en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2446512 Comments by udontnome50 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/lifer/#IDComment143875735 . If she can keep the hostility out then everyone will get along just fine. But there is only one problem with this. All it will take is for one person to say the wrong thing about someone else for the hostility to enter the room and stay there for good. On the other hand, what do we call this man? If he is not an inmate then what is he in our society? He is not a citizen, allowed to walk the streets whenever he feels like. See this is how easy it is for someone to be labeled in our world. I just labeled inmates, citizen and even society. How is it possible to get rid of these “trigger words” when we have grown up using them every day. If someone stands up and says that they have never labeled someone then they are lying because I have labeled so many types of people within this blog. (part 2) Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:03:07 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/lifer/#IDComment143875735 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/lifer/#IDComment143875597 Labels can have a very harsh impact on people’s lives, especially when young. Some people as well as youth can be very mean in the way they treat others around them. That said, it is part of our society to label people. We label people every day as fat, ugly, beautiful, skinny, good looking, etc. We call people names all of the time just to put them down and gain a reaction out of them. This is all part of the way we are. We were brought up this way with influence from friends, family, and the media. So for this man, it is a rare chance that he would get someone as a teacher that wants to get rid of all of the labels. This teacher not only wants to get rid of the labels for one side of the classroom, but for the whole classroom. She wants everyone to work together and work as one team and not be afraid of each other. To make this happen she realizes the path that needs to happen. She must first get rid of the “trigger words” that may cause one person to get upset with another. She needs to keep the feelings of hostility outside of the class room walls. (part 1) Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:02:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/lifer/#IDComment143875597 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment141132430 Do you really think that is all our forces are doing? Some troops find it hard to do what they are doing and if they refuse orders, they get made fun of in all types of ways and the government and press target them as cowards. How can we do that to someone that took that step that we as civilians refused or were too scared to take? There is so much about war that is hidden from common people like us that the government thinks we cannot handle. Is it that we can’t handle it or that they do not want the civilians to look at the government and turn on them because they are doing bad things? Do not think that for one minute that I do not support our man and women in uniform because I do. I have multiple friends serving in Afghanistan right now and I pray that they all return and that somehow they get through the ptsd that they may face. I do not support many of the decisions that our government makes. (part 2) Sat, 9 Apr 2011 01:12:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment141132430 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment141132370 The things that this lady talks about really hits home when you listen to what she has to say. She tells us about her firsthand experience with war. She is not a soldier, she is not an enemy, she is just a civilian like me yet she gets caught up in the cross fire. We want to believe that when a missile is shot into the air it will hit a target that only the enemy will be hurt, but that is not always the case. Her brother’s friend was killed by the missile that woke her from her sleep. She then feels guilty about the prayer that she made thanking god that the missile did not hit her house or her family. We should feel guilty as well. We, as Americans, thank god every day for the men and woman that give their lives for our so called freedom. Yet we hear stories like this of civilians dying in the cross fire of war and our government wants us to believe that they always know their targets when they direct a missile from space. The government also wants us to believe that the wars we enter are to protect our freedoms. (part 1) Sat, 9 Apr 2011 01:11:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment141132370 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment138633653 What strings made this person do what they did to receive a life sentence? What is his background information? What happened to him that may have aided into doing what he did? Or was the event a total accident? Did he kill someone unintentionally? Did he do something else? You don’t just receive a life sentence for nothing, but this man still has tight ties with his family and close friends. He even still talks to his school teachers. I can’t remember the last time I talked to one of my past school teachers and I have the freedom to go see them whenever I want. It seems to me that this man did not have and abusive life or a hard life. He even tells use about how within the prison there is some sort of family feeling. Some of the guards serve as people to talk to and the younger guys that come in there serve somewhat as little brothers. He really is a family oriented person. (part 2) Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:57:12 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment138633653 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment138633551 It is letters like this that I read from a person that received a life sentence that just fills me with questions. This person says that he receives letter from family and friends and, even more surprising, past school teachers. What kind of man was he outside of the life sentence? What did he do, or was connected to, to get this harsh sentencing. From reading the letter he seemed like he was a calm and collective person surrounded by love. It seems like his relationship with family and friends were good, so what happened? He says that inmates get judged by the outside world based on one mistake that they make. Is he saying that what he did was nothing but a mistake that he did not intend to happen? Since the first day of class we keep mentioning the strings that come down and shape everyone’s life. These strings are connected to use by different things that we experience while growing up. Strings can come from playing sports, getting abused or raped, and the trouble we got into throughout our life. (part 1) Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:56:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment138633551 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/b-s-response/#IDComment137506891 . We are always talking about these invisible strings, these invisible factors that come down and shape our life. I believe that is true and I’m starting to understand that. But, can’t we also say that there are strings that go from one person to the next that also help to shape our lives. The strings that come down and shape our lives, I feel, are the natural disasters, such as the disaster that just happened in Japan. That is affecting everyone’s life, not just the people in Japan. The strings that would go from one person to the next are the type of strings that made this man believes that the way his step father treated him influenced his decisions. Another example would be him saying that this event that lead to him being in jail, actually made his family closer and changed their views on things. So in other words, I see the strings that come down from this invisible force to be the things that we can’t change and the strings that tie our actions to influence others in a chain reaction are the strings that go from one person to another. (part 2) Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:30:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/b-s-response/#IDComment137506891 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/b-s-response/#IDComment137506278 I will admit, whenever I hear that someone has received a life sentence, I do think that they had to have taken a life. With that said, I don’t always believe that it was just to kill the person for no reason at all or that it was on purpose. But, to hear that this man was involved in a felony that got someone killed and he received a life sentence without actually hurting the person is crazy. It is crazy how someone that makes a mistake of being involved with the wrong people end up losing their life’s freedom over it. On the other hand, this man has found freedom within himself. I know the feeling of doing something and having all of your troubles just go away. You become so focused on that one thing that you lose track of time and feelings and even yourself. It is a great feeling. Most likely, it is an even greater feeling to this man and it is probably even enjoyed even more by this man than me. Another thing that I believe is crazy is the fact that the family has grown stronger because of this event. This event has caused this man’s step father to realize that the way he was treating his step son was wrong. (part 1) Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:28:25 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/b-s-response/#IDComment137506278 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135933693 . I am not saying that he did not deserve jail time but I do not believe the jail time should have cost him the rest of his life’s freedoms. In his letter he states very clearly that he does not expect sympathy from anyone and that he believes that he should stay in jail. But should this be true? Also you can look at the factors that led up to this event. This kind of stuff happens when parents neglect to pay attention to their children. Their kid starts hanging out with people that they believe will show them the most attention. To get this attention they will do anything. So this man was probably trying to fit in so he would help them do stuff without thinking of the consequences. When he was arrested the judge may have convicted him just to get a high conviction rate. Judges and juries go after high conviction rates and do not even think about ruining someone’s life like this. (part 2) Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:28:51 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135933693 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135933619 M’s story really shows how corrupt our very own justice system is. This man was convicted of being an accomplis to a murder at a young age. He says in his story that he had a feeling of what was going on downstairs but he was too scared to do anything about it. Well yeah he would be scared to do anything about it he was just a young kid at the time. This man will never be able to live a normal life because someone thought that he was old enough to lose his freedoms over a mistake. This man did not know the full intentions of the people that he was with and when he saw what they were doing he was afraid for his own life. I believe that it is over kill that he received a life in prison at that age. He did not hurt anyone, he was just being used. Kids at young ages can be talked into doing bad things because they do not poses the life experience to know that it will get them into trouble. He was put into a messed up situation that cost him the rest of his life. (part 1) Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:28:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135933619 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/01/lighting-our-way/#IDComment132166291 So I understand when the reporters say that people go into depression and are always arguing with each other and always sleeping. This would not be a place that I would be able to live my life and truly say that I was happy with how everything was. If I lived in Helsinki, I would pack my bags and move somewhere else. The reporter even stated that some people would move away for the winter. As far as those bright lights, they would drive me nuts. Artificial lighting is no match to the natural light of the sun. Those bright lights would probably end up giving me a headache. So I must say to all of the people that choose to live there and deal with the little light, I commend you and better you then me. (PART 2) Thu, 3 Mar 2011 19:11:50 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/01/lighting-our-way/#IDComment132166291 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/01/lighting-our-way/#IDComment132166166 Living in a place like this would really suck. I love being outside in the beautiful sunlight. I go outside and pass the pig skin with friends, sit at the tables outside and do homework, and even go for walks in the bright sunlight. I can easily see how the winter days in Helsinki can really take a toll on the citizens. Being there in the darkness would make you slow down and feel very tired all of the time. Just think about it. Those winter days are like our days of heavy clouds, only their days of little light come every single day. Just waking up one day and seeing nothing but clouds makes me very drowsy and the only thing that I want to do is go back to sleep. But, just like them, I have to get up and force myself to get ready for a day of classes and a day of work. When I do this, it puts me in a bad mood and then I am grumpy all day long. This one day of little light does this to me and makes me not like how I am that day, but if I had to deal with this over and over again day after day I would make myself go insane. (PART 1) Thu, 3 Mar 2011 19:11:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/01/lighting-our-way/#IDComment132166166 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/fear/#IDComment130647500 Most people will not think the question through to find out what they really, truly fear in their life. For instance, the person they will become later on in life, or what kind of future their actions will shape for them, or even what kind of future their invisible strings hold for them. I know I fear what kind of future, both near and distant, that my actions right now are shaping. When you are locked up, especially for life, your actions my not hold that big of a consequence for you so then your start to fear the things you will be missing. Yeah if you make another inmate mad at you, they may try to hurt you, but you really can’t shape your future anymore. It is not like a lifer can get out early for good behavior or something like that. (part 2) Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:03:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/fear/#IDComment130647500 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/fear/#IDComment130647388 Fear is part of our everyday life and we deal with it every moment of the day. From the time we are born, we were taught to fear different parts of life; others just grew on us over time. The media strikes fear into people’s lives every day because scary news sells. When you hear an inmate talk about fear you start to think. Am I scared of the wrong things? The answer is not if you have good reason to fear them. This inmate is scared of missing the happy times with his family. He is scared of not owning the key of a front door. He is also scared of facing the reality of the situation he is currently in. if he was just afraid of all of this before he did what he did to get in this situation things might have been different for him. But who really knows, he may have had a reason in his mind that was good enough to do what he did. But when you are free to go places you want you fear completely different things then when you are locked up. When you ask someone what they fear, they will normally respond spiders, or snakes, or something along those lines. (part 1) Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:03:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/fear/#IDComment130647388 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/15/social-structure-shapes-free-will/#IDComment129026720 . I know in the clip the man says that when the decision to share a wife is to be made, the whole family sits together and talks about it. Something pushes them to talk about this and feel ok with sharing a wife. No decision they make is totally free. It is all pushed to be the way they feel and deal with this type of marriage by the culture around them. Our culture does not have any more freedoms then what the one showed in the clip has but our culture has different morals. That is why it is socially acceptable in their culture for women to have more than one husband but when I heard about it I was shocked. But do not forget, the very fabric of every culture across the world is an outcome of the every people in that culture and the invisible factors that shape their lives. (part 2) Sat, 19 Feb 2011 04:00:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/15/social-structure-shapes-free-will/#IDComment129026720 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/15/social-structure-shapes-free-will/#IDComment129026525 While watching this clip, I was shocked to hear about how these people live their lives. They find the way that there family is set up perfectly natural. In our society, this setup would be unacceptable. Then I remember one of our lectures. In the lecture we talked about how the things that happen around you, the lifestyles around you, is what will shape your life and your beliefs on certain issues. This is a culture that believes what they are doing is acceptable. They use this practice in different ways like a form of birth control. In their culture they are limited on food and need to keep their birth rate low. In the clip they state that no matter how many husbands one wife has she can only get pregnant every so often. Nevertheless, there are still outside forces pushing the culture to think like this. No matter how much they believe this way of life, or any part of it is made up of free will, it really is not. There was an outside force that made them think up this way of life. There was also a different force that made the men not feel jealous of sharing their wife with their bothers. (part 1) Sat, 19 Feb 2011 04:00:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/15/social-structure-shapes-free-will/#IDComment129026525 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/09/4092/#IDComment127449570 Now this is sad, that a man has to be locked up in a small cell to become this close to that inner light. On the other hand he is now closer with this God than most of the people that enjoy the day to day free life. Yes, lifers are free to make choices day to day just like the rest of us, but the we can make bigger free choices than what they can. We can chose to drive a car or go for a wall, go to the mall or go fishing, breath fresh mountain air or hold our breath while we swim. Since inmates cannot enjoy these kind of freedoms, they find other places to have freedom. The only place they can have the freedom from anyone knowing what is going on is within themselves. That is why they decide to find God within themselves. Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:33:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/09/4092/#IDComment127449570 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/09/4092/#IDComment127449536 When I read this passage, Remember, it shows me how much someone that is serving a life time in prison is truly alone. He cannot remember the small things in life and the things that some of us see as a big part of our lives, girlfriend/boyfriends, family, friends, etc., are small to him. Everything that has to do with the life he took and when he took that life is big to him. That is a thought that will never leave his mind. All of the pain he caused, the feelings he felt, the reason he did what he did sticks with him forever and we see that it will never leave his thoughts. Also, we see that this chain of events changed his life. He now has peace with God. We were just talking about this today in class. This person, this number to society, is locked in a little cell never to get out again, has nothing to do all day. So what do these inmates do? Well they have two choices: either go insane of sitting around listening to the sounds around them or find God within themselves. This man has obviously found the God within him because his last line of his letter states that a mighty and all-powerful god has forgiven him while men cannot. (part 1) Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:33:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/09/4092/#IDComment127449536 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/the-other-side-of-life/#IDComment126053284 . If this is the case, it makes people feel more sorry for him then if he had a great home but still committed the same crime. Why is that? Why would we give someone more sympathy for the same crime it he was mistreated in younger years? To me they still committed the same crime so people should have the same feelings for the convict. This man new what he was doing when he killed the other person. He was 15 at the time and that is old enough to realize it is not a game. He then stated that it was not until he was confronted by the family members while in jail that he truly realized how much pain his actions caused people. It truly is a shame that it took until then for him to even see what he truly did and that is what made him regret what he did. If he was not confronted he probably would not have felt that regret that bad. (part 2) Sat, 5 Feb 2011 02:14:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/the-other-side-of-life/#IDComment126053284 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/the-other-side-of-life/#IDComment126053224 I can’t believe this guy has been behind bars since he was 15 years old. I mean once I found out what he did I can believe it but still to go into jail at that age and be told that you will never get out is crazy. In the opening of this letter he states that when someone takes another life, do they truly regret what they have done. We see throughout the letter that this individual regrets what he did but let’s say that he did not get caught would he regret it then? Would he feel as bad if he got away as he does now that he is behind bars and has faced family members of the life that he took. I think the reason he feels so bad about it now is because he sees all of the pain he caused, not just to his victim, but to the victim’s family and friends and the pain that he caused his own family. Maybe his relationship with his parents were no good and maybe he was abused, that would make him more likely to commit this type of crime. (part 1) Sat, 5 Feb 2011 02:13:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/the-other-side-of-life/#IDComment126053224