Perceptions of Heroes

People of the United States and likely elsewhere across the world put shame upon the People’s Republic of China when it was discovered the young girl who appeared to be singing for the opening ceremony had only been lip syncing. The girl who was actually singing had been deemed not beautiful enough to represent the country. One became a heroine, the other became a “role model” for proper Chinese conduct. A similar shame should be relinquished to the United States. Students in China may sometimes blindly praise Mao Zedong (River Town by Peter Hessler), but in the U.S. students are taught to blindly believe in the goodness of past presidents. George Washington went from “chopping down a cherry tree” to perfect leader. There are other examples of false perceptions in the U.S. as well. Martin Luther King Jr. is appraised qualities of sainthood by the education system. Indeed his feats were great, but he also struggled at times too. In fact, the NAACP felt so strongly about perceptions that it determined who the heroine of the Civil Rights movement would be. Before Rosa Parks took a stand (or more literally, a seat) against racism, another woman took a similar action. The NAACP considered a legal challenge, but one problem arose: the woman was unmarried and pregnant (Soul of a Citizen by Paul Rogat Loeb).

Obama is Victorious

The United States has chosen. Barack Obama has promised change, and the people have given him the opportunity to fulfill his promise. VICTORY!!! USA USA USA!

I can’t believe Jesse Jackson cried after what he said about Obama. Maybe he was so angry, but tears should not come from a man who had such degrading words to say.

Patriotism

Is it okay to love another country?  In the United States, Patriotism is held as one of the most important values, and I do care deeply for my country. However, my experience living in Germany for three years and making friends with people from many other countries has lead me to a different point-of-view than the blind patriotism that prevails. I find it hard to dislike, let alone not care about a country that is the home of a friend. Maybe I would disagree with the way the government functions, or certain lifestyles that the people might adopt, but those apply to the United States as well. Then the argument that the U.S. adopts is that its freedom makes it worthy of the patriotism. But isn’t the love of a country an important basis for the willingness to improve that country? Of course it is not possible to actually love a country where one has never been, but there are a growing number of countries that I want to U.S. to have good relationships with; not just for the sake of the United States but for the sake of that country too.

Seizures

What I Learned From My First Reading Session about Seizures

• More than 2 million people in the U.S. have had seizures and/or been diagnosed with epilepsy
• The term seizure is a symptom
• If a seizure is not epileptic, or if a diagnosis is uncertain, it should be described as paroxysmal
• There are about 32 types of seizures
• aprox. 50% of seizures never have an identified cause; the other 50% are usually due to underlying diseases or injury of the brain
• Seizures limited to one portion of the brain are called partial seizures
• Most seizures last from 30 seconds to 2 minutes

For a fairly common ‘symptom’ very little is known about seizures. Understanding seizures better could improve the lifestyle of thousands of people. Equally important, it could decrease the amount of fear in people who suffer a seizure and are unsure of why it happened, if it will happen again, or when it could happen. Tests to search for underlying causes can also be quite time consuming and expensive, often including an EEG, CT scan, and an MRI. Each test can be very important in indentifying problems, but the quality of the tests do not seem to meet the needs of epilepsy/seizure patients since only 50% of the time a cause is identified.