#4 Questions Of Uncertainty

I've never really paid much attention to politics. I never really thought that I was old enough to care about it. My view on who the president or who is running in an upcoming election has always been shaped by what I hear from my parents. They are my parents and we have similar if not identical views on things (again, which comes from my parents up bringing), so why wouldn't I be willing to take their word for it? Recently, I've come to realize that, although I love my parents and what they believe in, I need to start thinking for my self and learn about politics for myself. Honestly, I don't even know what it means to be conservative or liberal. Judging by their names, obviously assumptions can be made about what they mean and what kind of people are which kind, but it doesn't give an absolute definition. I know that when figuring out who I want to vote for, it is important to be careful where I receive my sources. Some news channels, web sites, news papers, etc. are notoriously liberal or conservative. The best for the Country is what every one says they want, but how do you tell who really means it? Things like this are huge questions to me. Where to start is the biggest one. Asking my parents, friends, teachers could all be completely biased, which is something I want to avoid. But if I bypass that, where do I start? The internet, T.V., News papers, like I mentioned before, all biased. I'm assuming that we are all just supposed to get it straight from the politicians, but then again, who's telling the truth? Just taking their word for it is not good enough for me. Where do these questions get answered? How does everyone else make a decision? It's all so uncertain to me.

#3 No More Cookie Cutters

As our society advances, what we perceive as normal also needs to advance. Everything has a "norm" or average. Little changes are made all the time, but if the core of what is considered average is not changed, how are we supposed to develop to our culture to it's full potential? If the National Football League (NFL) never did research on concussions and how to prevent them, they never would have figured out how damaging concussions could be to a person later on in life. If they never did that, more and more lives would have been affected farther down the road. So, if sports can change, why can't we change something even bigger? Like the way we live our lives? We can't go around living our lives based on something that was put into place in the early development of our country. Yes, these guidelines helped us shape the way our country is now, but don't you think that if we take what we know now and apply it to what we had laid before us, we could do something amazing. Take the school systems for example. Why are we still teaching kids from a cookie cutter curriculum? Or teaching kids an absolute answer for everything? If our country could do it once, why couldn't we do it again? I know there have been strides in the past, but they have been mostly political (Equal Opportunities for African Americans and Women). What i'm trying to get at is the way our country thinks as a whole. If kids are taught to ask questions and think outside the box in early grade school, there wouldn't be many yes or no answers to problems in the future. "It depends on...", "Well, what if...", etc. should be common answers when thinking outside of the box, and that isn't too common in this day in age. We all need to ditch the cookie cutter lifestyle and think for ourselves and that starts with teaching to ask questions.

#2: Who To Trust

Everyday, we are all told what to think. Flip on the television and watch the commercials. Every single one will tell you "So and so says this..." "So and so says you should buy..."And as the Human beings we are, we trust this. Kids and adults a like, line up outside of shoe and sports stores all over the World to buy a Two Hundred Dollar pair of shoes. Why would you need such an expensive pair of shoes when you could buy a Thirty Dollar pair of shoes at wal mart that cover your feet equally as good? These people will buy anything that is endorsed by/worn by LeBron James, Kevin Durant or Kobe Bryant. But what makes them so important? Do they make these shoes? Do they study every thing that goes in to making the perfect shoe? No. They just wear them and/or put their name on them. So why do we listen to these people? We dish out a ton of money on things that "experts" tell us to. Honestly, why does someone pay hundreds of dollars for a pair of shoes? To make you Jump as high as Lebron? To make you dunk like Kevin Durant? Or have a Jump Shot like Kobe? Truth is, a pair of shoes will not automatically give you amazing skills in basketball, or any other sport for that matter (unless the movie "Like Mike" was based on a true story). But because an athlete says they'll help you master basketball, we believe them. I mean, why would an athlete lie to us? We have no reason to not believe them, right?  It's not like their paychecks, popularity or anything else, correct? Wrong. If athletes, celebrities, or any other person in a position of power would say something to benefit themselves, who should we trust?

#1: We Are All The Same

No matter where we come from, what our background is, who we're friends with or what we enjoy, all humans have needs. Every one's needs might be somewhat different, but we all have the same necessity; To survive. That's the main thing we all live for, right? To live the best you can. And in that sense, we are all the same. Some may have it a lot harder than others, but it's still the main objective. We all wake up and do what we have to do throughout the day (or night) to get by. With that said, everyone adapts to survive. Whether its adapting to your surroundings or learning something to become involved in something new, we all do it. It's human nature to want to succeed and a lot of times, stepping out of our bubble and doing something different is necessary. When I say we're all the same, im not just talking about adapting to survive. We all are influenced the same way on how our thought process is. The main influencer is the media. The media shapes peoples minds that you can do any sort of crime and possibly get away with it, as long as you're a Caucasian Male. A white male Shooting up a movie theater is labeled "Mentally unstable" while if it were a African American male it would be called "Gang related violence" or if it were an Islamic or Muslim male, it would be called "Terrorism." That's just how the media has made stereotypes into a normal way of life. When you think of all the different races in the world, what are the first things that come to mind? Caucasian? A family consisting of a Mother, Father, two kids and a dog or two? A traditional family. And the same for all the other races. Every one has their own idea of what each race is and is usually similar if not the same. This is all because of what the media has shaped the minds of our country, and even the world, into.