Living With Integrity.

  

“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” –W. Clement Stone

People go through difficult choices everyday. Whether or not it is a choice they want to say no to, often people end up saying yes just so the person asking the question would feel good.

The quote basically means that there are sometimes hard situations or choices people have to go through. Throughout the choices, sometimes people might get hurt along the way. However doing the right thing by saying no can help live your life with integrity.

I chose this quote because I thought it really reflects on my personality. Sometimes when people ask me questions that I don’t feel comfortable saying yes, to be nice I still say, “Yes”. I feel like if I say no, the person would get mad at me and dislike me. It takes up a lot of courage for me to say no, because I’m generally a shy person, who tend to say yes to almost everything. However reflecting back to all the times where I could have benefited myself with just that one simple “No” I would probably have less regrets. Thinking of my future in front of me, despite the fact that it takes a lot of courage saying, “No” I believe I could always turn it in the other way around and say “No”.

Living with integrity is essential as honesty is something we cannot gain easily.

"My boy," said the store owner to his new employee, "Integrity are essential to the retail business.

By 'Integrity' I mean if you promise a customer something, you have got to keep that promise even if it means we lose money."

Is there really a "heaven" on Earth?

Since the civil war started in Sudan in 1953 and has been going on for 20 years, various attacks on the Dinka village has lead the 20,000 “Lost Boys” searching for freedom. Thousands of Sudanese people have been killed because of the two different cultures (North and South) fighting for land and religion. Dinka villages have been burned and destroyed, scores of men killed, and women were taken captive.

20,000 “Lost Boys” made it to the refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya after all the horrible thingys they had to go through. Some were eaten by lions and some were shot in rivers. With the help of the United Nation, they were provided with surplus amount of supplies needed to survive. After spending times in the refugee camp, they were given a chance to re-live their lives in “heaven”. At that time, America was known as heaven because of the fact that it could support a lot of people.

“The Lost Boys of Sudan” is a docurama about two Sudanese victims (Santino and Peter) who have escaped Sudan and is going to “heaven”. It shows their lives in their new home where they thought it was “heaven”.

As Peter and Santiono followed the steps of “heaven” they were experiencing great difficulties. They thought they would be able to earn money to send back to Sudan, however the money they earned was being lured away for their own good. “American money has become so sweet to us.”- Santino said. One of the hardest challenges Peter and Santino faced was being lonely. Unlike in the refugee camp, in “heaven” they were busy earning money to pay for their food and rent whereas back in the refugee camp, they ate, played and danced together.

Even the simplest everyday life was a big challenge they had to go undergo; the food, their shelters, and the new facilities. In Sudan  since it was undeveloped, they generally had to make their own fire, and their food generally consisted of what a normal Sudanese person would eat. However in America, the boys had to change their lifestyles and learn how to cook American food, take the transportations and acting independent. From the fact that no one told anything to Santino about the traffic lights, caused Santino to receive 3 tickets all in high amount of money.

Independency was another contradiction Peter and Santino faced. As Peter moved out, Santino had to live by himself. All along Santino had thought “Peter is my friend. I will live with him forever.” But after he moved out, he suddenly grew very lonely and upset.

Racism was the main thing they had to deal with. Although there were Black Americans living in the States, they weren’t as Black as the Sudanese people. Often times when Peter and Santion walked by, people around them gave them the look, making them feel strange. “When I come nearby people, people just look at me. I look odd. I feel shame and I don’t like that. I’m so black. Than the black peopler than the black people living here. I’m so black.”- Said Santino. They’re skin colour made them encounter more problems rather than the fact that he was from a different culture. One of the Dinka boys got a job of working in the supermarket but from the fact that he has a different skin colour he is told that he should work out in the hot weather just because he is an African. From this we can tell how much their skin colours affect their everyday lif and how people look at them.

On their first few days on America, Peter and Santino found out that Sudan and Texas were really different places. Laws, jobs, transportations, cultures, and languages. At first they found it hard to adjust to the new surroundings and was willing to go back home to Sudan. However trying to fit in, they adapted to their surroundings by leaving their traditional Sudanese culture behind and looking towards the American culture.

To fit in, they wore what the American Blacks wore: hip hop, golden necklaces; baggy jeans. This helped them gain some friends in America and actually raise their reputation higher.

Back in Sudan, it was normal for boys to hold hands, as it was the symbol of friendship between the two. In the states however they pretty soon noticed that men holding hands with other men while walking wasn’t such a good idea. “Hey, in America, a man can’t touch another man like that. They’ll think you’re a homosexual.”

Although the guys who’ve come to U.S.A promised the people back in Sudan that they will look after the Dinka culture, slowly one by one begin to adapt to the American culture. “Forget about Africa! We’re in America!” This tells us that he is now totally facing towards the side of America, with his back towards Sudan.

To help them adapt to the new surroundings, food eaten by Peter and Santino slowly changed. They begin to eat American food, cheeseburgers and although at first they had no idea how to cook American food (pasta), in the end were successful.

In the end both Peter and Santino were successful in living in America although they had their ups and downs. To adapt to a new culture must have been hard and taken a bit of time but the fact that they didn’t give up is very admiring. To adapt to a new culture at the age of 17 or 18 must have hard but the fact that they didn’t loose their Dinka culture but gained the America’s culture at the same time is fascinating.

Glasses Aren't Dorky, They're Cool

“Mrs. Turner, those are the most odd looking words I’ve ever seen.” I complained to my teacher. “Melissa, if you just wore your glasses, I’m pretty sure you can read what I’m writing.” replied Mrs. Turner in an annoying voice. I let out a big sigh and started squinting at the board again. Drrrrring! The bell rang and everyone including me quickly put away our books and headed towards our next class. “Melissa, can I see you for a second?” asked Mrs. Turner. “Okay, Sure.” I replied and slowly and cautiously walked towards her desk searching for any sign of expression. “Melissa, I’m concerned about your eyes. I know the whole glasses thing is a new change for you, but sooner or later you’d have to wear them. Look at me, I’m wearing these.” said Mrs. Turner as she pointed to her shiny circled framed glasses. “I know… Okay, I’ll try to wear them…” I said and I headed out the door. 

In a series of flashback, I followed myself to the day I found out I needed glasses. The optometrist had tattletaled about my eyes and my parents were giving me lectures of how badly I had treated my eyes.

“Melissa! The teacher’s calling on you! Earth to Melissa!!” one of my friends shouted in my ear. “Huh, what?” I said, as I looked around the room. The teacher had apparently caught me daydreaming and called on me to finish the math problem. “Melissa, do you know the answer to this question?” asked my math teacher as he pointed to the board. Once again, I squinted my eyes but I could barely make out what was on the board. I stayed quiet for a very long time until the teacher sighed and explained the problem on the board. “This question consists of using multiplication and division at the same time…..” said the math teacher. I drifted back to my daydream. “Melissa, I told you if you read books while lying down your eyes would get bad. You don’t listen to us don’t you?” said my mom. “…I try not to, but it’s a habit.” I replied slowly. “And plus how many times do I have to tell you don’t sit close to the tv!” “Okay.. I’m sorry mom…” I replied hesitantly. Drrrrring! The recess bell rang, and everyone gathered their books and headed out to the door.

            I looked at my schedule. A big sigh came out of my mouth, science was next. ‘Hopefully we’re doing an experiment.’ I muttered to myself as I collected my books. Unfortunately we were taking notes from the board. It was one of the boring class ever and this time I couldn’t even distinguish the spaces between words, and by then I knew I had no other choice. With my sweaty trembling hands, I carefully took my glasses out of its case and without hurrying I put them on at the back of the room. Since I sat at the back of the class it wasn’t quite pleasant as people at the front kept on turning back whispering and pointing at me. I once again stared at the board and I couldn’t believe what I saw. The words were clearer than ever and I could even tell the difference between a full stop and a comma. One thing I had on my mind while copying down my word was “WOW. My parents were correct! Glasses are so cool!” As the class finished the kids crowded around me. My legs turned into jello as my heart pounded wondering what the kids would say about my glasses. “Can I try your glasses please? They’re red and they look so cool.” Or “You must have special eyes, Melissa! My eyes could never see out of these!” As the positive comments grew and grew a big grin was appearing on my face. They all had the same reaction, different from what I had imagined. They apparently thought my glasses were cool and wanted to try them on. At that point I knew glasses weren’t dorky, they were actually really cool.

From Colonization to Exploitation

1. Why do people colonize?

Colonization usually occurs whenever any one or more species populates a new area. Although colonization may be portrayed as a positive thing to the colonizers point of view it can be different from the colonized point of view. Usually the colonizers have taken over and changed a country for better or worse.

By establishing countries, the colonizers gain an advantage, as they are able to have the natural resources and the land itself. While colonizing, both the colonized and the colonizers cultural identity might change a bit or a whole lot. The colonized might adopt/adapt to their new lifestyles and begin to actually utilize it in their everyday life.

There are many reasons why people colonized other countries. Richard Hakluyt justified colonization by stating that its purposes was to “glory God by planting of religion among those infidels” and "The possibility of the enlarging of the dominions of the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, and consequently of her honour, revenues, and of her power by this enterprise." From these two statements we can tell that they mostly colonized as they wanted to spread their religion (Christianity), and to honour the Queen by expanding the nation. He stated that it was important to plant Christian religion and to conquer at the same time as many colonizers felt that it was their right to colonize other weaker and poorer countries.

Religion played a huge role in the western part of the world. Most of the people living in the western part were Christians and they did nothing to disobey their religion. Everything revolved around religion as the people thought it was their duty to keep the religion going. As some of them got the idea that other countries were not in the Christian zone, they thought it was their mission to convert the world to Christianity and to them about God.

However it wasn’t just the religion that made the colonizers (white men) colonize countries. They wanted to fully expand their nation, as to have more power. Countries who had a lot of power were more recognized in the 1900’s and in the western part of the world; they were competing against each other for land. Countries, who had the power to conquer, usually benefited from the land, resources and the trades. 

2. Explain how the reasons behind colonization lead to exploitation.

Exploitation is defined as make full use of and deriving benefit from something or someone. In many circumstances, the colonized were exploited from the colonizers. The colonizers usually took advantage of the colonized and, the colonized usually had to satisfy the colonizers.

Leopold II was one of the Kings who abused his power and amassed a huge fortune exploiting the Congo. At first Leopold just colonized Congo. Then he began to take advantage of the fact that he was stronger than the natives and treated the Congo citizens like dirt. He treated the natives like slaves and encouraged the Spain citizens to exploit the fact that the natives were the servants of Spain. The resources (mostly ivory) were sold or mostly given to the Spain in a very cheap price, resulting in the downfall of economics in Congo. He also killed, and kidnapped the natives as slaves to other countries and raped women threatening them to do whatever they could to please the men. Most of the citizens were living in very harsh and poor conditions, but nobody helped them. The males were forced to work in harsh conditions, and not getting any food or shelter, Leopard held the wives and children as captives until they returned back with their ivory quota. Those who refused or failed to supply enough ivory had their children murdered, their wives raped and their hands cut off. Currently the death tolls vary from investigators as they support different explanations. The Encyclopedia Britannica gives a total population of death of 8 million to 30 million. 

"I believe that the moment is come for us to extend our territories. I think that we must lose no time, under penalty of seeing the few remaining good positions seized upon by more enterprising nations than our own.” This was stated by Leopard II, which tells us that all he wanted to do was to conquer. We can tell that he was only looking for the benefits of resources and not thinking about how to communicate effectively. In the historical cartoon above, a Congo man is strangling to death by Leopard II who has transformed its body to a big strong snake. This picture portrays the actions done by the Spanish very well as this is what really happened. The Congo man is probably strangling to death just because he didn’t meet the will of Leopold. This picture represents every Congo man who had to go through the terrible memories.

Another case of exploitation would be the Aboriginals. When the British colonized Australia, the Aboriginals were treated like slaves. The British men raped women, took away their child [The Stolen Generation] and once again gained benefit from their natural resources. Although the British Government justified in saying that it was for the half-caste’s own benefit, most of the Aboriginal kids sent to foster homes were either abused or had problems with the parents. Aboriginals who did not satisfy the British were taken away to prison or were sometimes executed using the cruelest ways.

Overall, colonization can usually lead to exploitation and can gain benefit from the fact that one is stronger than the other. It usually leads out to abusing power and then taking all the honour rights the citizens have.

"Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past."-Tryon Edwards

Why are apologies important?

An apology is a regretful acknowledgement of an offense or something one has done wrong. Often times apologizing takes a lot of confidence but once it has been said, it slowly brings the two sides together resulting in the rebuild of relationships. Apologies are important because awkward conflicts sometimes produce great emotions. Even after the quarrel, emotions such as hatred, anger and annoyance still remain. Without apologies these hurtful feelings and their point of view grows stronger and stronger which creates a bigger unspoken barrier and little progress between the parties. Apologizing is something all humans cannot avoid, and admitting that you are sorry is not wrong. It is an obstacle all humans must undergo.

In this situation, what impact does the apology have on the colonized (Aboriginals) as well as the colonizers?

The term ‘Stolen Generation’ is used to describe the aboriginal kids taken away from their real blood families and getting taken care of non-aboriginals (Australians). At that time they believed that replacing the parents of the aboriginal kids would make a better future, creating a more civilized area in Australia.

Archie Roach was one of the victims in the Stolen Generation, and therefore knows the tough situations the aboriginals had to go through. His life was mostly depressing as he was taken away at the age of 3 just because he had a white grandfather. He had been tricked his whole life as he had been told his mother had perished in a fire. As he grew up all he wanted was the government to say the word s-o-r-r-y. Roach stated that most Aboriginals he had met just wanted a simple statement from the heart. If you hit someone, you don’t say, “I regret what I did.”

In this case the prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd is apologizing to the aboriginals, referring back to the phrase ‘Stolen Generation’. He was the first prime minister of Australia to actually admit the wrong actions the past British people did. The past prime ministers rejected the ideas of asking for forgiveness, as they believe modern Australians shouldn’t be required to accept guilt and blame for past actions. Howard the former prime minister of Australia feared a formal apology as he thought it would strengthen the case for compensation.

As the prime minister, Kevin Rudd said the simple word sorry; the relationship between the colonized (Aboriginal) and the colonizers (Australians) grew, hence creating the bond of friendship. When he apologized a lot of the Aboriginals finally got the idea that he was really sorry for what had happened in the past. Although in this situation apologizing won’t erase the memories of what happened in the past, the colonized realized that he was willing to apologize for what he had not done, but for what is ancestors had done.

Thankfully, it had a positive impact on the colonized (Aboriginal) as they accepted Kevin Rudd’s apology. Before the apology some of the Aboriginals thought that their cultures were uncivilized and inadequate and that was the reason why their culture was forgotten. However through Kevin Rudd’s hard work, he had made the Aboriginal culture proud and take its position back to where it belongs.

In the video when Rudd apologizes he says, “Today we honour the indigenous people of this land.” How he states the fact that the Aboriginals are the indigenous people really shows us that he respects and honours the Aboriginals. He could have called the Aboriginals just the “people” of this land, but instead he adds “indigenous people” which creates more emphasize on the importance. “This blemished chapter in our national history.” From this part of his speech how he said “our national history” it states that he believes that the Aboriginals are part of them (Australians); therefore combining both of the Australians and the Aboriginals is the real true history of Australia. He keeps on the repeating the phrase “To the Stolen Generation, we say sorry.” How he keeps on restates that phrase really shows that he is sincerely sorry and asking for forgiveness. He could have just said, “We say sorry” but the fact that he adds the part “Stolen Generation” shows he deeply respects the Aboriginals and their lifestyle. Rudd also explains the misbehaving actions of the Australians in the past. For example he said “We reflect on their past mistreatment.” This shows us that he is aware of all the abuse and torture the Aboriginals had to go through when the child was torn apart from his or her family.

Although saying sorry and asking for forgiveness will not help forget all the miserable memories, however it shows that Kevin Rudd really cares even though it is not himself who caused the Stolen Generation.

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” – Brian Littrell

Though this quote is short and simple it has a lot of deep meaning into it. Basically this quote means no matter how bad your situation is, you still find good points in it. Life is full of surprises and without putting effort you never know if you’ll succeed or not.

Over the past few months I’ve asked myself this question over and over again. Am I a person who strives for the best although I know the worst is coming or the kind of person who doesn’t even try? But now I know that I am the kind of person who puts effort into little things, therefore this quote corresponds my personality. Even if things don’t turn out good for me, I’d always tell myself “I’ll improve! I’ll do better next time!“ Even if I fail a test or a quiz that had been a great deal to me I would just learn from my mistakes and hope next time I would do a better job. Personally I think failing is essential in life. Although they can stand as an obstacle in the middle of a new task, that is part of life. Obstacles cannot be avoided, and from my point of view a person who undergoes the obstacle is better likely to succeed in life rather than a person who runs away. Life is always going to be unfair and challenging but the only way to overcome that fear is to go for it.