All I Am Is Me

who am I? I was born in Alexandria, Lousiana on July 19, 1988. However I have this theory I shouldn't be here. This theory came upon hearing the story about the day I was born. In the process of being born, my abilical cord somehow twisted and got wrapped around my neck which nearly killed me. Then shortly after that joyful experiance a nurse was feeding me and I began to turn blue because I hadn't learned to swallow food just yet. I had to be rushed into emergency care and have the fluid suced out. After the two tramatic events I came to the conclusion that I wasn't supposed to be born or just employees at that hospitol suced! morbid concept I know but an interesting story I think. I have an older brother named Layne and a younger half sister named Selena. My parents have been separated/divorced since I was a todler. So my childhood of being torn between the two. I lived and was raised by my mom most of my life. Until I turned 15 and had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life. My dad wanted me to move in with him. I decided to because of the fact I hardly saw him and wished to establish a relationship. I still look back today and contemplate my decision. I fear that I still hurt my mom when I made that decision and learned that my dad and I are two very different people who only have the same taste in music in common. I was born in Louisana but I have lived here in Warner Robins my entire life.As a kid I moved from house to house and have probably lived at every end of Warner Robins. I attended Miller Elementry from kindergarten until fifth grade. The same school my six-year-old sister goes now.How crazy is that? And I actually am still friends with people I went to that school with. After Miller I attended Bert Rumble Middle School which is now an extension to Warner Robins Highschool Which is where I went to HighSchool. I was a band kid in middle school and half way through high school. I played the clarinet in concert and pep band at football games. I wasn't a very athletic person yet I did run track for a couple of years. I was a long distance runner and did pretty well. I decided to drop it after freshman year at Warner Robins because it became too competitive. Music had aways been a huge interest of mine. It is more of a hobby. I love music and listen to a wide variety of it. I probably own a million cds. My favorite would ave to be rock music. Eighties rock music is the best. I have been to a ton of rock concerts. I have seen many of my favorite artists perform and plan to see many more this summer. I have seen Godsmack, Rob Zombie, Shinedown, Sevendust, Creed, Antiflag,New found glory, floggingmollys, Avenged Sevenfold and others. I couldn't live witout music. It calms me down when Im upset, it lifts your spirit, gives you a since of connection with other. You can listen to a song and say hey I know exactly how that person feels. And the always a song that matches your mood. Music is wonderful and concerts are amazing to go to. Music is a very big part of my life. I am currently engaged to my boyfriend Erik who I have been with since my freshmen year of highschool. He was my highschool sweetheart and is the love of my life.Him and I are very close and share the love of music. We plan on getting married after we're both done with college. We are best friends and I really think we have a good future together despite people who tell us that we are too young. We have everything well planed out and I think it will work out great. My passion is to become a nurse, a RN . I first got interested in the field of nursing by taking a health class in my freshmen year of highschool. I found mysef interested in the different disease and cures. After that class I continued to be interested, so I signed up for a nursing class. In that class I got to learn the basics: First aid, CPR, Patient care and medical abrievations. I enjoyed the class so much I staid in it for the second, third and fourth parts of the class. And I got a chance to intern at the Houston Medical Center, Where I helped with patientcare, got to see two c-section births, five natural births,a colonoscopy, do breathing treatments and a bunch of other stuff. I actually felt like a hospital employee and I loved every minute if it.So I am now attending Macon State College to get my Associates Degree in Nursing.

Euthanasia: Right or Wrong?

Guilty as charged, But?

Everyone's initial reaction is of course that killing another human being is wrong. But is there special circumstances that make us question this? We all would probably agree that in times of self defense and the protection of our family and loved ones the wrongness of killing a person can be looked over. But killing a loved one who is terminally ill, brings up many questions of what is right or wrong.

In my opinion when Roswell Gilbert killed his wife it wasn't just killing a person just to kill them, I would not call it murder. It was a known thing that Gilbert loved his wife. He was just tired of seeing her suffer through Alzheimer's, which Alzheimer's in itself is a very devistating disease to acquire. A victum of Alzheimer's suffers greatly from memory loss and much of the time forget people who were once very close to them. Also if they are not cared for be someone they can be found wondering the streets miles from home and not knowing how to get back. Most people with Alzheimer's end up in nursing homes because of the hardships it puts on their families and loved ones.

Gilbert was kind in wanting to end his wife's suffering and carrying out her wishes. But the only problem is that people who knew Gilbert knew that he loved his wife but how would a jury and judge know? There have been so many cases of husbands and wives killing each other that the situation is questionable. Unless it was in writing that his wife wanted to die there would be know reason for a court not to think that Gilbert could of had other reasons behind killing his wife. He could of done it out of meaness and hatred towards her who knows? In a situation like this only Gilbert truly knows the truth. I feel that his punishment wasn't far, because I think it was punishment enough for him to see his wife suffer and to kill her to end it. That is something that is always going to stay with him and im sure he thinks about it everyday whether it was the right thing to do or not. Life in prison was a harsh sentence, because the fact he didn't kill his wife out of hate or just for the hell of it. He did it to end the suffering of someone he loved.

However, in extreme cases I don't believe Euthanasia to be wrong. For example, in the Shavo case where her husband made the decision to pull the plug. There was so much controvercy over this matter and many people though that it was wrong. People only look at it as taking someone's life, without considering all of the details. Shavo was in a vegetable state for years, she was only alive by machines. She couln't feed herself, move of speak. The right thing to do was pull the plug, because technically she wasn't alive. Her family just didn't want to deal with the fact she was a vegetable and would never recover they kept her alive by machine for years. Everyone was furious when the husband decided to pull the plug I feel he made the right decision. It didn't mean he didn't love her as people tried to claim i think he was put in a similar situation as Gilbert.

As I said in extreme situations I believe that Euthanasia should actually be considered, but only with the person's consent. I think that when a person is notified of a terminal illness that can't be cured they should have a choice to end their life. Euthanasia(and or doctor assisted suicide) is actually legal in a couple of places: Organ and Canada if I remember correctly. In terms of suffering a person shouldn't have to lives out years of it. And I throughly believe that people shouldn't only be kept alive with machines. If anything ever happens to me whether it be terminal illness or im in a vegetable state I wouln't want to live that way because in reality its not really living. Most people want a fulfilled life. I also wouldn't want to be a burden on my family and have them suffer seeing me that way or have to suffer through me not remembering them if I got Alzheimers. The idea of Euthanasia I feel will become more accepting in the future.

America the Great

America as an Empire

Mailer Blog #2

The best evidence that supports Mailer in his conclusion that America is currently at war with Iraq only to build an empire, is simply the attitude of Americans and actions of our federal government and President Bush. Thanks to media and Presidents Bush's inspiring speeches it is almost a known fact today that America " is the best country in the world". This cocky attitude sets off this quest for world domination. The news and media give out many reasons for the war in Iraq. However, none of them seem to make sense to me. One reason is the oil issue, there seems to me like there is somewhere else to get oil and even if not why are we pissing off these people who provide it to us? Another reason was because the way their government is being ran. Why is this America's concern? Not every country in the world is a democracy. We shouldn't force our way of government on another country.

The other most popular reason is that we're trying keep things under control so that no more events like 9/11 happen. But the thing is no one truly knows who is to blame for 9/11. Bush and our federal government have not been open about who is to blame. And aren't we the one's who are sending young soldiers over there, the majority of them being killed or severly injured. This new "We are the best nation in the worl d." attitude is causing us not to look more into the reasons behind this war, because if everyone actually sat down and analyzed these reasons, everyone would see it is about controlling the world, this " America as an Empire" idea.

I see this attitude everyday. On television, driving around town, amongst my peers and adults. Everyone has an opinion about the war and why it is going on, but everyone's opinion is the same in one way : that America's not to blame. U.S citizens are now more patriotic than ever. They support our government by waving flags and having hate towards the Iraqis. When most Americans have no idea what is going on. People are wearing American flags as fashion statements, because it is now a cool thing to be patriotic. Something that was most shocking to me was that anyone who remotely resembled a Muslim wouls be singled out or feared in public. If people would read up on facts they would know that Muslims are peaceful people. The one setting off bombs and making terrorist threats only represent a small percentage. People are so stuck on this cocky attitude that America is the best they don't look at the truth in most situations. I think we should all be like Mailer and question our governent.

Instant Patriotism

Topic: Mailer Mailer Norman Mailor makes many great points in his essay. His views are realistic and original. The details shared about September 11th, were both shocking and disturbing.Imagine talking to a loved one on the phone while planes are crashing into the World Trade Center, your loved one only being miles away from this tragic event. What happened on September was tragic, but as Mailor mentioned in the first couple of chapters of his essay, 9/11 started a newly found patriotism amoung americans. Mailor explains that our nation went through an identity crisis after the attack. People got this new attitude about our country and this strong patriotism. Everyone all of a sudden had American flags and the "Support our Troops" signs.America is now the greatest country in the world.The United States is not to blame for the september eleven attacks.Yet millions of young soldiers have been sent over to Iraq, most of them ending up dead or severly injured.But the attitude is that our nation can do no wrong so all the blame is put on Iraq. President George should not be in office. This new found patriotism is not genuine. It is a mask that covers up all of the unanswered questions about why this attack happened in the first place. Why is it that americans only show this patriotism after something tragic happens. People who are truly patriotic are constantly showing their devotion to their country. People who join the military and the british are both great examples of deep patriotism, because the are loyal and supportive to their country no matter what. Americans now a days never seemed proud of their country until recently after the attacks in New York. Being a democracy, America's people are not questioning the government as they should. Americans have became closed minded and easily subjected to rumors. President Bush seems to be withholding information from us and the rest of the world. There hasn't been any facts or reasons that explain 9/11.There is just the clichethat americans were the victums and that people from Iraq did it as an act of pure hatred. Bush has not given us any reasonable explaination and has not mentioned whether the people responsible have been caught. People need to analyze the facts about all of the recents events aand stop hiding behind this fake patriotism.

Not Your Ordinary Love Story

http://litmuse.net/prompt

Topic: The Alligator River Story The Alligator River Story

I would rate Abigail a five because it seems that she doesn't have any morals. I understand the whole being in love idea, but wouldn't someone who was truely in love travel that fifty miles to be with the one they love. She didnt seem too in love to me. Also she degrated herself by sleeping with a stranger in order to get across the river. It seemed as if she had no respect for herself and she was crazy about ths idea of being in love. Abigail should have thought all of this through and came up with a different idea of getting across the river. Then she was also immature when she laughed about Gregory getting beat up by Slug. Sinbad would also get a five for the fact that he was a pervert and coned Abigail in to having sex with him. He obviously lacks morals as well and seems very self-serving. Sinbad wasn't willing to help Abigil get across the river without him getting something in return. He also was part of the cause of Abigail's failure to be happy with Gregory.Although he kept his word to Abigail,he was over all, a selfish person in this story. Ivan gets a one, because he was wise in letting Abigail make her own decision. Sometimes your friends can't tell you exactly what to do in tough situations. People most of the time need to figure out things for themselves. Ivan proves this which ironically, makes him a good friend. I would rate Gregory a two.He seemed to be smart about the situation. After hearing what Abigail had done with Sinbad, he decided to not have anything to do with her. Which I think he did because of what Abigail did with Sinbad to get across the river.Her decision seemed like an easier solution to the problem or maybe just the wrong thing to do. I don't think Gregory would have cast her aside if she would have just traveled that fifty miles. On the other hand it wouldnt have hurt Gregory to go see Abigail. However, he handled the situation like I would have. Slug also gets a two, for good intentions. He beat up Gregory out of compassion for Abigail, but it was an immature move on his part. Slug didn't know for sure what happened and beating up Gregory wasn't going to change what happened to Abigail. Some of it she brought upon herself from bad decision making. However, Slug was a good friend to Abigail for listening to her problem and trying to make her feel better. This story was very realistic and showed very well how people are. The Alligator River story also gave good examples of how people react to certain situations. Some people handle them well and others end up making them worse. The story also shows that people can't always rely on their friends to help them out of things and that people can be very untrustworthy. Also that some people are just plain selfish. This story was just an overall example about how people are.

Human Rights Beat Majority Rule!!!

Topic : Human Rights Vs. Majority Rule Human Rights Vs. Majority Rule I am in favor of this attempt to abolish discimination based on sexual preference in public employment. Any discrimination in the work force is wrong and in violation of human rights. Especially when sexual preference is one of the discriminating factors. A person's sexuality is something personal and private. It is a topic that should not be discussed in a work place.If it does not affect the way that person does his or her job then it should not be a concern for fellow employees or the empoyer. A person's sexuality just simply should not matter. A person shouldn't have to hide who they are in a work environment. Accepting other people who are different from you is something that must be learned and practiced in all work places. People are always going to work with someone who is diferent from them. People do not need to isolate themselves from that person or not hire that person because of it. It just isnt right . Not hiring a person because of their sexual preference is even more wrong. Again what does it have to do with work? In the Human Rights Legislation there are liberty rights that allow everyone the freedom of their personal beliefs and religion. There are also equality rights that state everyone should be treated equal and not different from anyone else because of their religion, race or sexual preference. Which I strongly agree with, All employers should go by these human rights and not majority rule. But many do not and can't put their own personal prejudices aside in order to give someone who is different from them a chance. People are so close minded these days. Anyone who is different from them is automatically percieved in a negative way. Everyone likes to believe that society has grown since the old days, but in reality many people are still thinking and judging everyone in some of the same ways. For example, the argument about gay professionals influencing young children and teens. Many parents think that gay individuals shouldn't be teachers, counselors or in any other influential position in the community. That they may influence their children into being gay, which is a very ridiculous argument. People do not choose their sexuality; it is something that they are born with or maybe even hereditary. But someone that is gay cannot and most likely will not encourage someone's kid to be gay. Because of the way society is, to be gay is a difficult lifestyle. Gay people are constantly being judged by the everyday church goer and everyone else. Even our own president is against them getting married and being together. It seems like a very hard lifestyle. But anyone who is strong enough to go through all of that and still be proud of who they are is very admirable. These people should be encouraged to be teachers and counselors. People who have been through alot and are still strong are the best role models in my opinion. So the parents that are siding with this discrimintion are very ignorant in my eyes.

The Real Solution to Terrorism

Topic: Hijack!

Hijack



If a terrorist hijacked a United States airline my first response would be "What is the reason this is happening?" Our current president and past presidents have always played out the idea that terrorist acts are carried out through evil and hate against the United States. They have never admitted any of these acts being in result of actions taken by the U.S government.In my opinion, there has to be more reason behind these terrorist acts that we don't see on television or read in the newspaper. I believe it has some to do with our foreign trade policy and the restrictions that foreigners have to deal with. The United States always seems to have to be in control of the rest of the world and has reputation of being the best and most powerful country. Yet the U.S depends on many foreign countries for our resources and goods. I think that besides dealing with trade the United States should leave all of the other countries in the world alone. I think that it would cut down on all these terrorist acts. And it is just crazy to keep sending our military over to these countries in resulting in most of them being killed or badly injured.

My solution to this hijack situation would be to have a trade-off with this terrorist. I would arrange a meeting place and bring all of the convicted criminals that have been requested to be set free and let them go as soon as I knew all of the passengers on the plane were safe and away from harm. The lives of those people are more important than trying to take down the terrorist right away and the convicted criminals could always be recaptured. If the terrorists decided to take these convicted criminals across the border it would probably do them more harm than good and it would take them off our backs. And if they caused any more trouble to the U.S or when they come back to the U.S they could be recaptured. So you can see that the request of releasing these convicted criminals is not as bad as it sounds to be.

But now a days Bush would probably send in military to try and take down the terrorist immediately verses trying to solve the problem and get the passengers off the plane and home safe. Which would break out into an even bigger problem and end up in more lives lost. And we wouldn't even hear anything about what the U.S did if the end result was bad, only that a terrorist killed a plan full of people out of pure hatred. There's always two sides to every story and I feel that our political leaders neglect to fill us in on both sides in these situations. They do this to make us feel more secure about who's running our country, when in reality we should probably question all these terrorist threats and actions towards our country and not just simply think it was nothing that the U.S did.

Relativist Vs. Absolutist

Topic: Right or Wronghttp://litmuse.net/prompt_rightorwrong Relativism is the belief that all points of view and moralities are true, that everyone has their own judgement of right and wrong, depending on their background and situation in life. Absolutism is the belief that there are very specific standards set on what is right or wrong. In absolutism there are no gray areas, which in life I believe that there are many. So obvisiously, I side with relativism.There are many moral issues today that need to be open to interpretation. Absolutism is more of an old-fashioned way of thinking in my opinion. People need to be more open and understanding of other people's points of views and situations, not the obvious and outward appearance of everything. There are so many different points of views, religions,situations and pesonal standards. So that it makes sense that there can't be just one set standard of judging what is right or wrong.More often than not people have to place themselves in that specific situation to place judgement that the outcome was right or wrong.Absolutism is like having one person making all of the decisions reguarding every question of rightness and wrongness,only having one point of view on everything.That person is judging based on their personal standards and not being open to other beliefs on the subjects. The concept of judging issues based on the standard that something is either right or wrong, no arguement, is a little crazy to me. There are a few issues I would like to adress on right or wrong. There are many public issues that have been talked about in the news and media that have come to interest to a number of people. Many of these issues are very controversal and are being judged strictly by christian standards. For example, the rightness or wrongness of gay marriages. Much of the public disagreed with the thought of same sex marriages, but mainly because of the morals based on christianity and the bible. Even our president outlawed gay marriages because of his religious beliefs. Which I believe to be wrong for a couple of reasons. First, is that political leaders are not shouldn't make decisions based upon personal and religious beliefs. Secondly, he did not consider the fact that these gay couples wanting to get married probably love each other and aren't any different from th rest of us. There would be no harm in approving same sex marriages. He made the decison strictly based on christian standards and not considering the rights that he has taken away from gay couples. Many people have this similar way of thinking and don't look at all aspects of the situation and people's feelings before passing judgement. Relativist are more open and consider all aspects of the situation. The main idea of relativism is that all moralities are equally good and all belief systems are equally true. Not one person's standards or beliefs is privilaged over the others. People have their own sense what is right for them.Relativist believe that language, culture, the era and background shape a person's prception of right and wrong. So in that way every point of view on a subject is equally right. For example, in the subject of abortion many people would agree that it is wrong and is murder. On the other hand some think that it is a prevention to a possible future problem. Absolutist would look at it one way or the other not taking in both sides of the arguement. They would most likely say that it was wrong without any possiability of exception. Relativist would look at both sides and consider them right because everyone is raised different there fore they have their own sense of right and wrong. Relativist have a more realstic way of looking at things, because in some cases abortion could be wrong but there are circumstances that could be understandable that one is necesary. For example, what if the babey will be born with an incurable disease and suffer its whole life or the pregnant mother could be dying of aids and wouldnt be able to raise or take care of the child. Theres always twosides to every situation. No situation, or person should be judged or punished due to one specific standard.

Situations and Perceptions

Topic: Perception

Perception is how people take in and react to other people, places, objects and situations around them. I agree with Gorgias 's theories that people can't truley understand things without experiancing them first hand and also that conceptual ideas do not exist.Conceptual ideas don't exist because there are too many ways that people can perceive certain situations. There is not one certain way to think about and rationalize everything. An idea that Gorgias and Socates didn't mention that I believe to be true is that people sometimes tend to judge and react to people and situations acording to their mood, the way they were raised and their past experiances.

There are many situations where something tramatic happens to a person we know and our initial response is " I unserstand how you feel.".Which in most cases is completely untrue, unless the same exact thing happened to you. Even then there are some details that could still make your statement untrue. For example, if your friend's parents died and yours did too,well the relationship between each of you and your parents could have been different and also they way they died can make things harder on either you. This goes along with the idea that things cannot be truley understood until experianced.

Many other factors can alter a person's reactions and perceptions to people and everyday situations. A person's past and current behavior can have a very big influence on how a person reacts to situatuions. For example, two people are invited to go to a party where drinking will be present. One person may not have a problem with it because either they drink or just the fact that it doesn't bother them, so they decide to go. The other person has a family history of alcohlism and hates to be around drunk people and decides not to go. For the person thats drinks or doesnt have a problem with drinking the party seems like fun but to the person with a family history of alcohlism the party doesnt seem fun at all.Everyone can probably identify with both situations and that a person's personal history can have a huge effect on a person's perception of people and situations. How a person is raised is also a big factor. Maybe in a similar situation one person was raised going to church everyday and drinking was not acceptable, the other person may have grew up in an envrionment that encouraged drinking. Both of these people could choose to go to the party or not depending on what effect the way they were raised had on them, but in most cases people will consider how they were raised to help them make decisions. Also past experiances play n important part in how we perceive certain things and ideas. For example, if the last time a person went to a party and it ended up in disaster; that person probably wouldn't be as willing to go to another as a person that had a good time at their last party. This idea can go with anything. People tend to stay away from situations and thing that they have had bad experiances with in the past.

A person's mood is also a factor of perception. If a person that just ended a realtionship watches a romance movie they probably aren't going to enjoy it as much as someone who is curently in love. Most of the time when people are in a bad mood they perceive thing negatively compared to people that are in a good mood. People in a good mood are usually more open and positive towards ideas and situations. These are just some of my opinions and theories about people and certain situations when it comes to perceptions.

About Me

My full name is Lauren Nicole Smith. I graduated from Warner Robins high school last May and have been attending Macon State college since the end of August. My major is nursing, which everyone says is a tough course of study to go into. Both my junior and senior year in high school I interned at the Houston Medical Center. So I have a feel for what the nursing field is all about and also many other occupations in the hospital. I am a very outgoing and caring person, so a job in the medical field would suit me. I'm also not easily grosed out, which is good thing in a hospital setting.Some of my interests include: listening to music, going to concerts, traveling, watching movies, spending time with my friends and family, working and reading. Most of my spare time is used listening to music, it is a big part of who I am. I listen to a wide variety of music usually depending on my mood. I also love reading true crime stories and novels from Stephen King. Spending time with my family, friends and boyfriend is also important to me.