Discussion on weeks-9--10-research-and-journal

[Anna S]

Anna S. journal weeks 9-10

The deficit in America has reached an all time high. It seems that the
latest solution is to borrow the money elsewhere only to use it to pay
back and also make further bad investments. In actuality we need to
suck it up and work harder to get rid of the debt we have made for
ourselves and cut back in the meantime. A fictional character that
comes to mind is Jim Carroll played by Leonardo DiCaprio, in
Basketball Diaries. In the movie, Jimmy, pleads with his mother to
give him money and he also gets money other ways. One was by selling
himself in a men's bathroom. This money that he gets he then uses to
further invest in destroying his life by buying drugs. Just as America
borrows money from these countries to further our bad investments and
keep us even further in debt. If we were to be more mindful like
fictional character, Molly Gunn, was in Uptown Girls, then maybe
America could get back on track. Molly was a rich girl who didn't
bother paying any attention to her money or to her spending that
money. Until she found out that her employee who handled her money had
robbed her. It took her a lot of restraint and at first it was very
difficult for her. This type of change does not come easily. After
some harsh awakenings she came to see that she needed to get a job and
stick with it. She became a nanny and does the dirty work until she
didn't need to anymore, though, there definitely were times she wanted
to quit. This was also a time where she learned a lot of life's
valuable lessons and I think America could benefit from that too.

[Joey Anne]

One of the ideas presented by Bacevich is that we are greedy for
power. I believe the characters in Lord of the Flies by William
Golding represent the perfect examples of Bacevich's proposed idea. A
character example of what Bacevich's proposes as selfish is Jack. Jack
is power hungry and is immediately jealous of Ralph being named
chief. Jack becomes a threat to Ralph and creates his own tribe,
where he leads them to follow into his footsteps of savagery.
Ralph, in the same book, I believe sets the perfect example of the
correct course of action to be taken according to Bacevich. While
Jack led his tribe to be savages, and become greedy, and power hungry,
Ralph kept what was left of his tribe to be thoughtful of each other.
Even when Ralph's best friend, Piggy, was murdered by Jack's tribe,
and his two remaining tribe members are stripped of him, Ralph does
not give in. He does not strike back, even when he is at his lowest.
He remembers Piggy and reminds himself that not everyone is a savage.
His passive attitude may have saved him his life toward the end, but I
believe it is for that passive attitude that Bacevich tries to portray
in his book.
Ralph can relate to Timon in Shakepeare's Timon of Athens. When Timon
learns his friends are but moochers, he curses the world. Timon loses
hope for all humanity, believes they are all savages. Like Ralph, his
passive attitude may have saved him when he came across Flavius, a
true and loyal servant. It was Flavius who helped Timon accept that
not all of humanity are savages. What Piggy was to Ralph, is what
Flavius is to Timon.