Monday, November 14, 2005
essay...and other...
I forgot to post the essay that was due shortly after the mid-term. Here it is below.
FirstDiscussionEssay.pdf
We got our mid-term papers back today, along with the above paper. I have a 3.9 in the class. This is a bit surprising to me, but I'll take it.
I have another paper due on the 28th over our book From the Bush: The Front Line of Health Care in a Caribbean Village I'll post it out here too, when it's done.
The professor said something interesting today, after he handed back our papers. He mentioned that, after he'd read our mid-terms, he thought he hadn't impressed upon us enough, the harsh description of what he calls, the underbelly of American society. He mentioned that many people had written that, here in America, everyone has opportunity, that everyone has an equal starting place. I have to agree with him when he says that this is absolutely not the case.
To be sure, there are going to be some who manage to break out of the cycle of poverty, and rise out of it into something else. But anecdotes are not evidence of equality. They are merely nice stories of exceptional happenings. Most of the people surrounding these nice stories, are still in poverty, and will continue to be in poverty for generations.
I've been told that much of the problem with people in poverty is that they lack self respect. Self respect is something that is only valuable when you are well fed, in my opinion. If I can make twice as much money selling my body or selling drugs than I can working down at the convenience store for minimum wage, what do you think I'm going to choose? Especially when I have several people depending on my income (like a parent, a grandparent, a child, etc...). Oh, and why do I have a child? Because contraceptives cost money. Health care costs money. It all costs.
Anyway, this is turning into a rant. Suffice it to say that I think there are many people without hope. I don't know what to do about it, I don't pretend to know. I just think that where there is no hope, there will remain a cycle of unbroken and growing poverty.
