Final Thoughts

This interesting as well as final unit of English 1A covering Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" changed my thoughts on war. Before this unit in class I considered war a necessity that was on the large front patriotic, but always justified. With Vietnam being the subject matter, I learned again that some small research can change one's mind.

Vietnam I always knew was a defeat, but now I know that it was the beginning of a public discussion on mental defect, as well as physical, being things soldiers sustain during fighting. I still believe war a necessary but primal thing that we humans have to resort to when other venues have been exhausted.

This English class has taught me in a good atmosphere how to articulate my thought better and enjoy debate more than ever before.

Thank you.

A misleading start

One of the most helpful phrases I learned in philosophy class is:

"If you start with a false premise, you can only come out with a false conclusion." One may argue that Vietnam was a mixed bag, that is: we went in with good intentions and messed up the operation, or we went in with bad causes and we still messed up the opportunity. One might attempt a feeble just war defense of the Vietnam War.

The United States President of the time, Richard Nixon, famously a paranoid man, created for the United States a conflict untenable which gladly resulted in retreat / surrender. Because of the unrighteous start it was impossible to win.

May we not repeat with the same mistakes being repeated.

A common trial

Tim O'Brien shared with the world that he has indeed contemplated suicide. In the New York Times, he is attributed to have gone down that path from personal challenges but in another article it becomes clear that he made the decision to go on and continue to make a voice for those whom see Vietnam as "a subject almost too painful for Americans to bear."

I take solace in the fact that Tim O'Brien, among other veterans, continue to take courage and still live with us.

The Heart of the matter

In a New York Times article "Asking the Whole Country to Embrace a War Story" we learn finding what's what can be difficult. Knowing the difference between the enemy and friendlies creates huge dissonance for the soldier:

In comparing Vietnam to current wars, O'Brien is quoted:

“Obviously there are differences,” he said, “chief among them the absence of the draft. But there are enough similarities. These are wars in which there are no uniforms, no front, no rear. Who’s the enemy? What do you shoot back at? Whom do you trust? At the bottom, all wars are the same because they involve death and maiming and wounding, and grieving mothers, fathers, sons and daughters."

Recently, people have gathered to do "Big Reads" for "The Things They Carried." People have the chance to read aloud parts of the story one at a time, in order to see the story in a different light.

This too could be a helpful activity for yourself and others.

After Effects

Tim O'Brien sparks for many veterans of the Vietnam conflict as a successful writer: someone able

to communicate some of the trauma sustained in war. But in an article showcased on The New York Times entitled "Wrestling With War And Love; Raw Pain, Relived Tim O'Brien's Way" Tim O'Brien still has his work cut out for him. It's easy to understand that some echos of th epast return for a person who survived Vietnam. Looking back on "The Things They Carried" it seems one must indeed make peace instead of just writing it down.

The 'American' War

People in Vietnam, as of 2010, seem largely uninterested in Tim O'Brien's and Americans storytelling of the U.S. war in Vietnam. Partly due to censorship, but also to other factors such as Vietnam being the winning side, it becomes hard for Vietnamese people to identify or even understand the sadness included in O'Brien's work.

Fortunately, something that the Vietnamese seem to be interested in is surrealism - not being real experience. Maybe with Tim O'Brien being published in local language his view can be known.

Taking care of one's own

News alert! According to a recent Gallup.com poll entitled “Americans’ Ratings of Current Direction of Economy,” “more than half [people polled] still say U.S. is in recession or depression.” Everyday people across the nation feel this financial quagmire not just in sympathetic television shows; these days piggy banks are becoming anemic, children are going without weekly movie rentals, and households are being less power warmed by heating systems. This situation got personal. With all things financial at the front of many Americans minds the questions arise: Who’s to blame? What am I to do? The global crisis can be successfully worked out of by promoting a culture of self-sufficiency.

For those of us who were lucky enough to have allowances when they were younger, we all learned that spending beyond your means is a bad idea. Later in life the overspending person describes themselves “being in too deep” as if there remains no solution to the problem. For instance, a farmer who speculates that with his new farm equipment production will increase 20%, he will be able to cover his payments on the equipment, and still turn out a profit. Now take that farmer, but change him to a global company with the aspiration to speculate in, say, a completely new product with no data to support the risky buy. Chances are the farmer with known risks will at least take less of a hit on his finances if the plan falls through. Bringing these ideas back to our childhood the solution to economic hardship is to get serious about living within your means. And even if we got balancing our small budgets wrong the first time that “failure… [could be a] success if we learn from it” (Brainyquote.com).

Self-sufficiency, as Dictionary.com defines it, means to be “able to supply one’s own… needs without external assistance” (Dictionary.com). Looking here and then at the past events of the last three and a half years there are countless examples of groups or individuals being unable to supply their own needs without debt. At the most basic level, the global financial crisis can be attributed to anyone or group not being responsible in their financial lives.

The effect self-sufficiency financial conversions will have on the larger scale is not dissimilar to newly baked cookie aroma traveling to the next room. Financial sufficiency will “boil over,” much like a pot of water boils over, and infect others based on how the change of heart from a financial freshman to a veteran financial junior has impacted their lives.

The financial crisis was caused, ultimately, by lack of self sufficiency and the solution is for individuals to become responsible with their financial futures. In order to rectify the gross amount of financial drowning many people have and are still going through every individual should first work towards being fiscally viable for themselves and the kind of life they would like to live. Living that secure life out will in turn show fellow Americans just how easy it is to own things that one can pay for. Of course, there are some plain and obvious examples where people need to be taken care of: the ill, disabled but for the most part taking care of oneself first is of the utmost importance. Oftentimes the simplest answer is the correct one: Stewardesses say, “Put your oxygen mask on first before you try to help someone else.”

More reading

"Failure Is Success If We Learn... at BrainyQuote." Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote. Brainyquote.com. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .

"More Than Half Still Say U.S. Is in Recession or Depression." Gallup.Com - Daily News, Polls, Public Opinion on Government, Politics, Economics, Management. Gallip.Com. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. Recession-Depression.aspx>.

"Self-sufficient | Define Self-sufficient at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Free Online Dictionary for English Definitions. Dictionary.com. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .

Bank of America

I have been with Bank of America since Freshman year of college. Bank of America maintains modest savings account rates, but more importantly, also has a branch wherever I see myself visiting. In high school I had to deal with a checking account with a transaction fee at virtually anywhere not in my home city.

Bank of America is a globally recognized bank with a far reaching business practice. BoA also loans a lot of their money out, I'd assume, to make profits. More risky business practices would include: sub-prime business loans, blue chip stocks.

Bank of America was founded in 1988 and profitable for many of the years since then. Before the big credit meltdown in Fall 2008 the stock value was $30.70, while now BoA (NYSE: BAC) is standing around nearly a half of it's former value $12.07. These are ball-park figures, there is no time to crunch the numbers on my end.

The company did receive Troubled Asset Relief Program money, summing $45 billion. Although the evidence I obtained does not cover whether the branches of BoA's business was directly involved with giving loans to unqualified persons, one has to think where BoA lost that $45 billion and why they needed to borrow it.

Bank of America, while showing evidence of cutting back since the recession, will not be considered a significant contributing factor in the fall of the financial bubble by this blog writer. It was the absorber of Merill Lynch, remains an ex-debt holder to the U.S. tax payer, and consistently gives good to excellent customer service.

Disclaimer, though: without tiring myself out in financial statements and news articles there must be some shady business dealings done within this as any other company.

Free Trade Blog

For our upcoming paper in English we're to write an essay which speak towards this prompt: Do the benefits of free trade outweigh the consequences?

These past two (or maybe just one) week(s) we've read a lot of different perspectives and focuses that think about free trade in the classroom as well as in the real world.

Myself: "Communism doesn't seem to work, there's comparatively no competition between the amount of goods a communist nation can make compared to a freer nation such as America with capitalism."

Uncle V. : "Looking at East and West Germany, one was prosperous, one un-wealthy, both the same culturally, ethnically, the only difference was political / economic system and the country they were in. It's clear that free trade was better."

This short summation of my thoughts on free trade as a trade system is: yes free trade has it's benefits and it's not perfect. It's the best worst system we got.

Sweatshops. When the idea comes to mind I think about huge factory-skyscraper jam packed with hundreds maybe thousands of workers having to work long hours to get remedial work finished. These kind of working conditions to us are intolerable, even part-time or temp agency workers get better treated. On the other hand, the workers still get paid and if the country allows it they can push their extra earnings into education. I know this is harsh but sometimes you gotta just jump through the hoops, landmarks, and tough times in life.

In the future I will be affected when I look at the label of my t-shirt and look not at just the size but where it was made.

Mom and Dad

Here is what I learned at school today:

I learned at school that you shouldn't play the fool

and people who learn will never be spurned for

putting others first and it's okay to thirst

it's okay to buy American if you'll work for the simoleons

In prose form what I learned last Friday in English class is more like this: It is within imagination that the people working on my items (clothing) have less comfortable amenities. The countries of my particular items that day are the U.S.A. and China. Would I work in the conditions? I would have to in order to live. On average people in China make $19.53 per day, according to a worldsalaries.org article. American's make $106.99 per day but have higher costs.

On average american's make 5.48 times the daily wages of people in China and to be honest I do not know if I could live on $19.53 per day. There are a lot of creative ways to make your dollars stretch: coupons, buy in bulk, sales. Also there are half-way houses, price ceiling housing, and secondary jobs to look for.

In short, to survive we need to find a desirable job and develop the set of skills we will need tosucceed. Find something enjoyable which will also support the lifestyle desired.

A warm welcome to all!

Howdy classmates. This blog will be where I complete assignments for English 1A. My name is Christopher, you can call me Chris, I am a General Studies:Science Major here at Foothill College. However, I will be going to a Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH where I will study for my Nursing degree.

I always liked helping people and having been through some non-cliche sufferings I've gotten ready to help people in real sickness. I worked at El Camino Hospital as a volunteer and it was so much fun.

For this class we seem to talk about social justice / morality quite a bit and although I have never had a class like that before I mainly would like to work on my composition and voice in this class. This blog will help me work on these skills by forcing me to write. This forces me to type more often that I usually would.