Democracy by Langston Hughes

Democracy
-Langston Hughes

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.

Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.

I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.

Powered by Podbean.com

Haiti earthquake

The death rate in Haiti increased because of an earthquake.

1. Untreated injuries.

• Doctors from all over the world have gone to Haiti to treat the millions of patients caused by the earthquake. But there is an extreme lack of nurses to provide basic medical care.
• The lack of medicines has made doctors incapable to treat their patients effectively. Medical supplies are urgently needed to be bought by other countries and sent to Haiti.
• Evacuation is required so injured people who can’t be treated in Haiti can go to available hospitals in nearby countries.

2. Lack of clean water, housing and sanitation.

• Charity institutions should not give tents to the victims but instead wood and metal so Haitians can build sheds before the monsoons.
• Clean water and sanitation should be made available to avoid dehydration and water borne diseases.

3. Lack of food.

• Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. The available food is not enough for the victims to recover from their injuries neither for them to survive. Therefore other countries and NGO’s should support Haiti with food and water.

4. Security problems result in a fight for survival.

• Funds have been raised by countries and NGO’s but since that money will be used mostly to buy food and medicines, the earthquake victims will do anything to obtain money. Many children have become orphans and some groups of people will try to sell them for adoption.
• Accountability of the money should be enforced so the contributors could know that the money they gave reached the victims of the Earthquake.

The solutions mentioned above could be easily introduced in Haiti. There are millions of people in the world who have a lot of resources. Those individuals are egotistic and normally don’t want to share the resources they have. There are also many doctors and nurses that don’t want to leave their comfortable jobs and set out to help others in need. If Haitians and the rest of the world work together they may find the solutions to this catastrophe.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122556026

Taste of Salt - Anticipation Guide

Taste of Salt - Anticipation Guide

1) Politics and political problems are a subject for adults to deal with.

I agree with the statement because:
• Adults have more experience. Adults have lived longer, they have had various times where they had to make decisions and now they know what is more appropriate.
• Adults have more knowledge. Even though sometimes adults don’t seem to show it, they want the best for their children. So when the issue about politics is concerned they try to make the decision which will best suit their children in the future.
• Children want to know about politics and want to have the opportunity to vote. Children know that when they grow up they are the ones having to make the decisions. Even though it is true they will have to make the choices in the future, if they are given the opportunity to vote now they will be influenced by peers and perhaps will vote incorrectly. By making this mistake they will not only be damaging themselves in the future as well as to the generations to come.

2) All scenarios can have a happy ending if those involved work towards it.

This question leads me to disagree because:
• A happy ending does not depend on the people involved in the matter and their output to achieve that goal but also about a series of factors such as: natural disasters, diseases, accidents, dysfunctional families, cultural limitations, secular constraints, climate changes, economic reasons, etc.
• There are situations in which people achieve a happy ending but for some reason they lose it and they come to the conclusion that the world is not fair. In real life, there is not always a happy ending because some of the scenarios have difficulties associated with them and make a happy ending not viable.

3) Literacy (being able to read or write) is a form of freedom.

I agree because:
• Being able to read gives people freedom. If people can read they can interpret documents and can gain an opinion about what is happening around them.
• When people start getting information, they start wanting to have the right to speak in public and to have the right to vote and control their lives. This makes politicians have less control over their citizens.
• In early times, the priests were the only people allowed to have the bible. So, if they changed the doctrine of what was written people wouldn’t know about it because they weren’t allowed to read the bible and understand and comprehend the doctrines being taught. Nowadays, because people go to school, learn how to read and write they can develop their own opinion and become aware if the priests are not telling them the truth.
• Currently, there are also many different theories but since people can read they have the capacity to interpret and analyze those theories and they can formulate an opinion about what they desire to believe.

4) Civilizations without a written language cannot effectively document history.

I agree with the statement because:
• Many civilization records were not written because there was no written language. Instead ancient people had to transmit the information verbally from father to son. Some of the information which was passed orally through the age of times years is accurate, but scientists don’t know how much of it since most of the information became unclear and in many cases unreliable.