Thursday, March 15, 2007
Homework due Monday, March 19
This weekend homework is to read the introductions and preface in Frankenstein, and to prepare for the cyber-essay. In WWT read the essay, Say Now, That Was Milo (79-83) and answer all the questions. In class we reviewed the essay "The Last Tree House" (74-79 and 110-111). We had a great discussion in the 1-3 class about this place where boys learn what it means to be men. In the 10-12 class we had a lively discussion about the new children's prison and the criminal justice system.
Not: I am hosting a symposium on Incarcerated Women in California's Prisons, Tuesday, March 27, 12:30-3 p.m. in the F-Bldg. Come by and participate for extra credit.
I hope to see you and your families Sunday, March 18, 12:30 at the Oakland Museum. We will meet in front of the museum on the 10th Street side (across from Laney).
Not: I am hosting a symposium on Incarcerated Women in California's Prisons, Tuesday, March 27, 12:30-3 p.m. in the F-Bldg. Come by and participate for extra credit.
I hope to see you and your families Sunday, March 18, 12:30 at the Oakland Museum. We will meet in front of the museum on the 10th Street side (across from Laney).
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Sarah Pruitt
Ms. Sabir
English 201B M.W. 10-12
War in Iraq
Compassion and the War
As an American it is so easy to be oblivious to what is going on in the world out side of the United States. In March 2003 we invaded Iraq on the false assumptions that they possessed weapons of mass destruction and also because George W. Bush felt that promoting a democratic government in the “oppressed” Middle East was important. Many thousands of people have died in the war since 2003 and yet not one weapon of mass destruction has been found to this day. Personally I do not follow the war and what is going on because I do not believe that it has directly affected me; however, I feel compassion for those who are suffering because of the war such as the soldiers, victims, and there families in the United States and Iraq. I feel that innocent people should not be dying over a war that is so unnecessary.
To feel compassion is to experience “deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering” (dictionary.com). Since 2003 more then 3,400 hundred American soldiers have died in the war and over 22,000 American soldiers have been injured. I can not help but to feel empathy for these soldiers who have given there lives in the name of serving there country. These deaths are unnecessary and avoidable for these soldiers are fighting in war that originally had no true purpose, and yet Bush is asking the people of America to allow more funding to the war and to allow him to send over more troops. When will it end and how many American lives must we loose before Bush realizes that he has not helped our country but killed its people?
It is important to realize that while our soldiers are dying in Iraq, they are not the only ones suffering. In a survey of Iraqi households published by Lancet about 655,000 Iraqi deaths have occurred since 2003. The Iraqi government has not been keeping track of the number of citizens it has lost but estimated about 150,000 deaths since 2003. It was also projected that about 2000 people have been dying each month since the war commenced, most of the casualties are men but women and children are also dying in large numbers. The people of Iraq have been quoted during one of their anti-US protests saying, “no, no to America, no, no to Satan” (Aljazeera.net). They see the United States as a form of evil that is taking over their homes and destroying there people. I feel sympathy for the deaths of the innocent families that have been destroyed because of George Bush and for all those who are left to suffer while the United States invades their homes.
Mostly I feel compassion for the families of the American Soldiers that have died. Often it is not one’s families’ choice to have a loved one leave for war. I personally do not know anybody that has gone to war, but over 3,000 American families have dealt with their loved ones not returning home. Does George Bush realize the soldiers that he so frivolously put to war are peoples’ fathers, husbands, children, or even just someone’s best friend? Does he realize how many little kids will grow up with out there daddies because he started a war based on false assumptions? I am sure it easy for him to just keep sending more and more people over to Iraq because he himself does not actually have to fight in the war, and his family will never have to go to Iraq to see the conditions first hand. I feel extreme sorrow for each family that has lost a loved one in this war.
I am only human and I am forced to feel human compassion. I can not help but feel sorrow for all those that have died in this war, Iraqi or American. No one deserves to loose someone they love regardless of their nationality. Bush has convinced himself that victory is the only option when it comes to the war in Iraq, but how can you ever believe in a victory when you have already lost so much?
Work Cited
"Anti-Us Base Protest in Sadr City." Aljazeera. 16 Mar. 2007. 16 Mar. 2007 http://english.aljazeera.net.
"Iraq Violence in Figures." BBC News. 16 Mar. 2007 http://www.bbc.co.uk.
"Compassion." Dictionary.Com. Random House Unabridged Dictionary. 16 Mar. 2007 www.dictionary.com.
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Ms. Sabir
English 201B M.W. 10-12
War in Iraq
Compassion and the War
As an American it is so easy to be oblivious to what is going on in the world out side of the United States. In March 2003 we invaded Iraq on the false assumptions that they possessed weapons of mass destruction and also because George W. Bush felt that promoting a democratic government in the “oppressed” Middle East was important. Many thousands of people have died in the war since 2003 and yet not one weapon of mass destruction has been found to this day. Personally I do not follow the war and what is going on because I do not believe that it has directly affected me; however, I feel compassion for those who are suffering because of the war such as the soldiers, victims, and there families in the United States and Iraq. I feel that innocent people should not be dying over a war that is so unnecessary.
To feel compassion is to experience “deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering” (dictionary.com). Since 2003 more then 3,400 hundred American soldiers have died in the war and over 22,000 American soldiers have been injured. I can not help but to feel empathy for these soldiers who have given there lives in the name of serving there country. These deaths are unnecessary and avoidable for these soldiers are fighting in war that originally had no true purpose, and yet Bush is asking the people of America to allow more funding to the war and to allow him to send over more troops. When will it end and how many American lives must we loose before Bush realizes that he has not helped our country but killed its people?
It is important to realize that while our soldiers are dying in Iraq, they are not the only ones suffering. In a survey of Iraqi households published by Lancet about 655,000 Iraqi deaths have occurred since 2003. The Iraqi government has not been keeping track of the number of citizens it has lost but estimated about 150,000 deaths since 2003. It was also projected that about 2000 people have been dying each month since the war commenced, most of the casualties are men but women and children are also dying in large numbers. The people of Iraq have been quoted during one of their anti-US protests saying, “no, no to America, no, no to Satan” (Aljazeera.net). They see the United States as a form of evil that is taking over their homes and destroying there people. I feel sympathy for the deaths of the innocent families that have been destroyed because of George Bush and for all those who are left to suffer while the United States invades their homes.
Mostly I feel compassion for the families of the American Soldiers that have died. Often it is not one’s families’ choice to have a loved one leave for war. I personally do not know anybody that has gone to war, but over 3,000 American families have dealt with their loved ones not returning home. Does George Bush realize the soldiers that he so frivolously put to war are peoples’ fathers, husbands, children, or even just someone’s best friend? Does he realize how many little kids will grow up with out there daddies because he started a war based on false assumptions? I am sure it easy for him to just keep sending more and more people over to Iraq because he himself does not actually have to fight in the war, and his family will never have to go to Iraq to see the conditions first hand. I feel extreme sorrow for each family that has lost a loved one in this war.
I am only human and I am forced to feel human compassion. I can not help but feel sorrow for all those that have died in this war, Iraqi or American. No one deserves to loose someone they love regardless of their nationality. Bush has convinced himself that victory is the only option when it comes to the war in Iraq, but how can you ever believe in a victory when you have already lost so much?
Work Cited
"Anti-Us Base Protest in Sadr City." Aljazeera. 16 Mar. 2007. 16 Mar. 2007 http://english.aljazeera.net.
"Iraq Violence in Figures." BBC News. 16 Mar. 2007 http://www.bbc.co.uk.
"Compassion." Dictionary.Com. Random House Unabridged Dictionary. 16 Mar. 2007 www.dictionary.com.
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