The Power Of Paying Attention
According to Peggy Ramin in the This I Believe essay “Learning To Listen” listening and hearing other is the key to happiness and fulfillment. Many people speak without listening just so others could listen but when you listen to these people speaking you have to focus yourself into a certain position where you would be able to give back positive feedback to your speaker. According to Peggy “I believe that a person should know when to close her mouth, sit back, and focus on someone else. I believe in listening.” I agree with many points that peggy focus’ on due to the fact that I have been through some of them before.


       In my opinion I agree with what Peggy had to say in the essay. She had many personal and emotional points she spoke on to make the reader feel closer to the writer. When you're speaking you deserve the right to speak and be listened to even if you dislike the person. I agree with this topic because not many people who are going through issues want to interrupt someone just because they aren't listening and want correct feedback. Peggy is a Native Marylander which is currently living and working in Manhattan forThe New York Civil Liberties Union.

     According to Peggy Ramin in the essay “Learning To Listen” listening and hearing other is the key to happiness and fulfillment. Peggy volunteered at a HIV+ clinic where the patients would go and talk to people so they would talk to her and all she did was listen and give her advice when she needed to. Peggy went from a very violent and confrontational environment with her family to this very peaceful and sad place where the patients would tell their stories and welcome Peggy into their heart. Peggy said “I might have missed the moment a little girl at one of Noah’s community centers, orphaned at the tender age of three, whispered after a long silence, “I love you.” I might have missed that, had I not learned to listen.” This part of the essay really captured my heart and made me smile because it proved that they cared dearly for her.

    I believe that a person should know when to close her mouth, sit back, and focus on someone else. This is a concept I understand and will continue to understand for as long as I remember. In conclusion, this essay helped me understand what the difference between hearing and listening is.

Lust for the media

We allow the media to make or break our lives. Now a days we let the media persuade us into trying to immitate what we see. For example in doll face was a video of a thing watching tv and extending herself to look at the tv and to keep trying to look like the person on the tv. In the dove video what i found remarkable was that all the people that were asked to define their looks thought they were uglier than they actually were then they were asked to interact with other people and then the other people were asked to describe the person. When the first person described herself she saw that she was actually describing herself uglier than she actually was. When the second person they met described them the picture actually looked like her. This video made me sad because of the fact that we all think different of ourselves than what others think of us. If we think we're ugly other people most likely think were beautiful. I think that would have totally boosted my self esteem by watching someone describe me and having a proffessional illustrator draw what they hear. I think these kind of topics should be talked about in schools because these are the kinds of topics that could boost your self esteem. If i would have seen this in middle school i wouldn't try so hard to fit in with society i would just be myself( not saying that im not myself i just am in a more media inspired way). I believe if we would take the time to teach and inform the younger generation about this situation we would have a better country/nation because people wouldn't be so caught up in the social media and would actually do their part to be successful in life. Things like this really get me inspired and makes me wish someone would take action to this matter to help make everything better because if our generation was taught this we probably wouldn't be in this economical difficulty. We probably would be having a Government Shutdown right now and we would probably all be living better. As you can see the smallest matter such as media and television impacts on society could leave a big imprint on the way we live now as a society.

What would you wear ?

I don’t believe it is okay to dress like other cultures as costumes because some might find it disrespectful. If I saw someone dressed up imitating my culture I know for a fact I would be upset and probably angry about it because its disrespect and it’s like they aren’t respecting who you are and where you came from so why shouldn’t I beat the living shit out of you. This is a big reason why crime rates and violence is high on Halloween because people our age go out and get drunk then see something they don’t like about someone’s costume and begin picking fights. I have friends who are really prideful in their culture and are extremely proud to be Mexican so if they were to see that kind of disrespect towards our culture then there would probably be a blood bath. If you’re choosing a costume you should know if it is appropriate or not, just because it is cute or sexy doesn’t mean it’s appropriate. Many sexy and cute costumes are not appropriate because of cultural matters and also because of things going on in everyday life that might offend others. For example, party city pulled off of their walls an Osama Bin Laden “Replica Costume”, due to cultural disrespect. This costume came with a turban, a white outfit, and a fake beard which also gave off a Muslim-like look. This costume set up awareness to the Muslim community and they became furious with rage. This product is now not on sale at any Party City store in the US.

I believe the costume video we watched in class made the best argument because you can actually relate to her because she targets every racist or inappropriate costume out on the streets. I also think the George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin costume raised awareness in the black and white community since this is a recent issue that is still being investigated since they don’t know what really went on. Another item used a lot in the fashion industry is the Bindi which is used in India and Southeast Asia. Bindi’s are mainly used by people from India and people from the Hindu religion or people who are studying the religion to learn more about the Hindu way of life. In celebrity cases many singers and actresses wear Bindi’s to follow a common trend being followed by young women who are addressed by the media. Many Indian people are taken offended by this fashion statement trend going on since it causes confusion and disrespect to the Hindu Culture. Another example which is the MOST commonly seen is people of the Caucasian race dressing and acting like they belong to the African American race. This is most commonly seen in the media by celebrities. For example, Miley Cyrus who was recently on the MTV Video Music Awards and was twerking on stage acting to belong to a race to whom she didn’t. Many called this act ratchet which is a new slang word most commonly used by teenagers which means scandalous. According to the Urban Dictionary which is a website used to define words that aren’t in the dictionary which are most commonly used for slang defines ratchet as “A diva, mostly from urban cities and ghettos, that has reason to believe she is every mans eye candy. Unfortunately, she's wrong.”

The Thick Dark Fog

In English class we watched a documentary called “The Thick Dark Fog.” The documentary was 

informational and it was about Native Americans who were taken from their families at young 

ages and were forced to forget their culture and become American. The American's motto was “Kill the 

Indian save the American.” The purpose of this wrongful doing was that they were trying to 

make everyone the same, stamp out Native culture and language. They were making a judgment 

saying their culture was better by brainwashing the young Native Americans. They were 

replacing their Native language and culture with the American way of life. 

Walter Littlemoon in the documentary was already of older age but he was still full of sadness about the loss 

of his culture and the wrong-doing of the American people. After a while at the boarding school 

16 miles away from where he lived, he forgot what who his mom was and what she looked like. 

His mother snuck into the boarding school to visit him, and he didn’t recognize her at all until she 

was walking away but that was too late because she was too far away already.

 In the boarding school they were punished for disobeying by withholding food and beat them. He was full 

of anger due to the fact that they were separating him from his family and making him learn a new 

way of life he was not a custom to. This was wrongful and harsh of  the American Government to do to 

Native American children. The children had nothing to do and were not asked to be in this matter. How 

would you like it if one day the government did this to your children?

What Failure Has Done To Me

Failure has played a big role in my life unfortunately. In high school I went through a rebel phase 

and decided to drop out of school. I decided it was more fun to go out every day, drink, party, 

and live it up. I was out of school for around 6 months and I realized I had made a mistake so 

that was a failure in my life.

 I went to charter school and I no longer have that failure in my 

life. Failure is a big deal in my mind because I never fail on what I put myself to do. I always 

succeed on everything I set my mind on and I achieve my goals. I believe there’s a certain type 

of motivation that makes you get back up or stay down like in the video we watched all the 

famous failures had the motivation to get up and better themselves for good and make something 

out of their life to prove to the people who said they couldn't that they did. Many people are 

ignorant and could care less what you're going through they just want to see you down and want 

to find a way to bring you down to fail but, don't give them the satisfaction of seeing you fail it's 

not worth it. 

I've been through it before and I got up for the better I want to become something 

in the future. I want to get myself out the hood and become successful in life. To achieve that I 

first have to go through things that will make me want it more and more and that will keep me 

fighting until I achieve what I want. I have what it takes to do what I put my mind to and my soul  

into Do you?