Is Poverty a Choice?

Poverty: the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.

After reading the definition above, it's pretty safe to say that a person would not choose this way of living because they want to. It's always something that has been forced upon someone due to other circumstances, like a parent being laid off or fired. I find it odd that there are so many ways to move down in a social class quickly, yet moving up in a social class can take years and may never happen.

I was reminded of a quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I don't remember it exactly, but Malcolm said that he couldn't trust a government that penalizes a family, then punishes the same family for not being able to stand up under the extra pressure. It's evident in the welfare system. Families cannot survive on $65 every two weeks, along with cheese, butter, and powdered milk. I thought the point of welfare is to help a family get back on its feet, not keep them down even longer. Just because a family seems to possess something of monetary value doesn't mean they are able to handle themselves.

I think I strayed off-topic a bit, but the whole issue of poverty is crazy to me. I can't understand why a country can have such a huge poverty and wealth distribution issue, yet do almost nothing to fix it. It's not the family's choice to live in run-down projects infested with who-knows-what, barely any money, and almost no food. Usually, that is the government telling them what their choice is and there's only one: poverty or nothing.

Malcolm X and Dr. King: Parallel Pasts

We have been reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X for a little over a week now. It's quite clear that his views and ideals are a far cry from those of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. These two leaders' views have been compared and contrasted over the years. King promoted non-violence, while Malcolm promoted a violent revolution... or at least that's what's been said. I won't go into that.

Instead, I decided to find out how these men came to such conflicting views. The answer was their respective pasts.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: 
- Born in Atlanta, Georgia
- 2nd of three children
- Attended Booker T. Washington High School while growing up in Atlanta
- Skeptical of Christianity at first, doubting the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
- Later said that the Bible  has "many profound truths which one cannot escape" and decided to enter the seminary.
- A precocious student, skipping both the ninth and twelfth grades
- Entered Morehouse College at age fifteen, didn't formally graduate from high school
- Graduated with a B.A. in sociology four years later
- Attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania
- Graduated three years later, in 1951, with a Bachelor of Divinity degree
- Married Coretta Scott in 1953 and had four children
- Became pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in 1954 and began doctoral studies in systematic theology
- Received his Ph.D the next year

Sounds like a highly accomplished African-American man, especially at this time. He didn't partake in any illegal activities and was highly intelligent. How does this compare to Malcolm X? Well, let's see here...

Malcolm X: 
- Born in Omaha, Nebraska
- 4th of seven children
- Family threatened by Ku Klux Klan, relocated to Milwaukee, then Lansing in 1926
- Family frequently harassed in Lansing by Black Legion
- House burned down in 1929, father (Earl Little) accused Black Legion
- Earl killed by streetcar, police say he "slipped" onto the tracks
- Life insurance benefit substantially decreased to $18 a month, another issuer refused to pay and claimed suicide
- Mother (Louise Little) becomes pregnant again, committed to Kalamazoo State Hospital after nervous breakdown
- Children separated and sent to various foster homes
- Dropped out of high school after being told that practicing law was "no realistic goal for a n****r"
- Went to live with his half-sister in Roxbury at age 15
- Moved to Harlem in 1943
- Engaged in drug dealing, gambling, racketeering, robbery, and pimping
- Declared "mentally disqualified for military service"
- Returned to Boston in 1945 and embarked on a series of robberies targeting wealthy white families
- Arrested in 1946 while picking up a stolen watch from a jewelry repair shop
- Convicted, served an eight-to-ten year sentence
- Appetite for reading developed while in prison

Different, right? King never personally experienced the hardships that Malcolm seemed to face at every turn of his early life. King didn't have to steal to live and he wasn't put down by his teachers. Malcolm experienced everything that was wrong with the segregated society of that time and felt that it needed drastic changes. If white people were so violent and hostile towards him and other blacks, why shouldn't their revolution be just the same?

Album/Track Review

For my track review, I decided to use a song my mom recommended to me. It's by George Michael and it's called "Praying for Time".

The song is from 1990, but the lyrics could easily be applied to 2012 and all the issues we're dealing with now. The fiscal cliff, recent shootings, the general unrest among society in America, etc. all relate to this song.

It would take forever to show all the comparisons so I'll just highlight a few that stood out to me:

The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But we'll take our chances
Because God's stopped keeping score

The first line says it all. The rich keep saying that they don't have enough money and want to get more by taking from those that really are poor. And with all the commercials saying that people need to give more and more, those that are just getting by (aka middle class citizens) start to feel like maybe they have too much compared to others around them. But most of society won't give anything because who's going to make society give anything?

And it's hard to love, there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of

These lyrics relate not just to America, but to the entire world. What's usually the first story on the news: a murder? Another terrible tragedy? Or someone doing something good for someone else? There's so many things wrong with the world that it's hard to find something that's right. It's become almost impossible to think that anything could get better when almost everything we see is just another issue that may never be solved.

I'll just leave a link here so you can listen to it yourself.

A Direction This Class Needs

So far in this class, the direction Mr. McCarthy has taken in teaching it has been spot on. It's not a class where you listen to lectures, take notes, and have a quiz on something you tried to memorize right before you walked into the classroom. It's an engaging and open discussion that doesn't involve busy work (i.e. answering questions out of a book that are obvious). It allows you to think for yourself.

I'm glad I didn't get World Lit as my English this year now because I'm sure it would not be engaging. After experiencing Scotese's Brit Lit class last year, I don't think I would've been able to deal with a class he teaches that's tougher. I'm not saying that I'm glad that Philosophy is easy because it's not. Instead of looking for answers in a book, I'm looking for answers within myself. Sounds easy, but sometimes I just can't seem to form an opinion. Everyone makes such great points that I honestly don't know how to add to a discussion sometimes. I would feel like I'm saying something obvious that doesn't make people think. Then again, the purpose of the class is to not try to one-up somebody else. But I at least want my comment to mean something.

Almost everything said in class makes me think. A prodding question, a legitimate argument, a different point of view, etc. It's so different from any other class I've had. Philosophy is not a place where different answers or opinions are trivialized. Everyone is on equal ground, no matter what. No one is completely wrong and no one is completely right. In this class, there are no bad or wrong answers. There are only opinions.

Frankl-y Speaking

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl has become one of the most interesting books I've read. There are many books out there that tell about the Holocaust, but the way Frankl tells his story is unique. Not only does he tell his personal story, he explains the emotions that all the prisoners faced while they were imprisoned in the concentration camps.

The line "The best of us did not return" was a line that stood out to me because it not only stated that the ones who survived weren't the most honest people (or they had to learn how to be indecent to survive), it also stated that the best traits in humans didn't survive. If you were a man who was honest and just, your food and clothes were more than likely stolen from you and you died sooner as a result of that. The ones who survived probably forgot everything about being an honest and just person and only knew of thievery, lying, and deceit.

"An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal" was another line that stood out to me. It's a paradox because something can't be abnormal and normal at the same time, yet it can. It's saying that acting uncommonly to something that is uncommon is fine because you have not experienced it yet. If you act like everything is fine during an abnormal situation, that's abnormal because you wouldn't act normally to something abnormal.

The book is very good so far and I'm hoping the second part is just as informative and interesting as the first.

Our Stranger Meaning

Meaning- What is meant by something; something that one wishes to convey, especially by language.

Ironically, the definition of meaning is not that simple. Instead, it is just as confusing as the following question: What gives your life meaning?

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how to answer this. I don't believe that my existence stands for nothing, but I don't feel like I'm the most important person in the world and that I give meaning to everyone else's lives. I would have to say that everyone's life has meaning to someone or something, whether it's big or small.

The whole meaning of life seems to be strictly personal. You may feel like you don't mean anything to anyone, but someone may feel like you are the most meaningful person in their life. The life of a politician from Serbia may not have any meaning to me, but it means something to the residents of Serbia. You may think, "Well, what's the meaning of laws or governments if we're all going to die anyway and the Earth will be destroyed in a few billion years?" I think you shouldn't worry about something that will have absolutely no impact on you. Yes, we are all going to die someday, but that doesn't mean you get to be wild and crazy just because you feel like your life doesn't matter. Those laws are there for a reason: to protect everyone, INCLUDING yourself.

Everything has some type of meaning. It may not mean anything to you, but it has meaning to someone or something in the grander scheme of things.

The Eulogy of Khalil Dorsey

Khalil Dorsey was at a turning point of his life. He was in his junior year and it was about time for him to to start thinking about colleges. He didn't get to go down that road, so let's take a look at a few of the things he's done so far.

If you ever met Khalil, you would know that he may come across as a bit shy and on the weird side. But just give it time and he'll be one of the nicest friends you could possibly have."I'll still be weird, though. That's just who I am," he says. You may have also recognize him from somewhere but not remembered immediately. "Then eventually, someone says 'Hey! I saw you on that Gamefly commercial!' and you'll know. It wasn't just me, it was the whole family." He's not the only one that had face time in his family. His mom, Jocelyn, has been in movies and TV shows for over 10 years now. His little brothers, Matthew and Kyan, are both extras on the new NBC series "Chicago Fire". He's been a TV extra for the award-winning series "Boss" on Starz. And his entire family was recently in another commercial, this time for Kyocera. "It hasn't aired, though. I don't think it will and I'm almost hoping it doesn't. I don't like drawing attention to myself. It's embarrassing." That was another thing about Khalil. He would do things just to do them, not be recognized for it.

A look at a few of his other achievements reveals that he was on the Whitney Young Math Team for 4 years and was the only student from his elementary school, Poe Classical,  to get accepted into Whitney Young in his class. He received Young Authors awards for each of his books. And he hoped to design and customize cars in the future. Khalil used to always say, "The one person I want to be like is Ryan Freidlinghaus. He's the creator of West Coast Customs and I really admire all the work that they do. One day, I want to own a company like his."

He was always that kid that everyone wondered about. What goes through his mind? How does he see things? He didn't even know. It was one of his goals. "I've always wanted to understand me. Who am I as a person?", he would ask himself. It was just another one of those traits that separated Khalil from the rest.