Precis: This documentary will open your eyes to the horrors of the US health care system. A system that is interested in making a profit more than it is helping the many sick and dying Americans, out there living without health insurance and the proper health care. It's time for our health care system to change, which is why I propose health care for everyone.
Evidence: In the film, Moore looks at the health care systems in places like Britain and France and how well the sick are treated with there with their socialized health care system better than the people in the US.
This evidence shows socialized health care as an alternative (a change) to the unequal access to health care and insurance in the US.
Evidence: The Hilary Clinton health care plan for better health care that got crushed by the insurance and pharmacy companies.
This shows that the government isn't interested in health care for everyone but only interested in making a profit.
In the film Moore argues that the health care systems in Britain and France are better and free but he neglects to mention the fact that they pay much higher taxes for their "free" health care. So it seems that their excellent health care is paid for out of their own pockets.So even though the health care in the US is expensive people in France and Britain pay higher taxes. (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_28/b4042070.htm)
Even though Michael Moore's film was a propaganda piece for socialized health care, I agree that our health care system sucks and it should change. Free universal health care would be the American dream, but it's easier said than done. This film opened my eyes and got me thinking about the health care system and all that is wrong and needs to change about it , like how can doctors and insurance companies allow the sick care and allow them to die because they don't have coverage. Why is this acceptable?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Hw 24
Book: "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
Published by Doubleday in September 1997
Precis: Morrie was the greatest teacher, he taught me a great deal about life and what to expect in the future. I could talk about aspects and topics of life that scared me or I was embarrassed to talk about with anyone else. He changed my views on life and our culture and society. I was will him through it all, I witnessed a crippling disease take the life of a dear friend. Who I will never forget.
"Yes. For all things we didn't do. All the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened . That doesn't help you when you get to where I am."
This makes me think that when I'm on my death bed I don't want to have any regrets about anything in my life. I want to be able to say that I would live my life over without changing anything about it. I don't want to have any " what ifs"...
" Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Don't wait, Mitch. Not everyone gets the time I'm getting. Not everyone is lucky."
This makes me think that I shouldn't hold on to the past and I should make peace with myself and others because it will only lead to regrets.
"If could have had another son, would have liked it to be you."
This shows how close Mitch and Morrie's relationship was.They developed a dear love for one another over the years. They had a father son relationship where Morrie taught Mitch a lot about life and how to see things differently.
This book made me think about the way I'm living my own life and how when I'm on my death bed I would like to have lived a life without regrets. It makes me question all the thinks that matter to me and what I'm doing to live a well lived life like Morrie did.
Published by Doubleday in September 1997
Precis: Morrie was the greatest teacher, he taught me a great deal about life and what to expect in the future. I could talk about aspects and topics of life that scared me or I was embarrassed to talk about with anyone else. He changed my views on life and our culture and society. I was will him through it all, I witnessed a crippling disease take the life of a dear friend. Who I will never forget.
"Yes. For all things we didn't do. All the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened . That doesn't help you when you get to where I am."
This makes me think that when I'm on my death bed I don't want to have any regrets about anything in my life. I want to be able to say that I would live my life over without changing anything about it. I don't want to have any " what ifs"...
" Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Don't wait, Mitch. Not everyone gets the time I'm getting. Not everyone is lucky."
This makes me think that I shouldn't hold on to the past and I should make peace with myself and others because it will only lead to regrets.
"If could have had another son, would have liked it to be you."
This shows how close Mitch and Morrie's relationship was.They developed a dear love for one another over the years. They had a father son relationship where Morrie taught Mitch a lot about life and how to see things differently.
This book made me think about the way I'm living my own life and how when I'm on my death bed I would like to have lived a life without regrets. It makes me question all the thinks that matter to me and what I'm doing to live a well lived life like Morrie did.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Hw #23
Book: "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
Published by Doubleday in September 1997
Precis: Morrie's illness is getting worse. All i can do for him is listen to him and be there for him as a friend. I fear that our time together will end soon, but I've been learning a lot from Morrie's experience with illness and knowing that he is going to die ,that have opened my eyes to living my life differently.
“When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
Accepting death is the first step in thinking about and approaching life from a different angle. This is different from Mitch's approach to death, he's worried about all the wrong things according to Morrie and it's not just about dying.
" All right, it's just fear , I don't have to let it control me. I see it for what it is."
Death and illness are scary, but we can't let our fears about them or anything stop us from living. We have to come to terms with our fears.
"We put our values in the wrong things. And it leads to very disillusioned lives."
We tend to focus on and care about things that aren't very important. That if we were to die tomorrow we wouldn't care about. Why is it that we do? Many of us are living meaningless lives because of this.
People start to live and do things differently when they know they are gong to die.
I don't think that we should wait till the end or when it's too late to start approaching the way we live differently. Instead of worrying about stuff that isn't so important we should refocus on the things that are, before we end up on our death beds with regrets. We should try and live more meaningful lives.
Published by Doubleday in September 1997
Precis: Morrie's illness is getting worse. All i can do for him is listen to him and be there for him as a friend. I fear that our time together will end soon, but I've been learning a lot from Morrie's experience with illness and knowing that he is going to die ,that have opened my eyes to living my life differently.
“When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
Accepting death is the first step in thinking about and approaching life from a different angle. This is different from Mitch's approach to death, he's worried about all the wrong things according to Morrie and it's not just about dying.
" All right, it's just fear , I don't have to let it control me. I see it for what it is."
Death and illness are scary, but we can't let our fears about them or anything stop us from living. We have to come to terms with our fears.
"We put our values in the wrong things. And it leads to very disillusioned lives."
We tend to focus on and care about things that aren't very important. That if we were to die tomorrow we wouldn't care about. Why is it that we do? Many of us are living meaningless lives because of this.
People start to live and do things differently when they know they are gong to die.
I don't think that we should wait till the end or when it's too late to start approaching the way we live differently. Instead of worrying about stuff that isn't so important we should refocus on the things that are, before we end up on our death beds with regrets. We should try and live more meaningful lives.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
hw 22
Book: "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
Published by Doubleday in September 1997
Precis: A former student (Mitch) gets in contact with his old college professor( Morrie) who is dying from ALS. Throughout his illness Mitch visits his professor every Tuesday as his professor teaches him valuable life lessons.
Quotes: " When all this started, I asked myself, Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live? I decided that I'm going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure." pg 22
Morrie isn't going to let his illness determine the way he lives the life he has left. He isn't going to let the disease control him. He is going to choose to live his last days according to his own agenda , while making the best of it.
"Sometimes,in the mornings, that's when I mourn . I feel around my body, I move my fingers and my hands-whatever I can still move-and I mourn what I've lost. I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I'm dying. But then I stop mourning." pg 57
Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he's choosing to be positive about it all.
He realizes that the disease is taking over his body,but there is nothing he can do about it. It's just what happens to some people. So he makes it a point not be in a state of self-pity because that doesn't do anyone any good.
" Mitch, the culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die." pg 64
In our culture we tend not to speak about death and illness until it hits us in the face. Even then we still might avoid talking about it. It makes us uncomfortable because it's such a touchy subject.
I think that this book shows a different approach of dealing with death and illness. It offers insights on illness and death that are interesting to think about. It shows that death doesn't have to be seen as a scary thing. It can be seen as a life changing experience ,but in a positive way. Without self-pity or withdrawing from the world, like the people around us or the experience as a whole. Living life with an illness doesn't mean your life has to stop. You can still enjoy life which is a much healthier way of dealing with it all.
Published by Doubleday in September 1997
Precis: A former student (Mitch) gets in contact with his old college professor( Morrie) who is dying from ALS. Throughout his illness Mitch visits his professor every Tuesday as his professor teaches him valuable life lessons.
Quotes: " When all this started, I asked myself, Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live? I decided that I'm going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure." pg 22
Morrie isn't going to let his illness determine the way he lives the life he has left. He isn't going to let the disease control him. He is going to choose to live his last days according to his own agenda , while making the best of it.
"Sometimes,in the mornings, that's when I mourn . I feel around my body, I move my fingers and my hands-whatever I can still move-and I mourn what I've lost. I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I'm dying. But then I stop mourning." pg 57
Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he's choosing to be positive about it all.
He realizes that the disease is taking over his body,but there is nothing he can do about it. It's just what happens to some people. So he makes it a point not be in a state of self-pity because that doesn't do anyone any good.
" Mitch, the culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die." pg 64
In our culture we tend not to speak about death and illness until it hits us in the face. Even then we still might avoid talking about it. It makes us uncomfortable because it's such a touchy subject.
I think that this book shows a different approach of dealing with death and illness. It offers insights on illness and death that are interesting to think about. It shows that death doesn't have to be seen as a scary thing. It can be seen as a life changing experience ,but in a positive way. Without self-pity or withdrawing from the world, like the people around us or the experience as a whole. Living life with an illness doesn't mean your life has to stop. You can still enjoy life which is a much healthier way of dealing with it all.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Hw 21 b
Below are the comments I posted on my thinking/writing members post:
Willie,
I thought you listed some good insights from the guest speaker that you could have talked about further. I liked how in your first paragraph you connected with some of the things the speaker said when your grandfather died. However, the assignment was to write three paragraphs addressing the insights you got from the speaker and your own thoughts /connections regarding them. I definitely think you could have expanded on your thoughts and made further connections by writing more about your experiences with illness or death. You were off to a good start.
Brandon,
I though that this was a good post, but it could have been better. I would just suggest that you proofread your post before posting like in the second paragraph, the last couple of sentences i noticed a few spelling mistakes.
Willie,
I thought you listed some good insights from the guest speaker that you could have talked about further. I liked how in your first paragraph you connected with some of the things the speaker said when your grandfather died. However, the assignment was to write three paragraphs addressing the insights you got from the speaker and your own thoughts /connections regarding them. I definitely think you could have expanded on your thoughts and made further connections by writing more about your experiences with illness or death. You were off to a good start.
Brandon,
I though that this was a good post, but it could have been better. I would just suggest that you proofread your post before posting like in the second paragraph, the last couple of sentences i noticed a few spelling mistakes.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Hw 21
Experiences and insights from guest speaker Beth Bernett on her husbands illness and death:
1.) Illness and dying look different in real life compared to what it looks like on TV and in movies. "It's not pretty."
2.) She continues her husband's work after his death. She feels he is "alive" wherever she goes.
3.)Illness suddenly struck her husband. He was very healthy and never sick.
4.) Generally men tend to resist medical care more than women. He never went to the doctor till the illness.
5.)She didn't want people to treat her husband like a disease but like a human being ( father, husband,etc)
6.)Illness and dying is "not a straight line"
7.)Her husband began to push death away towards the end.
8.)They never spoke about death or dying through out her husbands illness.
9.)It's important to say nice things to loved ones because you never know when you'll run out of time.
10.)There was an indescribable stillness in the room when her husband passed away.
After hearing Beth Bernett's first hand account of her experiences and insights
regarding her husbands death and illness, it got me thinking a lot more about how she mentioned that it's important to tell loved ones nice things like " I love you" because you never know if you'll get another chance to because death can suddenly take anyone at any moment. Time is not promised to anyone neither is life. When someone dies we tend to regret not spending enough time with that person or telling them all the things we wanted to tell them. We feel as if we've run out of time that is why it is important to make time for the things that matter most in our lives like family because you never know when they might be gone.Just like Beth who spent all her time with her husband during his last months alive. So that when that time comes we'll have no regrets and have done and said the things we wanted before the time comes.
Another insight I found interesting was how her and her family and everyone involved during her husbands illness never spoke about death or dying even though they knew that could end up happening. I find it interesting how people tend to be selective of the reality they choose to accept during hard times, like illness and dying. Whether they are the ones with the illness and dying or witness someone else fighting an illness and death. They tend not to speak about it as a way of dealing with it or they push it away so they don't have to deal with it. We can also be in denial when a situation doesn't look good like when you witness someone going through a potentially fatal illness. Which allows you to create hope, that everything will turn around and get better even if that may not be the case. Everyone is gonna deal with and approach death differently. It's whatever is going to make the process a little easier and less stressful to handle that works for them. Whether you choose to make the most of it or push it away.
I think we can all learn from others experiences and insights on illness and dying that can help us to know what to expect when we experience it. Some questions that the guest speaker sparked were why do we keep dying and illness separate in our lives? why don't we discuss it before we come face to face with it? Instead of making the most of their situation like Beth's husband, why do people tend to feel sorry for themselves during illness and death?
1.) Illness and dying look different in real life compared to what it looks like on TV and in movies. "It's not pretty."
2.) She continues her husband's work after his death. She feels he is "alive" wherever she goes.
3.)Illness suddenly struck her husband. He was very healthy and never sick.
4.) Generally men tend to resist medical care more than women. He never went to the doctor till the illness.
5.)She didn't want people to treat her husband like a disease but like a human being ( father, husband,etc)
6.)Illness and dying is "not a straight line"
7.)Her husband began to push death away towards the end.
8.)They never spoke about death or dying through out her husbands illness.
9.)It's important to say nice things to loved ones because you never know when you'll run out of time.
10.)There was an indescribable stillness in the room when her husband passed away.
After hearing Beth Bernett's first hand account of her experiences and insights
regarding her husbands death and illness, it got me thinking a lot more about how she mentioned that it's important to tell loved ones nice things like " I love you" because you never know if you'll get another chance to because death can suddenly take anyone at any moment. Time is not promised to anyone neither is life. When someone dies we tend to regret not spending enough time with that person or telling them all the things we wanted to tell them. We feel as if we've run out of time that is why it is important to make time for the things that matter most in our lives like family because you never know when they might be gone.Just like Beth who spent all her time with her husband during his last months alive. So that when that time comes we'll have no regrets and have done and said the things we wanted before the time comes.
Another insight I found interesting was how her and her family and everyone involved during her husbands illness never spoke about death or dying even though they knew that could end up happening. I find it interesting how people tend to be selective of the reality they choose to accept during hard times, like illness and dying. Whether they are the ones with the illness and dying or witness someone else fighting an illness and death. They tend not to speak about it as a way of dealing with it or they push it away so they don't have to deal with it. We can also be in denial when a situation doesn't look good like when you witness someone going through a potentially fatal illness. Which allows you to create hope, that everything will turn around and get better even if that may not be the case. Everyone is gonna deal with and approach death differently. It's whatever is going to make the process a little easier and less stressful to handle that works for them. Whether you choose to make the most of it or push it away.
I think we can all learn from others experiences and insights on illness and dying that can help us to know what to expect when we experience it. Some questions that the guest speaker sparked were why do we keep dying and illness separate in our lives? why don't we discuss it before we come face to face with it? Instead of making the most of their situation like Beth's husband, why do people tend to feel sorry for themselves during illness and death?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
HW 19
When I spoke to my parents about illness and dying they said the obvious, that dying is apart of life and we are all apart of the ultimate statistic that 10 out of 10 people die. However,they did mention that they believe when you die it's not the end of it. Both of my parents were brought up to believe that when you die you either go to heaven or hell. Their religious beliefs affect how they come to terms and cope with death. They have taught me that dying is not something to be feared if you're the one doing the dying because that's what they were taught by their parents. While I think for others death can be a very scary thing to face.
This was the first time I really had a conversation about illness and dying with my family. It's something that when it happens we tend not to talk about. My parents said that they didn't really discuss it with their parents either.But I noticed that whenever someone dies in the family we get in touch with our own mortality realizing we're gonna die one day too and sometimes life can be too short. It hits you that suddenly you can go from being healthy to sick to eventually dead, that is unexpected for some people.
My parents mentioned that they feel a sense of loss and sadness when loved ones pass away, and at funerals they remember the person fondly. Celebrating that person's life, having food and people over after the funeral service. They believe that I should live everyday as if it were my last because one day it will be.
This was the first time I really had a conversation about illness and dying with my family. It's something that when it happens we tend not to talk about. My parents said that they didn't really discuss it with their parents either.But I noticed that whenever someone dies in the family we get in touch with our own mortality realizing we're gonna die one day too and sometimes life can be too short. It hits you that suddenly you can go from being healthy to sick to eventually dead, that is unexpected for some people.
My parents mentioned that they feel a sense of loss and sadness when loved ones pass away, and at funerals they remember the person fondly. Celebrating that person's life, having food and people over after the funeral service. They believe that I should live everyday as if it were my last because one day it will be.
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