Unit Six: Assignment One: Preview Reflection Blog Post: When To Get Involved

I haven't jumped in other people's business unless it affects me or if I think they need help. It's okay to jump in if someone needs help or asks for help. If someone is in trouble that they can't handle themselves it's okay to get involved even if they don't ask for help.

Unit Five: Assignement One: Preview Reflection Blog Post: Is It All About The Money?

Are people driven by money?
Does money lead to happiness?
Are the people that have money better than those that don't?
How do the wealthy get their money? Is it their work or the work of others that makes them rich?
Is it the responsibility of those that have money to share with others?

Each of those questions will have different answers depending on who you ask. But you asked me so I will of course answer to the best of my ability and be as concise as I can.

Are people driven by money? Yes and no. Greed is one of the most simple and primal human emotions. Those without the will to resist vices, who have no higher ideals to hold to will invariably turn into something driven only by money and possessions; without love without sympathy, they become empty shells who crush everyone in the search for riches. On the other hand there are those who search for money for higher reasons; to give those they love a better life, to help others; and when there comes a choice between money and virtue, virtue prevails.

Does money lead to happiness? Again, yes and no. It can lead to a shallow happiness yes, but not pure joy.

Are people that have money better than those that don't? No, definitely not. That's all I can say. No.

How do the wealthy get their money? Was it their work or others work that makes them rich? Well that's complex. Both I suppose, any gain requires the help of others, whether it be in a mutual relationship or by the work of those who's hirer has no relationship with.

Is it the responsibility of those who have money to share with others? Yes, that's not only a responsibility it's a commandment. So yes, most certainly. After all, sharing is caring.

Unit Four: Assignment One: Preview Reflection Blog Post: Fights

Like most siblings my older brother and I often fight over matters that in hindsight seem inconsequential. But, our fights tend to be different. After all, we're "different", I have Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder and Jon has Asperger's Syndrome. Though the disorder's are similar we often clash because we both are certain we're right no matter what.
The latest argument we had was started as usual over a silly matter; I wanted to turn the lights off because I'm photosensitive and Jon wanted them left on because he doesn't like the dark. After we yelled at each other for quiet a while our mother intervened and told Jon to turn off the lights and turn on the lamp in the corner. It was dim enough that my eyes didn't hurt but Jon wasn't satisfied with the compromise and fumed for the rest of the day.
This particular fight didn't lead to much but our worse fights are rather personal and I'm not really comfortable talking about them where anyone can read them. So that's it our relationship stayed the same and all I learned was to ask nicely to turn the light off.

Unit One: Assignment Seven: Primary Source Document Reflection

For this assignment I choose to read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriot Jacob, in particular the chapters entitled "The Trials of Girlhood" and "Sketches of Neighborhood Slaveholders". In reading this document I learned much about the details of a slave's life. Their cruel treatment, though of course known to me, was clearly revealed in this intimate first-person autobiography. Slaves in this period of time were more often than not treated as mere animals; without human feelings; to be sold as an animal, to be beaten as an animal, to be slaughtered as an animal.
What surprised me most about this narrative was learning exactly how common sexual exploitation of slaves was. Though I knew it occurred; being myself an ancestor of Landon Carter through his son by a slave mistress; I was not aware of its prominence in 16th century America. How slave woman and even men lived in constant fear of catching their owner's eye was henceforth unknown to me.
While many modern Americans are confident in their belief that slavery has been completely abolished, the sad fact is that a present day slave market is alive and thriving. Though there are many laws that prohibit the use of forced labor, the CIA estimates that some 50,000 men, women, and children are currently enslaved in America; 4% in restaurant and hotel work; 5% in sweatshops and factories; 10% in agriculture; 27% in domestic servitude; and a full 46% in prostitution and sex services. Though the government is fully aware of these transactions and the cruelty wherein, few actions have been taken against those who blatantly steal others of their most basic human right: the right to be free.
In conclusion I wish to say that by learning the history of our country, we must take actions to change the future for the better. Please; dear reader; dear American; listen to the voices from a tormented past. Listen well and let your own voice be heard, cry out that all men are created equal, and that to stand idly by while so many suffer in the oppression and yet to openly condemn against the sins of the past is snot only to be a hypocrite but to be as cruel as those who committed those sins.

Unit Three - Assignment One: Preview Reflection Blog Post: Growing Up

Growing up is exciting and painful all at the same time. You get to have new experiences both good and bad. You enter a new school system complete with new friends and new challenges both to your ability to learn and your ability to withstand pressure from your new often brutal schedule.
As a young adult you have new opportunities; you can finally drive, a doubtlessly exciting ability which comes with trials of it's own: getting insurance, lessons and tests to get your licence, and of course convincing your parents that you can actually be trusted behind the wheel.
You'll have new responsibilities that make you feel more like an adult but also cut into your free time. You'll be expected to get a job, to be able to be trusted without adult supervision, to do more chores, and do your school work without help.
You get taller and can finally reach that top shelf but growing pains come with your new abilities.
With new awareness of the world and everything that happens you can lose your innocence and become jaded or you can finally be able to do some good in the world.
You get more respect now that your no longer a child. People listen to you more often and you aren't expected to be seen and not heard. Everything about growing up has it's good and bad sides; the key to enjoying it is to look on the bright side.

Unit Two: Assignment One

Five purposes of the government are to: represent the people, rule the country fairly, protect the country and its people from danger, take care of the needs of the people, and maintain relationships and protect allied countries.
My family served in the American Revolution and I would certainly be willing to follow in their footsteps if the government refused to fulfill their duties as listed above. To me protecting the people of America and her integrity is far more important than obeying the government. At times your only honorable option is to take matters into your own hands and break the law for what is right even if it means putting your own life on the line, even if it means having to take other lives. That is my opinion, what I have been taught since birth, and will I stand by it no matter what it takes.

Assaignment 1: Should I Stay of Should I Go?

Most immigrants to the Unites States today are motivated by hopes of freedom and ecomonic prosperity. Though they will lose many things; they might have to leave their family and friends and all but the most essential possessions behind; they gain many things. They can escape oppressive governments, achieve assylum from persecution, earn higher wages, and have all the rights granted to every citizen of the United States.
Personally, I plan to make aliyah. Aliyah means return in Hebrew, to make aliyah is when a Jew immigrates to the holy land of Israel. I would not go for economic or freedom issues, instead to go to Israel means many other things to me, a Jew-by-choice. It means a chance to be part of a country, a family of Jews. It means a chance to defend my people by serving in the Israeli Defence Forces. It means to escape a country where Christianity is so prevalent it has become oppressive. It means to see a beautiful country, a paradise. But, most of all, it means to fufill a longing that is impossible to explain, it means to finally be whole again.