Best of Both Worlds

Religion is different for everyone. For example my mom is a Christian and my dad is somewhat a Buddhist. My mom converted to Christianity when I was in the fourth grade, the same year my parents got divorced. My mom regularly goes to church every Sunday and she attends bible study groups and other groups for church.  Half of the week, when I am at my mom's, she takes me to church with her and tries to get me to read bible verses every night. I do believe in the Christian faith, but not to the extent that my mom does, but I still consider myself a Christian. On the other hand, my dad disagrees with the bible and Christianity. He is somewhat Buddhist because his whole family is. He doesn’t go to the temple all the time. He will go occasionally with his sisters or brothers when they get together. My dad always tells me that he is a scientist and he believes in evolution and that there is not a god. I like to think I am somewhat in the middle of my parent’s beliefs. I believe that God exists, but I also believe in evolution. Though my mom would really love for me to be a hardcore Christian, who reads the bible every night and preaches the word of God to everyone, she doesn’t try to force her faith upon me. As read/discussed this week in the Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards threatened and scared his audience into converting to Christianity. His view of Christianity was clearly different from my mom’s, my dad’s and my own. Religion is a very different experience for different people depending on how they were raised, where they are from, or how they think. Personally I do not think anyone should try to force his or her faith onto others unless the other party is willing. People should be allowed to believe in what they want. Threats and anger are not the answer!

Banana

Bananas. Yellow on the outside, white on the inside- that's what my mom always described me as. I went to a private school for preschool and kindergarten and I was the only Asian in my grade. As a result of the limited diversity,  my first friends were all white. Throughout elementary school and middle school most of my friends were white as well, and that became my norm. I don't see myself as a stereotypical Asian. I do not have straight A's, I love playing sports, and I am not a genius in any way. I hate the expectations that come with being Asian. I am expected to always have amazing grades, to get into a prestigious college and become a doctor or a lawyer. I feel like I am letting my family and others down because I don't have all A's and because I don't think I am going to get a 36 on my ACT. My dad told me that its harder for Asians to get into college because there are so many of us that apply and colleges compare us with our race, so only the top Asians get in out of all the Asians that apply. I have never really been great at school grade wise. I'm decent, but I am not the best.

Frenzy and Fury

The idea of how fear fuels hysteria and mob mentality leads me to think of football games. This year was my first year cheering in the stands, as opposed to on the sidelines when I was on the cheer team. I was intimidated by the T.C. Line and I was terrified of the deer head. The student section, lead by the T.C. Line, is the perfect example of mob mentality. The T.C. line riles everybody up and gets students to chant things and kiss the deer head. Many students are apprehensive of the TC because of its reputation, so when they come up to kids with the deer head and tell them to kiss it they usually do, out of fear. 
In chapter two in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck meets up with Tom and other boys in a cave and they plot to become a band of robbers. Tom riles all the boys up with stories and makes the life of a robber seem thrilling and adventurous. This is equivelant to the T.C. line making the student section excited to be at the football game. The boys make a pact, that if a member exposes the gang's secrets their family will be killed and his throat will be cut, this instills fear in the boys. The mob mentality and fear made these boys think that killing and plundering was fun and okay to do. They stop thinking rationally.
During the Civil Rights Movement, both sides expressed mob mentality. One side African Americans and their supporters were rioting, marching, and protesting for their rights. Some of the Civil Rights leaders were a bit extreme, like Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, who believed in violence and fighting fire with fire. On the other hand people that supported segregation where attacking, and killing those who opposed their views. They bombed Martin Luther King's house and threatened him and eventually shot him. They burned their opponent's houses down and lynched some of them. Many of the people that were involved in these incidents were average, law abiding citizens. The fear of ridicule or embarrassment for some, or the fear of what the future may hold drove some of them to fight and kill. For others it was the frenzy of the mobs of people banning together to riot.