Before I enrolled in this class this semester, I heard so many great things from my friends who previously took the class. I had no idea what to expect, but it was easily my favorite class this semester. I learned a lot without actually learning, if that makes sense.
I went to a high school where racial differences were never really an issue. We had Muslims and Jews, African Americans and Mexicans and “White” people as well. It is impossible to say that I don’t notice racial and cultural differences because everyone notices differences, but I never thought they were a big deal. I think it’s awesome to learn about other cultures and taking this class wanted me to learn even more. Sam is such a diverse individual and it would be awesome to know so much about so many different cultures as he does.
This class helped me to open my mind to problems that I didn’t realize were going in, especially the issues with Native Americans and the reservations. I had no idea that there were so many problems on reservations and that the American nation really is not giving them any aid. The Christian Crusade lecture was one of my favorites. It was really cool to think about the Christian religion as if I were a Muslim, but I do believe that the media makes the Christian religion seem to be really negative when it is not. This did help me to realize, though, that it is the media that makes the Muslim religion seem to be so bad. We are all just people.
This class helped me to learn a lot more about myself as a person and I was able to express my opinions to people I never would have met without this class. The discussion class each week was my favorite! I looked forward to going to it every week and became part of a little family with some great new people! This judgment free zone helped me to really get to know people and share things about myself that I never would have in other discussion situations. I was able to listen to so many other stories from people and get a grasp on how others grew up.
My favorite thing about this class is that it helped me to think in ways I never would have before. I was able to open up my mind and be more aware of how others think and feel. I am able to share this new way of thinking with my friends and family and I like to think that I make an impact on their opinions; maybe one day they too will become more open minded. But I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to take this class and expand my knowledge in ways I didn’t think I could. Some people may not take that much out of this class, but I definitely did and I will recommend this class to everyone and hope they will gain something from it as well. Hopefully, I will one day be able to make a difference on someone's mind or an impact on someone's life.

Killing another person is not exactly a moral task, so to try to think about what it would take to complete a task like this is difficult. I feel that it would take me a lot to kill another human being. If my family was being threatened then I would do everything else first to try to make sure my family was safe and then if the threats turned into attacks, hurting the other person so you can get away would be the first step. Killing another person would be the absolute last choice.
An issue as this one also depends on the situation. If it is in a case of self-defense, then you technically have to have no other options to get away and in a life or death situation for killing the attacker to be justified in court. In times of war, I think the lines are skewed. It would take a lot of emotional distress for a soldier to kill another person, even if they are the enemy. If someone is firing at you and your buddies, then you will most likely react to fire back. But our soldiers do not go into the military with an agenda to kill. They want to protect.
When it comes down to it, I think the whole idea is to protect, whether it be yourself or your family, but a person is not sane if they just kill someone without a justifiable reason. Even in times of natural disaster or the world coming to an end, I don’t think I would be able to kill another person. Of course, protecting your family will always be the main idea, but is there any reason that will actually justify killing someone?
This issue takes me back to a lecture we had when we touched on the importance of dialogue and how a solid dialogue can solve many problems. In movies, we often see the “good guy” who is against a “bad guy” and instead of the “good guy” pulling out a weapon and automatically shooting down the “bad guy” who is attacking or threatening him/her, they use dialogue to try to calm the situation. Usually the “bad guy” lowers his weapon and all ends out well. I know real life isn’t this easy, but I think a dialogue should be the first step in a tricky situation.
It’s hard to say what I would do because you really can’t wrap your mind around killing someone. Sam said in lecture that it would be easier than we think for someone to get us to kill and that might be true. But hopefully none of us ever have to be in a situation where killing is the best option. I don’t think there is ever really a reason to justify killing someone and there will always be a huge emotional battle afterward. But I do think that I would try almost anything to protect my family.

The lecture on the Christian Crusade was one of the more interesting lectures of the semester. It was really interesting to put our minds in the perspective of an Arab Muslim and try to understand how they feel about Christians. The lecture did help me to realize why they may hate us, but I feel that the media has a great deal of impact on the perspectives that they have of Americans and Christians.
As a Christian and patriot, the videos that were shown in class did not show a positive reflection on either aspects of American culture. The video showing children who were in vacation bible school was crap. To have another culture base their beliefs on American Christians from videos like that is ridiculous. We are not all trained to be “warriors.” And that is the same for American citizen’s views towards Arab Muslims and Islam. They are not all trained to be extremists or terrorists.
The video displaying American soldiers destroying the car in the middle of the street was also a huge misconception. Yes, there are soldiers who are stupid and not a good representation of the whole group, but the media plays a huge role in this perception of American soldiers. Don’t get me wrong, as an Arab Muslim that video would piss me off too. American soldiers seemed to be heartless and irresponsible. They took over an innocent civilian’s car and showed no remorse. But as an American, I know that our soldiers are not all like that. They work to benefit the greater good.
This lecture definitely helped me understand the way that they perceive Americans. If I were on their side of the story, I would find it hard to not hate us. This lecture also gave me a different perspective on the way that Americans perceive the Middle East. We only listen to the media that is affiliated with our political party, but we don’t actually learn anything as the media is biased. If we really want to learn real “news” we have to look at all sources and foreign sources as well. Our views towards the rest of the world are skewed.
I will be the first to admit that Americans are pushy and get into business that doesn’t even deal with them. I think we need to worry about our own country before we get involved in everyone else’s problems. If I were an Arab Muslim and American Soldiers decided to move in on my nation, I would feel threatened and to see some of the destruction that was the result of the war is heartbreaking. But as an American, our nation was put under attack so what else were we supposed to do? I think that the work “crusade” was also not meant to be taken so literally as a war between Christians and Muslims when President G. W. Bush used it is his speech; a crusade can also be a movement or a battle. It is extremely heartbreaking that so many civilians were killed and lives were ruined on both American and Muslim sides of the story.

I have been going to church since I was baptized as a baby. I was confirmed in the same church and still attend when I am home. I am a Lutheran. My church is a pretty “liberal” church and all people are accepted no matter what. There are homosexual people in the congregation and they are treated no differently than everyone else. We are all God’s people.
I know the bible states that homosexuality is a sin, but I don’t really believe that it is. I do not believe that being homosexual is a choice; I absolutely believe that a person is born that way. God made you the way you are and I do not believe that a person being homosexual will keep them out of the Lord’s Kingdom. God, himself, did not write the bible so I’m not saying that the word of the Bible is wrong, but it is the interpretation of the Lord’s word from different followers and apostles.
I think people consider homosexuality to be a greater or “special” sin because society is not used to it and they are not comfortable with it. Drinking alcohol is considered to be a sin as well as premarital sex, but people do not seem to consider those as sins. If everyone who drank alcohol were going to hell then hell would fill up pretty quickly! Drinking alcohol and have sex are sins that have a place in society so people are not uncomfortable with them. They are common acts. Some people have never met a homosexual couple and then when they see them in public, they are uncomfortable with it and think it is wrong. If people would actually get to know someone that is homosexual, I think their view on homosexuality as a sin could possibly change; they would hopefully realize that people who are homosexual are still regular people.
During service at my church, we have a repentance where we acknowledge our sins and are forgiven. I do not actually believe that anyone goes to hell. God will forgive you for your sins. I have a few friends who are gay or lesbian and they are some of the best people I have ever met. They are no different than anyone else. At times, they are sometimes better people than me or others I know. Homosexual people still attend church and still have a relationship with God and if they are comfortable with their relationship with God than no one else has a right to judge. We all sin and we are all forgiven. People were not created to be right all the time; we are not saints or sinners, we are all just people.

I think it is awesome to stand up for what you think is right and wrong. A lot of time people forget where a large amount of our products are made and that they are made with slavery and discrimination at hand.
The United States has so many rules and regulations to combat discrimination or safety issues in the workplace so why do Americans think that it is alright for us to outsource the work to factories who are not concerned at all about their employees? I am definitely at fault for this because I often forget or don’t think about the way workers are treated so we can have our luxury items, such as our iPhones. But if that workplace violence would occur in the United States, there would be a huge issue. Just because the issue isn’t in our home nation, it is still occurring on a daily basis and people are getting hurt. If everyone thought about the blood and sweat and tears that literally goes into making so many products we all use, and thought about that every time they picked up an item to use it or got on Facebook on their iPhones, then maybe we could all actually make a difference.
It may not seem like not buying a new phone is going to make any difference, but you never know! This video could have inspired others to go along with you and boycott. People don’t realize that their addiction to every new technology item that is released is hurting someone across the world. We don’t need to get the new iPhone or iPad or Android phone when it comes out on the market. And you are more than likely not the only person in the world who is refraining from buying a new phone for the same reason. If everyone who thought this way came together, maybe you could make a difference? Yes, it is cheaper for America to outsource, but as Americans, we also appreciate things that are made in our home nation. My family will always prefer to buy American made products over anything else. There is a sense of pride in knowing it was actually made by our own people.
And even if you aren’t making a difference in the grand scheme of things, it still makes you feel better! Stick to your ground and do what you think is right. We all conform to society based on what everyone else thinks, so get people to be on the same page as you and the grow from there. Big dreams only take small amounts of inspiration to grow and become reality.
This video definitely got me thinking about all the products I use that have been the result of extremely hard work in factories and it makes me feel pretty bad. Others are working for very little pay and high injury and health risks so we can be happy in class with our little iPhones to keep us from being bored.

To hear Sam say that most of our beliefs are based on misinformation makes a lot of sense to me. We believe what we want to believe, but not what is actually true. We all want to think we are always right and will make up anything to prove a point or persuade an argument in our favor.
When it comes to our beliefs, we are influenced by our environment and our peers. Family has the largest influence on us. We usually take our beliefs directly from our parents or guardians. Your parents are the people who teach you everything based off of what they know and then that is passed down to you. These beliefs may change over time based on an ever-changing society, but the concepts remain.
It does feel a bit odd to question all of your beliefs and to think that maybe you are wrong. I found myself sitting in class and thinking about what I believe and thought that maybe I was too closed-minded and needed to rethink some things. We are all just given our belief system and few of us ever question it. It was kind of nice to be thinking about my beliefs because questioning your beliefs isn’t something we do often. We take what we think is correct and roll with it, but don’t actually put things into context or consider the alternatives. When Sam put up the clicker question about what a child should do if he or she was lost and whether or not they should ask a stranger for help, it got me thinking about what I would tell my future children to do. When we were growing up, we were all told to never talk to strangers, but after this lecture I learned that the chance of your child being abducted by a stranger is very slim. It is better for your child to ask a stranger for help than to stay put and do nothing. When actually faced with statistics and a real life situation, it becomes easier to rethink aspects of your beliefs.
The only issue I have with our beliefs being based on misinformation, is that the ideas for our beliefs has to stem from somewhere; there is a reason why we think the way we do so it can’t be a complete misinformation. If there was one concrete answer to everything and every situation had no alternatives, then we wouldn’t have to face the issues that we face today, but that isn’t how the world works. If we all thought the same, then that would make the world boring and everyone would be the same person. Maybe some of the beliefs that our parents gave us are outdated because they were handed down by our grandparents, but it was obviously a belief for a reason. I think we can still believe basically the same things, but just tweak them a bit based on our growing society. I wouldn’t want my child to talk to strangers, but if they are lost then I would hope someone would be kind enough to help them if they asked for it. We were taught growing up to never talk to strangers, but we also knew that if we needed help, confronting a police officer or store worker, for example, would be the thing to do. Beliefs are all very situational and based on what we want to think or what we have been forced to think.

Listening to the lecture about Native Americans was very eye opening. The Native Americans were a huge part of American history and even though they were victim to the largest genocide in America, we often forget about them in our society. I honestly had no idea that life on a reservation was so difficult and that they have to live through so much hardship and discrimination in today’s society. The video we watched was intense! And I appreciated our guest speaker so much for telling us part of his story. It is pretty inspiring how, no matter what happens the Native Americans remain true to culture and tradition.
It is really scary to think that one day I could be in the same position that the Native Americans are right now. With the way that things are going in our economy and job market, you never know what is going to happen. I take out loans for school and it is very stressful to think about post-graduation plans and how these loans will get paid back. My family owns a few acres of land and it got me thinking in class. When Sam was talking about the right to land or to take back the land the Native Americans once owned, I thought about our land and if someone came in and decided that our land was theirs, I would absolutely try to get it back. Even though the land technically belongs to my parents, I would give every ounce of effort I had to get that land back. It is hard to not feel a bit guilty for what happened to the Native Americans even though I, myself, had nothing to do with taking their land. But as a part of American culture, it is hard to not feel guilty; we are where we are today party because of what the Native Americans taught us.
The reservation areas are basically third world countries in our own nation that get no attention or help. They have been in this country longer than we have so if the time comes when I am decreasing down a slope in life and need help from the government, why should I think that they will pay me any attention or lend me any assistance when these people get nothing?
My favorite part of this class was when our guest performed his prayer song. You can feel the spirit and love he has for his culture. If I was ever in the same position as our Native Americans are, I don’t know if I could still be so true to my culture, especially if they gave me no help. I know I would still have faith in the Lord, and at that point faith would be the only thing guiding me through.

During lecture, when Sam was talking to us all on the topic of soldiers committing suicide, I found my emotions to be getting the best of me. Many of my relatives and friends are either currently in the military or are veterans and topics dealing with the military always get me a bit worked up. It was very hard for me to hear the veteran in our class say that 3 out of 25 in his platoon committed suicide. I thank God every day that my brother came home from both of his tours in Iraq safely. Whether it is mental or emotional pain, many civilians don’t realize how much of a toll military life can take on a soldier.
I feel that many Americans do not realize what it means to have support for our soldiers. I have done numerous care packages and letters to soldiers and even adopt-a-soldier programs that give you a soldier pen pal to write to. Getting a letter may mean so much to a soldier just to let them know that people are at home waiting for them and that we are here supporting them and are thankful for everything they do. The few letters they receive from you can put a smile on their face during a hard time and may be the thing that saves that one from suicide.
I feel that having support for our troops as a whole nation is something that is currently lacking. Many individuals have support, especially those who are connected to the military in some form, but as a whole group we do not support our troops enough. Support for our troops is not talked about as much as it should. On days like September 11th, that were huge tragic events in our history, soldiers are barely remembered any more. It has been 11 years since that day, but we still have soldiers fighting that battle and many who died who at least deserve a moment of silence. We forget about the problems that soldiers face when they are in the field or when they are home or on base. Yes, we all want our soldiers to come home safely, but what is going to be waiting for them when they return. Will their wives or husbands have been faithful enough to stick around? Are they going to be able to get a job when they are out of the military? We want them to come home, but forget that it was their choice to join the military in the first place. And as an American, we have to support that decision and know they do what they do because they love this country. We should love this country just as much as them and be proud because they are brave enough to put their lives on the line for all of us. We sit at our desks in a cozy lecture hall every day and I can guarantee that our soldiers do not cross the minds of many students or Americans. Not a day goes by that I do not think about the men and women fighting for me; my prayers go out to each and every one of them that they do not suffer the mental and emotional hardships that some of their fellow members have been through and that they all return to their families safely. There should be more focus put on the health of our soldiers and more programs out there for them to turn to in times of need. The rate of soldier suicide should not be as high as it is and that in itself shows that something has to be done.

There are obviously people who are born into families that may not be as well off or functional as other families. It is a shame that children have to be born into familial surroundings that may not be great to live in. I do believe that we should provide support to some people who are born into less fortunate families.
Children who are born into surroundings that are unsafe or unfit to be brought up in may end up with social services or in foster care. This is no fault of the child and they deserve assistance from the state. Children age out of the foster care system every year and they have nowhere to go and no one to turn to for help. There have been laws and programs associated to helping children who age out of the foster care system. The John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program was made in 1999 that set up additional help for foster care children when they age out of the system and there have been laws passed that allow youth to say in foster care up to the age of 21. If a child needs help, they should be given help. These children who are born into unfortunate lifestyles or families had no choice.
I also believe in the aid programs that our government provides, but I think they could use some work. Some people born into unfortunate families have a really hard time getting their life together. I believe that government aid is a great way to help someone get back on their feet or get their life straight if they truly need the help. I do think there should be drug testing and other heightened provisions to keep track of who gets the aid and whether or not it is going to the right cause.
My father is a construction worker and a farmer and we sit in the middle class of the financial standards. I am lucky to have the family and the life that I have and I know that if I need anything, they will always be there for me. All people should feel secure and feel they know they have someone that will be there when they need help. But help should only be given to those who absolutely need it especially since it is being paid for by our taxes. It is really difficult to watch so much of my parents’ hard earned money go straight to taxes and then find out that sometimes your money isn’t really going towards anything useful. I have no problem with assisting people who need help, but they should not be given everything so easily; work for it! I believe in hard work and dedication. Sometimes people need a little kick start for their dreams to take off and I am a supporter of helping them begin.

When it comes to appearance, there is a general standard that is usually upheld and a social stigma about what is beautiful. I would first like to state that I very much respect the girl who admitted she does not shave; that is brave and I can easily say that I would never be able to do that. It is a very powerful decision for her to make that goes against the societal norms. Also, in our culture, shaving is not a choice. Is it something that we are taught to do when we are young teens because everyone does it. I have never even thought of it as a choice because you rarely ever hear of people who decide to skip this aspect of womanhood. Plus, all of your friends do it or older sisters or cousins so, as a young teen, you want to feel older and more mature and be like them.
As a woman, I think it can be unfair at times because men are not “required” to shave anything, but women are expected to do it. If we have hair on our face, we should get a wax but men can let it grow as long as they want. For a woman, I feel that shaving and being mostly hairless deals with femininity. But just as women are expected by men to shave, I think men are expected by women to not shave. When a man shaves his legs, women may often think it is weird or feminine and may be turned off by it.
For me, I feel a lot better about myself when I am “hairless”. It makes me feel more confident. If it were a Friday and you were going out with your girls, you put on a skirt and cute top and are ready to party, you are not going to feel attractive or sexy if you haven’t shaven in a while. If you are dancing with a boy and having a great time, I feel he would probably back away once he touched your legs and your legs weren’t silky smooth.
Women are pressured by this social stigma of beauty and how to be “hot” and it is why we may spend hours getting ready for something or feel self-conscious when we don’t look like the girl on the cover of a magazine. Shaving has been implemented into our brains as another part of our personal routines and lifestyles. Yes, it is a huge hassle sometimes, but in order to be “beautiful” in terms of societal standards shaving is a personal aspect of a woman that cannot be ignored.
I like to think of myself as a strong willed person, but I would never be able to take shaving out my routine. I am not against nature or religious beliefs and I highly respect anyone who has the strength to swim against the grain, but we are socialized to act a certain way and do certain things before we are even born. This is not a man’s doing that tells us what we can or cannot do with our bodies, but it is a social aspect of your culture.