(CE) Saudi Women

So this video is about the 2 women who were sentenced to 10 lashings for driving in Saudi Arabia. I mean seriously? What are people's freaking problem. I have no idea, but aside from that.

This video was kind of funny because of that sarcastic comment "Who's going to drive them to the voting ballot boxes? Voting is an illusion of participation" that The Narcisyst tweeted about . I first laughed when i heard and read it, and then i started to think. Hmm....this actually has some political value and makes some sense.

I mean think on this, you have no right to drive as a women so they try and butter you up by saying that you can vote now all of a sudden. That is ridiculous because voting is rigged for sure, and women still can't do anything and haven't really gained any real voice here.

Like The Narcisyst wrote, "Voting is an illusion of participation" I completely agree with that statement, and really do believe that women's rights especially in Saudi Arabia are completely misconstrued and not understood.

It's time for women to be heard instead of sitting there waiting to hear something from a man. Not to be sexist, but I feel like they deserve more.

(RP) Muslims

"Are we supposed to alienate Muslims forever? ... What is justifiable and what is not?"

A quote from Trevor Toy's post on the new mosque that was built at ground zero. These questions he portrayed really got me thinking on if modern people have any sense at all or if they are just continuing to be more ignorant or ill-informed. I feel like it could be a number of things and i feel they could be scared of "Muslims" for allegedly "bombing" their country, but I just don't see our people ever accepting Muslims in their own any time soon. 


This brings me back to what Trevor was asking about if we are suppose to alienate Muslims or if it is justifiable or not. I think that it may be justifiable at the moment for the American people, or may have an acceptable enough reason to be. That people will continue to have this sort of misguided view towards Muslims until either people forget  or they show that they are good people and not what people make them out to be. 


I mean think if you think about it, it's like finding out someone is a Christian and all of a sudden viewing them differently or having this fear that they are going to attack you or that they are bad people. Now if a Muslim did that to a Christian that wouldn't make any sense, but if a Christian did that to a Muslim it would make complete sense. 


That was strictly opinion, so yeah you can say that people have a reason to fear Muslims for what one group of them did. I just think that alienating them out is ridiculous and that not getting to know a person and placing upon them that icon of fear really is a narrow-minded ignorant thing to do. It's your mind though, so think what you want to.

(FP)Rant

Have you ever been inspired by someone who is really passionate at something? I think it's pretty interesting and enlightening when you get to see someone who is really good at what they do and really love it at the same time. It's rare that's for sure, but its a beautiful thing when you see it.

Lately I have seen a lot of people that are good at different things and are very passionate of them. I looked on upon each one of them dumbfounded in lust that they do what it is they do.

I mean it made me go out and try new things or try and get better at things I do. You know? I feel like out generation doesn't really care too much for too many things that aren't related to ourselves. We tend to focus on what were doing, which may not be bad but I think that we forget that other people are conscious and are stuck in their own heads too.

Sort of like that concept though that life is just one big distraction, as in people distract themselves from things in life to avoid problems that everyone has an everyone tries to avoid or forget. It's okay though because everyone does it.

That passion that people have tend to bring their distraction into something great. Because all that feeling all those thoughts are now put to use. Everything is always felt and expressed and there is never a moment you regret, if that makes sense. I think that people make more sense then they know, I just think it's hard for people to apply that sense to their life. That is precisely what i am trying to do, I'm trying to apply that to my life and find what it is that i am passionate about. So maybe there was some voice of inspiration there, if not it's life you'll move on.

UC prompt 2

Soccer has been a part of my life from when I was born. It was constantly around me and in my environment. My dad played it his entire life and had great passion for it. Like that old expression " Like father like son" I am like my father. I love soccer, and always have since I first started playing. Soccer was a process for me to become what I think is good. I really pushed myself for my passion and worked on what I was lacking to make me great. My life like soccer,is a process and has had it's ups and downs.

As a child my dad taught me to love soccer. I would always go and and watch him play, and everyday he would kick the ball with me. We would play and he would always be making me look bad and winning by dozens of goals until the very last moment, and he would let me win. This happened every time we played. I always hated losing to him so naturally it made me more competitive. I understood that and continued to try and get better at soccer.

I started playing on an organized team coached by my dad, and I absolutely loved it. No one wanted to play defense when we were kids because it wasn't "fun" so I was the kid that gave in and said I would do it. It was great though, we were undefeated and we won every game with ease. I got really passionate for soccer after those two seasons and later went on to play on many other teams.Each one got me worse sometimes better, but I did learn a new skill or had a better understanding of the game after each season. I didn't start playing real competitive soccer until high school, and did not get better until I was really pushed over my limits.

I would say my level of soccer has became a developed skill not a talent. It was all hard work, and dedication to my passion and love for the sport. It is more of me maturing in life, which has completely correlated to how I have grown as a soccer player. Because in all honesty it has a lot to do with who I am. Being that kid who just chose to be defense, I grew up being patient and making something out of things I had or i was left with. Even letting other people voice their thoughts before myself. Psychologically I was much more defensive or sensitive as a kid because of being a defender I think. Because of this and confronting it understanding that you have to be offensive to be defensive, i grew as a soccer player and a person.

I learned to be patient from being a defender  in others.I learned not to approach people but hold them up and analyze what they were doing to know what they would do next. In that I believe that I used that thinking towards life and became very observant having to be aware of all of my surroundings all the time. In the aspect of a person I always listen to people closely whenever I talk to someone and always try to find something good I can see in them. Sometimes people don't show it and you have to be patient. I also can learn from life how to be patient in soccer and not let people get in your head in a game or in life. It distracts you from yourself and what you are trying to get done.

There were always frustrations in trying to get better or not having a good day. I learned from these experiences the most, and always tried to progress and develop a different skill or muscle to help improve my soccer. I worked my young body to the max of its capacity at a young age of  15 and took my skill to the next level. I was never good at soccer, I really just gave 100% and put it before everything. From this my life also improved because as I got older I figured out how to improve my skills and put my understanding to use. This inspired me to improve myself in aspects I was lacking in real life.Skills like defending myself and not trying to please others, but try to please myself and live to my standards. This I came to realize and it changed who I was as a soccer play and a person. I am grateful for realizing what

Finding a balance was the key to my door. I found a balance to things I was never good at or never tried to be good at. I worked at a lot of different things when I had the time, and put in a little more effort with those things, which was the difference. Overtime I saw that difference in my life and saw how happy and successful I could be. I was very surprised when I first realized this and used this realization in life and towards soccer. I improved on everything I was never able to do in soccer like juggle or control the ball, I worked at slowly and subtly, and made me a great player. How I have moved towards balancing my life, I have moved positions in soccer, to now play midfield as well as defense. I know it's because I have taken a new step in my life, and have created this new balance, that for me, is working.

(CE) Hiking?

I straight up have a lot of things to say about this video. Some things are funny some are sort of serious, but anyway. Here we go.

So these U.S. citizens put in prison are complete idiots. Why the hell would you be "hiking" in the moutains of Iraq/Iran. Are you serious? Why don't you be normal in the sense that you have california or the Rockies and dozens of other places in America you can hike. Why did you decide, "Oh let's go hiking in Iran this Summer" "Oh yeah, forsure man". I just dont understand that.

On a serious note though, I do think it was right for Iran to imprison these guys for doing what they did, because in my view they had no right to be there in the first place. The time in prison may have been a little rough, but from this video they both seem to be quite respectful of Iran and didn't seem traumatized or fearful of what happened.

I think that the U.S. kind of blew this up too in that they put it all over the news and made a bigger deal of it than it actual was and is. I do think though, that those hikers learned their lesson of where to hike and to make brighter decisions. I mean really? I'm surprised the people living in the mountains didn't kill them. I mean it's no little thing to just walk around out there. I'm surprised they survived.

Respond if you have any thoughts to why they did this, or if this was right or wrong.

(RP) Park

"What is poverty? What is wealth?"

 From Mr. Sutherlands post on what we discussed in class and in the park on Wednesday. In the park we talked about what you would do for a homeless person and that conversation really got me to think. We shared what we would do for a homeless person. Most people saying that they would give him a dollar or giving him food. I said that as well, and Mr. Sutherland said a really good thing when he said that just a smile or a small conversation is worth as much if not more than doing that.


Because honestly, they could be using that dollar to buy anything. I don't think anyone ants to support a person that is hurting themselves by giving them money to hurt themselves. So I think that food if you happen to have some, or a smile is a very good thing to do for a person. Think about when you feel acknowledged or when you have wanted to be. That is a daily thing for them. Something like that probably makes their day and makes them very happy, so next time think about that or do what you believe is right. 


The other thing that i thought was cool about class in the Park was how we had interesting conversation about an experience that changed a persons perspective on life. 


I was asked on the spot with a short amount of time to really think, but I said the time I went to Iran really changed my life. I was about 12 years old and saw the good warm people of the country and understood the cruel unreasonable people that ran the government and practically the lives of the people under them. It was a great experience and it really made me have respect for my elders and people in general. The feeling of people loving you and having so much family around you makes you happy, and the simple things over there made you really happy too. 


It made me see life in the light that things are a lot better than we know, and that we need to enjoy what we have and appreciate things. 

(FR) Class mask

Today in Mr. Sutherland's class we were discussing the debates in France about not being able to pray in public and women not being able to wear veil's. We had an open end sicussion in class and got to read different perspectives of students who responded that stated their opinions on whether they thought Muslim people had the right to publicly worship or that it was right what France did to protect its nation for their ideals and not be alienized by other peoples belief.

What really caught my eye about the discussion in class was Mr.Sutherlands comment on how the Muslim population was becoming a born into part and gradual part of their population. So technically arent they the French people? Hmm, you have to sit and wonder how to look at that one. I mean do you count them? Like how the 3/5ths law was created. Does it relate to that? Can you compare that? Maybe.
But that's a drastic way of looking at things.

In my opinion i think that these people have the right to do whatever they please in that they should be able to practice their religion and not be criticized, and I believe that they should show the French people that they have meaning to the things they are doing to show them why they do it. As for the French government, I agree with what Courtney said in class about how they handled the situation well and in their perspective that made sense and was an acceptable thing for them to do. Because, in knowing that they are foreign to these beliefs and most of their people are, they wanted to protect their people and preserve what has already been established within the country, which to me is completely legit and makes sense.

 Otherwise any other thoughts would be nice to hear on this..

[rp] Own up or Not

"I don't understand why people can't own up to what they want." from Kayluh's blog. As I was reading Kayluh's blog, this quote in particular sparked many thoughts in my head. Kayluh discussed confrontation in her recent blog post, yearning for a certain someone to speak instead of hide their emotions. However, I think it is easier said than done. Not all people are brave enough to own up to what they want in life because of fear. I believe fear is the one thing that holds most of us humans back from fulfilling our wants and needs. There is fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of the situation not going the way you planned originally. Sometimes people find it easier to not say anything at all to avoid future conflict. Bravery is not a quality many of us have.
Confrontation and confessions usually lead to a change. It can be a change in a relationship or any other change in life.

People are afraid of change. People are afraid to take a chance and do something different. Each person has their own beat, but sometimes the persons can't follow it. We're all still so young in higschool and we all are changing "beats" and feelings almost all the time everyday.  I just think people should reach out more and try different things if they ever want to find out who they truly are and what beat they create.

Everyone in life is different, and moves at their own pace. So everyone has their own turns and paths, and people figure most of it out along the way. Again to reiterate on what Kaluh said though, people need to take responsibility for their own choices in life. You are the only person who knows what you deserve in life. So either own up to it or don't, both happen all the time everyday just try and think what makes sense for you. Each moment is different just try and figure out how you feel.

[CE] Dollars or Dollhairs?

This video really caught my attention when i first saw it on google reader. I thought to myself "Oh cool an advancement in technology right now" so i clicked on the vidfeo and watched it. For the most part it was what i thought it was going to be about. The whole next step to getting to mars and taking space to a whole new level, but what i didnt realized was that it was costing billions of dollars and wouldnt be done until 2030.

When I first read that I thought that was crazy, and as I watched more I came to the question of whether or not we are putting our tax money to good use. In my mind I really don't think that it matters, because the government literally does hundreds if not thousands of things with the trillions of dollars that we pay in taxes. I mean we are taxed on everything. It's not just one thing or a few its literally just about everything. Those little 10 cents and 5 cents even on candy or something goes straight to the government. So this money is just constantly adding up, and being spent. In that that, I wonder how our government collects this money and uses. I feel like it just goes from bank account to bank account for reasons unknown to us the population.

Its probably best not to know, but if you have another opinion on this please respond and let me know, it would be interesting to see another persons view and perspective.

Tree

It all started when I was born. I was born on May 13nth 1994 as an only child of two different raced different cultured individuals. My Mom being Hispanic based background and my father being Middle eastern based. Both speak different languages, each as open my minded as the other. As a kid I grew up with this diversity and clash of cultures and mindsets. I never learned both languages but I did learn and understand a lot about both cultures. It made me an open minded individual and a nice patient person wanting to learn more about other peoples ideals and perspective. As a kid being polite is something I learned naturally from both cultures, and respecting people to is something I learned from my parents as individuals.

As a child I grew up looking for friends and companions. Being an only child made me curious to how other people thought and how they lived their lives. I thought more about what things meant to people and why did things. People taught me things I could never teach myself and helped me realize what things mean to me. It got me to think about different possibilities of life. I started to understand that there was more to learn from experiences, that could change my life and help me figure out who I am and what things mean to me.

 I started to understand people as i met different people and made more friends. It first happened to me when I was in the 6th grade and I met the person who(at the time) would become my best friend, Adam Redfield. I came into a new school not knowing anyone in the middle 6th grade. The first class I walked in and the only seat open was right next to Adam. I ended up having every class with him and naturally I started conversing with him. In time talking to him, I met a person with the same personality as me with similar perspective and mutual understanding towards life. This for me was the most influential thing that ever happened to me. Realizing that there were people like me that could see life in my direction, made me want to understand everyone and anyone. Thats what lead me to the study of the mind or "Psychology".

Meeting Adam and realizing that there are people in life that come from so many places with different mindsets and cultures inspired me to understand other peoples minds as well as my own. It made me aspire to psychology,society, and people. Understanding people has always been a root of my life, and studying psychology is a branch my roots will support me to reach out to. Hopefully I will grow in my life, and understand more about what life really means to people and what life really means to me.

[FP] Perspective

Lately i have realized a lot about how things and life tend to change. I have realized that life can change all the time, and that the less you try to figure things out the more they can happen. When i say that, i don't mean dont not try to figure yourself out or figure out things about life. What I'm saying is that it is easier to find yourself when you start just doing things and understanding them as they happen. Think about this, you could spend all your time thinking about how you could be as a person and who you want to be, but until you be yourself and make some subtle changes to how you act or what you do, you may find yourself a little more content or satisfied. If your lucky you may even become pretty happy and start to see life in a different light.

I was just talking to my friend Justin today about how everyone goes at their own pace in life and that everyone is different. We both shared interesting perspective, and talked about how we both liked weird people who had this kind of meaning you can tell they understood about themselves that really can interest a person. It was nice to hear someone else have some thoughts about people being themselves in the sense of having meaning and that sort of understanding of their world. I feel like people appreciate others that have a sense of passion in their life and you can see that they love doing what they do. I feel like it's hard for people who haven't experienced that to try and grasp on what that really is for them, and its is hard for them to see themselves having that same feeling or same drive. I think appreciating people for it though is definitely the right step to trying to find your own passion, and I think that people don't need to force it upon them selves. Through time things tend to happen to people and they tend to understand that life is something that they have made it.


I want to continue these thoughts later, hopefully with another person and my own mind. Until then I'll leave it at this..

[CP]Understand

It is sad that a country like Pakistan has to deal with a Monsoon like this. The country is barely a running place, and the people are uneducated and have no help from their "leaders at all whatsoever. It was sad watching those people try and clean up that mess of a life that they have to deal with everyday, and the newsman to describe what was going on. It makes me remember the sad things that happen in countries like Haiti where mother nature brought trouble to a place are endangered. In turn thought it also reminded me of the Unity man kind showed or the Japanese and Chilean people did when they were hit by monstrous earthquakes. That I respected a lot from both places to not ask for help and stand on their own.

To clarify and not sound ignorant, I want to point out that these places were in fact better prepared but i do believe that they were strong for being one and joining together in a time of crisis. The Japanese people are a confined nation that had many crisis all at once, but still the people of the country still managed to work together and not create panic. They kept order and kept the peace in the midst of destrcution.

Pakistan I'm not sure will do the same thing, i feel like Pakistan hasn't been a unified nation since it separated and became independent in 1947. The country since then has succumbed to little or nothing and has too many people in a confined country, facing debt internal and external issues, and on top of that they have to face a natural disaster like this.

So hopefully you can appreciate your life wherever you live and understand that the world has problems and more than 50% of the time the people that these bad things happen to are either born into or don't deserve it.

[RP]Ponder on that

 Link to Mr Sutherland's original post


"My question is, when are American students going to get pissed off enough to fight back? Ever? (Never?)"


This quote taken from Mr Sutherland's post about what is going on in Chilè with the school system and the students fighting back for rights etc. really got me to remember and realize what is going on in other parts of the world and here in the United States. It made me think about what the Middle East is going through at the moment with this new regime and trend of revolution against their government through protests and marches to stop what has been going on in their countries for centuries. It is an inspiring new phenomenon that is spreading into countries like Libya and influencing many others to do the same and create that change. 


In relation to myself and why i was so interested is because what has been going on for the past 4 or 5 years in Iran with the while revolution and want of change from an Islamic Republic to modern day western "democracy" or more republic with free will sort of thing, that Iran is trying to do. I am Iranian and have been there twice as a child. The people there are great and the culture is great, but like many countries in the Middle East its not the people living in the country that are the issue. The issue is the government, or the leaders of the government that need to give these good people, or their own people for that matter the right to change. 
The reason why they have this right is because: 90 % of the population is under the age of 35 and because they have had the same laws for hundreds of years and its about time they got with modern day society and changed.


So basically what i am concluding with all of this is that us Americans should value what we have but also at the same time do what we can to ensure that we never have to go through a crisis with education or as a nation. We should still rise and overcome our school system like these people are overcoming their entire countries system. It just takes every person one at a time, and no one can tell you that but yourself. Ponder on that.

[FP]Food for thought

Have you ever made eye contact with someone and they just look away? I think its funny how people cant look at certain people. People tell me i stare too much at them and i usually laugh. I don't see how it bothers people. I mean i guess if people are getting a bad look, but i have just noticed recently that people just cant handle it.

Another thing that's funny. Is when you smile at someone and they get hella awkward. They look at you like you just punched their sister or something. Then you just look away thinking to yourself why the hell did that just happen?
What i tried to do was just smile and see how people would respond just to see how they would react. And really its not weird unless they think your hitting on them or something. I mean just showing them a smile really makes them feel like its alright. And it helps people relax a little more in their lives.

I feel like people think too much about others or just are analyzing things too much. I mean i tend to do that, so i can see others doing the same. Its just funny that people don't deal with little things like facial expressions or eye contact, and how much they can let it get to them.

Another thing that gets me, is people that you've known since they were a kid, and they talk all ghetto. When they see you they talk "normally" or like an average person and say whatsup to you. Then they go back to their stupid friends and say "Yeeaah bruh" "Whatsgood bruh" "Whatchu say bruh" "Bruuuh" "Bruuh" "Bruh". I feel for them but at the same time feel sorry for knowing them as a person.

They deal with their lives though, like everyone else. And I'm sure they don't like where their at.  Its sad for you the other person too, because you know they're better then the shit life they have succumb to. But there is nothing you can really say or do, because you realize that it is their lives and that it was their choice to make their decisions. You just have to understand that that is what it is.

Talking to them helps but really you have no way of ever having that friendship and understanding you did when you were a kid. So you just try and let it go like you do when you have a conversation with a stranger and you never see them again.

But Maybe their happy though, there is no way to really tell.

That things like this exists is Sad. reality is sad. Hopefully this whole blogging thing won't be sad. Its all how you think about it i guess though.

So i guess what i was getting at with this is that people need to deal with their lives, have some comfort with who they are, and make some sense of themselves. That's putting it as simple as possible because that changes everyday, and life changes everyday. Other than those last words of thought, good luck at making some sense of this and some sense of yourself. Hopefully I can make some sense too and start to figure things out.