Ethics Kid: COllege Search

20091129

COllege Search

So.....Tell me what you guys think - i'm lookin at going into business, maybe economics. UMD is a good school, so is UWS. I want to stay close to home, and I don't have the option of one of the bigger, more expensive schools...Even working this summer and probly getting a part time job during the year, I'll still need to go to school close to home.

I don't really know what I want to do. Get married, (find a girlfriend!), my dad worked most his life at the same job - he seems to like it. So I don't think I'm destined for greatness as they say but I do want to do something I'd enjoy.

3 comments:

sjaDecember 2, 2009 at 3:56 PM
test comment.

comments can be left with names by selecting 'name/URL' in the [Comment as:] menu.
ReplyDelete
Replies
JMSDecember 3, 2009 at 2:34 PM
Ok, here's my chance to test a response.
ReplyDelete
Replies
JMSDecember 3, 2009 at 2:37 PM
OK, looks like it works. I appreciate the additional information you provide in the "About the author" section. You've had more than your fair share of tough stuff to deal with, Sarah Jean. Given that kind of significant experience, however, it is very important to name it--as you have. Now, onward and upward--that is, in terms of reading your posts.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

About the Author

Well, obviously, this was not written by a teenage boy, it was written by a 22 year old college girl. I tried to break away from my usual writing style, to try and get into the character a little bit, but I'm not sure how successful I was.

I wanted write from Brad's perspective because it is one that I never had to experience. Women don't have to fill out the selective service card, and though my older brother did, I don't really remember it being something discussed or mulled over. Over Thanksgiving break, I spoke with my parents about their experiences with the draft and with selective service. My father comes from a unique situation that, if his number had been drawn, he would have been able to claim conscientious objectors' status, having attended a Quaker boarding school for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade.

My personal factors are numerous. I have experienced violence myself, as a child, an adolescent, as a teenager, and as a college student, both here and abroad in Tanzania. I won't go into more detail than that.

My great uncle and both grandfathers served in the military, and my great uncle was killed, shot down over Italy during WWII. His brother, my grandfather, served in the South Pacific, though never saw action. My mother's father, my other grandfather, served as a cook in the National Guard. Two of my cousins (brothers) on my mother's side are serving in the military, the Marines and the Army.

As distasteful as violence is, I recognize that it is necessary. Self defense skills were something that I lacked when I was younger, and have since used to defend myself. I have made sure that my younger sisters are educated in self defense. Does that count as a just war? I don't think so. But it is an allowance of violence that I am comfortable to have remain. Nonviolence only works if you don't mind getting hurt - something I am not willing to endure - and other should not experience what I have had to.

I could have argued that violence is wrong in all situations, but I would have to call myself a hypocrite. I struggle to write this piece because I never had to struggle with these things. I've chosen to think about them, but as far as the way the current selective service program is set up, I don't need to confront these issues unless I willfully take part in them. Most young men, however have to face this at a young age - an age that young adults aren't allowed to drink alcohol they are faced with the prospect (distant as it may be) that they potentially could have to fight in a war. I consider that a flawed system. I don't have a solution, all I have is my opinion on the entire issue.

Ethics Kid

20091129

COllege Search

3 comments:

About Me

About the Author

Followers

Blog Archive