TSewell's blog

I’m a pretty open minded person, and believe everyone has the right to have their own opinion on anything. But I have read some of the opinions that people have on here. And I’m curious rather these are really what people truly believe in their hearts or is it all BS? At first I thought people was posting things to get more reads, and as a result get more points for the contest. But now the contest is over, and people are still posting things that when I read it I say to myself, "Are they serious?" I don’t wish to offend anyone, so I will not point out any of these posts. But am I the only one who feels this way? Are these people for real? I want to know everyone else’s opinion on this. Everyone’s honest opinion.

For my New Year’s Resolution I plan to get a job. Last years it was to look for a job and try to get one. I did that and failed miserably. I honestly did look for a job. I applied to Starbucks, blockbusters and several paces in the French Quarter. When I went to Hammond, LA., I tried to get work study, but everything they had were booked up and required me to work at night. When would I had slept? I think I did I that I could had this year. But now a new year is rolling in, and I need a job more then ever. I would rather hold off on the job and have school six days a week, so I could finish as soon as possible, but bank account is shrinking. It’s already down to three numbers. I could barely afford a plane ticket home. I really need a job. This year instead of waiting for call backs, I will call and harass as many people as I have to. I will call so much that they will either give me a job and get a restraining order.

I have never been bowling until about a week ago. I never even wanted to. But can’t get over the surprising reactions I receive when I tell people I have never bowled. My parents was even surprised. I blame them. It’s not my fault they never took me. They opt to go to fancy restaurants, museums, symphonies, operas, and picnics. They never learned to ride a bike until I was 12 or jump rope until I was 14. I had a very unconventional upbringing. I enjoyed hanging out with my parents and their friends more than other children.

Recently, and also not so recently, I have noticed that people like to "attack" each other on ProgressiveU. I find this very amusing and entertaining. I find myself going to a post and seeing tons of slander toward another people. I read the whole thing (like an idiot), and find myself wanted to egg these people on so I can have more entertainment, but I don’t (I’m more grown up than that). I can almost imagine these people in real life fighting it out, and that’s what makes it so amusing. But I wonder, if these people really did met in person, would they say the same stuff to them in person? Would they go up to them and say "this is what I think of you." I hope I will continued to be amused.

Black people claim to be a minority. Immigrants claim to be minority. But this is not the case. Children are the minority. They are the ones thought of less. They have no rights and no freedom. They are not even guaranteed a decent education. They are not protected from being physical, emotional, or sexually abused. They have to rely 100% on their parents, even if their parents are doing nothing for them. They can’t get a job to feed themselves, if their parents don’t. People steps over them as if they do not exist. If this was not the case, why are the school systems so screwed up? Why doesn’t every child in America have health insurance? Why are children always being victimized? Why doesn’t the government do more to protect the children against all harm from anyone who would harm them? Why doesn’t the government do more to insure the children of America will have a bigger, brighter future?

Walmart claims they are rolling back their prices. I don’t see it. Do you? Just a few months ago I could get a small container of sour cream for $.50, now it’s $.58. I could get a bottle of Clorox 2 for $3.50, now it’s about $5. I could get glade air freshener fro $.97, now it’s $1.07. Dr. Thunder soda was $.50, now it’s $.58. About 2 weeks ago I went to walmart and got some Calgone body spray fro about $3, I went back and the price went up to over $5. Chef Boyarde has gone up by about $.5. They have a big campaign about lowering prices in their store, but the things that I buy seem to be going up. Maybe they should tell us they are lowering the prices on some things at the expense of raising them on others. If seems that many of the walmart brands are what is going up. If anything they should be the prices going down. Is this going on everywhere, or is it because I live in New Orleans?

On a field trip in elementary school our class went to a museum. We took this trip at least once every year. I was so excited to go. It had a ton of things to do. We learned how to be observant, saw many displays, watched many films, and played in a science themed area. And even dug for dinosaur bones outside. Toward the end of the day while looking at a display something caught my eye. It was a baby in a jar. The tag on it said it was an aborted fetus. It looked exactly like normal a baby just smaller. I stared at it for a long time. I thought does this baby’s parents know their child is on display in a museum, and do the parents of this baby miss it. Now I know this baby was probably considered medical waste and the parents did not care about it. Instead of being thrown in the trash, it was put in a museum. I have no idea what the baby was doing in this museum. It was just in a room with other random things. Should this baby be in a museum? Is this morally correct?

I have been hearing a lot of things about the troops in Iraq. I hear they are raping little girls, killing innocent people and doing other unscrupulous things. I hear this, and I get reminded of stories I have heard from Vietnam vets. Things like this occurred in Iraq. I was told by one of my teachers, who did not participate in any of the horrors that he witnesses, that when he was in Vietnam, no one wanted to be there, and he could see some of the soldiers going crazy. He told me how he had become friends with people he had trained with, and they all went to Vietnam together. They were all seemingly normal, but my teacher said that the war began to have a bad effect on all of them. Some in more horrible ways then others. He said for him, he stopped sleeping completely, and began to have hallucination. He said some men, or should I say boys, contemplated wounding themselves so they could go home. Some begin to talk to people that was not there, some were friends who were killed. This was some of the more "normal" behavior my teacher witnessed. He said the worse was when they would raid villages and kill innocent people. I asked him why they would do it. He said they were told to do it. He said he witnessed the rape of children that haunted him forever. He said when he met these men they were normal, sane people, but it was like fearing for your life and being someone you didn’t want to, did something bad to people. It drove them crazy. I asked him about the Oliver Stone film, Platoon. He said it was quite accurate to some of the things he saw. He is not the only person to have told me some of the horrible things that happened it Vietnam. But now that I am hearing similar stories about Iraq, I am beginning to wonder. Are the troops going through the same thing the troops went through in Vietnam? Is Iraq becoming our generation’s Vietnam? I hear stories of troops wanting to come home, but not being able to. What if their atrocities are their way of finding a way to come home? They feel that is the only way? What if my teacher was right about war; that the fear of dying mixed with being somewhere you don’t want to be, can drive you crazy?