Journal 3 - Oppression

Excessive oppression in countries lead to revolution. Sadly, many types of oppression exist in this world. However, some kinds of oppression does not lead to revolution. There is oppression in China, North Korea, Myanmar as well as the United States. It could be said that oppression is global. There is a lot of oppression in Myanmar. There is a lot of gender inequality in Myanmar and females are oppressed. More oppression is directed towards poor people. Beggars, are ignored, sent away or sometimes even insulted. However, oppression is not continuous. Most of the people will give donations and be kind to the beggars as well. The big event that occurred due to oppression is the Civil War. The Civil War helped stopped oppression and Abraham Lincoln took the side of the slaves. Oppression is usually presented by one group or person or thing showing inferiority to the other. The characteristics are very evident in racism, sexism and many others as well. Basically, the inferior ones are pushed down by the powerful ones. Sometimes, there are no limits to oppression, causing both mental and physical damage to the victims. I think that when I was young, I was oppressed by my parents a lot. Everything such as time to eat, time to play and grades to get are set by my parents. Now that I do most of my own things, I feel like I was oppressed in the past. I usually don't have a say in what happens at home. I feel kind of bad and it would depress me at times when this happens. I just have to make myself feel better and that was it. I was once the oppressor. I once oppressed my younger cousins by making them stay still by hitting them with an empty water bottle. It didn't hurt that much but I feel bad for them after it happened. I did it because we were out in the countryside, where water is hard to get and they were still sweating, not ready for the shower. After the thirty minutes, they went and took a bath. I believe I would not do this kind of action to them again.

Journal 2 - Revolution

When people are pushed to limits for a long time, they would start to want to break out. No one wants pain or sadness or injustice for a long time. In the world right now, all of this is going on. There is pain, sadness and injustice in many countries and it continues to rise. Eventually there would be a revolution because not only the people who suffer hates it but also the people who see it or hear it would too. The gap in the world today is increasing. The rich is getting richer and the poor is getting more and more poor. The gap is widening and there is nothing going on that would stop it. Some people try to help but effects are rarely permanent. The revolution, I believe, should be peaceful. People nowadays know that violence is usually not the right way to do things. Because it is the bad things that we are trying to solve, we can't use violence. Doing that would just make things worse. There is not much we could effectively do to avoid a revolution. This is because the results are not permanent and most of the rich are not willing to give up their power. The poor can be helped but there is too much. The problem, also is that some of the people will be freeloaders. Some of the people are also just poor because they don't want to work. The governments could do donations and help create jobs but I doubt there is much the government could do because it also depends on free will. If a revolution did occur, I would want to be on the right side but I would also want to remain neutral and escape all the violence. My dad is a doctor so I think that he would want to help everyone but he would have to take the side of the choppers. This is because he works for the government. I personally would like to choose the choppers although I don't like violence. Violence has an impact on everyone and the most unfair things that could happen are the killings of the innocent. My family is innocent because we don't do anything that is illegal or would harm others. My father is a doctor as well as my grandpa and they save lives. We are not finding money in a bad way and we believe in justice. I hope a revolution, without violence and bloodshed, occurs.

Journal 1 - My Hero

A hero, by the dictionary definition, is "a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities" (Dictionary.com) However, a hero for me is different. A selfless person, who has a strong heart and a willingness to give up his/her own things for the good of others, is a hero. When you are a hero, you are usually special to a person or a people. I believe that a hero has to have these qualities because he or she is admired by a person or a group of people. I consider parents, people who donate things, teachers and some political leaders as heroes. I consider my parents to be heroes. They are selfless for me and they are willing to give up things for my own good. I also admire them. Other people who are heroes would be General Aung San or The Lady (Daw Aung San Suu Kyi). They are admired by the Burmese people for their honesty, their work and their selflessness. General Aung San has a strong heart and worked for the country's independence. He is a hero for many of the Burmese people. I wouldn't consider myself a hero. I have not been selfless to a person and I wasn't willing enough to give up something for someone. I am not a hero yet. I will try to be a hero in the future through help, support and kindness. When I have kids one day, I might be their hero. I am sure I had some opportunities to be someone's hero. The thing is that I  never noticed them even if they were there. There are things that I did that could be considered respectable. However, the things that I am really pleased with myself would be not stealing although it is not very heroic. When I find something that is not mine, I never take it. I try to get it back to the owner or I would leave it with the authorities. This might sound easy but it is very tempting and very easy to take something that is someone else's. The heroic thing that I might've done would be to donate money and food. This might be a heroic action to the people who receive it but I think I am not giving it my all. Therefore, I do not consider those actions heroic. I hope that I could be a hero someday.