Friday, August 29, 2008

Which is more important Freedom or survival?

Which is more important - freedom or survival?

Freedom and survival have been two of the main essentials for humans to live in peace. Both have existed since the beginning of time and both have challenged us to become better people intellectually, physically, and emotionally. Though both have done so much for the human race it seems as if both need each other but one is stronger. Personally I believe freedom is stronger than survival. Freedom is stronger than survival because humans can’t survive with freedom. As humans we all have been searching for freedom either from slavery, stress or just life in general. Those reasons are why freedom is stronger and needed. This is one of hardest questions because you are choosing to live life the way you want or death. Slaves in the 1800-1900 had to ask themselves this question everyday and some answered the question.

Slavery in the 1800-1900 is one of the most taught parts of history in school. There were many of slaves tried to gain their freedom. In numerous amounts of stories such as the Underground Railroad I learned their struggle for freedom. One former-slave that turned into a heroine was Harriet Tub man. Harriet Tub man lead hundreds of slaves from slavery to freedom. She was a woman of integrity, honor, and the will to fight for her freedom. Harriet Tub man once said “I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.” These are powerful words that I think express how strong freedom is compared to survival. Even though freedom is stronger or more important than survival you need both to life a fulfilling or balanced life.

We need freedom and survival because they are like water, which gives us thirst ands reason to keep going in life. For example, you have guy named Samuel who represents survival and another guy named Fred who represents freedom. Everyday after class Samuel always asks Fred what was the homework because he doesn’t right it down. Now Fred doesn’t mind Samuel asking him because usually it ends up being a long conversation about their favorite comics or movies. One day that Fred doesn’t come to school and he ends up not knowing the homework for the class. This example just shows how both benefit from each other in some way. In the book the island people were given a choice between freedom and survival. Today in U.S.A we live comfortable lives and I think as an American I have both. Then you have people in third world countries and only have one. Overall both need each other but some people aren’t given a choice.

To conclude, freedom is stronger than survival. They are both essentials to life and some people have struggled to obtain one or the other. Harriet Tub man was a former slave and she had to the answer this same question as a slave. Yes, she did answer it and acted upon her answer, which lead to freedom not only for her but hundreds of other slaves. Even though freedom is more important and stronger we need both to life a comfortable or fulfilling live. In some ways it is similar to a classmate asking for homework. All in all some people don’t have the choice but freedom is more important.

Friday, August 15, 2008

The American life

This audio was about people who are mentally challenged and the troubles they face in school or just life in general. In the beginning of the audio there were some testimonies or speaking from students who attended special ed. I felt this part of the audio was interesting to me. Mainly because when I used to attend IPS there were special ed classes. While attending IPS I had a few friends or associates who always went into this mysterious room. They never spoke much about special ed but I do remember they were always laughed at and ridiculed. Personally for me to hear the students in this audio made me ponder and say what if I was in that situation. The main focus then shifted to Vincent a mentally challenged man who recently quit his job without any reason.

When Vincent's(or Vinnie) sister first started explaining his situation I thought he was just any other mentally challenged person. His parent's treated him as if he was a kid( which I thought was normal in his situation). Even though he was 34 years old it wasn't awkward or I wasn't in shock because he still lived with his parents. I have known a couple of people that are in his situation. There was once guy in an art class I took summer year going 8th in 9th grade. He was 26 years old and was mentally challenged and lived with his parents. I think that parents taking care of their children who have disabilities is wonderful but a situation that is depressing. On a documentary show on MTV called true life there was an episode talking about children who have autism/retardation. In the documentary you could tell the parents worried so much about there child when going to school or just for there live in general. Throughout the audio the sister kept mentioning that he quit his job and the activities he used to do. She really put importance on the fact that he quit his job.

When the mother spoke about Vinnie she said chemicals in his brain was altered and thats why he quit. When I heard that I believed it because she said a doctor thought that was the problem. As the story continued the sister kept repeating that he quit his job. She also said everyone had there perspective on why he quit. As the story came to a ending hearing what his brother said set a spark in my head. It made me think that this guy is really just like you and I. Yes, he is mentally challenged and has a speech impediment but he is normal. Just as his brother said I would have quit a job or my daily routine if it was so repetitive because it can ultimately become tedious.

To conclude, another audio has changed my perspective and enlightened me. In the beginning of the audio I heard testimonies from people who attended special ed classes. I never knew what happened in these classes or knew how some of the people might of felt. The audio then switched to Vincent or Vinnie a 34 year old man who was mentally challenged. I believed in the beginning he was quite different because he was mentally challenged. Until the end where it occurred to me that he was normal and had the same feelings and emotion as anyone else.