Reflection 21

I’ve never opposed to anyone having feeling about another person, same sex or not. I don’t see why it should be anyone else’s business to prop around in people’s lives and declare who they can and can not have a relationship with, unless its your parents, and even to that extent they really don’t have any control over it. I’m not an atheist, I do believe that there is a higher spirit that has control over what happens to us when we die, and the only thing we can about it now, is to live our life and make mistakes. Though I do believe that religion pushes people so far out of the edge, that they are not themselves anymore, they are what they want people to perceive them as, which is anything that is holy and innocent. But why is same sex or even heterosexual love looked down upon? If G-d doesn’t discriminate against races becoming intimate with one another, then why would it matter if the same sex, or heterosexual as people develop a relationship within an intimate level with each other. I don’t think G-d has anything to do with who hooks up with whom, and who someone falls in love with. I believe that society doesn’t believe that same sex as well as heterosexual love should be accepted because it isn’t a social norm, there for it isn’t right, and what their doing is a sin. I think people have such nerve’s to go in and talk about same sex as well as heterosexual’s love out in the open, because it’s basically talking about another person’s business and putting it out so the whole world can talk about it. Plus, why not allow someone the experience of a life time. Love isn’t only for a certain race, or class. Love happens all over, and it shows your responsibility and helps you grow as a person. Why wouldn’t you allow someone the opportunity to find love, base on whom they love? At the end of the day, I don’t believe race, or gender can tell you who you can or can not fall in love with. Everyone believes that the same sex as well as heterosexual will go after people who are not attracted to their same sex, yet society believe that they will force people to believe what they believe, and do what they do. Which is not true, they just want to be like any other person with the freedom, and future of having a life with the person they fall in love with and choose to marry.

Reflection 16

This was the hardest response I had to deal with, just because the graphic level of what actually happen, was too grooms for me to handle. I don’t understand the human mind, and how some can be full of love and kindness, and other full hatred and murder. The biggest Genocide and ethnic cleansing we’ve encountered and known about world wide would be the holocaust. But that wasn’t the only one worth talking about, during our history years I’ve never seen anything so gruesome, or rather never chose to see something as gruesome as the Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur genocide and ethnic cleansing. In Bosnia many women have been raped, men and young boys have been beaten and used for hard labor, and worst killed because they do not fit the stereotype of a pure ethnic group. Hearing this I was astonished and appalled how someone could, anyone want to be apart of something that can destroy humans because they don’t fit into what you believe to be the perfect ethnic group. It tares me open; I can’t seem to find anyone who even closely resembles perfection. Never mind wipe out millions of people, because they don’t hold up to your standards. Who are you to decide who lives, and who dies? And who are you to decide, what type of characteristics and physical traits one must have so that they can survive. As well as Dafur, why would you capture blacks from villages just to massacre them? These things aren’t normal, and I thought that after what happened to the Jews almost wiping out a whole religion, that no one would ever think about doing such G-d awful things because we learn from our history, so our history won’t become our future. Though apparently this isn’t true, I’ve learned that history is known to repeat itself if it’s in the hands of wrong doers. I never really understood why people do the things they do, especially when it’s something as serious as this. Though I have learned that just because we don’t know it happens, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Many things have been kept hidden for obvious reasons, but mainly because if anyone really does know what goes on 100% of the time, then no one would be safe, and everyone would run around paranoid. At a sense ignorance is bliss, because what you don’t know won’t hurt you, and at the same time, you already have you own stuff to deal with.

Extra Credit Haiti Retreat

I didn’t know what to say about Haiti when the earthquake hit. To my surprised I didn’t think we would do anything, because in all honesty we haven’t. I was acting on what, I’ve been taught to act on, and that is always question everything we do even when were doing it. I understood why Haiti needed help but I never really understood why we were helping them. America has really never helped Haiti unless it was to benefit them and make them look supportive. When I went to the Haiti Retreat presentation, I was baffled. I didn’t know what to expect, but what I didn’t expect is exactly what I encountered. I enjoyed the music that they played, and the talent that they possessed to play such wonderful and enlightening music. I also wondered how they could play with such force when it sounded so passionate. I also watched how everyone, even though they didn’t know the words to the song, and perhaps it was their first time hearing the song, moved to the beat. There was even a point and time where everyone got up and danced together, and that when I knew you have to make the best of with what you got, even though what you got, is not a lot. Then it hit me, that’s what Haiti has been living with, they barely have anything, and when something so tragic as an earthquake happen they have less than what they originally had, which wasn’t a lot. And it isn’t the greed or the spite of America to look like the hero to help them out, but the caring consciousness that everyone has to lend a helping hand when someone is in need. That night it showed me, that everyone can come together, despite the differences one might have, or the conflict. Just for one night, people can come together and put their differences aside, and enjoy themselves, for who they are, and for what is to become of them and their surroundings.

Emmett Till

The poem was strongly moving. I just learned about Emmett Till's case, and I understand how gruesome this case would be to show too elementary and middle school kids, but I believe that when you get to high school kids should learn about this case during black history month. It’s a shame that not many people know about Emmett Till’s case but I believe that this poem showed more than the mess of Emmett Till’s case it showed him as a person and a different way of viewing the case. Instead of seeing him as a slaughter case, there is more to a human the revenge, hurt, and sorrow. It is easy to hurt, and it is easy to lash out on someone for their mistakes, but I believe that it takes much courage to understand that people have hurt you, and some people do thing that anger you, but what is it to you after you lash out on them, what is it to you to hurt them as badly as they’ve hurt you? The pain never dies, and the hurt inside you will continue, until you bring peace within yourself. The past shows us what we’ve done and what has happen to whites and blacks, but what has happen then only affects how we act now. The hatred in us between the two races is what you make of it, why hate someone for what their ancestors did? And why belittle someone? If you think you are more powerful, stronger and wiser, than prove it. There is no need to make someone feel like they are nothing, because everyone means something to someone, even if they don’t mean anything to you.

Reflection 20

I believe that intersexuality, is the same thing as a heterosexual, which means that at birth they were born with both a penis and a vagina. Though they were born with both they do not have both for the rest of their life. At birth the parents must choose which one they want to be, which in reality it really isn’t the parent’s choice. If you have both it is easier to cut the penis off and make you into a girl. It’s all science, and a lot of surgery, but in the long run, if you wanted a boy, you got a girl. I don’t believe you know your child is a heterosexual when it is in the womb. Studies have also lead us to believe that once a child is a heterosexual it is told that they experiment with the other sex, but end up living the life of a straight person. There is talk that heterosexuals trigger the creative side of the brain, and that they are more artistically, and musically talented, musicians like Ceria, and Lady Gaga are heterosexuals. As for transgenders, there is years of mental and physical battle for them, I believe out of everyone the transgenders have it the worst. When you grow up, you have to learn to like yourself to believe in yourself, and have confidence with yourself. Transgenders never feel that confidence and don’t feel conferable in their own skin, unless they changed their gender. The sign of transgenders are usually the tom boy, which is really a girl, I’m not saying that, that is always the case, but transgenders girls usually try to fit in with the boys, and are really into sports, or musically talented. Some transgenders only go as far, as dressing up as the opposite sex and going out with the opposite sex, where as others go to the extreme of a physical transformation. They don’t feel conferable in their skin, which means if they are a girl they want to be a boy, and if they are a boy, they want to be a girl. The physical formation is painful, they have to wait a year, taking hormones and pills that help their body get ready for the surgery, it also helps the person get used to the lifestyle of the sex they want to be, and show them what it takes to be a guy, and how society will treat you. I say that transgenders has it the worst, because finally when they are happy and are conferable to be where they are at, society still rejects them. Just because the surgery gave you a penis or a vagina doesn’t mean the rest of your physical features show that you are fully the opposite gender. I know a person who went through the process, he was a guy who changed into a girl, yet he still has the manly facial features, and the big hands. The little, but noticeable things that still set them apart, from truly being what they want to be.

Reflection 19

I’ve never been opposed to homosexuality, I always thought of it as an interesting subject. When I was in seventh grade I had met my best friend Amairen, I would soon find out some years later, that she was a lesbian. I have been place in the homosexuality environment since then, and during my high school years I’ve come to realize that some of my best friends where homosexuals. I’ve learned that the cause of homosexuality is that you are simply born with it, and I believe that’s true. Society has been degraded from the old times, and simply girls really mistreat their bodies and expose themselves in matters that aren’t really proper. I believe that now, homosexuality is quote on quote in. Girls are more to explore the stages of homosexuality, but when they do so it effects with homosexuals who really are looking for other homosexuals, this is where my views have changed. I don’t believe you are homosexual if you have just decided a couple of months that you are one, I believe you have to be in a relationship and deal with what society says about you, for you to really be a homosexual. Yes, I have put standards for someone to be something, but it is ridiculous on how society has taken to the extremes about homosexuals. Like I said before, homosexuals are born with it. It isn’t a disease or something that can be cure; it’s their way of life, something that they can find happiness in. I’ve always been open minded to situations, but I believe homosexuality isn’t a situation. It’s a process that some people go through, like other people. They go through relationships, they have heart breaks, and yes they even have sex. Their no different from you or I and they live life the same way you do. What always bothered me about society was that everyone who was not a homosexual thought that they would constantly get hit on by a homosexual. Everyone has standards, if the girl next to you is straight and she doesn’t take interest in you, what makes you think a homosexual will? We all have standards we aren’t out to get anything with a penis, or anything with a vagina we want emotions, attractions, and someone who cares for us too. Society is still getting used to homosexuality, and sometimes they just need the knowledge about it, instead of constantly thinking that change is a bad thing, because this isn’t change, its been happening for years, now its just come out of its shell.

Reflection 18

I myself was wondering, can you really make a political matter, a racist matter? If you look at it from the surface you can see it just as it is, a political matter. The Haitians didn’t have the same privileges as the Cubans because they weren’t govern the same way. The Cubans were run by communist, were as the Haitians were run by a democratic government. It was plan and simple, if the Cubans ever got sent back to Cuba knowing they tried to escape, they would have been sent back and would have been taken to jail, or even worse, politically persecuted. Were as the Haitians would of just been sent back to the poverty which the had originally came from. Now when they talk about racism, they have a part of a case. The United States is discriminating towards the Haitians because they are denying them the privilege to stay in America. Then it goes into a political matter because the Cubans have something to offer to the United States, in the 1960’s Cubans brought their own wealth, and they were highly educated. We didn’t mind the wet foot dry foot rule, because it was beneficial for us. If Cuba didn’t want their educated citizens, then we would gladly take them, and use them for our benefits. Where the Cubans didn’t mind because they were away from their communist country, and were able to make a living, because truth be told, most of the Cubans were smarter than the average American citizen. Now when it comes to the Haitians they were the poorest country in the hemisphere, they didn’t have enough money to keep their citizens alive, never mind give them a decent education. The Haitians had nothing to offer America, they had labor skills, and the skills to stay alive, though they were not educated, and they had no money. Where the Cubans could work there way up with the kind of skills they brought to America, the Haitians weren’t as privilege to have those skills; instead they had other kind of skills that would still leave the Haitians at the bottom. This case is a racial matter, but in a way the Americans tried to help the Haitians they had a dictator ship once, and America took him out. We can’t help a country by constantly bringing in people, because it doesn’t really help their country, it just helps the citizens that leave and never come back. Though for the ones still there it’s all about what happens in the country instead of the ones who makes it out. I believe that this is more of a political matter than a racist one, sure there are some racist points, but there are more details then meet the eye.

Reflection 17

I’ve learned that racism doesn’t happen because of one person, it happens when a group of people come together and believe in something so strongly that they go out of their way and make other people lives more difficult. I’ve learned that all races are affected by racism, whether you are Black, White, Native American, or even Hispanic. And now that I’ve come to this realization, Hispanics are even racist towards each other because of their own different background. There has been this rivalry between Porto Rica's and Cubans since as long as anyone can remember. I agree that some stories play out like Disney movies, but there are others that are very crucial where racism become a big part of their lives. Viewing these standpoints I’ve also learned that there are different types of racism. Avoidance is one of them; I thought it was good to avoid someone you don’t like because that way you don’t cause confrontation with the other person. I’ve learned that some people use avoidance as a way of racism, avoiding someone can easily become neglecting them, thinking you are more superior then they are, and that you can degrade them just by avoiding them. I didn’t know that silence can say so much, and I’m sure that many people don’t know that they are being raciest. Because if this is so, then the Amish have been racist to new cultures for many years now, because they are going out of their way to reject the new ways of technology and of culture, and by doing so I’m sure by not converting they believe that their way of living is a more sophisticated living then we have it. Another concern is that children have such racial behaviors when they are young, I’m not sure if they don’t know better, or more of they weren’t taught with the up most respect to respect others, no matter what race. But children play the racist role while they are young; part of racism is antilocution; this is when someone verbally rejects someone else. Children do this all the time at school or even around the neighborhood. They learn at such a young age, what to say to get their way and to get people to listen to them. Some kids are labeled bullies because they pick on little kids; this is a form of racism because they are rejecting different cultures that don’t fit to their liking. Racism isn’t just about discriminating; it’s more on how you treat others.

Reflection 15

I was amazed how some people couldn’t believe that such a drastic event happened, not only that they couldn’t believe it, which is an understatement, but that they were in denial that it ever happened. In eight grade I grew an obsession on the Holocaust it was a fixation that I had to know what happened, whether your survived the concentration camps or didn’t I wanted to know their story. Their stories amazed me; I was heartbroken and overwhelmed just reading the experiences that they went through. I never doubted anything they said, I was just amazed how far they made it, and some how hard they struggled to stay alive. This one book I read told the story of a man who wasn’t exactly the strongest worker over their so they didn’t work him to death, but pretty close to it. They were moving from concentration camps to concentration camp in winter time, he was lucky just to have pants, or even a shirt on. As they were walking to the next concentration camp he collapsed feared that he couldn’t go on anymore, the guard told him that if he stayed there he would die. As fear was rushed into him, he had no choice but to move on. He was one of the lucky survivors who made it out alive, though later in life he learned that when he was all set to give up on that winter day, two days later he would have been saved and no longer had to be part of the concentration camps. Reading these stories I never knew how people where in such denial about certain situations. But now I’ve learned to look at things through other people’s point of view. Just because something is going on in the world, doesn’t make you realize why it is going on or maybe it doesn’t register that it really did happen, and it wasn’t just a rumor. I also believe that if you weren’t introduced about it, or it wasn’t talked about around you then, it wasn’t true. A similar event is the KKK, the KKK was said to be provoked during early times, and we believe that it has come to an end because we don’t hear about it. Though up north, it isn’t that they just hear about it, but they also witness parades, and African American cops fear for their lives and refuse certain shifts because of how strong the KKK is up there. I believe that people don’t believe things happen, because they were never taught certain events, and such disbelief can also come from traditions, maybe if they believe that none of it happens, and then they can’t install hate and fear into that generation.

Reflection 18

I myself was wondering, can you really make a political matter, a racist matter? If you look at it from the surface you can see it just as it is, a political matter. The Haitians didn’t have the same privileges as the Cubans because they weren’t govern the same way. The Cubans were run by communist, were as the Haitians were run by a democratic government. It was plan and simple, if the Cubans ever got sent back to Cuba knowing they tried to escape, they would have been sent back and would have been taken to jail, or even worse, politically persecuted. Were as the Haitians would of just been sent back to the poverty which the had originally came from. Now when they talk about racism, they have a part of a case. The United States is discriminating towards the Haitians because they are denying them the privilege to stay in America. Then it goes into a political matter because the Cubans have something to offer to the United States, in the 1960’s Cubans brought their own wealth, and they were highly educated. We didn’t mind the wet foot dry foot rule, because it was beneficial for us. If Cuba didn’t want their educated citizens, then we would gladly take them, and use them for our benefits. Where the Cubans didn’t mind because they were away from their communist country, and were able to make a living, because truth be told, most of the Cubans were smarter than the average American citizen. Now when it comes to the Haitians they were the poorest country in the hemisphere, they didn’t have enough money to keep their citizens alive, never mind give them a decent education. The Haitians had nothing to offer America, they had labor skills, and the skills to stay alive, though they were not educated, and they had no money. Where the Cubans could work there way up with the kind of skills they brought to America, the Haitians weren’t as privilege to have those skills; instead they had other kind of skills that would still leave the Haitians at the bottom. This case is a racial matter, but in a way the Americans tried to help the Haitians they had a dictator ship once, and America took him out. We can’t help a country by constantly bringing in people, because it doesn’t really help their country, it just helps the citizens that leave and never come back. Though for the ones still there it’s all about what happens in the country instead of the ones who makes it out. I believe that this is more of a political matter than a racist one, sure there are some racist points, but there are more details then meet the eye.