Blog 6- morality and the next step

After a devistating hurricane, hotel prices usually sky rocket. The hurricane did not affect the industry at all, importation was not slowed down, the rooms and everything they already needed were there. But with morer people in need of rooms, the more they would be willing to pay. In the book "Justice", the author talks about the morality of doing such a thing. This is not okay. The time people should be helping eachother out the most, They take advantage and make their situation worse. People are always acting upon their own self-intrest. The hotel owner wasn't thinking about how much he could help or hurt the victims by changing the pricing, but rather "how can I get the most money to buy the most things?" and he arrives at the conclusion of raising hotel room prices. This is not okay, This is inhumane.

"If I was the hunter, I would have shoot the monkey so that it would no longer have the chance to put other hunters in the same prediciment." Beah thought that what happened to him was so terrible for himself and everyone around him, that he would rather suffer all of it if it meant no one else would be a child soldier again. Most humans, given that they think something is immoral, would rather not go through it themselves, but don't think it is that bad for other humans to go through. Ishmael's situation was so disgustingly awful that he thought of no justifiable way to let people live like that. While, in reality there wasn't much he could do to stop it, he knew he needed to do everything he could to prevent this from happening forever. He had to do his best to "shoot the monkey". So he wrote a book and talks on shows and is doing everything he can to spread the horror and force people to think about this and get people educated about it and spark that light in powerful countries where something can be done. It is now our job as educated students in a powerful and free country, to do what he couldn't and change this world.

Blog Post Five- Family and Freedom

Family is a very important aspect of life. In my A.P Psychology class here at Seaholm, We are learning about the importance of attachment, comfort, and trust. A lack of affection from a protective figure as a child can be brutally damaging to you emotionally and mentally later in life. Harry Harlow took new born monkeys and locked them up in a cage, alone. They had no interaction with other monkeys. Harlow put two food dispenser in the cage with them, one was just wire, and the other one was dressed to resemble a mother monkey. The baby monkeys always went to the mother monkey and would always hug her and hang around her. When the monkeys were introduced to a new scene with scary noises and unfamiliar objects, the baby monkeys sprinted straight into their food dispensing fake mother, in search of comfort. This alone gave them the confidence to now explore the new scene. The mother figure didn't have to bat an eyelash or even exhale to give these baby monkeys comfort. Ishmael Beah is a baby monkey who was taken away from the comfort of a normal life and thrown into the world without any trace of a support system. Beah, and other kids in his situation, jump at the opportunity to have that comfort.  They do not need to know a thing about this person previously to find comfort in their human characteristics. His squad became his family because he need human connection. His gun became his provider and protector because he did not have the mother and father figures that normal children had and needed to provide for and protect himself. And as a survival instinct (like children running to their parents for protection) he had to kill other human beings so he, himself, wouldn't be killed.

Freedom is a very broad, yet very precise word. Freedom is "exemption from external control" (dictionary.com). Uganda, as a country, is not under any "control" but it's own so yes, technically Uganda is free. But freedom is also "the power to determine action without restraint" (dictionary.com). Beah is far from determining his own actions. Most Ugandian kids are at the complete mercy of either the L.R.A or the Ugandian government's army. But looking at freedom through a broad scope, they are free to do whatever they want, they will just be killed because of it. And that is not freedom. The United States of America prides itself on freedom. America is one of the only countries where its citizens are as truly free as any citizens really can be. Of course we don't have many freedoms, we have as much freedom as we can be given without complete chaos erupting.

Blog four- slowly dying

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger is an awful saying, to be blunt. Being forced to kill another human being will not make you stronger, but more numb and apathetic. Which I think we all can agree are not good things. Ishmael's friend Saidu talks about dying slowly every time he kills someone else, this is not building him up but tearing him down. Every time he has to kill someone, he becomes less and less fazeed by it and he loses his human connection. What makes us alive and human is our human connection to each other and our emotions. when you lose a part of that you become less human, and, in theory, dead. The feelings Saidu is having are completely natural and come with this sort of horrific event. Some things, yes, can make you stronger, like standing up to a bully. But nothing on this scale could ever benefit the "participant".

Blog three- trust issues

Trust issues are very easily created and very hard to out grow in human nature. When one person does something to loose your trust, it is very hard for you to trust them again. If multiple people do the same thing to loose your trust, your over all trust in humanity plummets like submarine. For example, if I told my friend a secret that she then told other people, I wouldn't trust her with another of my secrets. Now lets say I told my other friend a different secret and they told other people too! I would, in turn, not trust anyone with my secrets, even if I had never met them. Beah experiences this same sort of thing on a much larger and more sensitive scale. After seeing how absolutely horrific many people are to each other, he doubted that anyone was good anymore. After seeing how many of those people use to be on his side, he doubted will power. And after seeing what he was capable of, he doubted himself.

Blog post two

Ishmael Beah is going through a very devistating part of his life and doesn't/ can't see the future looking very bright. When you are in that sort of situation, you attempt to escape to happier things. Some people look for the happy things around them, others hold on to hope in the future. Beah, thought of his childhood. He remembered being happy then and was happy when thinking of a particular time or place in his past. Little reminders, like the moon, help him stay grounded and remember his past. I actually do the same thing when I am going through a tough time. I think of my past when the world was beautiful and there was no such thing as poverty, war, lonileness, hunger, and my world seemed perfect.

Soldier child documentary response

In class we were given a documentary to watch at home called "Soldier Child" by Neil Abramson. When I first sat down to watch this, I was not prepared. I always knew this was a serious issue and I always thought it was terrible, but I did not realize just how terrible it truly is. These kids absolutely can not put up any resistance or refusal to task's given to them or they will be killed. And the tasks they are given are worse then murder, if you can believe it. They are made to kill family members and friends with hoes, Ak-47's, and sometimes, just their fists. One story that stood out to me was of Simon, age 11, and his first day in the army. He was abducted at 7 in the morning and pulled along by a rope while they collected more people. Two children showed resistance and they killed the both, one with a gun, and the other they kicked until his heart stopped beating. This documentary has really opened my eyes to the horror in this world and if you haven't seen it, I suggest you do.

First blog

This is my blog. My name is Katie and I am a junior in high school. I created this blog purely for a class I am taking about child soldiers in Africa that involves 21st century learning (A way to incorparate technology in the classroom). I will be posting assignments and comments, if you are in the class (A.M or P.M) feel free to comment or critique. The end.