MATERIALISM

I agree with Amel Saleh, when she says the holiday is too much about receiving and less about giving. It seems like kids today want fancy toys, nice clothes or the newest gadgets out. If they don’t receive these nice things they are not happy with their parents. Not to mention they aren’t the ones forking out expensive gifts in return, they only demand high priced gifts and give out little to nothing in return. I feel this way because I see my younger cousins and close friends respond in the same way. My younger family members faces when they see clothes is drastically different to when they receive a fancy electronic. When I see some of my family members receive a non preferred gift their physical reaction is not as “jumpy” as it is when they receive a preferred gift, also family members amplify preferred gifts so the child knows it’s something preferred rather than not.

In my family, we always purchase a gift everyone in the immediate family. So for example, whoever is opening gifts will have purchased a gift for everyone in attendance. My family does not emphasis the quality of the gift as much as it is to just have received a gift. Also, my family makes sure the youth are valued and receive more than adults. The holiday is for one, the adults to understand it is not about gifts but to respect the tradition. Secondly, for the youth to have positive memories of the holiday and also to understand that it is a blessing to have family. I understand that each religion is different and we all have different ways of honoring the day of Christmas.

SCHOOL

                     

I was pretty skeptical registering from my classes four months ago, mainly because it has been about two years since I was last in school. When I finally mustard up enough courage to drag myself to meet a counselor, my heart was racing and I was very close to walking away and saying “I tried”. I met with a counselor and registered for my classes, it finally hit me, and I was a college student once again. There was only one problem, now I had to speak with my boss. I was currently working a full time job, so I needed to adjust some of my working days. My boss was very understanding and worked with my school schedule. Everything was complete and I was optimistic about starting school.

            Returning back to Oxnard College, I liked the small classroom sizes and the convenience of coming and going quickly. Another positive was that I did not have to pay the high tuition costs of a university, but was able to take equivalent classes that are transferable. One big negative for me was that, I don’t believe the parking lots are big enough for all students. There were several occasions when I was late to class because I could not find any parking spots. Personally the school workload is not very strenuous. The professors are very lenient and leave a lot of room for students to make mistakes, but most importantly recover and grow. Along with work and a social life, school can be pretty challenging. I have a great support system at home to help my when times get hard. In the end all the stress of homework, midterms and finals will pay off. I don’t have much more time at Oxnard College, so I am making the best of the Community College experience.

In Conclusion, staying motivated for me is pretty easy. My motivation is the end goal of attending a University and progressing further in my career as a youth care worker. My family, my friends and my girlfriend do a great job of keeping my focused when I want to go out and skip out on homework. If it wasn’t for them, I would be a lot more complacent and easier going.

Reality T

Reality TV today’s society seems to be polluting our society. Every time you turn the TV on and flip the channels it is hard to avoid reality TV. Reality TV shows are played on the Web, aired several times a week and even show cased on magazines/newspapers. Why do people like reality TV so much? Is it because the people on the shows have no shame, they show and tell for everyone in the nation to see. I think reality TV is so popular because it gives normal people today an opportunity to fantasize about becoming famous on TV.

Personally, I try not to watch TV in general. When I do turn the TV on to watch sports I find it very hard to not gravitate towards MTV, VH1, BRAVO and all the other channels that consistently play reality TV shows. Another factor which makes it hard to avoid watching reality TV shows is that, my family cant not stay away from shows like the bachelor, real world and naked and dating. TV networks cater to the people; networks understand people want to see fighting, drama, poor language and sex. When all these are shown in a reality show networks views rise and the popularity of the show increases. In my view reality TV is polluting our society. Shows that disrespect women, air women who are un educated and carry themselves poorly, or men who beat and talk down to women show our children that’s an ok lifestyle. I do not agree or enable that negative perception of American society. I try my hardest to stay away and not give those networks my vote of approval. Like I said earlier in the essay, although I do not approve or like these reality shows they are hard to stay away from.

On the other hand, not all reality TV shows are negative and show Americans as blood sucking vampires. There are shows like “the biggest loser” that aims to help people lose weight and make a healthy lifestyle change. As all other reality TV shows, this show has drama and indulgence. The biggest loser shows contestants who struggle with losing weight, by documenting their day to day lives. In the end the “biggest loser” is the one who ultimately loses the most weight. Ultimately, I would not be upset if one day I woke up and when I turned on the television there were no more reality TV shows.

Food for thought

As a child my mother worked three jobs to provide for my siblings and I. my mom was a single parent who worked her butt off to ensure we had everything we needed. Growing up I was always with babysitters or family members because my mom would leave one job and have to go to another one. Fast food was a big part of my childhood because my mom rarely had time to cook a meal, she usually had one day off a week. When I was a child it never crossed my mind that eating out so much could potentially be harmful to my body. I also don’t think my mom knew eating fast food so regularly was bad, because obesity and all the research on fast food wasn’t around back then.

Currently, my thought process on fast food is completely opposite today. With research stating excessive eating of fast food and lack of exercise contributes to multiple life threatening diseases. That played a big part on why I think differently now about fast food. Also, there were other factors that I took into consideration when I processed this information. For example, eating fast food as frequently as a child made me appreciate having a home cooked meal. Since my mom stopped working she cooks meals almost every day of the week. My mom feels that she worked too much when I was a kid and wasn’t able to provide that comfortable, home environment, where she could cook a dinner and the whole family would sit down and eat.

My mom has taken some of the blame as to why I dislike fast food so much. Yes, understanding all of the negative side effects and appreciating home cooked meals played a big role on why I think negatively about fast food. Also, being healthy and staying active is a big part of my life right now. I know when I used to eat fast food as an adult, I felt very lackadaisical and unmotivated to go to the gym. So my health and happiness means much more to me than eating a greasy burger and fries.