the importance of an individual

Over this break, I have been contemplating the power of a single human being. At times, it feels like no matter how good our intentions or how much we do, nothing really changes. Is it because we are insignificant or is it because change takes time?

 I realized what Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. had in common was their ability to mobilize the masses. They saw injustice and decided to try and make a difference. Today, on Meet the Press, Laura Bush was talking about her work to bring equal rights to Afghani women and children, and once again I felt like I was witnessing change (likened to those of Ghandi and MLK Jr.).  I realized in our own way, we are trying to do the same thing and it gives me a sense of optimism for humanity. At my Governor’s School, my teacher talked to us about whether colleges should mandate community service. There were many opponents, but I strongly believer it is a good idea. There are many people who are stuck in their own bubbles and do not see what else is going on in the world. Volunteering gives us a new perspective on the true meaning of life.

Over thanksgiving, I bonded with family and friends that I haven’t seen since the beginning of the summer (because I studied abroad). It felt so good to have such a sound support system. I couldn’t imagine what I would do without them.

As I researched for our papers due Tuesday, I realized that the people in Camden are really blessed to have such a good support system, especially in hard times. They have Sacred Heart Church and their extensive friend/family networks. To many they may seem unfortunate, but they actually could be lucky to have found such precious connections.

I end this entry with a song that prompted all this reflection.

Give Me Your Eyes- Brandon Heath

Look down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight 

Touch down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos 

All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared 

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see 

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah 

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work, He's buying time 

All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see  

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

I’ve been here a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see you the way you’ve seen the people all along 

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see 

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see 

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
(lyrics from http://artists.letssingit.com/brandon-heath-lyrics-give-me-your-eyes-hl15hzr)

A glimpse of Camden, just a little closer to home.

Within the past few weeks, I had found out that my aunt lost her job. She had worked at a flower shop that was suddenly taken over by the IRS, leaving all of its workers unexpectedly out of work. Although my aunt will be okay financially in supporting her family, it is an entirely different story for one of her closest friends that also go laid off. The woman is currently a resident of New Brunswick and lives in one of the smallest houses I have truly ever seen. She is a single mother trying to raise three children. Although her elderly mother is there andhelps watch over the children, her poor health often hinders her from helping out. Therefore, when this woman was laid off, she actually had no money to keep her family alive. Not only does this family sleep on bug infested mattresses scattered about the structurally con caving living room, but now they suddenly had no food. The woman called my aunt saying that she had nothing to feed her children, so my aunt packed up bags of groceries and drove right over to lend a helping hand. Along with my aunt, my mom gave her all of the necessary items for a full on turkey dinner because the holiday was obviously quickly approaching. With about a weeks worth of groceries, her family could breathe for two seconds and once again fill their belly’s. But what is in the future for them?

I think the scariest part of this whole situation is that this happened to someone so close and dear to my family. Not only am i an acquaintance to this woman, but I know her to be a kind hearted person and a loyal mother who would do anything to put her children first. There have been times when she has gone days without eating at home because all the food she gets goes immediately to her children. I want you all to think about your Thanksgiving Day dinner table. How many plates were left with scraps of food that could compile to feed a family of eight? I know I stood there on Thursday watching as my uncle threw slice after slice of turkey into the garbage when there are plenty of people out there that would give you anything they could offer just for a decent meal. Therefore, I am encouraging all of you, to think about how much food you wasted over this past holiday and to make an effort to make it up to yourself and all those people in need to donate to a soup kitchen. From the smallest of non-perishable items to entire turkeys, something will always make a difference. There is even one located in New Brunswick for any of you who leave around this area. With that town being located right next to mine and seeing how much some of its residents are suffer, I feel it is never too late to help.

The Death Penalty

The death penalty like abortion is a very controversial issue that most people like to avoid bringing up in conversation.  In explaining my views I am in no way trying to change anyone else’s or trying to push my views onto others.    This is just why I believe in the death penalty.

                When we watched Dead Man Walking in class I had already believed in the death penalty but watching it made my belief stronger.  I think that they death penalty is something good.  Why should a murder be able to live when the ones he murdered cannot?  It just does not seem fair to me.  The murder may be sitting in a small box for the rest of his life but at least he gets to wake up every day and live.  His family can still come visit him while he is in jail but the family of the victims cannot see their loved ones ever again.  Some say that the reason they are against the death penalty is because they want the murder to suffer by just thinking about what they have done but I do not agree with this.  I do not think that the murder will think about what they have done or even be torn up about what they have done.  I think that to kill someone there has to be something not right with a person and in that they will never feel sorry for what they have done.  So keeping them alive will not make them suffer.  They took away someone’s right to live so why should he be able to keep his.  It may sound like I am seeking revenge but I do not feel that I am.  To be the death penalty is not used for revenge it is use for closer.  Knowing that the person who killed my loved one(s) is dead will make it easier for me to move on and get over the fact that my family member is no longer with me. 

 I cannot for sure say how I would react if one of my family members was murdered but I do know that while I was watching the movie I felt angered toward Sean Penn’s character and knew that the death penalty was what he rightfully deserved. 

Is Marijuana Legitimately Illegal?

Before our class discussion about the legality of certain drugs, even though I thought it was unnecessary to illegalize marijuana, I figured that I just didn’t know the facts and that the government must have had some legitimate reasons. However, after my on-line research, I am completely baffled as to why marijuana is, indeed, illegal. 

Marijuana (Cannabis) was first made illegal in Utah in 1915 because the church disapproved, and other states followed suit, but for different reasons. There was much discrimination and racism towards the Mexicans during this time period, and many people believed that everything that the Mexicans did was for wrong reasons, and that they only wanted to empower themselves. People believed that after the Mexicans smoked, they would think that they owned the plantations they worked at and some government officials were quoted, “When some beet field peon takes a few traces of this stuff… he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico, so he starts out to execute all his political enemies..All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy.” Along with racism towards Mexicans, there was also racism towards African Americans, especially southern jazz musicians, in whose music and lifestyles marijuana was quickly integrated. The federal government, once again, thought that their control was diminishing and that the “African Americans felt that they were equal.” Another misconception was that the word “assassin” was derived from “hashish,” another word for marijuana, and that those who used it could be convinced to murder enemies. 

Henry Aslinger, who worked for the Bureau of Narcotics, decided it would be good to add marijuana to the list of drugs that the government was trying to outlaw. He enlisted the help of William Randolph Hearst to use yellow journalism to make the idea of banning marijuana a nationwide effort. Because the hemp (marijuana) plant had many uses, including for cloth, rope, and especially paper, Hearst, who used timber, didn’t want to compete against it for his newspaper material. Additionally, he abhorred the Mexicans and was ready to employ any means to make them look bad. The Marijuana Tax Act was passed in 1937, making it illegal in the United States of America. 

The reasons for which marijuana has been made illegal are completely irrelevant to the actual effects of it when used as a drug, and there was no research done during that time to back up the claims that it was harmful. Whether or not marijuana is a gateway drug is still under debate, and much research is underway, but since it will still take many years for absolute results, experiments are also being done with lab rats.  So far it seems that it is only a recreational drug, similar to alcohol or tobacco. It has even been proven to be less harmful in the long run than cigarette smoking and has not been linked to lung cancer. The hemp plants have many uses, but legalizing it now will most likely only guarantee its use as a drug. Still, I think it should be legalized until any confirmed results have been found.

 

References:

Quotes from: http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarijuanaIllegal.html

and other information from:

http://www.marijuanaaddiction.info/news-left.htm?aid=49

http://www.marijuanalibrary.org/gateway.html

A Thanksgiving to Remember

It’s funny how most of the freshmen at school were excited to head home this weekend. We were excited to get away from Eickhoff food, and to sleep in the comfort of our own beds. We were excited for the chance to see family members who we haven’t had a chance to talk to since before move in. Somehow, in all of this excitement, we started to forget about those less fortunate, we started to forget about those individuals who have made our lives more interesting, who have caused us to rethink our situation and our form of giving.

Yesterday, at my family’s Thanksgiving Extravaganza (only countered by the Christmas Extravaganza, you think I’m kidding, the amounts of food are ridiculous), the adults were watching one of the many football games and a commercial appeared. This commercial talked about overweight children, and made a statement along the lines of “1 out of every 3 children is overweight,” (it may have been inaccurate, but I’m not sure, I only caught the end.) This commercial sparked a conversation about being overweight, and it led to observations from my uncle, the cop, about what he sees when he is on duty in the school zones. This then led to a conversation about the eating habits of young children in inner cities, places where fresh produce is hard to come by. Somehow I ended up spending most of that conversation, and part of my Thanksgiving, spouting out information about Camden, about our work in Camden.

I told my family about the lack of fresh produce, about the lack of clothing stores, about the diet, which consists of mostly convenience store food. I told them about working in the thrift store, about playing with the children; all the while I think that only bits were making it through. My desire to help is not fully understood by my family. They feel needs to help, but they don’t really think that helping directly is for them. For me, it has always been a given, I help directly when I can, which is partially why I want to join the Peace Corps after college.

This is why I am putting some of my dreams on hold, after college, until I can fulfill some other goals. It took my mother until last night to understand my dreams, once she read all of the literature I brought in order to “convince” her. I hope that she sees past the “oh this will look great on your medical school application,” and the “well your father and I have a say in this,” to my desire and need to help other people. I hope that my entire family, cousins and all, heard me talk about my work in Camden, about the people that we help, and that they can understand that helping directly is for them. It’s a bit of a lofty dream, but I hope that our experiences change them, if only the slightest, to want to do more for those that they don’t know.

A Thanksgiving Realization

As my family bowed our heads to give thanks for our gigantic dinner of turkey, stuffing, and all of the Thanksgiving accessories and for the company of each other as another year has almost passed, my prayers extended to the people that I have met in Camden. I couldn’t help but think of those who aren’t as fortunate as me who can’t afford to cook mega meals for their loved ones or are unable to even be with their families whether it be because they have lost them or because they are on probation and cannot leave the state, such as one man I have met in the city. The only thing that kept my extended family separated this year was distance and the fact that my cousin on the other side of the country is pregnant and due in a week. My nearby aunts and uncles and cousins did join us for dinner, however, and the love that surrounded one dinner table could barely fit inside of the room. We tease, argue, laugh, and laugh harder.

However, as I was thinking about Camden, I realized that the feeling I had inside of me has occurred more than on just Thanksgiving. It’s very cliché to say that Thanksgiving shouldn’t be the only day we “give thanks” and I realized today that each visit that I have had to Camden has given me this feeling of gratefulness. I have honestly experienced recurring “Thanksgivings,” minus the turkey or feast. Then I felt silly for feeling sorry for the people of Camden. The wholehearted people that they are probably give thanks each and every day they wake up and see the people around them, both family and extended kin. All I can wish is that they have food in their stomachs and people around them that love them.

A story on the death penalty

About the Death Penalty

Posted by YusukeKuramaHiei on January 23, 2008

“Abolish the death penalty!
It’s cruel and unhuman!”

Death Penalty in China

Death Penalty

Who are we to take someone’s life away?