Class Discussion 3/28/11

The ideas in class were very good on how to raise money.  I really like the idea with the waterslide/water balloons because we can make it an all day event.  If we have a bunch of booths with lemonade and such and a bunch of water activities, then it would be very enjoyable for people to come and donate.  It would be better to make this even very welcoming because it would intrigue the "audience" to donate and help out for the cause.  The bake sale is also a good idea, but in order to do that, I think we should get help from the cafeteria staff because cooking supplies could get really expensive and if we were doing a big bake sale, those numbers could really add up.  I'm definitely going to look up information on the water activities idea.  I can find somebody that has a tarp which i might know somebody who lives close to here and could help us out.  And i would have to contact a person in charge of a park nearby and see if it is available for a few hours of a day.  Water balloons can be bought and they aren't too expensive.  The only bad thing would be filling all of them up with water.  That takes a very long time and we would need some coolers to store them in, or buckets of some sort.  Either way, this whole event shouldn't be too much trouble to figure out and set up and it will be a lot of fun once we do!

Chapter 21

Chapter 21 is about the world wars and it is incredible to think of how many people died.  The book says there were an estimated 60 million deaths.  Six times the deaths in World War 1.  Not only were these soldiers, but more than half of them were civilians.  Those numbers alone make me lean towards the pro-peace side.  I feel like there is nothing anybody could do in this world that would make that many innocent civilians deserve death.  Part of me could understand a war, but only kill soldiers.  No innocent person deserves to die no matter what.  This leads me to discuss the bombing of Hiroshima.  It almost seemed unnecessary.  If you're going to kill innocent people, why not just shoot them?  Using an atomic bomb is miserable and would make death terrible.  Imagine being one of the people getting bombed and getting burned to death.  People think the holocaust makes Hitler so evil, but what about that bombing.  I'm not saying Hitler isn't evil, but this atomic bombing is extremely close to evil.  Another reason why I think war is not good, because of the long term effect it has on countries.  It caused horrific economic collapse in Europe and even the Holocaust messed things up, even though it was self inflicted.  All in all, reading this chapter makes me think war is not a good thing and peace should be promoted!

Chapter 20

Reading Chapter 20 made me realize what it was really like for some people who's land was being taken over.  The picture with the young black children with severed hands was crazy.  That wasn't too long ago but I'm sure it was very similar to stuff like that in the 1700's.  The impact religion has on the colonial era was surprising to me.  It says that 10,000 missionaries descended on Africa and only 50 years later 50 million Africans were of Christian identity.  It would be crazy if people tried to take over the United States. It feels like we are in an era where that can't happen.  I feel like American is well protected and somewhat invincible.  I wonder if people in Europe thought that before they got invaded.  I feel like all countries feel that way until the day comes when they get invaded or attacked.  I also find it interesting how people did not trust women in the colonial era.  Women might not be as dominant as men but they are just as smart and for the men not to trust the women on deciding who was good and who was bad is crazy.  And just because a person doesn't speak the same language as you doesn't mean they are an enemy.  Like Ms. Andrews said in class, they could be the same as we are.