While the fact is really sad, I do believe that most Americans will not respond if some big tragedy occurs somewhere else in the world. People do not bring it into perspective, and they do not respond to it in such a way like we all did on September 11, 2001. We forget what it is like to have that gut-wrenching feeling. I think people need to take a step back and start realizing how much this affects people in our world. Like the girl said, we are all one world and it all should affect us. Whether or not it is in our own state or across the world in Morocco, we should pay attention- because if it were us that lost someone close to us, we would want others to care.

South park is always out of line. They really hold nothing back, and there is no way you should take offense to what they say. They trash everyone, and I mean everyone. I am Jewish, and when they say something extremely offensive to Jews, I start to get upset, then I remember that they do it for an effect. They do it for people that have incredibly and disgustingly crude humor. Even shows like Family Guy and the Simpsons do not take it to a level that South park does. I try not ot watch the show, because I know it is written by a bunch of people that get high together and try to write things that people will find funny.

I wish this letter could have been longer, going further into what he thought, and maybe and even about his development of feelings towards his punishment. I think it would be interesting to read an entire diary of a man in prison that has a realization of what is happening. What if he was the kind of person who you would never expect to be a murderer? What if he had a wife and kids that care deeply about him, who he will never be able to have holidays with or celebrate birthdays? What if his anger, just at one moment in time got so bad that one action would cost him the rest of his life? There are so many what-if’s. I wish I could meet one in person. I feel like seeing in the ingenuity in their eyes like Sam said would have even a larger impact than their words in this mans letter.

I think it would be interesting to read an entire diary of a man in prison that has a realization of what is happening. What if he was the kind of person who you would never expect to be a murderer? What if he had a wife and kids that care deeply about him, who he will never be able to have holidays with or celebrate birthdays? What if his anger, just at one moment in time got so bad that one action would cost him the rest of his life? There are so many what-if’s. I wish I could meet one in person. I feel like seeing in the ingenuity in their eyes like Sam said would have even a larger impact than their words in this mans letter.

I would be surprised if I got a letter from a lifer that wrote me something that really encouraged me to do something. I would not normally think that this would be anything in the least bit sincere, but after reading this man’s letter totally changed the way I feel. I cannot believe the way he opened up in that letter. It did not have the effect on me that I first thought. It actually really upset me when I was reading it. To think I always assumed that they were cold-hearted monsters, which some might very well be. But there really are those people that are able to reflect on what they have done, and it is sad to know they will never ever go back to living a normal life. I wish this letter could have been longer, going further into what he thought, and maybe and even about his development of feelings towards his punishment.

This letter is very eye opening. I have not really spent much time thinking about people in prison for life. I never really thought about how they might feel. Of course at first they must have complete anger and utter denial and think that it is complete b-s that they are in there. I am sure after sometime, after realization that they will never get the chance to leave, will come to accept what they do. Of course, he deserves to be punished for a horrible crime. But this did change my perspective. They really are not all monsters in jail. He really is turning a horrible situation into a learning experience, which is incredible. I am surprised that it is nothing like the movies, the tough guys that only beat each other up. They all really do have feelings. While he can never be forgotten for what he did, I do think that people can change and be a different person than they were when they committed the crime. It really surprised me that he tries to make a difference in other people’s lives. He said that he tries to donate blood and send donations and letters to encourage and help other people.

There is of course a second step. But until we can complete step one, there can be no way to move on. Like he said in class, everyone has to really understand what is going on. We need to spread the knowledge of what we know from the class to others, so we can make everyone fully aware of what is going on in the world today. Most people, even me before I enrolled in this class, are blissfully unaware and completely ignorant of the horrible actions going on thousands of miles away. So until everyone knows about the situation, we will not be able to act on step two-- taking action.

I went to a predominately white high school. Maybe one or two black kids, a couple Asians, and.. that’s about it. While I was not fully aware of the black/brown or white issues, I feel like I was thrown into a revisioning stage about my religion. I forgot to mention, my school and area where I live is also predominately Catholic. I felt different from the very beginning about being Jewish and certainly got my fair share of hurtful things said about me in regards to my religion. This however, once I got older and saw the world in a more diverse way, helped me to understand all of the problems between people racially.

While I do believe there are some, not all, people that abuse welfare, I do not think that it should be shut down completely. Instead of just not making welfare available anymore, they should change the program and have it for different purposes. I definitely am not an expert on welfare, but I think more should be done to better the people’s lives. It is like the saying, you could buy a man a fish and feed him for a day or teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime. I don’t understand why instead of just giving money for food and basic necessities, provide some sort of education so they can get out there and get a job.

I think affirmative action in a way is a bit hypocritical. While I do not directly oppose it, I also am not completely for it. The concept of it is equal opportunity, but in the long run it really prevents some extremely qualified individuals from receiving the job or spot in a university. By enforcing quotas to meet of a certain amount of each minority is also discrimination, primarily towards white men since they are basically the ones being compared to. But then again, how will there ever be a way to rid our society of any time of nepotism and unfair employment? There is no way to ever, ever get rid of them. In a perfect world, people would not see the racial differences between one prospective candidate and the next. If that were the case, then there would be no need for affirmative action, no racism, and I guess there would not even be a need for a class such as the one we are enrolled in. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and that will never be the case. I guess this is society’s way of making it right, with affirmative action, but they are in a sense creating more of a problem. While affirmative action is extremely beneficial for me, a white woman majoring in engineering, it bothers me to think that yeah, maybe there is another person who really does deserve this more than me. Maybe they studied that much harder for their final exam and worked harder in a course that made them more qualified with me. Not that I can really complain about being able to get a job easier than others, I really do not like the fact of how I got the job. Does that mean they just needed me to meet their quota? They might not have even wanted me but needed the numbers to make their company look better. It is hard to think about it in those terms, but like I said before, this will never, ever end. When it comes to the boy in the video asking the question, while yeah, they might have to meet that “quota”, I really do not think that a hospital will employ anyone not under extremely satisfactory credentials. I think when it comes to a situation like a hospital when life and death are at stake, they will not employ someone that is not right for the job but looks good under numbers like say, a restaurant may do. That being said, I would not say that affirmative action really “lowers” the quality of people, but under certain circumstances in different fields (excluding hospitals) they may choose someone a little less qualified to meet those oh so desired quotas.