Sam showed an example with the lady in California that sold pears. Without illegal immigrants to pick the pears for her, she ended up losing millions of dollars. The workers that were willing to do the job for her were back in Mexico. I think one of the things that many people forget is that immigrants are not coming in here in order to “steal” our jobs, hurt, or make anyone mad. Their soul goal is to come to the US and make a better life for themselves and their families. No one should be denied the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. If you have the motivation and determination to do so, you should be given every opportunity to do so.
People give up everything just to have the opportunity to come here. That is really amazing to me considering I was born here and have never had a perspective of living anywhere else. I really enjoyed the personal story of Erics, the TA. Hearing a true story from someone I see twice a week in my class really hit me harder than just hearing facts and nothing from anyone that was a personal story. Hearing his story really affected my beliefs on illegal immigration more than anything else has. No longer do I have such a negative opinion on illegal immigration. I feel bad that people do not live in such a great place that they feel forced to give their everything to come here. I am really glad that Sam decided to talk about illegal immigration. He explained a lot and I learned a lot as to what exactly it is and why it happens. In a way, our country kind of relies on illegal immigration.
After today’s lecture, my opinion on illegal immigration has definitely changed. Previously, I had not really ever thought about illegal immigration in much depth. I pretty much just assumed illegal immigration was a bad thing merely because the word “illegal” was thrown in there. It just sounds negative and I have heard negative things and statements about it so I just assumed it was bad. I had heard that illegal immigrants took peoples jobs and they were not helping our economy in any positive way. I feel like many people had thought the same way as I had. I also believed that there was no way to stop illegal immigration and that people were just trying extremely hard to stop it when it is nearly impossible to do so. Yes, it can be somewhat monitored but to stop it completely is something that can never happen. I didn’t realize the extremes that people will go to in order to come to the United States.
It goes along with how you grow up. Some people grow up being more privileged than others. They are just handed things that others are not. Overall, nepotism benefits some people while it obviously then hurts others. Although it sucks for the person that is being hindered an opportunity, along the lines, maybe that will receive something due to nepotism that others are not. It really all goes back to who you know and the connections you have made in life. The more connections you have made throughout your life, the better off you will be in the future. Nepotism is not a necessarily a bad thing and I would and will definitely take every opportunity I am given regardless of if it is due to nepotism.
I do not think nepotism is necessarily a bad thing. It sucks for the person that is being denied the opportunity and is better qualified but that is a part of life. All of the people that take over family businesses or family homes are experiencing nepotism. It happens all the time throughout the world. So the main question here is whether I would actively think to say no if I was granted an opportunity due to nepotism. I would definitely not reject the opportunity. I would feel somewhat guilty taking the opportunity away from the better qualified person but you need to think of what is better for yourself so why would you turn down the chance? Chances are you wouldn’t. I would personally not want to risk the benefit to myself. Just as I believe that not a single person in the world would reject the opportunity either.
A few weeks ago, we had a class discussion and talked about how having connections gets you farther than if you work hard. It’s about who you know and the connections that you have that get you farthest in life. These “connections” relate to nepotism. I had not previously been aware of this term prior to class discussion. This word definitely seems to fit along with connections. Nepotism is favoritism granted to friends or family regardless of merit or qualifications. If I was offered something due to nepotism, I cannot say that I would turn it down. If I was offered a job or great opportunity due to this I would definitely take the chance to do so. I am not aware of anyone that would not take an opportunity to advance themself just do to fact that they are being given somewhat of a favor. I don’t think nepotism makes anyone selfish or cruel. It is a part of life and you should take every opportunity you are given regardless if that opportunity is given from a friend or family member.
I just felt kind of uncomfortable and awkward sitting there while they had a full on conversation. Although this should not have made me feel uncomfortable, it definitely did and every other time I preceded to go there, I still felt very uncomfortable. Occurrences such as this one should not be an issue though. I know of a lot of people that have had the same type of experience that made them feel uncomfortable as well. Language barriers such as these should be uncomfortable. I think if people could get used to them and be more open minded towards other languages this world would be a lot better of a place to live in.
Although I try to be open minded when it comes to different cultures and languages, I have been involved in a few situations in which I did not feel comfortable. In these situations I was not only passing someone on the street or on campus that was speaking a different language. A few years ago, I used to get my nails done for high school dances and special occasions. The place I would get my nails done at was dominated by Asian workers. I would sit there for a good half hour as all the employees would speak in a different language that I could not begin to understand. They would laugh and carry on about things I had no idea that they were talking about. In this type of a situation I felt pretty uncomfortable because you never knew if they were talking about you or what they were even talking about in general.
I think it definitely depends on the situation as to whether I would feel uncomfortable with other people talking a different language around me. In most cases, you will merely just pass someone on the street or on campus that is talking another language. It is for only a few seconds that you hear them speaking a different language therefore, it should not make you or anyone else feel uncomfortable. It is like any other person that is passing you but talking in your same language. You have no interest in what they are saying and it does not affect you in any way. No matter where you are in the world, you will always find someone that speaks a different language as you do. In the world today, it is inevitable to avoid people of different languages. If you are only passing someone or merely sitting next to them in class, you should not be affected by the fact that they do not speak the same language. People, including myself, need to be more open to different cultures and languages.
Zach Wahls is a perfect example of how the sexual orientation of his parents has had no impact on his success. You can tell from his speech that he is an extremely determined human being and will go far in life. Bringing religion into this aspect is not what should be done. It is about being able to function legally as a family without being discriminated against. They should be able to have the same rights as heterosexual citizens. People need to let go of their hostility and learn to accept others as they come.
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