The actions of certain American soldiers who are the ones treating the civilians of Iraq poorly should not represent our military as whole. I personally just believe that this war needs to end soon I believe that we went in with a goal and that goal was reached. After Sam’s lecture, I am now realizing more that this is no longer a war on terrorism but instead just the US trying to take their oil. I will forever respect and hold in my heart the compassion I feel for our US military and soldiers, but watching these videos truly opened my eyes to the facts of what is really happening.
These civilians have caused no harm, but then the American soldiers are treating them awfully and taking oil from them. I now understand that the videos we usually see of our soldiers, are depicting them in a very biased American way when really yes, they may be brave but at the same time are not making good choices, and actually harming innocent people. We grow up as children learning and knowing that the men who fight for our country should be treated with admirable respect and that we should be grateful for their services. Although, I will continue to have this respect for the large number of soldiers who are doing their duties correctly, I will now also have greater knowledge that many are not.
During Tuesday’s class, Sam showed us a video of the way civilians in Iraq were being treated by American soldiers. This was extremely hard and sad to watch and as a result has changed some of my views on this war. One of the disheartening moments was when American soldiers ran over a civilian’s car just because he was stealing wood to try and keep from freezing. In actuality, they had just destroyed the car of an innocent taxi driver that thought of his car as what defines him as a person. It is so shameful to me to know that this is happening over there and there many, including myself back over here in the US are unaware. I hate to now sit here and think about the soldiers that we all have so much respect for over here, to then turn around now know what their actually doing across seas.
Overall, I think the most crucial thing I have learned is the ability to love our community and the ability to move on. Yes, it will be hard at times thinking about the various events that happened and the possible consequences still yet to come but it is all we can do now. Nothing good will come out of dwelling upon it, so as the Penn State community we are we need to do our best as a whole to help those in need and start the rebuilding process. WE ARE all Penn State and ARE all the many great things that we have accomplished.
The way everyone practically changed the whole story and scandal to Joe Paterno was just heart wrenching for me. I grew up living and breathing JoePa, he was a celebrity icon to me my whole life and always got the butterflies when seeing him walk across the field or spotting him somewhere in the community. It angers me the way he was treated. Being a Crime, Law and Justice major, I fully believe in the statement that you are innocent until proven guilty. Joe was not given this justice and instead was fired via telephone call, and had his whole world turned upside down without any facts being presented. I really hope that the day will come when the whole thing is factual and set straight, and on that day justice will be served. But in the meantime it just surprises me and I guess I have learned that anything is truly possible in this world. After the last two classes, I have gained a new perspective that it should be all about the victims now.
After seeing how this scandal was not presented fairly and all of the scape-goating that was involved, I realize the media does not care about the people that they hurt but instead are just doing and job and making money. They don’t care about the thousands of students and staff here at Penn State that they have hurt and distressed, or that there are actually many sexually abused victims here too at. Because of this, the media has led the outside world to believe that everyone inside the Penn State community is a child molester which is just crazy, since once again there are victims here too.
All of this talk from outsiders on social media sites it’s ridiculous. They can give as many opinions as they want, whether factual or not, but they truly don’t understand what it feels like to be on the other side trying to explain the truths and just in the situation in general. People are so quick to make opinions and most of them just sound ignorant.
Looking back at this past week is still so shocking and amazing to me. So many of my views on life and the way I think about things has changed. As a result of this past week, I will never be the same but I think that at the same time it has bettered myself and the community. I believe that Penn State was already a family before this event occurred, but I think that this belief really shined through most of our behaviors and actions towards it. I know that it is the media’s job to make and cover stories, but you would think they would cover it correctly. I learned that you cannot in fact, believe or read everything you hear and see. This to me is very sad because when I go to read the newspaper or turn on the news I would like to actually see the factual events of what is happening throughout our country and nation.
For me personally, when I think of happiness, I think of my loving family who has always been there for me no matter the situation, my friends who no matter the time of day I know I can always give them a call and just the awesome healthy life I’ve been blessed with. These non-materialistic things are the essentials in life, and are the things that no matter the financial state of a country, or even the bank statement of a family, will keep you smiling and upbeat knowing that you always have a place to go where you will be loved.
Another view on this topic would be that certain things that people buy who have a lot of money does not bring happiness. Growing up, I’m sure everyone had that friend who always got what they wanted, always got the brand new game console and had a brand new car waiting for him or her after passing the driver’s test. My thought is that these people who had money and got whatever they wanted were not truly as happy as those who merely had a loving family to come home to everyday or those who worked their butts off to buy something they had been really wanting. In this case, these are the people who have learned discipline over the years and have learned to appreciate everything in life, a different kind of happy then having everything always brought to you on a silver platter.
Consequently, in order to not lose their home and not break their family apart they are forced to work more than one job to keep up with bills and feed the family. Money is one of the most stressful topics because realistically without it life can be very stressful and tear relationships apart. I have noticed over the years that many couples have been torn apart because of financial reasons. This is so sad to me because as a humanitarian I like to think that how much money someone has shouldn’t matter and shouldn’t be a factor in a pair of people who truly love each other. However, I have learned that indeed, it actually does have a great effect because all of the stress over bills and expenses is a big deal because no one wants to be put into the position of losing a house or going bankrupt. Looking at this topic from that viewpoint, I would say that yes, money does bring happiness because without it many fights and stress form.
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