I think there is a distinct line between nationalism and racism. In my opinion, nationalism is, in its most basic form, extreme pride and devotion to your country. But, just because you are proud of your country does not mean you can discriminate based on how a name sounds. That is incredibly racist. The fact that you even made the connection between nationalism and racism is pretty disturbing. However, it is also very disturbing that the statistic Sam presented in class holds true today. In today’s highly diverse workplace, how is it that there is this extreme racism?

I took an entire course devoted to business ethics and diversity in the workplace. Many facts presented in BA 342 were about how minorities were becoming more and more prominent within the workplace. Businesses are not simply hiring more minorities, but they are creating company-wide diversity initiatives. I like to think they aren’t hiring more minorities for the hell of it, but because they are the best candidate for the position. That is the way business should work, employers should hire prospective employees based on technical skill and how well they would fit the position. If I apply for a job, I want to be hired because I was the best candidate for the job, not because I’m a certain race or have a certain name. If I found out I was hired over another man who was more qualified than me because his name was “insert black name here” I would not feel right accepting the job. Also, I would not want to work for a company that was so shallow in their hiring process because corruption at the bottom inevitable means corruption at the top.

This is a very unfortunate consequence of human nature, but it will continue to exist for years to come. Most people are simply more familiar and therefore more comfortable with names they are used to hearing on a day-to-day basis. If you want to be a “nationalist” more power to you, but being a “nationalist” must be put on the back burner when it comes to the hiring process and big business in general. During the hiring process, characteristics such as name and nationality should be disregarded in making decisions. Candidates should be hired based on their achievements and how well they would fit the job position along with secondary factors such as background checks, negative drug screenings, etc.

To reiterate, there is a distinct line between racism and nationalism. I think the information that Sam presented in class about how people have fluctuating callback rates based on their name is not rooted in nationalism at all, but really the underlying racism that exists today among the human race.

I must say that death rarely crosses my mind. Am I afraid to die? If I put a lot of thought into the end of my life, then yes I could probably convince myself to be afraid of death. But why worry about it now when I’m young and in the best years of my life? The only two things in life that you have to do are die and pay your taxes. So, my death is inevitably coming, so why worry about it? That’s why I live my life via the motto “Carpe Diem.” I do not spend my days worrying about what will happen when I die. I only have one life to live, and I’m not wasting it. Bob Marley had it right when he said, “Don’t worry, be happy.” A day of worrying is a day wasted. Growing up in a Catholic household and attending thirteen years of Catholic school, I have been taught that when we die, if we have followed in the path of Christ, we will be rewarded. We will be rewarded with eternal happiness in a place high above known as Heaven. Growing older and becoming more rational in my thinking has led me to question the practicality of heaven. However, after the class discussion about death, my beliefs were reassured. Many people who have died and been brought back reported the same things: overwhelming peace, a white light, and unexplainable warmth. Come on, sure sounds like heaven to me. It is worth mentioning that I was quite surprised to be told that Catholics, as well as Jews and Atheists and all other religions, experienced the same happenings.

So back to the original question, am I afraid to die? After this class, I have to say I was almost excited/anxious to die. An afterlife full of peace and joy sounds a lot better than most days on Earth. When someone dies, people express remorse and sadness for the person who died. How could they? The person who died is probably expressing remorse for everyone still on Earth, a place filled with sadness and hatred, while the dead enjoy paradise. I really admire how the Mexican people celebrate death through “Dia de Los Muertos.” I feel more cultures/religions should view death as happier because the deceased are now in a better place.

The information that was presented in class has confirmed my motto of “Carpe Diem” because while you have time on Earth, a place filled with sadness and misery, you might as well make the most of it and be as happy as you can. For after your time on Earth, as some studies show, your soul will live on full of happiness, warmth, and peace.

After the class we spoke with Maziar, I definitely felt a call to travel to Iran. Even though it has been over a week since we spoke with Maziar, I have still been interacting with him via Facebook. His humbleness and kindness still shines through his words. To reiterate, my view of Iranians were drastically changed after speaking with Maziar. Also, Sam showed us a very enticing video depicting the exciting/younger/entertaining side of Iran. It looked like a hell of a good time. Based on the video, the Iran I was unaware of looks to be filled with beautiful people and fabulous wealth. I did feel compelled to visit this side of Iran after this class period.

One of my life goals is to do as much traveling as possible. I’ve already visited the UK, Mexico, Jamaica, and most of the U.S. It is very important to me, when I am traveling, to experience the culture firsthand. Take my trip to Jamaica; my family decided to take a day off from the beach and take a bus trip into town to taste the local cuisine and experience the shops. It bugs me when people say they’ve visited places like Mexico and experienced the culture, when they went to Cancun and stayed within their resort’s walls the entirety of the trip. That’s not Mexican culture, that’s basically American resort life just 4 hours away by plane. During spring break 2013, I am going back to Mexico. However this time instead of going to Cancun and missing out on the culture, I am going on a mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico, a place that I think is a great representation of Mexican culture. In life it is very important to be exposed to other cultures and experience how the other half live.

Going to Iran would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I would enjoy experiencing the wealthy side of Iran, as depicted in the video Sam showed us, but also the less wealthy side, depicted by the media. I think traveling to other cultures and being exposed to different people/customs makes you a better person. Besides being more cultured, it makes you more appreciative of what you were blessed with. After traveling to different places or experiencing cultures less fortunate than ours, I come back home with a different perspective. I am more careful not to waste things, such as food, water, or clothing. Unfortunately, after about 2 weeks of returning, this effect wears off and I return to my routine of being a glutton and wasteful. This is why I want to continue to travel frequently to preserve the humble perspective I return with. Maybe after traveling enough it will be so deeply embedded into my mind that it will not wear off.

Next destination: Iran.

Speaking with Maziar via Skype was one of the most interesting and eye-opening experiences of my life. Of course, everyone has his or her preconceived notions about Iranians. It was so cool to be able to speak with him in such an informal setting to put everyone’s stereotypes to rest. Based solely on the Skype video feed, it seemed Maziar lived a normal life and resided in a normal house. Unrightfully so, I always figured Iranians lived in run-down homes in a desert setting with little or no modern technology. I obviously was dead wrong. It was interesting when Sam showed us that short video highlighting the Iranian culture/nightlife. It looked like a damn good time, and was very inconsistent with my previous views towards Iran. I was pleasantly shocked at how polite, humble, and outgoing Maziar appeared. He just came off as a normal guy, someone I’d like to be friends with. He loved Adele, Usher, Friends, and more. I had no idea how much of American pop-culture was embedded in Iranians everyday life.

This experience got me thinking of how much the media influences our attitudes. The media portrays Iran as an evil place filled with evil people. So, many Americans view of Iran is negative. However, apparently in Iran, American is portrayed as a fabulous land full of wealth and happiness. These viewpoints could be changed so easily though. If the media would portray the side of Iran that Sam showed us in that video, people may start thinking how dope Iran looks and may look into visiting. Likewise, if the media only showed Iranians footage of downtown Detroit where poverty and crime are part of everyday life, their viewpoint of America would be skewed pretty negatively. Unless we do research on our own, we only know what the media tells us. I hope to have more experiences like this one, where I can see first hand what life is like from the natives.

Immediately after class, I Facebook messaged Maziar, letting him know how much I appreciated him taking time to speak with us. It was incredible how humble his response was. He said how it was “his best day” and the word “thanks” came up multiple times. I continued to read other students posts on his wall, and the tone was the same. He remained incredible thankful to all, and even offered up his home to students that were willing to come visit Iran. He also offered to show students around the downtown areas. Maziar seems like one of the most humble and hospitable men in Iran. I really hope we get to speak with him again at some point in the semester because doing so put a smile on my face and really got me thinking about life in other areas of the world and how it differs from what the media portrays.

I found myself feeling quite disturbed with the comments made by the young woman from Iran, but not for the reasons you would think. It shocked me that she said that she had lied about where she was from in order to not come under fire her cultural identity. First off, I give her mad props to be able to stand up in front of 600+ people of mostly Americans to voice her opinion. If I was in her position, I would’ve been shaken to my core with terror and probably unable to get a word out because of my nerves. I think another reason why she was so nervous, aside from being a minority in an enormous class, was because she has years of opinions stored inside of her and she wanted to voice them in the best way possible without stepping on anyone toes (such as like 500+ Americans in the room).

I think this all goes back to the empathy point. Imagine being in her shoes, voicing an unpopular opinion in front of hundreds of people of a different background than you. It’s scary, extremely scary. I understand where she was coming from; it just sucked to hear. The fact that Americans would judge her just because she was from Iran is awful. Obviously, Americans are quite patriotic and think very highly of the U.S.A. But I feel as though the educated population would not be so quick as to formulate an opinion. In my case, I was brought up in a Catholic household, so the Golden Rule was always present in my home. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. When I meet someone from another country, I will have no quarrels with you until you give me a reason to. I feel, or I like to think, many others have a similar viewpoint. So, I think the girl may have a distorted view of the American people. She is afraid to tell people she is from Iran because she is afraid of being hated. I would like to know the actual number of times she has informed someone that she was Iranian and had someone automatically disregard her solely based on cultural identity. I feel like society does not judge people so harshly anymore. If we did, we’d miss out on tons of great experiences. I’m a suburban white kid at PSU, and two of my best friends here are Saudi Arabian and Pakistani. If I were to ignore them based solely on cultural identity, I would’ve lost out on two great friendships. People are not as harsh as the young woman thinks they are. The sooner she realizes this, the sooner she will be able to be more comfortable with her Iranian roots.

The reason a man telling another man he looks hot is taboo is because of the stereotypical view of the “typical man.” I personally don’t think it is taboo, but I’m not a “typical guy.” I consider myself pretty in touch with my emotions and the lecture about LGBT issues didn’t bother me in the least bit. One of my best friends at Penn State is gay, or bisexual. Honestly, I really don’t know what he is but he isn’t straight. He tells my friends and I we look hot all the time, and I take it in the same way as if a girl told me I looked hot. I really liked Sam’s comment when he said, “When you’re my age, and look how I do, you take every compliment you can get.” Why wait until your Sam’s age to start accepting compliments from both sides? It is very important for humans to have high self-esteem and confidence to function normally in everyday life. So if a guy says, you’re hot, to another man, why bother freaking out about it or regarding it as weird? He is just acknowledging the fact that you are an attractive person. If a guy thinks you look hot, you can probably guarantee a girl will probably think the same thing. Some guys would freak out if another man told them they look hot because they think the guy was coming onto them, and they don’t want to be thought of as gay by their peers. I think this is evidence of a man not being comfortable with his sexuality. Just because a man says you look hot, doesn’t mean he’s coming on to you. If he says, “Hey man, you look hot. You want to have sex?” That’s different. But, that’s rarely the case. Like I have said, I have had exposure to men telling me I look hot. So much so that I started telling my guy friends when they look good. Who cares? It all comes back to the self-esteem thing. Girls do it all the time, and I think guys should be able to as well. But many would agree that’s not within the parameters of the “typical man.” The typical man is rugged, not in touch with his emotions, and would never tell another man he looks good. However, I feel as though those who portray the “typical man” have lower self-esteem overall. Personally, I have very high self-esteem, probably because I receive compliments from both sides, and consider them equally. But that doesn’t make me gay; I’m straight as an arrow. Also, I know from experience that most girls like a guy that’s more in touch with his emotions than not. I think getting in touch with your emotions or embracing your feminine side can start with being able to take compliments from both genders.

When talking about personal troubles, the issue of cutting hits very close to home for me. A girl who used to be very close to me broke down and admitted to me while very intoxicated last State Patty’s Day that she had cut herself multiple times. Unfortunately, we no longer speak for reasons unrelated to cutting but this was my first exposure to the issue of cutting. When she showed me her cuts, it shook me to my core. I had nightmares about it for days. It was like her cuts were part of me, and the only thing I wanted to do was help her, but did not know how. The second exposure I had to cutting was with a girl who I worked with that became a close, personal friend to me and we remain great friends to this day. She confided in me last summer that she cuts herself periodically. She comes from a difficult home life and says that cutting really helps relieve some of the pain she experiences daily. Again, I get very disturbed when she tells me she cut herself again. I regularly question why she does it, and ask her how inflicting more pain upon herself can relieve her original pain. All I want to do is help, but how much can I do? Before speaking with her via Skype, I usually try to come up with things I can say to her. I usually find it difficult to relate to her, since I was fortunate to have a great home life growing up. I find myself playing “psychiatrist” with her sometimes. I try to my best to get to the root of why she does what she does. Sometimes I think just talking with her is the best thing I could ever do. There are times when we Skype for 4 straight hours. We usually start with talking about her cutting and what’s going on in her life that leads her to cuts, and then I try to transition away from that and just talk to her about anything. I just try to make her smile. More than anything, I stress to her that I am here for her 24/7, I’m just one text/call away. I think this is the most important thing I could tell her. Inform her to Skype me when she really wants to cut and we’ll talk her problems out and hopefully I can talk her down and make her forget about her urge to cut.

I’d just thought I’d mention that it is very interesting what Sam was saying about the “invisible strings” associated with personal troubles. Both people in my life that have/are cut/cutting are related by “invisible strings” because they both come from very similar, difficult home lives. Interesting.

Racism is never an easy topic to discuss, mainly because there are many gray areas when it comes to a definition. In my opinion, racism relates to the negative thoughts or actions one person generates toward another person based on race. Again, there are many gray areas in regards to racism. For example, was the Chi Omega scandal, racist? I personally thought the picture was racially insensitive, but I wouldn’t go as far as labeling every girl that took part in the picture a racist. I think the stupidity of that whole thing lies in the fact that the girls were dumb enough to post the picture on social media sites, a whole different topic that I am against. That’s a different discussion for a different day. But although I don’t think the picture was racist, rather racially insensitive, I’m willing to bet some Mexicans would disagree with me. But if a comedian, such as the incredibly inappropriate but witty and clever Daniel Tosh, spoke a joke about Mexicans cutting grass or smoking pot, would he be labeled as a racist? I’m going to go out on a limb and say no. But why? Why are some random sorority girls labeled as racists after one picture when comedians everywhere have been making the same jokes for years? It’s not fair. I think some people take the racism topic a little far. Yes, it’s a serious problem in our society because people have died over racist feuds and other violent acts. But if people are going to get up in arms over a picture of some girls depicting a stereotypical Mexican, that’s ridiculous. What’s next? People are going to start accusing little kids of being racist for playing Cowboys and Indians. There will always be stereotypes of races, it’s just an unfortunate part of society. A few common stereotypes are white guys can’t jump, black people can’t swim, or Asians are good at math. But I know tons of white people that can dunk a basketball on a regulation net. I worked as a lifeguard at a day camp for inner-city kids, so I saw tons of black children that were fantastic swimmers. I’ve also met Asians that suck at math. These stereotypes aren’t the problem here. The problem lies when people start negatively acting upon these stereotypes, which could be called racist. The Chi Omega girls should not be considered racist until something like, not allowing a Mexican girl in their sorority simply because of her race, happens. There are many types of stereotypes, good and bad, that exist. But when people start discriminating based on the stereotypes, that is when we have a serious problem. I hope sometime soon people can forget these stereotypes and we can focus on what really matters with people, what’s on the inside.

The main question I hope to discuss at some point during the course is why are white people (such as myself) always the ones to be considered or presumed racist. I feel this has been an issue in my life for a long time. I think it is first important to share things about my upbringing to shed some light on my feelings. I grew up in a predominately white neighborhood in the southwest suburbs of Philadelphia and would consider myself quite sheltered as a child/teenager. In my grade school of about 400 kids, there was only 1 black family of 3 that attended the school. When I got to high school, the school was more split 75% white and 25% black. High school was when my fellow black classmates usually presumed me, along with my white classmates, racist. If the black students were ever accused of any wrongdoing (justly or unjustly) they would immediately play the “that’s racist” card. I specifically remember a time when I was in class taking a test and a few black students were walking down the hall being loud and disruptive to the classes in session. My teacher simply walked out of the classroom and sternly said, “Excuse me, my students are taking an exam! Please quiet down.” Although they were obviously out of line, they immediately replied, “Yo, that’s racist!” They proceeded to the discipline office and tried to file a complaint about my teacher being racist, simply for telling them to quiet down. That was a common theme in my high school. However, I feel if the tables were turned and a black teacher were to tell a group of white students to quiet down, no one would bat an eyelash or consider it racist. I just want to know why that is. My upbringing and my experiences in high school have led me to think that white people have to tread carefully around people of color in the fear of being accused as racist. However, I feel people of color never have to worry about being considered racist. Is that simply because of the fact that they are the minority, whether in my high school or here at Penn State, or because of something else? Maybe people of color do worry about being considered racist or maybe they feel that because they are of color, they have a sense of entitlement or are above the racism category. I would enjoy if Sam would address this issue and gets perspectives from different people of color and white people to see what everyone else thinks. I want to know if I think this just because I am from not the most diverse background or if this is the way things truly are.