Raw Power

There is so much that we think of as "strong." We start off with just a human being that is made of muscle, lifting hundreds of pounds. I know if I were to meet someone who was 6 feet plus and ripped then I may be a little scared. But there are plenty of machines that are much stronger than a human ever has been. There are all sorts of cars that could pull something a few times heavier than a human ever has. It is strange that we think a human is strong when they can lift a certain amount and be considered incredibly strong, but then I have seen commercials for trucks that can hall thousands of pounds, much more then a human could. So why is that considered a human considered strong even thought there are tons of things much more powerful.

Then we keep bumping it up, take bombs. A car has no where near the power an atomic bomb does. It has the strength to destroy an entire city in a matter of seconds. This is the strongest thing we as humans can make. Then nature beats us out with a number of phenomena; tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcanoes. All of these, especially a volcano can be just as if not stronger than an atomic bomb. Then finally we journey out to space where the formation, death, and collisions make the earth powers look like babies. Out in space things occur that could completely destroy the entire earth if they happened close to us. Yet despite these awesome powers and strength that could destroy a whole planet, if a man can lift a 1000 lbs. he is strong.

Where is Mexico?

Mexico, our amigos to the south. We seem to have a problem with many of them sneaking into our country and it has become somewhat of a problem. There are so many that we can't ever keep track of them, but I don't really want to talk politics about the, "growing epidemic in America." It many be a hot topic for the upcoming election but something I have had on my mind much longer has to do with keeping track of Mexico in a differnt way.

Why does no one know which connitnent Mexico is a part of . You ask some they say, South America, others say North America, and even others will just tell you its Central America. I'm pretty sure that last one can't be right because well; Aisa, Norh America, South..., that would make eight conntinents and I have always been tole that there were seven so that one is out. I personaly think that it is North America becasue all we have is the U.S., Canada, and Greenland, that isn't too many, compared to most other continents. So if it's a matter of fairness I think it should be included in North America, eventhough some of us Americans don't really like Mexico. This is probably one of the most random things I have written about but I would still like to know which one you think, have a survey if you will on which side you would like it on.

The Bucket List

A week or so back I went to the Bucket list. It was a good movie, strangely it was a comedy, and I did like watching it. You may have seen some commercials for it, it was about to men who were diagnosed with cancer, one thing leads to another, and they end up making a bucket list together. A bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you, "kick the bucket." Then for the rest of the movie they spend it going and doing the things on the list. Although I did enjoy the movie while I was watching it I never more then chuckled. I just couldn't get it out of my head that these two were going to die, soon, and they had no way out of it. I just couldn't get over that and it just depressed me. Yes, it was all acting so they could play the characters, but I hear about people like that all the time. They find out there isn't much left and they just go do everything you can with the time they have left. I wounder what kind of person does that; is there some type of personality that usually does it or is it just random. How do you take probably the worse news of your life and shrug it off and just accept it. I don't know what I would do if it happened to me, I hope it is no time soon, but I wounder how I would react. I hope I would act like the two in the movie, but it hasn't happened to me yet so I have no way of knowing.

Also it just got me to thinking, what do I want to be on my Bucket List?

1. Visit every continent in the world


2. Have a family
   
3. Fly a plane


4. Climb a mountain (kind of like in the movie)


5. And I'm sure I will be adding some as I think more

But what do you want to do before you die? If it isn't too depressing for you then leave so comments.

The Endless Debate

There is one debate that I believe will never be answered, that is the debate of religion. Now this debate can go in two different ways; the first is which religion is right and another, which can include everyone is the debate of whether god is real or not. Now I'm not making this to pick a side on these, I'm not even going to say which side I believe is right.

In school, this year especially, I have heard this debate over and over again. It often will escalate and people get frustrated, mad, and no progress is made for either side because it will always get hung up because it just comes down to a matter of faith, do you or don't you. You can argue and argue;Believers: well how can like 99% of people who believe in a god be wrong.

Non-believers: it has happened before, the earth being round not flat, or that the earth is the center of the universe.

Atheists: there is no way for you to prove the existence of god.

Faithful: there is no way for you to disprove his existence, that is the test he has, do you believe in him.

Believer: what about the written truth and existence of the people who made journeys for god, like the saviors; Jesus, Muhammad, and other religious figures?

Non-believer: that is the point, you get all of this form a book written a long, long time ago. Yes, those people are real, but today people who hear voices are considered insane, not a prophet.

What it comes down to is neither side can sway the others' beliefs. The atheist will use your faith against you, and scorn you for believing in something you can't see or prove, just aimlessly following what a priest or another teacher. While, a religious person is going to condemn you for not believing in the god that gave you life, not putting your faith and belief in him, the only thing he asks.

My opinion, since you are not going to sway a person either way on this, everyone just needs to accept the other, not believe only accept it. I don't mean you can't debate over it, because who doesn't like to argue? But do it in a constructive manner, don't condemn the other, don't tell the other they are wasting their time. Don't judge someone else by what they believe, judge them on who they are, what their morals are, both sides will have bad people, and both will have good.

Emmerson Hill

This morning I woke up before the sun was even up, at 5:45. About 5 other football guys and I went to the Emmerson Hill, right over by Xavier. I have no idea why we have started running up this monster, it has sort of started as a tradition for our team. We did it a few times last summer, but it wasn't that frequent and we've decided to start again on a more regular schedule now that spring is here at long last.

The hill I would say is about 200m long, halfway around the track at least, probably a little more. That isn't the bad part the bad part is that i would guess it is about 200m up also. So, we all get there around 6:15, stretched a little, and finally started going on up. The first time wasn't that bad, we went up and then came right back down. Once I stopped at the bottom of the hill I felt my legs get tight. But we weren't done, we did this 2 more times and by the third time up and down I was sore and tired. Of course this is all part of preparation for our next season and I'll be back on Thursday.

Ohh Crap

I don't think I'm the only one who is surprised that AP tests are only 3 weeks away. If you didn't I am sorry if I just ruined your day. Now I think I am tear the top with 4 tests. I often get the reaction of a jaw drop, a why, or some sort of astonishment. I really don't know why I took them all, I don't regret it, honestly there have only been a few times this year where the work load has been killing me, which even surprises me how easy it actually seemed this year. Despite this, I still can't believe that I only have 3 weeks to prepare for these, and I have only started on my U.S. history and the few times we have reviewed in some of my other classes. You know it is weird before spring break I was dying, I couldn't wait for that week off, because we had so much more to go, but now I don't know where all the time went. I hope this is going to come back and bite me in the a, butt. All I know is that I have to start soon and defiantly don't want to. But at least after May 13 school is pretty much a cake walk for me until the end of school. And now that you have read this I'm pretty sure you don't really care but you did, so sorry.

Truman at Home

Have you ever seen the Truman show? If not this may not make sense because I am not going to explain it much. What I want to talk about is if you ever get that feeling after you have watched it that you are like Jim Carey. Now it just may be me but for a month or so after it I would constantly wonder, what if this is all fake and everyone is just watching me. If my whole life was a lie, if everyone I knew was just acting, and this is not really what the world is like. Now I know this isn't right but you can't just help but think it and wonder about it. If it were actually happening to me I think I would want to know. I would just feel that my life was fake, and I got jipped out of living it.

I wonder what would be more appealing; a show of someone who as a perfect life, like in the Truman show, or a really crappy life. Now although the whole idea isn't ethical, let alone making someone live a crappy life where bad things happen to them all the time. Putting aside the ethical part I think a bad life would be more interesting, you know the wow I guess my life isn't that bad. This wasn't spurred by anything just another one of those moments when I thought everyone may be watching.

SiCKO

Last night I watched the movie/documentary Sicko. It is by Micheal Moore, a controversial man, who has done many documentaries on political issues such as 9/11. This one is about health care in the United States, and how it sucks. I, luckily, am insured so I didn't even realize how big of problem it can be for some people. I've heard that care is expensive but some of the stats on the surgeries astounded me. The one that sticks out in my mind is the man who cut off two of his fingers with a saw. He was uninsured, and when he got to the hospital and they told him one finger would cost $60000 and the other would be $15000! That is ridiculous! They were only the section above the last knuckle. It is like you have to give him a bunch of prosthetics, the only thing you have to do is sew it back on, and do some resetting of the bones and blood vessels. Now I realized doctors went to school for a long time but seriously, how is that fair?

That guy didn't have insurance, so you know everyday your kind of risking it. But what is more surprising, and actually completely wrong is the people who are insured but the insurance companies deny their claims. People have died because these companies want to make money, not actually do what they said they would do, pay for your medical expenses. So, as in the movie some people have cancer and can get surgery and treatment for it, they are lucky, they caught it soon enough, not. They are all ready to rid themselves of cancer when they get a letter from their insurer saying it is not approved. Some of the excuses were, it's too experimental (even though thousands have had it and cured by it), you lied on you application (we didn't care then because you were going to pay us money, but now that we have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars we've decided to screw you over), or hire investigators to find something, anything to deny you. Now he isn't just pulling this out of no where, a while ago a woman form one of the HMOs went to congress and exposed this problem, telling them how she was told that the more people she denied, the larger bonuses and promotions you would get, after being promoted as high as she could she decided it was enough.

Another part of the movie was Moore visiting Canada, Britain, and France who all have socialized/free health care. Many Americans, just as myself have fallen victim to the belief that with free health care the quality suffers. Although this isn't the case, from what I saw. Moore talked to doctors and Americans living in each of these countries. It isn't worse health care, and arguably it's better. You don't have to worry about getting approved, only getting well. Doctors are not going to get stiffed, a doctor in Britain makes more than a doctor here, and interestingly they receive bonuses for making their patients healthier; by having them loose weight, quit smoking, and other such things.

I do have to admit, I'm pretty sure Moore exaggerated a little to get his point across. He didn't talk at all about the fact that there are many people who insured well. Also he showed the worse case scenario, to make it seem much more tragic. Despite this though I did like it, and it opened my eyes a little to how well I have it, as well as why Obama and Clinton want universal health care, doesn't seem so stupid to me now.

Flyin' High

As I had mentioned you may get bored of all the Florida related topics I will be writing about, well here is another one. While I was there I did something I never thought I would be able to do, parasailing. I liked every minute of it. It wasn't scary at all for me, and even less of an adrenaline rush than I expected. I was just as surprised as you probably are right now. I was thinking it was going to be a fast, loud, and crazy ride. But is was the opposite. In fact is was peaceful. I know you probably don't believe me but it was. It was quite, no wind, it was actually louder on the boat then up in the air. Once I was up there it was amazing I was in a harbor so I could see the water forever on one side of me and the other was a lot of buildings and other stuff of that nature. It was probably the best way to get a good view of the city. Despite it being the complete opposite of what I was expecting, I still enjoyed every minute of it. Parasailing although not a thriller was fun and relaxing.

Stranger on a Plane

So over the break I went down to Florida for a few days, it was a good time I had fun, and you may get sick of the next few entries as they will most likely be all about this trip. Although before I had even gotten there I met a stranger on a plane, on my flight from Memphis to Fort Walton Breach. Row 6 seats A and B.

We didn't even talk through the first part of the flight, not until after take off did we begin a conversation. First we talked about just where we were from. Obviously I was form Iowa, he was from Lexington Kentucky originally, although had just recently moved down to Destin, Florida (ironically exactly where I was going). He had been up in Lexington visiting his ill mother, and was returning home to work, girlfriend, and normal life.

It was strange, in just an hour and some change of a flight, I learned a great deal about his life, intern he learned mine, and I even got some good ol' life advice. I won't bore you with the detail of my life I told him. He was just a stand-up guy from the country, now in his mid-thirties I'd guess. He went to college, at the University of Kentucky, although after recently visiting the campus of the Florida Gators he wishes he'd chosen differently. At this point I got some of the advise, go to college. I was already planning on this. Although the fact that he said, it's not even your major that matters, or any of the classes for that matter. They could help you if you do actually go into that field, but just having a degree is more important. He said that the most important part was becoming culture and experiencing life all by yourself. I had heard all of this before but it's from the people who are teachers, parents and principles, not some guy that you hardly know, it just made the advice seem so much more useful and sincere.

The next section of the flight was a conversation about music. We like the same things, mostly rock, but a little of everything. So, he first showed me the new head phones he'd just bought, that were amazing just as he had said, I couldn't feel them in my ears but the sound was amazing, covered the noise of the engines perfectly. Anyways, we then spent a while just looking/listening at each others' ipods, checking out the tunes and vids. It was a little weird but not nearly as awkward as it sounds, I don't know why we couldn't have just listened to our own ipods, but we didn't.

Lastly it was a little more personal. We were just chatting, about random stuff, we were talking about how we'd both been on planes since infancy and something a little more significant came up. He shared that his friend, actually buddy, that is what he called him the whole time, buddy, had been killed in a plane crash. He was just a passenger, even though his buddy was pilot. He was flying out of Lexington and the pilot screwed up and went down the wrong runway and the plane crashed and killed everyone on the plane, that's fair isn't it? It was sad, I could tell it was painful for him and also it was his best friend, although he hadn't ever said it I could tell.

I couldn't believe in such a short time I learned so much about a person and he had opened up so much to me. I kind of got the sense of the movie Forrest Gump, I just got to learn all about this person, his adventures, troubles, and just life. It was strange but he reminded me of an older version of myself. He's not a party animal, but he does stuff to unwind. He is athletic, active, and smart. He just seemed like a down to earth guy, and just is living a happy life. The funny thing is that although I really enjoyed the conversation and meeting this guy, I never even learned his name.