Questions Of The Day
1. Is it wrong fora newspaper to publish a front-page photo of aman about to die?
It’s not that it’s wrong, but it’s justnot right. I think that these photos shouldn’t exist, because the person had tosomehow try to help the person about to die, and not just take a photo. If Iwas the person that took the photo, I wouldn’t definitely do that. I wouldeither panic, or look for a guard that would help me save the person or evenjust go there and grab the person’s hand and lift him. Actually, I think that theperson who took the photo is really smart, because he/she was fast enough tothink of taking a photo after thinking of helping the person.
Another thing a want to add is that it’snot right, because the newspaper is really going over the boundaries, by publishinga photo like that. It’s too much sensationalism. It’s not morally wrong, but it’slike using cheats on a game. (you probably won’t understand that, Mr.) I reallywant to get rich on The Sims (a game that simulates real life) so I just usecheats instead of taking my time to work on my job and receive my salary. It’sa very silly example, but it’s how it works.
2. Is it betterto risk your life (your accomplishments) and the life of those you love for youdream, or forget your dream and secure the people you love?
I don’t think either of them isbetter than another one, because both of them teach you something. However, Ithink that if I was put in this situation, I would risk my life and the life ofthose I love for my dream. You will think that I am cruel and selfish, becauseI am sacrificing the life of my loved ones, but I will tell you that some thingsin life change and others stay the same. And people change. You will tell yourloved ones that you forgot about your big dream and secured them, but theywon't stay the same forever. Maybe they're going to leave you and forget aboutyour actions towards them. But accomplishments stay the same. Theaccomplishments will make the view of other people towards you. And youraccomplishments will attract other people, and have more chance to beloved bymore people.
3. Why is it that one parent always seems to play amore dominant role in raising children?
In my family, my father has moreauthority than my mother does. I think that it's because my father is olderthan my mother is, and that we still live in a male-dominated society.
I also think that the amountof speaking influences on the authority, because for example, my father doesn’ttalk as much as my mother does. So when he speaks, his speech is somehow more appreciatedthan my mother’s.
Another contribution for the authorityof one parent is the amount of times they get mad. For example, my mothergets mad very easily – once in a day at least – and I don’t really care muchwhen she gets mad, because I know that she’ll be okay if I leave her alone. Shecomplains all the time about anything that I do that doesn’t make her happy. However,my father, who’s almost never mad and is always in good humor, rarelycomplains, even when he knows that I did something that makes him mad. Aseconomy’s proverb, the less you have it, the more is appreciated. So I reallyget scared when my father gets mad.
4. How flexible are you? How would you gradeyourself on 1-10?
I think I am pretty much flexible,like an 8 or 9 if I am working with other people. It's because I have todebate, negotiate a certain topics, and get the job done. But if I am workingwith myself, my flexibility decreases to a 4. I am very strict with my work,and if I get an idea in my mind, it's difficult to replace it with another one,even if it is the most difficult way to get the job done. For example, when Iget an idea for a project, like drawing things, I suddenly see a part of itdone, like a flash, and I usually do the project around that one single part. So the main partof the project is the single idea, and it’ll be difficult if I change it orsomething that was built around it.
But for other situations, I am flexible.Like when I am watching a movie at home and I’m hungry, I solve it in thelaziest way I can. I take the computer to the kitchen, and make curry orsomething else to eat, and solve my hunger and my desire to watch the movie ina single move.
5. Would you use this drug if available and howwould it change your activities/lifestyle, etc.?
Ithink I wouldn’t use it in daily life. I would just use it when I have aproject due next day and I didn’t do anything. But I think that I would useonly if it’s weekend or holiday when I get tired because of the drug. I was oncedoing an English project last year. I only had ideas of what I would do, and Iended up not doing it until the day before the deadline. I started doing theproject right after when I got home, and I finished it at 3 in the morning. Iremember of being all sad in the middle of the project because there was nodrug that would make me go really hyper and get the project done in less than aminute so I could go sleep. But I really made a bad choice. And I don’t do thatanymore.
6. Strippers at teen’s party lead to mom’s arrest.
Idon’t think that it’s really wrong, because sixteen is the age when teensalready got sexually mature, but I don’t think that was the best way tocelebrate a birthday. I think it was a little immature by the mother, becauseshe could’ve organized a birthday with a house party or something, but she justhired two strippers to dance in front of 14 year old kids. For kids older than15, it’s not really a problem of hiring a stripper, but there are otherthousands of better options than that. And I noticed that the mother was tooyoung to have a 16 year old, which means she got pregnant at 17. And that’s nota really good sign too.
Ialso think that the mother didn’t really think of educating her children,because boys are really childish even when they’re older than same aged girls. Soher kid may think that these types of crazy stuff are allowed on birthdays andthat women are only Barbie dolls, and not people like he is.
IfI was a boy and I was having my 16th birthday, she’d probably giveme some money and tell me to go to the cinema or just have fun, but definitelyNOT a stripper. She’s religious and she doesn’t let those kinds of “fun” takeplace.
7. There is another drug being developed that willenable humans to live with enhanced health for up to 150 years. Is it agood thing? What are some of the consequences?
I think that it is a really bad idea. It would being a chain of catastrophicevents. They say that people live with enhanced health, and not youth. There isa hormone that stimulates our body to replace worn out cells to new cells. However,that’s the same hormone that’s used to grow our liver. So at one point of ourlives, our liver will have to stop growing when it achieves its ideal size. Andby stopping the growth of our liver, the hormone will have to stop beingproduced, and the replacing will not be as fast as it was before. So people candie later, but not age later. They may die later than ten years ago, but getold at the same age as ten years ago. So because of the old age, people won’tbe able to work as well as they did many years ago, considering that there areless and less people being born in the world. So everyone becomes old, makingenterprises’ services and government’s services less efficient than it wasbefore. So there would be old teachers (something good), old factory workers,old nurses, old everyone! There would no longer be young people to work asbefore. It’s like a blind person guiding a blind. How can an old nurse takecare of a patient if she can’t even take care of herself?
Butthe good part of it is that we would spend more time with our loved ones, withour old grandparents telling us stories of their lives 50 years ago.
Anotherreason why it’s bad it’s the world’s debt it would start. It’s happening inPortugal, for example. There are too many people depending on retirement andless people giving the money to the government in order to pay the retiredpeople and its basic needs. So the government drowned on debts. Basically,every country will do that, and soon, everyone’s money will be lost and nobodywill have any money left.
Aconsequence of the drug would be the resources. If everyone in the world liveda lifestyle like Americans, we would need five planet Earths to keep it ongoing.And if people around the world live more, we would probably need more vitalresources. We would use more electricity, more water, more gas, moreeverything! It’s likely that the resources would someday end.
Toconclude, that’s a very, very ,very bad idea.
8. Are the parents right, or the school district?
I think that both are half right, but ifI had to take a decision, I would do as the school district do. I know that theboy looks like and feels like a girl, but the school is training the boy for whenhe grows up. Even though he’s legally a girl and all that, he is a boy and willbe when he grows up. And I think that the parents are being selfish, becausewhen Mr. Murphy asked if we would feel comfortable of having a boy that lookslike a girl, we said no. We would really feel uncomfortable on having a boyaround on an only-girl space. And I bet that’s the way the girls from that schoolfeel like too. By allowing the boy go to a girl’s bathroom, the girls would betraumatized, harming their future normal life. (I know that by sending a boythat feels like a girl to a boy’s bathroom would also traumatize the kid, buttraumatizing one is better than traumatizing ten).
9. Behavioris the best judge of Character (book of proverbs) comment.
I agree. If the person sayssomething and does another, the person is not true, therefore not showing hisown character. And the person's also a hypocrite.
But we can find a popularcontradiction between the people that say something, but do another. I watchedan anti-smoking campaign video. There, a kid would go up to an adult who’s smokingand ask for a cigarette. The adults said “no, you can’t smoke because it willdamage your body”. But they were smoking and they were damaging their body. Sothat was a kind of self-contradiction on them.
Behavior determines your imagery onother people. If you don’t do your homework, people are going to think that you’reirresponsible, even though you make inexcusable excuses for yourself. If you goaround gossiping about everyone people are going to think that you’re stupidand only mid about other people, even though you are actually more intelligentthan them.
I know a girl that tells some thingsthat makes me scared of having children. She tells stories about her bullyingother girls, getting in fights with some girls at her school, cursing theirteachers, getting bad grades, going to nightclubs and getting drunk, gettinghome at 4 in the morning, and some things you will get relieved you don’t havea daughter to take care. She doesn’t tell me about her time with her parents,and I know that there is a side of her that’s still innocent, but I can’t helpjudging her to the bad side. I know I’m making a contradiction in here, so Ithink that sometimes behavior is really the best judge of character, butsometimes is not.
10. Isthere such a thing as "normal"? How do you define it?
Yes, but the normal is different ineach person's mind (abstract), and the normal can be physical. For example, anormal person is different from people. They create a person close to theirreality, like something similar to a clone. A poor person might define a normalperson as someone who lives in a small house, lives a lesserlifestyle than a richer person. However, a physical normal is, for example, abeach. If you told people around the world to draw a beach, they would draw abunch of sand and water.
I define it, as I told before, of aperson close to my reality and my background. A normal Brazilian would speak alittle of very bad English and an improvised Portunhol, would watch stupidGlobo channel programs, would have access to internet, eat three or more mealsa day, etc.
11. Excuses will not suffice, make it happen!Comment.
I agree. I try to excuse myself when I don’t do a homework I was supposedto do, but I know that I had the opportunity to do it, and I had to do it. Sothere are no actual excuses when I didn’t do the homework (or maybe there is. Ican’t think of an example). I see some really bad excuses, like people notgoing to the Church because they have to study. They could study at Saturday orat Sunday afternoon, but they just say that they have to study. I think that’sreally stupid, and the person just wants to show off.
12. What ifstudents learn more quickly on their own, working in teams, than in a classroomwith a teacher? What if tests and discipline get in the way of the learningprocess rather than accelerate it?
I think that grades don’t really mean anything. Because now, there’s ateacher in Math class that doesn’t speak English well, and she doesn’t reallyteach us anything. But I still have an A+. I didn’t even do my homework twice,but I have a maximum grade on Work Habits. Also, tests don’t show that youactually learned the subject, because you could make a silly mistake and getthe answer wrong. Test measure your capability of memorizing things, ratherthan learning it. Those two words are very similar, but they’re different. Memorizingit is just mechanically do it, while learning it is knowing how to do it. Somestudents lose their motivations because of their bad grades, making them thinkthat they’re stupid, but they’re actually not. I think that to have anaccelerated learning, the teacher should really explain it well. And theteacher should even show how it relates to the real life and show somerealistic real life examples.
13. Surrogate offered $10, 000 to abort baby. Whatshould she do?
In the first place, the thing offertilizing in vitro and having aperson bear the baby for them shouldn’t have happened. They could just adopt ababy or something. But they were selfish and didn’t think of the children thatcould have their lives changed by that couple. And now, they’re causing thistrouble.
Well, I think that making the couplekeeping the baby will cause them to mistreat the child and even further,torturing the child. And the woman who had the baby can’t keep it, because it’snot technically her child. I went surprised when I saw the baby’s physicaldeficiency. It was just a gap between the two sides of the upper lip. Thedoctors could fix it, since the deforming is pretty common. But I think thatthe parents may have some psychological problem, because they don’t want theirbaby just because of the deforming. So the woman did well when keeping the baby,and I think she probably will have to keep him/her.
14.Whose words inspire you?
Words of wise people inspire me. Andbooks. I don't know where I heard it, but there is a phrase that keeps me fromsaying bad things: "why do you speak words that you know are going toharm?” I probably read it from a book of a woman that raised Gandhi. But I’mnot sure. There was also a part where she said that when she moved to a poorvillage, she kept the family's best clothes and wore less-quality clothes toassimilate to the poor people in the village, so she wouldn't humiliate them inthe new-year day. And that was amazing and made me regret and feel sorry forthe people that wasn't as rich as I was.
I've read many wonderfully inspiringbooks, but I can't remember every single one of them, because I read too much.
I remember one book, "The KiteRunner", when the guy's father says that if you kill a person, you'restealing the right to live. And when you lie to a person, you're stealing theright to know the truth.
15. Isthere such a thing as a warrior code?
I think that this is a very goodidea and that there is a thing such as a warrior code. One thing I find stupidis that people from a certain country become enemies with another just becausetheir government is fighting each other. People can still be friends even whentheir families are enemies. I think that instead of war, governments shouldtake their time, make a meeting and negotiate as best as possible for as muchas time they need.
But if there is a war, yes, the warriorcode is valid. It’s just like a fight between little siblings and their momscolding one telling him he can’t use a knife when fighting (that reallyhappened when me and my brother fought. My mom grounded him because he broughta kitchen knife to stab me. But he was just a kid). The war itself is ahorrible thing, but the warrior code is just to keep the soldiers from beingmore horrible than war. My grandfather and probably the grandfathers from allof the Korean kids nowadays have taken part on the war, and they suffered verymuch from the war. Using bioweapons is like cheating. They can’t do that.
16. Shouldthere be the option of having a woman as a Pope?
Yes, but it's not a good idea sincethe catholic church is very conservative. It would raisethousands of protests against a feminine leader in church. And since there isno one protesting against men being pope, I think the situations is better likethis.
17. Do you know when you’recheating?
I think I know when I’mcheating, but I don’t exactly know I’m cheating too. For example, the 10thgraders have a study group that we post things that might help us during thetest, like flashcards that we created, summaries, and things that we have tostudy for the test. But in my opinion, that’s not cheating. That’s justcollaborating and helping each other. But I seriously don’t know to cheat onFacebook. I get so nervous when I’m going to cheat that I can’t do it. So that’sa kind of good.
Resumés
4/2/2013
Definitionof Conscience – pgs. 123~124
Conscience is not:
Majority opinion - some people say thatconscience is what the majority does. But for Christians, it is like givingup the personal responsibility for the crowd.
O Feeling- some people say that conscience is a criteria of what is right or wrongcreated by themselves and those apply only to themselves.
Superego - Sigmund Freud said thatconscience is a criteria of the right-or-wrong that we got from authorityfigures during our childhood, that was preserved in our growth and turned to beour moral values. We did that because we wanted to be approved by them.
Gut-instinct - some people say that if itfeels right, you have to do it. But Christian morality is not that simple.
“Jiminy Cricket” - some people, say thatconscience is a voice in your head, like a person living inside you and tellwhat to do.
Myth - some people say that conscience isa mythical concept created by religions to control people by making them guilty.
What conscience is
Conscience is thecriteria of what is right and wrong through morality.
Awareness of God’s call - is our secret privateplace with god. He can call us from there to be with him after we die.
God’s call to love - in short, is thebasic criteria of what is right and wrong. By doing what is right, we areresponding to god’s goodness.
Judgment of the intellect - since wealready know what is right and wrong, conscience keeps us in the “right” path,and makes us regret of our “bad” actions.
17/2/2013
How Conscience Works (Pgs.126 – 128)
Study, Elect, Execute, Review
Study
Christians should try to think indifferent ways about a situation in order to “discover the objective truth” andact right, and not be motivated by their point of view.
They should gather information of thesituation they’re in. What they are doing, why they ‘redoing, and in whatsituation they’re in (like STOP). They also have to think about theconsequences of their choices.
· They must make the most morally rightdecisions, take reference from their moral mentors, the Church and the Bible.
2. Elect
· After Catholics think about all thedecisions they can make, they must choose the one that is mostly related toGod’s purpose for them on Earth.
· They must pray to get help from him inorder to get the best choice (like the P from STOP)
· After they pray, they must pay attention,because god might be trying to talk to them through situations, emotions,memories, etc.
3. Execute
· As the word already tells, Catholics mustconvert their thoughts to action. And the must do what their conscience saysit’s right. If they don’t do so, they sin.
· “Bean actor, not a reactor”: this is aquote from the book to tell them how they should act. They should be on thecontrol of their emotions and actions.
· People that have conscience do what theirconscience tells them to do.
4. Review
· After an action is made, it has to bereviewed. It must be evaluated and reflected.
· Inaction done right will make conscienceclear, and otherwise will cause a guilty conscience.
· Many saints said that it’s good to examinethe whole day: see what has done right, and done wrong.
Mr., I slightly disagree with thetextbook. It puts too much god and god on this, god on that. I think that theconscience works fine without god too. But I agree a little with the process. Ialso think that this books is a somewhat badly written, because it says thatpeople should reactors, instead of reactors. But actors are ones who act things;pretend they’re something different from their reality, and not someone thathas full control over themselves. Doctors are like that too. And policemen, andeven thieves. When the book used the “actor”, it reminded me of hypocrites.Hypocrite, from the Greek word hipokrités, meansactor. But the Church condemns hypocrites, so we can say that the book used apoor example just to make a little “funny” pun.
The seven deadly sins
Pride
Is excessive belief inone's own abilities, which interferes with the individual's recognitions of thegrade of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride isalso known as vanity.
Greed
Is thedesire for material earn. Makes us ignore the realm of the spiritual l it isalso called avarice or covetousness.
Envy
Is the desire forother's traits, status, abilities or situation. You think that other people arebetter than you are. However, you're not inferior to them, neither they'resuperior.
Gluttony
Is an inordinate desireto consume more than that which one requires. It is related to food andalcohol. We must be careful to not commit it, because it is the closest sin tous.
Anger
Is the manifested in theindividual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known aswrath. It is a very dangerous sin.
Lust
Is an inordinate cravingfor the pleasures of the body. It can also ruin your life, because it can getyou pregnant if you're a woman. You need a great deal of responsibility to facethe consequences of this sin.
Sloth
Is the avoidance ofphysical or spiritual work. It is also a very close sin to us. We need muchcourage to avoid it.
25/3/2013
Should there be the option of having a woman as a Pope?
Yes, but it's not a good idea since the catholic church is very conservative.
Lst question
Tink of a challenging situation that you might handle d ifferentky now t ban when you first confronted it
I think i would've acted Ifferently when my grandfather died.
1. Pride - because people think that they're better than some people and that's wrong
2. Not a sin
3. Greed - because people are too attached to their posessions and they don't shant to give it away
4. Not a sin
5. Greed - they're not thinking about its workers, only their money.
6. Not a sin
7. Pride - they don't understand the differences of the genders, and that they have to be respected, not deprived.
8. Sloth - the government don't want to think about it, because it would be too much work
9. Gluttony - people are taking too much things that it's going to hurt them.
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