Technological advances in transportation and communication over the years have allowed people to spread out and battle over larger pieces of ground. I noticed that not many wars seemed to be exploding on the United States of America. This may sound bad but I the almost found it funny to see the tiny wars pop up in southern South America and random islands throughout the seas. The only events that strongly come to mind that were fought or at least started on US soil are the Civil War, Pearl Harbor and the bombing/ plans crashing into the world trait centers. After these events the wars were taken elsewhere to other nations. This makes me feel like I live in a safe country but at the same time a country that hasn’t experienced much. Americans aren’t used to seeing a war face to face, or having worries about simply going to the store. This makes me think that we may think we know and understand everything, but don’t. Not saying I want a war on our land at all, but I feel this is the reason Americans aren’t afraid to go to war.
The video “World Battleground, 1000 years of war in 5 minutes” begins slowly with not many explosions representing wars. Starting during the high middle ages, this would have been the time when the world’s first empires began to form. France and England were rallying strength and expanding throughout Western Europe, thus all the explosions were centered on them. While time moves on we see larger and more frequent explosions representing vigorous battle in the region. As empires expand they will undoubtedly rub into each other and the wars seemed to begin to pop up all over the globe. They will have their disagreements and fight for land, influence, or the areas resources. Once hitting the 1800 it seemed the explosions consistently went off. It was interesting to see the time period around World War II as the explosions seemed to be never ending. In these wars many of the world’s empires show off their power on a global landscape.
. It seems most often people with the same labels associate with those who have the same labels. Labels truly have a larger impact on our society than most people fail to realize. Some people who are given labels whether it is positive or negative simply choose to run with it because that they feel that once this is already thought about them that they must just follow it. A positive label can help a person try harder to fulfill this idea, where as a negative label can hurt a person to possibly act in a way they may not normally behave. I find myself acting along with the labels placed on me, a student, a Penn State lover, a girlfriend, and a musician. As Sam always says the invisible strings around us are constantly affecting our behavior, and labels seem to be a great example of this idea.
After reading this article I thought of all the labels posted on us in society. Some of them are simple such a boy or girl, adult or child but both of these labels tell us how to act. We all expect a boy/ man to be tough, strong and able to protect people. Also we expect women to love cooking and gardening. Then there are other labels in our lives, such as student vs. worker, freshman vs. senior and this major vs. that major. These labels allow us to constantly judge one another, sometimes before even getting to know the other person. The lifer points out those labels don’t just make the person uncomfortable, but others around him as well. He explains all the tension in the room not just from his label but others knowing his label, I feel this is something we don’t always think about.
Labels have been proven to not always be true, such as the stereotype of blonds having a lower intelligence or Asians receiving higher grades. And yet these labels will always be around us affecting our actions. I do not think that labels will ever leave our society. Labels help us identify a person before meeting them and can be a great conversation starter.
She then says that women are the ones that do seem to hold down the home front while the men are fighting. But what I think she's forgetting that each culture is different when it comes to war. Even though the "fear" may be the same, the way countries go to war is different. It seems the main point she is trying to make is that women are not appreciated enough in war. I think this is true, but at the same time it’s not as if everyone that does a good deed gets a pat on the back. She wants to have women involved in fifty percent of the peace talk. How would she suggest going about finding the women who best represent the desire of the women populous and putting them into the peace negotiations. I guess she has some good ideas on getting women more involved and noticed in war, but she doesn’t understand that the men fighting are willing to do put their lives at risk for our own behave, that is how it has been and that’s how it will always be.
The speaker opens up with the story of her brother’s friend dying after a missile hit his house. She then explains how she grew up with the sounds and colors of wars, something I could never imagine hearing. In my home town I grew up hearing the cars drive by on the street and the distant sound of the train, I can’t even comprehend the normal sounds in your childhood being explosions and people screaming. She then says that she grew up with the fear of dying, or others dying around her, but mostly she grew up fearing that she would lose herself. I have never even thought about the fear of dying or losing myself due to the constant chaos around me. The speaker then continues by pointing out that people only hear one side of war and almost seem to brush it off their shoulders. I don’t agree with her with this point. Every day my hometown news announces if any soldiers in the surrounding counties have died in the past week, never once do I simply brush it off. I understand she is trying to explain how as a whole it seems we don’t understand the amount of pain war causes, but I feel those who try to be informed do understand.
. It’s sad to think this but they almost become forgotten human beings as their sentence continues on. I thought it was sweet to hear that they have made their own family in prison. After all I feel even in prison someone still needs some kind of support. The lifer explains how some of the younger men that enter in he tries to take them under his wing, in hopes to send good back out into the world. I do not think that other inmates can replace family members, but it can fill a hole where their loved ones left. The goal of prison is like a grown up time out. People think of it as a place where those who made mistakes in life must sit and think about what they have done. I feel this lifer has done just that, and prison may have made him into a better person.
I don’t usually read these posts but this one stuck out to me. I was interested to hear what a lifer had to say about his now new family situation. It’s sad to hear that this man began his sentence receiving anywhere from five to eight letters a day down to the point where he just hopes to receive a letter. This made me see a different side of prison. I have never thought about the families of the inmates. It’s almost as if I always thought inmates had no families, I knew they missed out on life events but family events never crossed my mind. I feel prison is where you find out who your true friends are. This inmate explained how at first he received a lot of family support but since he was no longer in “the real world” they seemed to slowly forget about him. It made me see that being in prison is almost like being stuck in time with no control. All the prisoners can do is look out the window and watch the world pass them by. They may hear about a family members graduation or wedding, but all they get are the stories of that experience, they can’t experience it for themselves.
Towards the end the camera man decided to find people who were sitting down at THON, of course they were all in the top tear and almost out of sight. I thought to myself while standing in the lower section “how can you not be into this?” but I guess in that case Sam was right, and it did depend on where you sat.
Thinking about the evacuation plans that the article spoke about opened my eyes to my life now. I’ve never once thought about how my town would evacuate if we had to. Honestly much like the stories in the article the major highway would probably become jam packed with cars. But then I remember the one article from our text and how it said everyone actually acts calm in situations of panic. This reminds me of the day when my town went under a state of emergency for a hurricane. The day before the hurricane the stores were packed with people stocking up on food, yet everyone seemed calm about the situation. I think it’s human nature to act in our own best interests, but I think in moments of panic we won’t all start throwing people out of our way.
The topic of managing crowds reminded me of when Sam said when people go to big religious events it seems only the people closest to the stage seem to get the most out of it. I feel this is both true and untrue. I think it really depends on how much you’re invested in the situation and how much you care. I have been to a large youth rally, a whole weekend of different bands and speakers. My group always sits more towards the back of the concert, mostly because the adults can’t handle the loud music, but it does seem that those groups who are sitting closer seems to get more into it. Yet once the speakers come on and tell us their stories everyone in the room becomes invested in the situation. This also made me think of THON. This year I had no part in THON, I was excited to go, but not as excited as my friends on the floor or ones who actually did raise some money.
![[Avatar]](/images/avatar26.png){kind=avatar}
Thingamajig