Two goals

I really enjoyed this semester and doing all of our assignments around the topic of peace. To tell you the truth, I never really gave much thought to the topic. I guess I could commit to smile at strangers like Prof. Gilden used for an example but I know that I'm way to shy for that. I used to volunteer at the SAMM shelter in San Antonio. It was a soup kitchen where we fed homeless people. I actually enjoyed it so I guess that could be my first goal. My first goal is to get back in to volunteering. My long term goal is to just try and become a better all around person. I would like to be able to help with some of the organizations that we learned about this year.

Inner Peace

In my opinion, inner peace is something that is hard to obtain. At least, I feel like it is for me. It seems no matter how hard I try to be happy, I am unable to. I may be happy now and then but I don't feel like I can stay happy for an extended period of time. I always feel like I can be doing bigger and better things than I currently am. I feel like I'm not the best I can be and this causes me not to be able to find inner peace. Many would say be happy with what you have and who you are and you'd be at peace with yourself, but that ain't my style. Why settle for mediocrity? Too many people settle for mediocrity and then aren't happy later.

Short clip on homosexual bullying

We watched a short video about homophobic bullying. Personally, I think ole homeboy needs to worry more about his dental hygiene and less about what his classmates are doing with their personal lives. Maybe the director used this to show that it's usually the people who feel less about themselves that are usually the ones trying to bring others down too. I have a few homosexual friends myself and have stood up for them in situations where they faced bullying. This clip shows how you can resolve issues using peaceful, non-violent means. This goes well with what we have been learning about and especially goes well with my political activist/country assignment. My activist was Gandhi and he was a great practitioner of non-violence.

Bahrain in revolt

Bahrain is a small desert kingdom in the Persian Gulf. It has a population of about 1 million. In February of this year, its people started a revolution in hopes of following in the footsteps of Egypt. Egypt, as we know, successfully ousted its leader of many years in a non-violent revolution. However, Bahrain has already run in to issues. Sunni officials have sent in troops to stop these protests in main cities and even in small villages. Many civilians have been killed already and even more have been injured.
I feel that the government is going about this all wrong. As long as the protests are peaceful, I don't see why you should send in troops to break them up. I guess I feel this way because the US has kind of been through this with protests in the Vietnam War era. Many people were injured in a few peaceful protests that we as Americans are entitled to participate in. That is what is so awesome about the United States. We have many liberties that we take for granted until we see that people in other countries aren't afforded those same liberties. In either case, I think that it is going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. It also kind of makes me feel relieved that I wasn't offered the job I applied for in Bahrain.

Memo assignment

Date: February 12, 2011

To: English 1311 students

From: Justin Herrera

RE: Central Asia Institute

Literacy in many parts of the world is at an unacceptable level. Many countries are either simply too poor to provide adequate education or their cultural and/or religious beliefs do not allow for all to be educated. One such region that is affected by an undereducated population is the area of Central Asia. Consisting of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and quite a few other countries, this region is in need of help in educating its people.

The Central Asia Institute is a non-profit organization that is attempted to provide such help for these people. Started by Greg Mortenson in 1996, it aims to provide education for these poor communities in the region. Mr. Mortenson, along with help from colleagues and locals, build schools for the children of central Asia. Mr. Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute provide this assistance without trying to force their own rules or religion on the people of the villages. The villages’ elders serve on a counsel that decides the course of action for the schools. Aside from the elementary schools, the Central Asia Institute also provides assistance for older students who would like to attend college by providing scholarships to these students. While it does provide education to both sexes, it focuses more on the education of females. There are many different reasons why the Institute believes that education of females is very important and beneficial to the welfare of the community. First off, the infant mortality rate of the village is reduced when females are educated to at least a fifth grade level. Studies show that a female with seven years of education marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children. Also, the overall quality of life is improved. In addition to the schoolhouses, women also have the opportunity to attend vocational training. Here, they can learn special skills that will ultimately allow them to earn income to help support her family. As of August 2010, over 64,000 students have been able to attend the 145 schools built throughout the region by the Central Asia Institute.

There are quite a few ways that one can find out more about the Central Asia Institute. The website at http://www.ikat.org is full of information for people wanting to learn more. An archive of all sorts of articles on CAI is available on the site. Also, they have an electronic newsletter called “Alima” that keeps subscribers up to date on happenings with CAI. If you are more of a visual person, you can watch a few of the videos that they have uploaded to the site. The site also provides links to other videos, audio interviews and news articles. If you would like to print out any CAI publications or even a biography of Greg Mortenson, you may also do so from the site. If you would like to have Mr. Mortenson speak at an event, speaking requests are also being accepted. For more information, you can email the Central Asia Institute at info@ikat.org.

Central Asia Institute

I think what this Greg Mortenson dude is doing is awesome. He is teaching underprivileged and undereducated people for nothing more than the satisfaction of helping people out. It says a lot about his character for him to be doing that. You rarely see that in this day and age and to see it really brings a joy to me. I'm sure it brings him even greater joy. After seeing the villagers' desire to learn, he vowed to come back and build them a school. Now, a lot of people would probably have made a similar promise but Mr. Mortenson actually followed through on his promise.  Now, they are more focused on teaching the females and at first they may seem kind of sexist but when you listen to why, it makes sense. By teaching the females, it helps “bring down mortality rates, reduce the population explosion and increase the basic quality of health and of life itself.” Not only is he assisting with the education of the people, but he is also helping to provide clean drinking water and giving the people skills that can be used to help them further earn income. The Central Asia Institute also assists these people by having scholarships that help people further their educations. It was pretty cool to see that guy at the bookstore that was happy he was getting a computer to make it easier for him in his studies. I also think it is great how he didn’t go in to the region and into these villages and just tell them how they were going to run things. Community elders are still responsible for making decisions. I believe that assisting these people will have a better effect in presenting a good image of the US and Americans to the area’s people. Like the video said, “a war on terror just creates more terror”. It proves that not all Muslims are “terrorists” or bad people. The villagers nursed this American back to health after he fell ill when he attempted to climb the mountain without expecting anything in return. In conclusion, I am really proud of Mr. Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute for all that they are doing for the people of Central Asia and hope that they can continue to do so. It is so great to see that they are helping people who are not their color, race or the same religion and do not appear to be doing so for the money.

What comes to mind when you think of the word "peace"?

When I think of the word peace, I think of hippies and Volkswagon buses. I guess that I think of these things because it has been a part of our culture for a long time. Movies such as Forrest Gump and music such as The Mamas and The Papas and the Beatles, etc. have been in our lives, or at least mine, for as long as I can remember. Visions of this hippy subculture in San Francisco and other parts of the west always come to mind. I think of the rallies and demonstrations and boycotts that these “hippies” put on to show that they were all for non-violence. Also, I think of soldiers in Vietnam who opposed being in a war that they felt they had no reason to be in. I remember seeing pictures of soldiers with flowers in their helmets to symbolize their desire for peace. Or, they might even have a peace sign sticker affixed to their helmets. They did not wish to be in a different country at war with people that they felt had not done anything to them.

When I think of the word peace, I also think about the hand signal itself. It’s amazing to me how pointing the “V” can mean totally different things. These hippies used to make the peace sign with their palms facing out, which meant “peace” as in “give peace a chance”. Apparently, if you do this in England and a few other countries, they find it offensive. Nowadays, in the US at least, the signal is more popular with the palm facing in. It is used more now to part ways. You put up the sign and it means “peace out” or “see you later”. Nowadays, instead of people even saying “peace out”, they are saying “deuce”, as in the two fingers that are used. Chris Brown’s song “Deuces” is a good example of this. By chucking his “deuces”, he is saying “peace out” or “I’m out of here”. I find it kind of ironic that the hand signal is used to mean “peace” because it used to be utilized in a war setting. According to legend, the index and middle fingers use to be cut off of soldiers so they would not be able to fire their bows with that hand. When victors would flash the “V” hand signal, it was kind of a taunt; used to show that they were victorious since they still had all their digits.

In general, when I think about peace, I also think of something that I feel is unattainable in a worldly sense.  I seriously doubt that there will ever be true peace in this world, at least, not in my life time. I also find it ironic that most religions preach peace yet most all wars are started in the name of religion. There is always inner peace that can be attainable and that is always a good place to start.