Genocide/Racism/Anti-Semitism

Ms. Geller's presentation was quite interesting. I was afraid I might fall asleep, and I had every intention of simply reading through the class (I know, I'm terrible, I'm sorry!), but when the introducer asked us all to "please give her your full attention," I reluctantly set aside my book and waited, dreading the boredom factor. However, her story was riveting. I wanted to ask her at the end if, with all the Christian training she'd had as a young child, if she had become a Christian or decided to cling tightly to her Jewish heritage. Apparently, she's still Jewish (what a shame). But didn't she say that she was not a practicing Jew? Either way, she is a fascinating person, and her communication skills are excellent.

Addictions, Part II: Men's and Women's Issues

Erm, I've never personally dealt with any of the problems discussed in class, although my last two boyfriends have both had issues with pornography. One was actively trying to put an end to his addiction, last time I checked, which I admired him for. The other one justified his actions by saying that he had originally stumbled upon it while using his dad's computer. He said it was normal for boys to be addicted to the stuff, and it was his dad's fault anyway. I guess he thought that if his dad did it, it was ok for him to do as well. But yeah. I'm addicted to the internet, according to my health book! They should have done something on that, I bet that's far more common among college students nowadays.

Diversity and Racial Reconciliation

In high school, my friends were a "rainbow," as my mom put it one day. My best friends were Indian, the artist in our group was Mexican, the druggie (though I didn't know he was into that stuff at the time) was half Japanese, the unique Alison was Asian, the guy who asked me out every day for three months in a row was Native American.... You get the idea. I'm slightly depressed now, not only are all those friends gone, but all my friends now are white. There's a girl I know who is black (I never quite know how to classify them, my neighbor couldn't be called African-American as he was neither, being from England), Cody looks to be at least half-Asian, Juan is Latino, I think. They're all pretty cool, but I'm not close to any of them. It kind of sucks. How many people at APU are white, anyway??! I miss the "rainbow" I had back home, where everyone's differences were acknowledged and even celebrated. Here, I get the impression that it would be rude even to mention it...?

Global Vision

Honestly, I'm not sure exactly how all this global vision talk really relates to me. You see, the way I see it, I'm just one person. I'm just one person in one state of one country of the entire world. How am I supposed to affect the life of someone who lives halfway across the world when I've always lived in southern Orange County? I've never been on a plane and I've never gone outside of the country- not even to Mexico, just a few hours south from here. But I was talking to my boyfriend about it and he said that maybe global vision starts right here. He continued that understanding global vision can help us to see the world around us here a little differently. I guess I can see that because if I think of each individual as a single person in the world that God still finds to be special, it must mean that they are. And if they view us in the same way, then perhaps God cares about us too and thinks that we're special. Hmm... I'll leave you with that interesting thought. ;)