Blog #19

Chapter 23 (pp.1155-1171)

All the way back as far as history is recorded it seems as though religion and politics should not be mixed. This is probably the way the old saying:  don’t discuss religion and politics with people in a social setting came from. It is amazing to me how many countries and different religious affiliations thought their way was the only way and that everyone else was wrong. There were even people that belonged to a religion who broke away from their main affiliation, thinking they would have their own section of their Church that would be even better than what they were already practicing.  A few statements in this chapter really weighed on my mind as I read and reread them. In my opinion religion and politics should be two totally different and separate entities.  Government should be for ALL people.  People themselves can choose the religion of their liking, not as the one Islamic leaders stated, “to establish the Rule of God  in our own country first to make the word of God supreme and eliminate other political leaders and replace them with Islamic Order.”  What kind of religion speaks of providing great things for “their own people” and killing others?  Osama bin Laden created al-Queda and Americans were initially on the same side, both opposing the Soviet Union expanding into Afghanistan. However Osama bin Laden got irritated that his government was allowing the U.S. troops in Islam’s holy land after the war against Iraq.  He left with other al-Queda leaders and went to Afghanistan . Plans of the World Trade Center bombing as well as attacks on others were in the making. How can anyone think that any God would listen to what Osama bin Laden said after they passed down “the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country to which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the holy mosque from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim.. This was told to be especially important because according to al-Queda any western modernism, imperialism or American led economic globalization was what the World Trade Center represented. How ironic that al-Queda was thought of to be a modern and globalization organization as well!  The very notion that a Muslim that may disagree with another Muslim was then deemed to be a non-Muslim; simply unbelievable.  This group did not even trust their own.  At least Turkey had a semi-refreshing idea (although still combining politics with religion) they were at least willing to try having their government faith-based but did not limit it to just their faith. There was a revelation.

 Back to 1890 when it was recorded that global industry had grown immensely, was a result of the population multiplying so quickly over periods of time. The environmental changes, numerous plants and animals endangered to become extinct, many more crops needed to be grown, dramatic numbers for erosion, building and more. The spread of modern industry created significant air pollution as well as other problems with hydroelectricity, natural gas and nuclear power added throughout the years and being used at higher and higher rates.  One of the situations created over time has been global warming and with technology being updated and new information being available, this is one area we hear about on a daily basis.

Blog #18

Chapter 22 (pp.1087-1119)+ Hallmarks of SND de Namur

India and South Africa had different struggles in trying to gain their independence.  All around the world different countries waited from close to a year to almost 70 or 80 years to get their freedom. Many relied on peaceful political pressure to achieve their independence. Some looked at new nations as religious while others viewed them as secular with some leaders trying to co-mingle everything together including religion. As always seemed to be the case, either religion or race played a role in what happened and how things were perceived. India’s conflict was religion based while in South Africa it was race, ethnicity that generated violence. Both Asia and Africa had a population explosion from 1950-2000 which made things more difficult on an economic scale. People became disappointed when freedom did not solve all of their problems, but at times actually added more problems for them to solve. Independence did not bring a better way of life for many and the Africans no longer showed support for their government because of this and also resented the well educated elites. Africa’s economic performance was bad in that they were supposed to be independent yet there were still millions of poor peasants. India initially drew support from all people and religions (Hindus and Muslims). However, the one of the biggest problems became the division between the Hindus and Muslims. When Britain allowed more Indian participation, the Muslims felt they were out numbered and demanded separate voting.  A common thought was stated “Muslims and Hindus belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs and literatures. They neither intermarry nor interdine (eat) together and inded, they belong to two different civilizations (p 1096)  Gandhi sought moral transformation of individuals and looked for villages to become self-sufficient and no more struggles for women.

All of this leads to what others have spoken in the past and goes hand in hand with the hallmarks of SND,  “To value life as an on-going spiritual journey of deepening relationships with self, others and God, respecting individual differences!, supporting individuals spiritual journey, not to discriminate against any diversity that is different than yourself.  Being open minded and not judgmental is the way everyone must be in order for there to be more peace and freedom in the world today.

Blog #17

CST Handout sections 5 and 6.

I think the very beginning paragraph in #5, Property Ownership had it right when it stated that “for the common good the material things necessary for a good life should be widely available for use by the whole human community but also testified to the benefits of individual ownership which not only encourages the most efficient and orderly of arrangements for material goods but also offers people an incentive to be productive and to care for the goods God has created.” That some people have more than others, does not mean that all people who have more, are uncaring about people who have less. There are plenty of people with a good deal of material goods who “spread the wealth” so to speak and give to charity, donate to causes and yes do so in large quantities. However from other matters mentioned in paragraph 5, yes, there are times when you see property sitting vacant, overgrown with weeds, not being utilized.  Or you come across a large piece of land, and someone decides they want to buy it and put a low-income housing project there. Wait and see what happens then.  The neighbors all fly into a rage that they do not want low income housing there. Well, which is it? You want to see the property gather garbage and debris like a mini dump or do some good with it and provide needed housing for the less fortunate?  Not everyone will ever be pleased with the outcome of every situation. I am hoping the Church just meant for there not to be waste when there are so many in need. Paragraph 6 deals with a totally different subject with regards to labor unions. I think that there has been a large decline in labor unions because a lot of companies take much better care of their employees than in the past. Labor unions may still be a good idea for some very large companies and corporations and/or certain professions. There are so many smaller companies and family businesses that really have no need for a labor union.  It is unfortunate that at one time, no matter how small a business was it seemed as though they had to belong to a labor union of one kind or another. Dues to pay, and more government rules to follow which did not really pertain to their business, just did not seem fair either, so that is one thing that lead to their decline. I do not think that is a bad thing, labor unions are good in some instances and not in others. I do not think that the Church should take such a stand when it comes to a lot of government issues.  Religion and politics do not always mix together very well.

Blog #16

Chapter 21(pp.1018-1033) +documents

What appears to have started off as combination of imperial and social revolution lead directly into what later became communism.Communism made all kinds of promises that sounded so good to people, thinking they would be reaping some of the benefits themselves; more equality for everyone, freedom from oppression and exploitation and things would move forward into the future. It was later they were to find out that only the elite got any benefits from communism and the common people were worse off than before communism was a way of life. Russia was the first country to experience a communist revolution. It was definitely shocking tome that by the 1970's approximately one-third of the world lived in communist government-run countries. In order of size China, with the largest population took second place in communism, running a few years behind the Soviet Union.  The ‘70’s were pretty much in the middle of the cold war, with World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War all have taken place prior. During the cold war the big rivalry was between the United States and the Soviet Union. This rivalry had hundreds of thousands of people worried about nuclear weapons in what was referred to as the arms races while scientists talked about the possibility of human life becoming extinct if there was ever a major war between the USA and the USSR. The Soviet Union and China more or less banded together gathering other countries to join forces with them, while others wanted no part of it. The two main countries China and Russia had very different outcomes from their communistic governmental control of their countries. When World War II ended, the Soviet military forces occupied much of Eastern Europe and Stalin was sure no more threats of invasion would happen if they surrounded themselves with friendly governments of like thinking. Both of these countries had leaders that thought they could change the way things were being done, only to have things redone by someone at a later time; much of the time going back “to the way things used to be”. Feminism and women’s rights were somethings that communism supposedly supported. It just depended who was in charge at the time.  Under communism China’s population appeared to have made huge progressive steps for the betterment of their country and individuals as well. Russia on the other hand did not.  They struggled and their economy got worse. America and Britain wanted a democratic society while the USSR still wanted communism. However there was still a big nuclear weapons problem between Russia and Cuba.The President at the time, John F. Kennedy and Stalin’s successor Khrushchev compromised that the Soviets would remove their missiles from Cuba and the USA would not invade the island. Russia and China became involved in their own disagreements with regards to territories and communist leaders  Once China and the Soviet Union had decided to “back off” a lot of communistic ways it became apparent that China would rejoin the international world of economy with great prosperity for future generations to build on. The Soviet Union on the other hand collapsed and that was basically the end of communism.One of the main reasons China and Russia differed so much with regards to how they treated protesters and others was the fact that Gorbachev would not crush his protesters unlike the disaster which occurred  by China’s protesters where thousands were killed. In 1991 a breath of relief was sighed when the Soviet Union was no longer a force to be reckoned with as their communistic ways no longer existed. I will take the democratic way of living in my country and try not to take for granted some of the simple things we are allowed to do while having the freedom of living here in the United States. State by State have their own rules, and I don’t necessarily agree with all of them, but at least I do not have the government breathing down my neck, telling me what I can and cannot do every single day.  I also thank God for our military forces that are working to keep out country as safe as possible.

Blog #15

Chapter 20 (pp.973-1017) + documents

With respect to history, so much has happened in the last 100 years, it is truly amazing. European empires have dissolved, the United States and Russia have become the world “superpowers”, the world population has quadrupled, and now more than ever humans are paying attention to the how the ecosystems are holding up to all of these changes.  The larger European entities were divided in their allegiance.  On one side there was the triple alliance of Germany, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire while on the other side it was the triple coalition of Russia, France and Britain. These two rival groups were at war with each other starting in August of 1914, competing against each other for colonies and to be the superior winner. It appears that when war erupts it brings a sense of patriotism to all countries as many more people “sign up” for the military to help their country. As time moved forward so did the arms race and new military technology and weapons led to yet another competition between rivals so as to not be outdone by the others. As weapon technology increased so did the amount of deaths and wounded.  The United States had initially tried to stay “neutral” and uninvolved in the war between the Europeans, however when Americans felt as though their shipping was being threatened by German submarines, they took military action helping France and Britain. The Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I and made Germany take the blame for the war actually led to World War II only 20 years later.  In between the wards the Great Depression had long lasting effects on the whole world. The most blaring was the unemployment rates due to the lack of exports needed pushing millions out of work, and countries seeking out ways to generate their own industries.  During this time President Roosevelt came up with “the new deal” which was the start of reforms, the social security system, minimum wage and welfare programs.  None of these ended the depression. Fascists condemned feminism, democracy and individualism however were all for violence against enemies to try and “purify” their nations.  Some of the most horrendous things known to humanity such as Hitler and the Nazi regime which got support from Germany because he helped get them out of the depression, were the most awful things ever witnessed.  The greed of conquest by Germany, Italy and Japan made way for World War II. Germany was unsure of their standings in the global perspective.  When they attacked Poland it triggered WW II in Europe. There was an American oil embargo on Japan in July 1941  Japan felt war was a better choice than being “bumped” down the power ladder. In December 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and in 1945 the United States entered the war using atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Whole towns, cities and villages were destroyed, and World War II left over 60 million dead.  Besides that number the Holocaust is probably the most horrific outcome of WW II, and even though there was a universal condemnation of the Holocaust, it did not help mass slaughtering stop world-wide. I feel more of a connection to this part of history, the “current” part being the past 100 years, probably because there are still people around that talk about things that have happened over the last 100 years. There is more of a connection, hearing about how individuals were affected and what they remember from their own lives.

Blog #14

Chapter 19 (pp.931-957) + Chapter 19 documents

Three main countries this section deals with are China, the Ottoman Empire, and Japan. All three tried to keep as much of their independence as possible, but many times this seemed impossible due to problems that each country faced. One of the main reasons that China had many problems was because of their huge population explosion which their agriculture production could not keep up with. Unfortunately this led to smaller farms for peasants, unemployment and starvation. The Taiping Uprising brought with it a unique type of Christianity, with leaders more or less not wanting anything to do with Buddhism, Daoism or Confucianism, looking for “a heavenly kingdom of great peace”. What was considered to be one of the most innovating processes of this time was how some of their thoughts changed with regard to gender roles, male and females could have equal shares of land. Yay for the fact that the Taiping officials ordered the feet of women to be unbound.  Another area where a lot of people had not dare go before was the basis for marriage; allowing marriage to be based on mutual attraction instead of some family arrangement. One of the largest downfalls on the part of the Chinese was how addicted to opium a large part of the population was. Opium was Britain’s largest export to Canton. The numbers were astounding; to go from 150,000 pounds per year to 3,450,000,000 pounds in roughly 55 years. The emperor decided enough was enough, and opium was outlawed.  This led to Opium War when the Chinese emperor decided to not trade with British for opium any further. Being that was Britain’s largest export to Canton, it is no wonder that this was very upsetting to them. Same thing happened with the Ottoman Empire as in China, both had been strong, but eventually were weakened because of gaps between themselves and the West with regards to their military and also their technological advances. Both the Ottoman Empire and China became fairly dependent on Europe. In the Ottoman Empire one thing that changed was the diversity in communities, including an emphasis on Christianity; they even went so far as to give non-Muslims equal rights. Yes they said everyone was equal, regardless of their religious affiliation. Japan had better military power and political skills than either China or Ottoman Empire, so it made sense they were better equipped to deal with the Europeans on a more balanced level.  However, at one point, Japan’s ranking of their people from samurai at the top of the status chart and merchants at the bottom did a complete turnaround later on, and while merchants were at the bottom of the status chart- they had money and their well-to-do status topper samurai often owed money to the merchants. Japan was better than China or the Turkey area with regards to staying low on the western radar. Europeans were not as eager to have control of Japan as they were for China and the Ottoman Empire. Japan did away with social order or status and wanted true national unity.  Japan also agreed with China and Ottoman empire that the way women were treated needed to be changed. Women needed more respect and to be treated equally with regards to many matters including marriage, divorce, and property rights.  

Call To Action Day

Call To Action Day 3/25/15

Since I transferred here, this is my first time being a part of Call To Action Day. I started off my day by picking up my awesome t-shirt and heading over to Green Hills Elementary for my Science in Action class. Every week on Thursdays, my partner and I do experiments with a special ed class and it is so much fun to see how excited these kids get when they see us come teach them a lesson because they barely get that much hands on science in their classrooms. This week we did an experiment with dry ice that went really well and then we came back to NDNU for my second part of the day where the 8^th graders from Notre Dame Elementary come here on our campus for an hour for science. We had about 27 eighth graders from next door and on this special day they get an opportunity to be scientists and actually work in our science labs which they do not have available to them at their own school. This project is also ran by the Science in Action class here and basically we set up three different experiments in three different science labs and had the teacher break them up into three groups so there would be three different rotations. The three experiments they get to try are called: Flame test, Egg in a jar, and a dry ice shooter. The flame test they get to use a Bunsen burner and test a number of chemical elements to see what color each element gives off when heated. For the egg in a jar experiment, you get to remove oxygen from a jar and watch the jar act as a vacuum and observe the hardboiled egg getting sucked into the jar. The last experiment was the dry ice experiment and you get to teach them about sublimation in forms of different mediums. We had actual Science in action class members working each station as well as a few non-science in action students participate for their work for call to action day. I mainly worked at the flame test experiment and it was really fun because we had the kids fill out a table and predict what color they thought they were going to see. The kids definitely were excited and shocked to see all the bright, cool looking colors that elements can give off because they had no idea. Most of them thought because we can’t always see elements around us that some would not give off any colors. Even though I teach a class a new experiment every week over at Green Hills, I definitely enjoyed being able to use the labs here and teach the NDE students more than they already knew. I wish we could do more days like this throughout the year instead of just one day. It’s nice to give back or give your time to people just because you want to and not just because your teacher or coach is making you for credit etc. You also got to learn more about the hallmarks of the sisters just like how number three was stated on the back of our shirts today. I heard a lot good things from other friends who did clean ups and went to other sites as well. This day also gave you a chance to interact more with other people from our school that you maybe normally don’t know well or talk to. It’s nice seeing everyone get involved and happy to do something for a good cause and I look forward to seeing what activity I get involved with for next year. One small act of kindness or piece of your time can really make someone’s day or change the world in many ways without us even knowing it and you never know who is watching so you just may be leading a good example for someone else. 

Extra Credit- Guest Speaker

3/24/15

Paul Brockmann started off his presentation by introducing himself and how he was over in Sierra Leone from October to December of 2014. He is not a doctor; he just manages medical programs and there are more than 67 countries in 2013. He is a part of an international organization called Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) which is known for Doctors without borders. Paul mentioned how armed conflict, malnutrition, environmental disasters, exclusion from health care and epidemics are things these countries face. These people do not get the proper food, water, shelter, etc. and so many people populations are excluded from health care and we are so unaware of it. He then focused on epidemics and Ebola in West Africa and it was shocking to see the number of cases and deaths since 2001-2002. The stations they have set –up and the protective gear and equipment the teams out there have to wear is crazy and they only get to work one hour at a time per entry and two to three hours shifts because it’s so hot. Three out of four people survived Ebola and people around the world all of sudden freak out but if we get more people in the world to care enough to help out these other countries. He did say however that when you are fortunate there will be vaccinations. On the bright side they are seeing more survivals and Ebola is not the most dangerous one and can be controlled by the type of work MSF is doing. It's very sad to see how some of these families struggle and can't connect with their families the same because they have to stay inside the facilities depending on how much they were at risk. He finally spoke of how most of the countries they work with are affected by war and colonialism. It mainly comes from a lot of complicated history, human anger and greed in people and because there is not enough passion. “Communities organize themselves”.  Last but not least don’t take what we have for granted! Overall I loved his slideshow because it was not just filled with a thousand words on each slide and had some really great pics to show and because it’s so serious he definitely did a great job or presenting and left me very much informed than before I listened to him. 

Blog #13

Catholic Social Teaching Handout

Poverty stricken areas are found in every country around the world. Some countries have small areas which can be found sparsely scattered about, while other countries are mainly made up of areas of poverty. Catholic social teachings are that all people have a moral obligation to do whatever they can to help alleviate the suffering of all humans world-wide.  The Church states that the Church itself, each nation and international agencies that come together on behalf of this cause must work together to find ways to help development in all countries that are so poor and underdeveloped. Trying to help with such underdeveloped areas could start with international agencies comprised of people from all countries that address excess tools from countries being taken to these impoverished areas. Whether these tools are needed for education, farming or whatever each of these countries need, along with directions and teachings on the proper way to utilize what is given to them so they can succeed with these tools properly.  An ongoing question within the Church has been what caused all of this poverty in the first place. Some are interested in “placing blame” on where all of these problems started.   What is more important is the history we have learned of what happened hundreds of years ago with colonization and even before that time,  and how dominating powers had such control over other areas, was good for few and bad for many. The “blame game” should only be played to make sure history stops repeating itself when it involves these matters. Yes, in badly impoverished countries there desperately needs to be dramatic changes, yet even here in the United States, in each state, in each city, county and town there are areas where people are starving and homeless.  In our country as well as many countries around the world, the percentage of people that are affected by poverty is low compared to third world countries, yet it still does exist. But many times comparisons seem weak because of everything our countries have available to us compared to these third world countries. There need to be more international agencies that are comprised of people from around the world working together within the same agency to help all countries to combat poverty and find ways to use all the excess nonperishable items, tools, school books, and every item that someone may be throwing away into landfills, to help with the problems facing others.

Blog #12

Chapter 18 (pp. 879-912) 

One of the problems that existed with industrialism was the conflict with what “class” people belonged to. Europeans, who as time went on, thought imperialism was the solution to gaining control over the countries they were already dealing with for their imports. If they controlled the countries that had the products their own factories needed, they figured that was all the better and cheaper for them, while at the same time getting more worldly power and control. The wanted their own nation (nationalism) to take control over as much as they could. All the while this was happening, the one huge underlying factor in everything was racism.  Europeans believing that there had to be distinction and distance between blacks and whites. The same held true for different religions. At one point some Europeans actually came to a point where they married Asian and African “elites”  however then came the point in time where some racisms changed. Instead of just being about color or religions, science played a role and in their own “sick” ways people made determinations/conclusions about someone’s worth and intelligence having to do with the size of their skulls. Of course the Europeans believed themselves to be far superior than any other countries, and sarcastically assumed they would have to civilize the rest of the countries people. Unfortunately because of Europe’s wealth and military advantage, they built many European empires in Africa and Asia. Not to anyone today, but shocking back in the day, Europeans were often fighting against themselves as to which country would gain control of certain areas. As with all invasions of villages and communities, with new people taking over, they brought disease along with them and many “native” people died either from these diseases, or from working so hard as to be able to survive. The European colonial empires literally did away with many small African villages, killing people or burning down their huts. Rebellions happened as a result of natives and their lands being invaded, which made some Europeans try to to convert the natives to an agreeable co-existence so to speak. It still kept coming down to the fact that racism on all levels was still prevalent. Whether it was the color of skin, or wealth or religion, Europeans were never going to stop thinking of themselves as superior. Some of the natives in Africa and Asia appear to convert over to Christianity purely for the reason of making their own lives easier. It may have made some of their lives easier but it did nothing to help get rid of the prejudices felt by many. These prejudices are still felt today, with regards to everything; color, gender, and religions are still today, in what is supposed to be a more educated, caring and compassionate world, the same as they were thousands of years ago. Even back in the day when they realized that there needed to be “joined” forces between people, natives and Europeans, one country and another, in order to be able to produce and survive, some were only able to do so for a short time before rebellions or wars broke out. It is even stated that looking back all those years ago, even though it was not labeled “global warming” back then, that is exactly what was taking place with some of the things they did agriculturally. Very disheartening to know how many hundreds of years ago, many of the problems that were started or ongoing, are still problems we encounter today.

Blog #11

Chapter 17 (pp.827-861)

In the beginning of this era people went from using mainly wood to produce heat, as well as water, wind and muscle power for energy to using coal and steam power.  This happened as the population exploded and there was what was termed an “emerging energy crisis”.  These are fossil fuels along with oil and natural gas are nonrenewable energy sources.  It is amazing that over 250 years ago they were dealing with the same problems relating to energy sources that we face today. As time moved forward and the equipment which was invented such as the power loom, steam engine, cotton gin and spinning jenny made it possible for things to be produced at a much faster rate than thought imaginable. The textile industry zoomed ahead at an unbelievable pace, followed by iron and steel, railroads and steamships and later chemicals, electricity and more machinery. Britain was basically the first to push through with all of these new methods and ways of doing things. Initially it appeared they would become and stay the wealthiest and ahead by far, in front of all other countries, when it came to production.  However, as time went on and other countries, such as the United States, made their way into the marketplace of taking part in the industrial revolution, quite the opposite was true of Britain. I find this very interesting and compare it to today’s society with anything new that comes on the market. Whether it be the new cell phone, a television with new technology, or computers, to mention a few items, if you are the first to own one, that does not necessarily mean you got the best deal around. I am sure that everyone has been in the situation, where at some point of time you have purchased something, only to have the price drop after six months or so to a much more affordable amount, with even some of the problems erased that are possible with a new item on the market. To me what happened in Britain is similar.Britain forged forward at a fast pace to be in the lead with regards to this revolution, being the first to try and invent new ways and new machinery to make production and manufacturing quicker. What they failed to realize at the time was the fact that yes, they were using things before anyone else, but at the same time they were doing things that others could make slight improvements on with even better results, perhaps even faster production.  So in the end, even though Britain was “the first” in many things having to do with the Industrial Revolution, they did not stay “in the front” as a leader later on in years. Fossil fuel, energy crisis, new inventions, unfair working conditions, labor unions, people on strike, unsanitary conditions, competitiveness to be first at something; political parties, one religion vs. another religion, all of these things and many more are things that have repeated themselves in history all the way to today.

Blog #10

Chapter 16 (798-811); Documents (812-825)

European countries and the Americas – looking to end slavery (except for the Southern states of the United States).  Why does West Africa still want slavery?  Because of how much the slaves are worth on the trade market and they supplied thousands. There was a huge decrease in slaves traded which meant the amount of money received for them went way down as well.  West and East Africa, both used these slaves themselves to work the export crops that the rest of the world wanted. Seems as if some of the blame that current people put on others for things that happened in past history, should be looked at carefully…did some of their own ancestors want and use slaves?  What a great time when people actually came to the realization that all people had natural rights to be treated fairly and equally. However, some people did not include women or slaves in these discussions.  One outcome due to this was the women’s movement. Women wanted to be considered equal to men when it came to almost everything. This obviously caused a huge uproar, since this was a time when not even all men were considered equal.  I really had no idea that the women’s movement was so prevalent way back in time. The slogan “you've come a long way baby” referred to back at this point in history to the present day. These movements made large progressive steps forward with setbacks along the way.  Slavery as it was known back then in history has evolved into human and child trafficking.  Women’s rights organizations are still fighting for equal pay for women who earn less than a man for the same job.  Again, history repeats itself over and over.

Blog #9

SND Handout

 

The backgrounds and childhoods of the two founders of the Sisters of Notre Dame, Julie Billart and Francoise Blin de Bourdon, could not have been more opposite.  However, from the time that each of them was young, they shared the desire to try and make life “more fair” for everyone, regardless of their social status or wealth.  Francoise, over the years, could not believe how poorly people were treated just because they were not aristocrats, even when it came to something as basic as food. She also was annoyed with the idea that women either had to be groomed to be a good wife, or go into seclusion as a nun, equating this to:  a virgin had to be a nun; and not out with the “public”- single for a lifetime, tempting men.   Julie, even though she was far down the social ladder, still felt fortunate that she was able to at least get the catechism part of education, and was eager to share with peasant children in her village.  Amazingly Julie was able to continue doing so, even after she was bedridden and partially paralyzed.  Throughout the years, some very strange things went on with the Church and politics.  The French wanted to be able to fill positions in their churches by having their own elections instead of the Rome having the authority to appoint and fill those positions.  Priests were supposed to “take an oath” and prove their loyalty and those who would not were “hunted down” as enemies of the State.  What kind of people, thinking they are religious people, would do this type of thing?  Julie had to go into hiding for a period of time that coincided with Francoise being in prison.  They became friends after the beginning, when Francoise was repulsed by Julie’s physical disabilities. They both realized they held the same respect for all people, regardless of their status of being rich or poor.  Both felt that every individual was entitled to the same things in life and wanted to do everything in their power to try and serve people and help them to achieve the very best things that were available to them.  This just reminds me of another example of how people from different backgrounds, races, genders, and different “social statuses” can have the same spirituality, emotions and feelings with regards to life in general.  Many have the same outlook when it comes to how people should be treated, regardless of what social status they have or how much money they have.  I believe this has to do with the inner person and their beliefs that everyone should be treated fairly, that one person is not better than another because of any type of “status” they have.

Blog #8

Chapter 16 (pp.781-797)

Everyone seemed to be struggling for independence including North America, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the French and the English. Dynasties and empires that had governed countries for hundreds of years seemed to collapse because of clashes between ideals and major political problems. Atlantic revolutions seemed to have in common that ideas based on European Enlightenment with regards to human action improving political and social arrangements. This brought many concerns to the “current chain of command” and disrupted the ways of living as they most knew them to be.  They wanted the authority to govern them to come from the people, not God (Church) as had been the case.  I think it was summed up well by John Locke:  “social contract between “ruler and the ruled” should last only as long as it serves the people well” Seems to me that is why we have elections here in the United States today. Again, I speak of history repeating itself.  The Atlantic revolutions brought change but from then to now, how much change, really? An example given in the book was in 1989, Chinese students leaving their own country to go to Paris and celebrate the French revolution as well as just four short years ago, the uprisings in the Middle East were compared to the French revolution. During the American revolution, they did not want to change their liberties, they just wanted to be able to have Americans in charge of being the rulers instead of Britain. It is said that the United States was considered the “hope and model of human race”. There was much discontent throughout with people wanting their independence, wanting to rule their own land and colonies or settlements. Most of the colony of Haiti was made up of slaves, with a small amount of plantation owners and poor whites, along with free of color people making up the rest of the colony. Rich white landowners did not think all whites were equal for citizenship. This really upset the poor white people. However the poor white people, as well as the rich white people, both groups fought the fact that “free people of color” stated that the rights of man meant all free people regardless of race. So what was wrong with this picture, the poor whites were initially being discriminated against by the rich white people. But the next time around, the poor white people were being just as discriminatory, if not more so, to the people of color. Later Haiti defined all of their people as black and legally equal regardless of color but discriminated against whites by not allowing them citizenship. So this type of discrimination was committed by both white and black and every color in between. A vicious circle still goes round and round today, with many people taking it back to the days of their ancestors.  Things will never change until people let go of the past, can study it for what it was, but do not take it as a personal attack today.

Blog #6

Chapter 15 (pp. 740-752) + Document 15.2, Condorcet (pp. 756-57)

The Scientific Revolution changed the way many thought about religion.  The way people viewed the universe, earth itself and human beings changed with ideas presented by intellectual scientists.  This seemed to panic some of the churches as it went against some of their teachings, while at the same time made way for cultural transformations as well.  During the time so much new information was discovered, especially with regards to the medical field, astronomy and math.  The church and the word corrupt never seem like they should be used together, however I find it quite disturbing that churches actually tried to shut people up and make them retract their findings because it did not agree with everything the church as teaching or preaching.  How sad that these churches lost the basics of the church being spiritual and that religion and science would compliment each other and survive together peacefully. Enlightenment was supposed to be progress but it sounds as if the church went backwards instead of forward with their thinking.  It is interesting that Marx and Darwin thought the opposite of Enlightenment, that struggle and conflict was progress moving forward.  I am sure that over long periods of time, similar thoughts such as the quote from the Ninth Epoch “The progress of philosophy destroyed within the general mass of people the prejudices that have afflicted and corrupted the human race for so long a time” have been repeated just as surely as history tells us that prejudices keep showing back up. 

Blog #5

Chapter 15 (pp. 719-739)

Many cultural transformations with regards to religion happened during the modern era.  This combined with the fact that modern science, at one point became thought of as a new religion.  These cultural transformations connected people near and far.  Asian, African and Native Americans figured out how Christianity was going to be accepted or rejected by each new cultural environment.  They approached and decided on individual places, how they would deal with and use parts or all of their teachings and rules/laws of their religion to try and convert people.  Many of the countries were more accepting of new ideas in religion when they were allowed to follow one, two or several of their rituals from their current religion along with practicing some new things.  As time went on, this fusing of church laws between two religions, appeared to happen with several different religions and several different countries.  People would try to instill some of their present religion and mix it together with items from a new religion.  I believe this made people feel better, as they were not totally turning their backs on the “old” religion, but just adding “new” things from another religion.  Within Christianity itself there were different opinions on things between Western/Central Europe and the Eastern Orthodox.  Interesting to see they were trying to convert people to Christianity and there were matters that different parts of Europe could not even agree on.  It makes sense that with Martin Luther he wrote demands for religious reform that led to the Protestant reformation. They wanted to take away authority of the highest rankings of the church and making everyone more equal; almost everyone, since women really were treated about the same by Protestants and Catholics. This reminded me that our new Pope in the Roman Catholic Church is finally making large attempts to “modernize” some of the thoughts and beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church and how it reacts to certain things.  I believe he is making the Catholic Church a more accepting, tolerant religion, and this is how it should be, for the Catholic Church to follow its’ own rules when it comes to not being judgmental and accepting.

Blog #4

Chapter 14 (pp. 687-699) & documents

One of the first things I read made me sick; that back in the 14^th century the image of Africans held by Muslims was: “ black people were submissive to slavery because Negroes have little that is essentially human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals”. Even though they still wanted slaves, I was impressed that the Europeans figured out they did not have to use guns and the like to get their slaves, but they actually wanted to do so peacefully and wait off the coast in their ships. This was made easier for them due to the fact that a lot of the Africans were willing to trade slaves for goods, money, guns and gunpowder as well as tobacco and alcohol. I had not realized that during the slavery years, that the amount of slaves that went to North America was only 3.6% compared to such large percentages going to the Caribbean and Brazil. They mention a few times of the elite Africans selling their own people as slaves or trading them for goods was also surprising but made perfect sense when Equiano spoke of one of the homes where he stayed had the same language spoken and they lived with the same customs he knew at his own home. The King of Portugal had told his people they only had to write a letter to him asking what they wanted  and King Alfonso finally wrote one, asking that he not allow the tradesman that came to their village to totally disrupt their way of doing things. The people of the village no longer wanted their relatives sold off to other countries.  Another ridiculous subject was the way that Osei Bonsu was so irritated that the King of England wanted to stop shipping slaves. Making fun of the fact that this would be the humane thing to do and stating that the book (Quran) made by God tells them to buy slaves and teach them good things…Very different to see views of someone who was put into slavery at the very young of age of 11 to reading about the African elites that facilitated traffic of slaves, then go to a letter from the same country, asking their King to stop letting the countries he is dealing with, come into their kingdom and take what they want. Seems that in the end, the only people wanting the slaves were the top officials in countries that made most of their wealth from the slave trade.

Blog #3

Chapter 14 (pp. 669-687)

Politics and religion both played roles in the economic transformations that took place through commerce and each had significant consequences. Eastern markets were not very interested in European products and therefore instead of trade, Europeans had to pay with cash/ gold and silver for their products. The Portuguese wanted to find their own sea route to India so they did not have to deal with Venetians or Muslims. Arabs, Persians, Indians, East Africans and some Chinese were mainly Muslims while Hindus, Christians, Jews and Chinese also had roles in the commerce network.  Portuguese wanted to have peaceful trade. They figured out most merchants in Indian Ocean did not have many arms or cannons like they did so they tried to out maneuver and set up many bases within that area.  Portuguese tried to control commerce to monopolize the spice trade and for a while partially blocked the Red Sea route which gave them control of about half of the spice trade to Europe. The Portuguese eventually carried Asian goods to Asian ports, were outnumbered by Asian traders and ended up marrying Asian women to get out of being controlled by the Portuguese government. Many converted to Islam. When their empire started to decline the slack was picked up by Japan, Burma, India and Persia. Other Europeans countries wanted to get a piece of the action for spice trade. Spain established colonial rule in the Philippine Islands and with the majority being Catholic, they had a major missionary effort being the only major outpost of Christianity in Asia.  Many Chinese settled in Manilla and were essential to Spain’s growing economic relationships.  However Spain turned hostile towards the Chinese and there were revolts and massacres with the Spanish killing approximately 20,000 Chinese on the island. The Dutch and English were even more of a threat to the Spanish than the Chinese. They killed around 15,000 to take over an island and then used slave labor to produce the crops. Europeans presence was much larger in the Americas and Africa than in Asia. Japan initially welcomed Europeans who had more knowledge with regards to military technology. Christianity converted at least 300,000 but after civil war, again Christian missionaries were destroyed, Christianity oppressed and Japanese were forbidden to travel due to Europeans now being regarded as a threat. Next to spices, silver was even more of a global exchange. Silver was the first direct link between Americas and Asia, with furs joining the global commerce next. Europeans population growth had diminished their supply of fur bearing animals and they looked to North America for deerskins for leather and skins besides fur. Native Americans and Siberians had same consequences when dealing with Western European and China; this leading to many dying because of diseases, germs, guns instead of bow and arrows and the introduction of alcohol. The Atlantic Slave Trade was the most profound in the network of commerce and exchange. It was an ancient practice of people owning and selling people. So here we have had greed, countries trying to take over certain commodities where they could get rich because everyone wanted these items. Religions not agreeing and yet going into wars and massive killings taking place and then the biggest of all, what was termed as the ancient practice of slave trade... all for making a buck and not letting everyone have a small piece of the pie instead of wanting the whole pie for themselves.

Blog #2

Chapter 13 (pp. 635-649) 

Different countries and their empires. 

     The Russians started to expand their territory at the same time Western Europeans were making their empires in the Americas.  The Russians started to take over the area of northern Asia that was around Moscow and pushed themselves all the way to the Pacific Ocean, expanding in several directions.  During this push, they encountered numerous other countrymen such as Germans, Ukrainians, and Baltic people, to name a few, who became a part of the Russian Empire.  Some areas were wanted for security purposes to stop the agricultural people from being sold into slavery while other areas such as the huge area of Siberia was wanted, so as to take advantage of the large population of furry animals, which pelts were in the highest of demand all around the world.  During the 18^th century Russian, led by the empress Catherine the Great created a state agency to look over Muslim affairs and she preached religious tolerance for Muslims.  Local people, because of the loss of hunting grounds and pasture lands became dependent on Russian markets for tea, tobacco, alcohol and sugar.  Over time Siberia and the steppes became part of the Russian state. “The Russian Empire represented the final triumph of an agrarian civilization over the hunting societies of Siberia and over the pastoral peoples of the grasslands" (Strayer 638).  Russians stayed dominant politically but the population became overwhelmingly multiethnic while at the same time becoming one of the biggest and wealthiest powers in Europe.  The question of Christianity and Islamic religions became more evident near the borders of China, India, Persia and the Ottoman Empire. This Russian empire stayed its own empire until 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed.  

     Asian Empires were also developing at this same time.  Eurasia was being taken over by the Chinese. “The Mughal Empire from Central Asia ruled the majority of the Hindu South  Asian under a single Muslim ruled political system and the Ottoman Empire brought Muslim rule to a largely Christian population in southeastern Europe as well as Turkish rule to largely Arab populations of North Africa and the Middle East”(Strayer 639). All of these Asian empires invoked cross-cultural encounters, the importance of which would be felt forever after.

     China had its own expansion of an empire however their rulers, who were from the area north of the “great wall” known as the Qing dynasty, decided to not allow marriage between the Chinese and themselves because they wanted to keep their ethnicity separate and distinct.  China eventually took control of large areas of land, but did so not for economic reasons, but for security as they felt threatened by the Russian Empire.  This was taken care of in a peaceful manner which marked a distinct boundary between Russia and China.  Something very notable was that in the areas where the Chinese or Qing officials had conquered or taken over regions of land, they did not try and make people try to adhere to their Chinese culture but allowed them to still use their own cultural ways of Muslim, Mongolian and Tibetan ways. 

     In the Mughal Empire in India, the ones who ruled and approximately 20 percent of the people were practicing Muslims while the majority of other people there favored some portion or another of Hinduism.  In what would appear to be a very intellectual decision, the Mughal emperor Akbar knew that most people were practicing some kind of Hinduism and included some in offices of the empire as well as built Hindu temples, palaces and the like.  At the same time he tried to “soften” some of the restrictions placed on Hindu women.  “Akbar imposed a policy of toleration” and met with leaders from many different religions including Buddhist, Jewish and Christian.  Later an emperor who succeeded Akbar, named Aurangzeb, ”reversed Akbar’s policy of accommodation to the Hindu people and sought to impose Islamic supremacy”, all of which later led to the demise of the Mughal Empire.

    As stated in the book “The Mughal Empire was the site of a highly significant encounter between two of the world’s greatest religious traditions. It began with an experiment in multicultural empire building and ended in growing antagonism between Hindus and Muslims.…and that in the centuries that followed, both elements of the Mughal experience would be repeated"(Strayer 644). Sad state of the world, as this still happens to this day.  If people were more tolerant of others’ religious beliefs, people may worship as they wish, and everyone could live more harmoniously with others, things just might be a little more peaceful.

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