Fear and Guns

Mr. Salituro:
My response to your comment from last week:

Its not so much as being weak by relying on others emotionally but that many people have a fear of attachment in resulting of getting hurt. Personally I'm very cautios of who I trust and let into my life because I don't want to have to bother being betrayed or let down by someone. But as a human, even as a living being, I know that it would be a sad life to live without others around me to help me enjoy happy moments and cope with sad ones.

My point of the last blog was to show that desire of depending on other's is part of life but that has nothing to do with our independence in America as a whole.
Guns:
I do believe that in America there is plenty to fear. Until this movie, I had figured that that kind of fear is everywhere. Its a terrible thing to think, but growing up I feel that we have been taught to fear all of whom we don't know. Take precautions and keep your property locked up and away from others so that it won't be taken and don't talk to strangers because you never know if they could be a rapist or a murderer. Though majority of the time we meet very nice people, there are also a lot of sick people out there. People that will show no mercy on you, your life, or your possessions. I find it apalling how some people have the nerve to do what they do to each other- rape, attack, murder, mug, etc. I feel that society, at least for me, when growing up has taught us to always be cautious of these things. The scenes about Canada and how they don't lock their doors, allowing anyone to just walk in whenever they please, shocked me a lot. People react differently in every situation, and this fear that we've been taught all our lives have different reactions to it. Some don't take it into too much consideration, some fear it in an excessive extent. Therefore, some feel it is necessary to have a gun for personal protection. But, by having that gun, how does that effect their children and who they'll become when they are older? Will they also have these anal excessiveness of fear, will they grow up to think that guns aren't as big of a deal and believe it is natural to carry a gun on hand, will they become more violent than others? These reactions also vary extensively. The way I see it is that allowing practical citizens to own guns is a terrible and idiotic idea. How many accidents have occured because of random people owning guns? How many deaths have there been due to "joking around" with them? How many murders have been easily planned because of it? Allowing people to own guns, especially now more than ever because people seem to becoming more violent and mental/psychological diseases seem to becoming more common, is just a flat out stupid idea.

America- land of the dependent?

When it comes to personal dependency, its not only Americans that don't want to live alone. We depend on friends for support and parents for food and shelter. Its a natural instinct of nurture that just about every person is born with. We've been brought up to believe that mentally, these aspects in life are necessary to live happy and healthy. We have also been warned about these attachments to others and how easily we can be betrayed or abused by the ones we hold close to us. People have become fearful of getting hurt whether by a friend, family member, or a loved one. I think a natural tendency for a good handful of people is to build this wall around them and fend for themselves- trust no one and you don't get hurt. Personally, I go with the building up a wall system myself, with different reasoning for being cautious of friends and being careful of finding a loved one. But thats a whole different topic.

The fact that as humans we are naturally drawn to others for nurture, I think, has nothing to do with living in a free world as Americans. The independence we have built for ourselves as a country is purely to live in a well contained lifestyle. The system of majority rules is probably the most harmonic way we can live. Its as a whole that we are independent from a ruler and are able to live the way we believe is just.

There isn't really a relation between human dependency and living in the independence of America because they are on completely different fields.

Shallow and Hard Working

We had talked in class that Americans work hard just to end up using that money to buy useless brand names or materials. But, is it only the American culture that is so consumed in showing off what we having and looking good? For example, when I was in Europe, fashion and cars was a huge deal also. In England, the cars were all a big deal. My own aunt and uncle owned a BMW and a Mercedes. One they didn't even drive, they left it in their garage. The other one rarely ever left their driveway. The streets were full of brand name cars like that and that was when I first saw a smart car (which, I guess, are pretty popular in the US now too). A friend of mine from London also showed me the different technology in England. Her cell phone has the ability to talk to someone on a portable camera so you see the person live while you talk to them. Like a webcam on our computers. Apparantly England's cell phones are full of extra advances like these and we haven't caught on yet.
In Paris, all the best designer clothes were found all along Champ Elysees and Paris is also known as the fashion capital of the world. So when it comes to showing off pricy names and "cool stuff", I wouldn't limit it just to America. The pressure to look the best and look the richest is everywhere.

I know I sound like i'm just trying to argue with everything, but that is not my intention of this blog.

I also disagree that people work just to get money to make themselves happy. I know that I work hard between school, a job, and extra curriculars. Though i do benefit in some way from all of these things, that is not my intention of doing it. Yes, I go to school because it is a norm/ expectation that will lead me, hopefully, to a successful career. Yes, I work because that's how I earn the money that I need, Yes, I do a lot of community service and leadership clubs because that will look good on college apps and get me some scholarships. But to be completely honest, I like going to school and I love being in the clubs that I'm in. Without school, I just feel like after a while my brain is starting to lose its ability to work as hard as it could. Laziness will set in and then my standards of work at my best will lower and lower. People may think I'm crazy, but I think that learning should be a never ending process. I love being in classboard and BOSS because it keeps me busy. I actually enjoy keeping busy, for some inexplicable reason. And if I got to choose, I would rather spend more of my week at classboard or BOSS than going to work and I only work to pay for personal spending and my cell phone. My benefits from my clubs is not the same as from work, obviously, you get money at a job and at clubs you don't really get anything. Still, I enjoy being busy at my clubs rather than being busy at work. Not many of my peers(that i know of) would rather work for nothing than work for money. So I guess I'd like to think that I defy the generalization that people only work to get money to be happy.