Well Done: No Vacations

In class this week we talked about the components of culture. Mr. Salituro also mentioned that business men experience the differences in culture most often. For his job, my dad is required to work with people from over seas and travel a lot. The largest cultural differences he has noticed in the past years are those from France compared to ours. In the U.S. it is normal for someone to want to eat their meat well done, but in France, many feel that it is odd or gross. My dad always tries to tell them to overcook his food or burn it even and it still comes back to his table pink, but he is polite and eats what he can. Even a McDonald's has a different menu. Instead of disrespecting this different culture he has realized that he is lucky to have the opportunity to experirence something different. When he arrived in France for the first time it was a culture shock, but soon he learned the gestures and common words that help him get along. Also, in the States, when a business person goes on vacation, his/her phone and computer are still attached his/her side. But the people my dad works with in France go completely missing and are unable to be reached. They also take many more vacations than workers in the U.S. To Americans, choosing to take vacations this way may be viewed as laziness, but in France and other European countries, it is healthy and allows you to be a more productive worker. This relates to the issues of punctuality and laziness discussed in "Social Time: The Heartbeat of a Culture," France and The U.S. have different views on what socially acceptable, but understanding these differences and embracing them is what allows this company to thrive.

Nick's Story

Last summer I was watching The 700 club ( it is a Christian news program) and a story about Nick Vujicic came on and hearing his story caused me to gain a new perspective toward the character of humans. The internal torment that he faced as a kid was heartbreaking, but the one line that hits me every time I go back and watch his interview is when he says "I'd rather have no arms and no legs temporarily here on earth, to be able to reach someone else for Jesus Christ." Even if you are not religious, it is still fantastic to see that these three men that Mr. Salituro talked about faced such adversity, but now they use it to touch so many lives. Relating to Charon's idea, in this instance, it is good to generalize. These men have shown that when you make it through trials, you gain a greater knowledge and a story. The idea of Charon's that I really liked was that by generalizing we can take what we learn from one instance and apply it to another. The generalization I took from watching Nick Vujicic's story is the importance of looking beyond what we see on the outside of someone who is different because a fantastic and inspiring story could be hiding inside.

Here is a video of Nick's story, as a note, it is Christianity-based. I don't want to offend anyone, so there's no need to watch it if it would make you feel uncomfortable!

A Classroom Flashback

Today in class, Mr. Salituro started a clip about the documentary, "A Classroom Divided." We only got through a couple minutes, but right before our bell rang, the teacher, Mrs. Elliot began to explain the activity to her third grade class and she said, "Blue-eyed people are the better people in this room." She then went on to explain just how inferior brown-eyed people were. I had this immediate flashback to my third grade class. We had been studying a unit on civil rights and on this particular day, my teacher, Miss Hartigan, read us a book about Rosa Parks. After she finished, she asked us what we thought about it. Once we had all responded she said, "What if these bad things happened to you just because you had blue eyes?" I remember that my stomach sank and my face got flushed. I thought, "Wait, I have blue eyes, that wouldn't be fair, its not my fault that my eyes are the color that they are!" That one sentence of hers drastically changed my view, even at age eight it had a tremendous impact. She didn't end up putting us through Mrs. Elliot's experiment, she actually went silent and excused us to recess. I don't think she realized the influence she had on my little mind. My parents had always preached "Love your neighbor as yourself," but because of Miss Hartigan, I began to take those words and make them a part of my own values. I started to think about how we don't chose our features and the character of a person isn't dependent on our outward appearance. (Although, my little third grade mind probably didn't use so many big words!). It has been almost ten years and that one sentence still breaks my heart, and I hope that it never stops.

The Value of A Life

In class on Friday, we did an activity where students in a life boat had to decide who to kick off because there was not enough room. Being an observer of the scenario, I gained and interesting perspective. The situation made me think about what makes one life more valuable than another. The group was quick to vote off the elderly couple, which is understandable, they lived a long life, and everyone else deserves that too, right? A pattern that did surface was that the people with family stayed the longest on the life boat. Maybe that's what measures the value of a life, If these people have loved ones to come home to, they should be able to make it home. One move that shook me was that the third person to go was the sailor, he would've been so experienced at sea, that he could have helped protect the lives that were there. Also, the group, for the majority of the time, considered getting rid of the medical student, quarters master, and captain. Again, these people could save lives in the end. The most influential thing I took from this activity was that not one person in our class offered to sacrifice him/herself. Humans all want to defend themselves, and it seems harsh to admit, but many of us view our lives as more valuable as the person sitting next to us.

Why Don't We Care?

In one moment, everything can change. One word, can start movement, so why don't we take our lives more seriously? I am a Christian, so I believe that there are great things to come after this life is over. Compared to eternity, this one life is so short. We here this concept the time, but that does not diminish it's validity. We are given opportunities everyday to make an impression, so why not make the best one we can?

Reading "The outliers" and "Sociological Mindfulness," got me wondering about what influences us to try and make these positive impacts on people. Mr. Salituro mentioned that at first we may dread doing the volunteer hours and in my head I questioned, "What influences do we receive that determine our likeliness to want to serve?" Is it religion? Christ calls us to help the poor, widows, and orphans, but in class, we talked about many Jewish organizations that have a heart for those in need. And there are many groups that strive to help, but are not associated with any religion. Maybe it is family, or maybe some one helped us when we were hurting, and now we feel called to continue the chain and give aid to some one else?

My biggest concern is why is there so much apathy toward others? Are we too consumed by school, grades , sports and other activities for ourselves that others are pushed to the side?  I think the effects of this apathy are even worse when we do gain a sociological mindfulness, but chose to only listen/follow when it is most convenient to us.

Growing Up Online

    I watched to PBS special on growing up online and one thing I found moving was when it said that although many adults are not happy with the new technology-based lifestyle students are living, it is not going away.
    It was interesting to see that many schools are adapting in order to keep the students engaged. As students, we have almost constant access to the Internet and technology, it is what we have become comfortable with.
   As the special showed, that comfort can be dangerous and many kids opposed restrictions there parents put on their access to technology, but I think parents still have a large influence. My parents have never let the kids in my family to go on social networking sites and that was it. There are times when I feel like it would be easier if I could have a ll facebook, but my parents want be to be safe and I appreciate that.
   Some of the stories about students finding an alternate identity were frightening. Students that were shy in reality, were bold online. That made me think of our blogs, because there are many students that do not like to speak in class or find it intimidating. This blog can allow students to give there input and participate with out fear.
    If we use our means to the Internet in intelligent ways we can channel resources that if used incorrectly are dangerous and make them productive.

Who Am I?

I have been blessed with a great family and have been given many wonderful opportunities. I have a mom, dad, little brother, and twin sister. I was born in California, but soon after,  we moved to Iowa, where my parents are originally from. A couple of years later, my dad got a new job in Chicago, and although we have been here for twelve years, we all find that back in Iowa still feels more like home. We go back to see family six times a year, but when I was younger, I would always beg my parents to let us move back. Rural Iowa is just so peaceful, calm, and inviting. So, My sister and I have decided to go to college at Iowa State, it was actually the only place we applied, but it has worked out well

In school, I'm involved  in cross country and track, and attend the club Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). I have also found that I really enjoy spending time at church, My sister and I help out with the junior high ministry on Saturday nights and the nursery on Sunday morning. We're actually going on a retreat this weekend.

At college I want to study environmental science and focus on water purification. I am very excited to have a job I will look forward to everyday and  to be given the opportunity to travel to parts of the world that are such a contrast to the U.S.