While these videos did not bring me to tears like so many people are mentioning, they did touch me. It is nice to know that there are still plenty of good people out there in the world that would help a stranger out just as easily as they would help their own family. As far as the second video goes, it is very cute and if only we could shelter kids nowadays so they could keep their innocence for as long as possible. However, life is so sweet and innocent, life is tough and kids need to know about it and how horrible it can be. As beautiful as the fairytales are that we read to our children, they need to know that those are just stories and life doesn't always end up happily ever after.

This is a really good question and I think I need more information to answer it correctly. However, from what I understand plenty of people migrated to the United States in the past with not even “two dimes to rub together” and some how they managed to make it in the United States legally. It takes not only a lot of hard work but a lot of courage to pick yourself up and move with no where to live or to work, but there are plenty of people in this country that have done just that. Some times not everyone can hack it, sometimes people have worse luck than others, but when it comes down to it, it can be done.

Just like we talked about “King of the Mountain” in past classes, life is not only about hard work but it is about luck of the draw as well. Someone could work their butt off and still fail, when someone else could just be at the right place at the right time and manage to be successful in life. This shows that it is not fair and maybe some things should be done to equal the playing field, however, life is not fair so why should we try and make it? However, there are plenty of other ways the United States tries to make this country fair, like affirmative action, so why shouldn’t they come up with a fair way for immigrants to have a fighting chance at a good life in the United States? Immigrants tend to be the ones who are willing to the “dirty” work and manual labor jobs, apparently legal Americans are too good to work those jobs, however these immigrants are paid at very low wages. One could say that they deserve to be paid minimum wage, but if the ones doing the work are illegal immigrants, who they usually are, they don’t have to pay taxes so making less than minimum wage would be ok. There should be a program in which immigrants can do these jobs and work towards citizenship in the United States.

I still stand by my original point, where I believe all immigrants should get their citizenship legally, like so many have done in the past. However, I also understand that times have changed and if the United States can offer programs to help equal the playing field for its own citizens, perhaps it is time to create one for those who wish to become citizens. These immigrants tend to do the dirty and manual labor jobs that most citizens would never take on, however there is a current rise in unemployment so allowing more and more immigrants to come into the United States may not be feasible. It would take time and research but I think a solution is out there to this problem, we just need to find it.

I believe access to healthcare should be a right for all legal citizens of the United States. Immigrants who come to the United States and follow the proper protocol should have every right every other American citizen has. However, I do not believe that illegal immigrants have a right to healthcare. Don’t get me wrong, if someone is sick or hurt I believe they should be treated without question, and not denied help, but that should only go as far as stabilizing them. American citizens pay taxes and some of those taxes are used to pay the hospitals bills for those who cannot afford to pay for their treatment. I do not think it is fair for non-citizens to benefit from the taxes of working American citizens.

I agree that people can generally be self-centered but i would not necessarily say it is just an American trait. I agree it has to all do with media coverage. We are not in Haiti so all we know about the situation is what people tell us. And even then, no matter how many pictures you see in the news, seeing it in person is a completely different experience. Unfortunately the news is still a business and cares most about ratings and newspaper sales so they are going to push whatever is "hot". It is our society, as well as others, the richer countries that people are more familiar with are going to be the "hot" topics. And i do not see things changing anytime soon...

I think that we all know, as unfortunate as it is, that people die. Sometimes people close to us, sometimes people we have no connection to whatsoever. We also know that terrible things occur whether it is attacks like September 11th or natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti. However, unless it hits us close to home, it does not always hit us hard. I remember when the World Trade Centers were hit, students were allowed to go home if their parents wanted to come get them, but the rest of us (in 8th grade) were told to go on with our day; teachers were told to not speak about it in class (though they did) and just to teach like nothing happened. Pretending like nothing happens is the wrong thing to do, however sometimes whats done is done and the only healthy thing you can do is to move on.

While reading this letter I felt as though I was reading an excerpt from a book or a poem. The way this man speaks about this act of compassion that he witnessed and the realization that came to him after thinking about that moment is beautiful. Sam says this man never even graduated high school but the way in which this letter was written seems scholarly to me. I am assuming he has been in prison for quite some time and in that time he has probably gained a lot of knowledge and education from reading and observing the behavior of others around him.

I liked the point he made about how you would think an act of compassion within the walls of a prison would be rare and stand out when it occurs. However, it really did not stand out to him until he really spent time pondering it. In the beginning of the letter he writes, again so poetically, that this realization of an act “wasn’t something that I didn’t already know; I just didn’t realize that I knew it. Nor was it something that I didn’t already do; I just didn’t realize how natural it was for me to do it.” He believes, as most people do, that compassion is a natural feeling humans have for each other, but considering the environment he was in, compassion is an amazing act.

When people come together to help others in need, or if just one person attends to another in need, it seems to be one of the most beautiful but natural occurrences in life. Caring for people who you do not even know, and may never know, or even showing compassion towards an enemy is amazing to me. The two men this “lifer” writes about were known to be enemies within the prison, but yet one was showing compassion to the other. The act that this man was showing compassion to another was not so surprising, like previously mentioned it is a natural human act, however the fact that a man was showing compassion to a known enemy was what caught this “lifers” attention.

It just shows that no matter what kind of grudge or hatred someone has towards another human being, we are all still humans and we are all essentially the same. I am sure the man comforting the other man whose son passed away had people in his life he cared about in the same way this man cared for his son. He understood how the mourning father was feeling and how terrible of a situation he was going through. We all feel the same emotions and we all know how horrible some of them can make us feel. Compassion helps the pain.

I had the exact same reaction! This lecture opened my eyes so much more. I have always supported our troops regardless of the situation because those are our boys and girls out their fighting for our country and doing what our country tells them to do. However, i am one of those people who Sam talked about who only sees the "good" pictures of the troops, like them carrying innocent victims to safety and handing out candy to children. I never thought about the "bad" pictures and everything the people of the Middle East see our troops do. I would say i am not completely proud of some things that our troops are doing but i still believe in standing by them and i know that now though is because of the patriotism that Sam talked about.

I do not think that it has to do with Christians wanting and trying to take over the world, but i think by the videos and footage Sam showed us, that is how Christians are being perceived. I am a Christian and i get that God wants us to spread his word and all but i would never force it on anyone. In fact i do not think i am educated enough to inform someone who wanted to know about the religion. However, there are those extremists that push their beliefs on other people and what sucks is that some people perceive all Americans to be just like that even though most Americans think of these people, Like Sarah Palin, are just crazy!

I walked away from this lecture contemplating the world we live in. It was hard but I did my best to put myself in the position of an Arab Muslim. I thought it was going to be difficult since I do not know a lot about those people and the way they live their lives, but what Sam said and the pictures he showed of those people, it was easier than I thought. I put myself in the position of an Arab college student and the more I thought about it and listened to what Sam had to say, the more pissed off I became. I would hate Americans too if I were an Arab Muslim.

Personally I do not follow the news and politics the way I should but I thought I knew enough about the war… I was wrong. I honestly was not completely aware as to why we, Americans, are at war in Iraq. I originally was under the impression that it was because we had to defend ourselves as a result of the attacks on September 11th. Then I learned that we were trying to bring democracy to the people of Iraq, which I obviously as an American believed was the best way to live and run a country. Now I am learning that this war that we are in, the war that my friends are over there fighting for, is over oil? I believe in defending our country and I believe in helping others but this does not seem to be the case anymore. If I lived in Iraq and saw things like the video clips Sam showed us in class, I would want American soldiers dead too, which makes me sad.

So we need oil to function in America, that’s understandable and that’s cool if that’s the way things are. We do not have enough oil in our own land though so we need to get it from somewhere else; I get that. However, when did we think we had the right to practically steal this oil from another country and get rich off it while that country is suffering? I feel like I have been so ignorant for so long over a war that I have friends fighting. I will support our troops because they are only doing what they are being told to do and they are fighting for us, but I just do not think that the benefits are worth what we are losing. How about America either finds a substitute for oil or stops relying on it to the extent that we do because oil is not worth my friend’s life, oil is not worth anyone’s life, and the deaths need to stop.

I agree. I think all hell would break loose if we just upped and stopped welfare one day, especially since most of the individuals on welfare are children. One of the changes that you might be referring to that you support would be the drug testing of individuals on welfare. I have heard a lot about that topic but still am not sure; I also wonder how much money it would cost to drug test everyone receiving money? Would it even be financially beneficial to the system? It makes sense when you think about it but maybe it has not been initiated yet because of the finances or the fact that it may be looked at as an invasion of privacy, however I am sure if you can drug test someone for a minimum wage job, you can drug test someone receiving governmental assistance.