The Blandford Historical Society had a great night

Tags

events, guests, Peace Corps, postaday2013, presentations, refreshments, speakers

Last night was really interesting, it was so much fun to see three people who I have known for several years as they were in 1968. All three; Bonnie, Chips and Chuck were just out of college in 1968. Bonnie was a newly wed and she embarked in her married life with her new husband off to two years in Tanzania. Her slideshow was devoted to pictures of her students, their school building and the local scenery. She talked about the living conditions, lack of indoor plumbing, excess of insects and the necessary adaptations to the local cuisine.

Chips showed us his pictures of Niger and his time at the village with his students. The poverty level was even more devastating in Niger than in Tanzania. When Bonnie and her husband had been in Tanzania, the British had just left, so their infrastructure was in better shape than in Niger who had been suffering indirectly by the war going on in next door Nigeria. War is devastating no matter how you slice it.

Chuck showed us his travels throughout Chile. He wasn’t a teacher, his specialty was in forestry and his project was to plant trees all around his area. The town that he called home was dirt poor and the surrounding area had been deforested through necessity borne out of poverty. He engaged the local council and the townspeople all the way down to all the children in town to get saplings and planting them along the roads and shanties, not only to beautify the community but also to minimize all the erosion that was plaguing the region.

I have to say that the whole evening was quite enjoyable; I feel that I got to know my fellow Blandfordites a little better (my cookies were a hit) and it is quite nice to see that a program launched by President Kennedy in the spirit of “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” is still doing well.

Defending your beliefs

Pick a contentious issue about which you care deeply — it could be the same-sex marriage debate, or just a disagreement you’re having with a friend. Write a post defending the opposite position, and then reflect on what it was like to do that.

I remember back during my grammar school days at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mister Urso, our history teacher, had us doing a series of debates to prepare us for and instruct us in the research and methodology used to be able to successfully defend a position, any position, even if you yourself didn't agree with it. He had us divided in teams and my team's objective was to debate pro death penalty. I remember struggling with this one because I attended Catholic school and in my seventh grade mind, the death penalty went against all of the teachings that the priests and the nuns went about instilling into our heads every single day. However, when I went to my father for help with the subject, he expressed admiration for my teacher in that , my teacher was courageous to bring up a topic that of course was controversial, but at the time extremely current. Our state government of New York had been wrestling with the question themselves and our Governor at the time, Governor Cuomo, a practicing Catholic, had just recently taken the death penalty away and it stayed away after that for many, many years.

I remember some of the arguments that my father helped me to come up with: one, that it was a deterrent and two, that it cost less to have the death penalty in place than to imprison a person for life and three, that within the bible in the old testament, there were passages that laid down the concept of an eye for an eye and in the case of murder, the death penalty complied with the text. I remember my heart really not being in it and I think that my team lost. It is difficult to passionately argue for something that you do not believe in especially when you are twelve years old.

I have read newer studies recently because even though the death penalty is in place in many states; there are groups that would like to see it abolished everywhere and the arguments that I had presented all those years ago that I had researched, have now all been debunked. I am still anti death penalty and I'm happy that more and more studies are showing that taking another's life in a government sanctioned way is still not the right thing to do. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Defending your beliefs

Pick a contentious issue about which you care deeply — it could be the same-sex marriage debate, or just a disagreement you’re having with a friend. Write a post defending the opposite position, and then reflect on what it was like to do that.

I remember back during my grammar school days at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mister Urso, our history teacher, had us doing a series of debates to prepare us for and instruct us in the research and methodology used to be able to successfully defend a position, any position, even if you yourself didn't agree with it. He had us divided in teams and my team's objective was to debate pro death penalty. I remember struggling with this one because I attended Catholic school and in my seventh grade mind, the death penalty went against all of the teachings that the priests and the nuns went about instilling into our heads every single day. However, when I went to my father for help with the subject, he expressed admiration for my teacher in that , my teacher was courageous to bring up a topic that of course was controversial, but at the time extremely current. Our state government of New York had been wrestling with the question themselves and our Governor at the time, Governor Cuomo, a practicing Catholic, had just recently taken the death penalty away and it stayed away after that for many, many years.

I remember some of the arguments that my father helped me to come up with: one, that it was a deterrent and two, that it cost less to have the death penalty in place than to imprison a person for life and three, that within the bible in the old testament, there were passages that laid down the concept of an eye for an eye and in the case of murder, the death penalty complied with the text. I remember my heart really not being in it and I think that my team lost. It is difficult to passionately argue for something that you do not believe in especially when you are twelve years old.

I have read newer studies recently because even though the death penalty is in place in many states; there are groups that would like to see it abolished everywhere and the arguments that I had presented all those years ago that I had researched, have now all been debunked. I am still anti death penalty and I'm happy that more and more studies are showing that taking another's life in a government sanctioned way is still not the right thing to do. Two wrongs do not make a right.