blog 1 (10-24-11)

There are several labels placed in our society, some in which I do not understand. It is true that we live in America, but does that make up a part of who we are? When I think of America I think of a map, but what if we did not have that a map to categorize the United States? What would I think of then? Americans and Chinese should not be viewed differently, because we are all part of the world, the earth that we live on, and the different countries should not mean anything. For example, two people were invited to a party and they did not let the American in but they let the Asian person. It is like Asians think they are superior to Americans and they are on two different levels, however we are on one level, or at least that is how it should be. I can categorize myself into countless different labels- American, Caucasian, Jewish, feminine, etc. If there was never all of these categorizations, society would be completely different. If we did not have religion, or money, or different countries, would life be easier or harder? It seems like everyone would be much more similar because we would not divide ourselves from others. Yet we derive many of our beliefs and we base some of our decisions based on how much money we have or what religion we are a part of. One would argue that being a part of America gives them a sense of belonging and a sense of pride. When we sing the national anthem at a sports event, it proves that there is a sense of pride to be an American. Just because we sing it, does not mean that it carries meaning for everyone there, and we might be doing it just because everyone around us is doing it. For others, it might be a time to reflect on the community and civilization that we are a part of. If I did not view myself as American, I would not become depressed and think, "Now I have no reason to live." If everyone was completely equal meaning there was no currency system, no religion, and no geographic divisions life would be different. It would be less complicated, but at the same time it could potentially create more problems. Are these divisions healthy and do we need to be separated from others in order to live civilly? The answer will not be deteremined becuase we will never be able to go back in time. Our past generations have pretty much determined how life and society would run today, and we are born into a country and born into the way of life in which we are almost forced to live in. For example, why is it that guys are supposed to be into action figures and love the color blue and girls are supposed to love dolls and adore the color pink? These stereotypes were created somehow... The decisions we make now are imporant for the generations to come and if simply a few people made slightly different decisions, our everyday lives would not be how they are today. This brings me to the point of arguning the past. Arguing the past actually wont help anything. Hence why I wonder why we learn histroy if it already happened, and we can't change anything about it, why study it? There is always a history class in curriculums at school, and hardly ever a current events/issues class. Initially I would presume that we should dicuss issues that we are facing in our lives now, and how we can make them better rather than debating the past. History is a complicated thing...