Op-Ed Piece

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/opinion/saving-a-soldier-encouraging-terror.html?ref=opinion

The article I found was called "Saving a Soldier, Encouraging Terror" and it was about how Israel is trading prisoners that they are holding captive for Israelis that have been captured. In one case, Israel released 1027 Palestinian prisoners for its own Sergeant Shalit. The author, Walter Reich, feels that Israel is just welcoming more kidnappings and abuductions because other countries and groups of people know that they will be able to get much more in return for the person's release. The reason Israel is doing this is because they want to make their people feel more devoted to their country because their country is doing everything in its power to keep people "safe" and return people back to Israel.

I really enjoyed how this piece was written because the author interlaced his opinion through his story without it blatantly impacting the amount of facts in this article. He used a large amount of logic to ration his opinion which contrasted interestingly with the overwhelming pathos in this article. The examples that he used were very specific, which made him much more believable, and he obviously had done extensive research in addition to his viewing of Israeli conditions in person. Between the arguments of parents being happy to finally see their abducted kids returning and Israel trying to help its people, Reich weaved more logic about how these actions will only welcome more abductions. I feel that through his logic and interlacing of opinion, Reich was able to compose a truly eloquent piece of journalism that was an interesting viewpoint at Israel's attempt to better itself.

To Hear or Not To Hear?

                Throughout the documentary Sound and Fury, many different people gave their opinions and reasoning for why a child should or should not get a cochlear implants. After watching this film, I feel that cochlear implants are positive concepts that should at the very least be considered for all children born deaf.

                I know that I am not a part of the deaf Discourse, so people may think that my opinion shouldn't be considered as much, but I have an aunt who works at a school with many deaf children, so I have had some experiences with the deaf culture. I have also always found American Sign Language to be a very interesting and unique way of communication, so that would be sad to lose if all deaf people became hearing. I think that if a child was to get a cochlear implant, they would still be able to retain their culture and language without transferring completely to the hearing world.

                Many of the arguments for getting a child a cochlear implant were very logical. In addition to the emotion and ethics that this decision calls for, the logic is probably the most important. Since the implant is a surgical procedure, it should not be taken lightly. There has been plenty of proof that most deaf people, especially when implanted as children, regain a significant enough amount of hearing for the surgery to be worth it. Even when people aren’t deliberately discriminating against the deaf, there are going to be many opportunities the deaf will miss out on.

                Deaf people can generally only communicate with others who are deaf. According to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, less than 500,000 people in the U.S. are completely deaf in both ears. Since this is such a small portion of the millions of people in our country, deaf people have a hard time finding people that they can relate to outside of deaf family members. School is harder because the child either has to find a deaf school (which generally does not produce a quality education) or a personal translator to interpret for them in a normal class. In addition, communication problems can make finding work and moving up in ranking much more difficult, if possible at all.

                Almost all the people in the film remembered or thought about how deaf people are teased. Growing up is hard enough with being constantly tormented for something a child can’t help. These are just a few of the reasons arguing for a cochlear implant.

                Why wouldn’t parents want their children to gain so many more of these opportunities? As it was portrayed in the movie, people might feel that the child will lose their deaf culture and look down upon other deaf people. The thing is, the cochlear implant does not make the person hearing, it only makes it possible to hear at certain times with the use of the implant. I think that a child should learn how to speak normally, then they can learn sign language when they’re older if they so choose. I think that people will be interested in their true heritage, and then they will know what to do (signing and deaf culture) if their hearing ever goes away again.

                I personally felt that some of the reasons relatives give in the film against the cochlear implant were more selfish than anything. They argued that the child wouldn’t like them anymore and that they were ashamed of the deaf culture. This seems like these relatives only want the kid to be deaf so that they had more people to talk to and relate to, even if it was harder for the kid in the long run.

                I feel that the cochlear implant is almost always the right choice for a child (unless some other medical reason says otherwise) because of the better future it offers them.  Al l the logic points towards cochlear implants being positive, while the arguments against the implant always seem to be personally emotions selfishly getting in the way.

Fear of Crossing Those Awful, Treacherous, High, Deathly Bridges

The first thing of thought of was my fear of crossing over a bridge. I am able to do it, mostly because I've been forced to in my life, but I'm freaking out the whole time. I don't know when or why this fear started, but I have plenty of examples to back up my fear.
My mom worked for the Wisconsin DOT (Department of Transportation) literally since I was born until this past year, and she therefore was very informed about means of transportation such as bridges. I remember very clearly when the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapsed in August of 2007 that killed 13 people. This incident scared me even more because it showed that a major bridge collapse can occur close to home. I also remember that my mom would come home from work and would tell me about the bridges in Wisconsin that needed to be inspected and possibly changed.
All bridges are are a tiny piece of concrete stretched over a great expanse of water or land. I constantly think, when will it collapse? Will I make it across? every time I go across a bridge. When I'm driving on a bridge, I speed so that I can get over it as fast as possible.
Worse still is biking over a bridge. You can't go as fast as you want most of the time, and one bad turn of the handles can throw you off the edge to your death. This summer I did a charity bike ride and the finish was in Sturgeon Bay. They changed the route this year and made us go over the Sturgeon Bay Bridge. As my luck would have it, the bridge was letting boats through at the time and I was forced to stay on the bridge for almost five minutes, caged in by other bikes and a ton of cars. I was freaking out the whole time and literally peddaled as fast as possible to get off of that death trap.
I feel like I must have been pushed off a bridge in a past life or something, because I honestly cannot pinpoint where my fear of bridges began. No tragic event happened to me, and nothing near my home.
I guess my only option is to simply build a bridge and get over it.