All Quiet on the Western Front/Slaughter House Five
Seminar Reflections --
AQotWF
One of the things that I have taken away from this seminar is a new understanding of war and who was fighting in it. As someone brought up "War is a two sided story" I can see that yes, it is and there can be many perspectives and reasons to have those perspectives. The one thing that changed my perspective on war in this seminar is that war is a lot more that what people think it is and a lot more happens that what many people might think.
Slaughter House Five
One thing that I will take away fro this seminar is a new way of looking at war. This book really played with the mind and was confusing in many ways. But when someone said "It was very confusing and it was hard to see what was really going on", I can se how it's very hard to follow and how someone can get lost in the book. War is in a different perspective in this book than it was in the other one, athough it shares a common theme: friendship, but this one was done in more of a sci fi way instead of a straight forward way.
Jihad Vs. McWorld
Seminar Reflections --
AQotWF
One of the things that I have taken away from this seminar is a new understanding of war and who was fighting in it. As someone brought up "War is a two sided story" I can see that yes, it is and there can be many perspectives and reasons to have those perspectives. The one thing that changed my perspective on war in this seminar is that war is a lot more that what people think it is and a lot more happens that what many people might think.
Slaughter House Five
One thing that I will take away fro this seminar is a new way of looking at war. This book really played with the mind and was confusing in many ways. But when someone said "It was very confusing and it was hard to see what was really going on", I can se how it's very hard to follow and how someone can get lost in the book. War is in a different perspective in this book than it was in the other one, athough it shares a common theme: friendship, but this one was done in more of a sci fi way instead of a straight forward way.
Jihad Vs. McWorld
This reading was comparing the pros and cons and the major differences between a Jihad community and the McWorld community. Jihad being a closed off society that has one way of thinking. When McWorld is a diverse society with many ways of thinking and has moved us forward. McWorld had allowed us the opportunity to work with other countries to move forward in diversity and technology.
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Seminar Reflection #1
I saw the boy for the first time today, who knew that a girl of 16 would be allowed to see him. I didn’t know that cellar was so dark. It scared me to be down there. But as I looked in though the small dark door, I saw him. He was so little and scared. Every kind cell in my body made me want to help him and comfort him and tell him that everything will be okay. But I knew that if I did, I would be endangering the entire village. I couldn’t do anything for him no matter how much I wanted to. I ran back to my house as fast as I could. In tears, I ran to my mother who has already been to see the boy. “He is there for all of us” she said “He is there for our happiness”. In quiet rage I replied “Our happiness? How is that for our happiness? What has he ever done to us that would disrupt our happiness?” My mother sighed and held me close “There must the balance in the world. He provides us the balance and the chance to be happy.” I looked at her with tears in my eyes then looked out at the village streets. Everyone was dancing to the men playing gongs and drums and the little boy playing the flute. Everyone was so happy. After I calmed down I sat outside my house and watched all the people having fun. How can they be happy? I thought, How can they be happy if they know that the child is down in that cellar? I didn’t want to be here anymore, I wanted to go somewhere else where I can be truly happy without depending on an abused child for the happiness of the village. So I waited for sundown, after I ate my dinner. I felt guilty eating because I knew that the boy in the cellar wouldn’t be getting any real food for dinner. After my mom went to bed, I found a blanket and wrapped it around me. Then I quietly left the house. I walked out of the village and ran out to a distant hill. At the top of the hill, I turned around and looked back at the village. “Goodbye mother” I whispered. “I will come see you again.” I looked up at the stars and went on my journey to find a happier place. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I know that there are nearby villages. I’ve been travelling for a day now. I’ve met some travelers along the way. They’ve come from distant villages, looking for land to farm or animal trade. They said that I was going the right way. That many villages are in the direction I’m going. So here I am now. I’m getting closer to another village now. I see the buildings off in the distance. I hope this place is a good place to be.
Seminar Reflection #2
1. What is the difference between the ones who stay and the ones who walk away?
The difference between the ones who stay and the ones who walk away are quite apparent. The ones who stay are okay with the fact the child in the basement and the ones who walk away aren’t okay with it. In the article The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, the author says: “But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas”. This shows that the ones who walk away have seen the child and have chosen to leave because they aren’t okay with the child being the source of everyone’s happy lives. The ones who stay are okay with it. In the article The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, the author said: “They may brood over it for weeks or years. But as time goes on they begin to realize that even if the child could be released, it would not get much good of its own freedom.” They know that they should forget about it because the child wouldn’t be able to enjoy all of the freedoms because it would’ve been scared and alone for too long.
The people who walk away know that by leaving, they don’t do anything for the child. Leaving won’t help it, the child won’t be any better off because they left. The only thing it will do is make that person feel better about not living in a village that depends on an unhappy child to be happy. The word “happy” or “happiness” in this context would be saying that it’s the balance. The unhappy child is the balance for the people’s happiness. In the article The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, the author says: “They would like to do something for the child. But there is nothing they can do. If the child were brought up into the sunlight out of that vile place, if it were cleaned and comforted, that would be a good thing indeed; but if it were done, in that day or hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed.” This shows that the people who stay know that there is nothing they could do for the child. They should be happy with what they have and know that they can’t do anything for the child. But the ones who walk away don’t understand that they can’t do anything. So they leave to find somewhere else to live that doesn’t rely on a child in a basement for their happiness.
Being Peace
Seminar Reflection
What it means to live in the present moment is to not worry too much about the future and enjoy living in the moment where you are now. Living in the moment is not planning ahead so much that you aren’t aware of the time that you’re in now, spending so much time thinking about the future. From the article Being Peace, the author says: “Aware that life is available only in the present moment and that is possible to live happily in the here and now, we are committed to training ourselves to live deeply each moment of daily life.” This is important to know because if you plan so much ahead, you won’t be able to understand the present.
For me, I tend to plan ahead. But I also have been learning to live in the present. A lot of the time, I have homework that is due in the future. I do the homework thinking about how it’s going to turn out and what the teacher might think about it. Once that’s done, I’m able to calm down and be able to live in the present. It seems that if you have a lot of work, the more you worry about the future, but once you get that work done, you don’t worry about the future as much.
Short Story
As a little boy growing up in Tibet, the only religion I knew about was Buddhism. As I grew older and went on to school, I saw that the world is very different in many different ways. Some countries were in war because of oil and some countries were in disagreements over which religion they thought was better. None of that made sense to me. Why would they be fighting over things like that? It made me feel glad that I was a part of a society that didn’t have any of those issues. As I got even older, towards the end of high school is when I saw that maybe I could try to help people realize that fighting isn’t the answer….
I can’t wait to tell my father I thought to myself. I was on my way back from school and I knew that after high school, I had to do something. So I wanted to travel to America and see if I could find people who wanted to help stop the fighting. “So I’ve been thinking about it and I wanted to travel to America after school ends.” He looked at me with an excited look. “Why do you want to go to America?” – “I want to go because I can help stop other countries from fighting and love instead.” He looked at me and smiled. “That’s wonderful! You go to America and teach them well.” I was only a few weeks from graduating, so I didn’t have a lot of time to pack. But as it came time to leave, everything was ready. The plane tickets, the extra money, and everything I needed to help teach people about Buddhism. As I waved goodbye to my father, I left the airport and was heading west. I was so excited to be leaving to help people. I felt like one of my teachers. They taught me and I will now be teaching others.
It was a long plane ride, but I made it to New York City. It was such a loud place! Everyone was so busy, all on their cell phones or headsets, totally oblivious to what was happening around them. As I got to my hotel, I talked to the person behind the front desk and found my room. Everything was so fancy. I didn’t know why people needed all this stuff. The nest day, I set out a small kiosk along a sidewalk. I was handing out posters for the program I’m trying out. It’s called “People for peace”. By the end of the day, I was able to find about 20 followers. About a week later, we all met in a small building, it looked kind of like a dance studio. We were a small bunch discussing ways we can change the way countries work things out. So we all wrote a few letters to the state talking about how countries don’t have to resort to violence and all of the downsides of violence. I also was teaching them about the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings. After a while, people started to hear about People for Peace and they joined, and they even started branches in other cities. Now, we are a very large organization that has been helping to promote peace around the world and helping people learn about the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings.
Violence vs. Non Violence
Essay
When people are faced with an unjust situation, there are two ways that they could let the government know that they don’t like it. One way would be using violence to show the government how they feel towards their decision, and the other way is to use non-violence and do what you can to tell them without the use of violence. Although non-violence is the preferred way to handle unjust situations, in some situations, violence is the only way to go.
One of the reasons why non-violence is preferred is because violence towards the government usually doesn’t end well. Even if non-violence may take longer to make a change, it usually is more effective in the long run. For example, India was brought together by non-violence when Gandhi came through and found ways to end the violence without inflicting any violence intentionally. In the article “Active Nonviolence: A Way of Life”, the author quoted Gandhi, it said: “Strength comes not from physical capacity but from an indomitable will.” This quote gave the people of India a will stronger than Britain’s guns. It took longer to achieve peace, but it was very effective. Since India was able to accomplish peace by gaining their independence from Britain without violence, another country has the ability to do the same. Non-violence is great, but sometimes it isn’t loud enough for the government to hear.
Although violence is not an action that is preferred, sometimes it’s the only way to get people to listen. Nelson Mandella had to resort to violence after he spent years trying to be peaceful with the government during Aparthied. In the article “An ideal in which I am prepared to die”, the author says: “I came to the conclusion that violence in this country is inevitable, it would be unrealistic to continue preaching peace and non-violence, This conclusion was not easily arrived at. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle.” This shows that he tried to use peace and non-violence to change the ways of their country’s government but after years of trying, the last resort was he had to use violence to get their attention. When a situation gets to this level, violence would be the way to act because since non-violence tactics didn’t work in the past. Using violence would get the government to react in a way that would help the people to get what they want.
Another situation that violence would be necessary would be the government directly hurting people who aren’t acting in a violent way. For example, in Egypt there were many protests in 2011 because of President Honsi Mubarak. He wasn’t giving the people political freedoms and the people were protesting against that so they could get their political freedoms back. But the government was going out and killing the people who were protesting, so the people who were protesting were being violent back to them. “Three Egyptian protesters were killed and others wounded Saturday when police in downtown Cairo opened fire on a massive crowd demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.” said the New York Daily News. This is showing that the police will be violent to people who aren’t cooperating with them. This is a time where violence is necessary to protect yourself from the government when they are going out and attacking you.
In conclusion, violence and non-violence are two very different ways of telling the government what you think and the outcome can be the same on both ends or it can be totally different. Depending on the situation, the outcome could best be resolved through either. Violence would work more if it’s in the means to protect yourself, and non-violence works better when you aren’t directly threatened.
Citations
Sisk, Richard, Alivah Shahid, and Larry McShane. "Egyptian People Open Fire." 29 Jan. 2011. 23 Feb. 2012. <http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-01-29/news/27738315_1_president-hosni-mubarak-egyptian-people-police-open-fire>.
Mandella, Nelson. "An ideal in Which I am prepared to die." 20 Apr. 1964.
Deats, Richard. "Active Nonviolence: A Way of Life."
