Some insights:
-Many people could live but health insurance companies deny care for them and they die
-Other countries have universal health care and do better than us and yet the U.S. refuses to switch to universal healthcare
-Death is hidden in hospital and separated from everything else
-Social norms around illness and dying
I think the sources that were the most helpful for me understanding the culture's dominant social practices around illness and dying have been: having Beth come in to talk to us, the Sicko movie, and just talking about ideas in class with other people. Beth helped me understand because it was her personal experience with sickness and dying with someone very close to her. I haven't had this experience so it helped me understand what it's like. The Sicko movie helped me understand how our country, government, and health insurance companies deal with sickness and dying. This helped me understand because it showed me what's happening in the bigger picture. And lastly just our discussions in class helped me because there were a lot of social norms around illness and dying that I didn't really think about and other students brought ideas up in my mind.
Some questions and areas I think are most important to explore in the final weeks of the unit are how the social norms around sickness and dying came to be. There has to be some reason why we have this certain way of dealing with sickness and and death so it would be interesting to see why people act like this when people are sick and dying. Also I would like to know how sickness and dying can be approached in a better way and how it can not be so separated from the society. I'm not really sure how we could explore these topics/questions though.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
HW 25
There are 50 million people in America without healthcare. That's not what this is about though. It's about people that DO have health insurance. Even people with healthcare are not getting the the medical care they need. The health insurance companies are corrupt, their aim is not to help the people but maximize profit. The companies will find any way they can to refuse care for a person in need, just so they don't have to spend money on you. Universal healthcare in other countries seems to work in every country that has it, but yet the U.S. government refuses to switch to universal healthcare. They use fear of communism as an excuse to stay away from universal healthcare and other things such as long waiting time for medical attention and doctors just being controlled by the government as excuses. There are many other parts of America that are already socialist but still healthcare hasn't changed even though some have tried.
A piece of evidence that Michael Moore used in the film was showing how Hilary Clinton tried to make the healthcare in the U.S. universal and failed. The government and healthcare companies created propaganda to scare people out of universal healthcare and it was successful. 100 MILLION dollars were spent to defeat Hilary Clinton's health care plan. Then it showed how she was highly criticized and pushed down into doing less significant things. She became the second largest recipient in the senate of health care industry contributions. I checked the facts and this was true. "According to Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks campaign finance filings, Clinton has received $781,112 in contributions from the health-care sector during the current election cycle, which makes her the No. 2 recipient of funds from that sector, behind only Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who received $977,354",(http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/12/news/newsmakers/healthcare_clinton/index.htm). This shows how the government and health care companies are corrupt because they'll do everything they can to keep the health care system the way it is.
Another piece of evidence used in the movie was that people in France (who have universal healthcare) can expect to live longer than people in America. Although there must be a lot of factors to this it can show how universal healthcare actually works and is better. I looked up the evidence and also found it was true. The average life expectancy is long for both males and females in France than they are in America. (Source:https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2102.html).
I liked this movie because although it may have over simplified things it made a lot of things more clear to me. It was another disappointing movie about America though. It didn't surprise me to see the corruption in the government and health care companies. This is because all these big powerful people are going to do all that they can to make as much money as possible. They don't really care about what's better for the people but what will make them more money. I think the part that really got to me the most was how other countries were so much better off. The universal health care seemed to work so well and overall I just felt like the people in the other countries cared about one another and looked out for each other where our country would just let those people that can't afford the expensive health care just die off. It kind of made me want to move to another country...
A piece of evidence that Michael Moore used in the film was showing how Hilary Clinton tried to make the healthcare in the U.S. universal and failed. The government and healthcare companies created propaganda to scare people out of universal healthcare and it was successful. 100 MILLION dollars were spent to defeat Hilary Clinton's health care plan. Then it showed how she was highly criticized and pushed down into doing less significant things. She became the second largest recipient in the senate of health care industry contributions. I checked the facts and this was true. "According to Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks campaign finance filings, Clinton has received $781,112 in contributions from the health-care sector during the current election cycle, which makes her the No. 2 recipient of funds from that sector, behind only Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who received $977,354",(http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/12/news/newsmakers/healthcare_clinton/index.htm). This shows how the government and health care companies are corrupt because they'll do everything they can to keep the health care system the way it is.
Another piece of evidence used in the movie was that people in France (who have universal healthcare) can expect to live longer than people in America. Although there must be a lot of factors to this it can show how universal healthcare actually works and is better. I looked up the evidence and also found it was true. The average life expectancy is long for both males and females in France than they are in America. (Source:https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2102.html).
I liked this movie because although it may have over simplified things it made a lot of things more clear to me. It was another disappointing movie about America though. It didn't surprise me to see the corruption in the government and health care companies. This is because all these big powerful people are going to do all that they can to make as much money as possible. They don't really care about what's better for the people but what will make them more money. I think the part that really got to me the most was how other countries were so much better off. The universal health care seemed to work so well and overall I just felt like the people in the other countries cared about one another and looked out for each other where our country would just let those people that can't afford the expensive health care just die off. It kind of made me want to move to another country...
Sunday, December 19, 2010
HW 24
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (1997)
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group; Random House Inc.
Precis:
Morrie is getting even closer to dying. He needs someone to wipe his ass now. Even though he's very independent, he still manages to not be embarrassed and has a positive view point about it. He tells Mitch how he doesn't mind aging because he has been all the younger ages already and as he gets older he gets more knowledge and understand life and death more.
Quotes:
"I'm an independent person, so my inclination was to fight all of this-being helped from the car, having someone else dress me. I felt a little ashamed, because our culture tells us we should be ashamed if we can't wipe our own behind."
"It's like going back to being a child again. Someone to bathe you. Someone to lift you. Someone to wipe you. We all know how to be a child . It's inside all of us. For me, it's just remembering how to enjoy it."
"Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country, Owing things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good... You can't substitue material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship."
Thoughts:
I think the ideas Morrie shares are very interesting and true. I noticed that most of them the answer to all of the problems is love. Also that society leads to a lot of the problems. I agree with this, I think because of this it makes it very hard to enjoy life and see things clearly. Society can brainwash people (as he says in the 3rd quote above) and you can easily get caught up in everyday life and basically sleepwalking around every day without experiencing life to the full extent. These things can make it almost impossible for someone to really enjoy life. We are automatically brought up in this mindset because of how society is shaped. The most important thing in someone's life is often related to money, you have to do well in school, so you can go to a good college, so you can get a good job, so you can make good money. But in my opinion money definitely is not the most important part of life. So what's the point?
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group; Random House Inc.
Precis:
Morrie is getting even closer to dying. He needs someone to wipe his ass now. Even though he's very independent, he still manages to not be embarrassed and has a positive view point about it. He tells Mitch how he doesn't mind aging because he has been all the younger ages already and as he gets older he gets more knowledge and understand life and death more.
Quotes:
"I'm an independent person, so my inclination was to fight all of this-being helped from the car, having someone else dress me. I felt a little ashamed, because our culture tells us we should be ashamed if we can't wipe our own behind."
"It's like going back to being a child again. Someone to bathe you. Someone to lift you. Someone to wipe you. We all know how to be a child . It's inside all of us. For me, it's just remembering how to enjoy it."
"Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country, Owing things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good... You can't substitue material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship."
Thoughts:
I think the ideas Morrie shares are very interesting and true. I noticed that most of them the answer to all of the problems is love. Also that society leads to a lot of the problems. I agree with this, I think because of this it makes it very hard to enjoy life and see things clearly. Society can brainwash people (as he says in the 3rd quote above) and you can easily get caught up in everyday life and basically sleepwalking around every day without experiencing life to the full extent. These things can make it almost impossible for someone to really enjoy life. We are automatically brought up in this mindset because of how society is shaped. The most important thing in someone's life is often related to money, you have to do well in school, so you can go to a good college, so you can get a good job, so you can make good money. But in my opinion money definitely is not the most important part of life. So what's the point?
Thursday, December 16, 2010
HW 23
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (1997)
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group; Random House Inc.
Precis:
Mitch is visiting Morrie every Tuesday. He has to travel very far. He is recording the conversations and becoming closer to Morrie. Morrie is giving him a lot of insights on life and death. He talks about how people aren't actually living and fully experiencing the world and looking at their lives as a whole. Mitch is starting to realize problems in his life and question certain decisions he made in his life.
Quotes:
"Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."
"'Most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.'"
"He nodded toward the window with the sunshine streaming in. 'You see that?' You can go out there, outside, anytime. You can run up and down the block and go crazy. I can't do that. I can't go out. I can't run. I can't be out there without fear of getting sick. But you know what? I appreciate that window more than you do'".
Thoughts:
I think that this book is very true and I can relate to a lot of the things mentioned. For example the second quote. I think this is 100% true, I feel like very little of the people in the world are fully experiencing the world and life. But it made me wonder is it possible. People can't just drop their jobs and do whatever they want because they need their jobs for money because mostly everything revolves around money. The book is making me want to live differently but I'm not really sure how and I realize how easy it is to get caught up in every day life opposed to looking at life as a whole.
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group; Random House Inc.
Precis:
Mitch is visiting Morrie every Tuesday. He has to travel very far. He is recording the conversations and becoming closer to Morrie. Morrie is giving him a lot of insights on life and death. He talks about how people aren't actually living and fully experiencing the world and looking at their lives as a whole. Mitch is starting to realize problems in his life and question certain decisions he made in his life.
Quotes:
"Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."
"'Most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.'"
"He nodded toward the window with the sunshine streaming in. 'You see that?' You can go out there, outside, anytime. You can run up and down the block and go crazy. I can't do that. I can't go out. I can't run. I can't be out there without fear of getting sick. But you know what? I appreciate that window more than you do'".
Thoughts:
I think that this book is very true and I can relate to a lot of the things mentioned. For example the second quote. I think this is 100% true, I feel like very little of the people in the world are fully experiencing the world and life. But it made me wonder is it possible. People can't just drop their jobs and do whatever they want because they need their jobs for money because mostly everything revolves around money. The book is making me want to live differently but I'm not really sure how and I realize how easy it is to get caught up in every day life opposed to looking at life as a whole.
HW 21B
My comments posted on others:
Sophia,
Niiiice. I really liked how you explained thoroughly what your views on a hospice was before and how Beth brought you to a different realization/view of hospices opposed to dying at home. You made a strong connection to your father's story and about this "still feeling" there is when someone dies. I like the idea of having some type of closure and not wanting to die in an accident or in a sudden.
Elizabeth,
Niiiiiiice. It was beautifully written. You did really well analyzing the insights Beth gave us on a deeper level. I thought it was good that you connected back to your own experiences in the second paragraph. My favorite part of your post was "And left me personally with these words ringing in my ear, "The only way to not be hurt by death is to die first"." I thought this was written beautifully and it is a strong statement that also stuck with me.
Chris,
Niiiiiice. I like how you went deeper into what Beth said in the 2nd paragraph... "Personally if I was being introduced to someone while I was in one of the worse states in my life, I wouldn’t be want to be viewed by my lowest moment, just like Beth tried to do I would want to be loved for the things I have done, the people I have help, and anything I have helped created." I really liked this part because I completely agree and I think it is easy to easily get labeled as a disease. I also think you make a really good point in the last paragraph because I felt like everyone knew it was his last 10 days but it's not like he "had an expiration date" like you said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments posted on my post:
Sophia-
I liked this part, because you used things associated with a hospital to describe it, as opposed to only descriptive words:
"It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place. Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die."
You could have expanded on why you thought home seemed more comfortable, but other then that, the whole paragraph was really good.
Chris-
Hey Burt,
I think that the strongest paragraph you have in this was the second paragraph. In that short paragraph I think you stated something that not many people have stated in their blogs and it is one of the most key pieces to what was being said by Beth. You mentioned that we normally don't see people die. I think this was the beginning of a really good paragraph but you failed to make a follow up statement about this. I think your work could have been much better if you would have talked about this more or staying home helping someone more considering that you said it was something that jumped out to you immediately. Posing some questions and trying to dig deeper is something that I really encourage you to do for the remainder of the blog post. Also you seem to answer the questions pretty well but the questions do say compare and contrast the insights that you have and I would like to see how some of what you think. Then for the questions you do ask, I feel like some of these could have been questions that you tried to answer when you talk about other things in the beginning of the post. So what you overall need to focus on for later is expanding on your ideas because they will probably be good, maybe adding in something from personal experience and making sure you compare and contrast your thoughts. Doing this will completely answer the homework question.
Elizabeth-
Jasper,
This was a very nice, thoughtful post. I enjoyed how the last paragraph was full of insightful questions that would leave the reader thinking; not only about Erik's death, but of the overall picture of society's way of dealing with illness and dying.
What I think you could improve on is the beauty/grammar. This is just my personal opinion, but I think that grammar can be quite beautiful; adding semi-colons or commas here and there can make a piece look and flow beautifully.
There are a few places where I wanted to sneak in commas and semicolons or switch words around. Here is an example:
"It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place".
I would have changed that to:
"It just seemed much more peaceful being at home, as opposed to the ___(add adjectives here) hospital; an isolated place full of doctors wearing white coats and carrying note pads.
By changing around words in sentences and adding more punctuation (but not TOO much punctuation), you can create a beautifully flowing piece that will hit the reader even harder than it already did.
-Cecilia (Mom) comment
"Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die." I agree and it was not that long ago when it was common for families to take care of older people. Houses were bigger and it was common for grandparents to move in with the family if they became lonely and could not take care of themselves. They died at home with their family around them. Women stayed home so there was always someone there. Today women must work and it may very difficult to have someone at home and care for them during sickness and dying. You can further develop this idea and compare care of old people today and how both people in a couple are forced to work today to cover cost of living and care for elderly or sick.
Sophia,
Niiiice. I really liked how you explained thoroughly what your views on a hospice was before and how Beth brought you to a different realization/view of hospices opposed to dying at home. You made a strong connection to your father's story and about this "still feeling" there is when someone dies. I like the idea of having some type of closure and not wanting to die in an accident or in a sudden.
Elizabeth,
Niiiiiiice. It was beautifully written. You did really well analyzing the insights Beth gave us on a deeper level. I thought it was good that you connected back to your own experiences in the second paragraph. My favorite part of your post was "And left me personally with these words ringing in my ear, "The only way to not be hurt by death is to die first"." I thought this was written beautifully and it is a strong statement that also stuck with me.
Chris,
Niiiiiice. I like how you went deeper into what Beth said in the 2nd paragraph... "Personally if I was being introduced to someone while I was in one of the worse states in my life, I wouldn’t be want to be viewed by my lowest moment, just like Beth tried to do I would want to be loved for the things I have done, the people I have help, and anything I have helped created." I really liked this part because I completely agree and I think it is easy to easily get labeled as a disease. I also think you make a really good point in the last paragraph because I felt like everyone knew it was his last 10 days but it's not like he "had an expiration date" like you said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments posted on my post:
Sophia-
I liked this part, because you used things associated with a hospital to describe it, as opposed to only descriptive words:
"It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place. Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die."
You could have expanded on why you thought home seemed more comfortable, but other then that, the whole paragraph was really good.
Chris-
Hey Burt,
I think that the strongest paragraph you have in this was the second paragraph. In that short paragraph I think you stated something that not many people have stated in their blogs and it is one of the most key pieces to what was being said by Beth. You mentioned that we normally don't see people die. I think this was the beginning of a really good paragraph but you failed to make a follow up statement about this. I think your work could have been much better if you would have talked about this more or staying home helping someone more considering that you said it was something that jumped out to you immediately. Posing some questions and trying to dig deeper is something that I really encourage you to do for the remainder of the blog post. Also you seem to answer the questions pretty well but the questions do say compare and contrast the insights that you have and I would like to see how some of what you think. Then for the questions you do ask, I feel like some of these could have been questions that you tried to answer when you talk about other things in the beginning of the post. So what you overall need to focus on for later is expanding on your ideas because they will probably be good, maybe adding in something from personal experience and making sure you compare and contrast your thoughts. Doing this will completely answer the homework question.
Elizabeth-
Jasper,
This was a very nice, thoughtful post. I enjoyed how the last paragraph was full of insightful questions that would leave the reader thinking; not only about Erik's death, but of the overall picture of society's way of dealing with illness and dying.
What I think you could improve on is the beauty/grammar. This is just my personal opinion, but I think that grammar can be quite beautiful; adding semi-colons or commas here and there can make a piece look and flow beautifully.
There are a few places where I wanted to sneak in commas and semicolons or switch words around. Here is an example:
"It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place".
I would have changed that to:
"It just seemed much more peaceful being at home, as opposed to the ___(add adjectives here) hospital; an isolated place full of doctors wearing white coats and carrying note pads.
By changing around words in sentences and adding more punctuation (but not TOO much punctuation), you can create a beautifully flowing piece that will hit the reader even harder than it already did.
-Cecilia (Mom) comment
"Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die." I agree and it was not that long ago when it was common for families to take care of older people. Houses were bigger and it was common for grandparents to move in with the family if they became lonely and could not take care of themselves. They died at home with their family around them. Women stayed home so there was always someone there. Today women must work and it may very difficult to have someone at home and care for them during sickness and dying. You can further develop this idea and compare care of old people today and how both people in a couple are forced to work today to cover cost of living and care for elderly or sick.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
HW 22
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (1997)
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group; Random House Inc.
Precis:
Mitch became very connected to Morrie during college. But he easily lost contact with him after college and forgot about him. He had his first experience with death, his uncle whom he always looked up to got sick and died at a young age. This changed Mitch's life and he wasn't really sure how to go about life if he could just get sick and die any time. Then he heard about Morrie on TV and saw a special on the news about him, and he went to go visit Morrie and his last lesson began.
Quotes:
"After the funeral, my life changed. I felt as if time were suddenly precious, water going down an open drain, and I could not move quickly enough."
"Instead, I buried myself in accomplishments, because with accomplishments, I believed I could control things, I could squeeze every last piece of happiness before I got sick and died, like my uncle before me, which I figured was my natural fate."
"When all this started, I asked myself, 'Am I going to withdraw myself from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?' I decided I am going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure."
Response:
I think this book is interesting so far even though I haven't got very deep in. I have made a few connections to the book. I have felt some of the feelings for example the feeling described in the first quote. I also think the book portrays some of the social norms when it comes to illness and dying for example Morrie talks about how usually people are embarrassed when they are dying and they withdraw themselves from the world before they even die. Also the fact that people get together and talk about the good things and memories and about someones life after they die so they're not there to hear it that's why Morrie decided to have a celebration of his life before he died so he could be there to hear everything.
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group; Random House Inc.
Precis:
Mitch became very connected to Morrie during college. But he easily lost contact with him after college and forgot about him. He had his first experience with death, his uncle whom he always looked up to got sick and died at a young age. This changed Mitch's life and he wasn't really sure how to go about life if he could just get sick and die any time. Then he heard about Morrie on TV and saw a special on the news about him, and he went to go visit Morrie and his last lesson began.
Quotes:
"After the funeral, my life changed. I felt as if time were suddenly precious, water going down an open drain, and I could not move quickly enough."
"Instead, I buried myself in accomplishments, because with accomplishments, I believed I could control things, I could squeeze every last piece of happiness before I got sick and died, like my uncle before me, which I figured was my natural fate."
"When all this started, I asked myself, 'Am I going to withdraw myself from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?' I decided I am going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure."
Response:
I think this book is interesting so far even though I haven't got very deep in. I have made a few connections to the book. I have felt some of the feelings for example the feeling described in the first quote. I also think the book portrays some of the social norms when it comes to illness and dying for example Morrie talks about how usually people are embarrassed when they are dying and they withdraw themselves from the world before they even die. Also the fact that people get together and talk about the good things and memories and about someones life after they die so they're not there to hear it that's why Morrie decided to have a celebration of his life before he died so he could be there to hear everything.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
HW 21
Some insights:
-Death is something that is distant and we are separated from it
-The last 10 days of her husbands life were some of the best days of their marriage
-Telling her husband to let go
-Taking care of her dying husband opposed to having him in the hospital
-It was not peaceful when her husband was dying like they show it in movies and his looks drastically changed
-She accepted that Erik was going to die
The fact that Beth took care of her husband at home with no help stood out to me immediately. Prior to this I had never heard of anyone doing that, usually someone dying is kept in the hospital. I totally agreed with this decision she made, if I had a dying family member I would want to do the same thing. It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place. Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die. I know I would much rather die at home.
Another insight was that we are separated from death in our society. I never really thought about this at all. I guess because it has always been normal to me that we're disconnected from death. It has become normal to put someone in a hospital behind closed curtains isolated from the everything. You don't see people die. The person is dying in this unfamiliar uncomfortable place with people they don't know maybe a couple family members.
There are so many questions I still have. How can you accept the fact that someone you love is dying? What do you say to someone during their last days? Is there anything that can really put you at peace? I haven't had much experience with death but I just don't know how people cope with losing people. I also was wondering about our society. How did it become that death is so separated from everyone? Also I was wondering why do they show death differently in movies than it actually is? Why is it covered up and changed so much?
-Death is something that is distant and we are separated from it
-The last 10 days of her husbands life were some of the best days of their marriage
-Telling her husband to let go
-Taking care of her dying husband opposed to having him in the hospital
-It was not peaceful when her husband was dying like they show it in movies and his looks drastically changed
-She accepted that Erik was going to die
The fact that Beth took care of her husband at home with no help stood out to me immediately. Prior to this I had never heard of anyone doing that, usually someone dying is kept in the hospital. I totally agreed with this decision she made, if I had a dying family member I would want to do the same thing. It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place. Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die. I know I would much rather die at home.
Another insight was that we are separated from death in our society. I never really thought about this at all. I guess because it has always been normal to me that we're disconnected from death. It has become normal to put someone in a hospital behind closed curtains isolated from the everything. You don't see people die. The person is dying in this unfamiliar uncomfortable place with people they don't know maybe a couple family members.
There are so many questions I still have. How can you accept the fact that someone you love is dying? What do you say to someone during their last days? Is there anything that can really put you at peace? I haven't had much experience with death but I just don't know how people cope with losing people. I also was wondering about our society. How did it become that death is so separated from everyone? Also I was wondering why do they show death differently in movies than it actually is? Why is it covered up and changed so much?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
HW 19
My beliefs that my parents were more towards the holistic way of dealing with illness was correct. Both my parents have the same approach to dealing with illness. My mom said that your body is designed to fight off sickness, so a lot of the times people will take medicine when they don't even need it. Instead of taking Tylenol cold pills you can rest and do other things to get rid of a cold. There are many home remedy things my parents tell me to do for example gargling hot salt water when you have a sore throat, putting Vicks in boiling water and put a towel over your head and breath it in to clear your sinuses, and drinking tea with honey. This was how they were brought up, both of my parents said that it was very seldom that they went to the doctors only if they were really sick. Another point they made was that they respect antibiotics and how well they work but when you take medicine so much your body becomes resistant to the drug and your bodies natural defense system gets weaker, so if you take it less it will be more effective when you take it and your body can fight sickness off better when you don't take medicine.
I think one thing that changed from their time to now is that now people always want to see a specialist for something. This is an overlap from my parents time to now that I noticed. I think people need to let their bodies deal with things by themselves, opposed to depending on a drug to fight off sickness. My mom said that she and my father are like this in general they like to figure out things themselves and not always just go to someone else.
I also connected this to the last unit and fastfood. I think that in our society people want everything to be fast and easy. For example like with fastfood people want their food as fast as possible and cheap it's all about whats the fastest and easiest. So if people can take a couple pills and feel better fast they'll do that instead of staying home and getting more rest and doing things that are better for your body. I think this is wrong but I also understand the other side very much. If you have that option of taking medicine even if you know you don't necessarily need it, it's hard to turn that down. When I get a headache I automatically think to take a couple Advil pills. If you get a headache you can go lay down and rest but if you have the option to take a pill and keep doing what you were doing it is more convenient.
I think one thing that changed from their time to now is that now people always want to see a specialist for something. This is an overlap from my parents time to now that I noticed. I think people need to let their bodies deal with things by themselves, opposed to depending on a drug to fight off sickness. My mom said that she and my father are like this in general they like to figure out things themselves and not always just go to someone else.
I also connected this to the last unit and fastfood. I think that in our society people want everything to be fast and easy. For example like with fastfood people want their food as fast as possible and cheap it's all about whats the fastest and easiest. So if people can take a couple pills and feel better fast they'll do that instead of staying home and getting more rest and doing things that are better for your body. I think this is wrong but I also understand the other side very much. If you have that option of taking medicine even if you know you don't necessarily need it, it's hard to turn that down. When I get a headache I automatically think to take a couple Advil pills. If you get a headache you can go lay down and rest but if you have the option to take a pill and keep doing what you were doing it is more convenient.
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