More than just a girl.

Prompt: Who are you?

When I heard this question I started to think. I know the basic things I am. I am a loving wife, daughter, sister, and soon to be aunt. Although that is not all of me. I am so much more, more than I can list. I want to be so much more. I am a very strong and happy person. I trust and love too much. I hate lying and that can push me away from anybody. I am very intelligent. I am too messy and shop too much. I love my t.v. and sleep too much. I have not always been this way though.

I have changed so much in the passed year:

• I had a hard time understanding what working for your grades really meant. I have never had to work for any grades. Now, I work for all of them. I was in honors from third grade to twelfth grade but I was never challenged. College has challenged me. I have learned what effort you are supposed to put into school and school should not be easy. It should always challenge you and make you grow as a person.
• I have had to lose the one I love for seven months. I have learned how to be strong and live my life even though I am hurting inside. I have to stay strong for my husband. If I break down, he will also. Just because I am hurting does not mean the world will stop. I still have to work and go to school. I do not tell many people where he is, that will make them sympathetic told me and him. I do not need that. What he does should not make people sympathetic, it should make them feel thankful. He is out there so they do not have to be.
• I have learned what it is to be a wife. How you should not sweat the little things. That life will not always be smooth. The most important thing is that I cannot always be right and I should give in sometimes. Relationships are give and take that was the hardest to learn.
• I have learned to understand my real father some and allow him in my life more. I do not understand why he did the things he did in the past but I know I should forgive him. Forgiveness is not easy but everybody should have forgiveness. He will never replace my stepfather, who stepped up and has been there for me every step of the way, but he should be allowed to know my family and me.

I am very close to my family. I love my family and I would say they are my rock. I love just getting together with them and talking for hours. Right now I am living with my mom, dad, little sister, and my big brother. It is just so awesome to have them all here. If I need anything then somebody is here to help. It can range from emotional to my oil changed. I am not a very independent person and I depend on my family. I know I will have to be more independent in February when I buy my house but i am dreading it. In January, we will have an addition to the family. A little baby girl named Ariel. I love kids and cannot wait for her to get here. Unfortunately I will only be there for one month while she is there.

As you can see from the above paragraph, I love kids. I am going to school to teach middle school. I think teachers help mold the future. Teachers have the most influential job available. They can help change the future. I have thought of jobs that make more money but I always come back to teaching. I want to help children and make sure they know somebody is always there for them. Money is not everything to me. I would rather help somebody then be rich. Being rich would be nice but it is not the most important thing in the world. Children are the future and helping them is my passion. Although I love children, ironically I only want one for myself.

If I were to use one sentence to describe me, I would say: I am vulnerable yet strong. On the outside I am very strong but on the inside I am an emotional wreck. I keep everything all bottled up inside. My close friends know my emotions. I do not have many close friends but the ones I have are true friends. They can tell if I am keeping something inside that I need to let out. They are the therapy that helps me everyday.

I have flaws and I assets. I am not and will never be perfect. I try to discover my flaws and work on them everyday. I look forward to the future and all it brings.

How far would you go for love?

Prompt: The Alligator River Story

This story has many twist and turns, but it comes down to love. How far would one go to be with the one they love? Abigail did what she thought to be the only way to be with Gregory. Gregory did nothing. So should Abigail get more respect because she tried to be with Gregory? Or should she get less because she did the unthinkable by cheating on him? Should Gregory get less respect because he did nothing?

I gave Abigail a five. I'm sorry but under no circumstances should you cheat on somebody. The bridge would only be washed out a couple weeks. They could live without each other that long. What was Abigail so afraid of that she had to see Gregory that day? Maybe she thought he would cheat on her. Why couldn't she just take a sick day at work and go see him? That would have solved this whole thing. Abigail had options; she just did not want to take them. When Abigail laughed at Gregory because Slug beat him up was terrible. I thought she loved him. She loved him so much she would sleep with somebody else and get him beat up. I would never want her love.

Sinbad gets a four. I thought for a while if Sinbad should get the five and Abigail the four but I decided against it. Sinbad is a horrible person for taking advantage of a situation of torn lovers. And to want sex of all things just makes him more horrible. Yes Sinbad is nasty and disgusting but Abigail is worse because she said yes to the offer.

A three goes to Slug. Violence is never the answer. You can look at Slug and say he was admiral because he took up for Abigail but she got herself in that situation. Slug had no right beating up somebody for breaking it off with a girl that cheated on him.

I gave Gregory a two. Although Gregory did nothing wrong in this story, he could have tried harder to see Abigail. It makes me think maybe Abigail loved him more then he loved her. Maybe he could have found a way over to her without Sinbad getting involved.

Last Ivan gets a one. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He did not want to get involved. He was the smart one. He knew the bridge would only be out for a couple of weeks and Abigail and Gregory could live without each other that long. I could see an argument for Ivan needing to be a better friend but that argument is outrageous. He is considered a bad friend because he knew how ridiculous this whole needing to get across the river was.

I think almost everybody in this story, not including Ivan, made bad choices. If they would have sat down and thought about the situation then it probably would not have turned out this way.

Step Back America

Prompt: Why Are We at War?

While reading this book I thought about many things that never accrued to me. Norman Mailer brings up many points that most young people today have never heard. Some of his points are modern technology and its effect on Islam, contradictions of what is said and what is done in Islam along with Christianity, one motive of the war being oil in the Middle East, Bush is smart in the way he surrounds himself with people who are smart, and why Iraq can not easily be turned into a democracy like Germany or Japan. But in this blog I would like to talk about why Iraq can not be easily turned into a democracy like Germany or Japan.

Mailer tells us that Germany and Japan are quite different from Iraq because they long standing nations that had previously been involved in a war where the citizens had guilt because what their soldiers did in other lands. Along with the fact both nations had a homogeneous population and were almost completely destroyed by the war they participated in. But the major key point that Germany and Japan had that Iraq doesn't is they had people willing to work together and the skills to rebuild their nation. Now Iraq Mailer indicates was never a true nation. It was put together after World War I by the British. Also Iraq doesn't have a homogeneous population like Germany and Japan. Iraq is made up of Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, and Turkomans. And they don't live in together in peace.

I fully agree with Mailer on this subject. I don't know if Iraq in the future can have democracy but I believe right now it can not. To be a Democracy that will work and not fall in the future then all the people of the country have to want it. In Iraq they can't agree on anything. I don't mean like in America where we have some people who don't agree; Iraq has serious issues. Mailer also states "Real democracy comes out of many subtle individual human battles that are fought over decades, finally over centuries..." Well Iraq hasn't had those battles. Iraq can not come together as a country for anything. America can not force Iraq to be a democracy. Real democracy will not work if everybody does not want it. America got lucky because we did not have to go through countless attempts at a government before we reached a working democracy. We only went through being a colony and one failed attempt at governing ourselves. Germany and Japan were not as lucky they went through government after government until finally a dictator destroyed their country. Well maybe that's what Iraq needs. Maybe they need to try to govern themselves and go through countless attempts until they realize that democracy is great. Iraq is young they will learn. To me it's like a eighteen year old. They will make mistakes and they will learn on their own and their parents have step back and let them make their own mistakes. So America step back and let Iraq learn by themselves.

Time and Time Again

Prompt: Human Rights v. Majority Rule

If you look back through the years, you will clearly see we have had this dilemma almost as long as our country has been established. It has not always been about gays though. Majority rule has been a major "player" in our country. Our founding fathers did try to avoid it a little by adding in the electoral college. That way the majority would have a say but not the say. What the majority thinks is not always right. At one point in history the majority wanted African Americans not to be citizens or vote and at another point the majority did not want women to vote or play an active role in politics. They had to campaign and protest for their rights. Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony come to my mind as great leaders who fought against majority rule. We know now that this was not the right moral decision but at the time it was the majority decision. I know Americans are not trying to stop gay Americans from voting but without allowing African Americans or women to vote we would never have had our laws concerning discrimination.

In our country employers or colleges or any other public place are not allowed to discriminate against race or gender. So why should they be allowed to discriminate against sexuality? They shouldn't. Many people do though. If the sexuality of somebody was to be public information then employers would still discriminate even though they are not allowed by law to discriminate. They would just do it secretly and come up with another excuse to why that person should not be hired. If by chance an employer does not discriminate then the public does. I know the example many people use is a teacher and I think this is a perfect example. Simply because a teacher has direct contact with a child. Parents actually rely on a teacher to help instill morals and values into their child but for some reason parents usually think a gay man or woman can not instill those same morals and values. I had a middle school teacher that was gay and I learned so much from him. He taught language and I can still quote stuff he taught us. I did not know at the time he was gay. I learned that in high school. But I look back and he was a great teacher because he was so opened minded.

Growing up in the south, I have seen quite a bit of discrimination and unfortunately frequently it has been toward homosexuals. I know all discrimination is wrong but unfortunately I am not always in the majority rule.

Fifty vs Thousands

Prompt: Hijack!

I make the decision if Americans live or die. This is a very hard question. This is a question that deals with moral issues. Should save every human life you can and give in to a group that is against everything you believe in or should you let some people die to prove a point?

Even though you don't have much time to react you have to stop and think about a few things. First is the United States policy on terrorism. It's a no tolerance policy. Which means do not make a deal at any cost. Which means let the kidnapped people die. Second you have to consider the families of the people on the plane. Somebody could lose parent, child, sibling, or just a close friend. No little kid should have to lose a parent, right? Then you have to consider the soldiers at war. Do you want to set free somebody when thousands have lost their lives to capture him? Do you want to set somebody free when soldiers have left their families and friends for month's even years to capture him? After that you have to consider the people who died on September 11. You could be setting somebody free who helped plan that attack. Somebody who sent the guys to attack the United States. That's not fair for the families of the victims, correct? Lastly though you have to consider what the prisoner can or will do if he is set free. Will he attack America again? Will he just leave us alone? Not likely but a possibility.

When reading the prompt I personally thought that is was easy to answer. Save the lives of the people on the plane. You should not let Americans die. But when I sat down and thought of everything involved in the situation it wasn't that easy. Yes it would be great to save the people on the plane but that's about fifty lives and we have already lost thousands to terrorist. It would not be fair to lose thousands more to save fifty. I know it would be hard on the families of the victims that we will lose. I also know it is hard on every family that has already lost somebody to terrorism. My choice would be to not make a deal. To not give in to a group of people that already has caused hell for many Americans.

Can Americans be Absolutist?

Prompt: Right or Wrong?

By definition an absolutist judges every moral issue by the same standard but as humans I don't think that is possible. I am a relativist. That is very easy for me to say. I don't obey every law that our government has passed. I don't think anybody has. I know that rules are in place for a reason but as people often say "Some rules are meant to be broken". My mom would disagree with me. She has always tried to say that if something is "wrong" it is wrong under all circumstances.

My mom doesn't always practice what she preaches though. I go to the base to shop for shopping. The rule is only people with base IDs can shop there. But I take my mom all the time. My mom breaks the rule every time she goes with me. I don't think I have ever met somebody who follows that rule .I know that is a very little rule to break.

When it comes to murder only really extremist are absolutists. Our government wants us to be absolutist. Any murder is supposed to be punished by law. Now don't get me wrong. I don't believe somebody should get a way with murder for no reason at all. It's one thing if it's a random murder or a murder over an argument but if it's a person who has been abused by the other person and they kill them to get away, then I (and most or Americans) tend to see it different. If it's self-defense then juries will find a person guilty of a much lesser crime or let them off.

Another issue that I don't see is the same is telling a lie. I know any lie is supposed to be bad. I have gotten grounded many of times for telling my mom a lie. I don't fully agree though. If you tell a lie to keep a secret, such as a surprise party, then that's ok. Or if you tell a lie to keep from hurting somebody’s feelings then that should be fine. A big lie that could potentially hurt somebody is wrong. Or telling a lie to just tell it is wrong. Like when your mom asks if your room is clean and you know it's not but you really want to go to the movies so you say "yes ma'am". That lie doesn't hurt somebody but it also isn't helping anybody.

I believe that ninety-nine percent of Americans will agree with atleast one example I just wrote. That makes me question can Americans be absolutist? I know I can't.

One Person Can Change Everything

Prompt: Perception

Our perception changes as we grow in our lives. My perception has changed so much in the last year. I grew up in here in Georgia. I have barely been out of the southeast and anybody who has traveled could have told you that. I was very opinionated and I was set into my ways. I would not try new foods (I knew what I liked, no need to change it), I did not want to travel (why see new places Georgia was all i needed), I only wanted the Braves and the Bulldogs to win (they were simply the best), I had one set of friends (they knew me and I knew them), and I had my favorite places to hang out (I was already comfortable there, why change them?). But that all changed.

I have always heard I was close minded and hard headed but what people said never affected me. Until I met my husband. He is from Chicago and has been all over the world. He loves new things, to travel, to try new foods, and the Cubs. He was the complete opposite of me. He opened my eyes to things and places I never knew existed. He made me break free of my southern "shell" and see the world. My perception because of him has broadened. I don't stereotype everything now like I just to.

My perception of the world has changed in so many other ways also. I give everybody a chance when I meet them. I try to look at the whole picture and both sides to everything. I want to be a teacher and in order to do that you can not look at a child and automatically judge them. I recently have understood that. I always wanted to look at the world as a horrible place that I did not need to adventure out into. I believed everybody had a hidden agenda. But the world is a wonderful place and not everybody has that hidden agenda like I thought. And you have to perceive it as a wonderful place. It is there for people to explore and try new things in it. You have to give somebody a chance so they can show you the good in them.