10 Hours at the Special Olympics

A couple weeks ago, I spent my Sunday volunteering at the Special Olympics for bacci ball. It was a very interesting experience and I learned a lot more than just how to play bacci ball. In fact just on my way getting there was an interesting experience. When I first got to school beforehand to meet at the buses taking us there, I realized I didn't have my volunteer card, which meant I couldn't take the organization's bus. But then someone offered to drive me, someone who I've went to school with since Jr. High, but I've never really talked to b/c we're in such different friend groups. It was really interesting how our perceptions have been of each other over the years in school with never talking to one another. But when we finally arrived at the Special Olympics, that was very interesting as well. We were put into groups of 4 to ref our own court. Through out the day, many different handicapped people played at our court. Some were good enough to play in regular competitions, some did amazing for their disabilities, and some just had a great time socializing and playing even if they didn't get a single point. Every participant was just so happy and friendly to one another. Most regular sport competitions these days, people are always extremely rude when they're competitive. As odd as it may seem to the world of competitive sports these days, we actually could learn a lot from these special Olympic athletes.

There's no need to worry, parents just don't understand!





Why does it seem like "back in your parents day" the older generation always has better ethics, worked harder, and was more mature? In a recently article I read, about studying the teen-parent conflicts in perspective, I discovered that there are many reasons why each older generation thinks themselves "high on a pedastal" over the younger generations. One idea is that the media is to blame. Through modern day media, America's youth is constantly being told that you have to grow up faster and faster. Well this happens physcologically and physically. In a study mentioned in the article "Putting Teen-Parent Conflicts in Perspective," The average age of puberty for girls was 16 in 1820, 14 in 1900, 13 in 1940, and today it's 12. Besides the fact that America's youth is physically growing up faster, media in America (through music, movies, internet, and television channels like MTV) encourages teenagers to have sex as soon as possible, drink and do drugs, and most of all... defy your parents. They do this, by making sneaking out, going to parties, passing out, fighting/talking back to your parents, and being high or drunk look really fun, and portray teenagers as young as 14 doing it. Another suggested cause is the economy. Older generations had hard working jobs like construction and working in factories instead of working at a Burger King or Hollister, and they could do it with less diplomas or degrees. Working at a construction site, the older workers would mess with the teenage older generations, the would teach them important life lessons, and good work-ethics. Now days most teenagers don't even have any jobs because of the economy and the fact that one will not get a good job with out a college diploma (unlike the only required high school diploma back then). These unemployed teens just hang with their friends, play video games, or do drugs to kill time. So as much as teenagers these days get ragged on about having sex or doing drugs and younger and younger ages, not being as responsible as the higher generations was, or being "lazy", we are not completely to blame.

Why did the woman cross the road? Wait, better question, why is she out of the kitchen!?

Jokes like these are used to affiliate women with the degrading stereotype that they have worked for so long and so hard to overcome through out history. But throughout more recent American history, women have fought to earn their right to vote and end a majority of feminine discrimination. They took baby steps to achieve this right to independence. In the business world today women such as Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart are known as some of the most influential and powerful women not only the media, but in the stock market, and worldwide help-organizations. Also many other female actresses such as Ellen De-generous have endorsed ending further discrimination and public issues; whether it's spreading awareness of starvation in Africa, standing up for gay rights, or trying to end cyber-harassment and bullying. Women today are still fighting for respect after all these years, some holding better and higher jobs than men. They are doing amazing things and deserve some credit. Jokes like the ones above can really be a kick-in-the-teeth to many. I know among my peers that a lot of kids say this stuff just to joke around, they do not stop to think for a second the effect it will have on anyone. People can always blame sources for this: the media, forms of parental raising, lack-of-feminine education in schools; But I know, especially after recently watching a video in sociology that disregarded female discrimination and degradation, that I will try to be more sociological mindful towards these jokes about women from now on.

The Growing Human Model

As infants we are all about the ground. We crawl, explore, and usually have our heads tilted towards the ground. We are all about instinct. It is nature for human beings to socialize with other human beings and other living things. So babies are fascinated with everyone and thing. But as we grow older, we use less instinct and more brain power. As we progress to adulthood, we our constantly looking forward, looking all around us to absorb as much as we can in our brains. This is called the "Growing Man" model, and we learned it in sociology class. This made me realize how much babies need attention, they actually need it for their brain to grow to its full potential. Especially in our society today, where we spend a lot of time isolated playing video games, watching tv, or being on the computer. People should start to make an effort to socialize more, it's what makes us human.

Doing "Nothing" is harder than it seems...

We had an assignment given a few weeks ago to find a public place and literally attempt to do absolutely nothing for 10 minutes. When most people think of "doing nothing" they don't take into consideration that even THINKING is doing something. So basically this was more of a 10 minute meditation, in which we tried to keep our minds clear of thought for 10 minutes. I performed this assignment in the middle of a mall. I picked this place because I like challenges, and what better of a challenge then to attempt to meditate in a place full of people socializing and moving, various types of different stores and shops, and different aromas filling the air. I stood still in the middle of an upstairs walkway, near the food court, and very close to one of those stands that sell certain products. To start off the meditation, I imagined hearing the constantly changing "buddah-bell" that is rung at the beginning of every sociology class. This helped me keep a clear mind even though people were zooming past me. This was until a sales associate from the stand nearby approached me probably to ask if I needed anything. But before he could ask me anything and fully break my meditation, I motioned my head away from him. This consumed about 1 minute of my assigned time. So in the end, I wasn't completely doing "nothing" for the 10 minutes. But this activity made me realize that no one is every really doing nothing, everything that is living is occurring. Things are constantly changed, very similar to the bell I imagined to help my meditation in the first place. This was a very interesting task and I will never think of the phrase "doing nothing" the same way ever again.

"How can you spare someone's feelings by denying them?"

In the movie "Tuesdays with Morrie," Mitch starts to feel uncomfortable when Morrie starts to tear up. Mitch attempts to look away or check his cell phone. Morrie all of a sudden confronts Mitch about this, he states "You feel uncomfortable right now, don't you." Mitch timidly admits his anxiety. His immediately stammers he didn't know quite what to do, he says he guess he was sparing Morrie's feelings. In our American culture today, certain behaviors such as sadness, anger, and embarrassment are seen as types of behaviors that should be spared. Sometimes this is true, but not the way most of our culture handles it. Denying someones feelings, because it makes you uncomfortable, is not the same as sparing them to make the other person feel better. Morrie teaches Mitch a lot about breaking certain taboo barriers in order to create bonding relationships. Societies create taboos, because they decide that a certain type of behavior makes their society uncomfortable. But taboos such as someone of old age "having to get their ass wiped for them" come into play, these are issues in which people have no control over. This isn't fair for someone's feelings to be denied or ignored just because something is happening to them, that is out of their control. I learned a lot more about respect when I heard this quote.

"Yoo bro...one sec dude, my moms callin'........Witam matki, jem teraz."

While entering Jr. High, among the many new friends I made, I met one kid who eventually came to be one of my very good friends entering High school. When I first met this kid I thought he had the coolest nickname, in fact I didn't know his real first name for while even after I was friends with him. I found out that the name everyone called him by was really his last name. I found this so interesting because I had never heard of a last name like that. When I first went to his house I figured out why it sounded so alien to me. He was Polish. Not like the people who say their half Polish and half Russian just because their great-great grandparents immigrated to America from foreign lands, but like his direct parents came here from Poland. When I first went into his house I witnessed a kid that spoke perfect English, talked just like me, speak in a completely foreign tongue, in perfect fluent Polish, to his parents. I almost found it humorous, this kid that was not a nerd, joked with the same immature humor as me and my friends, was bi-lingual. I was so fascinated by it. The first couple times my friends and I went to his house though, we felt a little uncomfortable. We were always taught that saying please and thank you were polite, but whenever we thanked his mom for something or said please she would give us a weird look. My friend would always laugh and tell me that his mom has no problem cooking or having us over so why would we add please or thank you, It wasn't like she was doing us a favor. It took getting used to, it was so different from how I was raised. What I went through is commonly known as "Culture Shock" in which, someone experiences a culture that is extremely different from there own. People have numerous different reactions to Culture Shock. Some may feel very awkward or uncomfortable, some may feel scared or anxious, and some may be fascinated in the uniqueness of the culture. It is important to incorporate Sociological Mindfulness into Culture Shock, to accept that your norm isn't the universal norm. A lot of the reason there is discrimination and racism, is because people are scared to accept this.