Blog #5 GL 350

            Leisure is an important part of everyday life no matter what country you live in or what culture you are a part of. Leisure is having free time to just relax or engaging yourself in a hobby of interest or anything that you like. Just anything you’re not being forced to do, it is truly something of interest when one is not working or occupied by something else. I think this concept is very important so people do not feel over worked or stress. Each culture of course has different ways they spend this leisure time.

            When I look at the leisure time between my culture and the Italian culture, I can immediately see a difference in how people spend their leisure time and how much leisure time each person spends. It seems to me that Italians spend much more leisure time on a daily basis. On are many visits to different parks there always seem to be people lounging or relaxing, walking their dogs or taking a jog. It almost seems like nobody is ever at work or school here, like everyone is just enjoying the beauty of the city or just enjoying the weather. I know at home there are times of the day you can go to any park or trail and it almost feels like a ghost town. You will not see any kids playing or any people jogging because everyone is either at school or at work.  I think back home we have so many hours dedicated to obligated activities that we don’t get to enjoy the beauty of our cities like the Italians do.

            There is also a big difference in how leisure time is spent in Italian culture then compared to at home. Leisurely time here is spent in many different ways. People take walks around the parks, like when we were in the aqueducts. I see so many people just laying or studying in the sun, walking their dogs and exercising. If they are not in the parks enjoying the weather you see many Italians in the piazzas enjoying each other’s company. They all get together, have great food and just socialize in the many piazzas around Italy. Overall It just seems like Italians enjoy being outside more to spend their leisure time. In Villa D’Este by Wharton he describes the beauty and the amount of work that went into making the gardens, you can just tell that the beauty of nature is enjoyed here. At least their crafted master pieces of nature they seem to enjoy but they are not really fond wild nature. Regardless it is pretty obvious that Italians like to spend much more of their free time outside of the house then in the U.S.

 I feel that the social part of the leisure time in a way is similar to home. In their free time many people will go out with their friends and socialize, I just don’t think there is a place at home like the piazzas. In the piazzas you can find people of all ages and social classes together in one area. Things tend to be a little more spread out back in the States. At home there are many people who will work out, take jogs, or walk their dogs in their leisure time. I think this is the smaller percentile though, I think a lot more people back home spend their leisure times just relaxing at home. Italians are never really in the house but back at home people get off work then just go home and sit in the house and watch television. Not everybody just sits and watches television but I think there is a pretty good chance that whatever they are doing, they won’t be leaving the house to do it.

            Barzini had said, “I always allow appointments to run after me and not vice-versa…” I think this simply quote shows the differences in the idea of leisure between the two cultures. Back home we run by the clock, everything needs to be done at a certain time and you have to stick to the schedule. While here in Italy, there is a much more relaxed vibe. They know things will get done but at their own pace. They enjoy many of the small things in life while working and going to school and I think that is an important idea that should adopted back home in the U.S.

Blog #5 SOC 490

            Since the dawn of time and the arrival of humans there has been a common obsession that still remains until this day. Even through all the different cultures there is always one common factor that continues to elude mankind, a common obsession that will never be obtained, control. Within all sectors of reality all humans lust to have some sort of control over any and everything possible. Time, nature, or in this case health, in Gaudium it is discussed that men are always working to create better circumstances for life. “Throughout the course of the centuries, men have labored to better the circumstances of their lives through a monumental amount of individual and collective effort.”  The quote in a nutshell shows that as humans it is a collective goal to get to a point of “better control” of their life. You seem to have more control in the better circumstance you create. If we can’t achieve control I believe as humans we will specify certain things, to give the allusion of control. In reality we still have no control of the situation. This is why there is such a huge conflict over universal health care in the United States. Everybody wants the healthcare they feel gives them the best control over their health, people need to have the feeling of control when it comes to their health.

            We say things to convince ourselves we have a grip on the situation like it will “lower or higher your risk” of certain diseases. Notice that nothing is ever said with complete and undeniable certainty that you will cause or prevent something. I do not think humans have any control over health as much as we would like this to be true, it just cannot be done. For example cancer, if you smoke a lot you have a greater chance of getting cancer. There is a chance as well that you may never get and Vis versa. A person that never smokes can get cancer and took all the nessecary precautions to avoid the disease; some are even be born with it. There are many diseases and physical handicaps that are hereditary, completely out of one’s control. The only counter argument that I can think of is if someone were to eat a lot, then  gain weight and possibly get diabetes. Which is a strong possibility but what about the people who have always ate healthy but still manage to get some type of diabetes maybe it just ran in their family. It shows the lack of control that we have humans really have. We can take as many steps to avoid negative health situations as we can but there are just unffortunalty things in this world we have no control over. You still have to look at things like car accidents, natural disasters and acts of violence. Unexpected events happen every day that in a matter of moments could put the healthiest person in the world in critical condition or dead.

            To say that humans could possibly control health is just wishful thinking, almost mythical in my eyes. We create these statistics and add these percent’s, because as humans we need this to ease our minds, to reassure ourselves we have control. If we believe we have some sort of control over what happens or can happen to us it subsides the fear in each person’s head, that the true chaos, which is how the earth operates, cannot be implied to you because you have control. Nobody wants to think today could be medically life changing for me and there is nothing I could do about it. The present determines the future, but the approximate present does not determine the approximate future. What you are doing doesn’t determine what the end result will be. You do things to possibly get the result that you want but many times that is not the case. My grandmother who passed away in 94 had never drank, never smoke, ate well and the hereditary genes in my family are good. At the age of 48 she was randomly was diagnosed with a fatal heart disease that slows the heart beat until it ceases to beat completely. She was a healthy person and heart disease had never ran in the family. Unfortunate events like this happen every day to people all over the world with no explanation. When things like this happen, how can the idea of health control ever be solidified? 

Blog #4 GL350

The Italian culture is a complicated to understand. Like any culture you don’t really know much about but would like to observe and understand.  Every culture has different traditions; social gatherings in different places or at certain times where you can see a lot of this culture “come out” if you will. If you look at the American culture you can tell a lot about someone’s culture by going into their houses. They will have different things set up different furniture’s, different pictures; each home actually has its own vibe that you can read off. With Italians many do not invite others into their houses. The reasoning for this is because in may Italian homes you will find passed down furniture,  places to sleep and a place to eat. Nothing really culture reflecting, so where would you go to see into the Italian culture? The piazzas, but how does the piazza provide a lens towards Italian culture?

Unlike America, Italians do not have social gatherings at each other’s houses. In America you might have a barbeque to watch games or to celebrate any number of events. In Italy they go out to the piazzas. Barzini often talks about the act that Italians put on, to make every day boring situations into something more interesting. Barzini even says, “To avoid making mistakes, some people conclude too hurriedly that everything here is only make believe, nothing is ever what it looks like, and one can never trust appearances; everything then takes on a double outline…” In the same way that Americans buy expensive things for their houses to show off how well they’re doing, Italians will buy clothes, shoes and jewelry to show it off when they go out to the piazzas. “It is indefinitely better to be rich than seem rich. But if a man or a nation does not have the virtues and opportunities necessary to conquer and amass wealth, what is he or it to do (Barzini)?” This acting that Barzini talks about is a strong part of the Italian culture which creates that charm that attracts so many foreigners to want to stay in Italy. ”Transparent deceptions are constantly employed to give man the most precious of all Italian sensations, that of being unique specimen of humanity, a distinct personality deserving special consideration (Barzini).”  In the piazzas you have these very strong pieces of their culture, to show off fashion and the act that every Italian puts on to spice up each situation. The piazza is really the stage for this all to happen so when you find yourself in the middle of a piazza surrounded by people laughing together socializing and dressed to perfection, you are really looking right into pieces of the Italian culture that really separates them from other cultures.  That’s how the piazza is a lens right into their culture because most of that culture that people visiting don’t understand but just see and are drawn to these feelings the Italians cultures create. Falling to the “charm of Italy” affect all happens here at its peak in the piazza all over because it is such a strong part of their culture and what they do when they get together in the piazzas. 

Blog #4 SOC 490

            It may seem like a pretty complex question, how does the United States have the best health care but rank 23^rd in the world in mortality rate? I think the answer is quite simple though to why we are ranked so low for the outstanding healthcare we have and to why other countries that may rank lower in the mortality rate than the United States will still come over for our healthcare.

            The answer to me is timing, affordability, and why people come over to our healthcare is simply technology. Let me explain these points farther and what they have to do with the United States healthcare situation. The United States have the best health care technology in the world. U.S. has the technology to cure a many diseases and injuries that would be fatal in about most other places in the world. They are the most successful in handling diseases that have tormented humanity for centuries and this technology is why people will come over from all other countries. They may have something that in their country you have a very low chance of surviving and have a much better chance in the United States to survive it, so they come here for the medical technology.

            Now if this all true the United States should surly be ranked lower then 23^rd in mortality. Timing and affordability is why we are ranked so high. Countries ranked lower than us give the medical help before their medical problem is serious. Little check-ups are made affordable so before the medical condition becomes life threatening they are threating it right there. In the United States these little check-ups are not affordable and the insurance companies will not pay for something unless its life threatening so people are forced to ignore the small problems. The small problems go untreated until they become life threatening. Furnas even stated that, “Since 1994, the cost per person of American health care has more than doubled, with an annual growth rate regularly more than twice that of inflation.” making these small problems unaffordable for the average American. Now like I said the United States is the best at treating these dangerous diseases but when you have the other countries treating most of their problems before they ever get serious and they have healthcare that will pay for check-ups so people are not forced to wait until something becomes extremely fatal they are of course going to have lower mortality rates.

            That’s why I feel that the answer was simple, if you have affordable healthcare made available for everybody that will pay for seemingly small problems before they ever turn serious, overall people will be healthier. Now if your healthcare and insurance companies are only available to a percentage of the people and these people that are left out‘s insurance companies will only pay for a problem when it becomes super serious more people are going to die. The United States is great at battling these strong diseases but not better than they could be if they just treated these problems when they were small. But like I stated earlier because of this great technology when people do have fatal diseases they will come to the U.S. because they do have the best technology to combat these powerful conditions. The United States morality rate where lower again when every can afford regular health care. “It will not end until we have a national health-care system that covers everyone equally and is paid for by everyone equitably.”- Newhall

Blog #3 GL 350

            Does history limit faith? Saint Paul had said, “Think of God’s mercy, my brothers, and worship him…by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice…Do not model yourselves selves on the behavior of the world around you.” This quote to me says that looking not only at the world around you but also the world of the people before you will limit your faith. I think that if you look at history it limits faith but I think the history creates a bigger like effect on people when they enter large churches. I think that if you are in any building not necessarily a church but any building that is just huge in size, and has a vast amount of history that occurred in that place you get this sort of shock and aw feeling. You just can’t help but to sit there and wonder about all the amazing events and the people that have been in this same very structure that you have. I think these feeling can be confused with the feelings of faith that you can get when you are in churches and in church ceremonies. You are sitting there in this huge church draped in gold and covered in beautiful art you are really just in shock in aw about the location you are in and the history around it but not specifically your faith.

            I think that history limits faith because many people get caught up with trying to receive facts of their faith through their religions book. , when this was never the intent of these books. All the stories were meant to have a meaning and a moral not to be historically accurate. The historic meaning in these books have little value you are supposed to take in the lessons and the morals of each story and learn from them at which then you can strengthen your faith. You can only have too much faith looking at facts before you start to question what you believe because from a historic point some of the things might not make sense. Once you start questioning these small facts you begin to limit your faith immediately.  

            Another point is again location, if you have truth faith I do not believe where you are and the history behind it would have any effect on the strength of your faith. For example being in your small home town church or maybe a huge church in New York or even a huge church in Rome. I personally my faith had felt the same. Either way you are in a church of Christ the fact of who had previously been in that church or how long that church may have been there does not affect how strong my faith may or may not be. Think about in ancient times there were no buildings dedicated to religion, no churches. Church was any building which a group gathered in the name God. I don’t think any building they were in made their faith stronger or weaker.

You can never really expand your mind and faith either if you are stuck in in the historic view. People make breakthroughs in faith and religion all of the time but if you are stubborn and are not accepting change because of the old views of your tradition you in a way will never truly expand your faith just stuck in the limits on which the history you build your faith on has set for you. As Saint Peter had said, “you are slaves of no one except God, so behave like free men, and ever use your freedom as an excuse for wickedness.” You may wonder what this has to do with anything; I believe this can also be used for faith. If you stuck on the traditions of history your faith is limited there for you faith is chained, slave to the history of man in the religion that you follow.

Blog #2 Soc 490

            Looking across the world you can see a lot of differences between different countries, but one thing you will notice is that there are many countries and many people who cannot afford health care. I think well developed countries get so caught with in their own lives that people forget how hard it is for other people and how they desperately they may need the extra help and this is not always out of laziness. I think it’s easier to use the examples of people who are in underdeveloped countries just to show this is how it is for people even in developed countries. People get so concerned with the fact that people could take advantage of something they become ignorant the overwhelming number of people that universal healthcare would help. All humans have a right to healthcare.

            A big problem is that many people who do not think that healthcare is a right feel that they feel people will become lazy and will take advantage. What they fail to realize that in any system that’s set there will be a few that will take advantage you can never help that but giving people universal healthcare I think the benefit of helping so many people should out way this small percentage trying to take advantage. A lot of the people that have no healthcare are not lazy they are hardworking people who work a very large amount of hours just to support themselves but at the end of the day still just don’t have enough money to provide healthcare for themselves and their job does not provide it for them either. Things happen too people that can’t not be controlled I don’t think that just because some are paid less means they are undeserving to receive health benefits so that they may continue taking care of their family. Have this cushion to know you can count on help I don’t think would make people lazy it would just comfort them knowing if something happens to them they won’t lose all their savings trying to pay for the insanely high prices of healthcare. A global example of this that I personally dealt with in a discussion with a random person was the Ebola outbreak. I was discussing with a girl and she felt the United States even being such a Strong country should not go over and help the countries that Ebola was hurting the most because it was a waste of money and she did not want there to be a danger of the virus making its way back to the States. She told me literally,” They should deal with it themselves we shouldn’t have to danger ourselves to help them with their problem. They’ll be fine.” Is this not ignoring the basic calls of humanity? Why let people just die out, they work and have families too but still are just too poor and don’t have access to the technology to help themselves health wise. It is our jobs as humans to help other humans in desperate need of help who can’t provide a solution to their problems with what they have and knowing that you easily have the means to help them. That is what makes humans human, isn’t it? You have insurance companies asking for almost impossible things for these people with nothing to get any kind of help, “They need proof of homelessness and income, a birth certificate, photo identification, copies of bills and a mandatory interview with a case worker.”-Redmond. Many people born into situations out of there control does not have access to many of these things.

            Not only do you have they people who just can’t afford health care with the jobs they have but you also have the mentally and physically disabled who can’t work for themselves. “Mental illnesses among the uninsured often go untreated, or benefits are limited, with the result that some uninsured end up in prison”-Redmond. This is immoral letting people pretty much just fend for themselves who were born and in certain situations who can’t work for the money to help themselves just fend with themselves. This will always have a negative outcome and having universal healthcare that help many of these people receive treatments for their illnesses.

            As defenses to not give universal healthcare many companies say it would be too expensive for healthcare to be a right for everyone. This really means they do not want to make money for themselves and their stock holders. They are more than okay with letting the poor and disabled suffer so they can continue to make their millions, this is inhumane. “A good public plan would be open to all individuals and employers that plan would be open to all individuals and employers that want to join. It would allow all members to choose their own doctors. It would eliminate high deductibles. It would allow members to negotiate reimbursement rates and drug prices. The government would run it. And it would be backed up by tough cost controls and a requirement that all Americans have health coverage.”-Dorrien. This is just one idea but there are ways to make it affordable for everyone to receive healthcare. We just have to get the power out of the hands of the greedy insurance companies, which is of course easier said than done but one this is for sure. All humans have the right to affordable universal healthcare.

Prompt 2 GL 350

What have I found exhilarating and oppressing?

            I have not been long since the group and I have been in Rome and traveling and visiting different places with in Italy but as expected it does not take long for one to feel the immediate culture differences between Italy and the United States. As an over view so far of the journey I can say overall that I have find the experience to more on the exhilarating side rather than the oppressing side which I am sure that is how a majority if the not the whole group feels the  same way. There are certain things that make me feel more than the other I suppose that is Italy’s “Charm” working its magical spells on me. As Barzini had said,”Sheer Superiority does not interest them as much as the special quality which imbues everything, animate or inanimate, in Italy and nowhere else. (54)”

            One of the specific things that I have found exhilarating on these first few weeks is the different sights. It is one thing to read something in a history book and see pictures of these things but to see the mass beauty in person is just absolutely breath taking. You walk around and see these huge gardens you see these massive churches that are carved and decorated on every inch of the building leaving to wonder how the construction of these buildings was ever completed. Then you go inside and these churches are just lines in gold marble and beautiful paintings and mosaics from floor to ceiling. You just really do not even know what to do with your eyes because there is so much to look at. Another thing is just the cities seem to overflow with culture. You have all the street performers playing flawlessly on their instruments giving you beautiful soundtracks to the piazza’s as you see hundreds of people talking enjoying each other’s company and enjoying the weather and of course the gelato. This brings me right into the next thing, the food. By far have had some of the best pizzas and the best pastas I have ever had in my life, it has been a true blessing for my taste buds, What is even better is a lot of these foods are freshly made but yet are too damaging on your wallet.  I think there is just so much history packed into these cities that you can just go anywhere over and over again and just learn something new every single time so in a way the old things never seem to get old.

            Everything is not all peachy here though there are plenty of things I find to be oppressive, some things would go away with learning but others are a part of the society. Now the weather has been a mix for me I love the sun and semi warm weather like around 60 degrees so some of the days here have actually been perfect for me but I really hate rainy gloomy days. Now I know some might say its better than the weather home but oddly enough I actually love the snow so I wouldn’t mind the weather at home either. These wet depressing gray sky days though to me I find oppressive. Another thing I find oppressing is the way the traffic dives here. There are so many dangerous corners and narrow roads that make walking dangerous in the first place but through in a whole bunch of speeding cars with no care for any rules of the road and it really make you fear for your safety when walking the streets of Rome. Even being in a cross walk doesn’t guarantee that the car while stop for you which can be pretty stressful when walking through the city. I have said earlier the sights and views are gorgeous but I would be lying if I said I enjoyed the walk up the mountains sides to get to those places. Every society has different crimes that people must worry about that in other places you do not have to look for or really worry about. Well the pick pocketing I find to be very oppressive you can never really relax when you’re out in public you always have to be a little bit on edge at least to make sure someone isn’t trying to come take advantage of you and steal the things right out of your pockets. I always feel like I have to watch my back and check my pockets very 50 feet to make sure everything is still there. Lastly I find not being able to fluently speak the language to be pretty oppressive. Communication is so key especially when you are charting unknown territories and when what seems like basic communication I often forget the words and how to ask certain questions or understand what people are trying to say to can really be frustrating. But that is something that can eventually be fixed with just patience and studying the language.

            Overall like I already stated overall I found this experience to be much more exhilarating than oppressive and I have loved every second that I have been here so far even the walking because the journeys to get to places in their selves add to the excitement of your experience. Every place has their ups and downs and these are what really personally stood out to me as the ups and downs of Italy in these first few weeks.

“Henry James suspected that the pleasure of Italy was inseparably tied to the human element, the people who had created the landscape almost with their own hands in the course of so many centuries.(55)” - Barzini

Blog #1 Comparative Healthcare

Prompt: Is universal healthcare a right or a privilege?

            Getting straight to the point I believe that universal healthcare is a privilege. The reason I think this way is because I don’t believe it should be a law for people to pay for the care of other people.  I do think though if you have a job and you pay taxes no matter the job or pay you have at that point should be some at least some minimal healthcare since you are putting money into the pot. Then in the case of handicap physical and mental should be the only exception if you’re not able to work to receive some sort of healthcare. Other than this I Do not think it should be other people duty job to pay for things they may never use or for other people’s problems. I think decisions like these should be personally up to the person. When you look it through in the eyes of being human you would hope by the kindness out of a person who knows that they have more money than most and know they are able to help ad decide themselves that they want to help other people out with their medical issues by making personal donations or something of that nature.  Peikoff explained this ideology perfectly when he had stated, “The right to the pursuit of happiness is precisely that: the right, to the pursuit-to a certain type of action on your part and its result-not to any guarantee that other people will make you happy or even try to do so.” Essentially saying you have to work to get things yourself it shouldn’t be a right for one for other people to help them with their problems. If they want to that is great but by law should not be required to help each person because like I had stated earlier there are many people that abuse the system.

            Universal healthcare for everybody with no restrictions, everyone just paying for everyone I think would lead to a lot of abuse to the system. So many people would stop working or in many cases feed addictions with other people’s money and I don’t think people should have to pay for other people’s addictions. Now not everybody would do this but the few percent that would are the reason why universal healthcare would back fire in my opinion.  Universal healthcare is pretty much stealing people’s money through taxes. People may not have as much money as some either but they are forced to pay for things like others people’s health care and themselves get stuck with not enough money to help their family as much as they would like. As Redmond had stated, “This national bully terrorizes and forces us to live in fear. It determines what is possible and not possible.”  Helen had then even later said, “Only in America – a nation of healthcare hostages. We are not free.” These quotes really just drive home the point that when people have to pay high percentages of their salary for the insurance of other people who at times are not even working for their own wellbeing put people in sort of a bind with their situation. They have just enough money to get them and their families by paying for the healthcare of other people which I think is wrong.