"A man makes his own luck"

Anyone can create their own lives the way they want to. We all have the power to change the way we are going throughout the whole being in this world. And everything pretty much depends on our decisions. We are the creators of our own future.




As the scientists claim, there are some main theories of the society network. Among them there are the conflict and the functionalism theories. I agree with both of them in some ways. But, all in all, I agree more with the functionalist theory. To my mind, any society is imaginary divided into different groups and each group has its own function within it. So, as a result, the groups are all interconnected and interdepending on each other. I think, that this is how a society built and created, and actually, how it works out as it is.


Throughout the sociology course, I got to take a look at the theory of Karl Marx. He is known in the history as one of the creators of the communism and its basic idea. Just a little bit before I came to the USA, I read some parts of the book which had once become the main work of his whole life. The book is called "The Capital" and it explains the main basics of the communism. Marx believed that there had always existed two social classes: oppressors and oppressed. The first are those who lead, own and have power; while the second are those who depend on the upper class. According to Marx theory, the fight between the classes constantly leads to revolution, and the dissatisfaction with their lives, the lower class - proletariat - comes to the conflict with the bourgeoisie who are the higher class. And I kind of agree on this. As an example, I could mention the same creation of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the last century, or even my own country right at these times, today. The people have been waiting for some changes for a long time, but nothing got moved from the place, maybe, even only got worse. The richest only became richer, and the life of common people - only got worse. The larger is the difference in the levels of life and the hole between the classes - the less is the understanding between them. And I do agree with this point.


I am pretty sure that anyone is able to create their own luck. I do agree with this point and this is, actually, as scientists say, one of the Americans' values - personal achievement. So, if You are still not sure about what You want to do to find Your own luck, go - and find it. Create You own future, because only You are the creator of it. And everything depends on Your own choice.

Requiem For a Dream

Yesterday we watched a movie in the class. It was Requiem For a Dream and it told a dramatic life-story of the guy who suffered from the drug addiction and who had to fight for his surviving. The movie showed how the drugs can change one's life.

 

The dream. This is, probably, what all of us are living for. We make some goals, priorities, and then we try to get closer to what we want day by day. The main characters of the movie also had the dreams. Harry wanted to become successful in life and feel independent. His Mom, Sarah Goldfarb, lived by a wish to get on the television one day, to get to be in the same goggle box she has always been in front of, and her goal was to get fit in her old dress back from her son's graduation, when she used to be happy and glad. Harry's girlfriend had a want to become a famous designer. And, all in all, everyone was eager to get to their points of desires.

 

However, all of us make decisions every day. The characters of the film tried to choose some easier ways. Drugs to forget everything, dope dealing on the streets, pills to lose weight easily and without problems. Some even had to forget about all the pride and feelings they had inside. Pain, depression, despair and all the worst inside. And the sad finish. Tragedy came with time. Harry got some kind of blood infection because of the instant shooting in the vein; Sarah lost control over her desire to lose more and more weight and ended in the mental house; Harry's girlfriend - with money but with the emptiness inside; his friend - in the jail, dope sick.


Throughout the whole story, we can see, how the life can go from the very top of hope, expectations and foresees for the tomorrow day to the very miserable conditions. Drugs destroy you, and you cannot even control it, if you are addicted to them. Being a drug-consumer, you become a slave of your own physics. And yes, you cannot be the owner of the situation - your addiction becomes it, and all of your coming actions, whether rational or not, are not controlled by your mind, but only by your physical need of getting more to satisfy the pain inside.

 

That is all. Finale. And all the dreams are dead. The last thing to do is to play a requiem for them.

Heroin or How to meet Your death faster

Drugs. Drugs addiction is nowadays a problem all over the world. And it is a screaming problem. People get caught "on the needle" at any age, being the representatives of the most various social classes, from different families and with different life ways. Some come to the addiction in the very early childhood because of the stress, family problems and what not; others - come to the needle later on, but still for the same reason: problems at work, no perspective in life, no future.

Actually, addiction - is only your personal choice. If you have enough inner strength and courage to say: "Stop!", - to yourself, at the very beginning, you may not get addicted. However, we all have the weak points and the drug dealers, brokers, and even barons use them to keep calm and stay in their business. So, how does it work the way that the killing dealership of the drugs market still exists?

Well, talking about heroin, for example, we can see the strict scheme and network within the black market. The way of this "killer" from the field to someone's vein starts all the way down in Afghanistan. This murdering business is only growing day by day. And it is only spreading. Why? The answer is that there are billions of dollars standing behind someone's tragedies. Sometimes even police gets involved in the dirty drug business, giving the coverage to the criminals who widespread the epidemic of addiction throughout the cities to its very darkest corners. And this all - because money rules the world.

Can we stop the problem of the drug addiction? Let's face the truth: probably, no. However, we can reduce it by providing different kinds of social programs which would explain "what is good, and what is bad". If we get united against the problem, we can get over it.

Crime and Deviance

Crime is a very big issue in the American society today, and everyone knows it. The statistics can only prove this fact, unfortunately, and they are shocking. According to the latest researchers from all over the world, about one-fourth of all the imprisoned from all the corners of the Earth are the US imprisoned! Sounds scary, doesn't it?


First of all, as a Ukrainian, I would say that a lot of people from the places I am originally from say that the laws and regulations in the United States are kind of too much strict in the attitude to the jail sentences. For example, In Ukraine the maximum time to be spent in jail could be simply: for the rest of life. However, in America you add the years and make up the whole term in prison, even though it may sound unrealistic, like 250 years of jail. And, for instance, your punishments are stricter and even for some of the stuff which would be called a misdemeanor in UA is considered to be quite serious in the US. And, as the consequence, the jail sentence in the prison can be much longer here for the same action, comparing to the same action in my Motherland, Ukraine. This seems to make no sense to me, however, this is a very subjective position and You, my dear reader, can think differently.


Another point is that, I guess, the problem of crime and especially the organized one, starts from the childhood. Scientists claim that the more educated people are in the group of lower risk to get involved into some kind of criminal organizations or gangs, comparing to those who do not get enough experiences at school and what not. So, I think that to solve the problem of the people in prisons in the US, You need to change, probably, even something in the basic educational system. Probably, there should be more encouraging programs for the students which would help them to find the right place in a society, to find their way to go and occupation to choose for the future.


Finally, I think that those people who are in prisons should be working. This is so because their number increases with the every new year. This means: new prison buildings, new areas, more spending on keeping those who must be isolated. To my mind, they should be kept not just for the money from the tax, but from their own work, too.


All in all, I am sure that the issue with the prisons and its inhibitors can be  solved. It is only the question of time, laws and government decisions.

Xbox Effect or Why are the street crime rates going down

Crime has become an integral part of the life of today's society. It has been existing since probably the very first days of the society existence. However, talking about the street crime we can definitely say that there were times when it got increased in rate strongly. For example, the periods of 1930s, and starting with 1960s up to the end of 1990s can be called, I guess, the times of the "blooming" of the street crime and gangs life.


On the contrary, though it can even seem surprising, today the level of the street crime got decreased though even we would have thought something like well, living is getting faster, so the crime rates should go up. However, some of the factors of the modern being make it possible and logic as the consequence.


After reading an article(from the teacher's blog) which was telling directly about the decrease of the street crime in the last couple decades and the reasons to it, I figured out that actually the improvement of technology, communications and even laws in the United States in just last 20 years, could and did influence the crime situation in the cities of the country.


For example, popularity of the Xbox as a device and cult of the video-gaming as for today even logically made the crime levels go down. How? More people nowadays are spending their time in front of their gadgets like TV, laptops, cell-phones and what not, rather than hanging around in the yards together with the friends without knowing what to do and getting into troubles always because of that. Yes, of course, there are both pros and cons in the question of the video games, for instance, sitting on the sofa in front of the screen all days round instead of going out in the fresh air makes some difference. But this difference doesn't worry sociologists and those who are interested in the issue of criminal world existence.


Another interesting point in the article was connected with the legalization of abortions. The scientists claim that this step could also help to decrease the level of the street crime. In which way? Well, by avoiding the birth of the unwanted babies, though even I am personally against abortion as it is, criminalists say that we avoid growing up of the children who are literally left by their parents. And I would say that there is a point in this logic. The less children appear to be in the yards for the whole days round in their teen age, the better for the criminal situation in the state. As far as right because of lack of understanding, support and leading from the side of the parents, a lot of children get involved into bad companies with the bad life attitudes. This way, the more kids get to be under loving and care of their parents. the better for the society in general.


All in all, I would recommend you to read the article which describes in details the 7 main reasons, according to the modern researchers, to decreasing of the street crime and violence. And remember: being a citizen of the United States means being free. However, it does not mean unlimited freedom, but only the freedom of choice, whether good or bad. But you are still responsible for what you choose and how you live.