Drugs in Jail

This week we talked about how the majority of prisoners are in jail because of drugs. Also, one fourth of the prisoners in the world and in the US. I think that's crazy but also could be because out justice system isn't worked out that well. As a a society, we believe that everyone who does something illegal needs to be locked up, and even though that may be true, we also need to figure out how we figure out what's considered worse than something else. Personally, I can't say I know someone who's in jail at this moment, but I have known a couple of people who have gone to juvie. They were for drug charges ,which is basically what everyone goes for. I think that beating your wife or murdering someone should definitely be a longer sentence than drugs but that's not always how it works. People get away with major things that affect everyone, while drugs basically only affect the individual and they get into so much more trouble for it. Also, I agree with the movie we watched that prisons should have rehab centers because if people are going to be kept in jail, they might as well turn their life around and be productive.

Positive Deviance

This week I did an act of positive deviance, and I have to say it felt pretty good. On Saturday I was working at my job at the mall, and during my break I went to get some frozen yogurt. I saw a guy standing in line behind me and thought that would be a perfect opportunity to do something nice. He looked like he was buying about the same amount as me so I figured it would be around the same price. I gave the cashier $7, so it would cover both me and him, and possibly even give her some leftover. I told her to keep the change and use it to pay for his yogurt. She looked at me like I was insane at first and asked if I was sure. The guy also looked at me weirdly but then he said "thank you so much" and I told him no problem and left. It felt kind of strange to just pay for a random person and then leave, but I felt really good about myself. Even though society may view this as deviant and weird, I think it was a really good experience, and in reality I think/hope I made the guy's day just by doing something so simple.

Teens vs Adults

As a teen, it's hard to know what's expected of us. We discussed how there are certian milestones in each of our lives, and it's only until our mid-20s that we're actually expected to be completely independent. I do agree that our society makes this hard for us to do. We are not allowed to be "adults" for basically our whole lives, but then we hit a certian age where we are expected to be completely responsible and fully independent from our parents. I think as time has gone on, teens are associated more and more with bad things and messing up but that's not neccessarly true. Adults are prone to drug use, alcohol use, and suicide even more than teens are. Personally, it's hard to go from following the rules everywhere we go, to having to be the leader in order to succeed. I also agree with the idea that jobs aren't really helping us a whole lot. My job doesn't let me get promoted to something I want to do later in life. I work retail and the rest of the people, even my managers, aren't any older than their 20s. I think our society has to learn to run a little more smoothly during everyone's transitions in life.

Masculinity

This week we discussed the pressure men have to be tough and "masculine". I never really realized how much of an impact the media has on guys. I always sort of thought it was only girls and their body image. It was also sad to see that guys get bullied because they aren't tough/strong enough, and then sometimes they decide to bring guns to school. I think we should just learn to accept others the way they are and realize not all men can be perfectly built and tough as nails, just like the majority of girls aren't stick thin and perfect. Personally, I'll try to see past how guys are on the exterior and the attitude they put on to the outside, to actually try and make them feel good about who they truly are. And besides, girls like at least some sensitivety anyways.

Body Image

Today we discussed body image problems in class. We talked about how the media influences women to the point of eating disorders and even sometimes death to look beautiful. I think people need to know that what they see on TV and in the magazines isn't real, and it's not something to strive for. It's sad to see that this is what our society has gotten to, and that so many young girls are having so many self esteem hardships because of this. Some people said that if you don't care, the ads shouldn't affect you, but that's not true. Young girls are bombarded with these and even if they don't really pay attention, it subconsciously tells them that this what they have to look like, and they have to ooze sex appeal or else no one will like them.

Human Nurture

This week we talked about feral children and children who were abused. It was really sad to me that someone could purposely mistreat their child to the point where they couldn't walk, talk, or act "human." I thought about how lucky I am that my family is here to support me, and they nurtured me enough that I'm pretty successful today. Also, when we watched the Oprah segment, it was really heartwarming to see that those children do have a potential to live a semi-normal life with their adoptive parents. I think it's super important that a baby has someone that cares for them and loves them, so they can develop normally,

Nothing

The other day I went to Target and stood there while doing nothing. It was pretty hard to do for me. I couldn't completely disconnect myself from the while. The whole time I was thinking about something: what homework I had, what I would eat for dinner, what college essays to work on. I only ended up doing about 5 minutes of this instead of the full 10. During this time though, I saw a lot of people giving me weird looks while I stood there doing absolutely nothing. The people working seemed like they wanted to ask if I needed help on more than one occasion, but they all just passed by probably thinking I was insane. I think it's bad that we never have time for ourselves and always have to be moving and doing something. I feel like this helped me open my eyes to sometimes just take a second to breathe and see the things around us. There's so much we take for granted, and as Americans, this happens even more than we may think.