Osama bin Laden – DEAD!!

So finally on May 1^st, almost 10 years after the September 11^th attacks the most wanted man in the world was killed by some of our troops. Come to find out our troops had been looking in all the wrong places….bin Laden was in a home instead of in a suspected hole or cave. But either way we finally still got him; this day will go down in history. History textbooks will have to be rewritten and now there is someone else who took the place of America’s number one wanted person. But all of this doesn’t mean we are out of the clear and it hasn’t made the war come to a screeching halt….we killed a very powerful man I am sure was someone to take his place and I am sure his followers want revenge…we constantly have to be on our toes and watching our backs. It is a reason for a huge sigh of relief but also a reason for continued and maybe even more stress.

There have also been rumors that they made it up just so they would get more support…especially Obama because he hasn’t had too much support lately and they think something like this would help him get reelected in the next election. This is crazy and I hope it’s not true…imagine what would happen if it all really was a rumor…sometimes it makes me wonder if this puts Obama at greater risk for assassination.

Question:

How does this make you feel as a citizen of America??

“Do Unto Others as You Would Want Done Unto You”

During last week’s discussion of torture all I could think about was the saying, do unto others as you would want done unto you. I was thinking how does this work with torture because overall we seemed to agree that there can to exceptions for torture. I would think that this creates a double standard which I can’t stand. But anyways I think this is a good saying to live by and it is a good one to teach young children. For example no one wants to be punched, kicked, slapped, etc. so you shouldn’t be doing that to others.

                                                                                     

Question:

Do you always treat others in a way that you would want to be treated??

In response to Jenny’s question, “Have you ever done anything extreme such as sky diving to experience that feeling?”

When I first read this question I thought no but I wish I had the guts too but the more I thought about it I have done a couple things that some people might feel is extreme. I have been parasailing in Hawaii over the ocean and I was actually dipped in the ocean before I was brought in. It was the most amazing feeling, I can’t even describe it but I would definitely do it again. The other thing I did was the free fall thing at the Great Escape and I was the person who pulled the rip cord. At first I didn’t know how to act and I didn’t know how I felt so I closed my eyes and I screamed but then I realized that I was fine. This as well was an awesome experience, I kind of felt like a bird, and I would definitely do this again as well. I have also wondered about how much higher or how much bigger of a drop I could handle.

Question:

Why do we feel we need to do something extreme within our life time? Why do we make “Bucket Lists”??

In response to Kim’s question, “Should people arrange their own funerals before they die?”

I think this is a really strange question…something I would have never thought about on my own. I think in some ways if people did plan their own funerals it would help their family members and friends that they left behind. But funerals are supposed to be a reflection on someone’s life and all the good memories of them. They way family members and friends might remember and might want to respect one of their loved one’s would be different than what the dead person would want. But I also think if my parents told me how they wanted their funeral I would be obligated to do it that way out of respect…and who knows maybe if I didn’t they would haunt me ( I do believe in the afterlife and ghosts, etc.). When answering this question there is another factor that we have to consider; the cost of the funeral….they can be very expensive, so if someone was to plan their own funeral I would think that they should have to leave the necessary money to pay for it because unfortunately many people don’t hold the services they would like to for their loved one’s because of costs.

Question:

How or what do you want to be remembered most for…why??

In response to Katie’s question, “Have you ever tried to stop discrimination?”

Honestly I don’t think I have ever been in a situation where I have tried to stop discrimination. The only thing I could count is lecturing my brothers when they make a racist or other degrading remark; like making fun of people with disabilities or gay’s. But I have chosen my career based on discrimination. I am double majoring in psychology and early education so that I can work as a special education teacher but my ultimate goal is to own and run a therapy ranch for people with disabilities. I think these children who have Down syndrome or autism, bipolar disorder, etc. can be some of the cutest kids in the world. And it drives me insane when people make fun of them because they may seem to be ‘stupid’ or they look different because of their disability or disorder. My argument is everyone has the same stuff inside and we are suppose to look different on the outside that’s what makes us interesting….if we all looked exactly the same that would be really boring. Anyways I want to work with these children because I want to help them realize that they are just as smart and just as important as the quote unquote normal kids….they deserve an equal opportunity and I want to help them to get that.

Question:

How could you use your chosen career to lessen discrimination??

In response to Griffin’s question, “Why do humans feel the need to always have recognition from something superior? Be it god, a boss, or simply one’s role model or hero?”

I think the answer to this question is simple…humans always feel the need to recognized by a superior because of the pressure from society to be recognized for their work. Being recognized and rewarded for something makes us feel good. Think about it you don’t get praise for failing the only thing you get is a lecture and possibly even screaming and yelling…something no one wants. It is a part of our human nature to want attention but for most of us we want positive attention rather than negative attention.

Question:

Why is failure so greatly looked down upon??

In response to Catherine’s question, “Would people look past clothing and more toward personality if uniforms were mandatory for all work places/schools? What are your feelings on uniforms?”

I think if uniforms where mandatory everywhere we probably would focus more on personality rather than looks and this would be a good thing. But uniforms take away from how we have learned to express ourselves and it would be a dramatic change for many. Although some people would find a way to manipulate their uniform to better match how they would like to express themselves. No matter what I think there would be positive and negative outcomes due to uniforms. Personally uniforms aren’t that big of a deal but I would want to have to wear them all the time. I have to wear a uniform for one of my jobs and at first I hated it but over time I have come to not even care about it…although I would still prefer to wear what I am most comfortable in. But uniforms are kind of good because they eliminate a lot of distractions that ‘regular’ clothes can create such as being provocative. But again I suppose there could be ways around this because like in my job where they are required, different types of uniforms particularly the shirts express status…when you become management, as I am, you get more choices. The two levels below management can only wear a red shirt or a blue shirt but when you are management you get to pick out your colored shirts. So I suppose uniforms just like anything else are all a matter of opinion and they can turn into a touchy subject.

Question:

If a college(s) you were considering required a uniform, would that become a deciding factor for you??

In response to Lauren’s question, “Do you think that wanting to torture others is in our nature?”

Unfortunately I think it is a part of our human nature to want to torture others. But lucky I think it is something that is suppressed in the background until it is triggered by something. The reason I think this is because some people get violent for different reasons and for some of us it takes a lot before we actually become violent enough to inflict physical harm on someone else. I suppose it could kind of be consider a survival technique that we all have available to us if we needed it.

Question:

With torture in mind how do you classify self-defense??