Tuesdays With Morrie

      This week in Sociology we watched Tuesdays With Morrie. Based on a book about a man named Mitch who is too caught up in his job to realize the love of his life is slipping through his fingers. As he is watching TV, he sees a story on his old Sociology professor, Morrie, who is suffering from ALS. Mitch promised to keep in touch, but never came through. What he thinks is just a visit with Morrie turns into every Tuesday and lessons from Morrie about living.
     A popular theme Mitch learns about in his meetings with Morrie is dependency. Americans are afraid to be dependent on others. In our society being dependent shows weakness and no one wants to be considered weak. Growing up we depend on our parents to take care of us until we go to college, which then we are still being financially supported by them. After college, it is expected that we get a job, our own house and a family sometime later. In our society it is frowned upon to be still living with your parents a couple years our of college. If your parents are supporting you then your are "weak" and cannot support yourself. This fear of dependency stems from the American value of independence and freedom. Americans so badly want to be considered successful and "self-made" that we are willing to push people away that could help us. I also think we want to be independent because if you are dependent then what happens when they die? You don't have a way to support yourself. But if you push them away now, then you could lose a close relationship. I guess it's kinda a "choose your poison" situation. Right now I depend on my parents the most. They support me and I still live with them. My brother just moved to Florida in January so they no longer support him. He still keeps close ties with us but as time goes on you never know how much people can drift and how busy they get. It doesn't bother me that I am dependent on them because I am not ready to support myself; however I don't want them to support me my whole life. I have accepted this social norm of independence and want to pursue my own way of life.

American Values

This week we are studying culture and what a society as a whole values. We were asked to read an article which stated the 13 main values Americans live by. As I read this, I was shocked at how accurate the portrayal of Americans were. After you have lived in this culture for your whole life you find yourself ethnocentric and think, "Wait, everyone doesn't do it like that?" A few values really stuck out and I could relate to though. One was the value of time and its control. I see myself always busy! If I'm not at school, crunching homework in so I don't have to do it later, I am at the gym practicing gymnastics for an average of 4 hours per day. I have a strict schedule I follow throughout my day, then I wake up and do it all over again. Another value I relate to is Individualism and independence. As a teenager, we are starting to become more independent because we are going to college soon. We are always told we won't get as much help in academics and we will have to budget our money...etc. Also, it talks about privacy, which I believe I am very big on. I need time for myself to be alone per week because my schedule is so busy and I am always with other people that being by myself is a good time to relax. My busy schedule also pertains to the action/ work orientation value. As Americans we believe in being proficient and if your not moving forward your either standing still or going backwards. Even Walt Disney believed in this when he said "Keep Moving Forward."Although, some values we may not particularly like, they are apart of our culture and we have to accept it.

God Grew Tired of Us

This week in Sociology we are watching God Grew Tired of Us, a documentary about the Sudan civil war. Young men were forced to walk over 1000 miles to Kenya to avoid being murdered. As they made their life in a new country they always dreamed of going back to their motherland. Some were lucky enough to go to America to start a new life. Before leaving to go to the U.S. they had many questions about our way of life. For example, "Do you have to go down to the river to get water every morning? What's a shower? Is electricity hard to use?" As they get to America through an interesting plan ride, they are escorted to their apartments. They were taught how use electricity, refrigerators, and even toilets. They asked if all of them slept in one room (meaning two people per bed) and were surprised when they were getting their own bed. These simple questions and reactions made our class laugh, but when you think about it we take so many things for granted. We are so much better off than we say we are. Going through my daily life, I could list many things that others would have no idea how to use or what they are i.e. a phone, computer, washer, dryer, shower, a clock, microwave, t.v., hamburgers, chips, processed foods in general...the list goes on and on. This documentary has opened my eyes to how well off Americans are and I am thankful for all I have. I'm excited to see the ending of the documentary and if they Sudanese will adapt to our culture or if they will want to move back home.