JJ's World Views

Tag: Peace

  • How to Curb the Obscenity of Wealth

    How to Curb the Obscenity of Wealth

    Kids born into wealth will never know what it is like to serve something bigger than themselves.  While kids born into poverty see the only way out is to serve our armed forces.  The poor uneducated children fight for what they believe is a noble cause only later to find out that, they are fighting for the wealthy’s privilege.   The people above have never known what it is like to give their lives for anything but themselves.  They have never had to risk anything yet, they are some of the most wealth individuals in the country nay the world today.  Why should these people be so entitled?  Why should they not be obligated to serve our country? I can tell you one thing, I am not in favor of a royalty like they have in England.  In fact I think it should be done away with completely.  But I do have respect for the royal family at least they served in the military.  That is more than I can say about these people.

    We send our brave men and women overseas to fight wars that we have no reason being in.  In fact, the U.S. does more harm than good sending our troops over there.  It is so confusing that we are never sure if we are targeting the soldiers or civilians, this creates more people who hate the U.S.  I love our troops I just wish that the Executive and Legislative branches would plan things out better and define what victory meant.  I also so think that maybe, we should bring back the draft or make it mandatory that everyone at the age of 18 does some kind of service to the country.  These would all be low level positions either in the Military or in the civil service; like Americorps or Peace Corps.  This way everyone can get out of their bubbles from a relatively young age.  For that matter the wealthy kids should have the same schooling as the poor kids.  This way we all start off on equal footing.

    I also believe in order to end inequality we need an inheritance tax.  Why should the wealthy be able to horde money throughout generations?  An inheritance tax is like a tree that dies and gets decomposed so that new life can start fresh.  I am not saying take everything from the kids, I mean if they can not make a five million last or expand on it then they are really not that bright to begin with.  Most people do not even get that much when their family members die.  I also think that there should be higher percentage of taxes on extreme luxury goods.  Say vehicles up to $25,000 are taxed at a 7% rate and every $25,000 it increases by 7%.  So, on a car that costs $25,000 a person would pay $1,250 in taxes, on a car that costs $50,000 a person would pay $5,250 in taxes.  This would continue on up the scale.  Where would all this money go you might ask well back the public in the form of small business grants, college institutions, Universal Healthcare, upgrading infrastructure, creating a basic income, and so much more.  These taxes give everyone equality of opportunity, not outcome.  These are just a couple of taxes to help level the playing field and make sure that no one is left in poverty.

    Once we expand our economic base to everyone in our country, we can truly start to help make this a better world for all.  This can be done through cultural tourism.  The more people are exposed to new cultures and people, the less likely they are to fear them.  We would be able to learn from each other and build upon our foundation that is set forth.  This would create less animus among peoples all around the world and help to finally bring some peace in the future.

    It is kind of funny how this turned out I was going to rail against the mega rich, instead it helped me to come up with ideas to help build a better world.

  • Why Should We “Shit Hole Countries”

    Why Should We “Shit Hole Countries”

    Over the past few weeks I have been hearing and seeing people talk about want Mr. Trump calls “Shit Holes”.  Did he even think about why these countries are the way they are or does he just assume like many others that it is just the people.  Most of these countries were colonised by white european countries like Britain, France, Denmark and Spain, also the United States of America.  Over the past 200 years or more the pure capitalization of the world have raped and pillaged these countries for their resources.  Giving little regard for the people of these countries.   We have built a world on the back of the less fortunate and people like Mr. Trump are personally responsible for these crimes against humanity.

    They care little about anyone but themselves and how they can exploit people for their own personal gain.  They destroy the potential of people who could help develop the next big enhancements to the human condition, all for the a piece of green paper that if we were not around would not contribute anything to this world.

    So, why should we help out the people of these “Shit Hole Countries” and Mr. Trump puts it.  We should help them out of the kindness of our hearts.  But, the real people who need to help them are the extremely wealthy and those whose money has been handed down from generation to generation.   If it were not for them exploiting these people they may have developed much differently.  Hell, their quality of life could be much better and we may have actual peace in regions that are now in a state of perpetual conflict.

    It is time for us to grow as not just a countries or continents, it is time for us to grow as a species.  We must learn to not take advantage of each other and build a better world together.  It can be done, maybe not in my lifetime, but it can start with in it.  I am not naive to think it will happen overnight or it will be easy.  It will be a long and hard change and there will be many who will die before we evolve to that level as a society.   But as long as we push for the change and leave the world better than when we found it.  We have a chance.

  • My goal

    This is my Final paper for Prep. for English comp. class

    The Peace Corps

    To put a new spin on a quote from John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what [our world] can do for you, but what you can do for [our world]” (Kennedy).  As I see it, we are not citizens of individual countries. We are citizens of the world as a whole.  My goal is to join the Peace Corps and help those who do not have the education and resources I have been privileged to have. The reason for me joining the Peace Corps are many and varied. The things I will have to do in order to achieve this goal are getting a degree, volunteering, and learning another language

    There are a few reasons I want to join the Peace Corps.  One reason is I want to help people who need it and share my skills with them. I want to be able to give people hope in what might seem to be a hopeless situation. I want to experience other cultures and to travel to places where no one would think to go.  I would like to build bridges between the people of this world.  An additional benefit to the reasons above is it looks good on a resume. It shows you are not afraid of taking chances and thinking outside the box.  Ultimately, I want to bring a sense of meaning to my life.  Therefore, these are just a few reasons I want to join the Peace Corps.

    What will I need to do to join the Peace Corps?  Well, let’s check the basics: I am at least 18 and I am willing to commit to 2 years (“Peace Corps”) to helping others, check. Those are the 2 basic requirements.  Now, to help me be more valuable as a volunteer, I am going to need a degree.   I am currently working on a BA in Social Studies Education. The reason I chose social studies is the fact that I like history, learning about other cultures, and trying to understand how society works.  The education part is that I want to help others to understand society, so we can make this a better place for us all.  I know I dream big.  Do I need a degree? No.  Does it help? Yes.  Most of the openings prefer people with a degree in something, depending on the focus of the program or project.  Working on this degree will help me with another thing they look for, which is volunteering in the community.

    Now, volunteering is not something I am used to, at least not charity work to be honest.  My family has never really volunteered with humans except by donating food, clothes, or toys.  Through my research, I found many Vlogs (video logs) done by Peace Corps volunteers.  One of them said that “volunteering is not for everyone…this is an extreme version… giving up your life and what you want to do in order to do something for someone else”(Thinking).  I am willing to volunteer here at home to ready myself for this endeavor.  I am looking into Big Brothers Big Sisters where I can get used to working with kids one on one.  This will help me to be a better teacher and mentor in the future.  This can also be a confidence builder for me and a challenge.  Being a volunteer has many perks that go with it.   The most important is the feeling of accomplishment from doing something I have not tried before and sharing that with someone else.

    In addition, I need to get some language training.  I know a few words in other languages, but I cannot read or write one.  The Peace Corps doesn’t require that you know a language. However, it would help me tremendously just to get the practice, so when they train me for my host country’s language, I will be ready (Thinking).  I am thinking either French or Chinese. I am thinking French because there have been many countries around the world that were colonized by them and they still speak a version of it.  Chinese is a consideration for the simple reason I have always been fascinated with their culture and their growing economy.  French and Chinese are two languages that could not be more different, yet have a lot of sway in this world.  This is what makes it such a hard decision.

    There are many things I need to do to get ready for this challenge, from my education, to testing myself as a volunteer, and learning a language.  I know I can do this.   In the end, I want to know that I have made a difference in people’s lives and helped build a better world for tomorrow.

    Work Cited

    Kennedy, John F.  Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961, Washington D.C.         www.ushistory.org/documents/ask-not.htm 1/12/2015

    “Peace Corps Volunteers” Peace Corps Updated Sep. 02, 2015 Web. 18/11/2015.

    www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/learn/.

    Thinking About Joining Peace Corps? Part 1, You Tube Rickenberger, Bryce        September      13, 2013 youtu.be/LVOELMxGqis Web. 1/12/2015

  • Random Thoughts and Ideas I

    Pokemon GO! is all the craze right now.  How can this game going to help the human race? These are a question that just popped in to my head.  This Go! gets people out there walking which promotes health and good living.  People are meeting new people and immediately have something in common. This promotes community and lowers the fear of the other.

    Here is what I think they should try next.  I would like to see completely different sets of Pokemon for each country, state or continent.  This would get people to start exploring this world more.  This would promote travel.  If they set it up right they could push a cultural exchange through the game as well, with each team having their own team of developers to ensure the pokemon would have the cultural relations to the area. They could have a pokemon dedicated to each sub-culture in that area.   This I know would be a tremendous undertaking.

    This is just one of my crazy ideas to help change this world.  I know that no one Ideas will fix everything in this world.  There is no cure all.  But I feel if we as the human race combine the best of our ideas and build on them that we can make this world better than what it is today.

    While writing this I just realized something about myself. I don’t just want to be a better me, I want to be a better human.  For this is the one thing we have all in common.  This is the starting point of any talk about peace in this world.  This is the most obvious of places to start when talking about any injustice.  Then move down to civilian and authority.  It is time for #civilanlivesmatter.  Here is the thing I agree that the black community has been targeted by the police, in the past and now days.  There is another traditionally targeted group that is not talked about that that is the mentally ill.   This gives the group more people to come over and put more pressure on the our representatives in government.

    We all forget that Government is a tool.  It can be neither good nor evil.  It is all in how we use this tool.  What happens to a tool if you just leave it outside, it rusts and becomes junk.  What happens when you take care other tool and keep it out of the rain, it will last a long time.  This is like our government so many of us have left it out in the rain that it has frozen, locked up.