Religion

I feel that our society, and the world is secularizing. The reason I feel this is, because we have a much more newly developed generations. The new generation has new technology, and do research, and get involved in much more nowadays, that they have been able to form their own views on religion and what they believe in . Religion is no longer as forced upon children as they were in the past, therefore those that grow have been able to think more. I also feel that a lot of people, such as I, who do have a religion, but do not actively practice it by going to church, or talking about it much. The government has not been forcing religion on us as they have used to, and neither does much TV or media.

Urban/Suburban/Rural Life

As an Air Force "military brat", I have lived in the suburbs all of my life. I live on my own and currently live in the suburbs. I have had a somewhat sheltered life and never strayed away to any rural areas at all, but I am only 24 years old so I am sure that I will run into them at some point. I watch documentaries all of the time on tv and see them, and notice the huge differences between suburban and rural. I have seen changes living in the suburbs here in northern VA, such as the constant reconstruction of our roads, and repaving and cleaning and improving. I doubt there are much improvements in rural areas, at least not as constant. I have been in urban neighborhoods in the DC area,  and see some changes here and there to improve the streets, buildings. I didn't really notice any personal differences as far as the types of people living in suburbs and urban areas.

Shift Happens

This video opened my eyes a bit because I thought that we were one of the most developed countries in the world, but I now no that we are not.
I've always known that things change constantly, but this video somewhat broke it down in statistics and numbers and everything and it is actually somewhat scary honestly. Things have changed so much just from me being a young child to my age now (24). We didn't have cell phones when I was 7, and we had internet I believe when I was 10, but it was slow dial up and it was all just beginning in my household. Nowadays, we have the most insane tools of technology, even children's toys have internet access.

I feel that our education system needs to be ready for all the changes that are happening purely based on the fact that the generations are going to be more knowledgeable and connected to the change as they grow.

I personally love the changes even though it is a bit scary how fast it all happens. Social networking has kept me connected with so many people since I was a military brat. I highly doubt I would stay connected to them if there wasn't the internet. Also, you can find anything on the web. It is great for school because you do not have to sit and read an encyclopedia to search.

This world is going to only change with new bigger things, and faster things, and ideas that you would never dream of. Every time I think they can't come up with any better technology, I am surprised.

Is walmart good for America?

Oh good ol' Wally World, is what I call Walmart, it is like a wonderland for those that choose to save. They price match, have lowest prices, and you can pretty much return anything. You need a small part, or paint, or maybe some arts and crafts for the kids? Walmart is the place to be. The Walmart by me has a full grocery market, eye doctors, a subway and a nail salon. It also has an area where you can do your taxes, so it truly is one stop shopping. Walmart is absolutely fantastic for consumers, because of their prices you can be in and out.

If you are looking for quality however, it is not the best. The customer service lacks, the maintenance is lacking, it isn't the cleanest most organized store, and also they will do their restocking, remodeling, and inventory while you are shopping. It goes with the saying, "You get what you pay for"

Now, as far as the retailers who sell to Walmart, based on the video, it is bad for their America. The cheap prices interfere with the retailers making money, and forcing their products to cheapen out and be manufactured from china and other countries.I am sure retailers feel bullies by them because if they do not abide by the Walmart price, then as they did with Rubbermaid, they will drop some of their products.   They have to find a way to compensate the profit loss due to Walmart's priority of having the cheapest prices to buy. It puts a damper on retailers and anyone who works for Walmart because they can't get paid much due to Walmart's prices.

I hate Walmart because of it's low end quality, but I do love the prices and find myself there constantly for things I absolutely need. It is definitely a love/hate relationship.

The second shift

This was a fun activity to look at it because it made me realize that my parents both did pretty much equal work and I helped because I am the oldest sibling of course but they would always both do the cooking, cleaning, playing with us, bills, work, shopping, and dealing with our school stuff. I noticed my mom did more of the decorating and planning our birthday parties and sending out our extended families gifts and everything and my dad did more of the dirty work such as lawn-mowing, walking pets, and shoveling the snow.

As I got older I was the baby sitter for my sister and brother especially during summer, but they paid me to teach me money making and work skills so it was never unfair to me. My parents did a lot, and that chart definitely showed it since it was typed out like that versus thinking about it.

A tale of two families

I found "A Tale of Two families" very interesting because it put into perspective that with the way these two boys grew up, and the times constantly changing, that one generation really does set the bar for the next. My mother and father work very hard because they were comfortable in their upbringing because both of their fathers were in the military. My father is black, and my mother is Filipino, white and Native American. They worked hard so that today they are able to send me, my sister to college, and in a few years my younger brother. My mom says we have to set it up for our children to make it better and better and told me that when I have children, I must have a savings for them on the side as they grow and distribute it so that they learn when they grow, yet not suffer which is what I plan to do. We have to set the bar for generations to come.

Global Inequality

I agree with Jennifer Lerner on the podcast of how we should care about global inequality because in this world, country to country interaction are a vital to live. We need things from countries and they need things from us. It goes on and on like a merry-go-round. We need to know where they come from and they need to know where we come from. We have to care about how everyone in the world in different countries are treated whether it be culture, politics, poverty vs the rich, all of it. It is very important to know about the global inequality because it affects us greatly whether we know it or not.