From Greek, Euthanasia, Meaning "A Good Death"

Euthanasia is the act of ending one's life for that person's benefit. The act of 'mercy killing' or euthanasia, is considered illegal in all countries except Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and certain states in the United States. In my opinion, euthanasia should be allowed, as I see that abuse of euthanasia would not be apparent, and because I find euthanasia as more beneficial than negative.

I believe that euthanasia should be allowed because it relieves the pain one goes through and kills them in a humane, dignified manner. Those terminally ill, may eventually conclude that living is no longer worth it because of the pain. In the event that this happens, would you not wish that you were put out of your misery? Euthanasia allows one to die with dignity and does not let them suffer from a slow, painful death. Although in many cases, one could decline drugs and treatment that help pain in order to quicken death, the victim would be put under excruciating pain before they died. Euthanasia should also be legalized as it is considered by many as an act of kindness. I see euthanasia not as murder, but as a final act of kindness for those who wish to put an end to their suffering. Many pet owners may find that their pets have developed a fatal disease that is not curable; these pet owners would most likely decide to put down their pet. Animal euthanasia is considered one of the kindest options a pet owner could do to their pet in the event that a fatal ailment has occurred. Seeing as the pets don’t have the ability to supply consent and they are still euthanized, and people who want to be euthanized are denied euthanasia, why shouldn’t people be granted this option as well?

Aside from what it does for the person suffering, euthanasia can also benefit others around them. An example of this would be a patient who might be elderly or chronically ill who knows that they have little chance of survival might choose to give up their position in a hospital so that someone else who is younger or has a greater chance of survival may receive treatment that would be lead to that person living a fuller life. Euthanasia also gives the family or friends of the sickly the relief that their loved one no longer has to suffer anymore.

Another reason to legalize euthanasia would be because one has every right to have control over one's life to an extent, and I believe that one's death. There are many reasons people who simply do not feel that life is worth living due to pain, or they feel as though that the treatment is only postponing an inevitable death, or those who consider this futile treatment as a waste of money and they should simply stop the treatment to keep the financial status of their family intact. In a scenario where you had no chance of cure from a fatal disease that has left you in a vegetative state, and the only thing keeping you alive were expensive life support machines, you are deprived of simple choices such as moving, or even speaking, would you not wish to die your own way rather than let the disease take it's course?

Euthanasia should be legalized because it serves more purpose than simply letting someone die a slow death, it is also more ethical and humane. Euthanasia also gives other positive benefits to those around them. Those against euthanasia might argue that euthanasia degrades the value of human lives, however, is it not the suffering victim's job to decide the value of their own life? Put yourself in a situation where you suffer constantly because of a disease that will kill you eventually, and I am almost positive that you will long to end the suffering, whether it be slow and painful, or quick and painless.

Untying the Noose

Capital punishment, or the death penalty is a well debated discussion and in my opinion should be abolished or limited to use in crimes with more aggravating elements. 58 countries have used the death penalty in the past 10 years and over 2000 people have been killed in 2010 via capital punishment in the forms of hanging, electric chair, gas chamber, shooting, lethal injection and beheading.

One could argue that the death penalty can be used as a deterrent for other criminals to stop them from committing more serious crimes and that crime rates have dropped substantially since the past. However, in countries that still retain the death penalty, but have relatively low usage of it, it has shown that a deterrence effect from death penalties are almost non-existent because of its rarity of usage. This shows that if a deterrent effect were to be present, there would have to be even more executions, and that would be even worse for countries that barely use it. Furthermore, the death penalty does not deter serial killers due to the fact that many of these acts occur because of a bigger idea or belief behind their killings. The death penalty also does not deter sudden murders as those who kill suddenly do so without premeditation.

One reason the death penalty should be abolished because capital punishment is less effective compared to other forms of punishment like incarceration. This is because that sending someone to prison for life can give the same effects as the death penalty in the sense that it takes the criminal away from society without the necessity to kill someone. And what if the "criminal" was wrongly convicted and executed? Statistics show that between 1973 and 2005, 123 people have been released from death row due to the fact that new evidence was presented that proved their innocence. However the problem underlying wrongful executions is the fact that after one is executed, there is usually a lack of funds and motivation to keep a case open, so new evidence is not introduced to prove the convicted's innocence, and so a miscarriage of justice is unlikely to be filed. With incarceration this complication is never encountered due to the fact that if innocence can be proved, the prisoner is still alive and can still be exonerated.

Another reason that use of capital punishment should be limited or abolished is because of the fact that if a convicted criminal on death row, truly saw the errors of their ways and they genuinely changed themselves into a better person, there would be no chance for said criminal to be let out because of death row. However if that criminal was incarcerated instead of put on death row, the convicted might have a chance to reenter society as a better person. This is because most countries have a mandatory sentencing time, and if one completes their minimum sentence they have a chance to get out of prison.

Finally, is it morally right to punish someone, who, let's say has killed someone, by killing them? One could argue that the death penalty should be kept because it is some form of 'retribution', however in that case, I would not classify it as 'just'. Crimes that do not involve taking others' lives can also result in the death penalty in countries such as Malaysia, for example, anyone found having possession of a certain amount of drugs, can be executed. Ultimately I cannot simply change any reader's decision about whether the death penalty should be kept or not, as it is up to the reader to perceive how much they value a life. Desmond Tutu once said, "to take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.". Is the death penalty really a justice, or revenge?


References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_debate

'The Blue Marble'

"The Lorax" by Dr Seuss is a fictional story, essentially about a Once-ler who decides to open up a small business cutting down Truffula trees and making products called Thneeds out of them. The Lorax tries to persuade the Once-ler to not continue with his business, but the Once-ler ignores the Lorax's warning. But eventually the small business turns into a factory. The destruction of Truffula trees means that a native animal must move away as they have no food source. The pollution from the factory also causes more native animals to flee. In the end, the Once-ler chops down the last tree and his business is forced to close down. Years later , a boy is then given the last Trufulla seed so that the boy can plant and potentially revive the Truffula tree population.

Even though "The Lorax" is aimed at children, there are many messages in the book that can be related to problems in the real world. I believe that the book could be foreshadowing what could happen to our world if we continue to neglect and mistreat our planet like what happened in the book, as the events happening in the book could be compared to events happening in the real world, such as dumping waste products in to rivers, deforestation and releasing pollutants into the atmosphere. I believe that the Earth is worth fighting for.

The Earth is worth fighting for because we depend on a lot of nature in order to survive. It gives us the oxygen that we breathe and without oxygen a majority of life on Earth today, would be nonexistent. Our planet gives us energy and resources which is extremely important, as without the natural energy and resources, we would not be able to do many of the tasks we do in everyday life today. Nature also starts off the food chain which we depend on to survive as it provides us with a source of food. Besides needing Earth to survive, a world without nature would be nothing more than urbanized land. It is also important to remember to keep a balance with nature, meaning that if we choose to have urbanized areas we also need to have natural land as well.

It is important to respect the Earth as it is where we as people make our homes. It is important to preserve nature as it is also the home of many other things that live on this planet and many generations to come. Nature and Earth isn't just where humans live, and it's important to respect that. After all, we as people have caused all these problems on the planet, so shouldn't it be our responsibility to find the solutions?

Equality - Paving the Way Towards Utopia

"Men are created equal, it is only men themselves who place themselves above equality." - David Allan Coe

Equality is the state of equal freedom, rights, opportunities and treatment. Had I the opportunity to create a new society and could only choose one characteristic that this society would follow, I would choose equality.

With equality comes equal and mutual respect and treatment of others. When disputes within this society occur, it would be solved through collaboration and consensus rather than violence and hostile behavior. Equal opportunities, would mean that the social hierarchy would not be as radical as the hierarchy in place today, meaning that there would be no exceedingly poor or rich compared to the rest of society. Equal rights and freedom would place no individual or group above the laws and norms established. 

Equality is important as it leads to a more efficient society that can handle problems much easier. A society with equality as a primary principle will be able to find solutions towards problems much faster than a society which argues and fights over everything. 

The Night of Broken Glass

On the nights of November 9th and 10th, 1938, a series of attacks took place throughout Germany and in some parts of Austria called Kristallnacht. The attacks targeted Jewish property, synagogues, the Jews themselves and practically anything the Jewish people owned. On November 10th, Joseph Goebbels the current Reich Minister of Propaganda at that time called of the pogrom. The events were called Kristallnacht, which literally means 'crystal night', because of all the shattered glass left on the streets the following days. German estimates say that fewer than 100 were killed and that 30000 were arrested and taken to concentration camps. On top of the destruction of Jewish property, the Jews were made to pay 6 million Reichmarks as the Nazis argued that the Jews actually caused it.

The Kristallnacht attacks took place in response to the assassination of Ernst vom Rath by a 17 year old Jew. But the aggression that took place probably would not have been so strong were it not for the propaganda released by the Nazi Party. The propaganda was used to shape every German citizen to believe what Hitler believed, and that was that Jews were the enemy. Hitler also targeted propaganda towards children as he knew that it would be a member of the youth in Germany that would grow to become the next Fuhrer. He wanted the future-Fuhrer to teach what Hitler instilled into Germany’s people to the Nazis of the future.

I’m surprised that so many people would change their opinions on Jewish people so radically as Germany was not particularly an anti-Semitist nation before the Nazi Party came to power. Other people did not agree particularly with the Nazis but they still did not do anything about it and just chose to accept what was going on, in turn, becoming a bystander. If it were me in that same situation, I would probably also choose to be a bystander.

What's a Learning Profile?

I found that I'm a Learning Profile C. A Learning Profile explains what kind of learner you are and can be found by taking some simple tests to find your dominant eye, ear, hand and leg. Then you must decide whether you are a more logical or a more gestalt person. If you're a more logical person, you would think of 'pieces of a picture' and if you are gestalt dominant you look at the 'whole picture.'

Being a Profile C, I am logic dominant and I learn best by focusing on pieces of information I can hear. With my right ear being dominant I can take in pieces of information best when my right ear can be easily used, meaning I would have to sit on the left side of the speaker or where the sound is coming from. I process and learn a piece of information best by explaining it again or writing. My left eye scans from right to left and I sometimes possess a difficulty reading languages that go from left to right, like English. I find this true as sometimes while I'm reading, I might get confused about a sentence and read it multiple times. A good way to work around this problem is to reverse the direction of which I'm reading and scan a sentence from right to left. While under stress I am limited in the ability to take in a lot of information visually. I would like my teachers to know that I prefer a well-structured and organized lesson in order to keep things simple and easier to understand for me.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi, a pro democracy leader in Burma, was recently released from 15 years of house arrest. During her time as a pro democracy leader, she has made many sacrifices and faced many tough decisions to help Burma. I can't imagine having to make as difficult decisions as she has. During her house arrest she could not see her sons grow up. During a brief release of her incarceration her husband was dying and she had to make a difficult decision to stay in Burma or visit her husband. The government of Burma said that if she left the country she would not be able to return and they would not let her husband visit her. Her husband also said that he didn't want his life to interfere with Aung San Suu Kyi's political buisness. She decided to stay in Burma to continue to help her country and I think that this is her biggest sacrifice. Still after going through house arrest and all her sacrifices she says that it's only house arrest and she didn't get the worst punishment like others. She says she hasn't sacrificed anything because everything she has done has been a choice. I think this ties into this year's theme of Heroes and Journeys because there's no doubt in my opinion that Aung San Suu Kyi is a heroine to many.

The picture above shows Aung San Suu Kyi talking to a streetful of her followers.

Reference: http://mthago.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/aung-san-suu-kyi.jpg