Should Mercy Killing be made Legal?

If you or a loved one was terminally ill, suffering on a daily basis, with no form of medication to help the illness, would you chose death?  Do you believe you have the right to make such a choice or should this like everything else up to the government to decide for us?  Do you believe you have the right to choose death rather than face a life of battling a painful illness?  While some believe death should be left to God’s discretion, others believe that mercy killing or Euthanasia should be legalized to help preserve the quality of life.    

“Mercy killing is a term which is synonymous for Euthanasia.  The term Euthanasia is a greek term, which means ‘good death’” (www.astahost.com).  While many people may have a hard time in finding good in death, can they find good in illness?  How about suffering, is there any good there? If life is filled with nothing but suffering and pain why shouldn’t a peaceful death be an option?  Mercy killing is an easy, painless way out for those who are suffering with a terminal illness.  Today euthanasia is not legal in the United States but, giving a DOR or pulling the plug on a loved one is acceptable.  Isn’t giving a do not resuscitate order to a doctor letting a loved one die?  Isn’t pulling the plug of a loved one who has been in a coma for months killing them?  Yet this is acceptable but, ending a person’s suffering way before these stages is illegal. 

While many may call the act of mercy killing murder because of the premeditation, intent and action, is it really (www.astahost.com)?   Here’s an example, your fathers terminally ill, in excruciating pain on a daily basis, and there’s no medication or cure to rid him of his illness. They don’t know how much longer he will last, but death in inevitable.  The doctor asks you to either end his life and stop the suffering or let him to live a life in continuous pain, which would you chose? Would you want to see your father suffer or would you like to see him go peacefully and painlessly?  Some may say that life is a gift from God and can only be taken away from him but, you mean to tell me that God gave you this gift of life and then decided to top it off with an incurable illness?  So God would want his gift of life to be a miserable one filled with suffering?    If God gave us each of us our own lives than isn’t it our choice what we do with them?

It’s clear that killing an animal and a human being fall under completely two different categories but, people often love their pets like a member of their family.  People often would do anything to ensure their pets happiness.  Yet so often you bring your pet to the animal hospital and the vet tells you that your animal is suffering.  One option is always putting your pet to sleep in a painless way; the other option is taking your pet home and letting it suffer only to eventually die.  More than half the time people chose putting their pet to sleep in order to save is from a life of suffering.  If people who love and care for their pets like their own child can see the bright side is ending a life of misery why can’t they see the same when it comes to human life? 

Mercy killing also known as euthanasia could be legalized in the United States.  The right to live is one choice that should not be up to the government.  The right to a painless death over a life of suffering is totally rational.  If a person who is completely coherent chooses death over life whose business is it but their own? 

Cites I used:

http://www.astahost.com/info/tiimts-euthanasia-mercy-killing-legalized-mercy-killing-legalized.html

http://www.debate.org/debates/mercy-killing-should-be-legalized./1/

http://www.euthanasia.com/proscons.html

Black Friday Shoppers

There is nothing I hate more than Black Friday Shoppers.  I understand the whole idea of saving money in a recession and all that but, beating and yelling at people in the process is totally unnecessary and unholiday-like.  I got the honor of working in a very busy shopping center on Black Friday and i have never heard more complaining and bitching in my entire life- talk about holiday spirit.  I don’t even know how these people have it in them, to go sit on line after line, push through mob after mob.  And what are you really saving?  A little money for a whole lot of aggravation just isn’t worth it to me. People turn into the Grinch during this holiday shopping process.  On thanksgiving night I’m not worrying about what time I’m getting to the stores or how much money I’m going to save on Uncle Michael’s new television.  I’m in a coma on the couch with the rest of my family full from dinner.  I blast Christmas music on my way home from my Uncles house, not plan shopping strategies.  Everyone’s so worried about saving a lil bit of money that they totally take the holiday out of holiday shopping.  A woman in California pepper sprayed people in order to get ahead of them in line, are you kidding me?!?! All I have to say is congrats, not only did you not save money on black Friday, but you also added on bail and lawyers’ fees, Merry Christmas!

First Thanksgiving, now Halloween? Santa, give it a break!: Response to Kathrines Blog

I'm always being told to act my own age or to stop acting like a child and when it comes to the holidays I might as well as be running around in pigtails and a Santa hat. I am among the few that would accept Christmas advertisements in June. All year round for that matter. I don’t see a Christmas advertisement and think about retail stores trying to rob me of my hard earned money, I see them and think of Christmas and everything that comes along with it. Everything about Christmas puts me in a good mood which is why I don’t mind when advertisements start reminding us about Christmas shopping in October. Stores advertise everyday, but as soon as they throw Santa into the commercials people start to complain and I don’t get why?? I don’t get why people get mad when Christmas is the best time of the year, why would you not want to be reminded of it as early as October. I also didn’t mind, I actually really enjoyed when 106.7 started playing continuous Christmas music on Saturday at 5 all the way to Christmas day. I am a child when it comes to the holidays and I’ll be the first to admit that seeing Christmas in October makes me warm inside. Any bad mood I was experiencing before simply goes out the window and all I can think about is family and presents and good food. I’m one of those people that no matter how many times you freeze your ass off going to see the tree in Rockefeller Center, it never gets old. I mean my mom still makes me and my siblings take Christmas Pictures in front of our fireplaces once all our stockings are hanging from it, and I freaking love it!

Its about the company your with....

I went upstate this weekend to my friend Andrew's house.  It’s literally in the middle of nowhere on a ton of property.  Some may ask, what did you guys do in a house in the middle of nowhere? But with my friends you don’t need much to have a good time.  For the most part we sat outside on stones about a fire and drank, which seems kind of cliché and little bit boring but it was really one of the best times I’ve had in a while.  It wasn’t what we were doing that was fun but it was the people I was with, the people I can completely be myself around, the people who make me laugh till I cant breath anymore.  10 of us being a little cabin upstate all sharing one bathroom, 3 bedrooms and one little kitchen sounds like a weekend from hell but it was really a great time.  Being in the middle of nowhere with nothing but your friends and some beers was exactly the weekend I needed.  With my friends it’s not about going to clubs or trekking all the way to the city because we do that all the time and quite frankly it gets old.  We all needed a different scene, a little get away from the usual Friday nights and just relax with good friends.  This weekend defiantly made me realize that it’s not about where you are that matters but the company your with that makes all the difference.   

My Mother Never *Star Applied

My mother never asks for anything in return.  She's the most selfless person I know and is always striving to make my family and I happy.  But she never asks for anything in return.  She is the glue that holds our family together and without her I dont know where I would be right now.  Sometimes I dont give her the credit she deserves but, at the end of the day she really is my best friend.  I didn't go away to school because I knew I wouldnt be able to last that long without her.  Some of my friends dont understand the bond my mom and I share but i could never explain it.  Shes been there through everyting with me, and yet still, never asks for anything in return. 

Writers Block

I've been thinking for days of something to write on this blog and still to this very second I have nothing to write.  It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, I just have nothing to write.  Meaning that I have nothing to write about that could possibly interest anyone else.  I could be typical and write about Halloween and how many girls I saw dressed like sluts this weekend.   Or how I use to be one of those girls until I realized it was overrated and far too cold to do so anymore.  I could even write about my beliefs and values but, does anyone really care?  Does anyone really care that I value hard work and dedicated and people who think they can get by without that repulse me? Does anyone care that I believe in and fully support gay marriage and I hope one day one of my best friends can live in a judgment free world?  Do I care if anyone really cares? Not really. The chances of someone even reading this is pretty slim to none anyway, so instead of pouring out my heart about what I believe in or before I bore you with useless facts about something no one really cares about anyway ill use this blog to rant about how I have nothing to write.  Because isn’t that what theses blogs are used for these days anyway, to rant and rave about things only few care about anyway. 

Creative Writing

Every family has their problems but, Ryan’s family has much more than their fair share. From the outside looking in you would never be able to tell, from the inside looking out you start to wonder how he ever found the strength the survive.
Ryan and his family lived in a well off neighborhood in a brick house with the typical white picket fence. He had one cat and two dogs who him and his twin sister Erika grew up with. To the people around them, everything seemed normal but, behind closed doors it was far from it. When Ryan was four his father killed himself while Ryan, his mother and sister were at church one Sunday morning. Ryan’s father was an abusive alcoholic and had been on a drinking binge for weeks. Truth is, Ryan’s father owned an Auto body shop and his place had went out of business. Being that Ryan’s father provided the only source of income he started to panic, which caused him to drink, very heavily. Ryan found him on the bathroom floor, he had choked on his own vomit.
Soon after Ryan’s mother, Nancy, remarried and moved Ryan and Erika to a new home with her new husband. Ryan and Erika were only five and were excited to be moving into a new, much bigger, much fancier house on the other side of town. Nancy’s new husband Joe, and her children seemed to get along great. Joe and Ryan went hunting together in the winter and fishing in the summer.  They did everything together and became inseperable.  Years went by and before Ryan knew it he had slowly started forget about his father and the scene he saw when he was just five years old. While Ryan found the father he never had , Erika was a different story. She craved her mothers attention and was losing it to Joe which caused her to resent him.  From the second she started forming educated sentences, they were used to go against everything Joe said.   Everything Joe asked from Erika, she made sure she did the opposite.
When Ryan and Erika turned sixteen Joe and Nancy threw a huge party in their backyard for the both of them. While the party turned out to be a great time and seemed to be brining everyone together, Erika went inside to check on the dogs when she heard a strange noise coming from the laundry room. It sounded as if someone had put sneakers in the drier which seemed weird to Erika considering the party. Why would someone be doing laundry right now, she thought? Before Erika could open the door it clicked in her head what she was hearing. But who? She opened the door and was disgusted with what she saw. She quickly slammed the door and ran into the backyard for her Mother and Ryan. She got their attention and told them they needed to come inside right away. When they got inside she told them how she had just seen Joe having sex with one of her best friends in the laundry room. Horrified, Nancy burst into the laundry room to find only Joe inside washing his hands in the sink.
“What’s the matter” snarled Joe “What’s all the commotion.”
“You know what’s wrong, you know I saw what you were doing with Jeanne.” Joe put on his best look of innocence and explained he was only helping her sober up. She had snuck a little bit too much to drink, Joe explained, and needed a few minutes to cool down,  she wasn't feeling well so he had sent her home, there was nothing to worry about.
“That’s bullshit, I saw it, you were having sex with her. Stop lying,” screamed Erika. While Erika and Joe went back and forth, Nancy sat down, her head was spinning from everything that was happening around her. Ryan sat with her and tried to calm her down.
“You don’t believe her, do you babe?” Joe said sweetly rubbing Nancy’s back. Nancy looked up and him and then to her daughter.
“Erika, sweetie, why would Joe do something like that with Jeanne. She’s only sixteen, he could go to jail. Are you sure that’s what you saw.” Erika knew what was happeneing, her mother was going to take Joes side. She was going to believe his lies. Before anyone could say anything Erika ran to her room. Ryan got up to go after her as Joe grabbed his shoulder.
“Let her be. It’s her party and she can cry if she wants to. But it’s your party too and don’t let her and her accusations ruin your time.”
“I just want to hear what happened and see if she’s okay” said Ryan.
“She’ll be fine. Nothing happened Ryan. Do you really think I would do that to you, to your mother. Erika will think of anything to make tension in this house and now she has taken it to far. Leave her in her room. Hopefully she never comes out.” Joe screamed the last part up the stairs in hopes to get a rise out of Erika. But no noise came from her room, only heavy breathing.

Old teacher, New Ways

I started observing yesterday and one of the teachers I’m observing for is relatively older than the rest. The class is made up of 18 boys and 3 girls and the boys rule the class.. they don’t shut up and they don’t even stay in their own seats. The poor lady sat in the front for a good 10 mins before the boys even realized that she was waiting for them to shut up. At first she started punishing them by taking points off their test they had recently taken but the boys straight out told her they didn’t care. Then she told them she was going to talk to their coaches and make sure something was done to punish them. All of a sudden they were quite. After class she told me how as she gets older the less of a connection she has with her students and less control she has over her class. She told me when she started teaching it was much easier for her to get their attention and keep them focused. She told me that her students used to see her out of the classroom and would always stop and talk to her, now they simple wave and walk by. As we were talking she started to tell me how she really wants that connection back with her students. Her idea was that she was going to start going to her students athletic games and even cheer for those who don’t shut up. At first it sounded kind of pointless but then i started to understand. She wants her students to be able to see her in a different light than just the old teacher that lectures the entire English class, she wants her students to see her outside of the classroom and maybe they will respect her more. Thinking about it, it actually seems like a really good idea and hopefully for her sake it works. I found it really interesting how even a teacher who’s retirement is around the teacher still cares about strengthening her connection with her students.

Revision 1

According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” In other words, staying true to yourself and your beliefs in a world that is always trying to influence you to be somebody else is very rare. Instead of being yourself, we so often see everybody trying to be like each other, we’re so often told that it’s bad to be different, it’s bad to stand out of the crowd. This is shown to be true in Loser written by Jerry Spinelli and Feed by M.T Anderson. Spinelli uses characterization in order to prove to his reader that while every tries to get Zinkoff to change, he’s perfectly happy being who he is. M.T Anderson also uses characterization as well as symbolism to show the battle between being yourself versus being like everyone else.

In Loser by Jerry Spinelli, Zinkoff is very much like other children. He likes to ride his bike, play with friends and he enjoys spending time going to work with his dad. On the other hand however, Zinkoff is different from the rest of the children in his class. Zinkoff has autism and instead of feeling bad when no one wants to play with him after school, when no one picks him for kickball, or when his classmates call him a loser, he laughs and goes on enjoying his life. Zinkoff is characterized as clumsy and socially awkward, he makes up his own words and dances to the beat of his own drum. While everyone tries to get him to conform to society, he doesn’t mind being a little different. To everyone else he’s different, but he doesn’t see himself that way. While it’s clear in the novel that everyone wants him to be a little quieter, a little more careful, a little more like everyone else, he’s perfectly fine being him. By the end of the novel Zinkoff shows how being different doesn’t mean he can’t be a hero, when he goes out in a blizzard to look for a little girl who has went missing. He doesn’t realize that the little girl was found already and spends the entire night looking. Back at school, while kids are still picking him last and laughing at him they hear about the story and start to respect him for what he did and for being different.

While Zinkoff’s accomplishment is noticed and eventually respected, Violet in M.T Anderson’s Feed isn’t as lucky. Violet’s feed isn’t as up to date as the rest of the kids in her grade. While they all love the accessibility and easiness of the feed she believes its ruining them. Violet portrays the rebellious character and tries to break away from the feed, while the rest of society is trying to repress her unruly ways. Violet prefers simplicity and talking with her mouth rather than through brain waves however, many of the peers are so brainwashed by technology that they make fun of her for being “behind.” After a hacker set a virus on Violet and her friend’s feeds she spends her time recovering with Titus and teaches him her views on the consumerism the feed is sucking them all into. She tries to make him understand that the feed represents a world in which humans don’t communicate with each other verbally, a world in which technology rules the world. Most of all the feed symbolizes consumerism and the constant need to be like everybody else. In a world that is trying so hard to suck Violet in, Violet tries hard to resist, she doesn’t let her classmates bother her and she remains satisfied with the simple things in life. In the end Violet learns that the feed is stronger than her desire to be different. She resists an upgrade for her feed and dies due to system malfunction. We realize however, that her desire to be different was greater than her desire to live.

While “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment,” sometimes having such a strong desire to be yourself takes a turn for the worse, like seen in Feed. However, both Violet and Zinkoff prove that being yourself and resisting the power to conform can end in people gaining great respect for you.

Critical Lens Essay

According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” In other words, staying true to yourself and your beliefs in a world that is always trying to influence you to be somebody else is very rare.  Instead of being yourself, we so often see everybody trying to be like each other, were so often told that it’s bad to be different, its bad to stand out of the crowd.  This is shown to be true in Loser written by Jerry Spinelli and Feed by M.T Anderson. 

In Loser by Jerry Spinelli, Zinkoff is very much like other children.  He likes to ride his bike, play with friends and he enjoys spending time going to work with his dad.  On the other hand however, Zinkoff is different from the rest of the children in his class.  Zinkoff has autism and instead of feeling bad when no one wants to play with him after school, when no one picks him for kickball, or when his classmates call him a loser he laughs and goes on enjoying his life.  To everyone else he’s different, but he doesn’t seem himself that way.  While it’s clear in the novel that everyone wants him to be a little quitter, a little more careful, a little more like everyone else he’s perfectly fine being him.  By the end of the novel Zinkoff shows how being different doesn’t mean he can’t be a hero, when he goes out in a blizzard to look for a little girl who has went missing.  He doesn’t realize that the little girl was found already and spends the entire night looking.  Back at school, while kids are still picking him last and laughing at him they hear about the story and start to respect him for what he did and for being different.  While Zinkoffs accomplishment is noticed and eventually respected, Violet in M.T Anderson’s Feed isn’t as lucky.

Violet’s feed isn’t as up to date as the rest of the kids in her grade.  While they all love the accessibility and easiness of the feed she believes its ruining them.  Violet prefers simplicity and taking with her mouth rather than through brain waves however, many of the peers are so brainwashed by technology that they make fun of her for being “behind.”   After a hacker set a virus on Violet and her friend’s feeds she spends her time recovering with Titus and teaches him her views on the consumerism the feed is sucking them all into.  While Titus never truly understands where Violet is coming from he loves her anyway and sticks up for her when everyone makes fun of her for being so different.  In a world that is trying so hard to suck Violet in, Violet tries hard to resist, she doesn’t let her classmates bother her and she remains satisfied with the simply things in life.  In the end Violet learns that the feed is stronger than her desire to be different.  She resists an upgrade for her feed and dies due to system malfunction.  We realize however, that her desire to be different was greater than her desire to live.  

While “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment,” sometimes having such a strong desire to be yourself takes a turn for the worse, like seen in Feed.  However, both Violet and Zinkoff prove that being yourself and resisting the power to conform can end in people gaining great respect for you.  

Fuel to the Fire

I was sitting at the dinner table last night and my brother was doing his homework at the other end.  I asked him what he was working on and it was his English homework.  It was a project for his summer reading book; he had to find 5 songs and relate them to the book.  One paragraph for each song.  Simple I thought.  I asked him to read me what he had so far.  To say it sucked would be an understatement.  I would fail you if you were my student i told him.  He just shrugged.  Ten minutes later i found myself on google trying to find more relatable songs to the novel Feed.  Twenty minutes later I was writing out five paragraphs explaining why they relate to the novel.  Why?? Why did I just do his homework? Hes not stupid and hes definitely not lazy.  He just didn't think reading the novel would benefit him so he simply decided not to.  Even when i told him  that it was awesome and he'd really like it he didn't even bother to open it.  He used spark notes and thought that would give him a clear understanding of all the themes in the novel.  I sit here complaining that students don't read and that they can sometimes be lazy or absorbed in other things and i just added fuel to the fire. At least i know he'll get a good grade now....

Its clear that the more years past the less students read.  I cant imagine the reading rate of an average high school English class.  There is obviously many reasons a student might not read the book you have given them but, I am a firm believer that the number one reason is because that students are not interested in the texts we have choosen for them.  Why read Of Mice and Men when you can stalk your friends on facebook or watch reality television? Which is all way more entertaining.  I'm not sure what solution there is to this because as teachers we are constantly competing with technology.  I feel that maybe giving students a choice on what to read may help dwindle the number of students not reading but, there will always be students your selection will not please.  There will always be that student who would rather watch Jersey Shore then a book, simply because it requires much less effort and they beileve it to be way more entertaining.  I'm not saying students today are lazy they just need to be sold.  As teachers we are the sales people and books are our products.  Some students will buy it, others will not.

Burning Question

As a student becoming a teacher I obviously am burdened with a lot of questions. However, the one that I cant seem to get out of my head or find an answer to is: how do we get our students to read? When I was in high school I can honestly say spark notes was my best friend. I'm not sure I ever read a book from front to back, not because I didn’t know how but because I simply did not like to read. To make matters even worse, the books we were told to read just did not interest me. So now as one of those students becoming a teacher myself I'm going into the classroom knowing that many of my students will not be reading the next I will be assigning each night. So what do I do? Do I give them choices of books each time so they can chose something they're interested in? Or should I just hope for the best and assign what I had planned? Should I tell them they should all love to read and pretend I didn’t use to be just like them? Or should I let them know that it’s okay if reading isn’t their thing right now because one day it might be? If someone would have told me that 7 years ago I would have laughed in their face yet here I am spending my SUMMER days reading book after book after book, and enjoying every minute of it.  But it wasn't a teacher that got my reading, it was my own desire to pick up a book so how do I give my students the same desire?  How do I get them to forget about spark notes and cuddle up with a real book?  How do I get my students to want to read???