I conquer you english paper, I WIN. Don't forget that. PUNK.

5 things I'm thankful for:
1. Staying up til 6 am to write a paper.
2. Writing an epic paper for English.
3. Endless hours of revision on this paper.
4. College life, stayin up late to write papers...it's a party.
5. the fact that I notice the difference between 1-4 in the thankful things:)
6. The fact that I know Mom and Dad will probably fret because I haven't gone to sleep yet...:) But since I wrote this, you are no longer allowed to worry!
7. The feeling you get when you finally finish something.
8. The ability to break my own Blog rules.
9. Share my English paper with you!

Quote of the Day:
It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.
-G. H. Hardy

James Porter
Professor H. Cramond
UCWR 110-057
22 October 2009
Justice
What is justice and how do we reach it? Is it possible to achieve justice? Justice can be attained through tolerance and acceptance, a desire for change, action orientated people and ultimately justice is achieved through education. If one cannot tolerate why would they look to bring justice for others? Tolerance is only the beginning. Tolerance alone is not sufficient. Beyond tolerance one must accept the people. Once acceptance is reached one can begin to care and understand which can lead you to want to make a change. Wanting change because you sense an injustice and you want to make the difference. It is not merely enough to want to make the change, you must be action orientated. Action orientated means that you will bring about change. You will do all that you can do in your power to make the difference.
Tolerance and acceptance, desire for change, and being action orientated—this describe the mission of Greg Mortenson. In a just society, education would be given to all who sought after it. Mr. Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute seek to do just that—bringing justice, through learning, to Pakistan and the Middle East one school at a time.
Mercury Reader devotes their first chapter to social justice. In “Arm-In-Arm for Justice” by Daniel Hartnett, S.J. four main steps are given “to form true leaders for justice”(p. 1). The four steps are experience, understanding, imagination, and action. Greg Mortenson goes through the steps and hence—according to “Arm-In-Arm for Justice”—is a true leader for justice.
Experience according to “Arm-In-Arm for Justice” is implying direct contact. In order to best help serve people one must get his or her hands dirty. The only way to help people is by getting to know them. Greg Mortenson stumbled into the city of Korphe where he was taken in and treated with incredible hospitality. He lived, learned, and loved with the people of Korphe. He gained his experience by being accepted by the people of Korphe. In the words of Bill Clinton,

He (Greg Mortenson) is the ultimate social entrepreneur ... a guy with a good idea, prepared to start small and stay with it as long as it takes to have a big impact and commit a lifetime to it. ... He is effective in an area where Americans are not popular, because he relates to people as human beings.

When his time to leave Korphe had come, Greg Mortenson related to the people and therefore came to understand the people of Korphe.
Hartnett says it perfectly, “It is not enough to empathize with victims of injustice” (p. 3). Basically, feeling bad for them is not enough. One must try to understand what is the cause of the people’s problems, what is causing them injustice and how can it be remedied? Greg Mortenson did just that. The lack of education was crippling the people Korphe. The solution was a school. Greg Mortenson provided the solution through—not just merely empathizing, but—understanding. He now understood what he needed to do, but how was he supposed to get funding for such a project? Alas, imagination!
Imagination is where great ideas are formulated. Mortenson used his imagination to figure out new and creative ways to increase funding and cut costs on first building the bridge and later building the schools. In a place that severely lacked in the education department there are now currently upwards of eighty schools in the Middle East thanks to the imaginative thinking of Mortenson and the Central Asia Institution.
Quite possibly the most important step of the whole process is the final step—action. Without action the other steps become a nice thought. Newton’s law of motion say that if an object moves or changes its course it is due to the fact that it was acted upon. Acted upon is the phrase that requires attention. Things do not change and will not until they are acted upon. Mortenson made good on his word. Mortenson made a difference because he acted. He put himself into action in order to make a better life for the people of Korphe. Greg Mortenson became a true leader of justice. In order to best exemplify the steps Hartnett sets Mortenson shows that he is able to tolerate and accept, he has a desire to change, and he is action orientated.
One might ask, how is this applicable to everyday life and how does this apply to us? In south Chicago on September 24, 2009 Derrion Albert was brutally beat and murdered on his way home from school, there have been forty-five deaths in the past twelve months, and from September 2008 to September 2009 398 students have been shot. In this school year alone [2009] four students have died. Due to the violence a safety and security strategy has been announced. According to this strategy they will target “high-risk” teens and get them mentors, part-time jobs and do what they can do in order to keep these teens off of streets. The $30 millions dollars funding this will come from the federal stimulus grants. The plan also has will provide students with a safe passage to school buy placing security personnel along the way. These safe passages have not yet been put into place. (Belkin)
Will this work? For some, yes, but unfortunately for the majority it will not work. The people responsible for the safety and security strategy are assuming that there is a one size fits all solution. This is not the case. They are going to be offering students low paying part-time jobs when the teens know full well that they can go out into the streets and make all the money from a paycheck in a matter of minutes. Their hearts are in the right place, the minds behind the safety and security strategy see a problem that they want to change and they are action orientated. Unfortunately they neglected the foundation, they do not understand the true issue here. They think that by offering part-time jobs, mentoring, and counseling they will successfully be able to lure the teens from off the streets. Regrettably the lavish life of the street is much too appealing to be dismayed by such a feeble attempt. It is unjust to try to propose a one size fits all plan for these teens. Understanding needs to become a main factor before proposing a plan and there will not be a successful change until this understand takes place.
A college education is steadily becoming more and more expensive. The cost for public colleges has gone up 6.5 percent and the cost for a private education has gone up 4.4 percent. It’s hard to comprehend how the economy can go down and we still see this universal increase in the price of tuitions. It is important to remember that the majority of the students do not pay the full price. These students tend to receive some sort of assistance. In fact, approximately two-thirds of college students receive grants. Two-thirds of grant money being given out is merit-based without even taking into account the recipients actually financial assistance needs. Grants are not sufficient; the amount of money being borrowed in order to pay for education has also increased. (Lewin)
The higher cost of a college education is fueling the socially-constructed-racial-monster. From the beginning minorities have it hard. The higher the cost of a college education directly translates to the lower the amount of minorities in said colleges. We know this because the depending on where the minorities are born—if they are born into a lower class area—they are redlined. As defined by Rachel Dwyer, “Redlining is a form of discrimination in credit markets where banks and financial institutions identify entire neighborhoods as too “high-risk” for financial investment in both residential and commercial property.” Property taxes pay for schooling. Since the area is redlined the property tax goes down. Since the property tax goes down, the quality of education available to the children of the area goes down. The lower quality of education you have at the most basic levels, the harder it becomes to gain entrance into higher education. Furthermore, the students that—by some miracle—make it through the system are living in a lower income area and therefore are unable to gain funds in order to pay for the rising costs of higher education. Although the families realize that the students aren’t paying the “sticker price” of their college education there is simply not enough money for these minority students to pay for the education. There is no justice in this. Justice extends a hand of opportunity in education to all equally. Raising the cost of college education does not take minorities into consideration and is therefore unjust.
Justice can be achieved through tolerance and acceptance, a desire for change, action orientated people and ultimately justice is achieved through education. The time for a change is now. We must be actively immersed in a good cause. It is time for a revolution of justice. The time for educational justice to reign supreme is now. Just is achieved though tolerance and acceptance. Justice is achieved through a desire for change. Justice is achieved through action-orientated people. The time for justice is now. Let us be “Arm-in-Arm” for justice. Let’s unite and bring forth this justice that the world so desperately needs.

















Works Cited
Anderson, Vicky, Heather Cramond, Jackie Heckman, Amy Kessel, Allison Locke, Margaret Loweth, Roxanne Schwab, Cayenne Sullivan, Sandra Urban, Paige Warren, Sharon Walsh, and Sherrie Weller, comps. Mercury Reader. New York: Pearson Custom, 2009. Print.
A Custom Publication for Loyola University

Belkin, Douglas. "Violent Deaths Shock Chicago Into Action." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 7 Oct. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

Dwyer, Rachel. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Ed. George Ritzer. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007. Blackwell Reference Online. Wiley-Blackwell, 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

Lewin, Tamar. "College Costs Keep Rising, Report Says." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 20 Oct. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .
Marshall, John. "Bill Clinton speaks to P-I in advance of his latest trip to Seattle." Seattle PI. Hearst Seattle Media, LLC, 1 Nov. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

Mortenson, Greg, and David Oliver Relin. Three Cups of Tea One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time. New York: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2007. Print.
















Reflection.
This was probably the most difficult paper to write yet. This paper forced me to think probably more then I have in my entire college experience today. I had to figure out how to compare the two stories and then on top of that show the correlation to the current events. This paper was difficult because I was forced to write about something that I am extremely passionate about and keep a cool head. This is a very difficult thing for me to do. My temper tends to flair and when it does my writing goes downhill. I had to constantly remind myself that it was okay and I was just writing a paper.
The revision of this paper was quite rough. I probably spent 10 hours going over my rough draft. If you think it’s bad now…you should’ve seen it before! I have an addiction to comma splices and I am trying my hardest to avoid them and completely eradicate them from my writing. Comma splices are something that has plagued my writing since my ninth grade year. I never learned to remedy this atrocity and am trying my hardest to avoid them. Screw you comma spliced. Comma splices are the root of evil!
I can’t believe that I am finally finished with this assignment. With hard work comes great relief. I feel I have worked hard and am excited for my relief—sleep. Peace.








img src=” I love you all, goodbye.
I love you all, goodbye.
Mi amor a todos, adios.
אני אוהב אותך כל, סלאמאת.”/>