Mohandas Ghandi once said: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
I've tried it--it's hard, but I keep trying.
Change is hard. We already know this, and some of you will find out in a few months, change happens fast and comes at you when you least expect it. But, for as scary as it can be, it also provides opportunities and opportunities are good.
So, let's think BIG PICTURE for a moment and step outside your daily life here in sunny ML or Mullica or AC or wherever you live.
Out of these three world-wide epidemics, problems or concerns, which one would you change and WHY.
1. WAR
2. RACISM
3. POVERTY
How would you change the once you choose?
Think carefully--this blog counts as a test grade.
350-400 words
If I could eliminate one problem from that list, without a doubt it would be racism. Racism is something that really gets to me. It makes me so angry, it brings out a different person from within me. I would change that because then it'll be one step closer to general equality. I despise the fact that someone's race or color can determine anything, wether it be future, job, friendship, or everyday treatment.
ReplyDeleteI experienced racism first hand, and it makes me feel lower. It shouldn't I know who I am for the most part, therefore why should my outer layers, not my personality determine the way someone treats me. I did not choose to be born into a certain race or color, and I feel like sometimes it's harder for me. I don't really fit in with a general race, I'm friends with everyone. I don't chill near white, brown, or black people strictly. So when white people are complaining about a racial issue, they tell me I have no right to say anything because I fit in with the black people fine. When my black friend experienced a little racism, and I tried to comfort him, I got "Mind your own damn business." Hence I wouldn't understand" black racism. The thing is though I experience it because of my scarf, and it was worse right after 9/11 and so I know that feeling.
I'd eliminate racism so my parents, who don't hate other races, but don't believe in interracial relationships, wouldn't want me to end up with an Egyptian only. I understand the reasoning behind their views, but I still think when we're all so mixed and raised as "Americans" then there's a point past it. That point is the fact of compatibility, and sometimes you're not compatible with your own race. Thank God, I'm compatible with all humans. (: I also see that some teachers do what my parents do, which is assume. They don't mean it, they don't mean harm, but see me with someone that's black, and a little loud, and they automatically think my friend is a hoodlum, or thug. This upsets me because then I get the "you can do better" or "this is disappointing" treatment.
Those were all selfish reasons, so lastly with no racism , there'd be a tremendous drop in war. Every country with a majority of a certain race, I believe sub-contiously think they're superior and they feel no remorse towards others that are unlike them. We would view everyone has equals, and deserving of life like anyone in your country. I also am a strong believer that "social segregation" still exists. Maybe it's paranoia but I feel like it's controlled by the government to keep a certain status qua and control our lives more. With no Racism then everyone would have a fair chance to rise above, and do better.
This question is a great question and the two that would be a close tie are Racism and War. However, I would chose Racism over war because I should know the most about racism and its hurtful effects on people. My dad and mom met at work back in the late 70's early 80's. The racism toward them was incredibly horrible because they are an interracial couple. The jealousy and disrespect behind their backs was appalling and rude. My dad got his car keyed, he was threatened and the managers of the company were prejudice toward him because he was black. Even-more-so because he was dating my mom at the time. I'm not going to go into detail about what my dad did to these guys because it's not appropriate but racism is still alive and always will be. Whenever I go to a hunting club or a place populated by Caucasians, I feel like the outsider. I look at my dad and think that he is even more out of the ordinary. But I know deep in my mind that we're probably the baddest two in the joint. So it doesn't matter. But still, it's ashame that I was raised that way and I have to think that way but it happens. It's good to think the way I do because it keeps me on my toes and alert at all times. I also know that racism will never end. If it did, that would put us closer to a utopian society. We are far from that but if everyone worked on ending war, stopping racism and educate themselves, and helping the poor slowly but surely, the world would be a better place and God wouldn't need to slowly put an end to the world like he did with Chernobyl and like he's doing with Japan and many other things. We are in for a rude awakening and the way people think as a whole is wrong. Racism is wrong, we all find ourselves being racist at many points in our lives but we do need to work on that. That is coming from me, of all people.
ReplyDeleteEver since I was young I always had fantasies about making a huge change for the better. One thing I have always wanted in my life is for people to think of my name and think of a great achievement I have gotten in my life. So out of these three major topics the one I would choose to get rid of would probably be war. Even though much of my family history involves the military and I have my own personal fascination with war I would still pick to change war. I know war will never be gone for good it’s just impossible to think that every person on this world can get along together peacefully, but I would want to change war. In my perfect little world war would be fought almost like WWII just with a few added side notes. Everyone would have to follow the rules of war, no exceptions. Next everyone in the fighting armies would have to wear uniforms so civilian casualties would be nonexistent. Bombing, hiding, or capturing cities with civilians in it would also not be aloud. Using weapons of mass destruction or any kind of chemical weapons wouldn’t be aloud either. However, guns, tanks, jets, and explosives would all be aloud in battle. I know these rules sound childish and no country would ever follow them, but if I was able to change one thing for good it would be that. Don’t get me wrong if I could demolish war completely off the face of the earth I would do it in a heartbeat. I know that will never happen so I’m trying to be realistic. The reason I picked war out of all three of these issues is simple: war hurts everyone even those not involved. When it comes to war the best way I can describe it is like this “when the rich wage war it’s the poor who die.” I find this quote to hold very true because in every war its politicians who run their mouths that start wars and our soldiers have to pay the ultimate price to end them. So why do I pick war? I pick it because after every shot fired, after every battle, after every victory there are still losers. So if there was any way I could change all of that I would give everything to see it happen.
ReplyDeleteThis question was kinda hard for me. I belive in equal opptrunity so racsim is something I belive is stupid. For War i have family in the miltary and its very hard to see them leave to go to war but its a job and something I take to pride is are miltary. So the one I would get rid of is poverty. The reasons I would get rid of poverty are so every one would have a home. So in the cold atleast you have a little place to leave. Also I hope that people might have some food. Maybye that could take away from straving kids and people. So it could also maybye have everybody have clothes. Ive never been in poverty but ive been on the brink of it. So this gets more to me than the other two. I really hope to become famous and make a organazation that bulids houses and places and tries to overcome poverty.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to decide which of those I would choose to change. I even talked about the question with the girl I babysit and discussed it with my boyfriend as well. Of course, the girl didn’t have much to say about it, and didn’t know much about any of the three concerns- although I did get “War is dumb,” out of her. While discussing it with my boyfriend however, we both agreed on the same thing and all 3 of us came up with the same conclusion: war is the worst. Although we all had different reasons. I chose to change war because it really disturbs me that humans can get to the point of killing each other just because a person of power commands them to. War is inevitable; I guess I accept that, although I still don’t understand it. I believe it has gotten out of control. The development for tools and weapons for war has given the world control of so much power it’s scary. If there is war, I’d rather it be the way it used to be a long long time ago when it was just 2 armies that faced each other and fought with only their strength. There were no atomic bombs killing the innocent, no sneak attacks, or snipers, it’s not a fair game. I hate guns, bombs, tanks, everything. It disgusts me that people are able to take weapons that hold so much power and abuse that power to destroy towns, cities, and nature. I would want everything to be fair, and have as little lives lost as possible. There will be no terrorizing, capturing, or invading a town or city. That would help to save the lives of innocent civilians. The only people to be harmed or killed are the soldiers who put their own lives at risk my joining the military. There would be no drafts forcing young men into the military. If it were up to me, nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction would never have existed and the thought of ever even using them would never occur to anyone. To be honest, there’s no way things would ever turn out that way; it’s one hell of a long shot. It just sucks to see so many people die and to see our Earth get destroyed from something I feel is so meaningless and stupid. No war means peace and keeping families together, which is one of the most important things. That’s why I chose war to change over poverty or racism.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if I read this wrong but the question I thought was being asked was how would we change one of these things. I would change war because I don’t like killing. I would change it by making it not about killing. In my utopia “war” would be huge militias of men from both countries who met and used there brains to figure out how to solve the differences the two countries are having. But if I answered this wrong here’s my second shot after reading the other students. Out of this list of three I would eliminate war. I do this just for the simple fact that men coming home to there loved ones dismembered it is terrible. Some not even coming home at all. Humans are turned against each other and trained to kill. Why is this considered civil? War brings nothing but havoc and sadness. War doesn’t solve anything there is no solution its just whoever kills more people wins. What does that accomplish? I would change this over racisms and poverty because I feel as if it is the worse of the three evils. Yes racisms can lead to violence but most of the time it is verbal and when it does lead to violence not nearly as many people are killed as compared to war. The other thing that bothers me about war is that in some countries it is not voluntary they are forced to sign up. Than they are thrown into war, where they didn’t even want to be to begin with. Poverty is probably worse than war. The reason I didn’t pick this over war I think it because I’ve never actually seen poverty first hand I think if id witness it that it would impact me a lot more than it does know. With poverty entire families are starving and dieing of diseases. On the other hand men are being tortured in war and things not even imaginable to us.
ReplyDeleteMy basic chose would be to eliminate racism form the world cause it applies to both war and poverty. Racism I believe comes from white people the most, they stereotype other races and treat them lower than them. I have seen documentaries and videos of people doing experiments too see how white people would react to a black guy asking for the time or a white asking for the time. The thing that made the experiment successful was that they were the same people but in disguise. It was a very easy task for the white guy to get the time he would ask anyone who came his way basically every person gave him the and had a friendly conversation with the man, but when he was dressed in a black man disguise white people were avoiding him and they wouldn’t answer him at all. So that experiment proved how racist the white man can be. Now relating racism to war is quite easy because racism started the civil war and was a major factor in WWI and WWII. Racism started the civil war because white people liked enslaving other races, but black started joining the army and we won and slavery was abolished. In WWI America didn’t want black people in the army cause they thought we were inferior soldiers. That’s why they had to fight with British and African troops to help win the war in Europe. The same thing happened in WWII blacks were placed in all black regiments and they were made fun of and they faced many challenges cause white people were racist and didn’t want them in the army. But those African Americans helped in everyway to win that war which changed the world. So without racism people would be treated equal in the army and America could win wars a lot faster. Now racism is related to poverty as well, it’s not as strong of a relation but it’s in there. Most people who are in poverty are believed to black or Spanish, and a white person would most likely give change to a white homeless man than a black homeless man. We have to stop the racism cause it’s a poison that consumes everyone.
ReplyDeleteI would choose racism to change because it is still going on today. Yeah a lot of the racism is gone but there still a lot going on. It happens in everyday life there are still people going around making racist comments. There are some comments that are funny there is some that people take too far. Racism can be life threatening and can lead to death. When I was young and lived in Brooklyn this I witness. I was in 6th grade and I had a friend name Derek and that was my boy since 2nd grade. He was a black kid like me (very dark). We were walking home from school and we took the back way which was the trail from 2nd Ave. We were walking and there are these white boys I mean bad behind white boys that always had to say something to us because we were black. We wouldn’t get mad we would just bust back at them and make fun of them because they were white so it really wasn’t a big deal. But one day after school we walked back there to go home we saw a rope hanging from a tree and they were standing next to it laughing. There were three boys me and Derek looked at each other and thought the same think. We can beat them up we can take them. So me and him shook are head up and down and ran over there a fault them. We won but I was hurting bad I had a sprain ankle and a bust lip also a black eye. Derek was pretty beat up too. We got up and walked home it was about 9:30 pm when I got home also he got home safely because I walked him home first. So I thought the next morning came and my mom normally takes me to school but this morning she couldn’t because she was running late for her doctor’s appointment. So I walked to school of course I took the trail to get to school. I was walking throw the trail and saw the park and there was the tree the rope and Derek in it hanging there. That was the scariest moment that happened in my life. I didn’t know what to do run call the police I didn’t know I was stuck. I was there in shock for about 20 seconds then I just started running. I got to the school and told my teacher what happen and told her were Derek was. Derek was in my class. The police went to the park and got him and a week later the three boys were arrested for murder. In that week span I was looking for the three boys and had no luck in finding them. I went to Derek’s funeral it was my first time at a funeral and man was is sad. I wanted to cry because everybody was crying but for some reason I could not cry. I have no idea why I still don’t know till this day. To finish this story I would like to say racism can affect that why. I would what like to change that.
ReplyDeleteAll of those choices are things we should all live without. But, personally I believe that between all three WAR is the one thing that we as a whole can live without. If humans were to eliminate war from our daily routine, we would eradicate the other two from the face of the world. By promoting global peace, there would not be any reason for any country to act maliciously against another. Also with global peace, many governments would invest the money once used for the advancement of weapons for new ways to stimulate the economy. This would call for more jobs and lower the poverty rate. Although it would be hard to do and take years to eliminate, poverty would be settled with. To end the case of racism, without the borders of war and disputes keeping us from travel, tourists would be encouraged to go to other countries and study at new places. Causing them to learn of new cultures and ways. With this, scores of people old and young would change their views on certain people. Which would also cease the racism and promote worldwide acceptance of cultures by everyone. But to have global peace, a strategy must be made to make this possible. To achieve this, a 5-point plan must be made to put this idea into action. The first step would be to create some type of global meeting at a place where no other foreign power be at an advantage. Preferably in an American or European city. The second step would be that all countries/organizations involved in the meeting would have a cease fire and a halt to all operations in war zones. The third step would be to organize these meetings and a way for EVERY representative of EVERY country to get a say in what they have concerns about. Then the forth step would be to eliminate the unnecessary ones (but to consider them in every decision). The fifth and final step would be for all countries to sign a treaty stating that no action would be taken upon any of the agreeing countries involved in the treaty. Even though this sounds hard to be done, crazier things have been done by humans. We just need to put our heads where they need to be and not think that violence is an answer to a problem. With this mean of approach to stopping the problem humans have with war, we may in fact give a new world for future generations. That is how I would end the issue of war.
ReplyDeleteIf i could eliminate one of the world-wide epidemics, it would definitely be racism. I think that racism is the root to all of the other epidemics. In many countries war is started because of racism and war causes poverty. Its like the domino effect. If one thing happens then the others will follow in pursuit. I think college scholarships and federal aid (financial aid) is racist in a way. Why do African-Americans get more money than most other races? Can we (african-american) not afford to pay for college. I appreciate the free money but in a way it is a little insulting.
ReplyDeleteRacism also effects the poverty rate. Back in the day when after the slaves were set free, many of them were in poverty because of the racism. Yes we have come a long way, but we still have people looking down on us not wanting us to get anywhere in life.I do believe racism is #1 on the charts next to poverty and war, without racism there would be less of the other two.
RACISM- the reason why i choose racism is because its one of the most effective problem we have today in our society. racism goes back i dont even know how many uyear but racism is not only effective mentally but phsyically the reason why i say that is because of racism alot of people outside of the white race have a hard time with alot of thing i mean lets be real if it was out of me and another white female for a job who would be most likely to get that white female no matter how much i did better lthen her on my app. but not only that its happening in colleages, banks , schools, and alot more other things . without racism wouldnt you think the world would be a nore friendlyierplace ?
ReplyDeleteIf I had to choose between changing war, racism, or poverty, I'd definitely change war. Before I talk about why I'd change war, I'd like to say why the other two are not as important. No matter what others say, racism is more funny than harmful. I do realize that many radicals take racism to the point where it can get violent, but is it really more violent than war? Next is poverty. Poverty is something that can be fixed easily. However, a worldwide communistic empire wouldn't be something that would be 'OK' with most people (including me). Poverty is something that people can live with; they just need to think out of the box. They can commit a harmless crime and go to prison where they'll be given food and shelter for awhile. Now, I chose war because with the money being pumped into the wars in Iraq, we can solve almost all of our nation's problems. The war in Iraq has cost over $1 trillion. That money could definitely be used for a better purpose. By using less than 1% of the war funds, we could hire every worker in Afghanistan for a year, just to put that into perspective. Libya is a little different, though; they actually WANT help. However, it's definitely not going to cost anywhere near $1 trillion to fix that. If I could change war, I would just enforce more thought into other options. War doesn’t always solve problems; it usually just creates more. Those are just the economic and political problems. The soldiers and their families are the ones experiencing the most trouble. Many soldiers never come back from the war, and those that do usually come back with a wound. For example, my uncle (and godfather) served in the war and had to get his leg amputated because of shrapnel stuck inside. The damage isn’t always physical; many soldiers get traumatized on the battlefield and have to be admitted into mental hospitals for psychiatric treatment. There are also innocent citizens that get stuck in the battlefield and find themselves surrounded by bombs and gunfire, not to mention the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. So yeah, war is bad.
ReplyDeleteIf I could eliminate one of the social issues it would definately be racism. I feel people shouldn't be judged on anythin except their actions. The fact that they have a different skin color is not determining the person that they are or the capabilities they have. I personally don't remember being around racism or directly effected by it, but then again I've never been too concious about things of that nature (politics, racism, war, etc...). I think its because I just like to chill and stay away from drama so I automatically dont acknowledge it, but I digress. I also feel like if racism was eliminated then it would indirectly effect the war and poverty issues. Not saying that poverty and war exist because of racism but it is a factor. Minorities would have better oppertunities for jobs and there wouldnt be such segregated communities. People wouldnt be put down because of their race and we would help each other out more. If racism was eliminated there also wouldnt be as much war and violence, wheter it be gang wars/violence or wars such as the civil war or WWII. We would cooperate more and as a result wouldnt feel the need to hold other people down or eliminate people as a race
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious that social issues like racism affects us all but I feel war is a huge problem that has to be stopped. War has divided nations and created enemies among countries. Fighting of any kind can escalate to war and violence. War is how countries show dominance and demonstrate their power. War destroys lives, land, countries and our planet, war divides rather that unites us. With todays advancement in technology, if another major war broke out, who knows what could happen.In World War 2, when the U.S dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima that was a deadly attack over sixty years ago. Imagine if something of the same magnitude were to happen today, it could wipe out an entire country or destroy Earth. If I could do anything to change it, I definitely would. I would change war because so many casualties occur and many people die for no reason, countless lives are taken. If people would talk out problems or try harder to come to an agreement, war would't have to happen. In some countries, citizens are/ were forced to fight for something they didn't believe in or agree with. War affects the entire world, no one is immune to the damage it causes. War shows how power greedy, selfish, and violent the human race is. It makes the idea of world peace seem impossible. War needs to end and nations need to agree and come to peaceful resolutions.
ReplyDelete