Friday, September 30, 2011

Defining Humans Monthly Essay

                  The definitive  characteristic of humanity is their inner conflict with Greed  and determination. People have always been determined to achieve a goal they set out to complete. I am aiming to get a job and scholarships for college, honestly who wouldn't, but its the way and effort someone puts into the work that defines weather it is greed or determination. Greed is pretty much an undying desire  for  wealth  or possessions. Determination is an undying will to succeed. There are clear differences in the definitions when you read the sentences aloud, but also similarities. So one is considered better than the other because it uses better tactics than the other.
               I think there it is a matter of choice sometimes but mostly selfishness and the inconsideration of other people that defines a person as being greedy. There is something in people's head that says, " this is not enough," that makes them want more. If a person, who can not really afford college, was determined to get a scholarship in order to pay for a college such as CAL or MIT, they might write about five letters or maybe even more. That would probably be the case for someone who is middle class or under. A person who is well off is less likely to receive a scholarship, but what if they pressed to get some anyway, is that considered greed?  What I learned from the book Rich Dad Poor Dad is that a smart person with money spends as little as possible.
                        Were does the line between greed and determination fall? If a person is like Robin Hood steals, the only reason he stole was due to a greedy king taking way more things than he needed, what does it make him? Now Robin was determined to take as much as possible from a wealthy kingdom in order to help others, but what if he were to do it so much that  the king now had less than half of his original fortune. Most people might say it would serve him right. However, what if Robin and his crew now have helped out the poor up to the point were they are well off, the king is almost left with nothing, and just are faced with a substantial fortune. I believe that the conflict, between determination and greed, would be weather or not to give some back to the king since he is pretty much lower than everyone else. To put it simply the king is now "the poor" and everyone else is " the rich." It's like the entire situation is turned upside down, and while other people could call it justice, the king himself  probably would call it greed(due to him being broke).
             In some stories Robin was not even human, but each had the same idea, steal from the rich give to the poor. Also each one would be faced with the same conflict if they were put into the situation. The low life king has gotten what he deserves, but Robins policy still remains. That is the conflict in that case.  So I wonder what would others do in Robin Hood's predicament. It is weird to think that after all he did to bring the king down that  Robin would  help him. This seems to me like something between greed and determination that is out of anyone's hands when you put the situation that way.  So this is like leaning towards determination, until you flip the problem they your just stuck in the middle.

                 "Any determined goal or policy is likely to end up contradicting itself when taken to a logical extreme." Charlie Sutherland


           This situation I am about to describe has everything to do with greed. Two counties have been at war for about ten years and one eventually wins, but at too great a cost. I'm talking about destroyed villages, burned forest, beautiful meadows turned into bloody battle fields, unsuspecting travelers caught in crossfire, poor locals who did not even know what is going on, and even natural resources depleted from the ongoing fighting. Just something a history book would not miss, but it all could have been avoided. Now lets say there was an eight year old, now eighteen due to the ten years of war, reflects on the pat events and ask what the hell just happened.
               The original feud between the countries was over some land, which was unclaimed and separated both countries, that provided a type of energy that can be used for a variety of things. Now a debate would require both sides to give up something to reach a peaceful settlement. However, none of the politicians or the head of each government want to do that. So they go to war in hope of not just gaining land, but now some of the riches and resources from the other country. Now what they did not think about were the consequences, The disregard for the safety for their own country has left both sides in deep crises. Now this whole situation is a disaster people are either to stubborn or lazy to make an agreement. It would give anyone a green light to walk up to the leader of each country  and say you greedy bastards.
               That problem lands  beyond the line of greed, there was no determination to forge peace or understanding. The feelings of a person are indescribable after they go through a traumatic experiences of war. However, this does not compute for the "higher ups" until they realize they have lost way more than what they would have gained if they were determined. Its they simple equation of cause and effect that most humans do not seem to think about. When I think about it more that simple equation could save people a lot of trouble if they took a little time to consider it. As humans greed leads us to not think about how or who will the the decisions affect everyone. If someone does not want think about the well being of others then they could put it this way. After the greed of a person causes them to make a bad decision, that affects say a small city by making them loose all of their electricity permanently, they will have to move, which cost money. They, I know I would, are going to try and find the selfish person responsible.
                   A guess humans will be humans, but that is no excuse to pick greed over determination. This is wishful thinking, but hopefully there will be a day that all people will be determined to better man kind for the sake of future generations.
            

             
        

Friday, September 23, 2011

Disater Affects All: CE

Is it worth it 

Daily Milenio, quoting federal sources, said up to 14 bodies were found on Thursday, although other media put the toll at 11.A banner found near the 35 bodies dumped on Tuesday said the killings were a warning to the Zetas, one of Mexico's most ferocious drug gangs, which has been engaged in a turf war with more established rivals. It was not clear whether the latest killings were reprisals for that attack.


               After reading about this situation that is what came to mind, not only were people killed, they suffered through torture before being actually killed. I do not understand the problem entirely. All I can tell from what I have read that there is a turf war going on and even the government is involved. What really gets me is that the people of the state Veracruz are caught in the cross fire. After reading the story I found that there was no mentioning of what the government was doing to protect the people. If this does not end soon people who were not even involved in the first place will get hurt.
                Another interesting question that came to mind when I read about the turf war is, unless these gangs actually own this land how can it be a turf war. To me it seems like senseless killing, but then again that is just my point of view. To the gangs, I am pretty sure, there is an explanation that people can relate to. I mean it should be a good reason for bodys to keep staking up. All I can do is offer my blessing to the innocent.

To Be Human:#2 What Separates Humans from Animals: Free

                    What does separate humans from animals besides obvious physical features? We are biped,usually only have two nipples and a limited amount of hair.We, as humanity, are considered the most deadly animal alive. So what makes us any less human then most animals in the wild. If a human were to get stuck on an island their fist instinct would to be to build a shelter, find water, and hunt for food. You could call it natural instinct or just common since. This is what most living things in the animal kingdom do on a day to day basis, so maybe that is why people call it survival instinct. That way it opens more opportunities to spot more differences in humans, animals, or plants.
                    Maybe the human brain is what separates us from most living things, but an elephant's is up to four times larger than ours. So why can't they talk, I mean their bone structure clearly shows why they can not do certain physical activities that humans do such as type or walk on two legs, but the brain seems developed enough in terms of size and memory. Why can't they read or just simply talk. If an elephant is challenged it holds its ground, and the same thing happens if the family is in danger. Me I would not call that survival instinct. Here's why there is a clear change in body language, emotion, and communication when danger is near especially when it comes to there herd. There is something to think about.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Room: BC

           Lars had always had a room to call his own and nobody, and I absolutely mean no one was allowed. It was his domain, walking to it was fun. The hallway floor leading to it had been made into a layer of temperpedic fabric so that each step was a soft one to remember. The plaster walls were painted with black and white lines to make it seem as if you were walking into a portal. Lars had memorized every inch of the room just so he did not have to use the lights, not to say he never did.
          When Lars finally reaches the door, which is made out if two inches of melted tank armor, he says his full name into a microphone that recognizes only his voice. Then and only then will it open. If you were lucky enough to get inside of this room the first thing you would see is a floor that is 51*40 feet, and a 10 foot high sealing, most of it was oak wood. In the middle of the floor there is another spot with more temperpedic material that has been topped with an artificial fabric that felt like the fur of a Chow Chow dog. The walls are simply plaster, but what happens after the room is turned on is what makes them complicated. At first glance all you see is darkness, Lars walks feeling the smooth waxed oak wood floor, then past the Chow Chow dog carpet, each step tickling his bare feet, and finally to the other end of the room.
           At the end of the room there is a panel with a gel that you place your hand on, that only recognizes Lars hand prints. Its like putting your hand in jelly. Lars often gets his hand sticky after doing this, so there is also a bottle of had sanitizer on the panel. After Lars' hand print is recognized things get interesting. Its almost like being inside of a transformer. Two sliding panels on the roof open and two mechanical arms gently place a futon, with a temperpedic mattress and cup holders in the frame. The wall in front of the futon opens up to a sixty-two inch liquid crystal display television with cable, Xbox 360, Playsation 3, DVD player, and over three hundred options in movies or video games.
          Behind the futon the wall opens up to a smaller room that has book shelves filled with writing from only his favorite authors, the top two being Walter Dean Myers and Darren Shan. This room's carpet is the same type you see at a movies' premiere. In the middle of the miniature library there is a alien ware  computer that also has a liquid crystal display monitor. On the wall parallel to the entrance it opens up to a juice and snack bar with a marble counter  and miniature refrigerator for ice and fruit. The drinks consisted of orange juice, apple juice, Gatorade, water, and a wide variety of sodas. To top it all off there was mechanical butler to serve drinks an turn the air conditioning on off.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Does it Really Matter: Re

"The argument, between the two most popular gaming systems out there. Towards my opinion, I believe that XBOX is the best between the two, everyone complains about the PS3 controller being to small and so do the Play Station players." 
  
        In my opinion it really does not matter, they are both gaming systems of a new generation and have a lot of the same games. If you want just a good game system the Playsation3 or Xbox 360 can satisfy that. Both systems have there flaws, but they are just to enjoyable for anyone to care. With Xbox you have XboxLive and the Playstation 3 gives you the Playsation Network. Both have lots of people on each even as I am typing, I just wonder why does it have to be an argument about which is better.
                  I have a Xbox 360, but if on that one Christmas there was a PS3 inside the present I would have been just as  happy.In a way this asking if a lime or lemon is better or a paper towel or toilet paper. The point I am trying to make is the argument is not worth anyone's time because they are both fantastic creations. I imagine some people probably have different opinions about which is better because the first gaming system they were ever able to call their own was a 360 or PS3. They funny thing is that when ever new gaming consoles are put up on the shelves again, more than likely there will be yet another string of arguments about which is better. Will it ever end?

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Why Should it Cost Money to save a Life?: CE

 Saving Life=Great Cost
                       "The number of children under the age five who die annually has plummeted from 12 million in 1990 to 7.6 million in 2010, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have said in a new report. Even so, improvements in child mortality rates will not be enough to meet the UN goal set in 2000 of reducing
child mortality by two-thirds by 2015, and the groups say more money is needed."

                                 The one major obstacle that gets in everyone's way, when it comes to things like charity work,  always seems to be money. There is never enough, and what does that mean, do donators not have enough money? If they did would they continue to do so? People wonder what does it take to convince someone to donate , but there are also other things to consider. People have a hard enough time providing for themselves an/or their families. In today's world you will probably find a lot of people living from pay check to pay check hoping, if they have children, that they will be able to send them to college.
                                That mouthful does not even begin to explain why its hard for people to spare even a dollar. So in a nut shell people can not help each other due to the problems and challenges that face them every day. Ironically these issues often leave a person in debt so bad, that they are also in need of a donation.When a child, around the age of five, says that he or she wants to save the world it makes me wonder will they have the same attitude in ten years. Buying land to preserve forest  or just making simple donations, it requires money, and its definitely not growing on trees.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

To Be Human:#1 Could a Tree be human? (Free)

                             An interesting question to consider, because the physical make up of a tree, and how they receive their energy, is way different than that of a human. However,  there are just as many similarities as there are differences. In the jungle there are many trees that compete for sunlight. Kind of like contestants on American Idol or America's Got Talent. Those who reach high proceed to the next round while the others are left behind. To put it simply if you want to be at "the top" your going to have competition. Not only is this true for humans, but trees and pretty much any other plant that uses photosynthesis as well.
                              If a person were to repeatedly kick a tree, and it respond in a way that we could understand, would its response be any different than that of person getting kicked in the knee. I imagine it would not hurt, but I'm sure that the tree is not going to find the activity enjoyable. They depend on water a little more than we do, they can make their own food, and they mate to have offspring. Still these are all necessities that a trees have to receive in order to continue surviving. They are obviously not what a "normal" human needs to stay alive, but does that make them any less human than they are considered to be? They do not talk, sleep, or even walk around. What I wonder is, what is the major difference that makes it not human, and what if that one difference separates humans from each other? So tell me, what do you think separates humans from trees?

Friday, September 9, 2011

I Agree: RE

A Similar Story

                                  I have to admit I don't remember much because I was still small. But I remember watching the news during dinner time with my family and hearing the adults saying, " Oh, this is SERIOUS?"
                                  That is interesting because I to remember also watching the news and seeing the twin towers fall. At first it did not see what the big deal was, coincidentally I had been watching a show all week on demolitions. However, after listening, I heard that there were people in those buildings and it was no demolition, and definitely not an accident. At that time, because I was five, I could not begin to understand how many people were affected by this. Sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and even whole families killed in an instant.
                                  It is crazy to think that who ever did crash those planes agreed to give up their lives. I mean, what was the point and who did it benefit. These citizens who half probably had absolutely nothing to do with the conflict died in an instant. The more thought I put into it the more I ask why, and it sits at the front of my mind. As much as I would like to understand why it was done I am having even a tougher time trying to figure out who would allow such an event to happen. Not only that, but what messes me up is, who ever higher ed those people to crash the planes most likely consider them freedom fighters. Because to them this messed up sacrifice was for a worthy cause.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Such Violence: CE

Football Trouble in Egypt

                                    "More than 130 police officers have been injured in clashes with fans of one of Egypt's most prominent football clubs following an Egyptian Cup match in Cairo, security sources and officials at the health ministry said."
             After reading that article I could not help but wonder what the police, or the people, did to start a riot. Naturally it does not matter  because situations like those often end up with someone injured or even killed. No matter where it began, what counts is where and how it is finished. It makes me think about,  in those intense moments of violence, have the protesters forgotten what there cause originally was in the first place. When I apply that old term, "actions speak louder than words, " to this predicament, it just yells get SWAT down here to scare people back into there right minds.
             Things like that always end bad, you don't need me to tell you that though. Of course at times people need assert themselves to get there point out in the open. Especially when dealing with public crowds. However, I would imagine the protesters were about sixteen and up, for whoever organized the protest, weather people came in little by little or in big groups. It should not take burning cars, wounded people, or even police for someone to stop and think, "this is getting out of control." We are all "only human," but that should not suggest that, just because of that one fact, people cannot do something as simple as a protest with out a disaster occurring.

Unfair Writing Assignment: FREE

                        Since this is a free post I am not going to sit here trying for thirty minutes to make a "great" start for this piece. I find this rather fun, well better than my previous english assignments, to be able to talk about what ever I want to. That is probably the problem when it comes to writing assessments. Like one day in class there is a letter, to diagnose our writing skills, that the whole school has to write to an editor about an online school course. There may have been three paragraphs explaining the situation, but it felt like they were all saying the same thing.
                         It did not give anything specific, like who would be participating on the online course elementary, middle, or high school kids. We only received a warning that we would have to write about a topic and the date it was to be completed. It seemed as if someone just slapped a piece of paper in front of me and said, "Write about this." To top it off  we only had forty minutes to do it. Usually it will take me six minutes to make a fair sentence that will "keep the reader interested."
                         Well I ended up writing like two paragraphs, and I was not even satisfied with my own work. I can only imagine how that will reflect on my own paper. Even though it does not effect my grade in any way I would have liked to have more time so some effort could be seen in it. Our english teacher has us doing quick writes, which he says will improve our ability to write at a constant rate, normally.

Monday, September 5, 2011

The New Year: BC

Boom! First day of school was alright, and so far my classes are how I want them, simple. Which is another interesting thing, no matter how much work there seems to be it seems to be so much more simple than last year.I might even enjoy my english class this year. That is big thing for me considering in the past I dreaded the thought of english class. To put it "simply" my english teacher, so far, does not make me want to pass out where I sit when he speaks. I am not even a week into school and I feel exited, maybe its the football or the new people I've meet, who seem to always have something interesting or funny to say. Who knows, it could even be the new challenges that face everyone this year.
                           Challenges are fun, not when they are next to impossible and just seem to get worse and worse, they keep you busy and even entertained if I am really just hitting it head on, making it my own.What usually starts these challenges, in my experience, is often a simple question.Why is there gravity on earth but not space, why is our planet the only one with air. I know I would like to know the answers to those questions. Perhaps I will know the answer in the future, till then I am focusing on my life and what I shall make of it in the future. Its funny that word sometimes scares me, its about not knowing what lies in store for me, like dying, what comes after that? All I would like is eternal peace and happiness, along with not ever having to worry about anything ever again. Not only that but apparently my religion will grant me that, so long as I behave ;).                                 
                       Until that time comes I do all I can to appreciate all that I am fortunate enough to receive. The reason is, after I got to the age were crying was not an option for me anymore, every time after that, when ever I was about to cry I reminded myself that there is a lot of pain in the world which out weighs mine by a long shot. So I can not allow tears after something goes wrong, or something does not go my way. I remind myself there are kid that do not even have a bed to sleep in or even parents to tell them that they love them. When facing reality you have to be strong, I am not saying people who do are weak, I just don't like it. This is part of my motivation to reach for my goals, my mom has always told me, " the sky is the limit." I am reaching for it right now and once I get there I will do all I can to bring others up as well. Besides manners and home training my mom also taught me to speak of things as though they were. Not to say, " I want to go to M.I.T or UC Berkeley, " but instead, " I am going to M.I.T or UC Berkeley." Sometimes certain days the goals just seem so far out of reach, and I will have to say what I will do until I am confident in those goals again. Its a long way away right now, but I'm getting there.