RC or What is it all about?

Rape culture. Why does it exist in a society today? Why do people make others the victims? Why does the rape as it is exist in general? WHY? A lot of scientists try to answer these and a lot of similar questions, connected with the rape culture, daily. Let us ask ourselves - why?

 

To my mind, rape, as an action, is the sickest thing ever. I cannot understand, how can one person make someone who is weaker feel uncomfortable with the full understanding and conscience? Probably, there is the only answer: every rapist is a weaker person himself. I think that a person who becomes a rapist has the inner complexes and umbrage inside. Sometimes, a rapist does not want to realize it, but this makes no change - the psychology claims that most of the crimes against another person are done by the people who get frustrated because of the life losses and unluckiness.

 

However, You, reader, may say that we all have the problems in our lives, and it does not make us doing something wrong against the others. Yes, that is true. Every of us has our own dark corners in the souls. But what activates this darkness in some of us? Mass media. This great power to influence the people - this is what wakes the evil side of a person up. We see the idea, and our brain products some conclusions; some morals - the image of what is wrong and what is right. Television, Internet and what not. Adults, children watch the violence and see that it is everywhere. What can be the reaction of their brains to it? Only the logical respond - of violence, cruelty spreads all over the world. The morality changes. The same - with the people, they change, too. And to which side: to the better or to the worse? Who knows, everything is particular in the different situations.

 

Every 2 minutes someone becomes a victim of the assault within the United States. This means that while You were reading this post, someone became a victim. So, think over it.

ME Project

Sociobiology – is the science which studies the biological basis of all social behavior. Sociobiologists identify the 4 main factors which influence the personality and character of a person. They are: heredity, birth order, parental characteristics and cultural environment. They are all special and “respond” for one’s personality particularly and differently. 

Heredity. Heredity includes those characteristics which are given to us with our birth. Among these characteristics are mostly the appearance features, such as skin pigmentation, color of eyes, physical building of the body and so on. Personally, I can, as any person, find a lot of similarities in my and my parents’ appearance. For example, the color of my eyes and hair is just similar to my Father’s ones. At the same time, I am also pretty tall and I took it from my Dad, too. Though, some of the other appearance features I took from my Mother. This way, I feel the influence of heredity on myself. Another point of heredity is an aptitude. An aptitude is some certain skills which we get from our birth. For example, an aptitude can be something like a talent to play some music instrument, or a talent to singing, etc. I can definitely say, for instance, that I got the skill of studying from the family roots from the side of my Mother. The evidence can be that my Mother’s family includes almost all the members who are or were connected with science this or that way. For example, my Mother’s Father, who is my Grandpa, is a professor in the College and teaches Math. So, I feel like I took the good ability to studying as the heredity from my ancestors. 

Birth order. Birth order stands for the dependence of Your character on the place in the order where You were born in the family. In the other words, what child in the family You are: whether the oldest, the middle, or the youngest. I am the oldest child in the family, and also have a younger brother who is 14, so I am not a single kid in the family. According to the theory, the oldest children usually tend to show more the qualities of a leader, be goal-oriented, and setting the getting of the good level of education as a goal. I would say, that some of these characteristics are common with those which are in my personality. Why does the birth order exist? Probably, it is so because this theory is based on the parents’ treatment of their children. How? Scientists claim that the parents tend to be more careful about taking care of their first children, because they are more inexperienced and not too risk-taking in letting their first kids do whatever the lasts want to. And with every next child in a family, the parents usually make their pressure on the life less and less and are getting calmer about the process of the children’s development. 

Parental characteristics. Parental characteristics is the factor which says that the parents’ influence itself depends on the personalities of the parents of a kid themselves. What it means is that the age, occupation, social class of the parents can be influential on the personalities of the kids in the family. For example, a child who is born to the parents in their mid-20s and a child who is born to the parents in their mid-30s can grow up as the different personalities. That is so because of the different attitudes of the parents on the aspects of the up-bringing of the children depending on their own age. This is also connected with the fears and personal priorities of the parents, which usually tend to get changed with the time. All in all, I would say that I did not feel a great influence of this factor on my personal life, as far as even my parents were in their mid-20s when I was born, they still wanted me to grow up in the atmosphere of education and quite a pressure in this question from their side, for what I am really grateful to them because, I feel, all I have today is due to it and due to their care about me and their support whenever I needed.

Cultural environment. The last factor, according to the sociobiologists, which is to influence a person’s character is the cultural environment. To my mind, this is the most major aspect in the question of the influence on a personality. The environment I live in – is something that mostly makes me the way I am today. Yes, to my mind, my social network, my inhabitance, the culture I exist in – this is what “shapes” me in the form I am. Personally, I think that if the family is something that gives us the basics ideas about how we should act within a society. Society, next up, is something that makes us develop our interactional skills and abilities to improve our characters and personalities in the way we want to. The culture we exist in gives us a lot of opportunities to discover ourselves by communicating, comparing, seeking for the right ways. I guess, my cultural environment is the factor which turned out to be the most important in my personal development. Ukraine, Ukrainian people, our values and attitudes – is what I mostly take the knowledge from. Now, American culture is also included, and I can definitely say that I do feel its influence on my personality. 

All things considered, I think that all of the four listed factors are influential on our lives. But personally for me, the aspect of cultural environment I live in is something that mostly in my age makes and develops me the way I am. However, anyway everything starts with the family, and that is why I think it is impossible to separate one from another.  

The Birth Order

 Some people say that the birth order means much in the formation of one's personality. In the other words, they claim that Your place in the family, whether You are the oldest, the middle, or the youngest child, can strongly influence what a person You may be in life. Personally, I both agree and disagree with such a view on the birth order.

On the one hand, I think that birth order does influence a person's character. The same is what a lot of the scientists say. Moreover, some of the "researches say birth order differences are as strong as gender difference". To my mind, there is really some difference between the children within a family. The oldest children usually tend to have the leadership qualities, tend to be perfectionists, and to make an accent on the education. The middle usually grow up as very competitive people, as far as from the very childhood they have to fight for the attention from the side of their parents. They are also usually creative and do not like to follow someone in the views or whatever, probably, because they get "fed up" with the authority of their older siblings in the early childhood. The youngest children of a family are in a lot of cases, according to the scientists and researchers, while growing up become very out-going and creative personalities, however, without any special ambitions about themselves. They also tend to be more dependent on the views and attitudes of their peer-friends. All in all, there is a lot of situations when this birth order depending does work. This way, I can say that I agree with a lot of aspects of this theory.

However, on the other hand, I think that anyway in the every single family there are certain special aspects, which can make a difference in the common view on the question of the birth order theory. For example, the atmosphere within a family may influence the lives and personalities of the kids who grow up in it. Under the word "atmosphere" I mean the way the children are bought up, the attitude and relationships in the parent-child communicating. By the way, the relations between the parent of a family are also of great importance. I am sure that these aspects play really great role in the formation of a child's character. And, of course, the environment in general a kid lives in - this is what mostly develops these or those particular traits of personality in him/her.

All things considered, my personal position is that the theory of the birth order works. But, at the same time, some aspects can possibly change it in a particular family. This way, parents should take care of their children very well and make them prepared for the adult life and try to influence their personalities in the best way they can, because not everything depends just on the birth order. And because, as one great person said: "Children are one third of our population and all of our future."

The product of Society or Not?

 

 

Yes. We are all the products of the conditions we live in - both material, and non-material. As far as all of these conditions are created by the Society and Culture within which we exist, this way, yes, every of us is a product of a Society in this or that way. Why is it so? To my mind, this becomes possible because our everyday routine, which is spent in some certain conditions, is something that influences our attitudes, lifestyle, habits, knowledge and experience, behavior and etc. As a result, I am definitely sure that our circle of communication, our family, friends, our mates, the school we attend, the way we spend our time, the way we celebrate any holidays, and the way we are used to do this or that type of activity - these all is what makes us the way we are.

 

An example of this straight interdepending of these aspects can be the history facts about the untamed children. In the other words, the life stories of the kids who, because of these or those reasons, were raised in the inhuman conditions - in the wild, or in the place far from civilization, or even far from any contact with another person. Such kids, been found after years of isolation, did not have most of the abilities which normal people, who grew up in the human society, had. This fact proves the theory that we all - are the products of the community we live in.

 

All in all, in my personal opinion, our language, customs and traditions, and even the emotions we express - these and other aspects are the result of our socialization and interaction. Without it, with only the lower level of communication, the human kind would, probably, look just like all the other biological species and would never achieve that progress which we have nowadays.

Nature or Nurture?

One's sexual orientation - what is it influenced by? Is it a question of one's DNA or a question of one's environment and society he/she lives in? Personally, I think that both of the factors can influence it. On the one hand, I definitely think that sexual orientation straightly depends on the Nature. To my mind, this is something that a person "achieves" just been born. And, I am pretty sure, that it can be extremely hardly changed during the life process. However, on the other hand, I guess and can say that, all in all, one's orientation probably can be changed. This becomes possible because of the society we live in, because of our social network, our circle of communication. In my opinion, one's sexual orientation can be changed under the pressure of all these factors. All things considered, I think that both variants are possible. Though, I still prefer the Nature factor in this question.

The school week

Here has just passed by my another week of living and studying in the USA. More knowledge, more experience, other 5 school days. What was new for me?

Probably, the most important memories are connected with the Veterans' Day, which took place on Monday, 11.11.13, this year. The Honor Ceremony will stay in my memories forever, as an integral part of my American experience. I could see the real pride for their country in the eyes of American people. Their unlimited feeling of the great patriotism makes me happy, because this is what makes the United States definitely United! People who feel proud about being the way they are, and even sing about it: "I am proud to be American!.." - those people who are with their Motherland with all their minds and hearts can be called the real citizens of their country!

Among some other important thoughts of the week was the one about voting. Why should every able single person vote in the elections or whatever? One of our teachers said that, at least, You should vote in the memory of Your ancestors who died in the wars, fighting for Your rights, for Your freedoms and for Your ability to decide the future of Your country, and this way, Your own future.


This passing week was, as always while my staying in the USA, full of the jokes, fun, and sarcasm. And it makes me feeling happy about this school year. I am extremely grateful to my Book of Life for such colorful and unforgettable pages, which are connected with my American being. Whatever happens - is leading to the better. And I am pretty sure that it is really so. This is what our lives are all about.

You only know when You are far

I still recall my first step on the American earth. You know, it was a very weird feeling. Why? Probably, because of some great expectations connected with the coming exchange year. Every of our FLEX-ers was so excited, that we just started talking about our plans for the nearest "American" future, hugging each other, and even crying. Strange,  isn't it? I still remember when we started singing Ukrainian National Anthem, right in the Dulles Airport. We were kind of joking about "how much we miss our Motherland", though even every single of us said it with some warm feeling in the voice,  we still didn't realize some points of our life. Yes, we did loved UA much at that moment. However, we could not even imagine how strong our love would turn out to be after some time of living in the USA. Now, I am hundred percent sure, any of my "colleagues" in this exchange year may say that he/she is proud to call him/herself Ukrainian. Simply because when you are far from your dear hometown, when you are surrounded by totally different people, you are in totally different conditions, - you get the sense of comparing and analyzing things which are around you. You find out that any aspect has two sides. And, this way, you come to understanding of your own happiness - happiness to be Ukrainian. 

Follow your heart. Even if it leads to something new and inexperienced yet, just follow. At least, because you have no clue where the exit is going to be. And what, if it goes straight to you American dream? Who knows. So, take a risk and get what You want. But start with simple: remember who you are and where you belong. And, what is the most important about it - do it with all your heart and sincerely. As far as being fair and true to yourself - is right what makes you the way you are. 

Ukrainians! Love Ukraine with all your heart and mind! Americans? Be proud of Your country, because for a great amount of people this is a dream - to come and live here. So, appreciate what You have. Because only Your own attitude can make You either happy, or not. 

Work. Love. Die.

 

Have You ever thought about how short is our life in fact? And every of us has so many plans for it. Some people try to spend every single day going step by step to their dreams. Others just waste years. Why? Probably, they just have not found themselves and the way to go. Or, maybe, they just have not looked for it. What is our life all about?

 

Work. American people take it really seriously. They start thinking about their future occupation already while being in the High School, or even earlier. Work and personal achievement - are among the main American values, that is why people try to do their best in it. A lot of Americans put their careers as the first priority in their lives. And very often, unfortunately, they forget about some of the other extremely important aspects - family, home warmth, hobbies, friends. They forget about something which is deeper. They forget about love.

 

Love. This topic is very sensitive for most of American people. They prefer not to talk about this feeling. Why? Are Americans afraid of love? Are they afraid to love? They afraid to be loved by someone? Probably. Some Americans even say that they do not remember if they have ever said, "I love you, Mom." For me, as an Ukrainian it is weird. Maybe, because in my Motherland it is different. The relationships between a boy and a girl, a man and a woman, a husband and a wife, a mother and a child are so much different. Here the fringe between friendship and love is almost invisible. And this is what makes everything messed up. But why do Americans not like talking about love? Probably, because of their inner feeling of independence and self-reliance. I may explain. Such a deep feeling as love is a very touching topic. Love itself means depending on someone, means responsibility. Yes, if You give love to a person, You make him/her trust You. So, You should always be ready to become a helpful back for a person, You should always be there for the person You love. And I think, that a lot of American people are just not prepared for such a kind of responsibility. Because the real love - is the responsibility for another person. From the beginning and to the death.

Death. Death is the other forbidden topic for Americans. Though, not only for them. The question about where we may go after the end of our lives turns out to be scary for most of people all over the world, without depending on the continent, country, or society. But why do we avoid talking about death? To my mind, the answer is clear. Death means obscurity. Let us look at the things from the realistic point if view: no one can certainly say and prove what is going to happen after our life in this world ends. Will there be eternal life? Or are we going to reincarnate and have a new, totally different life on the Earth? But what if there is just nothing after the death? What if our existence simply stops after our body stops its functioning? Do not You think that the darkness of the death - is right what makes us forget about all the thoughts connected with it? Personally, I think so. Yes, everything that is unknown is scary for us. And this is understandable.

You know, I do not want to end this blog like, "All in all," or something. I just would like to say: think over what priorities You have in Your own life. Think over how short is Your time on the Earth. And find some time for love in Your life. Because sometimes it is necessary to find time for something different from work, career, daily routine.

American Values

United States of America. Coming here as an exchange student for me meant really much: new experience, new life, new people around. By coming to the US I got a great possibility to explore the new culture, and to compare it to my own, Ukrainian. And as any other one, American culture is based on the values its people have. So, what do Americans value in their lives, and how does it influence their lives?

Among the main American values are: personal achievement, individualism and independence, personal responsibility, democracy and equality, morality and humanity, work-discipline, freedom and others. And they all are an important part in the process of formation of the national mentality. So American people - they are very self-responsible, which means that if You fail they are totally sure that this is fully Your own fault. From this point they also show their attitude to the individualism: Americans tend to be very independent people. For example, You can see it at school - students always prefer doing everything on their own, whether in the home- or the classwork. Trust me, as an exchange student I can say that You would feel ashamed if found cheating. Moreover, You may have problems, as far as teachers do not tolerate any kind of "team-work" or plagiarism - they may just put an "F", which means fail. One of the other extremely important values in the American society is being punctual. Once our History teacher even said: "USA is just all about being on time everywhere." This way, people expect to see You at the meeting, at school, at work, on the bus(when the field trips take place, for instance) right on time, with no tardiness, or even better 5 minutes earlier. You are late - You are rude and show Your disrespect. There are a lot of other examples of how the value system influences the society, and You are able to see it in the daily routine.

All things considered, know and respect the values of the community You live in. As the saying goes: "When in Rome, do as Romans do." This will definitely make Your life in the other society much easier. Remember: the values we hold form our principles; the principles we hold form our actions.

Aggressive sports - what is next?

MMA - Mix Martial Arts - a new fastly growing kind of sport. People almost kill each other in the cage. Blood, broken bones, the faces full of frustration and pain. These all is what MMA is about, though even here is also the great money is involved. But what makes people risk their health and even life on the ring? I think that there is something about people's emotions and psychology, too.

To my mind, the MMA fighters look for some new feelings when they go to fight in the cage. They know that there is the real danger ahead - and this only makes them continue. Why? Just because they want to check what is the level of their strength. In most cases they simply want to prove themselves something really important - they want to prove themselves that they are the best and can control the situation - if not in their real life, than at least on the ring.

The other reason for the MMA fighters to become such, is their aggression and anger which is multiplied on some inner feeling of dissatisfaction - this is what really leads anyone to showing all these feelings in the cage: when there is the only other human being in front of you, and he is your enemy: you are in the same conditions - this gives you the confidence - and the only thing left - is to fight. Fight until your victory, or at least fight with the greatest devotion, to prevent the disappointment in yourself.

So, if such an aggressive sport as MMA is becoming more and more popular now - what is going to be next? Probably, people will invent the sport in which other people will become the alive targets for shooting? Or they may have to swim away from the sharks in a huge tank? And all the spectators will applause, standing, and watching the loser of the game dying, just as today they do, when see the first blood on the ring? who knows for sure, what is going to happen in just a decade, just a year. All in all, think over it. And make Your own decision: if you want to cheer for the death; if You want to become a victim of the next cruel game the humankind may create for fun, or if You want to live in peace and harmony with the surrounding world and with each other.

The Game

Our life is the game. We all live in different communities; we are all influenced by various people, by those who are around us. Though even we have some same codes of morals in our being, there is still something that makes the rules, we live by, different: our cultural values, our traditions and attitudes towards various issues in a particular society, we grow up in. There is always some only aspect which creates the difference.  And this aspect makes our game.

 

People are created for adjusting. Every of us can get used to any conditions the Life has prepared. It only takes some time to get the things on the right places. However, when You start feeling comfortable exactly in this place, exactly in this circle of socialization, in this culture, and You suddenly have to change it all - how does it work? We could watch it while making an experiment in the class.

 

According to the teacher's experiment, the class was divided into 3 groups. We had to play a card game, the rules to which were showed on the separate sheets of paper for each single group.

At first we were just playing inside our "mini-communities" or "mini-cultures" - which I mean the student groups. We could talk, and we played for kind of "treats". Then we continued our game, but in the silence: everyone could only use gestures or drawings to explain anything. As far, as we all knew the rules of the game, we felt rather convenient while continuing playing. However, the next challenge was to switch the group for each "culture's" member, so that the only one original player of a group stayed in the same conditions, playing according to the original rules of his/her group. After switching we continued playing in silence. And starting with this point, some issues started to appear: the "freshmen" in each particular group started getting frustrated, upset and from time to time even got mad. They had no understanding about what was going on in their new "mini-culture". So, what was happening, You may ask? The trick was that the teacher had made the totally same regulations for the game for all the groups of students. All the rules were exactly identical. All, except the only one.

 

So, the teacher created the same conditions for all the "mini-societies", and only made a small different one for each group. And not being able to speak, people became captured by the situation. They were lost in the new "culture", and, moreover, they could not ask anyone for help. New people in a "society" were not prepared for this challenge; this aspect showed us this way the adjustment of the humans to the rules of a new community; it shows us the period of so called "cultural shock" - the period of adaptation to a new society, a new culture.

 

All in all,  playing this game, we could find out that our life in this world seems really quite the same somehow. Every culture has its own specialties, and every society has something that makes it identity. And You should remember that "when in Rome, do as Romans do". Use Your adjusting and communicative skills to feel comfortable in a new circle of people. Remember the rules of the place You are from, but respect the traditions of the place You stay in. Play Your game confidently, control the situation and be the winner in this Life.

 

100% American culture?

 

USA. The mixture of nationalities. The mixture of customs and traditions. Variety of people, their views and attitudes. American nation is full of contrasts, and this is beautiful. People are so different in many ways: language, ideas, religion, beliefs and what not. However, at the same time, there are some values to be shared in the American society, such as personal independence, full individualism, modernism and some other points in common. Though even this makes a single whole and connects people in some way, does it make the US culture as it is? And does totally American culture exist itself at all?

To my mind, there is something invisible that makes American nation really American. It can be mostly explored by watching and analyzing people's everyday routine. Why? Just because usually things we do daily demonstrate a lot of our values and attitudes. People in the USA always try to show their full independence, in every action. And they value their individual responsibility really much. For example, You can notice it while the school process: students get most of their assignment to do on their own, and even helping each other counts as cheating, so it is forbidden. Moreover, though individual work is required by teachers, it is both strongly supported by students! Sometimes even a friend of Yours may think it is rude of You to ask him/her for help with Your homework! So, be prepared for this when You come to an American school to study.

Among other shared values in the culture of USA are modernism, religiosity, consumerism, responsibility. Being punctual is another kind of "value". For Americans it is better to be earlier for 5 minutes for a meeting then even to be on time. Being late is compared to impoliteness, and may make a person who has being waiting even for a couple minutes very upset, or even mad about You. So, try Your best to be on time everywhere and in every situation.

However, on the other hand, USA is compared to the "Melting Pot" of the world. This is so because United States, as a country, represents such a great amount of various cultures and people that it itself become a single "multicultural whole". And I think that this factor makes the difference. To my mind, USA is the place of contrasts, opposites, multiculturalism. This is the country of American dream, of the new opportunities; country of immigrants. Everyone, coming here, has the hope for better existence. The United States is like a magnet for absolutely different persons. It absorbs all the cultural aspects from its every citizen, and mix them into the one great whole: American Culture. Though it is up to You to come here and decide for Yourself: is it a 100% "made in the USA or not".

Save Our Souls

So, the ship is sunk and some people survived. Great, isn't it? However, the problem is that there are still more then 20 people alive, but the only one life boat left, and it can only handle 9 people. This way, every of the survivors faces an important decision: who should be saved, and why? After a conversation in the class, we figured out a group of people who would be saved by us. Let us see, which categories of people did the students choose?

First of all, we tried to choose the survivors because of their skills and experiences. For instance, we saved those people who were former sailors or those who knew much about the "great water" and, this way, could find the way out, the course to go. Another group of people to be saved were those who had the skills in curing others. Among them were some former doctors and nurses, who could probably help in a case of injury or disease. Also, the students would save some physically strong people who would bring the life boat itself in the motion.

However, on the other hand, the students would leave a place on a life boat for those people who are financially prosper. This number includes both just rich ones, and those who promise to give a great amount of money for been saved. This way, we can say that American people value material things really much. Money means quite a lot to them. But, are they the only ones to matter material stuff much today? I think, no. This aspect is nowadays rather important in all the cultures and countries all over the world.

Yes, we made our decision about who should be saved and get a place on the "last chance" life boat. But would it be the same in some other countries? I do not think so as far, as the priority in the choice of survivors in other cultures would differ. Some, probably, would choose whom to save first according to age, or, for instance, according to sex. Anyway, it would depend on the values and, someway, customs of a society and the people.

All in all, the people to survive would differ from community to community, from culture to culture. The decision to leave these or those people on the life boat would depend on what a society value and what kinds of customs, in some way, they have. And who would You give a chance to continue the existence? Think over it, because who knows, what is waiting for us after the next turn on the lifeway.

People: independence or interaction?

What goes around, comes around. Why is it so? The answer is easy: we all are the part of a great system of communication - society. People are created to interact, we look for some support from the side of others daily, in any hard situation. We tend to be in a group, we try to do as many things as possible together; we are made for socialization. It is like a closed circle of interdepending: what starts with You, goes back to You. Most of the people are group-oriented. We tend to stick shoulder by shoulder in difficult life turns. And You know what? It helps us.

 

However, human beings try to show their independence from each other sometimes. Even in some complicated situations, we try to solve a problem by ourselves. Yes, this is the other side of the moon: we want to be self-made and confident in our strength. It happens from time to time and, I think, this is a way to identify our "myself". Yes, by doing things on our own, we find out usually what is our field of interests; we find our own "way to go".

 

All in all, to my mind, people are here to interact with each other and, this way, to build the future for all of us. Every of us needs to be inspired to create something great and new. Moreover, we always need some help from the side of other people - our family, friends, mates and even strangers - to make our ideas real, though even we do not always realize this fact. We are born to be in a society. So, let us face the truth: we do depend on each other, and, people, it is great! Right this way we are who we are! Definitely, this is way to go.

 

P.S.: Tell all the people who are really important and dear to You that You love them. Be thankful and You will receive the same in return. Give others love and care and be loved. This is all that we really need. 

 

 

New Generation

XXI century. The world changes fast. New technologies, new tendencies, new prospective. We are all changing. Can You imagine Your life, for instance, without cell-phones or the Internet? Probably, no. However, it was only a few decades ago when there were no of those things. And people could build their lives, their business and communication without it. There were no computers only 40 years ago!

Today we live in the world of globalization. Cultures mix up, character of an individual changes, our goals and dreams get on the new level. I, personally, can say that everything has changed even comparing to the days of the childhood of my generation. For example, we used to play in the yard together with other kids; we used to go outside daily; we could spend all days long in the street playing, communicating and being active all the time. Now it is changing. I feel so sorry about all the children of contemporary, who spend their early years in front of the blue screens, in front of the "goggle-boxes" and with the cell-phones in their hands.

Technology... A helper or an enemy? It is a very questionable issue. Yes, it makes our lives easier. Yes, it gives us more time to spare. Yes, it relaxes us in some way. However, all this easiness - is it really good and helpful to humanity as a specie? Does not it make us less intelligent and smart as the creatures by giving us an opportunity to do everything instead of us? And, all in all, does not the development of media and tech stop the development of human society, personal individuality and creativity? Does not it stop the process of identifying of ourselves? Probably, it does. This way, what is this all leading to? The new generation which loses the ability to analyze the things, the ability to create. Not everyone, of course, only those masses of people who may continue let the technological progress interrupt the process of their own progress.

So, what will happen to the Earth in just a couple next decades? No one can say for sure. Although, some futurologists try to foresee our future. They claim, that people may come to the process of degradation if they do not change the situation right now. Reading books, developing our creative skills, communicating with each other and studying - these all can save us. We should just find the perspective and go on. All we need is progress. Intellectual progress of the nation, progress of our minds and souls. 

Freaks and Geeks

 

I have recently watched the first episode of the "Freaks and Geeks" show. I found out that it shows a lot of perspectives of sociology, among them: the Theory of Conflict, the Functionalist and Interactionist Theories.

 

For example, in the 1st episode we can watch the conflict of power between Sam with his friends and the group of freaks, who always try to tease the first ones. However, the group of "geeks" together with Sam try to fight for their place in the society and, this way, try to hold on in the group of 3 and help each other. All 3 of them try to work as a team and support each other, they act as the same whole, they understand that every of them has some one special advantage and by sticking together they can compliment each other and act the same as the entire living body. I think, it presents to us the Functionalist Perspective in sociology.

 

Another thing is that we can see the example of the Conflict theory throughout the whole plot of the show itself. The reason to it is that the series show us 2 different groups of people in a small community - the High School - which reflects the whole society in some way. Both of the groups are on the side from common people: "freaks" are some kind of burnouts of the society, while "geeks"  are those who are concentrated on studying or whatever too much. The Conflict between this two classes - here is what the plot of the "Freaks and Geeks" is based on.

 

All in all, "Freaks and Geeks" demonstrates us different perspectives of sociological views on the life and being. Social struggles, which appear in the relationships between the characters of the show, reflex the social struggles in any society. This way, there is some sociological sense in the story the show tells.

 

Who am I?

 

We all, people, are a part of the whole society. Every of us has some special kind of mission in this world. Every of us tries to identify ourselves: we have dreams, create opportunities for achieving our goals, we do what we want to do and, finally, get some results. The whole life way leads every of us to the only one main question: "Who am I in this world? And where am I going?"

 

So, who am I? First of all, I am the creator of my own future. I have a goal and I go straightly to it. I know what I want and it helps me to identify myself. It can seem strange but I adore the process of studying, I love to gain some new knowledge about the world around. I love sports, both play and watch. Now I am in the USA as a foreign exchange student from Ukraine. For me it means really much, and I definitely know, that this is the result of my hard work. I think that 80% of what I get in my life depends on my own initiative and attitude. However, I know for sure also, that there are some people who influence me so, that I am the way I am. Among them - my family, friends, schoolmates, all in all - everyone who is around me. The whole society, we live in, influences us much, sometimes we do not even understand it. It is very important to save Your own face and individuality in the crowd. It is very important to save something that makes You different comparing to other people.

 

Just keep going to Your dream, and find Your own mission in this life. And never give up.