government which he and his family isn’t getting, because the laws against him aren’t allowing for marriage of same sex couples in Iowa. He just wants the laws against him to be changed because the people themselves can’t change whom they love

When in large groups it is vital to work together so everyone gets what they want. After reading the article about the evacuation for Three Mile Island, I saw that it is vital to get everyone to follow the leader. Make sure that you tell them early and often if you want them to follow you and to avoid disaster. This wasn’t done for the Katrina incident and it was a disaster. You have to give your population ample time to evacuate or make a decision on what they want. Time is the most important thing along with a plan before a situation arises so everyone knows what to do. When there is a crisis then it is best to follow the crowd and not just sit back because your government usually has the best strategies for these situations and not you. They won’t reap the benefits of an escape plan of their government if they just sit back. In occurrences of a disaster not everyone will cooperate together and this can hurt the group. People are selfish in nature and will cast aside others to help themselves when their own well being is in danger. This is another reason why it is vital to have plan well in advance so you can make sure everyone is safe in an orderly fashion and not have everyone rush at the same time. Having someone in charge is a big step to everyone following them. People aren’t just going to follow any random person that speaks; they need a true leader to put their trust into.

Everyone has stereotypes on groups of people, even the majority in the US, white people, have stereotypes directed toward them. After viewing the video about the gun holster I noticed that this guy seemed very normal and well mannered. He apologized for pulling down his pants twice and gave a very in depth review about the gun holster. Another thing I noticed that he had his shirt tucked into his pant, which I’ve noticed over the years is considered nerdy. This is a proper way to wear your clothing but isn’t associated with being “cool”. A clean haircut is also needed to be proper and this guy’s hair is pretty short as well, a classic crew cut. This man’s complexion also doesn’t argue against white, he looks like he got a little too much sun. Since he was reviewing a gun holster you spend $50 for you have to think to yourself only a white person would wear that, not only would they be the only ones buying it, they are also the most likely to own a gun in the first place. I wouldn’t want a gun holster over my crotch while I go about my days activities, this would be uncomfortable and a little bit ridiculous. The guys overall mannerisms tell you he is white by the way he talks and his over courteousness to the viewer when he’s pulling down his pants. Gun owners are generally white people that live out in the country that don’t have much outside influence from other cultures and races.

Polyandry is something I have never heard of before this video, I hadn’t even thought about it. This is probably because it is only found in remote regions of the Himalayas. This situation was brought about because there are far too few females to wed in this region, so it ends up that many men must stick to one woman. Women in this society were viewed as not being able to provide for their parents so were often killed when born. With this ratio imbalance for every man to have a partner there has to be polyandry. This probably brings up jealousy between the husbands but it doesn’t seem that way from viewing the video. This made me think about the invisible strings that affect these people since they cannot choose to have a monotonous relationship due to the lack of women. These invisible strings don’t come up at all in our society, but are prevalent in ones like these were they don’t know any different. To us it may not make much sense but to the people doing it, it makes perfect sense. The invisible strings bring these people together is the fact that China’s strict laws on childbirth has caused bad mating proportions.

After reading this article I was surprised to found out how such a low percentage of Americans have passports. Like what Matthew Kepnes said that it was weird to break out of the norm, is very true for a lot of Americans and people I know. Many people are frightened to leave the country because they don’t know what is out there, even though this would make me more curious and want to travel more. Many Americans are skeptical because they believe in stereotypes, for example being kidnapped in Brazil by taking the wrong taxicab. This can go along with the fear of flying that was brought onto us post 9/11. This is very unlikely and shouldn’t deter you from exploring countries outside of your own. Another reason that Americans don’t travel as much as other nations is because of the demanding work schedule for many employees, countries like France get about 3 times as much vacation time as their American counterparts. Americans would rather get that extra dollar than travel in most cases. Americans should start traveling to Europe now that the exchange rate is getting better and more economic for the travelers. Some travelers just don’t want to pay the airfare, which can be over 1,000 dollars to Europe or other parts of the world. Other reasons for not traveling may be that since the U.S is so diverse already some people don’t see the need to hop on a plane and travel since they think the same experience is in their back yard. There is quite a bit of each culture in the United States but a full experience of a nation’s people and customs can only be found by traveling there. Another reason to stay in our own countries is that we have so much land and so many different sites to see it would be hard to visit all of them if we did travel out of the country. I think if you want to explore the world and get a real taste of a culture you will have to leave home and travel to parts of the world outside of our own country.

Conformity plays a big role in our social lives since many of us try hard just to fit in with others. Even if we thought we were doing something the correct way all of our life, our actions can be changed in mere seconds if the majority of the group are doing it differently. We try hard not to be an outcast, even if that means doing things we normally wouldn’t do, even if those things seem crazy to us. In the video shown anyone can see how most people are brought up to face toward the door of the elevator. When people surround you all facing a different direction you think to yourself to do the same and conform to their body positioning as not to stand out. This will most likely feel weird to you since you’ve been doing something else your whole life but you never question the group, you just keep going along with it. Even after people around you keep changing direction between each floor in the elevator you still follow them, even though your thinking in your mind these people are insane. If you don’t follow their every move than they will be thinking the same way about you. People tend to stray away from people who they think are very different than them, that’s why many people don’t become friends with an outcast due to the fact they think they are completely different from themselves. It’s easier to pick on someone who isn’t like everybody else, so therefore most people who are different don’t end up with many friends since their potential friends can end up picking on them to be part of the pack. When you look back at all the different phases you went through, like Pokémon, you realize that stuff was pretty dumb actually, but since everyone else had the cards so did you, just so you could fit in. Kids are especially susceptible to being influenced and can be conformed easily so this is when the majority of our social skills are learned. We do get molded all our life and new social situations never fail to amaze us on how others function.

When 11 percent of a high school is pregnant than there has to be similarities that all these people share. Though the high school is in a poorer area of Memphis there is some outside factors that we don’t see that are affecting the pregnancy rate in that area. These young women are probably daughters of mothers who got pregnant with them at a young age too. It is easier to get pregnant and not know about safe sex in poorer communities like this one in Memphis. When looking at the 11 facts about sex education it is noticeable that only 2/3 of the country are to teach sex education to their students with 1/3 not getting the education to be sexually healthy. The board of education needs to install a program in every school system to prevent unsafe sex to stop these young people to fall into early parenthood. There is probably a tight comparison between being taught sex education and the students who have early pregnancies, in that those without the proper education have a greater chance of having unprotected sex and becoming pregnant. They didn’t “choose” to become pregnant; it just so happens that there were probably not enough role models in their life to divert them off the course of having unsafe sex. If someone doesn’t try and stop you from doing something your always going to have a greater risk of doing it, unless you do it out of spite. 86 % of all sex education courses taught their students in the U.S to be abstinent and that was the best protection against early pregnancies. Over half of the south teach their students that abstinence is the only way to stay sexually healthy compared to the 20% of Northeastern schools who teach you about the other ways of safe sex and give the students more options and knowledge on the subject matter. There are many government funded programs that teach abstinence is the only way to be safe which isn’t what these students need, they need to be told about the other ways to practice safe sex to avoid unwanted pregnancies.

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Taking your life isn’t the answer even if all that has been happening to you recently has been bad. There are good things ahead for you if you stay positive. You probably feel like there isn’t much you can do and that the world is against you. Well it is true that there are some outside factors that we can’t control but we can still make decisions that can make us happier. All people go through ups and downs; even losing jobs occur every day and even multiple times to one person. Some people are more predisposed to facing these hardships, your society forces you to have a good job, you just think your social status is hurt because of getting fired but in reality those around you that matter don’t think anything less of you. Don’t think possessions will make you happier; there are plenty of wealthy people that aren’t any happier than someone who is living paycheck to paycheck. Committing suicide won’t help out any of your loved ones that you leave behind to take on your mourning and the mounting debt that you were trying to escape. No one wins in this situation so you should fight through the hardships of life. You have enough freedom to go ahead and make the correct decisions to work through all these obstacles and make things better for yourself. You have more freedom than you think, you feel like your back is against the wall but you can work your way to a better life. Don’t think these outside factors control you completely. If you make it through your tough times there are good times around the corner.