Poverty

After watching the video about Tammy and her son, I realized how hard it is to get out of poverty after it is all that you know. I believe that her son's actions can eventually give him higher status one day. If he really does try hard in school and sports he has the potential to get a scholarship at college and get a higher education that his mom has. If he has the drive to want to be successful and not always been known as the "white trash" kid, then I think he can achieve that. It's sad though how he is ashamed of his mom and the way he lives. People look down on him and his family because of their lack of money, which is rediculous. If you are born into a family without any money it is hard to start from scratch and work your way up from the bottom. But I just think he is so concious of the way he lives and it bothers him so much to the point where it pushes him to progress and make something of himself. I wouldn't know what to tell people like this accept to keep trying hard to work and get an education. They are in a deep hole that is very hard to get out of, but I do think it is possible.

Deviance, Drugs, & Prison

Even though I only saw the second half of the movie we watched in class I really liked it. It must take a lot of courage as a grown man to voluntarily be locked up in a prison for roughly 30 days. It was great how there were so many men at the rehabilitation center really trying to turn their lives around and steer away from the drug world. However, at the end we saw that a couple of the guys he met had ended up getting thrown back in jail shortly after they left the East Prison. It was sad to see how easily people can get dragged back into the drug world. They are good people but they grow up in bad environments and getting involved with drugs is all that they know. It ends up just creating problem after problem once they become addicted. They are usually lower class so it is hard for them to even acquire the amount they need to keep from withdrawal. Then they begin to steel and then maybe use violence and it is all one big ripple affect. As bad as drug users choices may be, people should all be punished equally in my opinion. You can't give someone who lives in the projects bigger consequences than a person living in Naperville, this may sound childish but it's just not fair! Also, it is confusing to people when deviance laws regarding drug use vary in different locations. Such as partial use of Marijuana is acceptable in some parts of Colorado and it is legal in Amsterdam. This makes people think well if its okay to use it in those places then I might as well be able to use it here. In this case they would be deviant here, but not in Colorado or Amsterdam. The justice system is wack.

Deviance Is In

I do think this applies to kids at our school. Going to Mexico for spring break is a very good example. The kids who's parents have the money to let them stay at a resort in Mexico over spring break suddenly are not breaking the law when they drink because the legal drinking age is 18. However, if the kids who are stuck here over spring break decide they want to drink too, they have that chance of getting in serious trouble because they would be under the legal drinking age. In this case, the kids who have the money can beat around the bush and legally be able to do what others are not able to do. But it is not all about drinking of course. That is just a good example of deviance at our school. Most kids at our school are saints because they are deviant but they know their way around the consequences. On the other hand, there I do realize there is such a thing as positive deviance, of which I got to learn first hand. When I performed my random act of kindness in the city and gave a street musician a dollar, it made me feel almost proud of myself. Normally I would just walk by fast and ignore them and just go on with my day. But when I saw that others were doing just that, I felt bad and thought it would be worth it, and it was. Sure it wasn't that of the ordinary, but for me, it was. I decided not to generalize people who are in need of something as simple as a dollar. Even though we tend to see a dollar as almost worthless, he was overjoyed! He was also pleased that people had actually stopped to acknowledge him. I think we should make these random acts of kindness, a little less random.

Age Is Just A Number

It is very clear that society, most of the time, does not take us teenagers seriously. But it is not clear how we are supposed to behave. These are confusing years when we are trying to figure out who we are and what we are capable of doing. We are pushed to succeed so that we are ready for what adulthood throws at us, however, most of us are so sheltered and treated as children that even college is a slap in the face. Now is the time that everyone is getting really excited to get out of here and go to college. Us teens just want to get away and live on our own, live by our own rules. But most of the people I have talked to who have applied to such far away places probably won't make it all four years. They do not realize what it takes to be almost completely self-reliant. Yes, their parents are paying for their education, but they have to discipline themselves so they don't fail out. They are forced to adjust to their surroundings and live on past knowledge. It's hard. But I still would not call it adulthood just yet. Nowadays, being an adult means so many different things. It does not necessarily mean living on your own, but sometimes it does. After high school my sister eventually moved out and lived with her boyfriend. Ever since they broke up she has been living at home and has saved so much money. She has gotten to come and go as she pleased and did not have to worry about the expenses of living on her own. But now, she is almost 26 and is moving to Minnesota next week and is all of the sudden being expected to pay the rent, pay for food, toiletry's, appliances, and several other necessities all on her own. I have considered her an adult for some time now, but by next week she will really know what it feels like and it will be a big change. This just shows that just because you are 18 does not mean you are dubbed as an immediate adult. It all depends on how you were raised and what has been expected of you all your life. The circumstances vary which leads me to believe there is no definite age that makes you an adult, it is about how you deal with what life throws your way and what you can and cannot handle.