The Reality of Classes

I would definitly say that me, my family, my friends, and most of my surroundings in life are of the upper middle class. I can spend money without having to worry about not eating, but I dont go out and buy, say, a pair of $300 shoes once a week. I live a normal life. My dad works full time, my mom part time, and even i have a job that i enjoy. I don't HAVE to work, I choose to! When I sit down and think about it though, its crazy to think how lucky I am to have a job I like doing - one that I volunteered myself to do. In the 30 days episode we watched, I saw that men and women who are of lower class than I am have no choice on what job they want. They just take what they can get and do whatever they have to do to make money. For example, Morgan Spurlock, who was being a man of poor class for 30 days, had to work a gardening/yard work job. While doing so, he hurt his wrist badly, yet he had to keep working because if he didnt, he wouldnt be able to pay his rent or get by. Its scary to think that there are so many people out there today that are in pain or suffering from who-knows-what, yet they have to keep suffering because they know that if they dont, they may not eat dinner that night. It pains me to realize this and I feel like our community - the luckier ones - need to see it too and not take everything for granted. I even admit, Im a huge culprit of it! But this episode of 30 days really opened my eyes.

Please Enter Through The Revolving Door -->

This week in class, we focused a lot on jails and crime-committers. We took the time to look at different jails and how the guards treat the inmates. It turns out that the inmates are treated much more harshly than I would have ever imagined. The guards basically dehuminze them. In the video we saw on one jail in West Virginia, the inmates had to be locked up in a "day room" the entire day and then later locked up behind closed doors - not bars, but heavy, thick doors. This way, they were assured they had absolutly no freedom. I have always expected jail to be harsh, but not as bad as what I saw this week in class. I think that the prisoners have a right to be treated with lesser value than they would be if they were free, but I do not think that gives the guards the right to dehuminize them. At first, I felt, well, they committed the crime, they must serve the time. But then we started seeing a patter in jails: the prisoners always come back. It is like a revolving door. Lets say one man got put in jail for drugs for 10 years. He is being treated like an animal those 10 years, just craving to get out and get back to what he is used to. So, after his time has been served, he goes out and just does the same drugs as before. In jail, the inmates arent taught HOW not to go back to old habits and crimes, they are just punished. I feel like if they are going to be serving that time, the guards and police in the jails might as well make it useful and teach them lessons. If jails actually had seminars or classes that helped and educated the prisoners, I think we would see a huge difference in the number of people who return to jail after they have already been imprisoned before.

The Wierd Thing About Deviance

In class, we defined 'deviance' as something that breaks social norms. For example, at school, it would be deviant to be a boy and wear a dress, or talk to yourself as you walk down the halls. Deviance, though, can be thought of in various ways and ranges, depending on the time and place of the action. This weekend, I was downtown seeing a play. After the play was over, mobs of people were outside trying to get taxis to take them to their next destination. Obviously there were way more people than there were taxis, so everyone was in the street trying to be the "next noticed one." As I was waiting for my own taxi along with the hundreds of others doing the same, I noticed a man standing close to the corner, hailing taxis every few minutes. It seemed as though he was with a woman, probably his wife or girlfriend, and they were carless and taxiless as well. The deviant thing about it was, he would hail a taxi and then offer it to another woman or a family. He kept doing this until finally, I suppose he was satisfied. I could tell that everyone watching him was thankful, yet confused. I think most people thought his simple act of kindness was pretty wierd. And, i'm not going to lie, so did i! After thinking about it though, I realized that it truely was just an act of kindness out of his good heart, and this man never meant to be wierd or deviant about his actions at all.