How can you not want to make a difference?

WARNING: this post is a rant. If you don't want to read my complaints please stop reading here. Thanks. :) 

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Some of you know that I am taking an online history class this year. Over all, it's been pretty good, but there have been times when I've gotten really frustrated. One such time was during an all-class discussion. We had been studying the industrial revolution, and the question was asked of my class if we thought that it would be a good idea for someone to make a new version of How the Other Half lives, by Jacob Riis.

Now I have to admit, before this I'd never heard of the book. So I did a little research, and found that it was a really eye opening book when it came out in 1890. Basically, because there was such a economical gap between the classes, many upper class people were oblivious of the life-styles of lower class people. The author, Jacob Riis, was working to change that.

Anyway, the question asked of my class was a simple, "do you think society needs a new version of the book?" Obviously, I said yes. But for others in the class the answer was not the same. Here's my point of view: Americans seem very self-absorbed. We don't want to notice anything outside of our self-centered bubble of a life. An eye opening book, or TV show might force us do just that though. Yeah, it sounds harsh to say that our nation as a whole is self-absorbed, but it's how I feel right now. No apology there. And no, I am not saying that I am exempt from this bug.

Anyway, I checked back in with the message board a few days later, and the responses that I read from the other students really shocked me. Instead of agreeing that something needs to change, most either said that there are enough eye opening books out there, or that poverty will always be here no matter what we do.

I'm not going to lie, this made me very frustrated. I don't see how people can say that we don't need to do anything to learn about, or to help others. It just doesn't make sense to me. *Sigh* 

So, I wrote the above post about a month and a half ago. I didn't post it because I wanted to go back a re-read what I wrote when I was in a less rant-ish mood. I feel the same way now as I did then. Needless to say, I'ma gonna post this. :)

Oh, and if there is any possibility that anyone is interested, here's what I posted to the class.

I think that it would be very helpful to inform Americans about the 'other half'. I don’t think that many Americans sufficiently understand what living conditions are really like in other countries, as well as in parts of America. Yes, the book by Jacob Riis probably gives a very shocking picture, but so much has changed since the early 1900s that I think that there would have to be a lot of outdated material. I do not understand how anyone could say that no good could come from an updated form of the book. It might be better if it was in the form of videos, or maybe webzines, so it could reach a broader audience, but just because there was a book published in 1890 does not mean that there is not need to be an updated version of it 2011.

Cheers,

Lauren

quick update

Whew. This has been a *mostly good* emotional week for me. Several things have happened, and it's kind of hard to decide where to start. :D

I guess I should start by telling you that last Tuesday I quit dance. Yup. I've been dancing for nine years, and I quit. Hopefully, I'll be able to start back up next fall though, so it's only temporary. This was a very, very hard decision for me to make. But I've been terribly overwhelmed with school, and have been having a hard time keeping up in most of my studies. This was really the only thing that I could possibly drop. So, while I am sad to not be dancing, I'll be back next fall. And now I hope it will be easier to keep up in school. So long for now dance! I'll miss you a lot!

Also, I've been preparing for a state oratory contest for several weeks, and traveled to Little Rock Saturday to give my [seven minute] memorized no-notes speech. It went fairly well-- I won. But there were only two of us, so it's not like I beat out a room full of people. Which makes the next step super scary. --Nationals will have anywhere from 20-40 people competing.

The down side of this is, I don't get to go to Summer Excitement this year because I will be at nationals in Florida. This is the first time in three years I won't go to SE.

Last bit of new info: I'll be speaking tomorrow at the 40 days for life kick off rally, in the Planned Parenthood parking lot if Fay-town. It's the same speech as the one for Little Rock, but I'm adding a new ending specifically for the event. It should be fun!

Well, now I'm going to go crash. Sorry this is a kind of boring post.
Toodles.
~Lauren

letters make me happy

Recently, I've taken an interest in old letters. Silly, I know, but I feel like no one communicates snail-style, and that just makes me sad. Then there's also the whole "you probably won't be able to keep any kind of special letters for years and years to pass down to you grandchildren if they are in your e-mail only."

Anyway, here's a letter that Mark Twain wrote his wife Livy on her thirtieth birthday. I think it's sweet.

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Livy darling, six years have gone by since I made my first great success in life and won you, and thirty years have passed since Providence made preparation for that happy success by sending you into the world.

Every day we live together adds to the security of my confidence, that we can never any more wish to be separated than that we can ever imagine a regret that we were ever joined. You are dearer to me to-day, my child, than you were upon the last anniversary of this birth-day; you were dearer then than you were a year before—you have grown more and more dear from the first of those anniversaries, and I do not doubt that this precious progression will continue on to the end.

Let us look forward to the coming anniversaries, with their age and their gray hairs without fear and without depression, trusting and believing that the love we bear each other will be sufficient to make them blessed.

So, with abounding affection for you and our babies, I hail this day that brings you the matronly grace and dignity of three decades. 

Always yours,

S.L.C.

Toodles, 

Lauren 

P.S. If anyone is looking for a terribly inconsistent snail-mail pen-pal, I'm interested. :)