The Mother of All DBs

We began our journey by first asking, "Who are we?"
http://childillustration.blogspot.com/2009/03/angel-dominguez-who-are-you.html

While on the Internet a couple of days ago, I found a quote by Buddha, “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is your. It cannot be taken from you, not angels or by demons, heaven or hell”. And just as the quote explains, finding WHO you are is one of the most valuable discoveries on our journey. This very question was presented to us before the class even started. One of our first discussion board posts asked us who we are and explain ourselves to our future classmates. At the beginning of the year, this question seemed impossible to sufficiently answer. How was I supposed to write my first college assignment? What did I want other students to know about me? In fact, I prolonged writing that post as long as possible. But now, I have come to realize that answering, “Who am I?” is not confined to a single reply. In fact, Alice responds to the Caterpillar by saying, “I—I hardly know, sire, just at present—at least I know who I when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then” (Carroll). Similarly, Alice finds that question difficult to answer because she is still discovering this. There just isn’t one answer for such a vast question. But rather, it requires a multi-faceted response. Just like we answered this question, Siddhartha finds himself troubled with this thought. Sheltered by his parents as a youth, “Siddhartha had started to cultivate the seed of discontent within himself” (6). As students leaving high school we may have felt similar dissatisfaction. This journey has provided challenging questions and multiple revelations.

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/a/animal_rights.asp

  Speaking of challenges, one of the most meaningful experiences was discussing ethics and sympathetic imaginations, specifically through the lens of animal cruelty. Coming into this topic, most of us were either indifferent towards or unaware of the vicious atrocities committed in American slaughterhouses. Watching Earthlings provided experiential learning into the world of injustice and as the film says, “And for the prisoners and victims of this mass murder, their holocaust is far from over” (Earthlings). However, I did find it disturbing when students, a few even in our class, undermine the gravity it this issue. Although these comments are intended to seem harmless, I have grown a personal offense towards these instances of Speciesism. Understanding this, I began to acknowledge my growing passion towards animals’ ethics—something I was unaware previously. Through this journey, I have experienced an awakening of some sort. Similarly, “Siddhartha opened his eyes and looked around; a smile filled his face and a profound feeling of awakening from long dreams through from his head down to his toes” (40). He begins to see that “The world is beautiful and colorful; the world is strange and mysterious (41). Although I have not had an awakening this powerful, I hope some day I will experience such a spiritual endeavor.

We are all on a lifelong journey
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1DSlOp/x

Finally, DIVERSITY has been a valuable lesson for this year. In high school, diversity meant accepted other students at our lunch table or playing dreidel for Hanukkah. However, accepted diversity is much more than that. Generally, “It has become commonplace to hear people ascribe differences in what people think and do (cultural differences) to labels for class, gender, and ethnicity, in much the same way we once ascribed cultural differences to tribal identities” (American Anthropology). Diversity is not just including people, but it is also thoughts, ideas and beliefs. Reading through everyone’s posts, our classmates have all overcome unique obstacles and challenges over the course of this class. I was interesting to read Dachshund’s post about letting go of her desire to be a perfectionist. Also, Fin talks about her journey of finding “self-aware and passion”.  All of us have goals for this course and different beliefs. This section on religion and ideologies brought cultural awareness and freedom of expression. Although we may not necessarily embrace the same ideologies, I feel like our class has become a welcoming environment free of ignorance. We have not only embraced this diversity through class discussions, but also by attending several cultural events on campus. The Chinese New Years, Diwali, and Navarati were all events celebrating the cultural diversity of this campus. Although different religions may express different thoughts or practices, all of these philosophies are rooted in finding compassion. Whether this be through accepting God or offering love to others, the human race strives to find compassion.

While also looking at the world’s suffering, this class explores compassion its many forms. Finding compassion in others, the world, and ourselves is important to alleviate the torment going elsewhere in society. “Earthlings” explains that although we are not the only species, we still hold a moral obligation to preserve what we have been given. The narrator begins that documentary by saying, “Humans, therefore, being not the only species on the planet, share this world with millions of other living creatures, as we all evolve here together” (Earthlings). Martin Luther King Jr. says, "We may have all come in different ships, but we're in the same boat now". We, as humanity are together.  

"We all evolve together"
www.bannedinhollywood.com/20-moments-in-animal-awesomeness/

Handwerker, Penn E “The Construct Validity of Cultures: Cultural Diversity, Culture Theory, and a Method for Ethnography” American Anthropologists