Winter Break

     
                                                             Winter Break

      My winter break started of boring. The second week was better, I went to the movies and went shopping with my friends. For Christmas my family and I went to our friends house. It was pretty fun, we got there around 8 p.m. Everyone else got there around 8: 30, we all started eating some tamales, ponche, and many different types of food and drinks from central America. Around 1 a.m we started playing cards and went to sleep at 5 a.m. For some reason everyone woke up at 7:30 a.m. We all just slept for just two hours. After having that much time of sleep we came back to our house to shower, and change. After eating something we left to Big Bear.
       For new years we went to Vegas with the same family we had spend Christmas with. Vegas was really fun but it was really cold as well. New Year's at Vegas was amazing, the countdown for new years day and the fireworks it was all pretty fun. The sky went from dark blue to a beautiful sky full with different color fireworks. I can honestly said this was the best way to end and start the year. I also at Vegas got to see a really special person.
      The last week of my break was all about basketball. I had to come to school a week before school started for the whole week. I had to be at school around ten morning until four evening. That whole week we had a basketball tournament. Sadly we lost our first game against Cleveland by three points, that automatically send us to the losing side but we won the next three games. By winning those game we got the consolation prize. The weekend before coming back to school I went shopping with my mom. I also went to the movies again but this time with my sister, cousin and a friend who I hadn't seen for two years.
      Last year (2014), was a year full of good and bad moments, happy and sad as well. Two thousands fourteen taught me many lessons that made me cried like never before. It taught me that not everyone that enters our life will stay and that people are not always what we think they are even if we think we know them. It also taught me that I should be grateful for those that have been with me through thin and thick. Losing my cousin was really hard for me, but everything that happen last year made me a better person and made me see life different.
     Overall I had an amazing winter break. I got to spend time with my family and friends. For me the most important thing was to be with my family for the new year. This year started really good and I just hope it continues like this or even better.

Civil Disobedience

   

                                                             Civil Disobedience

      Human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience. Many of the influential people in history felt passionate about what they believe. These passion caused them to rebel against a government or authority. Many times they felt so strongly about what the believed and how they were being treated was so wrong that they became disobedient. The concept of civil disobedience would appear to be an ineffective weapon against political injustice. History however has proven to repeatedly be one of the most powerful weapons of the people. Martin Luther King Jr. looked at the way African Americans were treated in the United States and saw an inequality. By refusing to pay his taxes and subsequently being imprisoned for a night Henry David Thoreau demonstrated his intolerance for the American government. Under British rule, India remained oppressed until Gandhi, with his doctrine of non violence lead his country to freedom.
      Martin Luther King Jr. had faith in his beliefs of equality, and that all people regardless of race should be free and governed under the same laws. Martin Luther King Jr. stated "cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is not safe nor politics because conscience tells one it is right. " Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a fifty paragraph letter about the timeliness and wisdom in such action of disobedience.
     Tensions between the British government and Indians caused much anger and devastation to Indian societies. Indians throughout the county were infuriated by the authority Britain had gained over the years. Gandhi was an important character for his country revolution. He is also known as Mahatma which means “The Great Soul."Gandhi, addressed the power through nonviolent protests. He believed that the Indians shouldn't forget their traditions and culture, no matter how much the western world pushed to change them. Gandhi was able to give his country equality, freedom, and a philosophy that would influence his country political and moral decisions for decades.
     Henry D. Thoreau was a pioneer of modern civil disobedience when he refused to pay a poll tax because he believed that the money would be used to fund the Mexican war. As a result he was arrested and spent a night in jail. He was released when a relative paid his tax. His night in jail resulted in a literary work called Resistance to a Civil Government. He wrote an essay on civil disobedience saying that people make the law and have a right to disobey unjust laws, or to try and get those laws changed.
       Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Thoreau believed that one should act out against an unjust law by means of peaceful protest. If one is going to openly express his ideas of disagreeing with an unjust law, he must be willing to accept the consequences. Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Thoreau demonstrated this acceptance of consequences by going to jail without repercussion. This shows that they truly believed in the eradication of such a law that forces them to do something that they do not want to do. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted was arrested for gathering with others to protest peacefully, which the police claimed was unlawful.
      Martin Luther King Jr. took a race of people, taught them the value of their voice and they earned the right to vote. Henry Thoreau presented his doctrine that no man should cooperate with laws that are unjust, but must be willing to accept the punishment society sets for breaking those laws. Hundreds of years later people are still inspired by his words. Gandhi lead an entire country to its freedom using his morals and faith to guide him, proving that one man can make a difference. Civil disobedience is the single tool that any person can use to fight for what they want and what they believe on. All three of these men participated in acts of civil disobedience but each in his own way and for different reasons.
      I believe that civil disobedience is justified as a method of trying to change the law. I think that civil disobedience is an expression of one's viewpoints. If someone is willing to break a law for what they believe in, more power to them! Civil disobedience is defined as, "the refusal to obey the demands or commands of a government or occupying power,without resorting to violence or active measures of opposition." Its usual purpose is to force concessions from the government or occupying power. Civil disobedience has been a major tactic and philosophy of nationalist movements in Africa and India, in the civil rights movement of U.S. blacks, and of labor and anti-war movements in many countries. After researching this topic and formulating my own opinions I have learned a great deal about my morals and myself. It simply shocks me when I think of the accomplishments of people like King, Gandhi, and Thoreau.