These two stories are both very touching; they really speak to the character of the human population. In this class we often look at the problems that we are dealing with in our world. The videos are a reminder that although we have a lot of problems that we have to deal with in the world there are still just as many people who are compassionate, loving, and caring.
Sam does a great job in class of making us think about what is and what could be. As I think about some of the topics he brings up I can’t help but to think about the what if’s. What if the world were as good and as loving and as tight as we all dream it could be. It is a what if so the chances of a utopian society are slim but still there is hope for a better world. These videos are examples of what should be happening all through the world. In the kidney video there is a white man who gives his kidney to an Asian store clerk. This shows a tremendous amount of compassion and respect. It is not everyday that someone is willing to give a kidney and on top of that it was basically for a complete stranger. These acts of colorblind kindness are what should be the goals of every living being on the earth. If everyone was treated with this same respect and compassion then the world would be perfect. Things will never be perfect though so really the best thing we can do at this point is change one thing out of our day to help someone else. I believe that we should all start to talk about and think about karma. It is real, no doubt about it. We all should be thinking about karma on a daily basis. Good Karma comes from doing good things like giving a kidney and even small things like helping someone carry their books. Building up good karma and doing good things are what get us ahead in life. By doing this we learn a lot about ourselves as well as learning about the person you just helped. The golden rule is basically karma without the karma aspect. Do things to others as you would want done to you. This is karma basically, just do stuff that isn’t mean and hurtful. As basic as it seems it is rare that any of us actually think about and follow this rule on a day to day basis. The greatest quote I ever read was, “Good things happen to good people” this quote couldn’t be truer. The better you treat your neighbors, friends, and acquaintances the better your life will be in the end.

I feel like money is key to life. Hard work really doesn't do the job these days. If you have money you can get anywhere in life but if you work hard you can only do so much depending on your socioeconomic status. It is said to say that hard work will do the job but in reality money rules over everything. If you have money then you can get good grades because you have money and connections. If you work hard then you can become really good and really skilled but you can never stack up to the money makers because you don't have money. Money gives you rights and abilities that you normally would never have. Hard work is great and I am trying to make it on hard work myself but money really does help and it does make a difference. It sucks but it is the truth money and elitism are what rules America.

This is very interesting it is crazy how we humans really don't care about disasters unless we are directly affected by them. The normal response is to just be like, "oh that sucks, I hope things get better" I even do this a lot. Its not even that I don't give a fuck its just that I also have a life and I also have my own well being to worry about on a daily basis. I know that may sound really selfish but its the truth, if I ever want to be in a position to help other people later in my life then I need to do work and get mine. I mean I am all for helping people and giving to other but I feel like I need to get my shit straight first. I want to be in a good position to help people first instead of being some broke ass, bum ass, college student who really can't really help drastically.

This letter was deep to say the least. What this man said I think is one of the truest forms of human interaction. During the course of anyone’s life we all face an umpteen number of challenges, hardships, and obstacles that we must tackle and overcome. Life is hard for everyone and that is what forms our personalities and our character. This mans letter was eye opening to me mostly because it was a man who was in jail for life yet had the compassion for another to help them out. This is the ultimate situation, these men are in jail for life, there is no reason that they should feel the need to help anyone out. They seemingly have nothing to live for yet when simple problems in their life come up like one of their inmate’s son dying then they show the compassion to help his fellow man out. Life has a strange way of working for us. We make many mistakes, it is inevitable this man just made a rather large mistake, much bigger than most of us make during our lifetimes. He killed a man/woman and now he must deal with the consequences of his actions. It shows a lot of character when a man who has committed a crime like that and has realized his mistakes and has worked hard to become a much better man than before. The “lifer” was right when he said that we view inmates like him as monsters and not real people. I, myself do this many times, you think about jail and it makes you cringe because you know if you ever had to go there then you would be in a house full of monsters and criminals who had no care or concern in the world for people like me. Even in the television and media they have shows about jails and criminals and they make the men in the show out to be beasts. This inmate’s letter proved to me that jail is a horrible place but there are many people who are fundamentally good and have good morals they just fucked up once or had a period in their lives where they weren’t themselves. This brings up a thought to my mind though, what would make a man like this decide to commit a crime like murder? He is obviously is not a terrible person, granted he has had many years to think about his actions and himself and why he did what he did. But I am interested to find out what happened to him that made him want to kill someone else. I mean it has to be a two way street someone must’ve treated him pretty badly to push him to the point where he felt the only solution was to kill them.

In all honesty I think if a group of lets say Chinese invaders came and took over the United States and during their invasion they killed one or some of my family members and friends then I would definitely blow some stuff up. I can't even really imagine how shitty it would be to have my country be destroyed by invasion. I don't think people are really understanding what being invading is really like. I am sure that half the town of state college would be destroyed at least. Half of my friends and family would be dead all because some Chinese people decided to invade us. I would be so mad and so angry that obviously I would be killing, I wouldn't be suicide bombing because then I wouldn't be able to mess up more Chinese then. There is no doubt though that I would be bombing and doing the whole insurgency thing because like there is nothing left to live for, my family, friends, home, and country are all gone or at least gone as we know it. And there is no way I am going to let some Chinese invaders tell me what to do so yes I would fuck a whole lot of stuff up because that's really the only logical thing to do in that situation.

LyndsieS if you really think that your comment was at all about what Sam talked about then I really do feel sorry for you. Sam talked about extremes yesterday, he did not by any means say that all American Christians wanted to take over the world. It is ludacris that you even got that out of what he was saying. Sam talked about the war and how it is not at all about what we think it is about. He did not attack Christians the least bit. What he was saying was that this war was never about an "axis of evil" there were no "bad guys" and we were not trying to keep any peace. Those are all things the media and government fed us to subdue us and trick us into thinking something that wasn't. The war was and is really about our need for oil and what will we do to get it. He was also saying that we talk about how these Islamic people are all radical and out to kill Americans and hate us and this and that. Then he tried to get us to look at it from a DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW and see what the Muslims are seeing which are Christians, invading Christians. Christians who are trying to take over and for all they know it could be just because they aren't Christian. Next time you decide you want to get offended read a book or go to class or both so you at least know what you are saying, you need all the help you can get.

Yesterdays class was by far the most intriguing, thought provoking class I think we have had all year. Sam enticed us to think about the War in Iraq, terrorists, and how we Americans are brainwashed into believing what the Government wants us to. After the lecture I had mixed feelings i didn't know how to feel. On the one hand I was feeling like I knew why the "insurgents" were doing what they were doing. On the other hand I felt extremely angry to our government and our media for making us, the people of the US, believe in a war that is completely false. Our media constantly feeds us this information about the war and we a made to believe that we are always right and that our country only wants to be fair and peaceful. This I think after the lecture is not at all what we have become as a nation. American's have become the fatass bullys who beat up any kid on the block who doesn't like them or agree with them. I can't even put in to words how upset I am. It seems like we have grown up in a hypocritical nation, we say one thing and do another. We say we are only trying to protect and help the smaller less developed countries who need it. When it comes down to it though, we are really just out to get ours, whatever we want or need we will stop at nothing to get it and then make our people believe that it is for a just cause.
On top of this Sam showed a couple of videos with George Bush, John McCain, Sarah Palin, and General Petraeus. These were what in my mind were the most important parts of the class. They all spoke of "Crusades" or something along the same lines which made the war seem even more convoluted. It made me wonder if it was about safety or if it was about proving one's God is greater than Iraq's. Even General Petraeus said in his video that he thought that our God was real and that the Muslims was not, that Allah was just an idol. We always hear in the media that the extremists Muslims are warmongers. We are told they are rogue and have one goal in life, kill "good" American Christians. Which is funny because what the media fails to mention every time is that our nations leaders are also fighting and killing people because they believe it's God's Will. This is a lot like the same reason that the Islamic people are fighting us. It makes me wonder who is really is the "axis of evil." We are doing exactly what they are yet we think we are right in doing what we are doing because we are civilized, smart, Christian Americans.
Sam asked us all at the end of the class if we would be insurgents if we were put in the same situation as the Iraqis. I answered that I most certainly would. If some fucks led by a bigger fuck in George Bush came into my country and tried to take my oil and kill my people and use my resources and ruin my land and my house and my community then I would be killing soldiers like Rambo.

Opinions can only change when people are open to challenging their opinion. I love to hear arguments against things that I believe because it really makes me question my beliefs. If I agree with the argument my opinion on that topic begins to sway away from my original thought. Often other times peoples’ arguments will just enhance and strengthen my current beliefs or opinions. Hearing other peoples’ opinions helps you gain new angles and views on the same topic. The second question was has anything made a difference to me and the answer is undoubtedly yes. Unless you are extremely afraid to open your mind and challenge your beliefs I don’t see how this class couldn’t have made a difference to you. The topics that we talk about are things that I now see every day. Just in the last class alone, the one about modern slavery, has made an impact in my day to day life. Whenever I see someone eating a Snickers bar I wonder if they really know how much blood, sweat, and tears really went into that 99-cent nougat and nut filled chocolate bar. My collection of white t-shirts that I bought at Wal Mart for pennies on the dollar was probably created by a myriad of slaves. Last night at dinner shrimp was being served and I recalled shrimp being on the list of “jobs” that modern day slaves are forced to do. I looked around at all the people eating shrimp and wondered how many of them really thought about who actually sacrificed to supply them with that meal. SOC 119 isn’t really as much of a class to me as it is a chunk of time where I can sit down and wrestle with my thoughts. It is a chance for my eyes to really open to the horror and to the beauty of our modern world. The class has made a world of difference to me. You finished your dialogue with “I wanna know if people actually change their opinion off what Sam says “ and my answer to that is no. Sam cannot change anything I believe or think. However he is a guide to helping me look at things I previously thought I knew and challenging my thoughts. He says time and time again that he doesn’t care what you think, he just cares that you think. He just wants to get the mental wheels turning in everyone. It could very easily be just me who has benefited from the class and everyone else just wants to get through the lectures to receive their A and go about other ambitions. I however will be the first to say that some of my opinions have changed, others have not, but all in all this class has “honestly” made a difference.

To me step two is making an individual effort. If we go out with the mindset that we can change the world we will fall flat on our face. But if we go out with the mindset that we can change our part in the play of life we can make a change and an example for others to follow. If one person in a room claps the noise is relatively quiet but the people around them hear it. Then if everyone who heard that clap claps the noise will become much louder. This continues on until everyone claps in unison. The second step is to be the first to clap.

I completely agree with this. I don't think you should try to be anything or identify with any race or person you do not want to. If you feel like a white person then when people ask you can just identify with that team or if you feel Hispanic or Latino then say you identify more and consider yourself more a part of that group than any other. Its more about how you feel on the inside than what you think society wants you to be on the outside. People are always going to judge and make false conjectures about you no matter how you act or what you do. Stop worry about what people think of you and just do what you feel is right on the inside.