BLOG 14

It seems that some countries had a lot to deal with when the colonizing that the European countries started began. China, japan and the ottoman empire had a lot on their hands, and it's a wonder how they survived through it all. I got stressed just reading about all they had to deal just at the second page of reading!

China's population growth had big impact on them, a negative one. They didn't have an industrial revolution or anything like that in Europe, which resulted in not having enough food or jobs to sustain their growth. China now had unemployment and starvation, leading to a weaker China, and a more miserable one. Not only that, but their government was not able to keep up with controlling the people. There was not enough man power or resources to keep everything going as smoothly as it was before. Now that is a scary thought, isn't it? Because of that, authority took it into their own hands to be harsh and cruel to their peasants, because how else would it seem like they had control? This then resulted in an uprising of gangs. Man, and I thought what I said before was scary. Imagine living in that type of society at those times, with European culture breathing down your back and trying to change the ways you've always known. It seems to be all to much for China and its people.

The Taiping uprising. That's a lot of change right there, especially with women. Women were now considered equal, getting equal land, being able to fight, be civil servants, put in higher positions and no longer was family a center for marriage, it was all about mutual attraction. Which, if you think about it, is where we are now in American culture. You don't really get married to have kids, and get rich with a husband and worry about those things. You get married because you find each other attractive and you grow to love those people.

CALL TO ACTION

I went to the Belmont creek clean up site for Call to Action Day. Let me first say, that I love that our school does this. I love that they sacrifice one day of school for us to service our community and those around us. It really does show that this school cares about its mission and others. It’s really what being a Catholic and believing in God is all about. It’s about others, the less fortunate, our earth, and giving up not only our money, but our time to help in any way. I feel so honored to be part of the school that takes that to heart. 

       With specificity to the Belmont clean up, it was honestly one of the best times I have had. I went in not knowing who was going to be there, what I was even going to be doing, or anything. I ended up meeting some people, and seeing some of my friends. We all came together to clean up the creek. And we really did. We went around and cleaned up trash, and then we went down to the creek where most of the trash was and cleaned up. We saw a water bottle in the water, stuck in some debris and we stayed there for about 15 minutes trying to get it out because the water was kind of deep and we didn’t want to go in, so we threw rocks at int the water to try and get the ripples to push the water towards us and it worked! It took some time, but it worked! That’s the amount of care that needs to go into everyday life and I’m glad I worked with people who really did care and put that much work into trying to get one single piece of plastic out. Because, it all matters. The little things matter. No matter what you do, the little things matter. It really put a perspective on how badly we treat our Earth and this Earth can only sustain us for so long. We need to love it in order for it to love us. Not only that, but don’t we want people who come into Belmont to be amazed, not disgusted by the amount of trash and waste we throw around. So, I challenge each and everyone one of you( I don’t even know who reads this, but whoever you are) to pick up at least one piece of trash everyday wherever you go. It will make a difference! Trust me! Even if you do not think it will, it does. When we were working today, there were many seniors where we working and almost all of them thanked us for cleaning up the park and for doing such a good job at it. It matters. It matters to them, and it solidifies us, all of us. We need to start caring. So, please, accept my challenge, as I will be doing it too. Tell your friends. And please, throw away your trash, recycle, or compost! It is all available to us here. There’s no reason not to! It’ll help everyone and you in the long run! Let’s not treat this place that gives us life with disrespect. 

XC post

The speaker and what he had to say was interesting. I know that we had to answer a specific question about the legacy of colonialism in places the man has worked, but when asked that question, he did not really answer it. He kind of went on a tangent about living here and stuff. So, I am just going to blog about what he said and what I found intriguing during his presentation.

The speaker works with an international organization, MSF, that is a short term emergency operation. Specifically he talked about Ebola. Children and pregnant women were the highest at risk to contract ebola.
Other things he said were that many nurses and doctors died out there, which was very devastating to their health care system! And that there were many orphans that came about it because of their parents dying from contracting ebola. It was a scary thought. Consequences that I have never thought about before. We only think about healing the sick, but we don't really think about the effects of even getting to a country like that and having them trust us and then the side effects if someone they try to treat ends up dying.

He also said that the people working in actual contact with people had to wear equipment, but they became so hot and sweaty that they are only allowed to work in them for one hour because they could faint! These people really do a lot and I was surprised and impressed with the speaker and the passion that he had for these people in resource poor countries.

Seventh Key theme of Catholic Social Teaching

 In this handout we are looking at the key themes of the Catholic social teachings. We are focusing on the theme of colonialism and economic development.


When we think about the global exploration in fifteenth century, we rarely hear or think about the fact that there were priests and pastors on those same boats as soldiers. These priests and pastors conducted baptisms and conversion that were forced just as much the land of the natives were forced to be given over to the whites. And it is claimed at the same time that these same priests and preachers  were against the violence of the slave trade and the genocide of the natives.


Next thing that is brought up is that catholic social teaching focuses on the gaps between the rich and the poor and how we must address that as a community and as individuals. They say that we all have an obligation to not ignore the sufferings of the poor, even though it is not in our own homeland. World poverty is everyone's problem and ignoring it is giving in to selfishness and isolation.
The second part of this social teaching had to do with no longer just pondering these problems, and giving vague suggestions for fixing them, but now to confront them head on. No longer looking at the past for blame but looking towards the future and these generations now and condemning them for continuing these bad habits and poor thinking and actions.
Paul VI was the one to say this, and he said that each economy must be restructured because they were all made to fit their own needs, and it was time that all economies were there to serve all humans. He said that there must be land reform in third world countries and more international aid in those poor countries. It is focused on changes of the entire WORLD economy.
It is also mentioned that it is impossible to be a quick change, but rather it will be a slow and gradual change, one that will only propel forward if many individuals do their part when they can.

Racism

Well, this was quite an interesting read. Two things caught my attention.


The first was about racism. Even after industrialization and the abolition of slavery, there were still ideas of racism spreading, but this time, instead of advocating against it through religious regions, they advocated for racism through science! Let's just let that sink in. Science, of all things, propelled racism. Obviously these so called scientists were a little biased. They used science to say that the human skulls of whites were larger and more advanced than those of the minorities and blacks. That's crazy. So, not only do people's fears about physical differences prevent them from giving blacks the same respect as themselves(whites), but now the so called "inside" differences are too. And not only that, but because of this whole idea of germs and the theory of that coming out, there were fears about touching these "inferior" races because touching them could compromise your health and the future of the whites. It's quite depressing to think about. and it's even more depressing to think about how I would have acted back then. If that was the way of thinking, and science backed it up, why would anyone question it, if science was to provide the proof for all things and science seems absolute?


The second thing to catch my eye was the "scramble for Africa". Like, wait, what? European powers negotiated for these lands, acting as if no one was on these lands. That would make me so frustrated if I lived in Africa. I'm glad that they gave resistance and made them work for it. They didn't go down without a fight, and it took years and years for some of the powers to conquer places. But I guess, science said they weren't really the same as them, so it was alright for them to take over, because it was their duty to help these inferior races. They needed to be civilized, no longer to be the savages of their race.