"Every act you have ever performed since the day you were born was performed because you wanted something‟ [ANDREW CARNEGIE]. Do you agree?

Whether or not we are aware of the acts we have done, conscious or unconsciously we wanted something in return. I see eye to eye to this Andrew Carnegie quote. The reality of the situation is for every decision made; something has to be gained. If there wasn’t anything to gain, why even bother? We do it so well unconsciously; we rarely notice the advantages for making our decisions the way we do.

That observation may seem to strongly say how selfish people are, but it’s the truth. We may commit an act unconsciously and an argument can be made whether or not the person is responsible for that act. According to Andrew Carnegie, we wanted something that made us commit that act. A simple example is: when a baby is only a couple months old, they cannot speak and care for themselves, when they need something, the baby cries. The want of the baby made the baby commit the act of crying. Every choice we make is toward our own for self gain. How you define that is up interpretation.

An argument can be made, what about the people who make bad decisions all the time? What can they possibly gain from it? However stupid a decision is, it may be the feeling or the response the person get that satisfied the need for that action. It may seem illogical, but in a twisted way to that person it makes perfect sense.

First Semester of College.

Overall, to this point my experiences for the six weeks I have been in college have been great. The biggest change in college is the facility to make choices every day and to manage your time wisely. Those are issues every student can relate to.

You made choices before back home with your parents support. but as an adult, there are consequences for making bad decisions. For example, if you know you have test tomorrow and you don’t study, you not going to pass. Back in high school, your parents would remind you to do your work. My point is, in college you have to manage your time well. To continue, composition one has taught me different styles of writings and different writing skills. It also expanded my writing abilities’ and I have learned a lot those past six weeks. College is a lot different than high school. You have to balance your life. Your parents are not with you to remind you what you have to do; you are your own person.

Another issue is, in college you have to know what is expected of you versus in high school, where your teacher told you what is expected of you; included academic wise and how to behave in class.

Little Weapon

The purpose of the song “little weapon” is to address how the children of Africa are being treated unjustly and how childhoods are destroyed and futures ruined. How the kids are trained to be cruel, heartless, unloving, and merciless. And contrast that situation, to violent video games for young kids.

From a moral point of view, the way the kids are treated is intolerable. Kids are no one’s property and not to be use for any one’s hidden agendas. It is inhumane, immoral and unethical. From a westernize point of view, kids are suppose to have a normal childhood with an ideal setting, not killing people at the age of six. Kids should be educated to have a better future tomorrow

It is a logical question to ask how anyone can take advantage of kids. Do they not have any common sense? Or are they really that ignorant? If you have a shed of decency you would not destroy a kid’s future because kids are the future generation. Kids are humanity’s legacy, how they are trained reflects greatly on our collective traits as a race. Even if you are uneducated it is irrational to treat kids like that. You are knowingly depriving them of even a slight chance of being someone in society. When you are elderly, kids will control your well being, and how they were educated will impact you greatly. Kids are your future and they should not be used for any one’s political or personal gain.

Why are face transplants more controversial than liver transplants?

In general, having major surgery is life threatening and if it is not absolutely life threatening most people will advise against it. Having liver transplant is only when necessary and a person will die without that surgery, in order words as a last resort. However, society may be more controversial toward having a face transplant than a liver transplant because some might consider it to be a moral issue. Most transplant boards ethic committee will not all it, because it’s an ethical decision and also its not life threatening.

In my opinion, the choice to have a face transplant should ultimately be your choice and the surgeons doing the surgery regardless of society’s remarks about the issue. It should not be a decision taken lightly and should only be as a last resort. With any surgery, the problem you are trying to fix may get worse or even result in death. Some other factors need to be considered into that decision; it may not be a good decision. Currently, people who have gone through that surgery had to spend more than twenty four hours in the main surgery and over fifty other surgeries with many months recovering in the hospital extensive care, on drug regiments and also the possibility that your immune system will reject the transplants. You may not die, but it’s likely that you may not feel any feelings on your face. My question is: “Is it worth it”?

Psychologically, you may have problem adjusting to your new face. As a matter of facts, a woman in France name Isabelle Dinoire had partial face transplant and she could not adjust to her new face. Even though the surgery was a completed success, her mental state was not. Imagine having to get use to a new face when you look in the mirror. What you also need to consider is the fact that only you is going through that experience. It will be hard for people to sympathize you because they don’t know what you going trough. With all those facts and other factors, that’s why people are infamous toward face transplants.

What Really Happened to Phoebe Prince?

Suicide in general is a delicate topic to debate; as you may inadvertently insult someone else’s point of view. From the kid’s parent’s perspective, you can argue that the six kids are being punished enough. They were kick out of school, they have been focus intensely by publics rage and the death of phoebe will haunt them for the rest of their lives. On the other hand, From Phoebe’s parents perspective you can also argue that those kids should be punish to the full extent of the law.

The article “What Really Happened to Phoebe Prince?” concluded that the six kids facing charges against Phoebe’s death may have been punished enough as it will impact their lives forever. An argument can be made that the authors’ logic is sound. It is true that the six kids have been extremely criticize by the media and judged by the public for Phoebe’s suicide, but what the author did not take in account is that the suicide of Phoebe could have been prevented.

From another perspective, Phoebe’s suicide is direct end result of the six kids bullying Phoebe. If only Phoebe was not bullied, all those lives would not be ruined. Phoebe’s death was not only a devastation for Phoebe’s parents, but also to the six kids and the parents of the six kids held accountable for Phoebe’s suicide. In my opinion, the six kids should be held responsible and should be punished by the law, because their actions lead Phoebe to take her own life. I would also recommend that those six kids should not be punished to harshly. They will carry that burden with them for the rest of their lives which will impact their future greatly.

Why does truthfulness matter?

An argument can be made that our societies are based on truths. Truths exist in everything we do and even in Mother Nature. Truth matters not only on our lives but even in nature. Imagine if every natural law in nature was not truth even for a few seconds; the chaos and the turmoil that would exist. When truths that we know exist and vanishes before our eyes, chaos fills up those certainties that we had held on to so dear. Truth matters not only to people, but to the well being of our society. And for a lasting relationship to stand, truth must exist.

To begin with, for a society to have a balance, a baseline must exist. For that society or community to last, that base that everyone looks up to must be the truth. When truths that we believed in for so long become lies, it can crush spirits and cause harm to us psychologically. For example, if you fell in love and one day realized the person you fell in love with is not who you think they are; that can shake your world and cause you emotional trauma. In the other hand, it also depends on the truth and sometimes it doesn’t have a big impact on our lives. In my opinion, if lying, is going to hurt the people you care about, tell the truth and hope for the best. Sometimes forgiveness is better to live with, than too have to live with a lie for the rest of your relationship.

Does Teen Drug Rehab Cure Addiction or Create It?

One can argue that rehab cure addictions, not create them. The argument made in the article is mostly opinion based, not facts.

In my opinion, if you are having trouble with an addiction, seek help. When trying to achieve a goal on your own and you cannot succeed, get the help you need. Drugs are usually addicting, just do not do it at all. When you are addicting to drugs, you are losing your common sense. To you, no one else makes sense but you; but in reality you are the one not making sense. You are confused and cannot make logical choices or good decisions.

One of the things that most people do not realize is parents suffers a lot too. When your kid is struggling in life, when your child fails; it is a reflection on the parents. All parents want their kids to be successful. When you are struggling, I do not think your parents are exaggerating by saying you need rehab.

The bottom line is when you need help go get it. If you are incapable of making that decision, someone responsible for you should make that decision for you. It is not only for your own sake but for every one you depends on you and cares about you.

The dice of God are always loaded.

The dice of God are always loaded is an interesting quote by Emerson. It is a topic with a broad meaning, opinions and interpretations. It may have a spiritual meaning, a mythical meaning or a philosophical sense.

In a spiritual sense, God is a literal figure that you should respect and worship. God controls everything. You should know and accept his divine blessings as you go about your daily lives. There is no rebelling God’s mighty and power. In a mythical sense, God is a figure of speech, a reminder to keep everyone holy and in good terms. It’s the belief that if you get out of place, God the almighty will smite you; therefore everyone obeys the law set forth by God and society functions. The logical way to look at the quote is seeing the quote as a proverb. To interpreted it philosophically you would assumed that the powerless suffers’ because the rich and powerful control everything. Fighting the system is illogical because the outcome is that the weak lose. As an African proverb says; when two elephants fight who suffers? The right answer would be the ground; in this analogy, the ground is the weak and the elephant is God. All its implying philosophically is if you are low on the totem pole, the weak will suffer as the structure cannot be demolish.

To conclude, one can say that this quote by Emerson is a brilliant way to look at multiple meanings through one magnifying glass. It is not one simple quote, because as you look deeper, you can find different meanings.

Let Them Drink Water!

The article implies that taxes on junk food should be applied to help with the trillion dollar health care plan. Considering that we the consumer is going to pay for the health care bill one way or another.

Let them drink water, basically says that we should heavily tax soft drinks and junk food. The author brings in a good point by saying what will happen to the people who cannot pay five dollars for a soft drink? A source responded: let them drink water. All the article is implying is that if you cannot afford a soft drink, water should be your substitute. My second point is that people often don’t realize that anything the government does is always paid for by the people. The people are the government’s income source, if the government increases taxes on certain products, then the majority of the population will not be affected. One can argue that most of the population does not buy junk food. If increasing taxes on those products will help save most consumers some money in the long run, they should pass the law.

In my opinion, society usually works in this way. You must give something get something. Most Americans wanted the healthcare bill to pass, without properly thinking about how we were going to afford it. Often we like to over look the important things and go off on untamable ideas. My outline is that we must learn to adjust in an ever changing society, to cope with new and conventional ideas.

Where does a sense of community come from?

Community is a vague term; it can be a different range of definitions to different people. A community can be an association, a group of people achieving the same goal. For example: in my floor at USF we are a community. At first we didn’t know each other but now we are comfortable with each other because we have a common goal. We are in the same boat, first year in college and we all are helping each other to become successful. Community in itself is a sense of family, where everyone knows each other and it’s comfortable. People must feel comfortable enough to express themselves without being judged. A sense of community comes from the phrase ‘’family first’’. Family doesn’t have to be literally mean people that share the same bloodline. In order to be a community, a warm family atmosphere must exist.


A sense of community comes from friendship and affection. You cannot be a community if you don’t get along with one another. Of course disputes will occur, but because all individual shares the same common goal, a settlement should be reach without violence. A good connection with your community will enhance that sense of friendship. Affection will grow stronger, therefore making your community stronger and stable. The easiest way to keep that sense of community from dissolving is to have the same values. When people believe in the same things, they tend to stick together. When people are aiming for the same things, they try hard not to lose that connection. Helping each other is a big part of the sense community; it’s easy to be helped and also to let people help you.

A Response to Health Ills Abound as Farm Runoff Fouls Well.

Wow! To be honest, I have never thought about that issue. I didn't think that Agriculture could be harmful to our society. This is a major problem that should be brought to light and take care of. It is true that Agriculture is a need for society, but if it’s causing harm to a part of our society, it should be more regulated.

I was surprised to learn that on cow produce waste for as many as 18 people. That statistic alone is cause for attention. It’s a fact that they use animal waste as fertilizer for agriculture, but what they didn’t bring to light is what happens with the excess of waste. 19.5 million Americans falls ill every year due to water base bacteria. When the water source it’s polluted, it’s not a small percentage of our population who’s at risk, but our entire society.

The government should be responsible for passing new regulations and enforce them. Because right now I feel that this issue is not getting the full attention that it deserves. It seems like it’s a growing problem, which can only get worse. Legally the farmers may not be responsible because the regulation they have is vague about their responsibilities toward animals manure, but ethically, it’s wrong to hurt the environment to save a few bucks.

In my opinion, if this issue continues, it’s going to hurt the farmers more in the long run. When things gets bad enough and people finds out that you are the cause for their problems, things will not go well for you. The town’s people have the right to be healthy. If farm products and hormones are deathly to them the government should step in to regulate it. it’s a different story if you sick and you couldn’t have prevented, but if can, you should. It’s important because it will impact the town’s people family long after their generation.

In easy solution, could be to reduce the amount of farming animals. Simple math, less animal, equals less waste which will result in no excess waste to pollute the water supply. It’s a known fact that the United States uses more resources and also waste more resources in the world. Easy solution number two: produce less to be more efficient or produce the same amount and increase our exports on any excess resources to also be more efficient. To conclude, people values what they don’t have to waste. If I know for a fact, if I waste this resource I will not have tomorrow, it motivates you to be efficient…