Thomas Edison has saved us!

The historical figure that I find to be “heroic” is Thomas Alva Edison. Many people view a hero as a courageous person who has overcome and accomplished a great obstacle, saving many people in the process and making their lives better in some way. Though you may not think so at first, Thomas Edison IS a hero. Sure, Edison didn’t help fight against crime and he didn’t fight for racial equality, but in my opinion, these aspects are not the only ones that make a person a hero.

After working and earning enough money, Edison opened up his own lab and performed hundreds of experiments. Of course not every experiment was successful and Edison had numerous failed attempts, but Edison didn’t give up. Edison continued to experiment over and over again, and spent the majority of his life creating inventions that would be useful to everyone. Eventually after years of persistence, all his hard work paid off.

Thomas Edison is most well-known for his invention of the light bulb. Two of his other famous inventions are the phonograph and the motion-picture projector. I view Edison as a hero because he overcame his struggles and failed attempts and accomplished his goals of creating great inventions. Edison’s inventions caused the beginning of significant technological advancements. I believe that Edison "saved" the people from boredom and contributed to making the world a better place. With his creations, people were able to listen to music and watch films, which are very popular activities today. With Edison's invention of the light bulb, he shone light into everyone’s future and inspired others to create wonderful inventions. I am very enLIGHTened by Edison's view that "anything is possible, if you try."

Should Columbus Day be a national holiday or not?

In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen describes what he means when he comments “everything your American history textbook got wrong.” Just like the thousands of others students in America, in the past years of learning about American history, we have been taught that Christopher Columbus was the man who founded America. What we learned from our history textbooks and teachers generally follow the points that the U.S. State Department covers. But after reading James Loewen’s writings, I can see that I was not presented with the whole truth and all the important details. In Loewen’s writings, Columbus is not presented as the great discoverer that many people view him as.

I believe that Loewen’s description is closer to the “real” history of Columbus. Loewen includes several facts and includes all references that he uses, which strengthens his credibility. Like we discussed in class, I believe that American historians that created the textbooks we use in school, don’t want us to learn about the negative sides of a well-known man, whom many praise. These historians don’t want to expose that Columbus wasn’t as great as he is set out to be. These historians are not lying, but they are not presenting the entire truth.

After reading and learning that Columbus had discovered America accidently, I believe that Columbus Day shouldn’t be a national holiday. On Columbus Day, people celebrate the “great tasks” that Columbus performed. I think it is silly to honor Columbus and have a national holiday for him when there are many other people who have done great things but don’t have a national holiday.

Never have regrets of spending time with someone you love

I have been meaning to post other blogs not related to ENGL 106, but I never felt that I had anything to post that would be interesting for others to read. This may be long but I needed to write, to capture what happened to me today.

My older sister Bonnie currently attends Purdue. Bonnie and I have truly gotten closer these past few years and now that we attend the same school, I am able to see her more often. Just this past week, I spent 3 nights eating dinner and shopping with Bonnie. Last Thursday was Chinese New Year and to celebrate, we went to KFC! Yes, we had Kentucky Fried Chicken instead of Chinese food!

Last Saturday, Bonnie called me and asked me to join her for dinner. When I told my friends that I would not be eating with them again that night, my friends were upset that I was spending so much time with Bonnie instead of them. One of my friends commented, “Hasn’t Bonnie had enough time with you this week? It’s time for you to eat dinner with us.” Even though my friend said this in a joking way, I took it to heart and even thought about not going to dinner with Bonnie. But I decided to eat with Bonnie and I am glad I did. It could have been my last time.

Monday, February 11, 2008, will be a day that I will never forget. After every class, I always check my phone to make sure I did not miss a call or message. However for some strange reason I didn’t do that on Monday. I didn’t check my phone until 2:30 – the time when shock took over my entire body. I saw that my mother had called many times and left a voice message around 1:00. I listened to the message, wondering what could have been the matter that she called me so many times. As I listened to the message, I heard my mother crying, telling me that Bonnie had been hit by a car while walking to class and that she was in the hospital right now.

So many thoughts raced through my head. What had happened? How could this be? I just talked to her this morning on the phone! Was she okay? How badly was she hurt? Was she conscious? Was she alive?

I am extremely happy to say that Bonnie is okay. Miraculously she only suffered from a few cuts, several bruises, and a small head injury - even after being launched into the air and landing on her head and face. She has no broken bones. How amazing! I believe that Bonnie is truly blessed that she was able to walk away alive. I am still in shock and thoughts still race through my mind. What if she hadn’t been so lucky? She could have broken many bones. She could have lost her memory. She could have been paralyzed. And worst of all, she could have been killed.

Today will be a day that I will never forget – a day that I almost lost my sister. I regret that I was influenced by my friends, who made me feel bad for spending so much time with Bonnie. Why wouldn't I want to spend time with Bonnie? She's my sister! Though this may sound harsh, I believe it: friends are replaceable - sisters are not.

We always hear, “Treat every day as your last.” and “Always tell your friends and family that you love them today for tomorrow may be too late.” I never took these sayings seriously until now. What if Bonnie didn’t make it out okay? I would have regretted that I didn’t tell her how much I loved her and appreciated her.

I wanted to share this story with you all and to really stress this point: Never have regrets of spending time with someone you love. Never, never, never. Never regret the time you have with others. Take the time to tell the special people in your life how much you love them and care about them – even if you know that they know. What’s the harm in telling them again? Treasure the time you have with your loved ones. Treasure all the precious little moments.

Proportionality should be a guideline in war

Yes, I believe that proportionality should be a guideline in war. I understand that when countries are at war with each other they want to completely destroy the other country. But in all honesty…that’s really not necessary. War…what is it good for? When one country attacks another country, the attacked country wants to get revenge. When that attacked country gets revenge, the other country gets revenge back. Just as Ishmael Beah stated in his book, revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end - it just keeps going and going. Proportionality should be a guideline in war. When a country completely destroys another country and feels victorious, that country should view the situation as if it were the one that was attacked. How would it feel if it was completely destroyed?

No, proportionality was not followed in WWII. The U.S. destroyed much of Japan. When The Fog of War showed the comparisons of the 67 Japanese cities that were bombed with U.S. cities, it was shocking to see in proportionality how much was truly destroyed. I do not believe that McNamara and LeMay should not have been prosecuted as war criminals because they believed that they were doing the right thing. They were doing what they could to protect their country. However if they had used proportionality as a guideline, they could have saved many lives – both Japanese and Americans. I believe that people should not be punished for doing right. I believe the U.S. is doing better in using proportionality and is using it in the war in Iraq.

Ishmael Beah, a long way gone from the nightmares of war, tells all of his experiences

My impression of Beah from the interview was that he was very cool, calm, and collected. In the ways that Beah presents himself, it is hard to believe that behind the peaceful and smiling face, he once was a child soldier. Just from looking at Beah, one could not tell that he suffered from the horrible nightmares of war. Beah’s on-air personality is very warm and friendly. In the interview, I liked the part where Beah says that the only way to move on is to forgive. In order for Beah not to be stick in the nightmares of war, he had to forgive all the people who had brainwashed him and caused him hurt.

Yes there are many things that Beah says in the interview that remind me of certain passages from his memoir. Beah talks about women carrying their babies on their backs while running away from the shooting, and not realizing that the babies were being shot to death. Beah also talks about fathers carrying back their dead sons. Both of these situations were used in his book A Long Way Gone on page 13.

Yes this is a book that I would recommend to my friends and family because I think it is important for people to be aware of the situation in Sierra Leone. This book is not fictional and just for reading pleasure, but contains real, personal experiences. If I did not read this book for class, I probably would not have read it at all. Therefore I would not have known what a serious problem that diamonds caused. I think people need to be more aware of world issues.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4yhPSQEzo