Bliss in Ignorance

If you go to school you assume you are able to sit in a desk. If you get on a bus you assume that you are able to sit where ever you want. If you own a gun you assume that you won’t be arrested. What if one day somebody walked up and told you that you could not sit in your desk. What if they said that you were not a loud to sit in that spot on the bus? What if they said that you were not a loud to have that gun in your possession? Most people would react as if that person was crazy. I believe that most people would react this way because the majority of people assume that they have rights. It would be correct to say that all citizens have rights, but does anyone ever think of what it cost to gain those rights?
In 1776, America (the 13 colonies) declared their independence from Britain. After fighting for years to gain their freedom they finally won the war. In April 1782, the Commons voted to end the war in America. Peace articles were signed in Paris at the end of November 1782. The war was officially ended in 1783 by the signing of both the Treaty of Paris and Treaties of Versailles. Finally on January 14, 1784; the United States Congress of the Confederation ratified the Treat of Paris.
In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, campaigned against the expansion of slavery in states in which it did not already exist. Republican victory led to the secession of seven Southern states and within under a year hostilities between the divided country rose. Not too long after tension escalated and violence ensued as people started fighting. In 1865 the Civil War was officially considered ended. Over the course of the war 620,000 soldiers and an unknown amount of civilians had been killed.
In 1914, World War 1 started and in 1939 World War 2 started. World War 1 resulted in over 20million deaths and World War 2 surpassed that with more than 70million deaths. These two wars together amassed the greatest amount of casualties ever in history.
So again the question is; do we think of what it cost to gain the rights that we have? Does anyone think about how many lives were lost and destroyed because of wars that involved protecting our rights? My guess is that the majority of people have become so used to the idea of them having rights that they don’t think about how privileged they are to have those rights. I think that it’s time that people stop taking everything for granted and learn why they have what they have. I think that people need to realize that there are people out in the world fighting everyday so that people like us can have our rights. I find it sad when people take everything that they have for granted and complain every day about their life. So unaware to what it really took and what it still takes to make sure that our rights are protected. I think that this was best phrased by Thomas Gray’s poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, where it said and I quote, “Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise”.

Talk About Hard Times

The Great Depression was one of the hardest times Americans have ever faced. Many men and women lost their jobs. It was also extremely hard for families to find a source of income. In such a challenging time as the Great Depression, there where things that helped our country stay strong and not fall apart. Many of them are thanks to President Hoover and President Roosevelt dealing with the situation.

To better understand the Great Depression, we need to know and understand what its causes where. The 1920s brought the country great prosperity. Under President Calvin Coolidge, the Republicans took full credit for the economic boom. In 1928, after Coolidge declined to run for reelection, the Republicans nominated Herbert Hoover and the Democrats nominated Alfred E. Smith to run for president. Thanks to the great prosperity in the 1920s, Hoover won the election in a landslide.

The new President had great optimism of the future. Along with his optimism, many people invested in stocks due to a long bull market. This caused prices to soar. The bull market however, would soon come to an end as professional investors started to sell their holdings. As a result, the prices fell causing a monumental crash in the stock market.

On Monday, October 21, 1929, the stock market plunged. Later that week the market fell even further. Finally on October 29, over 16 million share of stock where sold. The stock market lost up to $15 billion in value. A total of $30 billion was lost.

Due to the stock market crashing, the nation's banks began to close. When the market crashed, the banks lost a surmountable amount of money on their investments. The banks then cut back on the number of loans they made. This put the economy into a great recession.

Since people did not have the money to buy crops and other items, there was a mass overproduction of many products. People's income was decreasing, and so their spending had to decrease.

There was also a loss of export trades. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff made the tariff rate the highest in American history. This hurt both farmers, and American companies.

All of these issues combined made life during the Great Depression for an extremely difficult situation. People with families who had lost their job struggled to get by. They would, at times, go hungry. They would stand in bread lines for hours to receive some type of food. Many people became homeless. Some would often jump onto moving trains and become hobos.

The Dust Bowl was another problem Americans faced. The wind would blow dust from the earth into the air. When the air settled, people would breathe it in along with of the dust. Some animals and humans died of suffocation. Many farms where withered and farmers had to give them away to the banks.

One way that Americans escaped from the outside world's problems was to find refuge in entertainment such as books, art, movies, and the radio. Among these, the radio and movies where most popular. Many Americans enjoyed going to the movies to get away from their problems. Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans listened to the radio each day to stay informed of the different happenings occurring. Both of these things brought communities closer and helped them to grow stronger. Through great perseverance and willpower,Americans where able to make the best of their situations however bad they may have been.

While we may think that the economic struggles facing us today are troubling, they are nothing like the ones of the Great Depression. The problems that we have are actually quite small so far. As long as we can come together as Americans and stand United, I believe we will be able to overcome any issue that may arise just as we did during the Great Depression.

Marilyn Monroe.. Most Famous Woman?

America is the best country in the world in my opinion, but what makes a great country? I believe that the American people are the reason why America has succeeded. Marilyn Monroe was without a doubt the biggest celebrity in the 1950's, but I also believe she is the most famous woman of the century. She was an amazing person in many ways, she could sing, act, & was undoubtedly beautiful. Her life had ups & downs but in the end, she was an inspiration to many men & women.
Marilyn Monroe's childhood was not an easy one. She was born to a mentally unsteady mother, not knowing who her father was. Later on, her mother was committed to an insane asylum and Marilyn was thrown into the foster kid life. Bouncing around from foster parents to foster parents, she married a neighbor young man when her last pair of foster parents were going to move away.

Shortly after Marilyn's husband, who she called Daddy, went away to serve in the military, she started working odd jobs. Once, a photographer came and took pictures of working women, he said she was a "photographer's dream". After, he sent other photographers her way and helped her find jobs to model. She divorced Daddy after five years of marriage to pursue bigger modeling dreams and within a year was on the cover of some major magazines. After being successful in modeling, she wanted to move on to something bigger and better, acting!

In the beginning of her acting career she married baseball player, Joe Dimaggio. They were together nine months and divorced because of his jealousy of her sexy reputation. Her third marriage was to playwright Authur Miller. For their marriage, Marilyn converted to Judaism. They only lasted four years and were said to have divorced for many reasons. Some being that she was cheating, doing drugs, drinking too much, and also that she had depression from several miscarriages she had, and the death of her costar, Clark Gable.

Marilyn Monroe was either the most important or one of the most important women of the 20th century. Even today she is known by almost everyone. Saying hear name immediately makes people think "talented" and "beautiful". I believe that people like Marilyn Monroe represent American in a way. Some may think that is a bad example, but I like to look at the good things she contributed to this country. Marilyn Monroe, I think, was the most important woman of the 20th century and will live on forever in her movies and by her reputation.

Drug Culture

When mentioned to most Americans, the phrase “drug culture” will bring thoughts of smugglers, violent cartels, street corner drug dealers, and back alley crack houses. But there is a new drug culture exploding before our eyes. It is an even greater legal drug dependency that grips much of America and it’s coming from behind a counter.
Medications have come a long way in past years. Today medications have provided many health benefits and have played a major role in extending our life spans. Modern medicine has become what it is today mainly because of our technological advances that help us better understand disease and sickness. Many Americans count on these advanced medications to rescue them from a lifestyle of illness. But in this generation there is a rise in drug abuse, and I’m not talking about heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines, hallucinogens, alcohol, marijuana, or even tobacco. I am talking about the abuse of prescription drugs. Prescription Drug Abuse, has been with us since doctors began prescribing drugs, but has become more common since the service of the “refill prescription”. Recent studies show that nearly 1.3 million Americans are abusing prescription drugs. Prescription drug abuse is usually overlooked by doctors.

There are many different types of prescription drugs in which people can become addicted to. There are three general categories of medicine in which are most usually abused in America. The Central nervous system (CNS) depressants are the first one. These medications include Valium and Xanax, which are used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders. Other common pills taken are painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin, Cocodamol which has the tranquilizer codeine in it, and even over the counter codeine based painkillers such as Solpadeine. The third category contains stimulants. Stimulants are prescribed to patients that have certain sleep disorders and even ADHD, and include drugs such as Ritalin and Aderol. Most prescription drug abuse is related to either tranquilizers or painkillers.

Main symptoms of pill addiction are an increased tolerance to the drug, so that the user needs a much larger amount to get the same effects they were used to before abusing the medication. More and more of the drug is required. This leads to many other problems. Long term effects include respiratory problems, seizures, irregular heartbeat, depression, or even death following a large dose. Other causes of these effects can come from being unknowledgeable about the medication or addiction. Addicts who mix medications, drink with their medication, or do both usually will be followed by serious internal damage, brain damage, or death. Last year, prescription drugs replaced heroin and cocaine as the leading cause of fatal overdoses.

When these medications are not taken responsibly by the person they were intended to help they are being abused within our society. A prescription written on a piece of paper by a doctor does not mean its safe. When prescribed responsibly, taken as directed, and kept out of reach of children, painkillers, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety meds, etc., can benefit the person in need. People in America need to be better educated about the effects and damage that can be caused by drug addiction.

Sadly our society is an unhealthy and over medicated one that is becoming dependent on our drugs and are always searching for the next “quick fix.”

LINKS: just add www. in front :)

addict-help.com/prescriptionabuse.asp

sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/04/040420213723.htm

nida.nih.gov/researchreports/prescription/prescription8.html

Thai and American Culture

Almost every country in the world have their own culture and traditional. Some are similar some are difference and some are the same. But we are all human being that need the same basic physical needs. We are all can feel happy ,sad, angry, hungry etc. Its interesting on how people live with different beliefs, attitude and behavior. For some people that don’t know what is Thai. Thailand or what we called “Thai” is the country located in the center of the southeast asia.

When talking about culture the biggest heading would be religion which play an important role in our lives. An old Thai culture almost all of it came from the beliefs of Buddhism which is the main religion and including 95% of population in the country,while the United States which the main religion is Christian and make up 78.5% population of the country. Christians believe Jesus is the son of God, God himself and the savior of humanity.The goal of Christianity is eternal life with God in Heaven, a perfect existence in which God's glory and bliss are shared. Buddhism is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality and based on the teaching of Buddha. The goal is to escape a cycle of suffering and rebirth by end suffering,achieve nirvana. There is a lot of difference in these two religion but the common thing is both are teaching and leading human to do good things. There is some different in religious that might surprised the American people which is,Buddhism due to religious discipline, Thai monks are forbidden physical contact with women. Women are therefore expected to make way for passing monks to ensure that accidental contact does not occur.

There is some old beliefs that still important to Thai culture today. The younger person shouldn’t touch or play with an elder person’s head its shown that you are being unrespectful and rude. This is because the Thai people consider the foot to be the dirtiest and fattest part of the body. Also the language that younger person uses to say to an elder person. It has to be a polite word too.

When comes to the language, American people speaks English which is the official language in United States and the main language in the world while Spanish is also the primary language spoken at home by over 34 million people. Thai people speaks their own language called “Thai” from the name of the country.

Popular culture including music, movies and sport is also the largest culture in every country. American culture has a popular styles of music which is including Jazz, Pop, Rock, R&B, Hip Hop and etc. Also the famous artist and the biggest music industry in the world. American Film is usually referred to in a generalizing manner as Hollywood. The center of the best film and movie stars from all around the world. American has the world best league of sports too including NFL, NBA, NHL, PGA tour, Grand Slam and etc. While mostly Thai popular culture are influenced by the western culture. There is only a few old unique culture such as Thai country music, Thai instruments( Thai flute, Thai Xylophone etc) and some Thai sport called Sepak takraw which resembling volleyball, except that it uses a rattan ball and only allows players to use their feet, knee, chest and head to touch the ball.

As you can see the different and the similarity of the two culture. There is no right and wrong but its just different.

The Meaning of "American Literature"

Here's a question that bothers some people late at night when they're standing in front of the open refrigerator door, their midnight-snack run interrupted by an unwanted thought that has been nagging at the back of their mind all day:

- Just what does "American Literature" mean, anyway!? -

Now if that person happens to hold a degree in English, they may have some luck: they know they've got to understand each of those largish words separately (it's late, after all, and half their attention is focused on the cheese, inspecting it for mold). "Literature" is perhaps the easier of the two. To the English student, "literature" denotes a collection of art. It has connotations, too: "literature" is usually thought of as written art, and often considered to be somehow superior to other examples of the same art form(s). This means that "American Literature" must be a collection of American art, with an emphasis on well-written examples.

The only thing left standing in the way of the student's understanding is that first and more formidable word, "American." What does that mean? But it's late, and they've got the cheese in their mouth, and at this point most people shamble off to bed, their nocturnal hunger sated. Yet the refrigerator door is left hanging open, just like this question -

What does "American" mean?